The Amish Voice 9
If the “mark of the beast” is bad, then we
had better be positive that we know who the
beast is that sets up this mark, according to the
Bible. That will be our next subject. After
that, we will identify the “mark.” Remember,
Revelation makes it very clear that MOST of
the world will be deceived on this point, so we
had better get it right before it is too late. That
also means, by inference, that any
majority
opinion on this subject is probably also the
wrong opinion. So look for something Bibli-
cal that represents the minority opinion, and
you might be closer to the truth than you think.
Don’t be fooled just because the “whole
world” teaches things on this subject. Christ’s
true teachings have never been accepted by the
majority, but only by those who have studied
their Bibles well enough to know the differ-
ence between truth and error. —End
Mark of the Beast
Continued From Page 8
Pride and Its Consequences
—
Eli Stutzman
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he
saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth
grace unto the humble. —
James 4:6
One definition of pride is this from yourdic-
tionary.com:
an unduly high opinion of one-
self; exaggerated self-esteem; conceit haughty
behavior resulting from this; arrogance
Jonathan Edwards wrote this about pride
over 250 years ago:
Pride is much more diffi-
cult to discern than any other corruption be-
cause, by nature, pride is a person having too
high a thought of himself. Is it any surprise,
then, that a person who has too high a thought
of himself is unaware of it? He thinks the opin-
ion he has of himself has just grounds and
therefore is not too high. As a result, there is
no other matter in which the heart is more
deceitful and unsearchable. The very nature of
it is to work self-confidence and drive
away any suspicion of evil respecting it-
self.
I believe we can always spot pride in
others much easier than in ourselves; yet
finding pride being present in another
person is usually rather fruitless. Rarely
will anyone admit to being proud, because
it seems to them, they are being perfectly
reasonable. Therefore, it is only possible
to work on yourself. I don’t think you can
make someone else humble. They have to
humble themselves. To oppose pride, we need
to practice humility.
Be careful of disregarding the opinion of
others. God often uses the weak things of men
to work his perfect will. The proud man often
forgets that the church is a body, and all parts
have a place of usefulness. He feels others
may not even be believers.
The Bible has some details of incidents that
show us what took place when pride had its
way. One consequence of pride is that God
will oppose us. We certainly don’t want that.
Nebuchadnezzar thought of his power as com-
ing from his own cleverness. Uzziah, king of
Judah (2 Chronicles 26) became strong and he,
too, thought too highly of himself, contracting
leprosy as a result.
Pride is often present in politics, in business,
in every race, and I suspect in every church—
all kinds of places where people deal with
each other. We are all aware of the feeling
inside ourselves when someone says to us,
“
See, I was right!” or “Didn’t I say that’s
what would happen?” or “You should have
listened to me.” Yes, we can feel it when we
are wronged.
There are quite a number of things that I
could say about pride. The proud man can
barely fit into any church, but the humble will
fit in many. Others have to come to this under-
standing of what is right or he will be gone.
Proud people on a committee can only work
if they are in charge. Often they do in fact
lead, but it does not go well. Other voices are
often simply ignored.
Pride has consequences whether we recog-
nize it or not. Pride affects people of all types.
It affects people in all nations. From the tip of
South America to Alaska, and on to Europe
and Asia, all can be guilty of thinking too
highly of themselves. Never will pride be a
desirable attitude in any man anywhere.
Nebuchadnezzar was not Jewish, yet God
punished him just as if he were one of his own
people. It was simply a case of the famous,
successful king taking the credit for his suc-
cess. Being a Gentile did not get him out of
experiencing its consequences. Being born in
this century or the last century will not get you
out of the consequences of pride, either.
See Daniel 4:28-30.
All this came upon the
king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve
months he walked in the palace of the kingdom
of Babylon. The king spake, and said, Is not
this great Babylon, that I have built for the
house of the kingdom by the might of my pow-
er, and for the honour of my majesty?
The consequence was immediate. The Bible
says he ate grass like cattle for seven years.
The Bible also tells us that Satan was cast
out of heaven for the sin of pride. Ezekiel
28:17
says:
Thine heart was lifted up because
of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom
by reason of thy brightness: I will cast
thee to the ground, I will lay thee before
kings, that they may behold thee.
Here is another key identifier of pride: “I
am right and I need you to admit that.”
When I was young, we would sometimes
argue endlessly that we were right. Little
did we suspect that we could be wrong in
motive when we were right with our facts.
We can know our Bible from front to back
and prove that we are right; yet in all this,
if our motive is to get others to see it our way,
we have already lost the battle.
Pride will not allow itself to be taught. It is
convinced that it already knows the truth. It
always needs to win the argument. Winning
the argument proves I was right. I am right
because I am older or smarter or have more
education. You may be right with your facts,
but you may have just lost a friend or disap-
pointed a loved one.
Those who seek to avoid pride do well to
pay close attention, because the world around
us is not very aware of pride at all. It will
The famous Bible teacher H.A. Ironside
struggled with pride. After a period of
struggle he went to a friend for advice
about how to deal with this pride. Some-
one counseled him to put signs on his front and back
with large written Bible verses about pride. He was to
carry them throughout the city streets calling out these
verses. This was designed to abolish his pride. Dr.
Ironside said, “I followed that advice.” When he fin-
ished, his first thought was, "There is no other person
in this area dedicated enough to do such a thing!!!"
Pr
i
de
Continued On Page 10
