The Pride of Evil Men
Psalm 10:4 – “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.”
Pride month traces its roots back to the 1969 controversial Stonewall riots, which started on June 28, 1969. The first Pride marches began the following year, on June 28, 1970. The first mention of Pride Month was in a June 1972 issue of Pennsylvania’s Delaware County Daily Times. Inspiration for the flag came from Rolling Stone’s song “She’s a Rainbow” and the 1960s hippies’ movement, each color being assigned a specific meaning. Daniel Quasar updated it in 2018. For years, it has gained momentum, affecting everything. What was once viewed as having dignity for all people has come the severe pushing of moral boundaries and the eroding of our culture.
When has pride become a virtue rather than a vice? Why do the activists behave with such defiance? Jeremiah 8:12 says, “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not ashamed, nor could they blush…” Even parents with common decency would never allow their children to act like many who attend these events in the home.
No matter where we stand on the issue, we must recognize these three values: identity, boundaries, and morality.
First, we must address the value of identity. There are only two sides from which to choose: you believe in the humanistic mindset by which prideful man sides with fallen Adam, or you believe in the Christian doctrine by which you believe we are created in the image of God, thereby siding with Christ. You cannot have it both ways.
In the first case, man is embittered and embattled due to sin and selfish ideologies. Selfishness doesn’t care about the other person as long as they get what they want. We must understand in light of these Pride Parades and celebrations that it is not a matter of sex, race, religion, or politics that inflames the hearts of men so much as it is the holiness of God. Identity helps us to see right from wrong and truth from error. You can identify as whatever you want, but it doesn’t change the reality of what you are at heart: a sinner in need of a Savior.
This selfish attitude of the world has presented a significant problem: it focuses on the person rather than God; it turns everyone into a victim rather than a victor and wants people to bow down to them rather than submit to God. Honestly, Pride Month participants do not care how it affects others. The troubled become tyrants when the laws do not apply to them; they can offend, but you cannot offend them. Yet, a word of warning is due: there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death (Proverbs 14:12). You can live in a fantasy land in which you believe gravity does not exist, but it will not keep gravity from working; it will not hurt me for observing it, but it will hurt you if you try to live without these laws that transcend you and me. Every person should “seek after God,” our hope, rather than live in their own realities apart from Him. Pride is a very deceptive thing. In the third verse, Obadiah says, “The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee…” Beware of such selfishness and pride that is on full display.
Second, we must address the value of boundaries. Before tearing down fences, we must understand why they are there. Laws create boundaries. Walls create boundaries. There is a boundary between public and private space. Your sexual preferences should remain in the privacy of your bedroom, not being flaunted in public on full display and pushed upon us. Everyone has boundaries that we must respect. Homeowners and businesses have these signs: No Trespassing. All trespassers will be punished, especially when we trespass the laws of God’s holiness.
Finally, I end on a note of the value of morality. Every culture has a value system of right and wrong. If you have a conscience, you understand that it is natural to us all, and it is precisely what God shows us in Romans 2:14-15. With morality loosening, the dam will burst, and judgment will come. Remember, in pride, an employee of the White Star Line at the launch of the Titanic said on May 31, 1911, “Not even God Himself could sink this ship,” and we found out otherwise. We will stand before God for what we have done, which should cause us to think about morality and salvation more soberly.
The Bible says, “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world THROUGH HIM MIGHT BE SAVED. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned ALREADY, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” How long will this darkness over our nation continue? As long as men love their darkness rather than light. Well did the psalmist say, “God is not in all his thoughts.” We pray for the souls of whom the devil has blinded the minds of them that are lost that they may be saved before it is eternally too late.
We all must respect the value of identity, which affects each person individually. We must also respect the value of boundaries within a community and the value of morality between us and God.
“When pride cometh, then cometh shame” – Proverbs 11:2.