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Conservatives, Gā’ôn, and the Garden

Conservatives, Gā’ôn, and the Garden

Last updated on: April 7, 2024 at 10:40 am by Martin Thomas Johnson

Conservatives, Gā’ôn, and the Garden 2024-04-07T10:40:52-04:00 Martin Thomas Johnson

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This week was another disgraceful week in conservative politics, a day after celebrating Easter, the backstabbing and greed in the GOP took stage. A Congresswoman from my home state continued her attacks against the speaker of the house because he didn’t bow to extremist demands within the party.

Breaking News

Image by Pixabay

News also broke about another conservative congresswoman being drunk at citizen Trump’s Christmas party and his security stepping in to keep her away. It seems as though conservatives’ thirst for power has blinded them to their sinful actions and lifestyles, pride manifests itself in subtle ways.

Arrogance
Indifference
Perfectionism
Superiority
Ingratitude

Historically, conservatism has valued and practiced Christian teachings, but the current GOP has abandoned them. When we stop practicing Christian beliefs, we stop being conservative. Pride keeps us from heeding the warnings of Jesus. The late Billy Graham once said, “Jesus had a humble heart. If He abides in us, pride will never dominate our lives.”

Pride

Pride is defined as unreasonable self-esteem and confidence in oneself. It focuses on self, no wonder it is considered one of the seven deadly sins.

Me first

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Pride blinds us to the truth. Pride is often thought of as just thinking too much of ourselves, but it goes further by thinking less of or unfavorably of others, including God. That is why the Bible has a lot about pride.

First we need to understand that pride is of the world and Satan, not God or His kingdom (Leviticus 26:19, Isaiah 2:12, Romans 12:3, 1 Corinthians 8:2, Ephesians 2:8-9, Philippians 2:3.)

The Apostle Paul, who identified himself as a Pharisee of the Pharisees, understood all too well how pride creeps in and deceives us (Acts 23:6, 2 Corinthians 12:7, Galatians 6:3.) He should’ve known better after learning about pride in his Jewish education.

Gā’ôn

Judaism had a deep understanding of pride and why God’s people should avoid it. The Jewish prophets understood that the pride of the world separated it from God and warned Israel to watch out for it and avoid being prideful (Psalm 10:4, Proverbs 8:13; 11:2, Isaiah 23:9, Obadiah 1:3.)

The Hebrew word used in the Old Testament for pride is Gā’ôn, but it can also mean “Majesty, excellence or exaltation.” We can see how pride deceives us into thinking we are doing good.

Pride is so deceptive, Scripture points out that it is one of the seven things God detests (Proverbs 6:16-19.)

Haughty eyes (pride).
A lying tongue.
A hand that sheds innocent blood (murder).
A heart that devises wicked schemes.
Feet that are quick to rush into evil.
A false witness who pours out lies.
A person who stirs up conflict in a community.

Israel’s Messiah arrived as a humble King in the form of Jesus, instead of the mighty earthly king Israel had hoped for and they despised Him just as the prophet Isaiah predicted (Isaiah 53:1- 12.)

Evil heart

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Jesus reminded His followers about the evil and pride within their hearts (Jeremiah 17:9, Mark 7:23.) Jesus understood that earthly success and earthly greatness could make God’s people prideful.

He explained that greatness in God’s kingdom isn’t like on earth (Matthew 18:1-9.) Jesus tried to explain God’s kingdom doesn’t work like this world (Luke 17:21, John 18:36.)

God’s kingdom

In the beginning, God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden, paradise was God’s kingdom on earth. God provided everything they needed and they were unaware of their humble state.

Everything was right in the garden of God until Satan convinced Adam and Eve they could have more—they could be great like God (Genesis 3:4.) Because Satan wanted to be God also; the pursuit of greatness caused the creation to become prideful.

Later we see humanity building a tower to heaven, they wanted to be great again and we see the affects of pride (Genesis 11:1-9.)

Deception
Selfishness
Divides

Pride makes us look down on others while thinking more of ourselves. Charles Spurgeon said it best, “Let us measure ourselves by our Master, and not by our fellow-servants: then pride will be impossible.”

Kingdom of God

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The brothers of thunder, James and John argued about who would be great in God’s kingdom, and Jesus reminded them not to abuse their position like the world (Matthew 20:20-28.)

In God’s kingdom, we will all once again walk with and serve God, not ourselves or a political party and there will be no more Gā’ôn!

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