Many people are into spirituality today—but only on their terms. If the “god” we follow doesn’t have any disagreement with us, then we must evaluate whether we might be fashioning a deity in our own image. Pastor Lutzer cuts to the heart of the “religion of self.” What can save us from our deluded ideas of greatness?
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Transcript: Welcome to “5 Minutes with Pastor Lutzer.” I’m so glad that you joined us again today as we continue our discussion of my new book, entitled, “No Reason to Hide: Standing for Christ in a Collapsing Culture” and at the end of this session, I’ll be giving you information as to how this book can be yours. If you were with us last time, you know that we were talking about the world’s greatest lie which has become our culture’s most cherished delusion. It is simply this: that we are putting ourselves in the place of God. And last time I talked about Karl Marx and Freud and I gave a summary as to how they have influenced our culture. But I want to take us a step further today and speak about what happens when man substitutes himself for God.
One of the things that we must recognize is that we are in an age of spirituality. Spirituality says “I’m into religion but it is on my terms. So I take a little bit of this religion, a little bit of that religion, and I come up with my very own formula and I am in charge of everything I believe.” Well my friend, if the “god” that you serve does not have any disagreements with what you believe, you’re actually worshiping yourself. Also when it comes to the education of children it is believed that it is too important a task to be left to parents. As a matter of fact, “children need to be liberated. They need to be told that they are in charge. They choose their sexuality. And of course, they should be brought out from under the oppression of their parents, the church, the Bible.” That’s what is happening in today’s culture.
Michael Horton is a friend of mine and he writes these words:
Never has self-confidence been as strong as it is today. Never before have people had so much confidence in their decisions. Often disastrous decisions are given high marks. They live in a cloud of self-confident confusion. They’re absolutely convinced that they can do anything. And they can be whoever they claim to be, no matter how false, no matter how plastic. They give themselves high grades for deluded ideas of grandeur. And when these dreams collapse, as they must, they are left to pick up the pieces of their own narcissistic follies.
But I’m not finished reading. Let me read the words of a psychiatrist who says, “We are raising a generation of deluded narcissists. Using computer games, our sons and daughters can pretend that they are Olympians, that they are rock stars. These are the psychological drugs of the 21st century and they are getting our sons and daughters sick, very sick indeed.”
What has gone wrong? The idea that “I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul, and I can be whoever I want to be”—utter nonsense, but that of course, is believed widely in our generation. The title of my book is “No Reason to Hide” and you can find information in the description. What you do is you go there. You click on the link and you can find out how the book can be yours. But I want to leave you with a word. It is amazing to me that we can think that we can take God’s place when Jesus who was God humbled Himself and He became obedient unto death even the death of the cross and He was willing to become a man. So here we have an instance in which man wants to become God and God became man. Jesus should be our idol, our example, and of course, He is our Savior and we should follow Him and be willing to follow Him all the way to the cross.
Thanks so much for joining us today. As for today, you just go with God.