Romans 6;
"6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Ephesians 4:30 " And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."
We do not know truth by merely reading the Bible, we must also ask the Holy Spirit to teach us. Those who are unsaved will not properly interpret the Bible because they have only their human fallen minds with which to deal with it. But born again believers have the Holy Spirit and can know truth from error.
John 16:13 " "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."
If we think we can have human heroes along with worship of God, then we are placing a person equal with God. Still a form of idol worship. We can love people, admire their love for Christ and listen to their counsel if it comes from Scripture, but they should never be seen as "heroes", they are merely obeying God which is their reasonable service.
Romans 12:1 "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship."
If we need human heroes, then we are indulging in idol worship. Our god is a jealous God and does not want us to elevate anyone above Him. No man can measure up to God and no man can do "heroic" things without God's permission and even help.
1 Peter 4:11 "Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."
Exodus 20:5 "You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,"
One of the characteristics of a narcissist is the need to be elevated in the eyes of others. Some of the actions to accomplish this are intimidation, elevated voice in discussions, negating others through dismissiveness, not listening to hear truth, making their own reality based on how they want to think of themselves rather than what is real.
When we encounter someone like this we can be sure it will be an exercise in futility to try to reason with or explain anything. These people cut you off in the middle of a sentence, when they begin speaking they talk so long no one else can engage in conversation with them and if one tries to interject a word, they are quickly cut off.
Narcissists think they know things about others even with little or no information about their target. These people are easily offended because they are weak, their ego needs constant stroking to maintain a pleasurable view of self.
They are intolerant of any correction or teaching that may convict them of sin. They run from confident personalities and surround themselves with people who elevate and admire them. Anyone who is not impressed with them is ignored or negated. There is a need to denigrate anyone who will not bow to them. They tend to be like spoiled children, having a tantrum when they cannot have their way, making everyone around them miserable for not giving them what they want.
This phenomena of narcissism is growing rapidly. The reason we see an increase, is because of the lack of family structure. Children who are raised with little or no instruction or discipline in their early years will demonstrate these characteristics. Children who have been praised too much in their early years, or neglected will engage in narcissism.
It is an insecurity that demonstrates this malady. These people feel an entitlement to special treatment, admiration and self-glorification without anything in their life that earned or deserved it. Their very existence alone, is enough for them to believe they should be elevated. They need heroes in their lives because they have a strong desire to be thought of as a hero themselves.
One of the main characteristics of these people is that they are prideful, unteachable and largely ignorant. They believe they know everything already with little experience or knowledge of a matter, thereby making judgments that are wrong based on their own ideas colored by how they want to think of a matter, rather than how it really is.
If they are prejudice against someone, they do not look at the evidence, they devise thoughts in their own mind to fit their view of things, based not on the evidence, but on their own desires, how they want to think of someone.
Those who are not born again, and have lived a life of narcissism will make up stories in their mind about a person they know little about, to discredit them if that person is a believer. Narcissists hardly ever really know even those who are close to them, they are spending all their time on themselves. We see this with our current president. His favorite tactic is to tell lies about someone else, accusing them of things he does but those he accuse, are not doing.
Our president declares that Christians are the terrorists, when he is one, but they are not. We see the effects of this, in the lives of many believers, those who hate correction, instruction and are convicted, work to make the believer look as though they have done something wrong when they are merely obeying God.
When we are confident in the Lord, having been made into a new creation by Christ, we have no need of heroes other than Christ, nor do we desire to be one ourselves. Those who need heroes or want to be one, are weak minded, feeling a need to have a crutch to look up to, that is not Christ, is a worldly man centered focus, rather than Christ centered.
2 Timothy 3 tells us that in the end times, our world will be full of these narcissists. Those whose focus is entirely on self, pleasure and personal aggrandizement. There is little if any, fulfillment in having human heroes, most of them are dead, the legacy they leave behind is flawed at best if we are to look into their lives in truth.
God used the World War 2 vets to do a good work in eliminating the threat of Hitler on the world stage. However, has anyone taken a good look at the lives of many of those men? I knew many of them over the years, since I was in the baby boomer generation. The men I knew were not moral, didn’t love God and never raised their children to love Him, and yet the world calls them the great generation.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 “3 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”
When our sense of heroism is based on man, it will be flawed causing idols in one’s mind. Our only hero ought to be Christ, no one else could measure up to God and what He did on that cross. It is proper to be grateful to a man for saving your life, or rescuing someone, but the use of the word hero, is not only overdone but misplaced in our generation. Everyone is called a hero if they do something others would not do that placed them in danger, but this does not make them born again or worthy of worship.
Anyone who does not love Christ, will not be accepted by God, no matter how many good deeds they do, or how much they demonstrate heroism. Someone who does merely what is right, will not want to be praised for it, a clear conscience before God is enough for them as believers.
Keep in mind, the need for “heroes” is an indication of our desire to be thought of as one ourselves. Whatever we promote is what is in our heart to be.
Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
