Scripture declares that God made man upright but that man has sought out many inventions. Man's primary invention is to re-invent himself. Since the Garden, man in his fallen depraved state, has endeavored to re-invent himself from creature to creator, from slave to sovereign, from depraved dunghill denizen to deity. His greatest tool for accomplishing his dastardly deeds is religion. As fragrance is to the rose, religion is to the would-be god.

The manner and use of his religion is always legalistic, aimed at the conscience rather than the heart, and thriving on guilt. The instrument that he employs is the Bible, but not as a key to open the dungeons of bondage , but rather as shackles to bind men and lay heavy burdens on men. His presumed ascension to the planes of deity are constructed on the carcasses that he has slain with the abuse of the Word of God. If he is to be a god, then he must as God does, control his surroundings. Any doctrine he can misuse to exalt himself and diminish others is his bread and butter. Any challenge to his supposed authority is met with a litany of Bible language always directed at behavior and hurled as spears of righteous indignation dipped in the toxin of guilt. His very existence, his identity depends on his ability to rule his domain. His finger never points to himself. He uses words such as sin , fellowship, obedience, duty and walk, not in an effort to point men to Christ but as the perverbial "blunt instrument" to pummel men into submission to himself.

If his efforts at control fail through these normal means, he will turn love to guilt. Feigning concern over your spiritual condition, he will perform grief, anguish, worry, bewilderment and even anxiety. He will speak of love in terms of ingratitude. "If you really love me, or really loved the Lord", he accuses, " how could you behave in such a way." He points out sin but never his. He loves to speak of betrayal of desertion and dereliction, saying, "We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented".

The arrows of guilt that he most often uses is the knowledge that every sinner who is saved by grace knows about himself. All believers know that they do not pray or read the Bible as they ought, and the "little god" knows it too. He therefore uses these failings against the believer to control him. He either reports himself to be a diligent student and prayerful person, in order to reveal other's short comings, or else brings to their attention the dire need of these things, at the appropriate moment, in order to tighten the thumb screws of submission to his authority.

True believers are much harder on themselves than they are on others. True believers are quick to point out their own sin and slow to point it out in others. True believers remove the telephone pole from their own eye before trying to pluck the splinter out of another's.

A dear friend once told me that the opposite of love is not hate, it is SELF. If we love someone, we desire to make their life as wonderful and free as possible. It is the desire, goal and aim of every Gospel believer to set men free, to ease their burdens, to leave on the cross what Christ nailed to the cross.

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