Narcissism and the Kingdom of God

I keep hearing endless commentary today about how many people are "narcissists" and have had this discussion a number of times with my wife about the widespread use of the term that wasn't being used so widely before about 10 years ago. I've noticed the church has jumped on board and is using the term critically to describe more and more Christian leaders.

The term is now so common that you'd think there was a Bible verse that said, "narcissists will not inherit the Kingdom of God". But there isn't!

What do we find in the pages of the the Bible?

Biblically, the concept that we find condemned all over God's Word is SELF. Even when I looked up definitions for narcissism, I found SELF-ishness and SELF-centeredness as the core definitions. Additionally, I found SELF-love, SELF-Admiration, SELF-adulation, and SELF-absorption.

I would add one more of my own - SELF-promotion.

Whatever narcissism is, and I recognize that there is a working modern definition/concept, to the extent that it is any of these preoccupations with SELF, it is the antithesis of God's Kingdom and an enemy of our souls. The doorway of the Kingdom is that we die to ourselves. It is the DEATH of SELF that leads us to life in Christ. There is actually no other way!

What prompted me to blog today was a discussion I heard on a podcast with a couple of former leaders in Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), the apologetics ministry of the late Ravi Zacharias. Both of these leaders had left the ministry before it became known that Ravi had been living a life of rampant, long-term sexual immorality.

What I found particularly interesting was that they discussed at length the kinds of dynamics that existed in RZIM that would have contributed to what happened to/with Ravi. These men spoke about a culture that tolerated a lot of the aforementioned SELF issues. To listen to the podcast: LINK 

To be fair, hero worship was definitely a major issue when it came to that organization, but this can only happen if a leader or leaders tolerate it and clearly Ravi did. He was unaccountable, unchallenged and what these men described was nepotistic. The term they used was "the family business").

But hero worship in ministries and churches continues to be one of the ugliest things, anti-Christian things, to be found in the Body of CHRIST. 

As these men discussed the issues, they stated unequivocally their conviction that NO MINISTRY SHOULD EVER BE NAMED AFTER A PERSON! Of course, they meant a living person who chose to name a ministry after themselves. They also went on to say that no Study Bible should be named after a person no matter how much we may like their Bible teaching or theology!  

I couldn't agree more with their opinions.

To be fair, I realize that at times, things happen that are not actually the idea of the famous Christian leader - i.e. their name on the ministry or the idea of their name on a Study Bible. But this is exactly where the leader should have stepped up to extinguish the 'hero worship' that was in play when those decisions were being discussed. They should have REFUSED. "Thanks but no thanks" needed to be the response of each and every leader. But the practice is so normal, so widespread today that no one is willing to challenge it. 

So, I will add my voice. 

I will say this as clearly as I can - there is simply NO WAY that somebody asked the Holy Spirit what the name of a ministry should be and He told them to name it after the particular Christian leader who founded it/was leading it! 

And yes, that means...NOT "The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association"

NOT "Ravi Zacharias International Ministries". 

And the list is endless - including many ministries you know and love. (maybe even your own!)

These WEREN'T God's ideas! These weren't the Holy Spirit's leadings! 

Has God used many of the men and women whose ministries were/are named after them? 100%. No question. 

Does He use men and women whose ministries sadly are a lot more about themSELVES than He would want? Absolutely. 

HOWEVER, lest we forget, we are serving the God who said, 

"I am the LORD! That is my name! I will not share my glory with anyone else..." (Isaiah 42:8)

One of the cries of the Reformation was solus Christus, for Christ alone! Naming ministries after Christian celebrities violates this Biblical axiom.

In a modern church that continues to be all-too-guilty of the 'hero worship' of their favorite Christian leaders (pastors, theologians, authors, worship leaders, etc.) maybe we need to be reminded that SELF is the greatest spiritual enemy we face. The devil can do more with the man or woman who has not crucified their SELF lives than he can with any other weakness. It is the door to every type of sin and all kinds of downfalls. 

We need to stop the SELF-promotion. I see it EVERYWHERE in the Body of Christ. Even when we moved out of the Middle East and no longer needed to keep this blog (and our podcast) anonymous, the Lord asked me, "Why do you need to put YOUR NAME on the blog or podcast"? He wasn't asking me for information. He was warning me of a slippery slope.

What needs to happen?

We need to rename ministries to take the focus off of ourselves. (at least while a person is living!)

Leaders need to nip in the bud even the hint of 'hero worship' from Day 1! It only develops because leaders allow it. 

Why have so many Christian leaders fallen? Leaders, like Ravi Zacharias, that no one would have imagined could have fallen the way that they did. 

I believe that ALL OF IT has had its origin in the anti-Christ preoccupation with SELF that the Church has 'baptized' in the names of "honor" and/or 'influence' and has tolerated for far too long. 

Jesus was NOTHING like and didn't live the way far too many Christian leaders are and conduct themselves today - He didn't model the "Green Room Christian Celebrity Culture". He wouldn't excuse it in the name of "honor"! He didn't travel around in the 1st-century equivalent of a private jet! He didn't demand an honorarium of the equivalent of tens of thousands of dollars. Rather He "freely gave". His idea of greatness was the polar opposite of what is being displayed in much of the Church today.

Additionally, Jesus wouldn't endorse most of modern Christian fundraising techniques, especially those that amount to manipulation. As the late founder of our organization used to say, "God's work, done in God's way, will not lack God's provision". He was right by the way!

God is purifying His Bride. There are many things He is no longer going to tolerate. As another Christian leader has written, "God judge me now so you won't have to judge me later". We know from God's Word that "judgment BEGINS at the house of God" (1 Pet. 4:17). It appears that we are in a season where God is doing a lot more of that with His Church. He is exposing the sinful fruit of SELF-LIFE that grew or was never dealt with in the lives of many of His leaders. 

So, as much as I don't want to use the term narcissist which seems so over-used today, I think we need to realize that God wants us ALL to wage war on any and all of the tendencies towards narcissism that are present in our lives. Self isn't just is a problem of certain types of Christian leaders. It is THE BATTLE that each of us face in our own Christian lives! 

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