Defeating the Unholy Trinity Within Each of Us

Deep within each person there exists an unholy trinity that is warring against that person attempting to pull him down to the lowest pit of man’s baser nature and to make him a captive of sin, darkness and death. This unholy trinity can be summed up in three words: me, myself and I.

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Standing imperiously behind this unholy trinity of self, self and self are three things: the world, the flesh and the devil (Jas 3:15) or, stated another way, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). The world is telling the self that man is the sovereign king of his life. At the same time, the devil is telling the self the same thing and enticing him to rebel against Elohim’s authority. Simultaneously, man’s inner flesh nature with its sinful, rebellious downward bent is all to happy to comply with the siren song of the world and the devil. Literally,  this is the religion of the devil, and at the heart of it is rebellion against the Sovereign Creator of all things — YHVH Elohim. This satanic religion is called secular humanism. This is a fancy way of saying the religion of self exaltation and it’s housed in the Church of Me, Myself and I, and it involves finding one’s identity and fulfillment in the possessing of things, which is another not so subtle way of self-infatuation and adoration and bringing additional attention to oneself.  In reality, it’s about kicking Elohim off his throne and replacing him with man and material things. About this, John the apostle of Yeshua the Messiah has the following to say:

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (1 John 2:15–17).

Manifestations of Self-Absorption

  • Self love or narcissism is the religion of a secular humanist society that has kicked Elohim under the societal (hell-bound) bus. In our culture, it is characterized by some of the following symptoms:
  • Over-preoccupation with pleasure and entertainment.
  • A buy now, pay later mentality with a need for instant gratification of self as opposed to delayed gratification.
  • The destruction of anything that might stand in the way of one’s selfish motives. This include Christian, Bible or God bashing,  as well as rebellion against authority [e.g., parents, teachers, the government, the church], and the murder of pre-born children via abortion.
  • The hyper-sexualization of society (e.g., the sexualization of youth, pre-occupation with sex in the arts and entertainment, the conferring of legal rights on sexual deviant minorities).
  • The violation of others’ property rights (e.g., vandalism and trespassing).
  • The entitlement mentality.  This is the idea that others including the government owe you something (e.g., a living, an education, food and housing, or health care) without you having to pay for it.
  • Societal laziness (e.g., one’s tendency to want to work less and play more, the desire for early retirement when not earned).
  • The health craze (e.g., body building).
  • Over emphasis on self beautification (e.g., personal appearance, hair, clothing, cosmetics, “body art”).
  • Over emphasis on material possession (e.g., houses, cars, expensive clothing, adult play toys).

In personal relationships, self-love or humanism is characterized by some of the following symptoms:

  • In personal conversations, the over use of the personal pronouns I, me, and my.
  • Always making yourself the focus of conversations.
  • Failing to listen to others. Interrupting others feeling that what you have to say is more important.
  • Constantly feeling the need to teach others or share what you know with them.
  • A critical spirit of others. Putting others down.
  • A spirit of accusation. Often this manifests itself as personal defense mechanism. When someone holds us accountable for wrong behavior, instead of confessing our sin, we get the heat off of ourselves by blaming or accusing the other person of something.
  • Lack of gratefulness or contentment — always wanting more or something else.
  • Expecting others to serve you (to clean up your messes, cook your food, wash your clothes, do your jobs or responsibilities for you, taking the easiest job, not finishing the job you’ve been given to do).
  • Playing the victim or martyr. Trying get attention on yourself by getting others to have pity on you.
  • Not accepting constructive criticism from others.
  • Always making excuses for anything you have done where you don’t quite measure up.
  • Attacking others when you’re wrong instead of taking personal responsibility.
  • Over-emphasis on personal appearance.
  • An aversion to work and an over-emphasis on playing and being entertained.
  • Laziness. One would rather play or sleep than work. One has no problems letting others do the work, while you sit around.
  • Children dishonoring parents and elders. Wives usurping authority over husband.
  • Seldom if ever being able to humble yourself to others by admitting you made a mistake and saying, “I’m sorry, please forgive me.”

The Spiritual Roots of Self Absorption

A self love that exalts itself at Elohim’s or others’ expense is rooted in arrogance and rebellion against YHVH. Satan, the Serpent, is the originator of this  spiritual delusion and blindness (read Ezek 28:13ff cp. Isa 14:12ff). When reading these passages, notice the arrogance, rebellion and self-exaltation of the devil.

When we take the focus of our lives off  YHVH, we  will, by default, put it on ourselves. We become the god of our own lives. Many people say they love Elohim, but their lives and actions declare loudly that they’re really self-worshipers.

Satan planted the seeds of this deception into the heart and mind of man when he conned the first woman and man into sinning against YHVH in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:1ff; 2 Cor 11:3). Those seeds included rebellion against the word or instructions of Elohim, questioning Elohim’s authority, and calling Elohim a liar. This caused man to trust himself instead of YHVH.  Satan succeeded in diminishing Elohim by getting man to kick the Creator off the throne of his life. In place of Elohim, man placed himself on that throne. Thus the door to sin and rebellion was opened and man has been walking down that path ever since.

How to Deal With This Unholy Trinity

Yeshua gives us definitive instructions on how to deal with a self that demands to be the king of one’s life instead of Elohim. In Mark 8:34 he tells us, “He said to his disciples, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” The love of self is the greatest obstacle to following Yeshua wholeheartedly. The chief characteristic of self-life is willfulness and possessiveness. The fallen man has forced Elohim out of the center of his life and has crowned as its king the exaltation of self and coveting of things. Such has become self-life’s main focal point and fiercest passion. To such a person, the pronoun me becomes the god, and the pronoun my is the purpose of the pursuit. This is the religion of self. To the tyranny of things that largely monopolizes most men’s endeavors, Yeshua says “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” Elsewhere he says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:3).

Two verses later in Mark 8:36, Yeshua goes on to say, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” When self is the king of one’s life, one’s chief goal becomes profit and gain. As Yeshua suggests in verse 34, the opposite of this is to deny oneself and to follow Yeshua. The pursuit of profit and gain is the religion of those who are in love with themselves. Such individuals are secular humanists and the creed of their counterfeit religion is: “If it feels good, do it. Do what thou wilt. God is dead. Live for the moment, for there’s no tomorrow. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”

We Must Be Actively Fighting the Downward Pulls of the World, the Flesh and the Devil

Each of us is in a spiritual battle against Satan who comes to us as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14) to deceive us into worshiping ourselves, even as the devil himself is a self-worshiper. The Bible, Elohim’s word, tells us that in this spiritual battle, we must cast down every mental and spiritual strongholds that exalts itself against the word and will of YHVH Elohim. This means that we must take every thought captive to the knowledge of YHVH as revealed in the Bible (2 Cor 10:4–6). This is a constant, daily and even minute-by-minute battle that we will be fighting for the rest of our lives. To the winners of this war go the high prize and calling of our faith in Yeshua — inheritance as children of Elohim in his eternal kingdom. To the losers go the fate of the damned: the lake of fire and eternal death.

Never Forget Our Place

As humans, we must never allow ourselves to forget our place in the bigger scheme of things. We are not at the center of the universe! YHVH doesn’t need us, and the world doesn’t need us or even care about us. If any one of us died today, a few people would shed a couple of tears, and it would be over, and the world would go on without us and we’d be remembered by no one but a few.

Remember this one important thing: YHVH created us for his pleasure — not for our pleasure! We’re not here because of us. In fact, it has nothing to do with us at all! It’s all about YHVH Elohim! Never forget these words which are being proclaimed daily in the throne room of heaven:

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure [Gr. thelema meaning” will, choice, inclination, desire, pleasure”] they are and were created. (Rev 4:11, emphasis added)

A Final Thought

Often we humans fall into the mode of self-absorption, self-exaltation and pride as a human defense mechanism because along the way we’ve been hurt and wounded by the bad things that have happened to us. We become defensive, accusative, arrogant or prideful out of self-preservation because we’re wounded people. Let’s stop hurting other people because of our past or present hurts. It’s time to turn to Yeshua the Messiah who died on the cross for each of us. He died to take on himself the sting, hurt and curse of sin along with all of our griefs, sorrows, hurts and pain. All we have to do is to trust in him and ask for his help. In love, he makes these promises to hurting humans:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matt 11:29–30).

Elohim resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of Elohim, that he may exalt you in due time… . (1 Pet 5:5b–6)

 

3 thoughts on “Defeating the Unholy Trinity Within Each of Us

  1. A sobering message indeed, but very much needed. When I began to get in touch with how selfish I was, I asked God to judge me, so that I would have a chance to repent now and not have to wait until the Judgement Seat of Christ and be judged, but lose my reward. (I don’t mean I was going to escape the Judgment at the end of the age, just that I could take care of some of it ahead of time and thus change my ways.) This was in 1997, and within a month of that prayer, God began what continues to this day: accurate, periodic, needed judgment on wherever I have seated Self on the throne. He never condemns me, and I am always better off for His judgement. I say this to encourage y’all in not being hesitant to ask Elohim to judge you. His kindness was uppermost in each of his judgements.

    In that first judgement, the issue was my demand and control. I was shocked as He revealed episodes in my life that needed repentance. I repented to family and friends. They were all shocked, because they didn’t believe I would ever see it.
    A new intimacy with Yah followed this season of repentance, and praise and worship opened up to me like never before.

    When I asked Yah why it was not as painful as I imagined it would be to hear His level of graphic assessment of my sin, He gave me the same scripture you used, Natan: I Peter 5 and also Matthew 21;44 “And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” My interpretation: “When I humbled myself by asking to be judged and followed it with repentance, He gave me grace. I was falling on the Stone and thus didn’t need to be ground to powder, only broken, which He could easily mend. When I did this, my “broken bones were glad (Psa 41:8).

      • Thanks, Natan, for the encouragement. I mostly just tell stories and hope that they deliver Yah’s message to the heart. (I think I inherited my daddy’s love of telling stories, so I count that a generational blessing if they are used to bring a smile or zing home a truth.)

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