The Holier Than Thou Spirit

 

In churches there is always that person or persons who judges, who points the finger and is ready to caste the first stone. This is called The Holier Than Thou religious person, who uses religion as means to crush others to hide their own insecurities or jealousies. This has been since the beginning of the Church, the religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus because of envy, “Pilate knew very well that the religious leaders had arrested Jesus out of envy” (Matthew 27:18), they hated Christ was popular and that he was threatening their religious bubble of control, financial security, insecurity masked by “tradition!”, and that God in the flesh was undoing the world they knew, “Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath [and He has authority over it],” (Mark 2:27-28), “At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

3 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.  Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath,” (Matthew 12:1-8), “So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.” Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition. For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents. And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others,” (Mark 7:5-14),   “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5: 43-48). Holier Than Thou folk are motivated by the Tetrarchy: [1]Insecurity, they feel inferior in area which they use religion and tradition to sooth and cloak in shadow, [2] Control, they feel a sense of control by telling others their faults or opposing them in a chaotic world; religion gives them power over others, either in an aggressive way like judging or passive aggressive by manipulation and brain washing & gaslighting tactics to make others feel insecure to need them which banishes their own insecurity, [3] Envy, they envy someone who is talented and knows The Scriptures and has the true spirit rather than the letter that kills (2 Corinthians 3:6), and so they oppose this person with great skill fearing that the talented one will change the religious rules that offer the comfort and control, “But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there”(James 3:14-16).  [4] Fiscal Certainty or Greed, this usually applies to the religious leader being paid, but a congregant may network to make money as well and peddle their wares and whatever they sell at the church, they will oppose anyone who threatens their little mammons, which was a major motivator of Pharisees to destroy Jesus. 

The Holier Than Thou Spirit is easy to be possessed by. All it needs is the seed of insecurity, the desire for you to control something rather than lay down your life to Christ, “f you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.” (Matthew 16:15), and motivator of greed and some envy mixed in to achieve supremacy in your life. Sometimes its not all four of The Tetrarchy of insecurity, control, envy, and greed, it can be just one that matures or a few of them to make a person a Neo Pharisee and enemy of Christ and his prophets in the Church. We are suppose to caste our cares on Christ Jesus, “casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully]” (1 Peter 5:7 AMP), not control others and crush them. And yet The Holier Than Thou Spirit is tempting, to feel superior than others, maybe it isn’t their talent you envy but they get caught in sin and rather than like Jesus saying, “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do,” (Luke 23:34) you pounce with Scripture; you can even look like a prophet in the Church confronting vice, but you don’t follow the protocols of go to your brother in private first, “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens and pays attention to you, you have won back your brother. But if he does not listen, take along with you one or two others, so that EVERY WORD MAY BE CONFIRMED BY THE TESTIMONY OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES,” (Matthew 18:15-16), and then if they refuse to repent go to the elders, “If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.” (Matthew 18:17), instead a Holier Than Thou person goes to the elders first, and in gossips about the sinner with other saints, infecting them with their Holier Than Thou demon. When a prophet corrects there is conviction and the person can feel The Holy Spirit wake them up like a shot of expresso, when the Holier Than Thou spirit corrects it makes the accuser, the person, feel better for being less sinful and the sinner feels condemned and abused. Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye..” (Matthew 7:1-5). A mature Christian is merciful, quick to forgive (Matthew 18:21-22), and contemplates the motives of why someone acts badly like demons, family history (family of origin), trauma, loss, mental illness, and etc and affords that person the chance to reform or confirm they are just a bad person who practices sin and is a goat (Matthew 25:31-46). 

The Holier Than Thou spirit is rampant in churches. There is a person or persons who operate under it, and they can be difficult to confront because they often are wealthy and hold the Pastor’s hands tied by their tithes, hence why Paul the Apostle took no money as a pastor, “If you support others who preach to you, shouldn’t we have an even greater right to be supported? But we have never used this right. We would rather put up with anything than be an obstacle to the Good News about Christ. But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. What then is my pay? It is the opportunity to preach the Good News without charging anyone. That’s why I never demand my rights when I preach the Good News,” (1 Corinthians 9:12, 15, 18), and “. A great movie that shows the Holier Than Thou spirit is Miracles from Heaven (2016) starring Jennifer Garner and Queen Latifah. In the movie there are a trio in her church who moves in Holier Than Thou spirit of judgement, condemning her little girl who has cancer as “being punished with cancer because they sinned somehow,” then later when the little girl is healed they say “the healing is false and you just want attention!” I highly recommend you see the film, for it shows the Holier Than Thou spirit contrasted against the Christ like behavior in Queen Latifah who becomes Jennifer Garner’s dear friend and spiritual support. 

To avoid the Holier Than Thou spirit you have to lay down your life to Christ, “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it,” (Matthew 16:25),instead of trying to know it all and seem wise to count all lost but knowing Christ, “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ,” (Philippians 3:8) instead of being envious be thankful, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you,” (1 Thessalonians 5:18) and acknowledge that you are one of member of the body, “The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other,” (1 Corinthians 12:21-22, 25) that you matter, your talents should not be compared with others, and finally give up control and let God The Trinity be in control, “submit therefore to God, resist the devil and he shall flee” (James 4:7). You have to submit your insecurities, desire to be greater than others, control, envy, and all of it to God and instead show you are disciple by, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35). Focus on loving others by serving others, for greatest in kingdom if Heaven will not be kings or CEOs, but servants, “The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:11-12). Amen.