The concept of salvation seems to have been taken over by the same thinking in America that has driven most everything else for many years. That is the concept of self. The self is the product of pride which is the fallen man’s desire to be god to himself and others. Pride exalts self over God in the thoughts, affections, and choices. It seems as if most things in America are driven by self-interest and self-exaltation. It seems that salvation has become nothing more than an extension of that. The individual reigns supreme as s/he seeks the welfare of self and so churches bow to what the individual thinks that s/he needs or wants. It is no longer that the focus of sermons has a bent toward self (which is bad enough), but it seems as if it is all pointed toward self and the Gospel has been changed from its biblical God-centeredness to a focus on man. The Gospel is no longer about changing souls to being like God but now God has been changed to be made in the image of man.
“There is no single aspect of religion which may not bear the marks of egocentricity or theocentricity, according as the one or the other of these constitutes the fundamental character of the religious relationship…Salvation may suggest nothing to me but the idea of my own perfect happiness, if not in this world, at any rate in the next; or it may signify the conformity of the human will with the divine, so that I am content to play whatever part God may appoint for me in His scheme of things.” (Let God Be God! An Interpretation of the Theology of Martin Luther)
The quote above should bring chills into our hearts and bring us to reflect on what the very core of Christianity should be, what it is in America, and then in our own souls. If there is no single aspect of religion that cannot be taken over or at least heavily diluted by egocentricity, then we must understand that this would change the fundamental character of Christianity (our perception and practice of it). The core of true Christianity is that of a majestic and self-sufficient God before whom humility is utterly necessary. Pride and selfishness, however, is the very essence of sin. When it is pride that determines what is presented as Christianity, the fundamental core of Christianity is no longer the same. When the fundamental core of something has been changed, it is no longer the same thing. What is being said, then, is that when the true and biblical core of Christianity (theocentricity) has been changed (to egocentricity), Christianity has been changed and is no longer true Christianity.
In its history the nation of Israel went from what God set it out to be in order to follow their own ways and do what they thought was good for themselves. That changed the very structure of their worship and actions to idolatry though the externals were relatively the same. When Christianity changes its fundamental core from God-centeredness (as God set it out to be) to man-centeredness, then it has changed the structure of its worship and actions to idolatry as well. We have men like Andrew Murray crying out in the late 1800’s that the Church of Jesus Christ was far, far below what it once was. You can then go to Arthur Pink and A.W. Tozer in the 1940’s and 1950’s and find them saying the same thing. The heart of Christianity was changing and it is still changing. We have moved from the worship of God to the worship of man. The Christianity of today that is found in the book stores, magazines, and the vast majority of pulpits today is not the Christianity of history nor of the Bible.
The men of the past talked about God with reverence and awe and how He changed hearts to make them His instruments of glory in which their joy and purpose could be found. The men of today speak of being good so that God will bless us and give us the worldly things that we need to make us happy. They speak of a God (god) that is focused on human beings and is running around trying to save them and bless them if only they will jump through the prescribed hoops that have been set out for them. While the same words are being used, the meaning has changed dramatically. The pride of man has pushed God off of the stage to make room for self to be the center of it all. We truly live in a day of mass idolatry because God has been cast out of the minds and hearts of people and self has been enthroned. The pride of man is now sought to be fulfilled in many ways when attending church. The Gospel itself has been changed and now God is said to seek man rather than teaching man to seek God. Man is now sovereign of his own salvation and is the captain of his own soul. God is relegated to the sidelines to simply watch what man must work out for himself. God is said to have provided all that man needs but now it is up to man. That is far, far from Christianity, the true Gospel, and the true God. The man-centered garbage that is now presented as Christianity is as far from the truth of God as Mormonism is. If we are going to be awakened we must have prophets raised up by God to speak for God rather than those who would lull us to sleep with so-called gracious words that make us feel good in our pride. How we need to be delivered from our pride.
God Loves... Himself 
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