Greetings!
Do you tend to do things to get things?
It’s ok, most of us do. At a younger age, I noticed that people were drawn to me for help, even though I was in a nasty habit of playing-god to do much of my ministering. Honestly, I must admit, I was teaching others to “do things to get things.” I knew without question that I needed to embrace the rhyme and reason as to why I put a focus on Christians “doing” vs. being. It didn’t matter if the person was in the middle of a divorce, struggling with sins, anger or other fleshly modalities – my only goal was to help them stop doing the things that were causing the problems. Little did I realize I was teaching others to steal the role & position of Christ.
As I began to mature
a bit in my role as a minister, I realized that most people-helpers practice the same nasty habit. What was this performance-driven pastor to do? After God revealed this method of madness as an act of a thief, I found my starting place. I immediately began studying the Word of God in light of the human bent toward stealing Christ’s responsibilities.
Before we get started
, we need to remember the original sin. Contrary to popular Christian belief, it was not Adam and Eve eating from the Tree of Knowledge. The original sin was committed by Lucifer attempting to steal the throne seat of the Living God. He didn’t want to be like God, he wanted to BE God. His attempt to burglarize the Kingdom of God brought on his impeachment of being an Archangel, being removed from Heaven, and renamed Satan to make self-evident his new role -
father of lies
.
Playing God has devastating ramifications.
Even though there are more and more humans attempting to BE god, the vast majority function under the modality of being LIKE God. It is my belief that those who stake a claim as God are an immediate threat to Satan. Since this is his primary goal, I believe he will deal with them accordingly. But…those who work to be LIKE God are not only a non-threat to Satan, he implores it.
Playing god is
simply mankind functioning as a replica of God. It is an ideology people use to maintain self-control of self, others, and yes - even God. The term playing-god is so harshly distinctive – it helps believers begin to identify the core problem in all areas of life. In fact, I believe that if a believer doesn’t understand this truth, they will continue in a lifelong pattern of paralleling the Godhead.
The root definition of “man functioning as a replicator of God” is nothing short of a believer walking AFTER their own flesh. If not save, IN their flesh. At first, they covertly believe their flesh is their guiding force/god. Many times after they mature in this ideation, they oftentimes shift into believing consciously that they ARE their flesh. Thus, they are like God. I call this
paralleling the Godhead. Meaning, since they are the god of their own destiny, they might as well control all of life as a god. This act is what birthed the most dangerous sin throughout all eternity - the original sin. This is that horrid act of attempting to steal the role & position of God. Satan may be a liar, but he’s not stupid. He knows if he can get mankind to remain trapped by his original sin, their consequences would be the same as his. And…he’s right. Each will go straight to Hell with him. For those who have had a “born-again” experience, he uses the flesh to maintain disobedience to God by way of resisting the indwelling Holy Spirit, with the hope of the believer renouncing the Spirit as God. Believe it or not, this happens every day, and in every country all day long. The Word calls it the Great Apostasy (falling away).
One of the greatest ironies
regarding the flesh, it can be deceptively pleasant, what I call “pretty flesh.” Flesh that is “pretty,” or “ugly,” is a self-imposed reaction to submitting to the indwelling Life of Christ. If the person is unsaved, their war is in repenting, confessing that Jesus IS God, and receiving the Holy Spirit. Intuitively, they know that the “old-nature,” God replicator, must be put to death & made powerless before Christ takes his position as God within their innermost being. Consequently, this is an act that only a faithful few are willing to do.
Speaking of “pretty-flesh,” those of us that practice this deceptive act of Christianity work diligently to practice the Truths of Christ in us while continuing to walk after the flesh without knowing the error of doing so. In my mind, this is the most deceptive place Satan can shift a believer to live. Always learning but never able to come to the full knowledge of Truth.
Since the majority of the Body of Christ
has no clue what the “flesh” is, they are ignorant about how to combat it. This is the exact reason why I make use of the term “playing-god.” It is an easy concept to help people understand the “law of the flesh.” With that, we can reveal the importance of Christ walking out His own standards (Law of the Spirit) through us by releasing the Holy Spirit to do the doing.
What is our true and honest motive in helping others?
If God was to be God of our Life, then we need to know what He says about Christ helping others through us. Simply put, we need to learn the root meaning of giving through Him to God the Father (Col.3:17). Most of the Lord’s workers who devote their lives to sharing the indwelling Gospel without a paycheck, tend to help to get help. This erroneous belief of ministerial outreach is nothing short of lukewarm. If we ministers have expectations of a return outside of God receiving the blessing, we suffer the modality of lukewarm faith. Worst yet, it becomes a covert confession of using the Gospel (Jesus) to prosper. This one single factor is what separates an external helper from that of internal. Ministering to others without this authentic motive is playing-god.
The stark realization is,
everyone is absolutely, categorically, without question, guilty of playing-god. It is the most common and deceptive problem in all of Christendom, particularly in the Church. It is the complete reason why we have wars, rumors of wars, arguments, and conflicts in our daily living. People, saved or not, feast on the power that comes with playing-god. It’s addictive, while it provides a false sense of control.
Question.
Can you think of anything that can breed more self-life comfort outside of having control over your own destiny? Those who covertly, or overtly, believe they have self-governed control are under the worst kind of deception. Overt “control freaks” are usually the ones blamed for this demise, but the reality is, even “pretty-flesh” sedated believers are guilty of this illusion. Without question, and in my professional view, I believe silence is the greatest form of control. This is obviously the meaning behind Jesus saying, "
But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil
(Matthew 5:37).” People that live and dwell in the zone of indecisive complacency are simply playing with evil – playing god. The most elementary leaders know that people of the “yes” are easy to manage and people of the “no” are easy to discipline. They further understand that people who are not quick to give a “yes” or “no” are completely unmanageable and destructive to the overall goals of the leader. This might be the best way to describe our culture today.
Whichever the case, when any of us play-god, we are attempting to fix the fix that God has fixed on us to stop fixing ourselves and others. “Fast fixes” are NOT the solution. It only breeds more problems and conflicts, which results in a wider gap of separation with the indwelling Life. Working to make our environment more comfortable in order to live a stress-free “Christian life” is not only erroneous, but it also borders on a lifestyle of evil.
I remember the day when my discipler revealed to me my methods of playing-god – allowing circumstances or my feelings to rule my life instead of the Spirit of Truth within me. That day not only shifted my paradigm, but it also infected and affected my view of being a people-helper. I must admit, this took many years to embrace. But…there I remember, as long as the flesh remains in my mortal body, I will have this false god rising up against the Spirit that lives within me. Play-god is not only evil, it is also the one thing that reminds me of that beast, who feasts off my “self-life,” and who rules through the Tree of Knowledge – Satan. It just might be time for a little hatred.
"He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.”
(John 12:25)
