All of the ancient gods and goddesses, as well as the modern manifestation of them today,

basically have one common message. That message is basically one word, and it is self.

Now whether you turn this message upside down or sideways, whether you dress it up in religious dress or put it in a secular suit, whether you cover it up or display it openly, whether you look at it in its pure and essence form or in one of its many forms, the goddess of self is at the core of all rebellion

against the mighty God. The goddess of meism is at the very root of all unbelief. Self is in

constant competition with the living God in our lives. Self is in constant competition with the living God in our lives.

Self is often frantically trying to unseat the living God from your life and from my life,

trying to unseat him from his rightful place of authority and priority.

Self is forever demanding our allegiance, is forever demanding our time, is forever demanding our energy, is forever demanding our money, is forever demanding our attention.

Even in the mainline churches, the public confession of sin

have turned around in modern liturgy and taken upon itself a self-centered form. Instead of

repenting of the sin and falling short of the standard that God has set. I want to read to you just a short

confession from one of the mainline churches. It goes like this. I confess to you that I have sinned.

I have lived at the expense of my own self. In countless ways I have failed to feed and nurture the image of God

within my own self. I have been indulgent and have neglected my own flesh and my own history.

That is the kind of image that is portrayed of God in modern church, self.

Now, there's a modern prophetess of the religion of self by the name of Shirley McLean,

and she said the following.

She said, the most pleasurable journey you take is through yourself.

The only sustaining love involvement is with yourself.

When you look back on your life and try to figure out where you have been and where you're going,

when you examine all of this closely, what you really find out is that the only person that matters

is yourself. And as this religion of self constantly preached at your minds and our minds

...