My Jesus versus Your Jesus - Part 2

It is dangerous when this sense of alignment with one’s own understanding is misconstrued as actual alignment with God. The man’s understandings of God take the place of God, and the man unwittingly serves and worships his own mind. The believer may honestly say, “Not my will, but God’s will be done,” oblivious to how much he’s come to view the two as one and the same. When the believer feels strongly about something, often after much prayer and consideration, he identifies his own feelings as an impartation of God’s divine will, thereby unwittingly serving his own emotions. As a believer gets more charismatic, he may also confirm these feelings by perceiving miraculous signs: any coincidence at any time which can be interpreted as a divine message. All this creates a very dangerous predicament; a person who goes around believing that his own insights, views, feelings, and subsequent behavioral responses are backed by divine authority. This illusion can lead the believer to sacrifice just about anything, including the relationships and needs of family and friends, to accomplish this “divine” will. The believer sincerely considers himself humble, but is oblivious to the insidious arrogance that underlies such illusions of authority.