Humanism is the enthronement and glorification of self. It is what the Western culture worships. It is diluting the church’s progress and hampering her power and impact.
The dictionary definition of humanism is this: “the denial of any power or moral value superior to that of humanity; the rejection of religion in favor of a belief in the advancement of humanity by its own efforts.”
After reading that definition, you might be thinking, “Hey, professing Christians in America and the West in general don’t deny a superior power (God) and moral value or reject religion!” But remember that humanism is the prevalent thought in the Western culture, largely shaped by the mainstream media and not seen or discerned by the multitudes.
Due to its satanic origin and nature, it is deceptive. Humanism is the philosophy of our day that has infiltrated Christianity. It is very subtle, akin to the proverbial frog in boiling water. If you drop a frog into hot water, it will immediately jump out. If you put a frog in cool water and slowly heat it, it will stay and die because it does not discern the sudden heat.
Although there seems to be a growing number of professing atheists in America, the majority of people in the West have not denied God, per se, or rejected religion—at least not in word or form, but in deed and in actions they undoubtedly have. Just the one example of same-sex marriage proves that.
What was unthinkable 50 years ago has now been legalized in a number of states. It is not the outright rejection of God or religion that signals a radical change in the Western culture but the change in the motivation of the hearts of the people. The wealth of any nation is the hearts of the people.
Humanism defined as a motivation of the heart is this: The end of all existence is the happiness of man. In other words, all of creation exists for the happiness of man. God reigns in heaven for the happiness of man. Jesus Christ came from heaven for the happiness of man. The angels exist for the happiness of man.
Again, you may be asking, “Is there anything wrong with being happy?” and “Does God not want us happy?” Happiness is honorable and desirable only when it is a byproduct of holiness and true submission to God and not a primary aim or a means to an end. God does not exist to make man happy.
True Christianity is the glorification of God. The end of all things is the glory of God.
Humanism is simply the deification of man. In the Western world, we don’t worship idols of wood carvings and totem pole images, but we worship self, thus the reason our hard-drinking, drug-using, immoral celebrities are deified by the mainstream media and society. Even in their death, countless obituaries laud these celebrities’ abilities and accomplishments while skipping over their extremely godless lifestyles. Most of these celebrities can’t even sustain a brief marriage and can hardly remain briefly sober but continue to rake in the extra bucks from their celebrity endorsements, which are carefully heeded by their adoring, senseless fans who worship them. Humans have a need to worship something, so it might as well be a better me or a superior you.
Even though at our very core we were created with an innate desire to be God-centered human beings, as a society our rejection of God as worthy of our worship has opened the door to increasingly foolish brands of polytheism, Eastern religions, mysticism and self-help gurus, all stroking the already inflated egos of our population and informing them of the latest religion that’s all about you. These religions and philosophies have penetrated our Western culture and are eroding the influence and impact of Christianity.
As a further example of the progressively inordinate worship of self in our Western culture, let’s examine the magazine industry to illustrate this evolution, especially throughout the last century.
Decades ago, there was a birth of a magazine in America called Life that was very popular. Later, a new magazine was published that superseded Life called People. Well, since Life is all about people, the new magazine title made perfect sense. Something then changed in our inner consciousness and the industry took advantage of it, which necessitated a third magazine publication called Us. Finally, as the motivation of the heart of American culture continued to spiral downward, alas, today you can walk through airports and observe on magazine racks in stores the latest new magazine called Self. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
This illustrates the gradual, ever-so-subtle change in the motivation of the hearts of our Western culture and the evolvement of it into such a preoccupation and an exaltation of self—an even stronger brand of humanism called narcissism, where people’s bodies and nakedness are glorified.
We worship celebrities, singers, sex symbols, pop star divas and athletes, and these become our heroes and our gods, regardless of their oftentimes questionable character and corrupted lifestyle. We save the whales, the eagles, the bears, the trees and Mother Earth, but we kill babies. And yes, we encourage homosexuality and now same-sex marriage but outlaw school prayer. This is the rotten fruit of secular humanism, and it is killing Western civilization as generations past have known it and, as I’ve repeatedly stated, infiltrating, infecting and greatly weakening the church.
The first step to recovering and restoring godly character and power in the church is to simply develop an awareness of humanism and its deadly effects.
Bert M. Farias, founder of Holy Fire Ministries, is the author of The Real Gospel and co-host of the New England Holy Ghost Forum. He is a missionary evangelist carrying a spirit of revival to the church and the nations. Follow him at Bert Farias on Facebook or @Bertfarias1 on Twitter.
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