All of mankind is suffering from megalomania. Everything has to be luxurious and first-rate! It has to be impressive! Unfortunately it is quite common for converted people to admire (worship) all that is great and highly esteemed in this world. They even fall in love with these things! Much wealth! A splendid meal! Everything has to be fine and modern! Great talent! Exceptional intelligence! Exceptional education! Well-read! Widely traveled! Impressive titles! A library with thousands of dollars’ worth of books! People honor and worship the creation instead of the Creator. They appropriate the honor that belongs to God alone, giving it to man, who absolutely does not deserve it. With one blow, a single word from Jesus makes a pile of rubble out of all this vanity and these swelled heads: “For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” Luke 16:15. What is it that is so great and pleasing in God’s eyes? Whom does He consider great? “Now godliness with contentment is great gain.” 1 Tim. 6:6. In other words, it is great to use little; possess little; need little; be content with little; and to deny all that is great in the eyes of man. The one who is great and the greatest in the kingdom of God is the one who humbles himself, makes himself small, and considers himself to be and behaves as everyone’s servant and slave! He who loves God and keeps His commandments is great. Something like a “Pope” is sheer blasphemy. It is pure insanity to think someone like that could represent or be like Christ. Allowing yourself to be called priest or pastor because you have gone to a school and therefore somehow belong to the upper class that is looked up to by foolish and simple people also falls under the definition of megalomania and is one hundred percent unbiblical. It is tyranny. All the members of the body of Christ are priests in spirit and truth. In the church and in the dispensation of the new covenant there is no other priesthood to be found. 1 Pet. 2:9-10. Why do all the converted people not know this? Because they are blinded, because their unbelief causes them to stumble at the Word. Religious darkness is as impenetrable as the darkest of nights. The fact that “pastors,” “preachers,” and leaders” sit on high platforms and podiums and stages to be seen and to lord it over the other brothers and sisters is nothing but megalomania and tyranny. It is the perfect contrast to humbling yourself. Why not sit in chairs or benches on the floor like the others? If necessary, they could stand on a small platform in larger meeting halls in order to be heard better when they speak. In this connection, we can remember what Jesus said so aptly: “And many such things you do.” Mark 7:13.Elias Aslaksen