Terry Applegate | On December 5, 2019

Sometimes I think I am just going crazy.

You know, how you feel when you start drawing comparisons between disparate phenomenon, then you think, “I must be nuts to connect these!”

Recently, watching some self-absorbed ‘woke’ young ranting and raving over a newly discovered violation of economic equality, I thought, “You know, these young socialists are all egomaniacs.”

I felt so insecure in such a brash and imprudent linkage that I reached for the phone and called up my most trusted shrink, Dr. Ann A. Lyst, PhD, SUDOE, to see if I was going off my rocker or, not.

She answered the phone in her usual lyrical yet professional voice, “Dr. Lyst, how may I improve you?”

I quickly related my concern and then we got right down to the nitty-gritty.

“Dr. Lyst”, I started, “It seems that the recently ‘educated’ are coming up with the most wild, impractical and petulant ideas in order to remake the world according to their self-manufactured ideas of what ‘perfection’ should look like. Does giving free rein to their egos in this manner qualify as a ‘egomaniacal’ trait or, am I going whacky?”

She gently assured me that I was probably okay and that it was typical of egomaniacs to think that they are the greatest in the world and consequently they often advanced schemes that were unconnected to reality, detached from history and contemptuous of proven opinion.

I sighed a breath of relief that maybe I really was okay. Emboldened, I continued, “Then would the fact that they always seem so impressed with themselves, utterly lacking in humility, to the point where they are almost god-like in their insistence that others order their lives around what they think is right and proper also be indicative of an overly exercised ego?”

“Absolutely”, she replied, “Extreme self-confidence and a lack of empathy for others often leads to exactly the kind of behavior you just described in those with this affliction.”

Breathless, I pushed on, “The fact they are always trying to restructure reality, in constant revolution against the world as-it-is qualify as a definer of the condition?  And, how about their constant ridiculing of those who disagree with them and even incitements of violence against them, are these symptomatic as well?”

She explained that egomaniacs think that their ideals are even better than what naturally exists, that not even reality supersedes their concepts of how things should be.  And, that their typical lack of maturity and their cold, calculating cruel streak are also defining traits of egomaniacs.

And, “Why are they always so angry?” I asked.

Because they are mad that the reality that exists doesn’t match what they “know” to be right in their own minds, she answered.

“I’m really not going crazy,” I thought to myself as we said our goodbyes.

Relaxed, after her reassuring comments, my mental wheels started to turn again – how then would a Christian compare to a Socialist?

Well, to start with, the Christian does not let their ego loose, rather they attempt to harness it to the will of Christ. Christians beg for the mind of Christ to be within them and for the diminishment of their own will/ego where it is in conflict (sin) with God’s.

This is just the opposite of the egomaniac who totally trusts in his own ideas, capacities and abilities.

Christians seek to minimize their own desires and ideas and make every effort to replace them with Kingdom principles so as to accomplish Kingdom purposes.

What a contrast! The egomaniac socialist — cock-sure that their ego, their self-will is purer than God’s (if they even think He exists) — and the Christian, trying to live so as to actualize Gods’ will and not their own!

A true Christian must be entirely consistent, allowing Christ to transform not only himself, but the world as well. By definition, humble, acknowledging their own incapacity for good, their weakness and innate sinfulness and consequent need for and reliance on Christ.

The mentally ill socialist meanwhile, controlled by their pride and selfish desire to be in control, spends trillions on secular schools, secular hand-outs, and radical secular social and economic schemes – all to no avail, as anybody with half an eye can see.

Meanwhile, Christianity marches on, giving birth to the great ideas – hospitals, science, universities, churches – transforming hearts and minds and, when ascendant, cultures.

So, assured by the good doctor that my ideas are not totally crazy, I can end my day praying for a government governing by negative law, as the Bible does (see the Ten Commandments, for example).

And, praying against positive law government where the citizens’ intelligence, initiative, and ideas are replaced by the egomaniacal law-giver who makes decisions for their subjects, telling them how they must live, who they must associate with, forcing their ideas on their charges in every area of life. Eventually taking away the people’s property, freedom and, in the end, even their very personality and manhood.

May Christians everywhere war against those false ideas which seek to enslave men. In the spiritual realm warring through prayer, and in the corporeal world through every peaceful means in the economic, educational, civil, religious and political spheres.

Terry Applegate

Terry Applegate writes from Utah in the winter and Michigan in the summer. He is CEO of Applegate Insulation, serves on the board for Citizens for Traditional Values, Cellulose Insulation Manufacturers Association and the European Theological Seminary and is married to Val with three children and four grand-children.