As false messiahs and idols always do, they falter, fall down, and fail us. What freedom and joy there is knowing the only One anointed by heaven to save! 

In their influential book When Helping Hurts on poverty alleviation, Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert speak of the “god complex” or “savior complex” that so many exercise—especially in the West—in ministering to the poor. They define the god complex as “a subtle and unconscious sense of superiority in which they believe that they have achieved their wealth through their own efforts and that they have been anointed to decide what is best for low-income people, whom they view as inferior to themselves.”

As Corbett and Fikkert explain well, many view themselves as a messiah who will save the poor. They ride to the rescue, providing the clothing, food, toys, etc., they think the poor need. Yet they end up hurting the recipients rather than helping them. These approaches focus on temporary relief rather than longer term rehabilitation.

This messiah mindset has permeated other parts of our culture. Indeed, the whole of it. For everywhere we look, people have appointed themselves as the savior of others. They offer their immediate solutions to the ills that trouble.

Offended by a view on the internet? Let my social media blast bully that view into silence and call on the tech giants to cancel it into oblivion.

Racial tensions? Follow me as I promote a new worldview of true race theory.

A worldwide epidemic? Let my scientific knowledge dictate every detail of your lives and develop a vaccine that will save all of you from it.

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