It takes a special energy to endure the hardships and ridicule religious leaders endure.  It takes convictions.  Convictions that can be hard for others to understand and appreciate.  These convictions comes from within him—from within his psyche.  They may reside in all of us, but only a few are motivated to express their passions to the extent we see in religious prophets.  How one person can take control of a whole group has already been established, but most religious people believe that their founder was more than just a person.  They credit him with some special divine guidance or power and maybe even credit him with being God himself.  Not only do the faithful claim their prophets are divine, but the prophets themselves are certain they are special.  So sure are they that they may even put their lives on the line to prove it. 

Certainly, the world has seen its share of deceitful liars trying to pass themselves off as religious prophets.  Counting on a small fraction of a percent of the billions of people on the earth to be fooled and follow them, they prey on the naive, the vulnerable, and the elderly for their personal gain.  They sold snake-oil a hundred years ago, and today they call themselves faith-healers, evangelists, re-birthers, and psychics.  A hundred years from now they will have a new game.  These tricksters know within their heart-of-hearts that they are fakes.  They know it and their actions show they know it.  But these are not the type of people that founded most of the great religions.  Jesus, Zoroaster, Mohammed, Buddha, Luther, Calvin, Smith, Augustine, Paul, and Mary Baker Eddy are very different.  With a conviction that is hard to appreciate, they knew they held something extraordinary.  These people knew that they were special, holding an insight into a spiritual truth far greater than other men and women possess.  They themselves were certain in this. They proclaimed it and many were willing to suffer scorn and die proving it.  The founding fathers of most religious sects bore a multitude of tribulations.  The list of the religiously persecuted is enormous, and the list of those who paid the ultimate price with their life is considerable.  What instilled in them such convictions they would die for?  What made them so certain of their calling? What nourished their ego?

This is only a short summary of this chapter.  To find out more, please read Why Adam and Eve Created God