I think you hit the nail on the head, OldSkool, when you used the phrase "extreme highmindedness". Romans 11:20 says "Be not highminded, but fear:" Wierwille expressly taught in foundational PFAL that this verse was not addressed to Christians, when in truth, it WAS.
Wierwille taught that we are not to fear God, but that we are to respect Him, the way we would respect an elderly uncle we are no longer expected to obey. Wierwille divorced the idea of obedience from the idea of respect for God. After all, obedience doesn't matter in this WONDERFUL AGE OF GRACE!
In Psalm 139:23&24, David cried out, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
That was an expression of genuine fear of God. A person who does not fear God mistakes every thought and intent of his own heart for TRUTH, because the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
People who do not fear God come to believe their own hype. At one time, CES' motto was "Speaking the truth in love." They arrived at a place where they believed the things they spoke were true and loving, just because they spoke them. Never mind what's actually written in the Word.
They can't help deceiving people, because they have deceived themselves!
Love,
Steve