Their Hipocrisy, My Hipocrisy

Yesterday I spent an hour or two investigating the lifestyles of tele-evangelists and other Christian leaders. This link provides reasonably-researched information with a minimum of commentary: Lavish Lifestyles of Evangelists. (Warning: there’s so much information here that you could spend quite a bit if time reading it.  Site opens in a new window.)

I was all prepared to rail against the hipocrisy of these Christian leaders.  Since when is it okay for Pat Robertson to associate with murderous African dictators for the purposes of mining diamonds or for Kenneth Copeland to fly a fleet of jets worth $50-$60 million?  How is that suffering for the gospel?

But I stopped short.  As I wrote this blog post in my head, I realized that I have no moral authority to make those statements.  You see, I have my own sin issues.  And as much as those things make me sick, my own sin sickens the Holy Spirit.  Are there grades of hipocrisy? Is there some way I can speak out against my brothers without first dealing with my own speck?

I realized this morning in the shower that the only antidote for hipocrisy is another h-word: humility. When I before God humble myself and confess my pride, then before my brothers humble myelf and confess my sin, I earn the moral authority to grab the plank in my brother’s eye.

But then I started to question whether men like Pat Robertson and Kenneth Copeland are even my brothers.  Do they follow a God that asks for sacrifice, or just a god that asks their followers to sacrifice?  Are they committed to leaving everything to follow Christ, or are they leaving Christ to follow everything?  It’s important that I ask these questions of myself, because Jesus certainly asks the same questions of me.

For what it’s worth (rather a lot, I think), Peter writes the following in the second chapter of the book of Second Peter:  “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.”

Have these men brought the way of truth into disrepute?  Maybe.  But that’s a question I cannot answer.  Will I bring the way of truth into disrepute?  Will you?  As Shakespeare said, “THAT is the question.”