Responding to Jessie Ventura's assertion that
organized religion is a "sham" and a "crutch for
weak-minded people," Jay Leno, the host of the
Tonight Show quipped, "Gee, isn't it good that
professional wrestling isn't like that?"
—Baptist Press Tuesday 3/7/00 Illustration by Jim
L. Wilson
It is much easier to criticize others than to
analyze one's own short comings.
"And why do you look at the speck that is in your
brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is
in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:3 NASB)
HYPOCRISY
In an interview with musicomh.com, Divine Comedy’s
Neil Hannon responds with unique candor to the
music press’ contention that he is “pretentious.”
He said, "Well, I mean, pretension; the very word.
Surely that's exactly what everybody in this
industry does, pretend to be something or other. A
lot of people go 'keep it real', but what exactly
are they keeping real? You're basically keeping
some mythical '60s rock attitude real, which is
fake anyway.”
Hannon knows something about hypocrisy in the
music industry and apparently he knows something
about hypocrisy in the church too. Hannon’s father
is an Anglican clergyman in Northern Ireland. In
his song, Eye of the Needle, he writes, “The cars
in the churchyard are shiny and German/Completely
at odds with the theme of the sermon/And during
communion I stare at the people/Squeezing
themselves through the eye of the needle.”
—http://divineguitar.co.uk/tracks/eye_of_the_needlel1.htm,
http://divineguitar.co.uk/biography.htm,
Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and David
Campton
Is that what we do? Are our lifestyle and our
beliefs incongruent? Are we holding onto the Bible
with one hand and clinging to the world with the
other?
Luke 16:13 KJV “No servant can serve two masters:
for either he will hate the one, and love the
other; or else he will hold to the one, and
despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and
mammon.”
For more information on “The Eye of the Needle,”
go to
Victoria Golden was surprised to see two signs
hanging on the door of a repair shop. One said:
“We can fix anything.” The other said, “Please
knock on the door—the bell doesn’t work.”
—Reader’s Digest, March 03, p. 127 Illustration by
Jim L. Wilson
Matthew 23:3 (MsgB) “You won't go wrong in
following their teachings on Moses. But be careful
about following them. They talk a good line, but
they don't live it. They don't take it into their
hearts and live it out in their behavior. It's all
spit-and-polish veneer.”
HYPOCRISY
Athletes, coaches, movie
stars, politicians, and other people who are in
the public eye have a great platform from which
to teach moral and spiritual values. Some of
them use the platform, some of them do not. The
greatest hindrance to the gospel may be those
who use the platform, and then fall far short of
their own words.
Jim Tressel resigned under
pressure as the head football coach at Ohio
State. Tressel was an outspoken coach who
espoused character and the moral high ground. In
his book, The Winners Manual, Tressel defined
discipline as “what you do when no one else is
looking.”
--Time, June 13, 2011 p. 19
Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell
Unfortunately, Tressel
failed to live up to his words. His resignation
came as a result of his looking the other way at
his players misconduct and then lying about
their deeds in an attempt to cover up their
violations. Sean Gregory, writing in Time
magazine said, “Tressel might as well have
written a manual on hypocrisy.”
Jesus reserved some of his
harshest words for those who spoke one way and
lived another. He too, called them
hypocrites.
Matthew 23:13-29 (ESV) (13)
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven
in people’s faces. For you neither enter
yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go
in. (14) (15) Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land
to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes
a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child
of hell as yourselves. (16) “Woe to you, blind
guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the
temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by
the gold of the temple, he is bound by his
oath.’ (17) You blind fools! For which is
greater, the gold or the temple that has made
the gold sacred? (18) And you say, ‘If anyone
swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if
anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar,
he is bound by his oath.’ (19) You blind men!
For which is greater, the gift or the altar that
makes the gift sacred? (20) So whoever swears by
the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
(21) And whoever swears by the temple swears by
it and by him who dwells in it. (22) And whoever
swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and
by him who sits upon it. (23) “Woe to you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe
mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the
weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy
and faithfulness. These you ought to have done,
without neglecting the others. (24) You blind
guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a
camel! (25) “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup
and the plate, but inside they are full of greed
and self-indulgence. (26) You blind Pharisee!
First clean the inside of the cup and the plate,
that the outside also may be clean. (27) “Woe to
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you
are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly
appear beautiful, but within are full of dead
people’s bones and all uncleanness. (28) So you
also outwardly appear righteous to others, but
within you are full of hypocrisy and
lawlessness. (29) “Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs
of the prophets and decorate the monuments of
the righteous,
HYPOCRISY
Stockholm resident Henrik Ismarker complained to
police about the traffic in front of his home. Too
many cars going too fast made his street unsafe.
The next day, police caught Henrik in a speed
trap. He was driving too fast on his own street
and police responding to his complaint wrote him a
speeding ticket.
--The Week, April 20, 2012 p. 4 Illustration by
Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell
Jesus reserved some of his harshest criticism for
people who were hypocritical. We ought to strive
to make our walk match our talk.
At least in this case, Henrik was embarrassed and
apologized. He did say he was happy the police
took his complaint seriously.
Mark 7:6 (ESV) And he said to them, “Well did
Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is
written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
HYPROCRICY
Marv Hoyt, the former Idaho director of the
Greater Yellowstone Coalition was an outspoken
wildlife advocate, who has been critical of the
mining industries practice of generating pollution
that kills sheep and cattle.
Hoyt is the former director, because he was forced
to resign in the wake of poaching allegations from
the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. The
Department accused him of killing three elk and
leaving the carcasses of two of them behind in the
field—he only had one valid elk tag. He pled
guilty to the misdemeanor charges of taking game
unlawfully and the wasteful destruction of
wildlife.
James 2:14 (NLT) What good is it, dear brothers
and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t
show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith
save anyone?
Hypocrisy
In “Being Genuine in Spiritual Practice,” Joshua
Saefkow writes, “I have never considered myself a
hypocrite, but a few months ago I began to wonder.
Our church was hosting a movie premier for a
well-anticipated faith-based film. The film
brought in all sorts of people from the community.
It was powerful and delivered a strong Christian
message. Once the film ended, a well-respected
minister brought a word of encouragement. He
encouraged and uplifted everyone in the room and
by the end of his five-minute reflection; the
congregation was on its feet in applause.
My responsibility for the evening was to close in
prayer. All I had to do was pray. In the brief ten
steps I made to the pulpit, my competitive nature
took over, Make
this the best prayer they've ever heard, I
thought. The immediate desire to impress this
crowd became rooted in my mind and I used prayer
as a self-promotion tool. As soon as I began to
pray I began to spiritualize every word. God
sounded a lot more like “Gawd” and I rightly
applied the preacher axiom, “start low, rise
higher, spit fire then retire.” By the end of my
prayer people were standing but shouting
Hallelujah’s and Praise the Lord. I ended on a
high note, quoting a poem I had memorized years
ago to encourage them as we left for the evening.
After saying the final amen, I made a beeline for
the door. I was embarrassed at what I had done.
When I got home, I asked God to forgive me of the
selfishness in my heart. In four minutes, I had
turned from a preacher into a performer. The
desire to impress became more important than the
simple task of saying, ‘Thank you, Lord,’ with a
pure motive.”
Living the
Sermon on the Mount, 49-50.
Matthew 23:13 (HCSB) “But woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! You lock up the kingdom of
heaven from people. For you don’t go in, and you
don’t allow those entering to go in.”
For more information on Living the
Sermon on the Mount, go to:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1523787473/fm082-20
HYPOCRISY
For the past 20 years, Stuart Dunnings III has
been the top prosecutor for Ingham County,
Michigan and has built a reputation as “an
outspoken advocate for ending human trafficking
and prostitution.” According to the state attorney
general’s office Dunnings took an aggressive
approach to his job and quickly cracked down,
impounding Johns’ vehicles and smacking
prostitutes and their clients with felonies.
However, since 2008, Dunnings has shelled out
hundreds of dollars three or four times a week,
for illegal encounters with prostitutes. He became
the very person he was working so hard to stop.
Prosecutors have charged Dunning with 10 counts of
engaging in the services of prostitutes. If
convicted he could spend more than 20 years behind
bars.–--Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.
Matthew 7:5 (HCSB)“Hypocrite! First
take the log out of your eye, and then you will
see clearly to take the speck out of your
brother’s eye.” HYPOCRISY
Jim
Thorn, chairman of the Louisiana Tax Commission,
was in charge of making sure the property taxes
in the state were all the on the up and up.
There was only one problem. Mr. Thorn had not
paid his own property taxes in 30 years.
When
the governor was asked about this he responded
that Mr. Thorn had not technically done anything
that would require his resignation from the Tax
Commission, but he was going to need to resign
anyway. —Jim L. Wilson
and Scott Hill
Proverbs 28:13 (HCSB) “The one who conceals his
sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and
renounces them will find mercy.” HYPOCRISY
A
famous comedian has a comic routine where he
talks about sitting in First Class on an
airplane while watching other people go by to
coach. He makes a comment about how whenever he
sees a soldier get on the plane he thinks to
himself “it would be if I gave him my seat.” He
then talks about how he never followed through
with that thought, but that he felt like a good
person for having thought about it even though
he never acted on it.
As
Christians, it is not enough just to know what
to do, but we must actually do it. It is not
enough to think about doing the right thing, but
we must act on it. —Jim L. Wilson & Miles
Hansen
Louis
C.K. – Standup Special, “Live at the Bacon
Theater” track 6
James 1:22–25 (HCSB) “But be doers of the word and
not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23
Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not
a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face
in a mirror. 24 For he looks at
himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what
kind of man he was. 25 But the one who
looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and
perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer
but one who does good works—this person will be
blessed in what he does.” HYPOCRISY
Pennsylvania
Representative Tim Murphy resigned from congress
a year short of finishing his term. The Family
Research Council gave Murphy high marks for his
pro-life stances and as well as for Family
Values. He was a member of the House Pro-Life
Caucus. One month after admitting to having an
affair, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette obtained
texts showing that he had urged his lover to
have an abortion when it appeared she was
pregnant.
Something
doesn’t compute when a leader pushing family
values has an affair. Pro-life leaders who urge
abortion when an unplanned pregnancy interferes.
Is there a better example of full blown
hypocrisy? Sometimes our worst enemies in the
cultural wars are those who are on our side. The
enemies of values and life are rejoicing at this
news. When a believer loses integrity and makes
wrong choices, the reaction of the world is the
same. We bring shame to the cause of Christ.
—Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the
things I say? HYPOCRISY
A
Pennsylvanian member of Congress who has been
one of the most pro-life lawmakers in Washington
admitted to an extramarital affair. While
looking into the divorce proceedings between his
lover and her former husband the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette found some text messages
between the congressman and his lover. She told
him she was afraid she might be pregnant. In his
response, the pro-life member of Congress asked
her to consider abortion.
Such
blatant hypocrisy is out in the open for all to
see. Every Christian should seek every day to
live according to what they profess to believe.
Our shortcomings may not make the news but be
sure God knows when we don’t live like we
profess. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.
World
Magazine, October 28, 2017 p. 10
Luke 12:2 (CSB)
There is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered,
nothing hidden that won’t be made known. HYPOCRISY
Kathy Gilroy is a prominent
anti-gambling crusader in Illinois. She has
crusaded against gambling of all kinds; lotteries, casinos,
internet poker, and other games of chance. A
local café notified her that she had won $25,000
in a sweepstake game sponsored by the café. She
has run into some public relation difficulties.
People are claiming that Ms. Gilroy is a
hypocrite. The local VFW Commander, Jerry
Zeborowski was perplexed to hear that Gilroy had
won a sweepstakes. “It’s ironic that someone
who’s anti-gambling would enter something like
that,” he said. “That’s a little hypocrisy
there, don’t you think?”—Jim L. Wilson and
Rodger Russell.
U.S. women’s soccer player Ashlyn Harris tweeted
about another soccer player Joelene Hinkle. Hinkle
decided not to join the American women’s soccer
team because of requirements to wear an LGBT pride
jersey. Harris told Hinkle, “Our team is about
inclusion, you wouldn’t fit in.”
World Magazine August 3, 2019 p. 12
Well Ms. Harris said, we want to be inclusive
about everything except for those with beliefs we
cannot accept. That is not inclusion; it is
shutting down of the free exchange of ideas. –Jim
L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.
Romans
2:1 (CSB) “Therefore, every one of you who judges
is without excuse. For when you judge another, you
condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the
same things.”
HYPOCRISY
A video recently emerged of a man sleeping behind
the wheel of a Tesla that was apparently on
“autopilot,” going down the Massachusetts Turnpike
at 55 MPH. Where did the video originate? Dakota
Randall, who was driving next to the Tesla, shot
the video. Randall told the CBS Boston affiliate,
“I thought I saw somebody asleep at the wheel but
I wasn’t sure, so I did a double-take. Sure
enough.”
Certainly, falling asleep at the wheel is not a
good idea, even with autopilot, right? But what
about shooting a cell phone video while driving
next to the sleeping driver, is that a good idea?
It just reminds me how easy it is to criticize
someone else’s actions while being totally unaware
of one’s own actions.—Jim L. Wilson
James 1:22–23 (CSB)
But be doers of the word and not hearers only,
deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a
hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like
someone looking at his own face in a mirror.
HYPOCRISY
It never ceases to me how critical we can be of
some things we might consider bad, wrong, or
sinful, while embracing other things that are
equally so, that we do not take into
consideration. Indeed, we are all hypocrites in
one way or another. For example, we live in an age
where being “woke” (the latest term to describe
political correctness) and “virtue-signaling” are
the commonplace and it seems almost everything is
up for serious critique or change to conform to
this new norm. However, whenever these “woke”
individuals conjure up something else to be
“triggered” about, they often expose their own
blatant hypocrisy.
Take the example of the flirtatious song “Baby
it’s Cold Outside,” written by Frank Loesser, in
1944. For many years it has been a much-loved
staple on the Radio or TV, during the Christmas
Season. That is until a couple of years ago, when
some radio stations banned it from their
playlists, saying the lyrics were no longer
appropriate, considering the “me-too” movement.
So, in steps John Legend, who rewrites the song,
along with Natasha Rothwell to what they believe
to be a more appropriate lyric: “To give
the female protagonist more agency and control.
Her date is also more passive and less pushy.”This
is much to the chagrin of many who love the
flirtatious original. Now Legend is undoubtedly a
great musician and song-writer; but, his past
collaborations and associations, along with the
large catalogue of hip hop and rap music that
completely denigrates and demeans women, suggests
that he, like so many others in the “woke”
movement, are completely blinded to their own
hypocrisy in this respect. Like all of us, they
indeed strain out a gnat, yet are more than happy
to swallow a camel.
Yes, Jesus was right: we are no better than the
scribes and Pharisees of His day, we are all truly
hypocrites in one way or another. So, we must be
very careful not to be critical of the behavior in
the lives of some, while embracing the same or
similar behavior in our own. —Jim L. Wilson and
Derick Wilson
Matthew 23:24 (CSB)
Blind guides! You strain out a gnat, but gulp down
a camel!
HYPOCRISY
Alton,
Illinois Mayor, Brant Walker pleaded with
residents to stay home and shelter in
place to stop the spread of the COVID-19
virus. He threatened citizens with
orders to enforce the Novel Corona Virus
sheltering orders. Only a few days
later, a police raid on a Tavern caught
revelers partying after midnight.
Police issued criminal complaints to everyone
at the gathering with a
misdemeanor of reckless conduct, including his
own wife. Walker insists she will
not be let off easy. “My wife is an adult
capable of making her own decisions,”
he said, “and in this instance she exhibited a
stunning lack of judgment.”
World
May 9, 2020. P.19
While
this case was not one of blatant hypocrisy,
after all it was his wife who was
breaking his rules, a person still needs to
recognize the actions of their
spouse that may be contrary to their rules.
–Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell
Luke
12:2 (CSB)
There
is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered,
nothing hidden that won’t be made
known.
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