Hypocrisy Unmasked: Evil
Dressed in Good
Introduction: The Mask of Righteousness
Within each generation, the church has known
its enemies, not necessarily those from the outside but those from the inside
as well. The most destructive type of people in the ranks of the Christian
faith are not the overtly wicked but those who seem righteous while concealing
their darkness behind slickly honed facades. Wolves in sheep’s clothing, sexual
predators, domestic abusers, manipulators, liars, and false prophets who
masquerade as ministers and ministers in the flesh, prayer warriors, humble
servers, and devoted friends, people who proclaim holiness while hiding in the
sin darkness, speaking of love while manifesting cruelty, and claiming devotion
to the Scripture while disregarding its authority—are the most painful to find
because the tragedy is in their existence and in how long the deception has
been hidden behind a mask of hypocrisy that has long disguised its presence.
The Nature of Hypocrisy:
Performance Without Transformation
Hypocrisy is not an impulsiveness, a momentary
weakness in judgment. True hypocrisy is the willful deception of character; a
life of pretending to be what one has no intention of becoming. It is religious
acting, a performance to win applause, to inspire confidence and trust, and to
wield power and influence. Hypocrites are masters of the language of the
church. They know how to raise their hands in worship, when to cry in their
prayers, how to be humble, and how to talk religiously. They wear the appearance
of holiness outwardly, but their hearts are filled with decay and vile things.
Jesus warned strongest against people of this
character. Jesus referred to people of this character as “whitewashed tombs”
who appear beautiful but contain decay and death inside. Hypocrisy is decay in
the flesh clothed in religious garb. Hypocrisy grows best in a climate where
people evaluate things by appearance and appearance instead of character is
cherished.
How Evil Hides in Plain Sight
Many people wonder the same question in their
minds: How do sexual predators, domestic violence abusers, and false prophets
in our midst remain undetected in our churches?
The
answer to this question is ominous and simple: “Hypocrisy is a strategic actor,
and its first attribute is to study its environment and to modify its own
actions in accordance with the expectations of the people in its environment.”
Sexual predators will be nice, be a helper, be generous, and be friendly.
Domestic violence abusers will be a devoted husband and a devoted father. The
false prophets will speak the same language and be filled with the same passion
of a true man of God.
They know how to be credible. They work hard to
establish a public reputation that conceals their behind-closed-doors activity.
The goodness in their lives has a hidden motive, and their kindness is measured
and strategic. The church, hungry to think the best of people, provides the
ideal environment for the hypocrite to camouflage behind the religio-speak and
religious activity.
The Role of a Seared Conscience
Perhaps the most chill-inducing description of
the phenomenon of hypocrisy is what the Bible calls the “seared conscience.”
The seared-conscience individual is a individual struggling with sin—not an
individual numb to it. The sensitivity to their morality has been anesthetized,
seared out of their soul through their rebellion against God. They feel no
guilt in harming those in their life. They do not tremble at the Word of God.
They are nor moved by the conviction of the Holy Spirit in their life. They lie,
swear, cheat, and steal with the purest of consciences and no internal conflict
whatsoever.
This explains why the hypocrite might pray
fervently on Sunday and practice wickedness on Monday. They might preach
holiness while living in filth. They might praise God in worship songs while
planning wickedness. The conscience will no longer warn them of impending doom,
and hence their descent into darkness while donning the garments of light.
The Harm Caused by Hidden Evil
The aftermaths brought by hypocrites are
usually devastating. The victims of predators in the church experience
emotional, psychological, and spiritual wounds for years to come. The presence
of domestic abusers posing as people of high religious standing brings
confusion and pain to the family setting. The prophets of doom mislead the
congregations with their prophets.
The tragedy is that the hypocrite will silence
those who try to bring them to light. They will charm their way to discredit
the victims, to influence a way to cloud the leadership, and through Scripture
taken out of context to excuse their behavior. Many genuine Christians have
been discredited, disdained, and disciplined for calling out the evil
masquerading as the righteous.
The Discernment Required in a
Deceptive Age
The fact that there is hypocrisy should not
make a believer paranoid but should instead make the believer discerning. The
Bible warns again and again that deceivers, wolves, and counterfeit brethren
will attempt to gain access to God’s people. Believers should be able to
distinguish deception from the truth through the fruit and not the appearance.
Charisma carries no weight if the character is
foul. An eloquent man is no proof of a righteous man. A gift doesn’t
necessarily translate to maturity in the Spirit. “Holy living” is the
demonstration of character through integrity, humility, purity, compassion,
accountability, and the obedience of God’s Word.
Discernment involves the practice of testing
the spirits, observing the trends, listening to the victims, and the tendency
to pass off sinful practices because of religiosities.
God’s Judgment of Hypocrisy
Though hypocrites fool the masses for a season,
they will never fool God. “For all secrets will be brought into the light of
day, and hidden sins will be uncovered.” There is a “’till-death-us-part’
deadline to deception.” “God is longsuffering, but his long-suffering is not
approval.” “He is a God of silence, but his silence is…not consent.” God’s
“exposure of hypocrisy brings a fall that is crushing and precipitous,” and the
same platform that the hypocrite departs from in triumph, he proceeds from in
shame and humiliation.
“Judgement is not only for the future,” he
explains in his sermon, “it has already begun.” Hypocrites suffer in their
hypocrisy. They lose their influence and their family relationships fall apart.
Moreover, “their religious work proves vain.” God will not allow wickedness to
pretend to be righteousness forever.
Restoration, Accountable
Justice, and Protecting the Church
Exposing hypocrisy is not an attack on the
church but a defense of the church. The healthy church is where there is
accountability and not performance, where there is transparency and not image,
where there is truth and not reputation, where there is justice and not
silence, where victims are believed and where warnings are heeded.
Restoration comes to the healing process when
the light of the truth of God shines into the dark corners of the church. By
dealing with hypocrisy, the victims are restored. By eliminating the wolves,
the flock will be protected and safe. By making righteousness a priority, the
presence of God will flow freely again.
Conclusion
Hypocrisy is one of the most dangerous
contaminants of the integrity of the Church because it masquerades as goodness
while advancing the interests of evil. However, the Holy Scripture reminds the
believer that God sees behind every mask: “He will bring to light the things
hidden in the darkness and will manifest the secrets of the heart and make the
motives of man of no effect, because it is the day of his preparation to do his
work upon the earth.” In a world where religious players abound, the Church has
to hang on to real holiness. The Church has to maintain its holiness because
“hypocrites, however much they deceive the eyes of man, will in no way evade
the gaze of God.”
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