HIDING BEHIND A MASK OF RELIGION ~ EXPOSING HYPOCRISY — PART 1

 

“Well, your mother wears army boots!” This insult was popular among teenagers in the 1950s. Growing up in the 60’s, my friends and I threw this phrase around—usually as a joke—but having no earthly idea what it meant. While army boots are in style today even for moms, it was pretty comical to have visions of some of my friends’ mothers wearing them. Some have said this insult had one of two meanings. After World War II, surplus stores sold army boots. It could have meant that someone’s mother was poor, or a mother got a surplus of army boots by having illicit relationships with army men!

 

As a believer living in 2021, if someone said to me, “Your mother wears army boots,” I would probably respond, “Um, okay, whatever.” I would walk away thinking that person was pretty strange to say something she knew nothing about. What is the worst possible thing somebody could say to me? Would it be: “You need to lose 50 pounds!” Or “Wow! You have really aged since I last saw you.” “You call yourself a writer? Your writing is awful.” No. Any of those statements would be rude and malicious; they may or may not be true, but they wouldn’t cause me to do an internal examination of my heart before the Lord. The worst possible thing anyone could ever say to me is, “You are a hypocrite!”

 

My attorney asked me a question while prepping me for trial. He said, “We must be careful about talking about your religion so much. Why is it so important to you?” I replied, “I have never been quiet about letting people know I am a follower of Jesus Christ. If the jury takes the newspapers and the government at face value and doesn’t hear my heart, they will think I am a religious hypocrite.” He strongly agreed, “There is nothing worse than that.”

I discipled a woman in prison who became a close friend. One day we were walking and talking about the Lord. She said, “I have one question for you, though. I just don’t understand why it is so important for you to win your case and clear your name. The Lord knows your heart. I mean, you have almost done your time. Who cares what other people think?” I knew it was going to be hard to explain to her what was in my heart. I responded, “You got saved in prison. You did the crime, and you have always admitted it. When you get out of prison and people see your changed life, they will be amazed, and God will be glorified. That is a praiseworthy thing! I claimed to be a Christian long before I was indicted. I’ve claimed my innocence all along. A jury of my ‘peers’ did not believe my testimony, so they convicted me. Now, I look like a religious hypocrite, and people’s faith may be shaken because of what my ‘testimony’ looks like. That is why it bothers me.” Since that time, I have come to realize that the people who know my heart believe me. Although I eagerly await the day that the Lord vindicates me, I can wait. It is enough that He knows my heart. I can rest in His will.

 

Excerpts from Living Beneath the Tapestry and Within the Veil ~ Karla Podlucky

 

We all have family, friends, and acquaintances who might not say it out loud but who think those who actually believe the Bible and live accordingly are ‘weirdly strange in their religious extremism’. Whether it is our different lifestyle or actual words that confront an unbeliever’s ideologies and belief system, this is the label true believers wear in this world (and rightly so, I might add). Born with an innate need to be loved, it is our flesh that wants to please people rather than God. Much of Christianity has no problem blaming Satan and the world system for the problems in life. It is much harder to face the fact that our greatest enemy is our self—our flesh, our own human depravity. Our pride, the thing the world is promoting in everything that has to do with our self life, chafes against this label Christians wear, who are rightly strangers and aliens in this world.

 

What is the label a true believer will wear when giving in to this temptation to sinfully please man rather than God? You guessed it! H-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-e. To be called a stranger and alien by God and man is good. To be called a hypocrite by God and man is a condemnation which can be eternally damning. A true believer can fall into the sin of hypocrisy, but she cannot be characterized as a hypocrite. Her life, as a whole, does not contradict what she professes. Those whom the Lord is drawing to Himself are looking for believers with strong convictions who will not compromise the truth just to tell them what they want to hear. Since the Fall, people have been making decisions to either listen to lies or the truth. Today, the world is pumping out lies at an unprecedented rate. These lies can only be refuted with the truth that saves. The world needs to hear the truth.

 

When pressed with the gospel message, the first response many unbelievers offer for not wanting to hear the truth is that most people they know who call themselves Christians are what they deem ‘religious hypocrites’. Unfortunately, this is true. Most who name the name of Christ only wear a mask of Christianity. They are phonies, religious hypocrites. What is a religious hypocrite? A religious hypocrite is someone who professes one thing but lives in a way that contradicts her profession. A religious hypocrite hides behind the mask of religion living a double life. The religious hypocrite is an actor on the stage of life impersonating and portraying a character who loves God but who takes the mask off when he is in the comfort of his own home.

 

I have known women who professed to follow Christ but had two separate groups of friends who could never, ever mix. Maybe they have convinced themselves that while with their more worldly friends they must look more like them “in order to evangelize them”. (Rationalization is often a red flag for self-deceit.) Trying to walk with one foot in the world and one foot in the Kingdom is an attempt to live on two different stages playing two different characters before an Audience of One. It is not possible, but many try to keep up the charade until eventually they have a great fall into apathetic apostasy. Before we are quick to judge those who try to keep up this façade, we must examine our own hearts. Are there things you would be embarrassed to admit to your ‘Christian’ friends­—activities in which you participate that you wish to remain private? Maybe there are certain things which you discuss only with those ‘Christians’ you think will approve but would never discuss with others with whom you are trying to keep up spiritual appearances. We must ask ourselves something else. If we come to a day when our world is like the world Paul and Peter lived in, a day when Christians are persecuted for making a stand for Christ, will we then be able to juggle two opposing kingdoms? Why should it be any different today?

 

It does not matter if our mothers wear army boots. What matters is whether I wear army boots, so to speak. Do I profess to love Christ with my whole heart while, at the same time, continuing to entertain illicit relationships with the world? Being a people pleaser, choosing friendship with the world over faithfulness to the Lord we profess to love above all else is enmity against God as James says in 4:4-5. This is spiritual adultery, and the world sees it as hypocrisy. “The world system, with its contrived and deceitful scheme of phony values, worthless pursuits, and unnatural affections, is designed to lure us away from a pure relationship with God.” ~ gotquestions.org. Would it really be bad if someone came to me in love and called me a hypocrite? In reality, that would be pure grace. That would be God’s faithfulness to lead me to repentance before the day of judgment. On that day, to be deemed a fraud or a hypocrite would be condemnation for all eternity. More to come on this topic…