IS IT POSSIBLE FOR A GENUINE CHRISTIAN TO FALL INTO HIPOCRISY?

Make no mistake concerning this issue: the devil is a qualified tempter. If any Christian can no longer be kept from confessing his sins, from first to last, having even his memory refreshed by the Holy Spirit, and also cleansed to the uttermost spotlessness, the devil will surely try all to integrate the confession itself! If confession cannot be denied, efforts will be made by the enemy of God to help in it. And so will it work in every step of the whole of the Christian’s life: if the devil cannot keep someone from doing anything for God, he will surely try all to join in and plant weeds among the spotless wheat. Just make sure he does never leave a seed in you too, at any time, so he may not turn you into a weed as well.

There are two evils every new born, (or even every adult child of God), should take care of: one is that the devil is fully qualified to tempt; secondly, that the child of God is inexperienced in holy living. Put these two together and you have a perfect match. All ungodly leaders in Communist Russia have once been either integrating a ministry of the gospel or a seminary, with the exception of one or two of them. They all became mass killers – none of them glorified God eventually. It was a pleasure, a morbid one, for the devil to revert them against God, either through ambition or just out of pure bitterness against God, as was the case of Karl Marx perhaps – he had become a fallen, destituted Christian and never repented again; therefore he regretted that there was ever a God above him and sought revenge by claiming and teaching there is no God. He knew that was the greatest dishonor unto the name of an ever present God – he sought just that out!

But thank God there is just one great truth concerning this all: there is but me to fall into sin. Concerning my own world, I can be aware of and guard it with spotlessness and watchfulness, such that only light coming from God Himself grants freely. The devil’s grounds to have someone stumble are limited, for he cannot create. He is defined to my grounds, to my life. Others cannot fall for me – I can fall for others. We read: “Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life”, Prov. 4:23. And also, “No temptation has taken you but what is common to man”, adding to these words, “but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but with the temptation also will make a way to escape, so that you may be able to bear it”, 1Co 10:13.  The devil cannot arrange a temptation for me which is not common unto man.

There is but one way for the devil to enter into our hearts and souls: to give us something else to do “for God”, (or not for God at all!); the devil’s parallel suggestions and leadings, when he cannot tempt into sin any longer, is something to be guarded against. If one must be guided, then he keeps misguiding as the angle of light alone is able to do. Just as it will be a pleasure to God to snatch one out of darkness, so will it be for the devil to destitute that promise which states, “and they shall never ever perish, and not anyone shall pluck them out of My hand”, John 10:28. The wolf wears the voice of God. Jesus says he speaks to, for He spoke about “the voice of strangers”, John 10:5

Our hearts are the arena where the fight will take place. “For it is God who said, "Out of darkness Light shall shine;" who shone in our hearts to give the brightness of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”, 2Co 4:6. Take good hope from out of the fountains of a clean heart so you may believe God easily, take courage and make sure you are able to believe out of truth alone, out of truthful matters. Whenever God gives way and is afar of, faith will be a hard working issue, not easily attainable. There are people who cannot believe for they are separated from God, yet they try believing rather than repenting. Jesus says these are common thieves and robbers for they try going in, but never through the door of repentance. “Truly, truly, I say to you, He who does not enter into the sheepfold by the door, but going up by another way, that one is a thief and a robber”, John 10:1. If it is sin which makes faith to shipwreck, it is surely a clean heart which enables one to have faith in God in a stable measure.

If it were not possible to fall, Jesus would never have said, “For God so loved the world that … that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”, John 3:16. It means they must not perish for, “Even so it is not the will of your Father in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish”, Mat 18:14. They may perish. Hence the reason God does as He does: for they may perish, all those who believe. Jesus died so they should never perish at all.

The devil will always be on the guard and on the look out for presumptuous feelings concerning God so he may install himself in them and work from then on. We all know just how lions and cheetahs await for small preys to run out of the security of the herd; even such huge animals as buffalos's youngesters love to exercise and run as much as they can – that is the heart of a “small one”. And most killers are jsut awaitning for the first opportunity to grab one of them as soon as they get out of the safety of the herd which keeps them. Jesus said, “…one of these little ones…” – He used these words. May every little one be fully taught to stay within the herd of holiness, the grounds of God Himself. Every youngster is always tempted to be exclusive, own-minded, running and presumptuously believing the whole world belongs to him. Adults know about the danger of the roaring lion around them, for those maintain themselves with flesh continually - their flesh!

Let’s teach people to be guided, for God Promised to guide. We have a commandment to “teach them to observe all things”, and not teach these things alone, Mat 28:20. For God, out of His own, will do His share right though: “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those with young”, Is 40:11. It even sounds strange, but the promise is to lead those with the young and not so much to lead the young ones themselves. There is no other work to do, but to teach people to learn to be guided, become guidable and be fully turned into adult sheep. God will lead all then, from then on. The sooner a sheep is obedient, the sooner heaven will surely come down upon such. Teach them to forget past victories and stay close to God alone, even if dead people have been resurrected trough their praying the day before; teach them to be careless concerning the days that have not come yet, tomorrow’s affairs, so they may read the Bible today and never be divided in their mind and heart concerning future issues. God demands a “whole heart”, an undivided one from them all, and there are no exceptions towards anyone. Teach them to start every day as if they have never lived before, and as if there is no tomorrow for them to work for or to have something done, but today alone. Teach them to abide in God’s words and workings, in all such things which God has shown them personally now or even years before. God’s words are forever. God spoke twice to Salomon and he did not keep His words as he ought to and it is said of him, “And the LORD was angry with Solomon, …which had appeared unto him twice”, 1Ki 11:9.

From these little sins, those where the foundations for greater sins are created, one does not always have to pray God down, but take people up and into any obedient state of heart rather. Once one starts to live abruptly, forsaking his first love, then it will be easier to fall into a state of heart which is hypocritical and unwisely untruthful towards truthful things and issues. God usually answers above what we ask and work for. Therefore, if that measure is never reached in the whole, then there must be something people are faking and imitating concerning God – He does not receive honor from them. Many start doing things for the shining of it, others for the popularity of it in the gospel in them and others. This is what Jesus said “Truly I say to you, they have their reward” already, Mat 6:5. Let us never be able to carry out things out of pure power springing from wishful thinking and own-mindedness and teach people to do so as well. Let us match everything to truthful living, to joyful, easy and attainable holiness. If it were not possible to have hypocrisy among Christians, Jesus would never warned HIS Disciples “Take heed that you do not do your merciful deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in Heaven”, Mat 6:1. He told His Disciples – and them all – “He began to say to His disciples first, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy”, Luke 12:1. All hypocrisy starts just when life has ceased to flow easily. It may also have a clue to link back to us as soon as we start a own living. Repent and have it again for if you do not, you might just forsake God if you are honest or imitated His Life if you are not.  If you repent, that Life will be back in due time, “Therefore girding up the loins of your mind, being sober, perfectly hope (expect and await fully abiding for it to come, until it comes to you, into you), for the grace being brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ”, 1Pe 1:13; “For it is God who said, "Out of darkness Light shall shine;" who shone in our hearts to give the brightness of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”, 2Co 4:6. He really is – therefore should He be in you too, alone. If God is not real where you move, you are an hypocrite of some kind. Amen.

José Mateus
zemateus@msn.com