THE HYPOCRISY OF IT ALL! 

“How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees.  Hypocrites!  For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your income, but you ignore the important things of the law, justice, mercy, and faith.  You should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the more important things.”   Matthew 23:23 NLT

Trump’s “attempts to hijack our faith for votes and evangelical leaders’ silence on his actions and behavior has presented a picture of what our faith looks like that is so erroneous that it has done significant damage to the way people view Jesus.”   Jerusha Duford  

Jerusha Duford is the granddaughter of Billy Graham.  She is part of a group of Christians speaking out about what is occurring with the president and White Evangelicals.  In short, she speaks of the blatant hypocrisy among the two.

Hypocrisy means to pretend to possess the virtues, morals, religious beliefs, or principles found in the Bible that one does not actually have.  One who is a hypocrite is like an actor playing a role in a play as a performance. 

This word has surfaced lately about the president as well as about the Evangelicals that their words and behavior do not match the virtues, morals, religious beliefs, or principles in the Bible.  People like Ms. Duford cannot believe the silence and the support the Evangelicals give the president.  He has delegitimized democratic norms, denounced science, denied the truth, disparaged rivals, and fostered racial division.

Jesus teaches that the most important things are justice, mercy, and faith, things directed at people.  Hypocrites major on things directed at God that make them look good—like photo ops hold up a Bible. 

Prayer:  Heavenly Father turn Christians back to You—Your virtues, morals, doctrine, and principles.  Help us to see that our actions or non-actions can damage the way people view you.

Amen. © 2020 Dr. John Ogletree – Houston, TX