1 Minute Daily Devotions
June 25, 2008
Hypocritical Preachers And Religious Leaders
"If someone says, 'I love God' and hates his brother, he is a liar." - 1 John 4:20
Don't you just hate hypocrisy in the church? For many of you it's a major reason why you don't go to church. In the movie, The Apostle, starring Robert Duvall, we see a preacher who gets in trouble. He even kills a man, but he runs to a new town and continues to preach.
Certainly, over the last 30 years, Hollywood has done a number on preachers and priests. And time after time they are painted in a very unflattering way, usually as hypocrites or a bunch of out-of-touch airheads, or mean, cruel sickos. If you combine all of that with the charlatan TV evangelists, it's not a pretty picture.
The truth is, all of us preachers struggle with hypocrisy, not always practicing what we preach. I sure do. But I have good news. I've only known one preacher in my life who had no trace of hypocrisy. And He's alive today--His name is Jesus. All the rest of us fall short, but Jesus never does. So put your focus and your faith in Him.
Comments on this Devotion
From Jerry on Jun 25th:
OOOOOOHH me that hurts, but so true.
From Diane on Jun 25th:
That is so true.I was taking my Grandkids to a church I liked ,then they got a new preacher. He thanks all kids are liers.He told me that when I told him I would ask my grandson what had happened at church. When I told the preacher I would ask the kids that is when he said all kids are liers then he asked me to find another church so far he has made 21 leave the church. Doesn't the bible say something about that? Because with the price of gas I can't take them to church anymore.
From Christ Follower on Jun 25th:
Diane I'm so glad you stopped going to that church. No one is perfect, but as Christians we should be careful what church we attend and know what they're beliefs are. If what you say is true that pastor needs to get into another profession. I pray that soon you'll be able to find a bible based church close by that you can attend that is christ centered and supportive to it's members. God bless!
From Janice on Jun 25th:
Diane, You might try to find someone with whom you can carpool. Maybe the larger Bible based churches would know of someone so you both could share gas costs. I will pray you can find a workable solution.
From FCE on Jun 25th:
Diane, there are some churches that have buses to pick up people for church. You might look into that as an option.
From julie on Jun 27th:
We have to give our preachers grace because they are only human , just like us. People look at all of us, but especially preachers cause of their calling. I attend a church, but don't agree with everything I here. I have a question and please do answer someone, when we attend a "church", should we agree with everything preached? My husband and I believe that once you believe in Jesus and are saved, you are then in the body of Christ, as the Bible teaches.We do not believe in joining a "church" per say as the church is the people. We attend a church, but we don't agree with all of their practices and joining being one of them, we do not want the denomination title, as we were Christians in the Bible. I know there are many groups who believe as we do, just not where we attend. There are other groups that agree with us but there are other things we do not agree with in that group. What does a person do to fit in? I know that no "church" is perfect, so do we just go to worship with other believers? Would appreciate advice and sorry if I was not as clear as I wanted to be.
From Janice on Jun 27th:
Julie, You pose some interesting thoughts and questions. I feel like it is important to be a member of a specific church. The commitment to membership makes one feel more a part of the body instead of like an accessory to the body. You are right that membership in no way means a person is saved although there are hopefully many members who are and some who are not. I doubt there are many who believe in every single word a pastor preaches 100% of the time but there needs to be a majority of belief in what the pastor has to say and it should be Bible based or else you are wasting your time. I think to fit in you have to participate in some of the church activities outside of just worship and it helps to volunteer to help where needed so you get a chance to work with other members and know people in the church who are involved. A final thought is that I like to be a member of a church because it shows support for the church and shows that I do not attend just for what I can get out of it for myself. If you have found the "right" church where you can grow spiritually in your faith in Jesus I hope in time you will want to join.
From julie on Jul 1st:
Thanks for writing Janice, I appreciate that. We do participate in church events. Our children also in the youth and go to school there. But,for us, we dont agree with "joining" for reasons I gave previously, but there are things we just don't agree with that they do. It doesn't matter what church I am speaking of cause I know it is the same everywhere.I can't join without being in agreement with everything. I find it hypocrtical saying yes I will do what the church wants, then don't do it cause I don't agree with it. I don't think there are many that agree with everything . We are told to submit ourselves to it. Just give in to our selves, which we are definately suppose to do. My husband and i feel we have to judge whether or not we believe in it and if you don't, how can you become a part of. I long for the wholeness, but I see Satan inching in on the least little thing and it becomes huge. Anyway, wish we could talk email, I could go on for a while. This is something I struggle with. Thanks again, and I hope you read this.
From Jerry on Jul 2nd:
Diane,
The Bible say's "Woe to the shepard who scatters the flock". This man will answer to God for what he has done, I pray that God will lead you to the place where he wants you.