Through the sky illustration in the last installment, hope that it clearly shows how I (we) can believe that something does exist when at the same time I know (proven) that it does not exist. That is the power of believing; immensely more powerful than knowing. In the same manner, I believe that I am not a hypocrite while at the same time I know that I am a hypocrite. I can tell you about myself, you have to take care of you. Being a hypocrite is an addiction; extremely difficult to overcome but we all know that with determination I can quick it. But much harder than determination is admission, right?

What am I to admit? As I said, I am not a hypocrite. This goes on and on, and I will spare you the repetition, so here’s the synopsis of the broad strokes, and by the way, none of it is new. If you, the reader, so happens to see it applicable to you, then I encourage you to admit it. The fear is if I admit it, then what??             Then there will be a clear path to communing with our Lord, to bonding with our Creator, to having Community with our Savior and to KNOWING God.

• There are millions of believers, and the world around us points to us and labels us all, regardless of faith, as hypocrites. This has been going on for ages upon ages. I, a believer, say things like; they just don’t know me, if only they come and know Him, they’re the ones that will end up losing, I know where I am going, etc.
  –> Honestly, how can the world have it so wrong for so long…….? These are excuses that I tell myself so I, as an addict, can carry on my life believing that I am OK, whence I am not……..
• This one hurts, but it is the truth. Here’s a comparison of 2 situations; how I am and how I feel when I attend church gatherings of dinner or church celebrations or even Sunday services, versus how I am and how I feel when I hang out with friends in non-church associated events. Mind you these friends could be the same people that I go to church with. As for me, I feel that I am always ‘RESERVED’, for the lack of a better word, at the church associated events, I am not fully and truly myself.
  –> Maybe it is just me, but that right there is an extreme form of hypocrisy. That when I am with the people that I claim as my people as we share the same BELIEFS and cannot be myself…….!?
• For those that used to have a beer or a glass of wine in hiding while the church forbade it, or maybe still forbids it; here I am a grown man and basically hiding my glass of wine if I’d dare have it in public. Or for many it is “We’ll only drink at home and not in public.” Am I the only one that ever did/does this!? The fun part is the excuses used to justify this behavior to myself, let alone to others.
  –> If this is not hypocrisy, then what is?
• Just to show the extent of hypocrisy; how many churches in the recent years change their rules in writing to allow drinking……….!? This is the same subject that for God only knows how long the same preachers, let alone churches, have had Bible verses lined up to prove that drinking is Biblically not allowed.
  –> Is that not hypocritical…!? Now, now, I need to behave for I should stick to what I do that is hypocritical and not what the church does that is hypocritical as that is an entirely different matter.
• On Sundays between Bible study and service, I/we pray in 2 hours like 10 times at least, and how many times do I drop my head and pray during the other 166 hours of the week…!? How I talk that God is everything and how I fully and totally depend on Him in my life during these same 2 hours compared to how often I actually experience His presence during the week in between Sundays….!? And this happens week in and week out for how many years now…..!?
  –> If this does not by itself prove to me that I am an addict to hypocrisy, then what will???

Oh there are so many more examples, but no wonder the world around me considers me a hypocrite and shake their heads at me when I invite them to come and become a hypocrite with me……………….. no one likes an addict except other addicts.                          I confess that I am an addict and offer my apologies to all those that I have offended.

Till another installment, and may the Glory be to God always and forever.