A Warning Against Hypocrisy

This post isn't really so much about studying the Word as a warning against hypocrisy.

This all started when a Christian friend of mine posted a status update on Facebook warning people against attending a Joyce Meyer (the well-known Christian preacher and author) conference on the basis that her teaching is flawed. In support of this belief he referred to an article on the Christian Research Institute's (CRI) web site.

The CRI is headed by one Hank Hanegraaf who calls himelf "The Bible Answer Man". Interestingly, a quick Googling of his name produced an array of controversies regarding this man, from financial irregularities (including being paid a $250,000 annual salary at CRI) to supporting a cult in a lawsuit against a Christian organisation. This from the same man that criticizes Joyce Meyer simply because she is wealthy and owns a private jet!

This type of hypocrisy seems to be rampant in the church today. Perhaps, instead of setting ourselves up as judges of others we should make sure we are examining our own lives instead then perhaps the church would be more united and the world would see God's love among His children.

Another person, in response to the Joyce Meyer warning, commented how he prefers to stick to Chuck Swindoll, in an apparent belief that you can't go wrong with Chuck. He may well be right. However, on Googling "Chuck Swindoll controversy" I came across an interesting set of articles on the American Presbyterian Church's (APC) web site criticizing Chuck and other so-called "new evangelicals". Their criticisms even included such eminent Christian preachers as Billy Graham!

I suspect that if one was to search hard enough, one could easily find doctrinal problems within the APC too and I doubt Joyce Meyer, Chuck Swindoll or Hank Hanegraaf would say the APC is entirely without error.

So who is the guardian of Christian truth? It certainly is not any particular Christian person or group and anyone who sets themselves up in that position is in serious danger of being shot down. The only guardian of the Truth today is the Holy Spirit, "who when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13).

So, instead of aligning yourself with a human guardian of the truth, align yourself with the Holy Spirit. Examine every preacher's teaching against the Word for yourself and if your "gut" tells you something's wrong, it probably is and don't assume that just because Preacher X said it that it is correct . . . or that it is incorrect.