Most people misunderstand what a “hypocrite” is. Most
people think a hypocrite is someone who preaches one
thing and then does another. That is not a hypocrite;
that is called a SINNER.
The Bible defines a
hypocrite as someone who “views another person as being
a worse sinner than them self.” Biblically, you're as
big a sinner as any of the people on the list that
follows. If you view these people as being bigger
sinners than you, or worse in God's eyes than yourself,
then you a hypocrite. James 2:10, "For whosoever
shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point,
he is guilty of all." You are just as sinful and
rotten as every person on the list that follows and so
am I.
The following are famous
sinners; not famous hypocrites.
Jim Bakker - He was
once the head of the now-defunct "Praise The Lord"
network. In the late '80s, Bakker was found to have been
carrying on a relationship with church secretary Jessica
Hahn. He compounded the salacious nature of the affair
by funneling her $265,000 in hush money. Another area in
which Bakker was a hypocrite was his call for sacrifice
on the part of donors to help reach the lost.
In his self-serving
confession, I Was Wrong, he admitted using church
funds to pay for luxury cars and his six mansions.
Bakker and his wife, Tammy Faye, also came up with some
truly inventive ways to squander ministry money. They
once spent $100 on cinnamon buns just to scent the air
of their hotel suite. They equipped a dog house with
air-conditioning, which was too noisy for Fido to sleep
in. They also spent $60,000 on gold-plated bathroom
fixtures.
Jimmy Swaggart – In
the late 1980s, Jimmy Swaggart Ministries was the
largest televangelism operation of its kind. His
operation raked in more than $150 million annually.
Every week, his television program, "The Jimmy Swaggart
Telecast," attracted 8 million viewers. The downfall of
Rev. Swaggart was probably one of the most spectacular
in Church history. The seed of his downfall began when
he helped defrock fellow Assemblies of God minister
Marvin Gorman, who had been caught in an extramarital
affair. When the PTL scandal erupted in 1987, Swaggart
went on CNN and told Larry King that Bakker was a
"cancer in the body of Christ."
In 1988, Marvin Gorman
learned that Swaggart had been spotted regularly in
areas frequented by prostitutes. He hired a private
detective to take photos of Jimmy with a sleazy
Louisiana hooker named Debra Murphree outside the Travel
Inn in Lake Charles, Louisiana. When Swaggart refused
demands for blackmail money, the photos were shown to
church elders. The moment the media learned of the
scandal, Jimmy Swaggart Ministries was doomed. His
actions against Gorman and Bakker have become case
studies in hypocrisy.
Rush Limbaugh - In
referring to himself, Limbaugh once jokingly said he was
“a man so virtuous you can trust [him] with your wife in
a Motel 6, overnight, while you’re away on business.”
When it came to providing moral leadership for America,
Limbaugh had serious words to say on many subjects. As
the king of conservative talk radio, Rush frequently
discussed the evils of our nation’s problem with drugs:
"What this says to me is
that too many whites are getting away with drug use, too
many whites are getting away with drug sales, too many
whites are getting away with trafficking in this stuff.
The answer to this disparity is not to start letting
people out of jail because we're not putting others in
jail who are breaking the law. The answer is to go out
and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict
them and send them up the river, too" (Oct. 5, 1995, The
Rush Limbaugh Show transcript).
In Oct. of 2003, Rush
Limbaugh announced during his radio program that he was
addicted to painkillers and would be checking into a
rehab center to "break the hold this highly addictive
medication has on me." Limbaugh said he started taking
painkillers "some years ago" after his doctor prescribed
them following a spinal surgery. Rush denied that his
actions were hypocritical, saying, "My behavior doesn't
change right and wrong. And just because I may have been
doing something that appeared to be contradictory to
what I was suggesting others do doesn't mean that what I
was suggesting others do is wrong."
Because Rush was making his
comments before he entered treatment, his mind must have
been under the influence of the painkillers. A person
cannot escape the label of "hypocrite" by saying he or
she was only offering a suggestion to other people.
Hypocritical acts involve doing the opposite of what one
stands for.
Pat Robertson –
Troubles began for the founder of the Christian
Coalition when a reporter for the New York Times
discovered that Robertson owned a two-year-old racehorse
named "Mr. Pat.” The paper detailed financial
involvement in racing to the tune of more than $500,000.
One newspaper ran the mocking headline, “Praise The Lord
And Put A 10-Spot On Mr. Pat To Win.”
In his defense, Robertson
said he saw no contradiction between his condemnation of
gambling and his ownership of a racehorse. ``I don't
bet, and I don't gamble,'' Robertson said. ``I just
enjoy watching horses running and performing.” Robertson
eventually told his followers in a letter that he had
decided to sell his racehorse: "I am sorry that my
fondness for the performance of equine athletes has
caused you an offense."
William Bennett -
The former Secretary of Education and Drug Czar, and
author of The Book of Virtues admitted to losing more
than $8 million in casino gambling. Bennett would
receive as much $50,000 in speaking fees to address
conservative groups on the moral issues that face
America. The money he earned would quickly end up in the
pockets of people who promote the type of values he
rallied against. Bennett's typical day of gambling would
have him heading to the high-limit room of the nearest
casino and blowing money on video poker or $500-a-pull
slots.
Bennett was one of Bill
Clinton's biggest critics during the former President's
"moral failure." Of course, his own credibility was put
into serious question by his high-stakes habit. When
asked if he was a hypocrite, Bennett said he was not
because he did not claim to be a moral authority. He
also says he did not have a gambling problem.
Strom Thurmond -
"Hypocrite" is about the most suitable word one can use
to describe the late U.S. Senator from South Carolina,
who built his career as a staunch segregationist while
supporting his own mixed-race daughter born of his
liaison with a 16-year-old family maid. The daughter,
78-year-old Essie Mae Washington-Williams, revealed the
relationship after his death. When asked why she
remained silent all those years, she said she didn't
want to harm him. Of course, her humble spirit made dear
old Dad look all the more like a scoundrel. Thurmond
said blacks and whites should have nothing to do with
each other. "All the bayonets of the Army cannot force
the Negro into our homes, into our schools, our churches
and our places of recreation and amusement," he said.
The Senator did demonstrate
a strange bit of honor when he paid for his daughter to
attend a university. He also sent her money before her
marriage and after she was widowed with four children.
Jesse Jackson - If
there were an award for hypocrisy, Rev. Jesse Jackson
would be strong contender. During the dark days of Bill
Clinton’s Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, Jackson bravely
dove into the media storm and paid a visit to the
President to offer moral counseling. Jackson brought
along staffer Karin Stanford, who was visibly pregnant.
It turned out later that
Jackson was the father of that child. To try to cover up
his "little error," the good reverend used
organizational money to arrange for his playmate to live
in a home worth $345,000 and to receive $10,000 per
month. Because Jesse Jackson is a darling of the liberal
media, the magnitude of his hypocrisy was quickly lost
by the press when it declared the whole affair resolved.
Again, most people
misunderstand what a “hypocrite” is. Most people think a
hypocrite is someone who preaches one thing and then
does another. That is not a hypocrite; that is called a
SINNER, which is what you and I are.
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