Todd Strandberg

European Union In Prophecy :: By By Terry James and Todd Strandberg

Published on: by RR7

 

European Union In Prophecy

Stage setting for Bible prophecy yet future already moves forward at an electrifying pace. Even so, the end-time speedometer amazingly continues to accelerate, as is demonstrated by each hourly world news report. Developments involving the European Union are on the leading edge of Planet Earth’s race toward the seven-year peace treaty Bible prophecy foretells will set in motion the tribulation era.

A number of articles in the vast body of material within this website examines, in great detail, the biblically prophetic reasons Europe will one day almost certainly be the heart of the Antichrist beast-system of governmental, economic and religious control prophesied to engulf the world. It will also be at the heart of a false peace process that will initiate the tribulation, which will culminate at Armageddon. We, therefore, refer you to those background works by listing their titles at the end of this article. Here, we will take a look at the European Union’s development and growth in the twentieth century until the present. We will only make brief references to the prophecies, so far as where they are found in the Bible is concerned. This will be an examination of what is happening now in the development of that prophesied evil world government that Jesus Christ will destroy with His second coming to the earth.

Daniel, Chapter 2, presents the dream Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar had, which provides the basis for our understanding that history’s final system of government will try to establish total global dictatorship.

Daniel, the young Hebrew prophet, asked for and received permission to interpret the king’s dream of a gigantic metallic statue of a man. The prophet did so, after praying with friends to ask God for details of the dream and for the meanings of the dream. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that the statue’s head of gold represented the king’s kingdom. The chest and arms of silver represented the second kingdom. The belly and thighs of bronze represented the third world kingdom. The fourth world kingdom to come upon the earth would be, Daniel prophesied, symbolized by the two legs of iron. The final world kingdom would be shown as the statue’s feet made of iron mixed with clay.

History has proved, to the satisfaction of most Bible scholars who study prophecy in depth, that the first four world kingdoms prophesied through Nebuchadnezzar’s dream have come and gone. Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian kingdom was the first. The Medes and Persians comprised the second world empire. The Greek Empire under Alexander the Great was the third. The Roman Empire, which split into two, with capitals in Rome and Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey), was the fourth great world kingdom.

One is left to come upon the scene’the final world governmental system represented in Nebuchadnezzar’s prophetic dream as the feet and toes made of iron mixed with clay. This final world kingdom, we believe, is far along in the process of coming together today in the form of the European Union (EU). The fifth world empire symbolized in the statue is prophesied to be an extension of the fourth kingdom. That is exactly what the EU is ‘an extension of the ancient Roman Empire. It is, we are convinced, the feet and toes of the man-image, the reviving of the unity that was once Europe in all its power and glory. Yet, despite the tremendous power the final form of the Roman Empire will have, the clay mixed with the iron seems to indicate it will have significant weaknesses.

Again, we must, for the sake of proper focus, mention the given prophecies that have been already fulfilled, only briefly. The first of those is the king’s dream of the tremendous metallic man-image, which the great prophet Daniel interpreted. The other prophecy most relevant to looking at the European Union as figuring into prophecy yet future is also found in the Book of Daniel:

‘And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Dan. 9:26-27).

This all-encompassing prophecy foretells plainly that the final world ruler, Antichrist, will rise out of the Roman Empire. Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD under the leadership of Roman General Titus. The future Roman leader (‘the prince that shall come’) is prophesied to be a dictator like no other in history.

This ‘prince that shall come’ will come as a peacemaker, confirming a covenant of peace with Israel. He will, at the halfway point in the seven-year peace agreement, invade the Jews’ Temple and destroy their worship. Thus will begin the great tribulation, or ‘Jacob’s trouble,’ the last three and one-half years of the seven years of Daniel’s seventieth week (the tribulation era).

Once again, we refer you to other articles within raptureready.com for more in-depth background. We must move forward now from the times in which the prophecies were given into the more recent past, the present, and the prophetic future in dealing with the matter of the European Union in prophecy.

The twentieth century began with Europe, the heart of what was the ancient Roman Empire, in decline. The upstart, America, was coming on strong as a world leader among nations. This circumstance, some historians propose, was a major factor in setting in motion movement toward World War I. Following that war, Europe was in chaos, but with great determination set about to put its house in order.

Despite fierce nationalism among Europe’s nations, by 1954, the recovery was looked at as an economic miracle. Still, there was a major problem in ever achieving the much longed-for unity of purpose so many European thinkers elite coveted for the region. The nations had come together to fight in a common cause against Germany for the most part. However, each country continued to be completely independent from one another, and to maintain impenetrable economic trade-barrier walls. The situation made carrying on trade with other European nations difficult, if not impossible.

Powerful economic dynamics began to move Europe toward its prophetic destiny. The old Roman Empire, which had fallen apart but was never destroyed, began reforming on May 9, 1950.

French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman contacted West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, proposing that the two nations merge their steel and coal production. They would act, the proposal went, as one in dealing internationally in those matters. The governments, however, would remain independent. There would be no joint, intergovernmental authority in the pact. Adenauer and the Germans agreed the same night of the proposal. Six nations, by May, 1952, had ratified the European Coal and Steel Community. The glue that would begin putting the Humpty Dumpty, old Roman Empire, together again had been applied.

Europe’s Coal and Steel Community experiment in economic reunification was successful. Other negotiations for further economic integration led to the signing of the Treaties of Rome in March, 1957. That established the European Economic Community (EEC), and the European Atomic Energy Commission (EURACOM).

Following another step toward reunification with agricultural integration in 1962, the stage was set for the Brussels Treaty of 1965, also called the Second Treaty of Rome. All previous treaties were merged into a four-fold structure. The structure consisted of a commission, council, parliament, and court.

The United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark joined the other six members of the EEC in 1973. Greece was admitted in 1981, and Spain, then Portugal, joined in 1986. The European Community (EC) approved the Treaty of Maastricht in December, 1991, the third foundational treaty of the drive toward European reunification.

It follows that a unified Europe needs a single currency, so the Maastricht Treaty established the European Monetary Union (EMU) in three stages. The stages took place in 1991, 1994, and 1997. The single European unit of currency, the euro, was created January 1, 2002.

Today, of course, many more nations have been accepted into the EU. Jack Kinsella, writing for The Omega Letter, Prophecy Update, 4/23/03, says: ‘The European Union consists of more than 25 European nations today, but there are only ten full members. The rest are associate members or have observer status. The ten nations of the Western European Alliance have a distinct and separate status from the remaining associates.’

Where the number of countries that will ultimately constitute the EU will end is anybody’s guess, but the figure that has long fascinated prophecy watchers is the number 10. This fascination stems in part from Daniel 7:7-8 and Revelation 13:1. Both passages describe a beast with ten horns. The prophets Daniel and John apparently saw the same beast in their visions, the beast symbolizing ten heads of ten kingdoms.

Further, a heavenly being tells John in Revelation, chapter 17, that the vision of (apparently) the same beast he saw in Revelation 13:1 and the woman riding upon its back symbolize a religious system riding (receiving its own authority to dominate) on the power and authority of a satanically empowered system headed by ten kings over ten kingdoms. These things are to occur during the future time just before Christ’s return to earth to set up His Kingdom.

It isn’t surprising, then, that the addition of 10 nations to the EU in 2003 sent some prophecy buffs into speculation orbit. Please don’t be one of them. As Jesus said in Matthew 24: 6, ”the end is not yet”

That is not to say that we shouldn’t get excited over things of obvious prophetic significance we see occurring. An abundance of signals indeed makes the diligent student of God’s Word know that ours could well be the generation that will see fulfillment of all things prophesied for this earth age.

No prophecy seems more in view today than the foretelling about the beast that Daniel and John reported seeing in their visions. Nonetheless, we simply must proceed with caution in analyzing what we see happening. We must take care not to read into the events significance that isn’t there. Truly, the facts involving current events are astonishing enough! It’s not necessary for us to embellish.

The European Union is on the march as never before, despite its family feuding on occasion. For example, just before the recently concluded ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom,’ we recall that France, Germany, and Belgium threatened EU nations that sided with the U.S. and the United Kingdom. These three promised serious consequences if any EU partner joined the coalition that vowed to remove Saddam’s dictator regime.

Yet, just as quickly as the U.S. and Great Britain, joined by a group of like-minded countries, swiftly dealt with Hussein and his henchmen, the EU, headed primarily by France and Germany, was back to business as usual.

It is more than interesting to note that these two, France and Germany, are the same two primarily instrumental in starting the drive toward unification with their Steel, Coal Community idea in 1950. It is likewise more than interesting that the French in particular now are declaring their commitment to good relations with the U.S. and the U.K. France offers its better-late-than-never largesse to, as they phrase it, ‘contribute’ all it can to the establishment of a viable Iraqi government.

The European Union, according to some of its primary players, is undeniably joined at the hip ‘or somewhere’to the United Nations, so far as the whole Iraqi affair is concerned. It seems that they, together, consider themselves the true representatives of the ‘international community.’ The coalition, i.e., the United States and Britain, did the liberating, but France’s Prime Minister Jacques Chirac, Germany’s Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder, and the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, with nodding approval of Russian President Vladimir Putin, act as if their oversight of post-Saddam Iraq is a foregone conclusion. That anything less than their plans for the region will be illegitimate and unacceptable by nations of the region and around the world.

It is just that sort of arrogance that gave the Caesars of the ancient Roman Empire their lust and determination to try to conquer the world. Supreme arrogance will inspire Antichrist, ‘the prince that shall come’ out of the revived Roman Empire, to take charge of the ten-horned beast-government and do his deadly worst to enslave the world. If the EU’s arrogant posturing in the Iraq matter is somewhat of an indicator that we might be witnessing the forming of the beast-government of Daniel 7, Revelation 13, and Revelation 17-18, then things on the geopolitical horizon surely are irrefutable signs that we are bumping up against the very end of the age.

The two preeminent entities of Bible prophecy yet future are emerging and will shortly collide with each other. These prophetic entities are Israel and the people of ‘the prince that shall come’ (Europe). Now that the conflict within the region where ancient Babylon once sat appears to be under control, all eyes, cameras, and microphones are turning ‘as they always do’back toward Israel and Jerusalem.

The European Union is presently at the forefront of calling for Israel and the Palestinians to come to the peace table. It will be just such a peace negotiation, according to Daniel 9:26-27, out of which will come the ”covenant made with death and hell” (Isa. 28:15, 18). Antichrist, “the prince that shall come,” will personally guarantee that covenant. But the prophetic Word says that ”when they shall say peace and safety, then, sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape” (1 Thes. 5:3).

The Islamic world’s hatred for the Jews and the nation Israel is satanic at its core. No amount of negotiating for peace ever will change that. Israel’s neighbors want the Jewish state forever done away with ‘expunged from what they consider their land. The Arab leaders, all dictators to one degree or another, must keep the region in foment against Israel to assure their dictatorships stay in power. Kinsella writes:

‘When the population [of Arab states] is demonstrating against Israel, they aren’t demonstrating against their own repressive regimes. On the other hand, they’ve seen the price of defiance paid by Saddam Hussein.

In terms of Bible prophecy, this is significant on several levels. It is clear that the Islamic world will never accept the existence of Israel.

However, they are unlikely to directly challenge the US war machine that leveled Iraq in 21 days. The U.S. is pursuing, as part of the ‘Quartet’ of nations, a ‘Road Map to Peace’ which will, in essence, force a peace settlement between Israel and her neighbors.

The Quartet consists of the U.S. (Israel’s only ally), the EU (Islam’s most powerful ally) Russia, (Islam’s most powerful patron) and the UN (Israel’s most powerful enemy).

The Bible speaks to three of the four members of the Quartet. Daniel speaks of the ten kings who arise out of the ashes of the Roman Empire. Daniel says that out of this alliance will rise the antichrist, who will confirm a seven year peace deal between Israel and the many [Israel’s enemies all around].’

America’s part in pushing Israel toward the table of false peace is troubling. President George W. Bush, who in many other ways has proved himself to be a stalwart friend of Israel, has declared that that nation must bring to the table the idea that a Palestinian state will be created. That future state must, the U.S. as well as the EU and the others of the Quartet demand, be formed out of land of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria). This, the usually fiercely combative and defensive-minded Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has amazingly agreed to consider.

The European Union’s influence is growing at a phenomenal rate. Soon its economy will, it is predicted, eclipse that of the U.S. in almost every category. It is a beast just about to be released upon an unsuspecting world.

Its key leaders gave a preview of coming attractions when they blocked at every turn America’s attempts to get the nations of the UN to honor the resolution they had agreed to regarding the overthrow of Saddam’s regime. Understanding that Europe has shed its former robes of Christianity to accept its prophesied economic and governmental role within the end-time Babylonian system of world domination is essential to understanding its beast nature. Those key EU leaders, in their callous deception, were willing to see the pitiful people of Iraq continue to suffer horrendously under Saddam Hussein’s murder and torture rather than give up their oil deals and other profitable enterprises they enjoyed that were given them by the despotic Iraqi monsters. Same with the UN. It has come out that the food-for-oil program profited that organization tremendously, with billions of dollars paid the Kofi Annan-administered program.

Searches by our military forces have produced records of the economic collusion between Saddam’s government and the governments of Russia, France, Germany and others. It is highly considered that this might well be the reason the leaders of these nations so adamantly opposed Hussein’s being deposed. Perhaps they feared just such light of truth would be shed upon their dark dealings.

Out of this strange mixture of democracy and collusion with dictators, a man will emerge whom Bible prophecy says will be a genius at such underhanded dealings. That Scripture says: ‘And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up’ (Dan. 8:23).

Antichrist will understand exactly how to get the most for himself and his world-order elitists who assist him in his drive to enslave the world.

The European Union grows rapidly toward its full power that will produce a leader of unprecedented authority. Bible prophecy foretells that seven out of ten ‘kings’ will back a world leader, who will forcibly rip power from the other three and give it to himself. The great question of our time, prophetically speaking, might be: Is the European Union the prophesied governmental body that will eventuate in becoming the ten kingdoms that will provide Antichrist with his beastly power?

No one can say for certain, although some seem to have no problem making such declarations, as if they personally helped God give the prophets the prophecies. All we will say here is that with all other prophetic indicators seemingly in full view upon the immediate geopolitical horizon, another profound ingredient has just been added to the fascinating mix. If the EU is not the body that will evolve into that most evil of history’s empires, it must be that biblically prophesied empire’s twin.

The EU has now begun the process that will give it a leader like none other. This news item encapsulates the search for such a man:

Convention backs Blair’s plan for EU presidency’TONY BLAIR’s plans for a powerful new full-time president of Europe look set to become reality after the man charged with drafting a European Union constitution backed the project yesterday.

Val’ry Giscard d’Estaing, the former French President who chairs the convention on Europe’s future, supported the EU’s biggest member states who argue that the Union needs a president if it is to punch its weight on the international stage’

‘ [d’Estaing] noted that two smaller states, Denmark and Sweden, had just swung behind the idea, which originated in London but was first publicly proposed by President Chirac of France. A new president would be elected by heads of government of EU members and would hold office for five years. The creation of such a post would help to settle the decades-old question posed by Henry Kissinger of whom to call in Europe in an emergency. It could also help to prevent a repetition of the bitter arguments that erupted over Iraq’

‘Mr. Blair has been linked to the new post, which, conveniently, is likely to come into being in 2006, a year or so after the next general election. Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister, and Jos’ Mar’a Aznar, the Spanish Prime Minister, have also been suggested as prospective candidates”. (http://www.truthtv.org/newstext.asp?newsid=1300)

The prophetic tide rolls toward an unsuspecting world. Breaking news, however, should not surprise Christians. We are told to watch for the nearness of Christ’s return in many places throughout the Bible. Additionally, this website contains a number of articles that warn the Christian to be watchful.

We believe that the fact that the European Union is in prophecy is self-evident because of today’s stunning headlines. The true importance of that, if the EU is in fact the forming of the beast-kingdom from which Antichrist will come upon the world scene, is that it means Jesus’ call to His Church (the Rapture) must be very near indeed!

Everybody Loves A Hypocrite :: By Todd Strandberg

Published on: by RR7

The dictionary defines a hypocrite as someone who “pretends to be better than he really is or to be pious, virtuous without really being so.” A hypocrite is someone who says one thing and does the opposite.

One of the main reasons people have double standards is that they desire to have the best of both worlds. They go to church on Sundays and as soon as they walk out the door, they go back to living their “regular” lives.

“Do the right thing” doesn’t mean to do that which best serves our lustful desires. A lack of respect for the seducing nature of sin has led many to live hypocritical lives. In our heart of hearts, we know fully well that something is morally wrong with our actions, but we do it anyway because it feels good or is convenient.

The people committing hypocritical acts normally try to use some form of rationalization to justify their actions. A man committing adultery may say that he is only breaking his wedding vows by having sex with prostitutes. The ultimate rationalization is the phrase, “I just couldn’t help myself.”

In the past few years, several high-profile public leaders have been caught in hypocrisy. The grievous nature of some people’s moral blunders proves that no one is immune from stumbling from a lofty perch. I have listed below some examples.

Hypocrites’ Hall of Shame

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 confessionI 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.

Being Hypocritical about Hypocrites

Everyone would probably agree that hypocrisy in any form is no good. However, because the moral failings of various leaders allows the average person to justify his or her own moral inequalities, the actual view of hypocrisy tends to be rather positive. This is particularly true for those who aren’t Christians. They seem to love it when authority figures get caught with their pants down.

If the president of the Southern Baptist Convention was nabbed in a prostitution raid, or if the Pope was discovered to own stock in a Las Vegas casino, millions of people would use these grievous examples of immorality to rationalize their own smaller transgressions.

Because God created us with a built-in moral compass, we constantly feel the need to justify our actions. It is comforting to be able to point to the deeds of someone else and say, “I may have my faults, but I’m not as bad as he is.”

Rationalization is a useful tool for relieving guilt and removing ourselves from responsibility. A person who is 70 pounds overweight can look at someone who is 150 pounds overweight and marvel at the other’s obesity. But a person can’t make himself thinner by finding people who are fatter than he is. He may have a lower percentage of body fat than other people, but nonetheless, according to the basic guidelines for weight, he is still fat.

How Did They Get into That Mess?

If you were to study 100 cases of hypocrisy, I doubt you would find a single person who intended to become a hypocrite. Most people start off with good intentions and along the way their moral values somehow get off track.

Because our flesh likes the things of this world, compromise is inevitable for those people who play with temptation. If you keep dancing on the edge of the abyss, you’ll eventually fall in. It takes people who are honest and humble to know their limits.

The apostle Paul gave some very good advice to the Thessalonians on how to avoid becoming a hypocrite. He told them to, “Abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thes. 5:22). Notice he said Christians should not only abstain from whatever is wrong, but also that we should abstain from whatever appears to be wrong.

What makes this such good advice to follow is our inability, at times, to use proper judgment in avoiding sin. By the time we realize we’ve gone too far, turning around becomes difficult.

Many believers who have decided that no harm would result from going out to have a few drinks with friends or co-workers have later wondered how alcohol was able to destroy their lives.

An old public service announcement about drinking urged people to know their limits. The problem with this advice is that the only way for someone to know his limit is by surpassing it; some folks may see their limit as only being reached when they end up in jail for DWI.

Image Is Everything

When people present themselves as moral leaders, they automatically commit themselves to living by a higher standard. Pat Robertson and William Bennett, two of the examples listed in the Hypocrites’ Hall of Shame, found this out the hard way. Robertson said he only owned a racehorse because he liked the sport. Bennett argued that he never actually had presented himself as a moral authority. Both men branded themselves as hypocrites by failing the most fundamental rule of morality – leadership is made by example.

The Bible warns that preachers will be judged more severely than others. If some religious leaders knew of the tough standards facing them, they would probably replace their titles of “bishop,” “deacon,” or “holiness” with a more humble title of simply “message carrier.”

“My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation” (Jas. 3:1).

One the greatest examples of hypocrisy in the Church today is top-bill preachers who mire themselves in worldly goods. It is a witness-destroying contradiction for men to point to heaven as the final hope while they continue to lust after all the finer things of this life. The example that Jesus gave in His life on earth should be reason enough for us to tend towards modesty.

“The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath no where to lay his head” (Matt. 8:20).

Because the main task of a moral commentator is to convince people to do things that contradict their fleshly desires, any indication of a double standard completely destroys the message.

When I was in high school, Mr. Block, my history teacher, talked to the class about the dangers of smoking. He had good intentions in warning us about smoking, but he compromised his message through a conflicting financial interest.

Because Mr. Block had previously told the class that he owned stock in a big tobacco company that had done extremely well for him, he said, “I wouldn’t mind taking a hit on my stock if it meant some of you young folks would not take up the habit.” Because his capital gains were generated by people consuming tobacco, his ethics and stock portfolio were in conflict with each other.

The Danger of Too Few Hypocrites

One of my favorite pastimes is researching prophetic commentaries written as far back as the 1800s. By reading vintage books on Bible prophecy, I’m able to get a non-biased view of how the world is progressing towards the end times.

It commonly known that the generations that lived before us had a much stronger moral foundation that the one we find today. The Bible was used as a guide for all sorts of matters that would be unheard of today. The Good Book was used as reference in such common fields as business, education, and politics. Of course, it would be considered bizarre–or in some cases unlawful–to use the Bible as a manual for daily living.

Oddly enough, I’ve noticed the cry over hypocrisy then was much louder then than it is today. From reading some of these 100-year-old commentaries, you would think they were living in the golden age of hypocrisy.

The decline in moral standards is the most obvious reason we see a shift away from a two-faced approach to morality. If people don’t live by a moral code, they really can’t be considered in violation of something they never vowed to uphold in the first place. A hypocrite loves God and his sin. Someone who is totally depraved has no such contradiction.

Very few hypocrites lived in Sodom and Gomorrah. The inhabitants of those two cities were fully dedicated to their wickedness, and this fact did not escape God’s attention. It is easy to see that our generation is headed down that same path.

God Does Not Judge on a Curve

I once watched a Christian-produced video that featured a crew asking individuals at random if they were ready to enter Heaven. Most people believed they were in good standing with their Creator. They arrived at this belief by concluding that they were somehow safe because they knew there were many others who were worse sinners.

The requirement for salvation is solely based on how we react to the gift presented to us at Calvary. It has been estimated that nearly 100 billion people have lived on this planet at some point. If all members of this great mass of humanity trusted in Jesus as their Savior, they would make it into Heaven. If only a dozen of them chose to follow Christ, they would be part of the lucky few.

I don’t know where people get the idea that salvation is determined by people fitting under a “nice person” category. Far too many people seem to think that only the most evil percentage of humanity will be the ones who don’t make the cutoff.

The basis of our salvation is trusting in Jesus Christ as our Savior. You might be a person of high moral standards, but if you make works your foundation, you will not qualify for the Kingdom of God.

A world full of hypocrites cannot save your eternal soul. It’s nice to point to hypocrites for excuses, but there is nothing they can do to better your odds. God has already determined their fate. The occurrence of hypocrisy is more negative than anything. It demonstrates how difficult it is to resist sin.

Most folks spend far too much time assessing the sins of other people. The fact that people are unable to live perfect lives is not really breaking news. Instead of measuring our lives by what hypocrites do, we need to model our lives after the One who set the perfect example.

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).