Articles
What Is The Difference Between A Hypocrite And A Faithful Christian Who Stumbles? (Part 2)
The aim of this article is to pinpoint some of the basic difference between a thorough- going hypocrite and a faithful Christian who (although he realizes that he “stumbles” at least at times) strives with all his heart to walk faithfully before God. To correctly fight this battle, he must understand what it means to be (1) a hypocrite (one who pretends to be what he is not) and (2) a truly sincere, faithful Christian (a member of the Lord’s one―and only―true church―that is, one who strives with all of his heart to love God and, as a result, to do what God’s word (the Bible) teaches him to do. It is possible for two people (for example, a husband and wife) to both learn and obey the truth (the Gospel of Christ), thus becoming Christians in so doing, and yet―with the passing of time―it is possible for either or both of the two to fall away into unfaithfulness (by merely pretending to live as a Christian must). Consider the possibility that the wife remains faithful while the husband (without letting either his wife or anyone else know about his apostasy) continues to be at every service of the church, even though it is the case that no longer does he give serious thought to what is occurring all about him―especially does he not give serious attention to what is being said by the man who is preaching the sermon. Rather than listening with all of his heart to the message, he thinks of worldly matters (such as envisioning himself being engaged in some sort of worldly (sinful) activity. A man who does such things may “fool” both his wife and many others in the assembly, but he cannot deceive God Almighty. However, he may be deceiving himself into believing that God―”if indeed,” he says to himself, “there really is an infinite God and if the Bible really is His inspired word, then I shall be safe from eternal punishment after all, I am a religious person who attends almost all of the Sunday morning worship services. So, it is clear that I have nothing to fear. I know that God―if he exists―will not cast me into any
