The thirst for recognition and power over others, the love of money and material wealth, which drives people to acquire possessions to ensure their survival, are some of the driving forces that satanic deception has planted in the hearts of men who live according to the corrupt nature that dwells within them.
To achieve these results, many people, mostly unconsciously, employ highly effective strategies, supported by the power of the evil one, who can thus work to distract and destroy human beings.
Yeshua said that one of these strategies is religious hypocrisy. It is like leaven that irreparably corrupts those into whom it is introduced. A hypocrite is one who feigns virtues they do not possess in order to gain people’s trust and goodwill. An actor who preaches well but practises badly. That is, he pretends to be virtuous, imposes a standard on others as if it were God’s will, yet he himself does not observe it, whilst pretending to do so in an exemplary manner. These standards leave no one any escape, both because they are laden with obligations and impositions created by the hypocrites to make ‘their’ prescriptions—passed off as divine will—a heavy burden on people; and because religious hypocrites draw strength from religious titles and roles which, in their view, only the ‘chosen ones’ can hold and perform. Religious hypocrisy aims to make people live in fear, so as to control and manipulate them. Cleverly, from time to time, the hypocrite artfully loosens the reins on certain permissions to offer a modicum of relief to those who are ‘dough for his yeast’. And so, if you do everything right and follow the example of the ‘Pharisees’, perhaps you will receive God’s forgiveness and, after death, eternal life. In the meantime, you must do what is ‘commanded’ of you in the name of God and fear the religious authorities.
Yeshua warns that every theatrical pretence, every hypocrisy will be exposed, and that any blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. At the same time, he points out the sure way: to fear God, to acknowledge the Messiah before men, and to trust the Holy Spirit for what we are to say when we are unjustly accused. Unlike the hypocrite, in fact, those who live according to the truth know that their life depends on God, want everyone to recognise King Yeshua, and are aware that because of their sincerely lived faith they cannot please everyone, nor do they seek to. (Lk. 12:1–12).
A second strategy that Yeshua describes is that of the accumulation of wealth. Those who live to have ever more and to enjoy the fruits of their accumulation do not reckon with death; this is often cloaked in dignity because it is called ‘work’ and ‘income’. Yeshua warns that our lives are wasted if guided by our selfishness to produce, guard and amass wealth. Indeed, the moment to enjoy it may never come, for we could die at any moment. A recent statistic reports that worldwide, almost two people die every second, 105 die every minute, 6,316 every hour, 151,600 people die every day and 55.3 million die every year. It is therefore possible that every day is our day not only to die, but also, and consequently, to appear before God, to be judged by him on the basis of how we have lived the time given to us on earth.
What a profound thought death is, God’s judgement and our eternal destination!
In this regard, it may help to consider that, whilst some amass great wealth to enjoy for many years—resting, eating, drinking and having fun—many others are deprived of it. Such resources remain hoarded in the accounts of the greedy and miserly rich, for their own future and for their descendants, to the detriment of those who need them to live today. The truth is that everything belongs to God and that therefore nothing of what is given to us is ours. We are stewards of God’s riches and are called to manage them faithfully for the purpose for which God himself has placed them at our disposal.
In God’s kingdom, on the contrary, wealth is managed by distributing it, on behalf of and in the interests of the Lord King, to those in his kingdom who need it at that moment, so that the flow of resources may continue, no one is in need, well-being is shared among the citizens of the kingdom, and their King receives glory because He has provided through His stewards. When we die, will we be rich before God, or will we have accumulated treasures on earth for ourselves? And what we have amassed, to whom will it belong? The selfish person always loses out, especially after death (Lk 12:13–21).
A third strategy that Yeshua describes is that of being anxious for our lives and for the things we need to live them. In reality, this inner state of man is often the foundation and cause of the one described above: the accumulation of wealth. The fear of not having the things we need to live generates the illusion that if we procure them through our own efforts, we can exorcise the terror of death. Anxiety about life is a hellish mechanism. It is a generalised fear of what might happen if we do not make provisions in some way. It generates a logical, irresistible and infallible worry. The anxiety of not having is something we can neither control nor satisfy. The fear of not having possessions, if indulged, traps a person in the life script they have chosen to survive in this dangerous world. Thus arises the desire to secure more time to live than the Creator has decreed. And also to live it without wanting for anything. This is how, insidiously, the fear of not having one’s basic needs met finds reassurance not in God, who is a good Father and who provides, but in man, who considers himself capable and ‘compelled’ to procure life, protection, resources and well-being for himself. Thus arises the glorification of the human capacity to provide for oneself and to declare oneself the architect of one’s own life. After all, even artificial life is now on the horizon. The folly of man who wishes to make himself like God is reaching its zenith, and the words attributed to the devil in Isaiah 14:13–14 resound: ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of the assembly … I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High’.
The Messiah has warned us: those who live as if God did not exist seek to procure all these things for themselves, whilst the heavenly Father, who knows that we need them, wishes to provide them Himself. Yeshua therefore invites everyone to reorder their priorities according to God’s own priorities—his kingdom and his righteousness—because these things are given by God as a bonus. In other words, if we live for the extras, we lose the kingdom which, now and in eternity, guarantees us life with Yahuah, lived according to his will (Luke 12:22–34).
These may therefore be useful final reflections for us:
- Are we living as religious hypocrites, greedy for riches and fearful of being left without possessions, or as citizens of the heavenly kingdom who fear God, rich in His sight and possessing an inexhaustible treasure in heaven?
- Do we know that the Father has been pleased to give us his kingdom, or are we trying to build one of our own to the detriment of others, whom we wish to subjugate through hypocrisy, impoverishing them through greed and neglecting them out of fear?
- Do we keep watch as we await the Lord’s return and stand ready at all times to present ourselves before him?
- Do we carry out our mission on earth with faithfulness and prudence, or do we live to satisfy our own pleasures, dominated by selfishness, self-righteousness and self-love (Lk 12:35–48)?
May the Holy Spirit enlighten our conscience and may we accept His guidance on the path of life. For whoever is not led by the Spirit of God is not a child of God (Rom. 8:14), nor an heir to his kingdom (Gal. 5:19–21).