Earth Day Faith

"If everybody is thinking the same thing, then somebody isn't thinking."

                                                                        ~ General George S. Patton

Mother Nature

This past week, throughout the country and internationally, as with every 22nd of April, the secular holiday 'Earth Day' was celebrated.
In my younger years, I thought it was a harmless day to do some type of environmental service in the outdoors; but as I grow older, I am realizing Earth Day is much more to those who glorify Mother Nature.

If you don't know anything about Earth Day, it began in 1970 and was celebrated then and every year afterward on April 22nd. 

The date chosen is Vladimir Lenin's birthday and was later declared a 'service' day for the

Vladimir Lenin

Russian motherland by Premier Nikita Khrushchev in the Soviet Union. Due to this fact and other pleas by early environmentalists, their movement was seen as subversive and as a 'socialist trick' to confound good, America-loving patriots.

In short, many were deemed Communist sympathizers; it didn't help that many of their leaders actually were communist sympathizers.

But I digress.

The date was chosen because it didn't interfere with any religious holidays like Passover or Easter, it would not interfere with college exams or Spring break (you must remember that during that time activism was high on college campuses) and it was the birthday of conservationist John Muir. 

Earth Day is complete with rituals and anthems which glorify 'Mother Nature;' many of which are set of older Christian hymns, such as Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy.'

Worshiping God's Creation is nothing new; yet, the believer must know to separate the creation from its Creator; they are not one and the same.
And to say all created things carry an image of God within them devalues the image of God itself; to say an earthworm is just as much image bearer of God as a human child, lessens the value of the human child to that of an earthworm.

The Christian should rightly honor the creation as the handiwork of the Creator; while taking serious the stewardship of which humanity is charged with and given by God Himself concerning His universe.
Many times we have failed; but we must never fail to see how the Creation points to a grand Creator of grace and mercy.

A few years ago, I was blessed enough to minister among the men and women of the 52nd Fighter Wing (Go Sabers) in our allied nation of Germany. 
While there, a friend and I visited a place called Trier, which is the western-most, ancient Roman city in Germany.

In one of its heights, Trier was the location of Emperor Constantine's western seat; today, you can visit the Palace of Trier, ancient Roman baths and even Constantine's Basilica (which is now a evangelical church).

During World War II, Constantine's Basilica was shattered by Allied bombs and reduced to pieces of brick and mortar. 
But that brick was able to be traced to its original source, placed back together and relics were found; the upper parts and roof were later rebuilt.

Like the men and women who rebuilt Constantine's Basilica after the war, Christians sift through this world, through Creation, tracing the 'bricks' of the world back to their original source, knowing that they are not the source in and of themselves.

By their very nature, they point to One who is greater, more powerful and governs all things; nature and the earth itself, point consistently and constantly to God Himself.
Nature is a pointer, a token and guide given to us out of God's grace and love, guiding us to the source of all things - which is God Himself.
As such, He alone is to be worshiped.

God places order in the world; it is true if the earth was one degree closer to the sun we would fry; one degree further away and we would freeze.
You see, as He orders the universe, the silent voice of Creation cannot be squelched from declaring the glory of God.

Creation is grand, but it is also violent at times - when we fell, we took God's perfect work with us and marred it as well.


There are fires, mudslides, tornadoes, hurricanes and other natural disasters; but there is also the majesty of a sunrise, the beauty of stars on the velvet backdrop of the night sky, and the symphony of Spring's voices as they are reborn for another season. 

In the animal kingdom, mallard ducks will gang-rape a weaker, non-mallard and then drown it; chipmunks will eat their own as will male lions in a pride; while dolphins will aid the injured and care for their own.

Each of these things occur in nature and the natural world, except for humans, will view these things as normal occurrences. 
This is how things work in the natural world since the fall of man and sin entering the world through our first parents thousands of years ago.
Humans, however, we react with shock as if we can never get use to the fact that we caused the violence and destruction that now exists in Creation.

In one sense, we are spiritual beings with a material body; in another sense, we are material beings within the created order with a soul or spirit. 
Yet, God deals with us both spiritually and materially within the world; and thankfully, God deals with us on our level.
Everything we know about the supernatural world is fulfilled through ordinary or natural means; and while this is to point our hearts to our Creator rather than the creation, sometimes it becomes much easier for skeptics to deny God or disbelieve. 

Hence, the glorification of Earth Day instead of glorifying God as the author of Creation.


In truth, I have a lot of compassion and sympathy for those men and women who want to believe in God, but cannot because they desire unshakable proof of His existence or work.

Here's a remarkable truth many Christians will never admit to:
THERE IS NO UNSHAKABLE, IRONCLAD PROOF

Since I was a small child, I have heard arguments by Christians for God and then heard non-believers argue against the existence of God.
All that has happened is that the venom spewed turned off more people and drove them away from a compassionate, merciful Lord.

For belief, the mystery and majesty of faith must be an element; yet, God does not and will not compel belief in Himself or anything else.
If so, Pontius Pilate would have believed and the course of history would have vastly different. Instead of appearing to Peter, Jesus may have appeared to Caiaphas and forced his conversion. 

Friend, there is no absolute proof when it comes to faith; except the reality of grace which can be experienced but never taught.
The highest reality can be experienced through the lowliest things; but the eyes of faith and not the eyes of the world are able to see them. We must pay attention and learn the difference between the two.

And if you really want to make a difference and be a good steward with the environment, every Christian should stop thinking about Mother Nature and begin with thanksgiving and praise to Father God.

Until next time, win one for the good guys.

Does Faith Work?

"Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe."

                                                                                               ~ Augustine

A mind-numbing question: "Why doesn't faith work?"

Muslim Brotherhood executing Christians

I'm not speaking of the 20+ Coptic Christians murdered by ISIS in Egypt for their beliefs this year; nor am I speaking of the Russian Christians who held on to their faith during the Cold War as 98,000 priests were martyred nearly a century ago, or even the murders of the African Christians throughout that continent.

I am speaking of the American Christian who has everything at his fingertips demonstrating the grace of God in his life.
Why isn't that Christian's faith a true reality in his life?

The truth is that in America, Christians tend to treat one another worse than everybody else.
This is magnified if you are a pastor; I have heard so many stories of pastors and ministers being hurt in their ministry by the very people they are called to serve.
At this hour in my life, I even have a few stories of my own.

Indeed, some are made better by faith; yet, there are others who are made infinitely worse. 
Instead of using faith as the life-spring to God's grace, implemented instead are a set of rules the Christian is to follow.

And while, in the modern world, a church would never admit to being legalistic; the truth is that we have stoned many believers right out of the Body of Christ with our own rocks of judgment.


For every gracious saint of God, there is a mean-spirited one.
Why doesn't their faith act and look the same?


In the 1960's, at the height of the protests against the war in Vietnam, free love and racial conflict in America, a very intelligent man asked a profound question.
The question was later made popular 30 years later in the 1990's, but it is no less profound.
That question for the Christian: 'What Would Jesus Do?'

Taken to its real implications in our lives, WWJD is quite disturbing.
If every Christian would take this phrase seriously, not only would grace abound but also many modern tables would be overturned in our Pharisaical Temples we call churches.
In your life, my life - indeed, What Would Jesus Do?

I'm not always sure what Christ would do in every situation, but I do know that one of the times I tried to be as Christ-like as possible was when I ministered to a homeless couple that had come in contact with the Church I was serving.
One family in particular determined that they weren't the church's 'kind of people.'
Appalled, I spent this Easter setting in a pew rather than proclaiming from a pulpit.
But I digress.

Maybe millions of Christians suffer from a narcissistic disorder; I know a handful that do, but maybe it is on a much more massive scale than I thought.
I truly believe that millions of Christians live in a make-believe bubble world where there is little ability of thought or projection beyond themselves.

I'm sure everyone knows at least one Christian like this, since there are so many of them; but it is somewhat heart-wrenching for those who are trying to follow Christ as best we can to be compared to those who are in our midst, yet so unlike our Lord.

Sadly, many Christians have become so self-centered and self-indulgent.
And it is true that most Christians don't think or believe incorrectly; instead, Christians tend to behave and live wrongly/badly.
A common path walked by an American Christian is the fact that we will accept grace, but soon realize that they can't live the faith as Jesus describes and on which the Apostle Paul expounds.
Therefore, the Christian then tries to earn his way to approval before God...and fails again; all the while ignoring the gift of grace through our faith.

So, what will happen in life, instead of the faith in the heart guiding decisions towards others, our decisions become based on principles.
When a person is kind because of their principles rather than originating from a belief in the heart, this is no faith at all; it is instead ascribing to a code of morality.

In truth, we have the Gospel ideals and on the other side we have the acts of true life.
These shouldn't be different, but they are.

In reality, you and I are never, and I mean NEVER going to achieve with perfection God's ideals set forth in the New Testament; nor are we going to live up to our own ideals concerning truth and morality.
And this is why we need grace - simply because we are not going to achieve God's perfection without His help.

Be sure, we should never judge God's Holy ideals and His Infallible Truths by our inability to meet and keep them.
If a deacon is walking home from a wild night and he is staggering from side to side along the road; is that any less the way home?

You see, our failures do not devalue or disprove God's truth; instead, our shortcoming prove the truth of grace altogether.
And idea or truth cannot be held responsible for the actions of those who profess to believe it. Therefore, our faith may be weak at times and even falter; but it does not fail if we continue on in grace.

Soldier with Iraqi Orphan after Invasion

But every now and then, us fallen human beings get it right and truly honor God in horrid situations.

In our world, we are ruled by law and order; in such a place, the notion of grace is a contradiction. This contradiction is magnified when it comes to the Christian faith.
As humans, we desire fairness; in the Gospels, God gives us an innocent man murdered on a Cross who cries out for the forgiveness of those who are killing Him.
We want respectability in life, Scripture elevates the hated tax-collector and the suspect harlot.
Many believers want success as well, but the Gospels show a dramatic change of what it means to be successful by moving the downtrodden to the front and the wealthy to the rear.

My friend, things have changed because of Jesus Christ.
Maybe you and I need to change from what was to what is, and that which is, is Jesus and His way.

At the beginning of this writing I asked a simple question, 'Why doesn't faith work?'
As I have pondered, an old thought returned to my mind an old man of God once said, "Man must bow down to something..."

That man of God was right.

Yet, when God is forgotten, everything is permissible; this was seen in past empires and is being seen in America today.
And that is why faith doesn't always work - God has been forgotten.

The blame lies solely on the doorstep of the Church.

Nobody can live up to the ideal we set forth; we cannot accomplish it any more than the Nation of Israel could perfectly fulfill the Law.
There was nothing wrong with the Law, but there is everything wrong with humanity.
That's the reason we have been given grace.

In our world, millions of Christians and their churches are wanting to lower the standards of the Body (which they have no right to do) to become more 'accepting' to a fringe.'
Well, Jesus never lowered the standards for anyone; He did, however, never fail to offer forgiveness and grace to all who would come to Him and ask.

Like thousands of other Christians, I too have a long list of complaints against the church; not the ideals which the New Testament established, but through those who are members of the Body of Christ.
Maybe all believers have a list of complaints.
But I must ask, 'Who among us rises to do something about the things we complain about?'

The answer is simple: It is those whom we crucify.

With that, we must remember that Jesus is best seen, not in the words we speak or proclaim; but in the actions of His people.

All Christians can criticize and critique, and sometimes even unfairly so; while few offer solutions to the real problems of poverty, disease, legalism, and a host of other issues within the Body.
But friend, remember, we may not know the answer to evil, but we do know grace.

And God's grace is enough to carry on in the manner in which He desires us to live, even when others criticize Christians for doing so out of honor for the Lord.

So, yes, faith does work - but only when you're serving the right Lord.

Until next time, win one for the good guys.

Grace Resistance

The New River Gorge Bridge

Where I grew up, the great New River Gorge Bridge spans across the top of two mountains over the New River, located some 867 feet above. 
It is over three-thousand feet long and once was boasted as the world's longest arch bridge.

Each year, thousands of people from across the country and around the world flock to 'The Bridge' on the third Saturday in October to celebrate, 'Bridge Day.'

Not long ago, I was privileged to minister with some believers on a mission team from the great state of North Carolina through connections with a pastor in the area on Bridge Day.
It was a wonderful, blessed time when I needed to 'get back into the groove' of ministry.
But I digress. 

The one thing you will not find there is a massive amount of locals; the people who drive across the Bridge everyday are less impressed than others. 
For those of us who can remember watching it being built, this rings even more true.
In all actuality, in many ways, we have grown accustom to the engineering feat of which so many stand in awe.

Near Eisenhower Tunnel/Loveland Pass, Colorado

This week, I have found the same thing in the Rocky Mountains.

Those of us who are not familiar with the handiwork of God on this side of the United States stand in awe of the snow-peaked mountains and the small towns scattered throughout the region.

The locals, however, have grown up with this beauty of God's creation before their eyes; in a sense, they see the beauty but have lost the 'awe factor' of amazement.

Sadly, the exact thing happens when it comes to God's grace.

We are so use to having God's grace and expecting His forgiveness, we no longer stand in awe of what He can do, does do, nor the daily miracle He performs in the individual Christian's life.

In reading the Gospels, most of the time we are no longer amazed at God's over-arching mercy or grace.
Though we see faith appearing where it is least expected and faltering where it should be thriving - as Christians, we are not as impressed as we once were.
And that is really, really sad.

It is as if the individual Christian has become so accustom to God's grace that we expect to be forgiven as a birthright rather than receiving forgiveness after repentance of sin.
If this is true, we are truly in a sad state and in need of grace more than ever before.

Have you ever wondered why the ministry of presence and prayer is so important to some people in the faith?
The reason is because, for some, they don't have money, they weren't born with pedigree and they don't have an overpowering education.

The one thing that they do have is faith and time.

Faith allows them hope and time allows them to be able to see the fulfillment of their hope.

For example, if you know aged Christians, when speaking with them you will soon find that they will recall difficult times in their life with nostalgia. 

In fact, I once read where 60% of the Britons who survived the Blitz on London perpetrated by the Nazi Luftwaffe, stated that the period was the happiest time of their lives.

This was a time of living below ground in tunnels and eating things you and I cannot even imagine, simply to survive another day; all the while praying and hoping pure evil would one day be defeated in yet another European War.

To me, that's amazing; until I realize that those who recall the Great Depression in the United States still speak of it has a hard, yet joyous time of struggle, survival and victory.

It seems that when we encounter difficult times in our lives, God, somehow through those times, gives us strength and builds our character.
Yet, our character would never be built through His strength in those times had we not had the faith or the moral foundation He has provided to us.

It is in these times when we are stretched to the breaking point, but He does not allow us to break.

Think of the great giants of the faith in Scripture; who do we remember the most?
It is those who were stretched, didn't break, but continued on despite the odds or setbacks.

You see, our deepest strength only comes through times of testing and trial.
And true Faith means trusting in advance what can only be understood in reverse.

Like millions of others, I have been hurt by other Christians and by the very people whom I was called to serve within the local church.
There are hundreds of different ways a person can be hurt by churches and Christians, but today, it is becoming epidemic. 

Sadly, there are millions of survivors of Church pain from false Christians, fake friends and pseudo-spiritual people.
It is these who abuse grace and falsify faith as good men and women are hurt within the walls where they should be the safest.

Yet, if we had not been through such trials in our lives, we would not own the deep strength those who injured us will never know.
If we had not endured those times, we could not know the victory in seeing our faith vindicated while others remain spiritually blind.

And if it had not been for those times, we could never fully understand in reverse what we believed in advance.

One thing that I am thankful for in having cancer, recovering and then being hurt by Christians I loved and a Church I served: I was able to relearn the awesomeness of forgiveness, mercy and grace.
That was an unintentional gift those who hurt me never intended to give and a wonder they have yet to understand. 

Through God's grace I have come to learn that they actually helped me by hurting me.

I can only describe it in the words of the Master, in a story He once told centuries ago.
In the story of the Prodigal Son, the father scans and searches the horizon waiting for the the son who left.
When the father sees him coming, he celebrates - not the faithful son who remained behind - but rather, he celebrates the return of the son who shamed him.
God does the same for every child that comes home to Him.

That is the scandal of grace.

You see, grace and mercy has never been about God's willingness to forgive us and give it; this has never, and I mean never, been in question. 
Instead, history is a story of humans who resist God's offer of grace to our lives.

We fail to understand the powerful words of the Apostle Paul: "Where sin increased, grace increased all the more."

Today in Christianity, there are some who protest fallen soldiers' funerals, others who believe homosexuals cannot ever be redeemed; certainly there are some who believe races should not mix and still others who are harsh fundamentalists majoring on the minor issues of the faith. 
And much of these things help us very little at all in our walk with the Lord.

With such a wide spectrum, and resistance to grace still rampant, the question still needs to be asked, "Can God forgive any sin?"
The absolute answer is 'yes.'

For, you see, the Kingdom of God is built on the back of murderers, adulterers and even those who have denied Him. 
But the problem is not with God and it never has been; friend, the problem is with us.

Forgiveness is our gift from God, but it is also our greatest problem; we have a hard time believing God's well of grace never runs dry.
To be perfectly blunt, the grace God has restored my soul with is the same grace He awaits to give to the men who hurt me within the church; yet, this gives us another problem we have with grace.

A man can indeed sin and he can repent.
Yet, repentance is harder after a man willingly sins, believing prior to the sin all he will have to do is ask forgiveness and he will receive it.
The man is right, that is all he would have to do; but the problem is that once we commit the sin, we may not want to come back to God in repentance.

You see, when a Christian plans to sin, whether that sin is betraying another Christian or committing adultery or stealing a grape from a grocery market, in that act of sin - we change.

Since the Garden of Eden, in every act of rebellion, we change; sin corrupts us further and we become estranged and out of fellowship with God.

When this happens, there is no guarantee that we will want to come back to Him.

Over the years, I have witnessed to so many people I could not begin to count them all.
Yet, one common theme among many is the fact that they are nice people and they don't want to hurt my feelings because they can sense my compassion and sincerity. 
Often, instead of outright rejecting Christ with their words, when asked if they want to accept Him for salvation, they will say, "Maybe later."

When we knowingly and purposefully sin against God in an act of open rebellion, we may continue to resist and reject His grace and forgiveness so much that the phrase, 'maybe later' will apply to our relationship with Him.

Don't ever allow yourself to remain in that prideful, rebellious, 'maybe later' place spiritually.
Do something about it and become reacquainted with the wonder of God's grace in your life.

Until next time, win one for the good guys.

Easter From a Different View

Tomorrow millions will celebrate Resurrection Day.
I along with them; for it is the greatest day in the history of the world.

Therefore, given the time of year, I have republished the following blog from a time past.
It is one of my favorites. Enjoy.
And, Happy Easter.


Over the years I have read many, many books. A long time ago, a person gave me an idea that has led to this post. I don't remember the author nor the book; but I do remember the idea. 
And while the idea is another's, the thought behind the print is my own.
This is Easter...from a slightly different point of view.


Room full. 
Disciples present - I am the greatest.
Towel. Basin.
 Feet washed - perfect humility.

Table set. All there. 
Judas dipped. John leaned. 
All wondered - Is it I?

Judas gone. 

This is my Body - Broken.
This is my Blood - Shed.
For you - New Covenant.

Mount Olives. Garden Grove - Ancient Gethsemane.
Sleepy Disciples. 
Torches. 
Company. 

Friend? 
Kiss.
Betrayal.

Seizing. Slicing. Healing.

Led Away - Peter followed.

Courtyard. Trial. High Priest.
Blasphemy. 

I don't know the man. 
Cock. Crowed. Thrice.
Eye Contact.

Peter Wept.

Innocent Blood - Betrayed.
Silver Pieces - Scattered.
Temple. Potter's Field.
Judas Hanged.

Romans. Pilate. No Fault.
What is Truth?

Scourged. 
Barabbas offered. 
Accepted. 
Hands Washed.

Crucify Him.

Simon Pressed. 
Cross Carried.
Lifted Up - This is the King of the Jews.

Behold, your Mother.
It is Finished.

Serpent's Head Finally Crushed.

Joseph. Body. Wrapped.
New Tomb. 
Death. 
Silence.
Sabbath.

Sunday. 
Day Break - New World Dawning.

Women. Spices.
Tomb. Open.
Tomb. Empty.
Alive!

Second Chance.
New Hope.
Redemption!

Jesus Alive!

Until Next time, try to win one for the good guys.

Good Friday Grace

"Think but how vile a spectacle it were

To view thy present trespass in another,

Men's faults do seldom to themselves appear;

Their own transgressions practically they smother."

                                                                               ~ Wm. Shakespeare


Like millions of other Christians around the world, today we celebrated Good Friday; it is the day on which Christ died.
While millions attend church services, millions more do not; those of us who do not usually spend the day at work talking about why we should have the day off.

But Good Friday is called 'good' for a reason; it is much more than a holiday or a church service commemoration or even a day off.

Jesus is what makes Good Friday, 'good;' for it was in Him that heaven and earth met together on a Cross suspended between humanity and God.
His sacrifice allowed any person to come to Him by faith and receive His grace and eternal life.
In Him, all things were able to be reconciled once and for all.

Which makes me wonder, 'if it truly is that easy to be reconciled, why do we make it so hard?'

We, as Christian and even as human beings, have a very hard time remembering that Jesus Christ is not the 'God of Gotcha!' 
Though He liberated us from such, over and over, we try to make Him be something He is not and His faith something it is not; it is that which Paul called "legalism."

Quite possibly, every church has a form of legalism; for it breeds in the heart of many seekers of God without noticing its effects.
There was a legalistic bent in my home church, the church in which I grew up; there was even a hint of it in the church where I served as pastor.

For example, in the church where I grew up, people who drank alcohol or found themselves in divorce court definitely had the aromatic stench of sulfuric hell-fire on them, while other sins went unmentioned, such as arrogance.
Other churches form a battle line around hymnals being the only proper place to find a 'Godly' song to sing for the Lord; still others, draw the sword against certain Bible translations.

All these things muddy the water and lessen the power of grace and the Gospel.

Interestingly enough, Jesus' life resembled the laws and rules of the Pharisees; yet, He reserved his fiercest attacks and strongest words for them.

In today's terms, His Pharisees would be our 'Bible-Belt Fundamentalists.'
And Jesus viewed them much more of a threat than any other faction in His society; yet, on the outside, they seemed like model citizens.

But remember, Jesus was killed by the common folks; no, He was murdered by the religious crowd. 
As a minister, I never forget this fact because the dangers of the Pharisees are still relevant today.

You see, whether it was the Pharisees of two millennium ago or modern day legalists; the Grace of God is ignored while the external action of the individual rises to the status of most important instead of their heart and the condition of their soul.
The great danger is the fact that nobody believes that they are a legalist, nobody.
Every individual believes that their rules are OK, but every one else who has rules make them too strict to follow.

We would do well to remember that Good Friday is good for a reason; it is good because of the blood atonement of Christ which ushered to us the opportunity for His wonderful grace in our lives.

In the words of the church father Augustine: "Love God and do as you please."
For, if one truly loves God, what they are pleased to do, will be honorable to Him.

In this regard within our lives, it boils down to what is trivial verses what is really important.

When Jesus healed on the Sabbath, His opponents were more concerned about religious protocol than they were about those who were no longer sick.
Today, some are too preoccupied with the length of a man's hair and the height of a woman's skirt rather than being willing to confront the modern issues of the homeless man on the street corner they passed on the way to church or the beggar standing next to the interstate off-ramp.
But this is not an new problem.

German Christians in the 1930's ignored what was blatantly happening to European Jews.
In the 1950's & 60's, Southern Christians ignored the lynching and institutional racism of their region.
In the 1970's & 80's, South Africans did much the same thing as our Southerns; only they were far more vicious.
One thing is for sure, each of the above scenarios had one thing at the center; it was a heart issue at the core.

Sometimes, I wonder how our generation will be judged when it comes to the social issues of our time because we Christians have a knack for pointing out the speck in the eyes of others without noticing the log in our own.

Christianity without the grace won on the first Good Friday (and the last valid Passover) encourages hypocrisy on various levels; the truth is that nobody, no person can ever live to the standard set by mortal men.
If humanity could not live by and according to the Holy Standard of God, then no man on earth can improve on the system to make it work.
Our rules simply cloak what is actually taking place in the heart.

In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira are struck dead after giving some of the money they had acquired from selling land to the Body.
What was really happening in their hearts was that they were overcome by greed and lied to God over the matter - they attempted to appear more spiritual than what was actually true - that's why they were judged and stricken dead.

Now, you and I probably know more than our fair share of people who attempt to appear more spiritual than what they actually are; sometimes they run off a preacher, sometimes they fool their own families, sometimes the deceive everyone.
Not once have I ever seen one stricken dead inside a church; if God did that every time, I fear our churches would be filled with corpses rather than worshipers.

Indeed, some do fool nearly everyone. 
Everyone, that is, except God.

The only alternative to attempting to appear more spiritual is utter and complete honesty.
And once we are honest, this honesty will ultimately lead to repentance.
You see, hypocrisy disguises the need for grace; it is an elaborate mask but it is still just a

mask.
But the Holy Spirit can destroy all masks and deceptions through honesty, repentance and the grace of Christ.

There is a very real reason Good Friday is good.

In whatever form it takes, legalism fosters a personal pride in 'what I can do', instead of relying solely on what God can do within us and through us.
It also leads to the practice of deeming what is an 'acceptable' sin and which sins are 'unacceptable.'
The problem with judging our own sins against the sins of others, is of course, our list of 'acceptable sins' keeps changing for the worse.

Legalism instead of grace....it fails miserably before God.
If this was not true, Israel would have been in perfect obedience before God, but they were not.
Instead, strict laws only put 'what can I get away with?' into our minds.

For example, research has shown that children raised in tee-totaling faiths are three times more likely to become alcoholics.
I can actually understand this 'disobedient/rebellious' streak; when my home state enacted a law stating all people must wear a seat belt while in a car, all it did was make me want to NOT wear a seat belt. 

For some reason, we think we must have a set of rules or requirements filled before we can come to God. 
It isn't true and it stifles us; we tend to want to keep the rules or try to get around them as opposed to accomplishing the work of the Gospel.
Trying to circumvent imaginary rules will leave us with needles guilt and permanent scars which should have never been made by wounds that shouldn't exist.

Legalistic rules to our faith will cause us to play songs without ever hearing the music; it is missing the melody of the Gospel of Grace.
It causes us to miss the purpose of Grace altogether.

Yes, my friend, there is a reason it is called Good Friday.