Thread by @BethMooreLPM

Other elements may vary but I believe to my bones this is the bottom line in every situation where a Christian leader has lived in gross hypocrisy, carrying on a double life, for years on end:

They are out of fellowship with Jesus. Period. YOU CANNOT SUSTAIN THAT IN FELLOWSHIP.

The Holy Spirit convicts of sin. Every believer has and will fall into strongholds of various kinds of sin but, in fellowship with Christ, we cannot bear to remain in it. We will repent. We can implement all the accountability systems & MUST. But what we’ve got on our hands are

people using piety and outward appearances of righteousness to hide the fact that they have little to no intimacy with the Father and Son through the Holy Spirit. Godliness is never accidental. Show me a godly man or woman and I will show you a godly man and woman who sought God.

Perhaps you’re trying to figure out how we are supposed to measure that in another person. But I’m not talking about another person right now. I’m talking about you, Christian leader. I’m talking about me. I’m talking about having a real live active daily relationship with Jesus.

We want to come up with something more sophisticated than this because it sounds so cheesy to the Christian intellectuals but there is nothing that gets at the heart of it more than this matter right here. Jesus said that what is done in secret WILL be manifested. Whatever it is:

If, in your secret life, there is earnest intimacy with Christ,

there’s seeking him in prayer

there’s genuine devotion

there’s poring over the Scriptures

there’s fellowshipping in his sufferings

there’s partaking in his joys,

those are the secret things that’ll manifest.

I say all of this as one experienced in sin. I lived in a cycle of defeat. I know the Holy Spirit does his job because I’ve been at the other end of it. When your heart is tender to God, you cannot stay on in your big heap of sin. Because you are too miserable. Ok, I’ll shut up.