Seth Udinski, FISM News

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On Wednesday, several news outlets revealed that John Fetterman, Democratic Senate candidate for the state of Pennsylvania who is currently campaigning against Republican Mehmet Oz, has removed any mentions of Black Lives Matter on his campaign website.

The New York Post revealed, through extensive archival research, that the Fetterman team took down BLM advertising on its website on Aug. 22. The Fetterman campaign team has since tried to defend its pro-black position, claiming Fetterman makes a personal commendation of BLM in a video on the website which discusses issues of gun reform.

Still, many wonder if the Fetterman team purged the website of explicit BLM references as an attempt to appear genuine in the wake of a scandal surrounding Fetterman’s relationship with the black community from a resurfaced incident back in 2013.

While he was mayor of Braddock, PA, Fetterman allegedly pulled a gun on an innocent, unarmed black jogger who he suspected of criminal activity and performed a citizen’s arrest. The man was found innocent and released from police custody, but the incident has brought controversy around the Fetterman campaign and left many wondering if his claims of being a “pro-black” politician are legitimate.

Local city council member Fawn Walker-Montgomery, who worked in a precinct not far from Braddock, said recently,

(Fetterman) was a white man with a gun chasing a Black man … if I chased after a person with a gun, I would still be in jail. He’s showing he’s not aware of his white privilege.

Fetterman’s campaign has seen further controversy by his apparent “soft-on-crime” policies and his desire to release federal prisoners upon his potential election, some of whom would be serving maximum sentences for heinous crimes.

Author’s Biblical Analysis:

Regardless of political position, Christians should heed the warnings in this report on the controversial Senate candidate. Particularly, we must be on guard against the trap of hypocrisy.

To be clear ⁠— No one, no matter their political affiliation, is beyond the snare of hypocrisy, which, in a nutshell, is failing to match up one’s conduct with one’s words. It is claiming one thing and living another. Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, liberals, believers, and nonbelievers alike, are all in danger of committing this infraction. All of us have, at one time or another, been a hypocrite.

Sadly, Fetterman appears to consistently exhibit all the signs of hypocrisy as his race with Oz reaches a national audience leading up to the midterms.

Why must Christians be especially aware and on guard against this sin? I would submit to you two reasons.

First, simply put ⁠— Hypocrites were Jesus’ greatest human foes on this earth.

Jesus, in His perfection, never justified the sin of the text collectors, prostitutes, and other “lowlifes” with whom he interacted. He hated their sin every bit as much as the sin of the Pharisees. That is why whenever He would interact with a person, whether to perform a healing or deliverance from demonic powers, He would almost always say “Go and sin no more.”

But the ones with whom Jesus most often clashed were the Pharisees. For greater detail about his conflict with the Pharisees, explore Matthew 23.

Here, Jesus refers to these men as a “brood of vipers” who would not escape the condemnation of hell (v. 33), “Whitewashed tombs” (v. 27), and “Fools” and “blind men.” He also refers to them as “children of their father the devil” (John 8:44).

Believer, this must be found nowhere among you. A hypocritical heart grieves the heart of God, and no child of God will behave this way without humble repentance and a desire to let our “yes be yes” and “no be no.”

Second, perhaps even more simply ⁠— Hypocrisy is a sin.

The Lord Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:15-21

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Spiritual hypocrisy is most often manifested when a person practices good works and law keeping, but their heart does not truly love God. The warning from Jesus is clear ⁠— These people will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Believer, you and I will be tempted in this way and sometimes we will fall. We have all committed this sin, and we need the cure. What is the antidote to hypocrisy?

Praise God, it is available for all who would call on Jesus. The antidote is a humble, contrite spirit, and a spirit of sober reliance on God’s grace and His grace alone for redemption. It is incredibly difficult for a person to act as a hypocrite when they are on their knees, begging for God’s mercy to save them from the wrath they deserve.

This is where we must rest, believers. Do not put your hope in good works or pedigree or even theological knowledge. Put your hope in Christ and in His lovingkindness, shown for you in great abundance by His substitutionary death on the cross.

Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. (Matthew 7:24-25)