It was sad to read of the death of Thomas Kinkade a few weeks ago. I was never a huge fan of his works, although they were often attractive, and I had purchased one or two over the years as gifts for people who truly appreciated them. He declared his Christian faith many times over the years; all four of his children were given "Christian" as their middle name. The self described "Painter of Light," his paintings would often have hidden bible verses within.
His personal life at times ran to the sordid. He had an admitted problem with alcoholism, and struggled with this for many years. He was separated from his wife of nearly thirty years, and had a live-in girlfriend with whom he had numerous domestic incidents requiring the police to visit. There was a DUI a few years ago. His company was in bankruptcy, in part because of lawsuits stemming from improper business dealings with his franchise owners. There were reported drunken incidents that are publicly available but I would rather not detail them here.
His brother vouches for his Christian faith, and tells how he managed to be clean for a few years before returning to heavy drinking. The 911 dispatch record relates how his girlfriend made the emergency call the morning of his death after drinking all night long. He was fifty-four years old.
Many will be quick to make pronouncements about his life as lived and his faith. Some will claim that he must not have been a Christian. I Corinthians 6:9-10 tells us that, "Neither fornicators, nor adulterers...nor drunkards...will inherit the kingdom of God." It certainly would be good for the image of Christians to disown him as not "really one of us." On the other hand, non-Christians would be pleased to point to him as one of our own and how this demonstrates how we continue to sin, and in doing so, become hypocrites.
The word hypocrite comes from the Greek word for a stage actor. Typically in Greek plays such an actor would wear a mask. Most often today the word hypopcrite in common usage is meant to describe someone who pretends. We think of a hypocrite as someone who says one thing and does another. I think it may be more complicated that that. For myself, I prefer to distinguish a hypocrite from a stray sheep. I do this by looking at consistency, intent, and regret.
I believe a hypocrite is a person who states one thing as acceptable behavior but does not truly believe what they are saying and does not believe that behavioral rule applies to themself. For instance, if I went around saying that adultery was wrong, but did not really believe that, and felt it was alright for me to commit adultery, then what I was saying and what I was believing are not consistent. Your intent is to decieve, and your public pronouncements are deception. You do not regret your actions. You are a hypocrite, an actor, a deceiver.
On the other hand, as sinners and sheep who go astray, I think that you can condemn a sin, really believe that sin is wrong, and also believe that sin is wrong for you to commit, and yet still commit that sin as a result of your fallen nature. What you are saying and what you are believing is not inconsistent. Your intent is to obey the Lord, and you have failed. You regret your actions. You are a sheep who has gone astray. You are not excused by any means, but I would not consider you a hypocrite.
Christians are to have changed lives, and they should not be known as people with the many characteristics listed in the I Corinthian passage. Their lives while on earth, however, are not sinless. Christ advised us in Matthew 26:40, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Some Christians live lives more marked by sin than others. Without knowing the inner man, and the consistency of his internal beliefs, the intent, and the regret, we cannot truly know the hypocrite from the honest, the lost from the stray.
From what I am able to tell, Kinkade regretted his behavior, and was able to turn from it for a while. I think that his behavior was not excused, and his early death may be an instance of God calling it quits. As we learn in I John 5:16, "Threre is sin leading to death." Sometimes the only way for God to end sin in a Christian's life is to end the life. I pray that Thomas awoke to a life with God and without demons, with abundance and not addictions, with comfort and not condemnation. "If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray" (Matthew 18:12-13).
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