We have come to serve, not to be served

It was not only in Brazil that a former president had to give some answers to the Justice for his involvement in acts of corruption that have been unveiled and revealed to the country by Operation Lava Jato. Officials from Peru, Ecuador and Panama are having the same fate, as a result of Lava Jato's offsets outside Brazil, which began after the Odebrecht group and Braskem agreed to a leniency agreement with the United States Department of Justice the payment of bribes abroad in more than a billion dollars.

Last March, while the condemnations of the former presidents occupied the headlines, the bishop of the city of Formosa, four priests and a monsignor were arrested because of misuse of funds belonging to the church in three cities of Goiás. According to the investigation, the group appropriated money from tithes, donations, party fundraisers and events fees such as baptisms and weddings.

What is the relationship between the two news stories?

From the Greek hupokrisía (performance of a role), there is a word that synthesizes the behaviour of the protagonists of the mentioned facts: hypocrisy, term that means fake religious devotion; falsehood; pretence; demonstration of ideas or opinions that do not correspond to what the individual really thinks or feels.

Politicians who claim to defend the poor and the oppressed, but who, in reality, use their privileged position to perpetuate themselves in power and, at the same time, to enrich themselves and their families and friends.

Religious who speak of God and abhor sin, yet do not believe in the Creator and in anything they preach or teach.

The term hypocrisy, as well as the hypocritical word, appears in countless pages of the Old and New Testaments.

Although the biblical references to the hypocrites are in large numbers, there is one that serves to perfectly synthesize what Jesus understood by the term:  

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitewashed sepulchres, which on the outside really look beautiful, but inwardly they are full of bones of the dead and of all uncleanness." (Matthew 23:27)

The distancing of many in relation to religion and the disbelief with which our country is discussing political affairs and the upcoming presidential election are due precisely to the hypocrisy with which, especially in recent years, religious in general and Brazilian politicians have, behaved, whose practice has no relation to speech. Are there any exceptions? Of course there is, but they only confirm the rule.
In Spirit books, obviously, the theme was not ignored. In fact, it is dealt with in the five main works written by Allan Kardec, which warn us of the consequences that will come to hypocrites - especially upon their return to the spiritual plane -, they militate in politics, religion or any of human activities.

In this regard, here are two pieces of information that sum up well the warnings made by the immortals:

"[...] in the world of the Spirits, nothing can be hidden, the hypocrite will be unmasked and patented all their awkwardness; [...] the unavoidable presence, and at all times, of those to whom we have miscarried constitutes one of the punishments that are reserved for us; [...] to the state of inferiority and superiority of Spirits correspond to punishment and joys unknown on Earth." (The Spirits' Book, introduction, item VI.)

"For the proud relegated to the lower classes, it is an ordeal to see above him placed, full of glory and well-being, those whom on Earth he despised. The hypocrite sees his most secret thoughts uncovered, penetrated, and read throughout the world, without being able to hide or conceal them; the satyr, unable to satisfy them, has in the exaltation of the bestial desires the most atrocious torment; the miser sees the inevitable waste of his treasure, while the selfish, forsaken of all, suffers the consequences of his earthly attitude; neither shall thirst nor famine be mitigated, nor friendly hands shall be extended to his hands supplications; and since in his life he cared for nothing, no one of him will have mercy on death." (Heaven and Hell, Part One, Chapter VII, Item 26). (we wrote in bold)

Corrupted, corrupting, and hypocrites from all around the world can certainly deceive and circumvent the righteousness of men, but they can never escape the righteousness of God. And then you will realize that we have come to Earth to serve, not to be served...