Hypocrite

Speaking about the many times Jesus condemned
hypocrisy, President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., said:
“Taking the New Testament alone, you will gain little
idea of the kind of life the Romans led in Palestine, the
kind of life that the Christ condemned, and yet . . . it
has seemed to me that the one sin that the Savior
condemned as much as any other was the sin of
hypocrisy—the living of the double life, the life we let
our friends and sometimes our wives believe, and the
life we actually live” (in Conference Report, Oct.
1960, p. 90).
The word hypocrite is translated from a Greek
word meaning an actor on the stage. A hypocrite is,
therefore, a person who pretends to be something he is
not, or one who assumes different roles that do not
reflect his real thinking and feeling.
Nephi wrote that we must follow Christ “with full
purpose of heart” and “with real intent” (2 Nephi
31:13) to receive the blessings of the Holy Ghost.
“Full purpose of heart” suggests a total commitment of
the inner man to Christ; “real intent” conveys the idea
of sincere or pure motives. Moroni later wrote of this
principle when he indicated that a testimony of the
Book of Mormon is received through seeking “with a
sincere heart, with real intent” (Moroni 10:4). He also
wrote that true righteousness is based on the intent of
the heart (see Moroni 7:6–9).