Learning From the Pharisees

     The law was originally given to the Israelites prior to their entering the promised land of Canaan.  Approximately a millennium after their Babylonian captivity, two major sects emerged within the Jewish people.  One of the sects was the Pharisees.

     The Pharisees arbitrarily added numerous traditions to the basic Mosaic Law which they considered carried the same weight as the original law delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai.

     Jesus exposed the Pharisees during His earthly ministry for the hypocrites that they were.  Their self-serving traditions were in reality ways to avoid or nullify the actual Jewish law given by God.

     In Matthew’s gospel Jesus was quickly confronted by local Pharisees and when they didn’t prevail other Pharisees from Jerusalem confronted Jesus attempting to stop Him and discredit His message.

     “Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, ‘Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?  For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread’.”  Matthew 15:1-2

     The conversation began with the Pharisees asking Jesus why His disciples didn’t obey their (Pharisees) self-imposed traditions.  Jesus’ response was quick.

     “He answered and said to them, ‘Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition’?  For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who cursed father or mother, let him be put to death’.  But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God’ – then he need not honor his father or mother.”  Matthew 15:3-6a

     Jesus confronted the Pharisees with the basic truth that they had devised a self-serving law, i.e. a traditional loophole that relieved them from obeying the original fifth commandment of honoring one’s parents.

     “…Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.”  Matthew 15:6b

     In today’s environment it is the same as passing legislation that seeks to protect a woman’s right to choose as a means to bypass the sixth commandment, i.e. ‘Thou shall not murder’.  The motives are the same and the result will be the same.

     Jesus continued his discourse with the Pharisees.

     “Hypocrites!  Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:  ‘These people…honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.  And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandment of men’.”  Matthew 15:7-9

     Jesus’ disciples were concerned that His lack of political correctness may have offended the Pharisees.

     “Then His disciples came and said to Him, ‘Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying’?”  Matthew 15:12

     Jesus’ response to them stands even more relevant today.

     “But He answered and said, ‘Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.  Let them alone.  They are blind leaders of the blind.  And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch’.”  Matthew 15:13-14

     Note that ‘every plant’ which has not been planted by God will be uprooted.  That very clearly defines the future of any such contemporary traditions devised by man that are contradictory to God’s words.

     Also note the words that follow.  Jesus said to let them alone.  That describes the type of God’s wrath entitled ‘abandonment’.  In other words, God says to let them suffer the consequences of their disobedience.  And the consequences would also apply to those others who would be led astray by their influence.

     “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.”  Matthew 23:13

     The Pharisees were/are without excuse.  The Jews were specifically instructed not to add to God’s word.

     “Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe.  You shall not add to the word…nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God…”  Deuteronomy 4:1-2

     The instructions were exceedingly clear, i.e. the law was complete and there were to be no additions or subtractions from that law.  God had given the law and man was to obey it.

     

         

War on Christian Extremism Far From Over

     The war against Christian extremism is in fact accelerating.  Reports reveal that over 100,000 Christians are killed annually just because they are Christian.  The Christian Brotherhood is monitoring closely those countries in which these deaths occur.

     Another parallel term for ‘Christian extremism’ would be ‘Christian radicalism’.  Christians are considered radical/extreme because they are willing to give their lives for their faith instead of seeking to kill those who don’t share that faith.  In other words, Christians do not kill for their faith; rather they are killed for their faith.

 

     “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.  And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”  1 John 3:16

     Christians obey the Bible which teaches that God will take vengeance on those who persecute them in His manner and His time.

     According to the Bible killing of Christians will increase.

     “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…These are the beginning of sorrows…then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake”  Matthew 24:7-9

     Hatred towards the Christian will peak during the future 7 year tribulation period.

     “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.  And they cried with a loud voice, saying. ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth’?  Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.”  Revelation 6:9-11

     “Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark…”  Revelation 20:4

     There are numerous professing Christians who really do not posses ‘saving faith’ and the time will come when they will abandon their profession when they realize the true cost of following Christ.

     “…and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.  But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.”  1 John 2:18-20

     There is no such thing as a ‘moderate’ Christian. 

     The biggest enemy of the Christian Brotherhood is all around us and practically goes unchallenged and for the most part unnoticed.  It is political correctness.  This subtle enemy manifests itself whenever Christian values and Bible teachings are compromised or marginalized for the sake of pacifying the few.  It is indeed a sad commentary that this present administration is setting the culture for marginalizing Christianity in America.  Likewise, such contemporary thinking is totally at odds with Scriptural teachings.  The major emphasis appears to be appeasing the growing progressive movement in this country.

     Perhaps the second most significant enemy of the Christian Brotherhood is what can be termed ‘Modern Day Pharisees’.  And again, this administration is more concerned with appeasing such adherents than challenging their incompatible religious/political views.  Jesus warned repeatedly and forcefully to stand up to this group and rebuke them in total.  In future columns both the religious and political views of modern day Pharisees will be outlined.  And again, this anti-Christian philosophy is all around us.

     The current administration reeks with hypocrisy.  On the one hand they preach the doctrine of the separation of church and state while on the other hand they do not speak out against the modern day Pharisaic viewpoint which does not even to pretend to recognize such a separation.

     “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees!”  Matthew 23:13

Christianity 101

     Redemption is accepted as the most significant doctrine in the Bible.  Redemption determines the only two distinct categories of all mankind, i.e. those who will spend eternity with God and those who will spend eternity apart from God.

     All who have died will be raised from the grave.

     “I have hope in God…that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.”  Acts 24:15

     The word ‘just’ is a Biblical legal term meaning that one’s sins have been paid for by the vicarious death of Christ.  The Apostle John also spoke of the two divisions of all mankind.

     “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”  John 5:28-29

     The phrase ‘those who have done good’ means having accepted God’s plan of redemption and ‘those who have done evil’ means those who have rejected God’s redemptive plan.  Those who accept the redemptive plan abide in the truth, while those who reject the plan have been deceived and have accepted a lie.

     John later in his epistles provided more details.

     “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?  He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.  Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also”  1 John 2:22-23

     ‘He who acknowledges the Son’ encompasses accepting everything that Jesus did and taught.  It begins with believing that Jesus is in fact deity and that as a Man He completely fulfilled the law which no other man could do.  Inasmuch as Jesus never sinned, He in reality paid our sin debt thereby ‘justifying’ those who believed in Him.  His resurrection was proof that God accepted Jesus’ death for our sins.

     There is a popular saying that a Christian is born twice and dies once while those who rejected God’s plan of redemption will have been born once and will die twice.  How is that possible?

     Jesus taught the Pharisee Nicodemus about the second birth.

     “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’”  John 3:3

     Jesus explained that the new birth was a spiritual renewal experienced by all who God elected at the foundation of the world; whose names He wrote in His Book of Life.  Subsequently those who are ‘born again’ and then die a natural death will be resurrected with an immortal body to live in God’s presence forever.

     Those who have rejected God’s plan of redemption will die a natural death also, but they will be resurrected to stand judgment before God.  If they had not experienced the ‘born again’ experience during their natural lifetime they are doomed to ‘die again’.

     “…Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.  And they were judged, each one according to his works…And everyone not found written the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire…This is the second death.”  Revelation 20:13-15

     It is interesting to note who heaven and hell were prepared for.

        “All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them… as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.  Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…’”  Matthew 25:32-34

     Therefore, the redeemed will spend eternity with God in the place prepared specifically for them from the foundation of the world. 

     “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels…’”  Matthew 25:41

     It was not God’s will that anyone should perish.  By rejecting the free gift of redemption, man was sent to the lake of fire that had been prepared for the devil and his angels.

    

    

    

    

God's Standard of Justice Unchanged

     The New Testament reveals that when Jesus appeared on earth He confirmed God’s standard of justice introduced in the Old Testament.  In fact Jesus was the primary object of the Old Testament.  Very early in His ministry, Jesus explained His relationship to Old Testament law.

     “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.  I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.  For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.”  Matthew 5:17-18

     Therefore, Jesus confirmed the applicability of God’s standard of righteousness and justice revealed to national Israel via Moses 1500 years earlier.

     One of the major sins of the Pharisees during Jesus’ earthly ministry was their self serving emphasis and interpretation of the Mosaic Law.  Their priority was to ‘appear’ righteous.  In other words, they chose to obey those parts of the law that furthered their agenda. Jesus adamantly renounced such political correctness.

     “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law; justice and mercy and faith.  These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”  Matthew 23:23-24

     Recall the story Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus.  Both died and the rich man went to Hades where he was suffering while Lazarus was said to be resting in Abraham’s bosom.  As the story unfolded the rich man implored Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers of the torment he was experiencing in Hades.  Abraham’s response confirmed the immutability and applicability of the original law given in the Old Testament.

     “Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them’. And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead they will repent’.  But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”  Luke 16:29-30

     Jesus was explaining that the Mosaic Law was still relevant and there was no excusing the rich man being in Hades because he willfully neglected the original law.  That original law was also sufficient warning to his brothers.

     In the epistles the Apostle Paul stressed the authenticity of the Scriptures.

     “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness…”  2 Timothy 3:16

     Notice Paul’s statement begins with the word ‘all’.  Biblical writers penned their messages under God’s inspiration and all scripture should be used as a benchmark for God’s standard of righteousness which is immutable.

     It’s interesting that the Apostle Peter quoted, and thus reaffirmed, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah relative to the applicability and longevity of God’s word.

     “…The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the LORD endures forever.”  1 Peter 1:24b-25a

     Then just as in the Old Testament, the New Testament ends with a warning for those who add or subtract from God’s word.

     “...If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Tree of Life…”  Revelation 22:18-19

     Thus God’s standard of righteousness and justice has remained absolutely unchanged for 3500 years and is/will be the benchmark by which America will be evaluated and judged.

     Such contemporary thinking that the benchmark should continue to evolve as does secular morality is totally unfounded.  Progressivism is man’s attempt to justify present day morality regardless of Biblical standards.

     “There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way of death…Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.”  Proverbs 14:12, 30:6

     But this is America and everyone has the freedom to choose their destiny and by which standard of justice they will be evaluated.