Modern Pharisees Have a Name, But…
Why was Jesus so upset with the Pharisees? There was another book those rabbis went with, and it is called the Talmud. It is a very complicated system of teachings that has the same standing as the Scripture, even though there are times when it contradicts the Word of God. It was formed from the “wisdom” of generations of rabbis.
Jesus called them “hypocrites.” because they held onto the power of interpretation of the Scripture, and they became the “measuring stick” if people were “following the Law” while their “interpretation” remained “fluid” when it came to their own “obedient.”
I have been encountering a particular group of Christians. They have a few “good” teachers for which their words carry the weight of the pope of the Protestant Church. Those teachers are the only ones who preach “the Full Gospel” while everyone else is “false teachers who do not honour the “Full” Gospel.
Based on their theology, the Gospel has many expectations and required beliefs. Unless people adhere to their teachings that are nothing short of “legalistic,” they are not real Christians and will go to hell. The more passionate ones will chase after teachers who do not meet their standards to cancel them. Yes, the Cancel Culture did not start in American Politics but in the Protestant Churches.
Yes, they have a name: Fundamentalists. They often are very proud of their status and are very judgemental against others. Just like the Pharisees. Anyone who knows me and my past will know how passionate I am to be against them because of what they have done to people, Christians, seekers, or non-believers.
“God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
It has been a difficult fight with the temptation to get upset at these Modern Pharisees and, essentially, yell at them in an attempt to correct their ways. I actually hoped to turn them around so that there would be one less person working against the Work God has been doing.
““If it is my will that he remains until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!””
It is not my job to “correct” them or “turn them around.” I am not that wise, not that smart, and definitely, not that skillful. My focus is on God, not on being with men, especially ones that will never listen. My focus will, and should always be, on my journey.
If I am to be able to lead my people and my sheep my only focus should be making “My whole being belongs to You.” Psalm 63:1. The only way I can get there is to live out “love the Lord my God with all my mind, strength, and being”. In what I do I need to “love my neighbour as myself.”
As for me, just follow Him.
