“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. Matthew 23:15 (NASB) The Pharisee converts were attracted to religion, not to God. They could easily get caught up in details of their additional laws and regulations. They were completely missed God to whom the laws pointed. A religion of works puts pressure on people to surpass what others in what they know and do. Thus, a hypocritical teacher was likely to have students who were even more hypocritical. We need to make sure we are not creating Pharisees by emphasizing outward obedience at the expense of inner renewal. They had become zealous missionaries of evil. The religious leaders were leading their converts on the wrong path. They recruit with zeal for their cause. Many people mistakenly take think have zeal for a cause is good so they become followers of the cause. We can see this in the Muslim world, they have zeal but their cause will lead them straight to hell. This is also true of many sects which have formed off of Christianity. They are not teaching the Bible they are teaching false doctrine through books and rules of their founders. In the United States we have all types of religions. Many have nothing to do with Christianity, however we have some which claim to follow Jesus Christ and present a false message. In this respect, the Pharisees were similar to Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses today. They appear to be Christian with energetic and courageous messengers with a false message. Being zealous for a false hope leads you straight to hell.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 03:42:20 +0000
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