JEAN'S BIBLE STUDY

KJV    WEB  /  Parallel Gospel

See previous page

Mat 23,1-39

(6l) Responsibility >> Protecting the Gospel >> Expose hypocrisy in the Church – Jesus told the Pharisees the truth regarding their own darkness. If what He said to them wasn’t true, they could have cited Him for slander, but all His indictments were provable. They couldn’t claim innocence since everyone knew them, being public figures. They were brazen in their audacious exhibition of religious hypocrisy, and they didn’t care who knew, because they were able to justify themselves, not just because the people were ignorant, but also because they were taught to respect their leaders. Exodus 22-28 says, “You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.” Nevertheless, Jesus exposed their dark motives, refusing to respect their religious authority, but held them in absolute contempt. We get ourselves in all kinds of trouble placing respect where it doesn’t belong, protecting pastors and ministers who are caught in flagrant hypocrisy. There are many instances in Scripture that teach us to expose hypocrisy in the Church, not to deal lightly with it but to remove the stumbling blocks. See also: Hypocrisy; 178l

(157g) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Deceiving and being deceived >> Deceiving -- Being that deception is also a spirit, it hardly matters whether we are the one deceiving or the one being deceived; we are partakers of a spirit of deception either way. To unravel the web of satanic deception is all but impossible. It resembles getting lost in the woods, unable to see the forest through the trees; we can't step back far enough to get a wide-angle view of our circumstances. Only God can unravel the twists and turns of bad religion for those caught in it. 

(178l) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy >> Jesus rebukes the Pharisees >> Rebuked for having no love for God – Jesus made fools of the Pharisees. So horrified of Him were they that they had Him killed, though He was a man of peace. They never expected Him to come with a sword, yet feared Him more than standing armies, yet they showed no fear of God in their contempt. Jesus had a mouth that He used to slash His victims, so severely mutilating them that they would rather be run through by a gladiator, in that possibly they would heal from that, but how would they recuperate from Jesus words, being incapable of repentance? Their lives were ruined, telling them as much, who considered themselves religious leaders of Israel, but Jesus told them to their faces that they knew nothing about God to the point that virtually everything they understood was wrong. This is what sin does; it alienates people from God and if they continue in sin, especially for generations, it twists their minds into reprobates. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23,1-36; 181k

Mat 23,1-36

(181k) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Self deception >> Deceiving and being deceived -- Jesus used the term "Key of knowledge" in His critique of lawyers to explain what they stole from the people (Lk 11-52). Another word for it is: obedience of faith. Jesus said in Jn 7-17, "If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself," and so obeying the truth defines the key of knowledge. The Pharisees replaced obedience of faith with obedience of religion, so people wouldn't know the truth and expose them as hypocrites. Every alteration they made to God's old covenant law in their self-made religion pertained in one way or another to channeling money into their coffers. The Pharisees were obviously deceived, yet they knew the Old Testament inside-and-out. They were deceptive, and in the process they also deceived themselves (2Tim 3-13), and the consequence of self-deception is that truth is lost in translation. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23,1-14; 198g

Mat 23,1-14

(198g) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Ordained by man >> Having evil motives for seeking leadership positions >> In the ministry for personal gain -- These verses go with verses 23-36. Jesus’ main point to the Pharisees in verses 1-14 was their phony belief system; then in verses 23-36 He said that their entire lives were in direct violation of the Law of Moses. Meanwhile, they worshipped Moses instead of God, claiming to be keepers of the law. They considered themselves righteous and in touch with God, while they swindled people of their money, even stealing widows houses, one of the most egregious sins of all. If the Romans confiscated widows’ houses, the Pharisees would be in an uproar about it, but when they did it, that was perfectly justifiable. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23,1-4; 23d

Mat 23,1-7

(166e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Wisdom of the world >> Nature Of Man’s Wisdom >> Man’s wisdom is fixed on gaining personal advantage

Mat 23,1-4

(23d) Sin >> Pride wants to be first – The Pharisees placed themselves in the chair of Moses by their own authority. Psychopaths do the same, placing themselves in chairs of political and corporate power using their charm, aggression and lack of empathy for the people they dominate and oppress. Jesus advised His disciples to follow the instruction of the Pharisees but not to follow their example. This indicates that technically they did not have the teachings of Moses wrong, being experts in the law, though they didn’t teach it in balance with the prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, who taught that compassion was greater than sacrifice. The Scribes and Pharisees read them as secondary to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, consisting of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, all written by Moses. They focused on certain laws that were easy to observe when people did not follow them, such as hand washing and the Sabbath, amending these commandments with extra rules, thus tying up the people like puppets on string, and making themselves appear indispensable. See also: Hypocrisy; 87b

(87b) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Be doers of the word from the heart >> We have no choice but to be doers of the word – The Pharisees fixated on the Sabbath and made up a plethora of extra rules and demanded the people to follow them, laws that were black and white, so that if the people obeyed them or violated them, it was perfectly obvious, though personally the Pharisees didn’t live by them. Their invented rules were oppressive and turned the people’s lives into a living hell one day a week, the Sabbath, the very day God gave as a blessing, prompting Jesus to quote to them Isaiah 29-13, “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: this people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Mat 15,7-9). Religious hypocrites never consider the intent of the Law, which was to give the people a break one day a week from their labors. When Jesus came and preached the message of faith and love, He didn’t sound Jewish to the ears of His own countrymen but sounded more like someone who came from another culture, nation and world. They didn't recognize the Law of Moses when Jesus taught it, indicating just how far the people had drifted from it. If they saw someone working in the field on the Sabbath, it was a clear violation, but when it came to loving God and their fellow man, they failed to recognize the significance. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23-2,3; 90h

(162kb) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Being slaves of men >> In bondage to the burdens of men >> In bondage to freedom (licentiousness) 

(73a) Respect Authority (Key verse)  saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. All things therefore whatever they tell you, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do.

– Jesus taught to respect authority even when people filling positions of authority are hypocrites; this goes for spiritual leaders and political leaders, whether they are right or wrong. Some pastors don’t teach the truth at all, but most of them do in one form or another. In either case Jesus said to respect their authority, but that doesn’t mean we have to believe what they teach; it means we should examine their fruit. If they are not living the life, then leave them alone, and don’t go to their church, and don’t scorn them. Jesus knew the religious establishment was leading people astray, yet the only times He rebuked them was when they came to Him looking for trouble, and He always gave it to them to their faces. There is a level of respect in telling somebody to his face what you think of him, as opposed to gossiping or slandering someone behind his back, or writing editorials. He never went to them with a rebuke, except in the case when they moved their commerce into the courtyard of the temple; that’s when He drove them out with a whip. Otherwise they always came to Him while He was ministering to the people; then He didn’t mince His words, and He didn’t hold His punches but told them what they deserved to hear.

(73d) Authority >> Respect Positions Of Authority In the Church -- Jesus taught that there are positions of authority that we must respect, regardless if the person who fills that position is respectable. The book of Proverbs further teaches that a wise man is able to learn even from a fool. This means that we should practice the art of learning from both good and evil in every situation.

(90h) Thy kingdom come >> Keeping the law >> Righteousness of the law >> We must keep the law because it is righteous -- Had the Pharisees honestly compared themselves to their own law that they knew came from God, which they claimed was the center of their lives, they may have realized that they had deviated from it, but the Pharisees didn't search their souls because they were not about righteousness. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23-11,12; 77i

Mat 23-3

(172f) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Tares among the wheat >> Hypocrites among the just >> Talkers among the walkers

(1g) False burden (Key verse)  For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them.

– The Pharisees tied up heavy loads for people to carry, but never lifted them with as much as a little finger, and they used the Law of Moses to force the people into religious bondage. Of all the laws he gave the Israelites to obey, as though they were not enough, the Pharisees invented other ordinances on top of them that were stricter than the laws of Moses, especially adding to the Law of Sabbath, but they themselves did not follow them. Contrary to what the Pharisees were doing, Jesus replaced the Law of Moses with the new covenant, based on grace and mercy. After He performed the ultimate sacrifice of His own flesh on the cross, He rose from the dead to prove its validity, and the new covenant was born. The old covenant was immediately disbanded, no longer in effect, not longer relevant. Therefore, if anybody tries to inflict laws upon us, ordinances or rules to follow that promise God’s favor, we are not obligated to keep them, for it is impossible for any law, ordinance or rule to impart God’s favor in your life. There are all kinds of ways to inflict people with false burdens, and strangely people readily accept them. Every false burden has a false promise appended to it, and one of the first casualties of a false burden is the truth. Those initiating false burdens do not understand the new covenant and how God wants to work in our lives, using the Spirit and the word. If we follow the Holy Spirit to the truth, we will be the first to benefit from that obedience, but if we follow somebody’s rules under the false promise of benefiting in some way, we will waste our time and resources, and it will shut off our ears to hear what the Spirit is saying, being too busy following a lie with a burden heaped on our back.

(1l) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Carrying a false burden >> Taking on responsibilities that are not yours – False burdens are what make people falter in Christianity. Jesus said, "For I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light." If we don't know our mission in life, we will invariably pick up false burdens and carry them for miles, until they get too heavy to bear and drop them. There, lost, directionless and with very little left to carry our true calling from God, we go back to the Bible and prayer and rededicate our lives to finding our true place in Christ. We have a special place prepared just for us that when we apply ourselves, we will find it.

Mat 23,5-7

(169h) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Seeking the glory of man >> Loving the approval of men rather than the approval of God >> Love to be noticed by men

(175d) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Prestige gives a false sense of godliness -- With money comes prestige. It doesn't matter how we acquire it; we could be leader of a drug cartel or a televangelist. With money we can portray ourselves to be almost anything and people will have a natural tendency to respect us. Money acts as a kind of seal that says, 'I wouldn't have this money if I didn't know what I was doing.' Wealth is inherently deceitful. We don't need to be important when we have money; money is important. Consequently, people with large sums of money feel they are inherently better than others, and think they have a right-of-passage into the next life. Money buys any service we want, and thus any lifestyle; it buys authority and makes connections; it buys nearly anything, except truth.

(240e) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Natural disadvantage >> Beware when all men speak well of you >> Natural disadvantage of seeking popularity – There are multitudes of rich people who claim to believe in God, but Scripture disagrees with them, though the Bible does not condemn them for being wealthy; rather, there are many obstacles in the way of their salvation. It is even more difficult to be popular in this world and hold to a sincere faith in Jesus. With the rich there are always exceptions, but with famous people we could almost say they have the sentence of hell stamped on their foreheads. It is extremely rare to find celebrities in this world who have a devout faith in Jesus Christ, for it would be evident in their speech, and their faith would invariably offend people, closing the door to popularity. This suggests that fame is a greater curse than fortune, though these two are usually found together. Rich and famous people, such as the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day, love the accolades and perks that went with their position. Those who love the approval of man and are content without God and see no deficiency in themselves and find it hard to acquire a genuine faith in Jesus. They believe in themselves instead of God; they are their own religion.

Mat 23-8

(109j) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit the teacher >> Spirit of truth is our teacher – Jesus said not to be called “teacher”, for one is your teacher, who is Christ, and you are all brothers. He was saying the very thing that Paul tried to drum into the Corinthians and the Ephesians, that there should be no strong central leadership in the Church, for we are all brothers and we are to learn from Christ through each other. Christ is our leader, and we are to learn from Him. So, does that mean we shouldn’t have any teachers? What about the pastor of our church, isn’t he a teacher? Paul told Titus to teach and preach with all authority, “Let no one disregard you” (Titus 2-15), so we have teachers, but we should not consider them our teachers, in that we have only one teacher who is Christ. Jesus said in Jn 10-2, “He who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep,” and if we want to be one of His, we must enter through the door. When we enter, we become shepherds of one another and sheep of His pasture. This is what Paul taught (1Corinthians chapters 12-14 and Eph 2,19-22; 4,11-16), and throughout all his epistles this is what he had in mind. We all have an obligation to teach one another about God through the Scriptures and through our personal relationship with Him, yet we have only one Teacher, who teaches us the truth. However, the Church was corrupted in the third century, and the Catholic Church was formed, which considers itself to this day to be the only True Church, insinuating that all the protestant churches are false. The Catholic Church invented the idea of strong central leadership. Then the Reformation came in Martin Luther, who brought faith back to the Church. Now we understand that we are saved by grace through faith (Eph 2-8,9), but church structure was never addressed, so the Church has maintained strong central leadership to this day. It carried over from Catholicism, but the First Century Church was not like this.

Mat 23-9

(173c) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >> Scripture that contradicts the catholic faith >> Catholic doctrine versus the Bible -- Jesus spoke these words in prophesy about Priests who would want to be called Father, knowing that Catholicism would arise soon after His departure to replace His truth with their religion. Jesus in this verse is entreating the world throughout time not to adhere to the Catholic faith, since no one in good conscience can address their priest as Father after Jesus said this. If anyone is a staunch Catholic, their priest stands in front of the congregation every week and perpetuates the illusion of spiritual authority.

Mat 23-10

(240a) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Pastor (Shepherd) >> Jesus is the chief shepherd – Catholicism was born in the third century, and it maintained strong central leadership throughout its existence, and then the reformation came in the sixteenth century, and the protestant Church broke from Catholicism, but it maintained strong central leadership to this day. This should have changed and didn’t, yet people today think nothing of the pastor standing behind the pulpit every week and giving the sermon, while everybody passively sits in his pew, and then goes home none the wiser. The people never grow; the Church is spiritually stunted, and nobody knows how to fix it. The problem has gotten so bad that people are actually starting to wake-up to the problem, but they are not to the point of considering solutions. The idea of fixing strong central leadership is never addressed, because the pastor jealously defends his paid position and jealously protects his indispensability with the people by suppressing the ministry of the saints regarding the word of God. Therefore, we say that strong central leadership is what keeps the saints from growing. When we look at Israel in the Old Testament in the days of Moses, they raised up judges, and God’s will was done so long as Moses was alive, but after he died and the Israelites were established in the promise land, they demanded a king in order to be like all the nations, but it was not the will of God that Israel should have a king. 1Samuel 8,4-8 says, “All the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. ‘Look,’ they said, ‘you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.’ But when they said, ‘Give us a king to judge us,’ their demand was displeasing in the sight of Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king. Just as they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.’” God was the king of Israel, but when the people demanded a king, they replaced God as their king. The Church has done the same thing, electing a pastor to rule over them instead of Christ. Judges in Moses’ day acted like deacons of the First Century Church, who interceded for the saints with their problems and complaints, helping them come to fair settlements and performing other function to maintain peace, unity and resolution among the people. In contrast, the people hold their pastor responsible for their relationship with God, as though he were their mediator, but the Bible says, “There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1Tim 2-5). This dispels the concept of strong central leadership in the Church. See also: Protestant services model after the Catholic Church; 

KJV    WEB  /  Parallel Gospel  /  Navigation Bar

Mat 23-11,12

(13k) Servant >> Serve God though small in stature >> Greatest is the least

(77i) Thy kingdom come >> Tapping into the power of God through humility >> The most humble are the greatest servants -- Jesus explained three things and embedded one into the other: (1) He explained that the most humble are the greatest servants; (2) He rebuked the Pharisees by contrasting humility against their unrivaled arrogance to illustrate how far off the mark they veered; and (3) next chapter points to the signs of Jesus' return. Maybe the signs of His return started in chapter 23. Actually, Jesus started His dissertation on endtime prophecy starting in verse 23 of chapter 21! In other words, Jesus warned us that in the last days His Church would be run by religious Pharisees (Mat 24-4)! As He speaks against the Pharisees, He speaks to us who live in the last generation that the reason we are suppressed as Christians is that the Church has waxed cold from a lack of lay ministry. Actually, the term "lay ministry" is an insult, suggesting that those without a degree in cemetery school are amateurs. On the contrary, the Bible teaches that we the people are in fact the ministry, meaning the clergy has stolen the ministry from the people, starting in the third century with Catholicism. After the Reformation of the fifteenth century, the protestant Church did not return to the first century manner of spiritual fellowship; instead, they maintained the ritual form of strong central leadership. Although there should be leadership in God's Church, the ministry belongs to the people. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23,13-33; 154i / Protestant services model after the Catholic Church; Act 26-20; 120f

Mat 23-11

(56ka) Paradox >> Opposites >> Least are greatest >> Least are the greatest servants

Mat 23-12

(56f) Paradox >> Opposites >> Humble yourself for the right motives

Mat 23,13-36

(166g) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Wisdom of the world >> Nature Of Man’s Wisdom >> Man’s wisdom contradicts itself 

Mat 23,13-33

(154i) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Witness that the world is rebellious against God >> Witness against hypocrisy – Hypocrisy is a common problem, linked to false priorities and exemplified in verse 24, "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!" They strain out a gnat by arguing for hours about a certain doctrine and then swallow a camel by the way they live. Therefore the best description of a Pharisee is someone who considers the showiness of doctrine to be more important than the obedience of faith. That is, they think knowing the Scriptures is more important than living by them. In other words, the Pharisees thought that having a proper understanding of the law was more important than keeping it, but they didn’t understand that living wrong is the result of wrong thinking and produces false doctrine. So, the person who obeys the law knows the law better than the person who studies the law but doesn’t keep it (Jn 7-17). Paul said in 1Tim 6-3,4, “If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language [and] evil suspicions.” Nobody owned a Bible back then, and the Pharisees controlled the manuscripts, and they became well acquainted with them. They figured that since they were so affluent in the Scriptures and had superior knowledge of the law that they were able to please the Lord better than others, but this is simply not true. A person with minimal literacy skills and minimal access to the Bible can be just as pleasing to God as the Bible scholar, for God looks at the heart, not at the mind. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23,16-26; 248i

Mat 23-13,14

(175b) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Using religion as a front -- These verses go with verses 23-28. Jesus was in the process of eliminating the place that the Scribes and Pharisees held in society as leaders of the old covenant. A new covenant would replace it, which offered new leadership, which did not attract the old leaders, since they were unpaid positions, which offered very little personal gain. There was no comparison with the leaders of the new covenant to the Chief Priests, Scribes and Pharisees. The only motive people had to believe in Jesus was the hope of eternal life; there was no money involved, no hope of making a financial profit from the gospel. How things have changed since then!

(75k) Thy kingdom come >> Motives >> Jealously manipulating people – Jesus became angry with the religious zealots of His day. He wouldn’t bother with them until they confronted Him, and then He would let them have it. Jesus had ventured into Jerusalem, which was a death sentence, especially after he rebuked the religious establishment, something He did to ensure His death, which was predestined from the foundation of the world. We can trace the motive of His enemies who delivered Him to the Romans soaked in jealousy, being how the Jews treated all the prophets over the centuries. In fact, Jesus in this very chapter said they were guilty of their forefathers' murdering the prophets, for they behaved the same way as them and obeyed the same demonic entities their forefathers served.

(178d) Hypocrisy (Key verse)  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

– It seems no matter what a hypocrite does, God finds fault with him; he can’t even pray without offending Him (Psalm 109-7). The Pharisees claimed to love God, believing in their hearts that they were steadfast in the Lord and pleasing to Him, but it turns out there was nothing about them that brought joy to Him. Jesus said about them that their hearts were far from Him, teaching as doctrine the precepts of men (Mk 7-6,7). God’s complaint about all of us is that we don’t know Him the way we should. We certainly don’t know Him the way we will in heaven, so He has many complaints about us; but the one who’s heart is trained on Him, He forgives. He knows our situation that we were born in sin and live in a corrupt world. We were born with every imaginable force against our faith, yet we still believe in Him; so yes, God has no problem forgiving us. We are a joy to Him in the flesh as we remain faithful to Him, seeking His will and His faith and presence, His knowledge, wisdom and understanding, wanting to be close to Him, seeking His approval in all the ways He has called us, but not by any dead religion. The religious Pharisees didn’t want to know God; this is what offended the Lord the most. It wasn’t that they were born in sin; it was that they reveled in it. It wasn’t that they were duped by the devil; it was that they served and worshipped Him. It wasn’t that they were born in a corrupt body that craved sin and led them astray; it was that they intentionally followed their flesh into paths of wickedness for the sake of greed, lust and pride. There was nothing about the Pharisees that sought God. The thing that irked the Lord most about them: they diametrically opposed the Law of Moses while claiming to fulfill it. How many times did Moses and the other Old Testament prophets command us to defend the orphan and the widow, but what did Jesus say the Pharisees regularly did? When widows could not pay taxes on their homes, the Pharisees would confiscate their home, sell it and put some of the proceeds toward the temple and put the rest in their pockets. Meanwhile the woman had nowhere to live; they took her house; she didn’t have the means to support herself and was forced to live on the streets. That is cold and dark, but the Pharisees were able to justify themselves that they were righteous before God; they contradicted the Scriptures they taught; they believed in themselves to be righteous. A person to develop the ability to manipulate his mind defines the mystery of lawlessness. These people were religious psychopaths with a reprobate mind, incapable of salvation (v33). Hypocrisy is one of the signs of demonic activity. These people are able to believe anything they want about themselves, and they don’t run around with an evil conscience; instead, they whitewash their conscience until it sparkles in their eyes, clean from all evil, though they are total wretches in the sight of God.

(240i) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Taking away the key of knowledge >> Hindering people from entering the kingdom – Jesus defended the people who were trying to enter the Kingdom of God, saying that their leaders were shutting off the kingdom to them, while they did not enter in themselves. They ostracized the people from the temple and from their local synagogue, which was the Old Testament version of church. Being ostracized was equivalent to being expatriated and losing their national identity, for if they couldn’t practice their Jewish faith, then who were they? What the people didn’t know was that God was in the process of giving them a new covenant and a new identity in the Christian Church, where they could redefine themselves as believers in Jesus.

KJV    WEB  /  Parallel Gospel  /  Navigation Bar

Mat 23,14-39

(183a) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Witchcraft >> Sin is the incubator of witchcraft >> Through rebellion – We see on TV horror movies about witchcraft, but very few of them parallel the Scriptures, and the ones that do are scariest of all. Witchcraft is a violation of the conscience, the act of using God to satisfy our flesh. We do this in three ways: through our belief in false doctrine, through the abuse of God’s people, and through sins committed under pretense of God’s will. Witchcraft is not in false doctrine itself, so much as in the fact that we believe it, knowing on some level it is false. Instead of repenting, we assign God’s approval to our corruption, knowing full well that we are hurting people, defiling the name of God and corrupting His gospel. We don’t have to make up false doctrine to practice witchcraft; false prophets do that for us; we as heretics only need to believe in them and teach them to others.

Mat 23-14

(48e) Judgment >> Levels of judgment >> Judged according to your deeds >> In the day of judgment – The Pharisees couldn’t hear Jesus’ word because they were not of His sheep (Jn 10-26). Jesus described the Pharisees as outwardly appearing righteous, suggesting that most would consider them as upstanding citizens, but Jesus knew their hearts. There are people in Christendom today who act just like them, televangelist who exploit old women through the airwaves, talking them into giving all their money to the point of being unable to pay their taxes, and as a result losing their house. Do these “Christians” feel bad about what they do? There will be hell to pay! (v33).

Mat 23,15-24

(177d) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> False doctrine >> Doctrines of the precepts of men -- The religious leaders of Israel deceiving and being deceived is a complicated matter. There are some aspects of deception that are straightforward and some that are not. For example, it is easy to fool young children, because they don’t yet know how life works, but when we become adults and get deceived, there is some level of culpability involved. It is this guilt that can turn religious deception into a muddy playground of motives. We could say that the Pharisees were duped; however, they didn’t believe the truth because they didn’t want to believe it. The truth was unattractive to them; they preferred their religion, because it had given them positions of power and prestige. The Scribes and Pharisees were some of the most renown people in all Israel; being a theocracy, they were both religious and political leaders of the people, and they didn’t want anyone tampering with their affluence. This was their motive for rejecting the gospel, and they didn’t want anyone else believing in Jesus either, because the more popular He became, the less important they seemed. People looked up to them as their leaders, so of course they were not interested in the gospel, because it threatened to eliminate everything they cherished, and they hated Jesus for it. 

(198c) Ordained By Man (Key verse)  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.

– Proselytes are disciples of deception, disciples of error, disciples of a false religion, and by that man has ordained them. Meanwhile, faith in Christ is based on the truth, and by that God ordains us. “Ordain” means: ‘Sent with authority to carry His word to the four corners of the earth to make disciples of all men.’ God does not get involved in a false religion, though on occasion He will select out of a false religion those to become His true worshippers, but this is an uphill battle, because the person never fully leaves his initial beliefs, especially if a person began to believe when he was young, or believed in a false religion for many years. Jesus said in Mat 13-52, “Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.” His previous beliefs have been stamped into him as with a hot branding iron (1Tim 4-1,2). Religious people think they have authority, and when you try to correct their false knowledge, they look at you like you’re violating divine edicts, and they talk like it is impossible for you to be right and for them to be wrong, and they order you out of their church, just like they did to the Holy Spirit long before you darkened their doors. They create defense mechanisms that aid them to continue believing a lie, in spite of the evidence against them. The word of God speaks against them from Genesis to Revelation, but they have convinced themselves that everything they believe is true. When you try to tell them a more accurate version of the truth, they malign and condemn you, and throw their authority in your face and tell you that you are arrogant for suggesting they could be wrong. They accumulate doctrines to satisfy itching ears that harmonize with their beliefs, constantly reinforcing them, and if anyone challenges them, they are immediately rejected. In this way they maintain their teachings and doctrines without risking their pride in changing their mind about anything they have come to believe. They are incapable of admitting they were wrong, for their massive ego will not allow them. Meanwhile the disciple of Jesus admits to being wrong about many things and amends his beliefs accordingly and learns more and more. When he recognizes a more accurate version of the truth, he replaces what he once believed without any hesitation or affront to his pride or challenge to his ego. God has taught him that these things are evil, and one should not live by them. These they have already condemned in themselves, but the one who walks in his pride and ego will not accept Jesus Christ.

(198e) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Ordained by man >> Men place themselves in positions of authority >> Men raising up men – In Israel everyone followed the teachings of the Pharisees but no one wanted to be a Pharisee. They had affluence and money, but it was still not enough to attract people to the ministry, because they lacked one thing, a soul (sort-of-speak). When Jesus said they make their proselytes twice as much a son of hell as themselves, He was referring to indoctrinating them with their twisted precepts that have deviated from Scripture to the point of being unrecognizable. When they couple their skewed teaching with their subsequent behavior, it sealed their fate, so when Jesus visited them, they didn’t recognize Him as their Messiah.

Mat 23,16-26

(169c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is blind to God >> Blinded by Satan’s thoughts >> Blinded by a false sense of sight

(248i) Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Valuing God >> Do not value things that devalue God – Jesus thinks getting our priorities straight is important in that our priorities speak volumes about us. Jesus proved the religious leaders of Israel were lovers of money rather than lovers of God by exposing their value system. They set a higher priority on gold than they did on the temple. By their own words Jesus condemned them as hypocrites. They said they loved God more than anything else in the world, but Jesus didn’t buy it. When we listen closely, we can hear the lies and deception exuding from the religious hypocrites even of our own time. The Pharisees taught that the offering was more valuable than the altar or the temple or any other aspect of their religion. If we jumble our priorities, everything turns to mud; even a small shift in priority can have disastrous consequences, like bumping into a telescope focused on a galaxy can move it millions of light-years off course (the parallax effect). For example, had the Pharisees maintained that the temple was more valuable than the offering, they wouldn't have taught that money was more important to God than faith, but that is exactly what they taught. They switched priorities and opened the door to the belief that tithing epitomized our faith; does that sound familiar? They trained the people that the more they gave, the more God was blessed and glorified; this is basically what people teach today! They make great boasts about their faith, but under their breath they teach that money is more valuable, and that is how they live. See also: Priorities; Mat 23,23-36; 198g / Hypocrisy; Mat 23,25-28; 159a

Mat 23,16-22

(203a) Denying Christ >> Running from God >> Wicked men cannot approach the throne of God >> God chases them away from His presence – Jesus was familiar with the things that the temple represented, God’s throne in heaven, because He came from heaven and He sat on His Father’s throne as the Ancient of Days. The Pharisees knew that the temple represented God’s throne, but these facts grew distant from their thoughts, enveloped by worldly interests.

KJV    WEB  /  Parallel Gospel  /  Navigation Bar

Mat 23,23-36

(198g) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Ordained by man >> Having evil motives for seeking leadership positions >> In the ministry for personal gain -- These verses go with verses 1-14. If you are thinking about becoming clergy, do everyone a favor including yourself and search your heart for the reasons you want to become a minister, because seeking the position of a shepherd with the wrong motive is disastrous for everyone involved. With the wrong motive it is inevitable that you will hurt people, which is probably the opposite effect you intend. At best you will be ineffective, and at worst some peoples' faith will be eroded if not corrupted. See also: Priorities; Mat 23-23; 123f

Mat 23,23-28

(171g) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Outward appearance >> Decorating the outside to simulate the inside >> Playing the part to be accepted by God

(175b) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Using religion as a front -- These verses go with verses 13&14

(175g) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >> Dodging the issue (willful ignorance) >> Evading the heart of the matter

Mat 23-23

(123f) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love >> Spiritual affection >> Compassion is greater than sacrifice -- God's compassion for mankind required the sacrifice of His Son. Compassion is a matter of the heart, while sacrifice is necessary because of sin. Any of our sacrifices that are greater than our compassion denotes a fundamental flaw in priorities, signifying a dead religion that does not serve God, much less our fellow man. When we meet people like this, chances are they don't know God any more than the Pharisees. They have yet to meet God's Son who sacrificed every drop of His blood in compassion for His creation, but through His compassion we now have hope, and have been commissioned by Him to have compassion for others. See also: Priorities; Mat 23-24; 63e

(235c) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Tithing >> Be faithful in your tithes >> Unfaithfulness nullifies your tithe

(63e) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Sarcasm >> Exaggerate the truth to make a point -- This thing that Jesus said, "Straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel," is the result of majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors. People tend to care about things that don't matter, and the result is that foolish things are done well, and important things are left undone or cobbled. This stems from a lack of wisdom and points at our priority system as something which we need to give higher priority. See also: Priorities; Mat 23,16-26; 248i

(175e) Dodging the Issue (Key verse)  You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!

– Sometimes Jesus exaggerated the truth to make a point. For example, He said that before you take the speck out of someone’s eye, you should first take the log out of your own eye. Imagery like that cannot be overlooked! This is how Jesus saw how preposterous people act toward each other, seeing the faults in others easier than they can their own. Jesus was talking to the religious establishment of His time when He said this. A gnat is a small thing; but if it gets in your eye, it feels big; compare that to swallowing a camel. The Pharisees, Scribes and chief priests were steeped in heresy and false teaching; they invented as many laws as Moses handed down from God, and they enforced them, driving the people crazy, so that the Sabbath was no longer a blessing. The religious establishment completely distorted it until they worked harder on the Sabbath than any other day of the week trying not to violate these extra laws. They did this to control the people, and this is just one example how they distorted the Scriptures to control the people. They were so convinced in their own mind that they were serving God. We could say the same for the Church today; man always returns to corruption; 2000 years later we are in the same place as the religious establishment of Jesus’ day. Try to talk to your pastor about his teaching that is clearly off the mark in terms of theology. You will not make a dent; they know how to defend their teaching and doctrines. They say that any change to the truth is negative, but that is assuming they know the truth. They think what they teach is the same as the apostles taught in the First Century, but what they don’t realize is that teaching and doctrine slowly evolve from generation to generation, and there is no way to stop it, except to closely monitor your beliefs, instead of assuming you know the truth (1Tim 4-16). When they read the Bible, they can see their teachings in it, though the Bible doesn’t say that at all; rather, it says something totally different, but they can’t see it. They are convinced that if they don’t change what they believe, they will be right on course with God, but the Scriptures are like looking at the stars and you are in a boat somewhere in the middle of the ocean. In the daytime you make sure the sun remains on your left shoulder. Then you run into a storm that puts you hundreds of miles off course; and when the storm passes you put the sun back on your left shoulder, but you are off course now, so that putting the sun on your left shoulder will only guarantee that you remain off course. Tell someone he is off-course and he will defend his position to the death. They will continue preaching heresy, and the people will continue believing it, and the Church will continue off-course, because they refuse to acknowledge the truth, even when it is presented to them.

Mat 23,25-28

(16f) Sin >> Man’s willingness to be evil >> Using sin to achieve your goals – The Pharisees built a religious empire from deception and used sin to succeed in their business.

(74j) Thy kingdom come >> Heart of man is sinful >> Sin is conceived in the heart

(159a) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit godliness >> Love sickening sweet >> Mask over the real self – The Pharisees adorned the tombs of the prophets while at the same time planned to crucify the Prince of Peace. This level of hypocrisy is downright spooky! The heart of man is God’s home, even as He lived in the Ark of the Covenant, a box in the inner sanctuary of the Jewish temple of worship. If we invite Him to live in us, He will come and stay, and He will clean us from the inside-out, according to Mat 13-33, but the Pharisees had blackened hearts that had turned to stone, who were in no condition to house the God of heaven. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23-27,28; 145g

(174h) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Self righteousness >> Appearing righteous before men – Inwardly, the Pharisees devoted themselves to comprehending the Scriptures, and outwardly they devoted themselves to cleaning the cups and saucers according to their law. God commanded them through Moses to cleanse their kitchenware long before people learned about germs. Louis Pasteur discovered germs in the 1800’s, but God called Israel to cleanliness over a thousand years before Christ to avoid salmonella, ecoli and other diseases. The Pharisees seized on this rite as a showing of their religion, and many others have copied them over the millennia according to the phrase, “cleanliness is next to godliness.” Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for believing this, yet this aphorism is popular in society today. They think they are Christians because they make their homes neat and orderly, as though it were a way of seeking favor with God.

KJV    WEB  /  Parallel Gospel  /  Navigation Bar

Mat 23-26

(246a) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm superimposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> The outside is a manifestation of the inside -- The Pharisees were full of robbery, deceit and fraud, but they portrayed themselves as devout worshippers of God. We cannot hide our real identity for long; it will eventually surface. For some, the real self emerges as a soft glow of a radiant relationship with Jesus, and for others, it emerges as a thick sludge of human deprivation. The treasures of the heart issue from the body as words and deeds according to the spiritual principles of Scripture, which Jesus augmented as an inescapable fact of life. Jesus wasn't speaking to the Pharisees; they were already dammed. He was instructing us through them to instead of modifying our behavior, work on the inner person of the heart through the word of God and prayer, so that the natural flow of words and deeds emerge as fruits of the spirit. This teaching is of course contrary to the philosophy of the world who wants to tweak human behavior and leave the inner man unchecked (behaviorism).

Mat 23-27,28

(145g) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Demon possession >> Human state >> Filthiness >> That which Is unclean -- It seems likely that the Scribes and Pharisees who had Jesus murdered were demon possessed. However, if they were, then why didn't Jesus simply exorcize their demons? The Pharisees identified with the demons after they had made inroads and woven themselves into their hearts so that God would need to override their will to extricate them, and God is unwilling to do that. Satan's preference is to provide spiritual undercurrents within society that he uses to train humanity to believe in a naturalistic world (secularism). See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23,29-36; 93m

(26a) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Death >> Dead to God through sin

(170e) Outward Appearance (Key verse)  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness.

– There’s a drastic contrast between the inside and the outside of many people; we know it’s true of psychopaths; they know how to dress themselves to appear differently from how they think and feel in their heart, which is vacant. Jesus was talking to the Scribes, and Pharisees and the chief priests and told them they were dead inside. Having a reprobate mind is similar to a psychopath, though they probably never murdered anybody, yet in a similar way they don’t know and don’t care about the truth. They abuse people, their parishioners, the very people under their care, use them up and offer nothing in return. Many of their doctrines are invented by demons, for there is no truth in them, and they control the Church. Many pastors in today’s church, often mega-churches, are this way, and some are caught committing crimes or committing adultery against their wives (which should be a crime). They say, “I’m sorry,” and then wait ten years for the people to forget, and then go back to what they were doing, and the people accept them, because they have been brainwashed by these people. We can forgive them without reinstating them into leadership positions in the Church. The religious leaders in Jesus’ day were more corrupt than the world and were more disdainful to God than unbelievers; they were all about greed, lust and pride, whereas pastors today should know better. They should be teaching that these things ought not to be done; instead, they do them all the more. Their sermons are filled with hyperbole and a sense of sickening sweet goodness that doesn’t come from God; and they reject authority. Sit down with a pastor today and have him explain all his theology and doctrines and weigh them with the Scriptures; invariably you will find error after error in their teaching. Some false teachings are more dangerous than others; some are like bee-stings, while others have fangs like a viper that can kill. They breed and perpetuate spiritual lies, until the faith of the people under their authority are destroyed. While their lives are in ruins, they come and pick what they want and leave it to the people to pick up their own lives and go-on. You say, “That sounds more like a cult,” and you would be right. You retort, “Not every church is a cult,” but that is not exactly true. When you start counting up the various false teachings, which differ from denomination to denomination and from church to church, and put a certain weight on each one in reference to its power to destroy, keeping in mind that they are cumulative, and after listening to a preacher for ten years or more, you come to the conclusion that it's no wonder church people don’t ever grow in the faith.

Mat 23,28-36

(185c) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Mystery of lawlessness >> Having no grounds for your hate >> Hating the Church without a cause

KJV    WEB  /  Parallel Gospel  /  Navigation Bar

Mat 23,29-36

(40m) Judgment >> God is glorified >> God defends His righteous ones through judgment – Jesus spoke a principle of genetics in these verses: as generational sins accumulate in the individual, so they accumulate in society among nations throughout the world. In AD 70 when the Jews lost their temple and their nation, God forgave the Jews for crucifying His Son, but He didn’t forgive them for rejecting His gospel. Jesus was looking at the Pharisees when He spoke these words, but He was more looking through them. He was talking to the spirit of murder in the Pharisees, which also resided in their great grandfathers, who murdered the prophets centuries earlier. He was talking to generational sins, saying they were about to be judged in one generation. The Father took all the sins of mankind from Adam to the last man to be born in sinful flesh and placed them all on Jesus as He die nailed to a cross, but after His resurrection, the clock began ticking again, and God began adding up the unrepentant sins again. Man's judgment has been growing over the centuries since the cross, and they will be judged in the last days by the most horrendous events that have ever befallen mankind (Mat 24-21). The offense of sin exponentially increased through man's rejection of God's mercy through Jesus Christ our Lord. Although millions of Christians have been saved over the age of grace, they are a select few compared to the sea of humanity that will never see the Kingdom of Heaven. In the last days when God judges mankind, He will heap upon the world all the unrepented sins committed since the cross. See also: Generational sins; 49f / Sin has accumulated since the resurrection of Christ; Rev 18-24; 242a

(49f) Judgment >> Enemies of the prophets are destroyed – Jesus accused the Pharisees of being born to their respective families who murdered the prophets. They did not choose their mother and father, yet Jesus accused them of ancestral sins. He accused them of being sons of murderers, referring to their DNA. Genetically, they inherited a predisposition for murder. They had three forces working against them: their DNA gave them inclinations for murder, they were trained by their murderous parents to do the same, and they were already making plans to murder Jesus. Jesus was talking just as much to the devil as He was to the Pharisees when He spoke about judgment of the cross. God judged Satan at the same time that He judged man, making no distinction between them, showing that in the eyes of God there is no difference between the sin of man and the sin of demons, for it is all rebellion, being why He sends them to the same hell. See also: Generational sins; 61i

(49k) Judgment >> Judgment day >> God judges the world >> The great tribulation

(61i) Paradox >> Three implied meanings – God's judgment is prophesied to fall: On Jesus / On the nation of Israel in 70 AD / On the whole world in the last days – Jesus said that every sin will be charged against “this generation.” When He said that, it refers to three separate generations: His own as He hung on the cross, the very next generation in A.D. 70 when Israel would lose their temple and their nation and the very last generation in which we are living. The Father placed upon His Son all the sins that man had ever committed or would ever commit and wiped their slate clean so the nations could begin anew without a mounting pile of generational sins charged against them, but un-repented sin has been accumulating against the nations for the last 2,000 years. Although Jesus paid the penalty of sin, the fact that man has not met God with the proper response of faith has nullified His grace and mercy in those who have not believed. When Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation,” He was speaking in part about the last generation, referring to the judgments of the seven Seals, Trumpets and Bowls written in the book of Revelation. See also: Generational sins; 93m

(93m) Thy kingdom come >> Following Jesus >> Exception >> Following evil along the broad way – A person can inherit a genetic predisposition for certain sins. In conjunction with being born into their respective families and their parents modeling negative behavior, the children have little hope of escaping their familial inclinations, yet some children determine not to go down that road, but Jesus did not give the Pharisees this escape. Instead, they followed in their father’s footsteps by evidence that they hated Him, the very person they had been longing to see since Moses prophesied to the nation of Israel, “I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you [Moses], and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him” (Deuteronomy 18-18). See also: Generational sins / Hypocrisy; 157k

(157k) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Having a murder spirit – The Pharisees stood in front of Jesus, glaring at Him with bloodlust, but they were not responsible for the blood of Zechariah who was murdered in the sixth century BC, yet Jesus insisted that they were. How could He make this assertion? Jesus was talking about Himself when He said, “all these things will come upon this generation.” The sins of the whole world would be heaped upon Him while nailed to the cross. God through Christ was about to forgive the whole world for all the sins ever committed, even forgiving the sins that were yet to be committed. The Father was wiping man’s slate clean and giving him a new start as though the world had never sinned, as though Cane never murdered his brother Able, and as though Adam and Eve had never ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden on that fateful day. See also: Generational sins / Hypocrisy; 180g

(163f) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Used by Satan to destroy the word of God >> Used to destroy the mouthpiece of God

(180g) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves steal, kill and destroy >> Wolves have a killer instinct – This is the most profound statement in the Bible about generational sins. Jesus said that the Pharisees were sons of those who murdered the prophets, and that they had a tendency to behave similar to their forefathers. This is partly based on genetics and partly based on environmental influences. We were born to a certain family, we have received their genes and have a tendency to adopt their ways, so we have both nature and nurture working either for or against us to influence our behavior. There is a fairly new field of study called epigenetics that goes a long way to explain how we genetically receive behavioral traits from our parents. Jesus essentially said that it was inevitable the Pharisees would murder Him, because their forefathers did the same to the prophets of their time. They had their genes and adopted their viewpoints and lifestyle. Jesus said to the Pharisees, ‘You are no different from your relatives who murdered the prophets.’ We can rise above these familial influences, but it is an uphill battle. More often than not we just surrender to them and follow the rut into our parents’ mistakes. However, the born-again Christian who follows Christ can escape these forces through God’s help. With the indwelling Holy Spirit and a willing heart, God can make us whatever He desires, but it takes obedience and faithfulness, which were things the Pharisees did not have. See also: Generational sins; 40m / Hypocrisy; Mat 23,32-36; 218c

(245ll) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Manifestations of the devil >> Manifestation of the spirit of murder

KJV    WEB  /  Parallel Gospel  /  Navigation Bar

Mat 23,32-36

(62n) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Righteous deception >> Jesus deceives the lost

(217g) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> When God gives up on you, you are already in hell

(218c) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> You cannot control the judgment of God >> You cannot control how God responds to persecution – The religious Jews persecuted Paul and Barnabas from city to city, and they said to those who refused to believe, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles” (Act 13-46). The Jews said at Jesus’ crucifixion, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!” (Mat 27-25). The Pharisees who had Jesus crucified had less hope of eternal life than the Roman soldiers who butchered Him. Those who ran the whip across His back and those who pounded the nails in His hands and feet were more likely to repent before the religious Pharisees, though it was unlikely they did. A centurion guard stood below His cross and watched Him die and showed a contrite heart, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Mat 27-55). See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23-33; 186j

Mat 23-32,33

(47h) Judgment >> God Judges the world >> Prison of the bottomless pit

Mat 23-32

(48g) Judgment >> Levels of judgment >> Judged according to your standard of measure

(186c) The Reprobate (Key verse)  You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?

– Most people who seek God for eternal life are not worse sinners than the apostle Paul, who became God's standard of grace and mercy (1Tim 1,13-16), but there are some who have crossed the line. They don't have to be terrible sinners, suggesting that the formation a reprobate really has nothing to do with the amount of sin committed but their "type" of sin. That is, they do things against their conscience, whereas Paul said about himself, "I have lived before God in all good conscience until today" (Act 23-1). Paul admitted he was a blasphemer, but he wasn't in the habit of blaspheming the Holy Spirit (saying and doing things that he knew was wrong), whereas a reprobate mind has no problem with this. When a person has repeatedly blasphemed the Holy Spirit, eventually his heart irreparably hardens to stone. If we have not done this, salvation is still on the table, regardless how many sins we've committed, thus making the distinction between fleshly sins and spiritual sins. If the Holy Spirit speaks to us and we reject Him, knowing it is God, we are blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. We can do that and still be saved, but every time we do, our heart grows a little more distant from God, and we ebb a little closer to the line that only God knows, marking the point of no return. Those with a reprobate mind may not have broken God's laws more than the average person, but they have forsaken the voice of God who has spoken in their hearts, and they continually disobeyed Him. Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness” (Heb 3-7,8). Remember Israel. They are an example of blaspheming the Holy Spirit and look what happened to them. To this day they still can’t believe in Jesus. God will not strive with us forever (Psalm 103-9). Instead, He will wait us out and lead our children to the promise land. Those with a reprobate mind project their own faults onto God. At the heart of the reprobate mind is arrogance to actually accuse God of personality issues and character flaws. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23,1-39; 6l

(186j) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> The reprobate >> God’s role in forming a reprobate >> Marked out for destruction – The Pharisees were reprobates, which is essentially a religious psychopath, someone who cannot repent or be saved or believe in God. Those who have heard the voice of God and rejected Him as the Pharisees did, have no hope of seeing heaven. They are less than snakes, lizards and scorpions, the most debased of all creatures. Each time they resist the Holy Spirit, it decreases the chances they will ever hear His voice again. Only God knows who has blasphemed the Holy Spirit to the point of developing a reprobate mind. Jesus condemned some of the Pharisees who demonstrated a deep-seated hatred for Him and eventually killed the very embodiment of life and truth, which guaranteed them a place in hell, a place that befits a person who would try to kill God. They had become like Satan; which is why Jesus told them, "You are of your father the devil" (Jn 8-44). It would be unjust for Him to let anybody into His heaven who hated Him, and God can’t change their hearts without forcing it upon them, and He refuses to un-create man in His image after giving him an eternal soul. Nobody ends up in hell by mistake; people determine in their hearts to go there, and the same is true for those who go to heaven. Everyone has resolutely set their face toward whatever destiny they achieve, and they will let nothing stand in their way.

Mat 23,34-37

(242a) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecution to the death >> Killing God’s prophets – The common people who lived in the region surrounding Galilee loved Jesus (Mat 15,29-31), but Jerusalem had a history of martyring the prophets and stoning those sent to her. Jesus was basically accepted everywhere and by everyone with the exception of the religious leaders of Israel. He didn’t perform many miracles in the city limits; His reputation followed Him there. Had Jesus kept His distance from the city, He probably wouldn't have been crucified, but He went there expressly for that purpose. Jerusalem was the hub of Israel’s religion, the hometown of all the priests of the temple and the high priest, along with many of the Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees, and while He was there, He told them what they deserved to hear, which sealed His fate.

Mat 23-34,35 

(151e) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness of the Old >> The Patriarchs >> The Old Testament prophets

Mat 23-35,36

(37a) Judgment >> The cross >> God judged the sin of the world through Christ