Jesus Taught Us How to Think. Do you think as He does?

Jesus Taught Us How to Think. Do you think as He does?                                    Kelly Durant

 

Mark 4:2 And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine

 

2. In a group training we had to prepare leaders a few years back we had the privilege of having a person who had a degree in management techniques. Her name is Pat Forrero and she had a lot of experience with the Detroit factories, having been a liaison between the workers and the management. In one class she wrote a statement, something like this that a person at the workplace might say, “I killed my boss and put his body in the refrigerator!” 

 

She asked the group, “What will you answer your friend?” Many said, Yeah, I’d like to kill him too!”, Some said, “Yeah, he deserves to die for the way he treats us!” And actually no one took the sentence serious at face value that it was time to call the cops! She made a point, that many times we do not make our brains process the seriousness and gravity of what people express. We must process, analyze, and react to what is being said.

 

Why am I bringing this up? Because very few people process in depth what they are thinking. Often our minds are simple and we don’t want to compare one thing to another because it takes brain work. But to just go with the flow, like a cork on the water, will always put you the place of the ignorant who usually end up in danger or being taken advantage of.

 

3. Most of us are familiar with these verses, but can you pinpoint a moment in time when you made the switch from thinking one way to thinking in the new way? Romans 12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

 

So, what does a renewed mind look like? It would be one that has absorbed all of Jesus words in the gospels and applies those precepts, parables, and wisdom as a filter to discern and perceive all current things happening in our world.

 

A mature, holy, loving, compassionate, new creature in Christ will reveal that they have the same character and reactions as Jesus had. For example, Jesus highlighted that the ones who were supposed to know God (the Jewish class in his day) were not always the ones that were obedient, compassionate, & caring. The Good Samaritan brings this out as the hero was a Samaritan, a group of people hated by the Jews, but obviously not by God because he was deemed to be a lifesaving hero. 

 

4. There are ways in Jesus’ reactions we must consider, and these reaction reveals His mindset. He had compassion on sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes because they had contrite hearts recognizing their sins, being sorry for them. If someone is repentant and sorry, we can see why God’s grace appears to bring them forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing.

 

It seems like Jesus had love for everyone, for the children, for women, for the outcasts. But who did Jesus have disdain for? For the scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites! The false leaders, being blind and leading others to be blind is something highly offensive! Hypocrites are leading others to hell!

 

Jesus became furious with them as they had transformed the worship of God into a Satanic traditional ritual with no heart and soul killing anyone’s interest in wanting to know the true loving Father. It angered Jesus and it should anger us too!

 

5. Another time that Jesus was so upset he because violent, as that was the only way to stop what was happening, was when he went to the temple and they had turned it into a market for exploiting money out of those who came to worship God. 

 

He overturned the money changers, that shows He was at war with the exploitive, false system of religiosity. Matthew 21:12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”

 

Jesus, having the nature of God as presented in the Old Testament, was loving, always doing miracles to alleviate suffering, but for those inflicting suffering (and in the name of God!) His only expression was wrath. Keep that in mind.

 

6. Do the majority of those in society think like Jesus does? In the past, when the nation was more Christian, and 90% went to church it can be statistically proven we had fewer crimes, more sanity, and healthier communities. It is sad that the world’s systems are so anti-Christ, and being taught values that are diametrically opposed to God’s values.

 

I suggest you might research what we call the ‘dumbing down’ of the education system in America is all about. On purpose the text books highlight certain issues, while ignoring major ones that have much more relevance. Shockingly, we have discovered that since the 1940s, the education system has been more about indoctrination than the education of reading, writing, and arithmetic. 

 

Our children are taught evolution as fact (it cannot have facts with no evidence), and that some people are permitted to be exalted more than others. In the name of equality, certain minorities have privileges, and bullying, not doing schoolwork, and promoting political agendas put certain weak-minded folks in a protected class of their own. No wonder kids hate school, it is an oppressive system of hypocrisy. 

 

7. The only way we can survive not having our minds explode over all the hypocrisy in society is to have a solid foundation in the Word of Jesus Christ. Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.    Psalm 119:165

Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble.

 

Jesus gave us this: John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

 

To have the mind of Christ do what you know to do and that is to ask “What would Jesus do?” Do you have the doubt on something, search it in scripture. Do a Bible study! It is not hard to find the will of God on decisions, thinking, and solutions, the Holy Scriptures have all the answers in them. 

The War On Jesus: Expose The Hypocrisy of Haters

The War On Jesus: Expose The Hypocrisy of Haters                                 Kelly Durant

Matthew 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

2. How many of you can say, “I love Jesus”? Now imagine a person with a knife or sword on your neck saying, “Say that one more time and you die!” Would you say it again? I pray I would remain faithful and say, “I love Jesus!” because the alternative would be to have to live with your own humiliated wretched soul submitting to another person’s murderous erroneous imposition of who or what they believe god is! (Satan inspires murder!) This life or death decision to renounce or confess Jesus has been the case for countless millions of Christians ever since Jesus came to earth! We never know when this type of horrific persecution may come to our doors, this is why we must rally the troops and let out a “war cry” for Jesus to keep proclaiming righteousness, love, salvation, and God’s will for humanity.

The name of Jesus has power and His name invokes love, healing, or comfort but in the case of demons who hear His name, His name invokes hate, violence, and fear! Some people cannot stand to hear Jesus’ name because it makes them very uncomfortable or offended. When someone is offended or uncomfortable, doesn’t that beg the question as to why? Why are some people offended to hear His name? Doesn’t their premise of prejudice seem absurd, futile, and infantile? 

What could ever be the cause for an offense with the name of Jesus? Why is there a war on Jesus every Christmas and a war on Him throughout the year, year after year? Is hatred and prejudice against Him an idea that one’s parents taught? Why are the so called “tolerant” people not “tolerant” referring to Jesus? It’s very hypocritical, right? Is rejection of Jesus something that other religions teach? If so, why? Or also, is it the fact that Jesus’ Holy name can invoke a feeling of dirtiness and guilt in the soul with sin? But once a soul is clean, the name of Jesus fills the soul with an in indescribable joy! True, right?

3. Let’s look at the scripture today. Jesus makes it clear that the whole world, all the nations, would be persecuting us, the Christians, for proclaiming His name, the name of Jesus, when the time of the end is near (context of the chapter). Persecution, execution, and the murder of Christians started happening ever since the original apostles preached Jesus and these atrocities against humanity and these innocent holy messengers continues on today. Innocent men, women, and children are murdered in horrible fashions, so what does that tell you about the Christ haters? I thank God I will not have hell to pay for killing one of God’s children! “No murderer has eternal life!” I John 3:15

The first persecutions after Jesus presence were carried out by the Jews, Romans, and Greeks. Paul’s answer to them responding to their persecutions and errors of misjudgments is recorded in the New Testament.  Basically the Jews hated Jesus because He was not the Messiah they had hoped for granting to them world dominance. The ruling class Jews at that time instead of being a pure holy people perfected to rule the world were rather an arrogant corrupted breed whose murderous sins were exposed by Jesus. Jesus name represents humility, love, and sacrifice which is everything the Jews did not want anything to do with. They were extreme hypocrites, and they were warned of losing heaven. Matthew 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

The Romans and Greeks were extremely proud of their dominating wealth, power, and intelligence as well. They were offended by Jesus’ name and teachings because He represented the opposite of the arrogant values their culture was trying to impose on others. Jesus was simplicity, modesty, and His adoration was not to men or to strange invented gods but rather to the one and only Father God Jehovah. Jesus name represents purity, and the arrogant impure do not want to be reminded of their impurity. Basically Jesus rejecters then and now are hypocrites as they believe they are superior to Him and His followers foolishly believing that they are gods while they actually are inferior nobodies as their non-altruistic actions and selfish indulgent life-style reveals their carnal self-absorbed debauchery. 

4. There is and always has been a war on Jesus, a war even on just saying His name! But Jesus still has 2 billion followers today because His name has power! In His name miracles do happen, people do get healed, and horrible destructive people get saved and get a complete life change with a new purpose! The Salvation Army’s drug and alcohol rehab centers yearly turn out thousands of transformed men and women freed from their chains of addictions because of the transformative power of Jesus’ name! The evidence of Jesus effect on others cannot be denied! The demons of this world war against Him incessantly! These demons are in high places in society and maybe within your own family!

Consider this as well, how can anyone with sane logic claim that they are offended by the innocent baby Jesus at Christmas or any other time for that matter? How stupid to be afraid and offended by the influence of a baby born in poverty over 2,000 years ago, right? But King Herod was afraid of baby Jesus to the point that he had all the babies in Bethlehem killed! Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. 

Imagine, even right after Jesus is born He is getting persecuted! It is obvious the demonic forces in the world were out to destroy Jesus from the start.  The irony and hypocrisy is that Jesus was honored, worshipped, and supported financially by several kings from faraway lands yet He was almost killed by a king from His own land.

5. Let’s continue on with the hypocrisy present in people who are “offended” by Jesus globally and throughout history. Look at the rise of Communism in the past 100 years; these indoctrinating teachings are specific to hating Christians and Jesus while in general disregarding other world religions. The communists in Russia and China murdered dozens of millions of their own people who were Christian hoping to eliminate Jesus name and His followers. Did they succeed? Obviously not, as millions still exist in their nations despite this war or “religicide”. There is mystical invincible power in Jesus name that people refuse to let go of even in the face of death!

Egomaniac despotic leaders specifically hate Jesus because they look at Him as competition for adoration. How ridiculous for any man to exalt himself as a god to the extreme measure that they want to be worshipped so badly that they give the orders to kill anyone worshipping Jesus and not them. To proclaim God and Jesus above all powers is an obstacle an offence to those who want totalitarian control and adoration. Jealous hypocrite murderers of innocent Jesus worshippers are insanely controlled by demons! 

Satan inspired Communism as the perfect political doctrine to appear to be more compassionate than Jesus and God’s people taking from the rich to give to the poor. God’s design is for Jesus followers to share all things in love as the first disciples did as in Acts 2:44-45. Communism is a violently enforced governance imitating the compassion of God for the poor yet their murderous record of corruption killing over 100 million this past century proves that men without Jesus are a total murderous terrors.

6. What provokes this? “And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.” Hate breeds murder. This part of the verse implies the persecution of those dedicated to Jesus will increase. In other words, the increased division will come between cultures, societies, races, and people, and in particular against those who confess Jesus within these class groups. Families will divide! Matthew 10:21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.

To get to this horrible point there must be an obvious increasing climate of intolerance to work up to it getting people to hate one another to the extreme. It seems logical that intolerance, being a conditioned response generated by educational/media/governmental perpetrators with anti-God agendas, are preparing the ground on all levels to finally bring it all to a climax to the level of attacking all Jesus followers. And how hypocritical that the intolerant ones demand tolerance?! This defies logic, common sense, and our inherent desire to give and receive respect implying hypocritical people are very blind in their reasoning! 

We see this hatful conditioned reaction already at work in societies today as it is not acceptable (And who determines what is acceptable?!) and legally tolerable to reject certain groups of people while at the same time it is hypocritically acceptable to hate and even rejoice over the defamation and even murder of certain other ones. Persecuted groups today include the whites, the police, the rich, and Christians. The hypocrisy is that Christians who teach the opposite of hate are hated, those that teach to love your neighbor as yourself are too frequently not loved back, defended, and given refuge! 

7. How is it that Satan and his demons are getting away with the blatant hypocrisy of defending evil ones and persecuting innocent ones through his rulers in high places without getting called out on it by the majority? The majority always get silenced by the minority in power until the pot boils over. Sadly, people ignorant of the Bible are being indoctrinated with the total opposite stances of dozens of the laws and statutes in the Bible.  As Jesus described it, the “blind are leading the blind!” 

People are aggressively subliminally and overtly being indoctrinated by certain sectors of the government, by the mainline liberal universities, by the fake news media sources, and by family members void of logic and reason. The bottom line is to get you in the general populous  to reject Jesus while at the same time embrace absurd political correctness and evil postures which implode societies (secularism). There are many world faiths but most are not invading nations for the pleasure of killing in the name of their god, so why the push to tolerate murderous teachings and practice?! 

We are living in the time that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 10:21 “And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.” What a horrible betrayal it is to kill your own blood who sacrificed for you and loved you! This pattern of betrayal runs in cycles under dictatorial rule. It happened under Rome, then under the rule of Medieval Kings, then under Communism and Fascism, and now it is rising again but empowered by religious extremists, terrorists, and specifically Christ-haters.

8. Who are the haters of Jesus today? Many nations contain mega millions of fanatics who hate Jesus!  Here is a web link so you understand the magnitude of those who get crazy violent over hearing the name of Jesus. Christmas is offensive to many, did you know that?  http://www.radixnews.com/2014/11/29/imam-saying-merry-christmas-worse-murder-video/

In this life knowing what we know now of God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, purity, and eternal life in this post first Christmas era, we face the fact every soul on earth is offered a chance to accept, love and obey Jesus, or face the alternative which would be to lived cursed with hypocrisy and hate that which continues from now on into forever. Philippians 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth 

Matthew 11:6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. The implication is that the accepters of Jesus are blessed yet those who are offended in Jesus live cursed! And take a good look at the haters of Jesus today, they have nothing to be desired or envied. Current theocratic societies impose horrific abuses and have some of the poorest people in the world. Jesus offers all his followers love, respect, purpose, and value, while Jesus haters are just pawns in the machinery of agendas that offer slavery, carnality, oppression, hate, and reprehensible violent actions. Haters are violent disturbed souls, killers whose spirits will be chained in hell forever judged for their deeds. Jude 1. 

9. The Kingdom of God is at war with the kingdoms of darkness of this world! Jesus is the embodiment of all that is good and pure and the mention of His name turns a light on exposing the darkness in the evil, hypocritical, hearts of people.   John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Jesus gave the commandment for us to take to the world his love, salvation, and light to all. Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature”.  Christmas is the best time of the year to have opportunity to retell the story of Jesus. What a beautiful story with angels communicating goodwill towards poor men, with a pure virgin giving birth to a humble child, with kings and shepherds worshipping Him, all of them setting the example for all to know for all generations to come. 

This is not offensive, this is beautiful! But some people turn Christmas into an insult to Jesus denying children the Christ in Christmas. Many people teach hatred for Jesus by replacing Him with anything else! Matthew 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea

10. The world is on a collision course of self-destruction because people are creating war in the spirit and war in the flesh over what offends them! Some people are offended by certain foods, some by certain religions, some by certain politics, but the real sin is to be offended by Jesus! 

Matthew 18:7 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! When I learn that my witness of Jesus offends someone do I back down? No! I am changed from being who I was, I cannot deny how Jesus changed me and my resolve to witness His great love in my life! No other person who ever lived accomplished what Jesus did: the conquering of death to bring resurrection to all who believe on Him! I love Jesus for the positive transformation He has given my life! And anyone can have His love and power!  

Don’t worry about offenses in the world, they never end! Worry about offending God by rejecting Jesus, His Son, which is the maximum expression of His love! When you die, will Jesus have been first in your life? John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The faithful will have a crown of life to rule and reign with Him, but all haters will reap what they have sewn! Come pray and receive Jesus, and then proclaim Him forever! 

    

 

Hypocrisy! A Consistent Plague in Society

 

Hypocrisy! A Consistent Plague in Society                                 by Kelly Durant   10-11-2012

Matthew 15 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,² Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.³ But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?⁴ For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.⁵ But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;⁶ And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.⁷ Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,⁸ This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.⁹ But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.¹⁰ And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand¹¹ Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.¹² Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?¹³ But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.¹⁴ Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

 You have been around little kids when they fight, right? I recall a when my kids were little I don’t’ recall whose kids we were with but a big fight started up with tears and anger and screaming. We were discussing the move to Miami. One of the kids, jealous of the other, said, “No, it’s mine! It is not your “ami”, it is “my” “ami”, you shut up it is not yours, it is mine! LOL! The boy did not even know what they were talking about, he just wanted to be sure no one could have it but him! You can’t say “my” because it is mine!

Human nature is terrible! Everyone lives out the injustices of selfishness and hypocrisy repeated over and over in all societies throughout history. Everyone is so fast to attack and defend their miserable little piece of the world and so ready to fight anyone who threatens to take anything away. We must open our eyes to the fact we have an increased hypocrisy affecting our world. Hypocrisy is calling another person evil, selfish, and abusive when the real evil one is the one accusing!

In society all of us observe the hypocritical politicians, abusive bosses, disobedient children, unloving spouses, and compromised preachers. These are people who will suddenly explode and go on a verbal attack on others when they perceive that someone is discovering their schemes. They use their own convincing words to try to win you and anyone over to their way, (and it is their way or the highway) but once you see through them, you then feel taken advantage of, violated, dirty, defiled, and cheated!

How many of you have ever been used or taken advantage of? 

Let’s get into the scripture in Matt. 15. The Pharisees were a religious sect of the Jews, an authority that had set their selves up as the ones who could determine who had sin and who didn’t according to their interpretation of God’s word. They could with the law of God, justify an guilty person, or condemn an innocent one, like the lawyers of today can.  

In this case, Jesus and the disciples are gaining too much attention and admiration for their comfort. They decided they would attack the disciples in front of everyone and show once and for all that Jesus and his dirty band of followers were sinners and nor worthy of anyone’s respect. They wanted to prove how they were violating tradition; something they exalted was as sacred as the law. Their scheme backfired.

What did Jesus prove with his comments about honoring father and mother? He exposed how not washing your hands is not near as bad as the things they practiced! Let’s travel back to the conditions of his time. Back then there is no such thing as a social security check! There is no welfare from the government, there are no Salvation Army shelters caring for the homeless or elderly, it is a survival of the fittest type society. When you got old, sick, or disabled the only solution for you was starvation since you could not work!

The law of God was originally intended to be a solution to man’s injustice to man and there was a provision to help the elderly, it was that of honoring your father and mother. This law implied you would financially take care of them until they passed on. So what were the Pharisees teaching by tradition? That if you wanted to give a one-time gift you could be absolved from this law and be free. Be free from your responsibility for your parents?! How selfish is that!

 It basically was a provision that totally violated the original intent of the law. The law was strict demanding honor. As a matter of fact, anyone caught cursing his parents were put to the death, a penalty by stoning. So, let’s understand it; their traditions allowed for you to go to them, the Pharisees, and declare your gift and then abandon your parents knowing that they might starve to death?  Do you see how this is a thousand times worse than eating without washed hands?

Jesus then reminds them of the hypocrisy in the time of Isaiah, how the ones who should be loving God and others, defending the poor, and providing justice for the people were instead hypocrites providing for their own selfish ambitions of power and goods. 

We must examine our own hearts! We do not want to reap the punishments of the hypocritical Pharisees! Jesus had mercy on all of humanity but he did not have saving words for the hypocrites, only rebukes and judgment! May the Lord help us to expose hypocrisy amongst ourselves, within our own selves, and within our community’s governing bodies. In heaven there will be no hypocrisy so may the Lord help us to rid it within ourselves, amen!

Hypocrisy! The Plague we suffer in our Society

 

Hypocrisy!  The New/Old Plague in Our Society                         by Kelly Durant   

Matthew 15 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,² Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.³ But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?⁴ For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.⁵ But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;⁶ And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.⁷ Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,⁸ This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.⁹ But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.¹⁰ And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand¹¹ Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.¹² Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?¹³ But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.¹⁴ Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

   You have been around little kids when they fight, right? I recall a when my kids were little I don’t’ recall whose kids we were with but a big fight started up with tears and anger and screaming. We were discussing the move to Miami. One of the kids, jealous of the other, said, “No, it’s mine! It is not your “ami”, it is “my” “ami”, you shut up it is not yours, it is mine! LOL! The boy did not even know what they were talking about, he just wanted to be sure no one could have it but him! You can’t say “my” because it is mine!

Human nature is terrible! Everyone lives out the injustices of selfishness and hypocrisy repeated over and over in all societies throughout history. Everyone is so fast to attack and defend their miserable little piece of the world and so ready to fight anyone who threatens to take anything away. We must open our eyes to the fact we have an increased hypocrisy affecting our world. Hypocrisy is calling another person evil, selfish, and abusive when the real evil one is the one accusing!

In society all of us observe the hypocritical politicians, abusive bosses, disobedient children, unloving spouses, and compromised preachers. These are people who will suddenly explode and go on a verbal attack on others when they perceive that someone is discovering their schemes. They use their own convincing words to try to win you and anyone over to their way, (and it is their way or the highway) but once you see through them, you then feel taken advantage of, violated, dirty, defiled, and cheated!

How many of you have ever been used or taken advantage of? 

Let’s get into the scripture in Matt. 15. The Pharisees were a religious sect of the Jews, an authority that had set their selves up as the ones who could determine who had sin and who didn’t according to their interpretation of God’s word. They could with the law of God, justify an guilty person, or condemn an innocent one, like the lawyers of today can.  

In this case, Jesus and the disciples are gaining too much attention and admiration for their comfort. They decided they would attack the disciples in front of everyone and show once and for all that Jesus and his dirty band of followers were sinners and nor worthy of anyone’s respect. They wanted to prove how they were violating tradition; something they exalted was as sacred as the law. Their scheme backfired.

What did Jesus prove with his comments about honoring father and mother? He exposed how not washing your hands is not near as bad as the things they practiced! Let’s travel back to the conditions of his time. Back then there is no such thing as a social security check! There is no welfare from the government, there are no Salvation Army shelters caring for the homeless or elderly, it is a survival of the fittest type society. When you got old, sick, or disabled the only solution for you was starvation since you could not work!

The law of God was originally intended to be a solution to man’s injustice to man and there was a provision to help the elderly, it was that of honoring your father and mother. This law implied you would financially take care of them until they passed on. So what were the Pharisees teaching by tradition? That if you wanted to give a one-time gift you could be absolved from this law and be free. Be free from your responsibility for your parents?! How selfish is that!

 It basically was a provision that totally violated the original intent of the law. The law was strict demanding honor. As a matter of fact, anyone caught cursing his parents were put to the death, a penalty by stoning. So, let’s understand it; their traditions allowed for you to go to them, the Pharisees, and declare your gift and then abandon your parents knowing that they might starve to death?  Do you see how this is a thousand times worse than eating without washed hands?

Jesus then reminds them of the hypocrisy in the time of Isaiah, how the ones who should be loving God and others, defending the poor, and providing justice for the people were instead hypocrites providing for their own selfish ambitions of power and goods.