Tag Pharisees

Who Has Bewitched You?

Allen Frederick Leave a comment
Bewitched, Beguiled, and Seduced Away From the Simplicity of Christ

On Halloween, disguises are expected. People put on costumes and pretend for a night to be something they are not. Everyone knows there is something different underneath. That makes the evening a fitting backdrop for one of the most startling questions Paul ever asked the Church:

“O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?”
Galatians 3:1

Paul was not talking about broomsticks, potions, or the imagery we associate with Halloween. He was confronting believers whose confidence had been redirected. Christ had been plainly set before them, and they had received the Spirit through faith, yet they were being persuaded toward dependence on human effort. Paul identifies the problem immediately:

“Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”
Galatians 3:2–3

There is the bewitchment. They began in the Spirit, but they were being persuaded to continue in the flesh.

When the Flesh Becomes Religious

The flesh is easy to recognize when it behaves wickedly. It is considerably harder to recognize when it becomes religious. The flesh can attend church, memorize Scripture, defend doctrine, observe traditions, preach sermons, sing worship songs, and perform religious duties. None of those things is wrong in itself. The danger begins when they become substitutes for dependence upon Christ.

That is what gives Paul’s question its bite. He was not asking why the Galatians had stopped being religious. He was asking why people who had received from God through faith were now attempting to accomplish through human effort what God had begun through His Spirit. Something is wrong whenever the flesh believes it can finish what only the Spirit could begin.

Beguiled From Simplicity

Paul gives us another word when writing to the Corinthians:

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
2 Corinthians 11:3

The serpent did not begin by denying God’s existence. He began by questioning God’s word and introducing another voice into something God had already spoken. That is how deception often works. It does not always ask us to abandon Christ; sometimes it adds enough to Christ that He is eventually obscured.

Jesus says, “Follow Me,” while religion can quietly become, “Follow Christ, but make sure you also follow our system.” Traditions, institutions, personalities, doctrines, and human understanding can all become substitutes if our actual dependence shifts away from Him. Paul feared believers could be beguiled from the simplicity that is in Christ. We should fear the same thing.

Seduced by a Counterfeit

Seduction works because it attracts rather than attacks. Spiritual deception would pose little danger if it always looked obviously false. A counterfeit succeeds because it looks enough like the genuine article to escape detection. Jesus warned about wolves in sheep’s clothing, and Paul warned that Satan could appear as an angel of light. Darkness does not always arrive dressed like darkness.

Perhaps no biblical picture illustrates this better than the religious leaders Jesus confronted. The Pharisees knew how to look the part, yet Jesus looked beneath the religious exterior and delivered a devastating indictment:

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”
Matthew 23:27

There is the counterfeit in religious clothing: beautiful outwardly, dead inwardly. The problem was not that they looked evil. The problem was that they could look righteous while inward reality told another story. Their religious appearance became its own disguise.

That is where Halloween provides its brief but useful visual parable. A Halloween costume poses little danger because everyone knows it is a costume. Spiritual deception becomes dangerous when we mistake the costume for the person underneath it. The most convincing disguise the flesh can wear may therefore be religion itself, because flesh dressed in righteousness is harder to recognize than flesh behaving badly.

Paul’s question cuts deeper than outward appearance: “Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” The issue is not whether something looks spiritual, but whether it actually proceeds from the Spirit. A whited sepulchre can be beautiful. A wolf can wear wool. Darkness can dress like light. The flesh can learn how to look remarkably religious.

Who Has Bewitched You?

This is where Paul’s question must become personal. What persuaded us that what began in the Spirit could now be perfected through the flesh? When did dependence become performance? When did knowing Christ become knowing a system? When did hearing the Shepherd become less important than mastering everything people have built around Him?

Those questions are not accusations aimed at someone else’s church. They are questions every believer should be willing to ask before God. The answer is not suspicion of everything religious, nor fascination with deception. The answer is to return to Christ, to the simplicity that is in Him, to faith, dependence upon the Holy Spirit, and the life of hearing His voice and following where He leads.

So on a night when people deliberately put on disguises, perhaps the Church should be willing to take some off. Paul’s question still stands: “Who hath bewitched you?” The most dangerous disguise may not be the costume someone wears for one night, but the religious disguise worn so long that it is no longer recognized as a disguise. And perhaps the greatest deception of all is believing we can finish in the flesh what God began in the Spirit.

The Dead Letter Society

Allen Frederick Leave a comment
When Knowing the Scriptures Is Not the Same as Knowing Christ

There is a society whose members may never realize they have joined. They carry Bibles, attend Bible studies, underline passages, memorize verses, consult commentaries, listen to sermons, and debate doctrine. Some can discuss theology with remarkable precision. They know Moses and the Prophets. They know Paul. They know Revelation. They can explain what Scripture says about salvation, sanctification, prophecy, the church, and the return of Christ. Yet there remains an uncomfortable possibility that Jesus Himself exposed two thousand years ago: it is possible to know the Scriptures and still not know the One the Scriptures were given to reveal.

“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”
John 5:39–40

That indictment should stop every serious student of Scripture in his tracks. Jesus did not accuse these men of neglecting the Scriptures. Quite the opposite. They searched them diligently. Their failure was not a lack of biblical knowledge but a failure to recognize where that knowledge was supposed to lead them. They had mistaken knowledge of the testimony for knowledge of the One to whom the testimony pointed. They possessed the Scriptures that testified of Life while remaining disconnected from Life Himself.

Welcome to The Dead Letter Society.

When the Signpost Becomes the Destination

There is an important distinction that must be made at the outset. The problem is not Scripture, nor is it serious Bible study. God’s Word reveals His character, His purposes, His dealings with humanity, His standards of righteousness, and His unfolding work of redemption. From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture ultimately directs our attention toward God’s redemptive purposes fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

The danger arises when the signpost becomes the destination. Jesus did not rebuke the Pharisees because they searched the Scriptures. He confronted them because the Scriptures they searched testified of Him, yet when He stood before them, they would not come to Him. The Book was pointing somewhere, but they stopped at the Book. The Scriptures were introducing Someone, but they settled for information about Him.

That danger did not disappear with the Pharisees. We can spend decades accumulating biblical information and mistake that accumulation for spiritual life. We can learn doctrines about Jesus without walking with Jesus. We can study everything God has said while becoming increasingly insensitive to the God who speaks. We can memorize promises, master theological systems, defend denominational positions, and become extraordinarily skilled at telling other people what the Bible means while remaining strangers to the living Christ at the center of it.

“For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
2 Corinthians 3:6

Whitewashed Tombs Filled With Dead Men’s Bones

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”
Matthew 23:27

The picture is remarkable when placed beside the warning of John 5. These were men surrounded by sacred knowledge. Their lives were steeped in the Law and the Prophets. They possessed the religious vocabulary, maintained the outward appearances, and presented themselves as guardians of God’s truth. Yet Jesus looked beneath the polished exterior and saw death.

That should make every one of us uncomfortable because biblical knowledge alone is not proof of spiritual life. A person can know Moses and remain dead inside. A person can quote the prophets while remaining dead inside. A person can memorize the words of Jesus while remaining dead inside. A person can understand Greek and Hebrew, build an impressive theological library, teach Bible studies, preach sermons, defend orthodoxy, and win theological arguments while remaining untouched by the transforming life of the Christ about whom all those words testify.

Spiritual death is perfectly capable of wearing religious clothing. This is where the danger of the Dead Letter Society becomes apparent. Religion can decorate the tomb so beautifully that we forget to ask whether anything inside is alive. The question cannot simply be, “How much Scripture do I know?” The deeper and far more consequential question is, “Has the Christ revealed in Scripture made me alive?”

When the Word Walked Into the Room

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.”
John 1:14

For generations, God’s people had preserved the written testimony. The Law had spoken of things to come. The prophets had announced God’s purposes. The Psalms had anticipated the King. Then the Word became flesh and walked among them.

The One toward whom the Scriptures had been pointing entered their synagogues, traveled their roads, touched their sick, opened blind eyes, confronted demons, forgave sins, raised the dead, and spoke with an authority unlike anything the people had heard. Yet remarkably, some of the people who knew the Scriptures best recognized Him least.

They knew the words but failed to recognize the Word. They studied the prophecies while opposing their fulfillment. They were waiting for Messiah while arguing with Messiah. They were searching for eternal life while rejecting the One standing directly in front of them offering life.

That is why the Pharisees cannot be safely confined to first-century Jerusalem. They remain a warning to every generation of religious people. Familiarity with biblical vocabulary does not necessarily mean familiarity with the voice of God. Knowing what God said does not automatically mean that we know Him. Christianity was never intended to become merely the preservation of things God once said. The written testimony directs us into relationship with the living Christ.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
John 10:27

Jesus Teaching About Jesus

“And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”
Luke 24:27

Perhaps there is no more beautiful illustration of this truth than the account of the two disciples walking toward Emmaus after the resurrection. They were discussing everything that had happened in Jerusalem when Jesus Himself joined them on the road. Yet they did not recognize Him.

Their situation presents an extraordinary paradox. They were talking about Jesus while Jesus was walking beside them. They were trying to understand what had happened to Jesus while the resurrected Jesus was listening to their conversation. Then their unidentified companion began opening the Scriptures to them.

Consider what was happening. Jesus was teaching them the Scriptures concerning Himself while He was physically walking beside them, yet they still did not recognize the One about whom the Scriptures were speaking. That scene provides a remarkable picture of the danger we are discussing. It is possible to possess information about Christ while remaining unaware of His presence. It is possible to discuss Him without recognizing Him. It is possible to hear a biblical explanation of who He is while still needing our spiritual eyes to be opened.

When they eventually sat down together, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. Their response afterward is equally significant. Their recognition of Christ did not cause them to discard the Scriptures. Instead, once their eyes were opened to Christ, they understood what those Scriptures had been revealing all along. The Spirit does not lead us away from the Word. He opens our eyes so that through the Word we behold Christ.

“Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him.”
Luke 24:31

“Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
Luke 24:32

Knowing the Menu Without Eating the Bread

“I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”
John 6:35

Jesus’ description of Himself as the Bread of Life gives us another way to understand the problem. Imagine sitting at a table with a menu describing an extraordinary meal. You could memorize every item on that menu, research every ingredient, learn where each ingredient came from, study how the meal was prepared, and spend years debating other people about the proper interpretation of its description. You could become the world’s leading authority on the menu and still die of starvation if you never ate the food.

That may be one of the simplest descriptions of the Dead Letter Society: we can know the menu by heart and never eat the Bread. Once again, the invitation is relational. The Pharisees searched the Scriptures, yet Jesus said they would not come to Him that they might have life. The Scriptures were never given merely to be analyzed, catalogued, and debated. They testify of the Bread of Life who must be received. Biblical truth is not merely something to understand intellectually; it is intended to lead us into a living relationship with the One who is Truth.

From the Garden to the City

This theme reaches much farther than the Pharisees or the road to Emmaus. In many ways, it is woven into the entire biblical story. Humanity’s relationship with God does not begin with Adam possessing a theological textbook describing God. It begins with communion between God and humanity. God speaks and man hears. There is relationship, fellowship, and unhindered communion.

Sin shattered that fellowship, and what follows throughout Scripture is the unfolding story of God’s work to restore what sin destroyed. The Law, the sacrifices, the tabernacle, the prophets, and the Psalms all point forward. Then Christ comes, and the Word becomes flesh. Through Christ, reconciliation is made possible. The veil is torn. The grave loses its victory. Christ rises from the dead, and the Holy Spirit is given to dwell within God’s people. When Scripture reaches its closing vision in Revelation, we again find God dwelling with His people.

From the Garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem, the biblical story is moving toward restored communion between God and humanity. The Bible therefore was never intended simply to produce people who possess increasing quantities of information about God. It reveals God’s redemptive work of bringing humanity back into fellowship with Himself. If our study of Scripture leaves us with an enormous amount of information about God but never leads us into relationship with God, we have somehow stopped short of the very destination toward which the testimony was pointing.

When Bible Study Becomes a Hiding Place

That raises an uncomfortable question that the modern church must be willing to confront: Can Bible study itself become a hiding place from God? John 5 suggests that it can.

The Pharisees could remain occupied with analyzing sacred texts while resisting the Person revealed within those texts. They could search Scripture while refusing surrender. The activity appeared profoundly spiritual, yet Jesus exposed the contradiction beneath it.

We should ask whether we sometimes do the same thing. Another sermon, another conference, another commentary, another Bible study, another theological debate, another podcast, another notebook filled with sermon notes. None of those things is inherently wrong. They can help us tremendously when they serve their proper purpose. But eventually Scripture brings us face-to-face with Someone, and when that happens, our response cannot simply be to take another note.

The Bible can tell us that Jesus forgives, but eventually we must receive His forgiveness. The Bible can tell us that Jesus is Lord, but eventually we must surrender to His lordship. The Bible can teach us about the Holy Spirit, but eventually we must learn to walk by the Spirit. The Bible can tell us that Christ is alive, but eventually we must confront whether our Christianity consists primarily of knowing information about Him or actually knowing Him. Otherwise, our libraries can grow larger while our bones remain dry.

The Spirit and the Word

The answer to dead-letter Christianity is not less Scripture, and it certainly is not abandoning biblical truth in pursuit of every subjective spiritual impression. Scripture and Spirit are not adversaries.

The same Spirit who inspired the testimony reveals the Christ to whom the testimony points. Jesus told His disciples that the Spirit would testify of Him. When the Spirit opens the Scriptures, our encounter with the Word becomes something more than intellectual accumulation. Like the disciples on the Emmaus road, our hearts begin to burn as Christ becomes increasingly real to us through the truth we are hearing.

This also protects us from the opposite error. If the Dead Letter Society reduces Christianity to information without life, ungrounded spirituality can pursue experiences without truth. Neither is the biblical pattern. The Spirit and the Word bring us to Christ. We therefore continue to study, search the Scriptures carefully, test what we hear, and treasure God’s written testimony. Yet our purpose is no longer merely collecting religious information. We are listening for the voice of the Shepherd revealed through the truth He has given us.

Leaving the Dead Letter Society

Perhaps that is the invitation for anyone who recognizes himself somewhere within these pages: leave the Dead Letter Society. Leaving does not mean closing your Bible. It means opening it with a different hunger. Study it. Search it. Treasure it. Meditate upon it. Test everything by it. But never forget why you are reading it.

Read Moses looking for Christ. Read the prophets watching for Christ. Read the Psalms longing for Christ. Read the Gospels beholding Christ. Read the Epistles learning what it means to live in Christ. Read Revelation anticipating the triumph of Christ. From beginning to end, allow Scripture to accomplish its intended purpose by directing your heart toward the God who desires to be known.

Never mistake possessing biblical information for possessing spiritual life. Never allow knowing verses about Jesus to become a substitute for knowing Jesus. Never become so familiar with the language of God that you cease listening for the voice of God.

Lord, do not let me merely learn another fact about You. Open my eyes that I may know You. Let Your Spirit illuminate Your Word until its truth becomes living reality within me. Do not allow me to become an expert in the testimony while remaining a stranger to the One being testified about. Bring me beyond the information and into communion with You.

The Bible is not the obituary of a God who used to speak. It is the testimony of the God who lives. The Word became flesh, the tomb is empty, the Spirit has been given, and Jesus Christ is alive. The great tragedy of the Dead Letter Society is not that its members have never encountered the words that lead to life. It is that they can spend their entire lives studying those words while refusing the invitation contained within them.

“But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”
John 5:40

May we never become so occupied studying the road that we fail to arrive at its destination. The destination is Christ.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, when I open Your Word, open my eyes as well. Do not allow me merely to accumulate knowledge about You. Through Your Spirit, use Your Word to draw me into deeper communion with You. Let me recognize Your voice, receive Your life, and follow where You lead. Amen.

Hearts of Stone or Hearts of Flesh

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

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How our response to the Holy Spirit reveals our true condition

This reflection argues that spiritual maturity is revealed not only by what we believe, but by how quickly we yield when the Holy Spirit speaks. A softened heart responds today; a hardened heart delays, negotiates, or resists.

Introduction

No it Few things reveal the condition of the heart more clearly than the way we respond to the Lord’s leading. In medicine, heart disease is monitored with electrodes, screens, and alarms that track rhythm, pressure, and electrical activity. In the Kingdom, the Great Physician uses a deeper measure: our responsiveness to His voice (Hebrews 3:15). Scripture exposes hardness not to leave us fearful, but to move us toward the One who can replace resistance with tenderness.

The Spiritual EKG

Scripture says it plainly and urgently: “Today, when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as they did in the wilderness.” (Hebrews 3:15). That single line functions like a spiritual EKG. It diagnoses whether the inner life is soft, tender, and teachable—or calcified, resistant, and dangerously unresponsive.

The Wilderness Generation’s Heart Condition

The wilderness generation had miracles, manna, deliverance, and divine presence, yet their hearts stiffened like stone. They heard His voice, but they did not yield. They saw His works, but they did not trust. They received His correction, but they did not adapt. Scripture records their condition not as a distant historical footnote, but as a living warning for every believer who hears God and is tempted to delay obedience.

Characteristics of a Heart of Stone

A heart of stone is not merely sinful; it is spiritually slow. It delays repentance, postpones obedience, resists correction, and treats the Spirit’s promptings as interruptions rather than invitations. Over time, that slowness becomes resistance, and resistance becomes hardness.

Characteristics of a Heart of Flesh

A heart of flesh, by contrast, is quick to yield, quick to bow, and quick to change course. It says, “Speak, Lord, Your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10), and means it. It lets the Spirit interrupt plans, challenge assumptions, expose hidden motives, and reroute the path.

God’s Promise of a New Heart

This is why God promised through Ezekiel: “I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26). A heart of flesh is not weak—it is alive. It beats. It responds. It feels. It moves when God moves. It bends when God speaks. It adjusts when God corrects. It is spiritually sensitive, not spiritually stubborn.

The Monitor of Spiritual Health

And that sensitivity—your responsiveness—is the monitor of your spiritual health.

Diagnostic Questions

When the Spirit convicts you, how long does it take before you repent? When the Spirit prompts you, how long before you obey? When the Spirit warns you, how long before you turn? When the Spirit comforts you, how long before you rest? When the Spirit redirects you, how long before you follow?

These are not small questions. They are diagnostic. They reveal whether your heart is tender or tough, pliable or petrified, Spirit‑led or self‑led.

The Gradual Hardening of the Heart

The wilderness generation heard His voice repeatedly, yet their hearts hardened incrementally. Hardness is rarely sudden. It is gradual. It forms layer by layer—one ignored conviction, one delayed obedience, one resisted prompting, one dismissed warning at a time. Stone grows slowly, but it grows surely.

The Holy Spirit’s Gentle Leading

And here is the sobering truth: the Holy Spirit does not shout to compete with a hardened heart. He speaks. He leads. He nudges. He convicts. But He does not force. The moment we stop responding, we start calcifying.

The Warning from Hebrews

This is why the writer of Hebrews repeats the warning three times: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” (Hebrews 3:7–8; 3:15; 4:7). The urgency is in the word today. Not tomorrow. Not eventually. Not when obedience becomes convenient. Today. Delayed obedience is already disobedience, and slow responsiveness is already a sign of spiritual disease.

Heart Health in the Kingdom

In medicine, a heart monitor reveals danger before catastrophe strikes. In the Kingdom, God reveals danger through the speed of our surrender. When the Spirit speaks and we respond quickly, the heart is healthy. When the Spirit speaks and we hesitate, negotiate, or postpone, the heart is drifting toward stone.

The Pharisees’ Hearts of Stone

The Pharisees had hearts of stone not because they lacked Scripture, but because they resisted the One to whom Scripture pointed. Jesus healed a man’s hand in front of them, and instead of rejoicing, they hardened (Mark 3:1–6). Jesus taught with authority, and instead of yielding, they resisted (Matthew 7:29). Jesus confronted their hypocrisy, and instead of repenting, they plotted (Matthew 12:14). Their hearts were spiritually anesthetized—religiously active, yet unresponsive to God.

The Disciples’ Hearts of Flesh

But the disciples, flawed as they were, had hearts of flesh. They dropped nets (Matthew 4:20). They followed immediately (Matthew 4:22). They adjusted quickly. They repented deeply. They responded when He called, even when they didn’t fully understand. Their hearts beat with divine rhythm.

The Difference: Responsiveness

The difference was not intelligence, education, or religious background. The difference was responsiveness.

The Spirit Still Speaks

That same difference remains today.

The Spirit still speaks, leads, convicts, redirects, whispers, warns, comforts, and calls. The question is not whether God is speaking. The question is whether we are responding when He does.

Measuring Spiritual Health

Spiritual health is not measured by how much Scripture we know, how many sermons we hear, or how loudly we worship. It is measured by how quickly we obey the Scripture we hear, yield to the One who speaks through His Word, and surrender when the Spirit touches a hidden place.

A heart of flesh is not perfect—it is responsive. A heart of stone is not ignorant—it is resistant.

The Moment of Truth

And the difference between the two is revealed today—in the moment you hear His voice.

Closing Prayer

So let the Word be the monitor. Let the Spirit be the physician. Let responsiveness be the measure. And let the prayer of your heart be simple, sincere, and immediate:

“Lord, when You speak, I will not harden. I will not delay. I will not resist. I will respond—today.”

Final Reflection

Because in the Kingdom, heart health is not measured by beats per minute, but by obedience per whisper. The one who responds quickly walks in the life, softness, and sensitivity of a heart made new by God Himself.

This has been “A View From the Nest” and that is the way I see it. What say you?

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Silhouettes of people watching a burning city while a person holds an ancient scroll

Something Greater Than Sunday Service

Allen Frederick Leave a comment
Silhouettes of people watching a burning city while a person holds an ancient scroll

The Unsettling Claim We Still Ignore

There is someone greater than Sunday service. Someone greater than church attendance. Someone greater than scriptural literacy. And Jesus names Him plainly in Matthew 12.

When the Pharisees accused His disciples of breaking Sabbath law, Jesus responded with a declaration that shook the foundations of their religious system: “Something greater than the temple is here” (Matthew 12:6). He followed it with Hosea’s ancient rebuke, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6), and then concluded with a claim only God could make: “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8).

They were not irreligious men. They were not casual about Scripture. They were not indifferent to holiness. And yet they were the ones who missed Him.

When the System Overshadows the Savior

The Pharisees had allowed the system to eclipse the Savior. They guarded the Sabbath with precision, but ignored the Lord of the Sabbath standing in their grainfield. They revered the temple, but rejected the One greater than the temple walking in their midst. They knew the Scriptures, but could not recognize the Author when He spoke.

Jesus reminded them of David eating the consecrated bread (1 Samuel 21:1–6), and of the priests who ***“profane the Sabbath and are guiltless” (*Matthew 12:5). In other words: the Law itself makes room for mercy — if you read it with God’s heart.

Modern church culture is not far behind. We have built an ecosystem around attendance, programming, and performance. We measure spiritual vitality by how full the sanctuary is, how polished the service feels, and how many verses we can quote.

But attendance is not intimacy.
Literacy is not maturity.
Activity is not a transformation.

And none of these guarantees that we are walking with Christ.

The Danger of Religion Without Mercy

Jesus’ rebuke echoes the prophets. Isaiah warned of people who “draw near with their mouth… while their hearts are far from Me” (Isaiah 29:13). Micah asked, “Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams?” and answered with God’s requirement: to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly (Micah 6:8).

The Pharisees could spot a broken rule but not a broken person. They could parse the law but not perceive the Lawgiver. They could defend the temple but not discern the presence of God.

Jesus wasn’t condemning their devotion — He was exposing their distortion.
The Sabbath was never meant to be a cage.
The temple was never meant to be a monument to human correctness.
Scripture was never meant to be a weapon used to condemn the guiltless.

All of it pointed to Christ, and all of it finds its fulfillment in Him.

The Subtle Substitutes We Still Choose

This is why His words still matter. Something greater than the temple is here. Something greater than our buildings, our services, our ministries, and our rhythms is here.

And if we are not careful, we will repeat the same mistake: mistaking proximity to religious activity for proximity to Jesus Himself.

Jesus warned of this very danger: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have life… yet you refuse to come to Me” (John 5:39–40).

It is entirely possible to be faithful to the schedule and unfaithful to the Savior.
Present in the sanctuary and absent in the Spirit.
Knowledgeable of the text and untouched by the Truth.

Jesus is not calling us away from the church but back to its center.
Not away from Scripture but into its purpose.
Not away from worship but into its heart.

The point has never been the temple, the ritual, or the rule.
The point has always been Him.

The Question That Still Confronts Us

And so the question lingers, as sharp now as it was in that grainfield:

Are we guarding the rules or walking with the Ruler?
Are we attending services or attending Christ?
Are we reading Scripture or being shaped by it?
Are we practicing religion or extending mercy?

Something greater than Sunday service is here.
Something greater than our routines and rhythms is here.
Something greater than our best attempts at holiness is here.

His name is Jesus — and He is still inviting His people to recognize Him.

Jars of Clay Frontman Comes Out in Support of Homosexual ‘Marriage’

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

See on Scoop.it – Eagle Views

 

Dan Haseltine

Cover of Dan Haseltine

 

In a series of assertive Tweets, Dan Haseltine of the popular band Jars of Clay took to his Twitter account and came out in support of homosexual ‘marriage,’ …

 

I succeed that Dan Haseltine has the right, in this country, to free speech. He also has the right to tweet his views and opinions on any topic he desires. Knowing that same-sex marriage is a ‘hot topic’ issue and one that is bound to spark deep emotional response both for and against, one has to wonder why Dan decided to open this can of worms in the first place. Was he trying to garner some publicity for his band, knowing that any press is good press, or was he seriously seeking to understand the whole issue?

From his own tweets it would seem Dan has made up his mind on the issue and is not really seeking to garner understanding from those who are opposed to same-sex marriage. He even tweets that he really does not care what the bible says about it.

I quote:

“I don’t particularly care about Scriptures stance on what is ‘wrong,’” he stated. “I care more about how it says we should treat people.”

Perhaps this is where we all run into trouble when dealing with scripture. Instead of looking at scripture from God’s viewpoint and how He feels about an issue and why, we look at it purely from a personal viewpoint and how it makes us feel and how we wish to be treated by others, whether it is right or wrong is not up for discussion. We feel that what we want and how we feel about any given issue should be respected and honored by others and they have no right to tell us how we ought to live.

Okay if that is your position, then please do not quote the bible or even reference the sacred text, since you really do not care what it has to say anyway. Scripture is not open for private interpretation, it is a spiritual guide-book, and as such requires spiritual insight into its meaning  and application. This is why so many have misapplied scripture and have misrepresented Christ in the process, because they have wanted to use the scripture to support their viewpoint and not adjusting their viewpoints to reflect scripture.

For example let us take just one commandment:

Thou shall not commit adultery. And yet many Christians do just that. They do not see anything wrong with their behavior and do not wish for anyone to tell them that what they are doing is wrong, and yet the bible is unambiguous about the issue.

And on the issue of marriage that is pretty clear as well, a man shall leave his father and mother (note it does not say father and father or mother and mother) and cling to his wife, the two shall become one flesh. Okay now we could argue what is meant by the word WIFE but it is clear what MAN is, unless of course you are confused about your gender.

Jesus addressed this issue as well and I cite the verse in context:

Matthew 19:4-9 (GW)
4  Jesus answered, “Haven’t you read that the Creator made them male and female in the beginning
5  and that he said, ‘That’s why a man will leave his father and mother and will remain united with his wife, and the two will be one’?
6  So they are no longer two but one. Therefore, don’t let anyone separate what God has joined together.”
7  The Pharisees asked him, “Why, then, did Moses order a man to give his wife a written notice to divorce her?”
8  Jesus answered them, “Moses allowed you to divorce your wives because you’re heartless. It was never this way in the beginning.
9  I can guarantee that whoever divorces his wife for any reason other than her unfaithfulness is committing adultery if he marries another woman.”

Jesus was being asked about divorce by the Pharisees, who were the religious leaders of the day. These men were supposed to be teachers of the law and they needed to be taught themselves.

You see folks the Christian community has a great deal of problems in regards to marriage, and same-sex marriage is just one of the many symptoms of a godless societal trajectory. There is a great deal of divorce and remarrying going on within the Christian community which Jesus said was committing adultery, and yet strangely nary a peep can be heard from Christian leaders on this issue of marriage.

So then if we are going to ignore adultery then we might as well ignore all other sexual sins as well and let everyone do as they please when it comes to sexual matters. After all what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes is none of our business right?  Oh wait you are making it our business by bringing your bedrooms out into the street where everyone must witness your conduct. If you do not wish to be judged by your conduct then I suggest you do not display your conduct before the entire population, but if you choose to make a public display of your conduct then you should expect a public outcry concerning that conduct, do not be surprised then if not everyone finds your conduct acceptable. Some may, some may not, but regardless of whether you have majority support if your conduct does not meet with God’s approval then in the end it will be a worthless pursuit, ending in unspeakable torment and misery.

So to Dan and others who wish to pursue this topic be assured that not everyone is going to agree with any position you take on the matter, and you should not be offended when someone takes issue with your position. Be ready to suffer the consequences, but I will ask you this one question:

Mark 8:36 (GW)
36  What good does it do for people to win the whole world (gain popular opinions, gain world renown) yet lose their lives?

Jesus concludes by saying, hey if you are ashamed of what my word says and teaches in this wicked world then he will have no problem being ashamed of you when it comes time to choose whom he will spend eternity with.

In other words it is okay if you do not want to follow Jesus and his teachings, and since you do not want anything to do with Jesus here and now, you will not be upset when he wants nothing to do with you in the here after right?

Mark 8:38 (GW)
38  If people are ashamed of me and what I say in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of those people when he comes with the holy angels in his Father’s glory.”

So whether the entire world approves of your conduct does not really matter in the end. The one who gets the last word is Jesus and since you really do not care what he has to say, then I guess go ahead and do what you want because in the end you will have an entire life to live without Jesus. Isn’t that really what you want anyway?

Go ahead and do it your way but be aware that your way does have consequences both here and hereafter.

And that is the way I see it. What say you?

 

 

 

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