Before you read this study understand that we do not teach, we share and then ask all who read the following take it to God and verify it with Him. We believe a lot of the world is misled by the church of the world and religion vs the one true church. And to know the truth can only come from knowing, not just knowing of God, John 14:26, I John 2:27, Rev 3:19-22.
Many are called but few are chosen because many are misled by false teachers Matthew 7:13-15 so we help all who wants to know the truth how to find and know the truth of and by God and not of and by man.



Modern day Pharisees and Scribes

Pastor J. R. Wilhite, author   Close Window

Do we have modern day Pharisees and Scribes?

You bet we do, and they are just as much a problem as those of old.

First let's see what Jesus had to say on this subject.

Matthew 23

  1. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
  2. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
  3. 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.
  4. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
  5. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
  6. Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
  7. Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?

  8. And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
  9. Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
  10. Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
  11. And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
  12. And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
  13. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier Matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
  14. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
  15. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
  16. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
  17. 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.
  18. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
  19. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
  20. And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
  21. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
  22. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
  23. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
  24. Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
  25. That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
  26. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
  27. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

Today the scribes and Pharisees are those who are intellectual or have read the Bible and memorized it without the relationship with the heavenly Father.

I hear from them on a regular basis; they will email me about a scripture that I used in a Bible study which they say is wrong. I answered one recently and stated if you have a problem with what I say in the Bible studies, go to the Lord and ask Him. If He says I am wrong, pray for me and go away to a site that is of God. But if He says I am right, then change. Their response is, "I did what you said and find you to be wrong." When I ask them about where they got that, they state, "You said ask the Lord, so I went to the scripture and found where you are wrong."

First of all I never stated, "Go to the scriptures." I said, "Go to the Lord." Second, anyone can take a verse out of text and make it sound right. But when going to God, He will always straighten us out.

Most of the time these people tell me I am nuts or off base because I listen to God.

They believe that we have the word and it is all we need and it replaces hearing from God.

How wrong can anyone be? Of course the Bible is the book for all of us to learn by and to check out and see if a ministry lines up with it, but we also have God Himself to talk to and ask questions of. Who is more reliable, someone who read the book (Bible) or someone who wrote the book (Bible)?

The idea is this, 2,000 years ago Jesus walked the earth and had to deal with all types. Those who were the less learned were those He reached the most, and He made them His apostles and disciples. The more they knew about scripture and the law, the harder it was to reach them.

We have the same today, like then we have different groups who believe even to the point of physically hurting someone who does not agree.

The most important thing Jesus did 2,000 years ago was not healing, preaching, or praying, but it was giving His own life so we would have life.

Today we have those who have been taught by what they thought was a man or woman of God, and in putting their faith this teaching were led astray. Then they go forth and lead others astray.

They are almost like zealots in their drive to convince others of their truth.

The word denomination means to divide, and Jesus even talked about being divided.

Matthew 12

  1. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

We have many divisions and then divisions in themselves, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Catholic, and so on.

The division is based on interpretation of the word, not understanding, but interpreting.

If we go to the author of the Bible we will not be divided but united, because He will only tell us what it means and not interpret it to meet with our needs.

1 Corinthians 1

  1. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
  2. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

Now try it this way

1 Corinthians 1

Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Baptist; and I of Methodist; and I of Lutheran; and I of Christ.

We are not to be Baptist, Methodist or so on, but we are to be of Christ. Christ is a Greek word meaning anointing. We are to be anointed in, on, and throughout with the Holy Spirit.

Luke 4

  1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
  2. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

John 14

  1. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

I John 2

  1. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

Isaiah 10

  1. And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

So many out there are like the Pharisees of old and teach in ways to keep their congregation. In fear of loosing even one.

2 Timothy 1

  1. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

There are those who teach salvation is by water baptism, that if you are not baptized in water you are not saved. The same group teaches "once saved always saved." Now, to how many are they giving an excuse to sin? If I was told and believed that when I was baptized I was saved, and once saved always saved, I would get the idea I could sin.

Is not the reaction of sin, death?

And if that is so, how can I sin and not die?

Then there are those who sprinkle water on people for baptism while others state you have to be dunked to be saved.

Or how about those who say that comunion but be with wine only, not grape juice.

Water baptism was of John for repentance of sin. Jesus' blood is ours.

Other than in Acts 8, no other place is water used in the new testament again.

Acts 8

  1. Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
  2. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
  3. And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

And here the eunuch had to profess Jesus first before being baptized. Baptism of water is showing our faith and I believe we should all be baptized, but it is not our salvation.

So, do you see how someone could be misled? They believe they are saved because they were baptized in water.

Matthew 7

  1. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
  2. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
  3. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
  4. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

John 10

  1. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

No one enters but by Jesus.

Romans 10

  1. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
  2. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

"Once saved always saved"; this means we have no will of our own to reject the salvation. How did Lucifer fall being the only angel ever to be anointed?

See, the problem is Jesus came to re-unite us with the Father, in love, not judging. Jesus could have judged Mary when He stated, "He who is without sin cast the first stone." He knew they could not because they had all sinned, except Him, He could have thrown that first stone, but did not. He did not judge. He operated in the love of God.

We are to build a relationship with God the Father and have a daily relationship with Him.

Not as they did 2,000 years ago, they had a man of God who taught them, they gave their tithes, and offerings of their time and funds.

But that is just what we are doing today! We go once a week (as they did), listen to a man of God as they did, and give as they did.

So where is the progress, where is the relationship?

Do not get caught up in the law, or legalism. Do not listen to those who do not know any more than you. Go to the author and ask God to guide you to a good church home.

Any time you read or hear anything, go to God and ask Him about what ever it was, and if He says the person teaching is not teaching right, don't just leave there, run away from there as fast as you can.

God Bless You as you hear His words and follow His leading.




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