St Matthew, Chapter 16, verses: 7-8, The Leaven: The Accusation.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees) Part 2.    

Christ was in the presence of evil as he spoke to the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  For they were the agents of evil, they were the evildoers.  Evil can not operate of its own but must operate through man.  So they sought the highest authority and corrupted the priest to do their evil.  And they spread the plague throughout the towns and villages that evil would prevail.  And Christ know of the plague.  He knew of the leaven that was being spread by evil through the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  He told his disciples to beware of that evil, to beware of the leaven being spread by the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  But they did not heed his warning.

And so the disciples became infected with the plague.  They themselves began to show signs of the infection.  They began to show signs of the leaven that was spreading about.  But they themselves were not aware.  They did not know what was happening.  They did not see yet how the leaven was affecting them.  So they began to argue among themselves about little things.
They began to show signs of the leaven taking hold of them while they were traveling.  For the leaven brought strife.  The leaven brought chaos.  The leaven brought anger, fear, hatred, hopelessness, jealousy, and many other evils that would infect the person who caught it.  And they did not know.  But Christ knew and he warned his disciples so that they would not be infected.  He warned them that they would know and see the change that it brought about within themselves.  And yet without faith, the cure to the leaven, all would be infected with the leaven.   But they began to argue among themselves, saying, "We have brought no bread."  But Jesus knowing this, said, “You of little faith, why do you argue among yourselves that you have no bread ?   

And the disciples became infected with the leaven because they had little faith in the one who was the source of all faith and hope.  Are we affected with the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees today?  Are we without hope?  Are we without faith that the one who came down from heaven will not provide?  Do we argue among ourselves as to where we are to get bread, where we are to get food, where we are to get clothing, where we are to get money to provide for ourselves?  After all, we are the ones, so we are told, that provide for ourselves.  We are the ones who are not dependent upon a hand out from the government or from others to provide for ourselves.  We are independent.  We have jobs, we have houses, we have cars, and money, and clothes, and big screen TVs, and smartphones, and ipads, and Internet data plans that allow us to be happy in the world we live in.  And those who are without?  Well they must be independent and provide for themselves.  This is the leaven of today.  We are independent and do not need hope, we do not need faith. 

Christ came that we may have new life.  For without belief in his sacrifice, his death and his resurrection we are dead, we have no life.  Yet, we say we believe.  We say we have faith.  We go to church each week in belief of that faith and that hope.  But when the bills come due, the money runs short, when we fear the loss of the jobs we hold, do we believe, do we have faith?  The creator of the universe wants to provide for us.  He wants to protect us.  He wants to show his love for us and yet we are infected with the leaven of the world.  Is it hard to let go?  Is it difficult to trust in the Lord? 

We expect miracles to happen when we pray.  Yet we are not patient enough to see them happen.  We are not faithful enough to allow our God, our Father to work in our lives.  We know not the life that has been given us is not the life in the world but the life of the spirit within us.  Faith is the belief in the desire to be one with Christ.  Are you one with him?  Do you know who you are?  Has your spirit been robbed by the evil in the world?  Mine was but now I am found in Christ.   Come, find yourself.  Come, find the truth of who you are in Christ and heal yourself of the leaven of the world.  For with the truth, you will know the life that is within you and with the truth you will be able to throw off the fears and doubts that are brought on by the passions of the physical life.  You will know the true nature of who you are in Christ.  Follow the path.  Read the signs.  Open your heart and you will see the life Christ has given you. 

Read the signs of the times!  Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ.  Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself.  Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding.  Read it for knowledge.  Read it for faith.  Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ.  The Holy Spirit awaits you.  Christ seeks to know you.  Open the door and let him in!

St Matthew, Chapter 16, verses: 5-6, The Leaven: The Warning.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees) Part 1. 

The Pharisees and the Sadducees came with their demon conceived plans to trick him.  They wanted a sign from heaven to make them believe, so they said.  And Christ told them how they could understand.  He gave them a sign that they already had.  But the demons inside wanted their plans put into action.  They were the evil inside the evil doers.  They were the influence that spoke to the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  They were the ones.  Christ warned them that he would visit them and that would be their sign.  He would come to hell for three days and bring destruction to their plans.  For their sign was the sign of Jonas in the belly of the whale.  And with this he left them.  He left the presence of evil in the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

And while they were crossing the sea, Christ warned his disciples of the plague.  He warned  them of the leaven of the evildoers.  For Satan had influenced the Pharisees and the Sadducees and they in turn spread the plague.  They spread the leaven to the people and throughout the world.  They were contaminated first.  They received the leaven.  They held the 
original strain and were the carriers of the resident evil.  Yet many were not aware.  Many did not know.  And the evil spread amongst the people without hindrance.  And Christ warned his disciples to be on guard.    And when his disciples crossed the sea, they found that they had forgotten to bring bread.   And he said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees!"

Are you aware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees today?  What are the influences that they play in our lives?  We see it everywhere, on the TV, in the movies, in magazines, on the Internet, in the news, on billboards, wherever we look, we see, hear, and accept the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  It is accepted as a part of our lives.  It is a constant assault on the spiritual purity of our souls.  It is handed down to us as we are children.  It is fed to us  as we become teens.  It becomes our desires as we mature.  And yet it is not until we face destruction in our lives that we wake and become somewhat aware of the leaven that has become a part of us.

Save the children!  Protect the teens!  Guard the mature against the leaven that we live with in our lives.  If the destruction of the world came today many would be lost to the leaven.  Many would face damnation.  Many would not know the love and the gift that God, our Father, has provided to us through Christ Jesus.  For without belief in him we are dead, without life, without the light of new life that comes through Christ.  Are there no alternatives to leaven?  Are there not antidotes?  Is there no solution to what has become so much apart of what we accept today as ordinary and common?  We go to church on Sunday and neglect the other six days of the week to return to the leaven of the world.  Wake up my brothers and sisters!  We have work to do.  Open your minds and your hearts that you may be saved and be born again in Christ.  For without new birth we are dead inside.  We have no life.  We have not the light of Christ within us but only darkness.  Here is a trail to follow.  Christ awaits you.  Come receive the light of the Holy Spirit and be born again.

Read the signs of the times!  Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ.  Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself.  Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding.  Read it for knowledge.  Read it for faith.  Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ.  The Holy Spirit awaits you.  Christ seeks to know you.  Open the door and let him in! 

St Matthew, Chapter 16, verse: 4b, The Test: The sign of Jonas.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The Pharisees and Sadducees ask a sign)
Part 3.     

The Pharisees and the Sadducees came to Jesus with in their plots and plans.  They asked him to give a sign that they would know and believe was from heaven.  They wanted to test him.  They wanted to have him perform a miracle for them even though they knew that he was the Messiah.  The evil within them knew that he was the Christ yet the evil urged their evil doers to ask for a sign to test him.  

Evil was all around. Evil sought to trap.  Evil sought to ensnare.  Evil sought to find a way to discredit what was truth.  So they plotted and planned with their evil doers on ways to carry out their plans.  One worked in the spiritual realm and one worked in the physical realm.  And yet the physical realm did not perceive that which was in the spiritual realm.  The physical body did not or would not accept that there was a spiritual realm of evil that suggested the things to do in the physical realm.  They were blinded.  They could not see.  They did not want to see for their physical passions kept them from seeing, kept them from believing, kept them from know the truth that was before them.

So Christ gave the physical as an example.  He gave them knowledge that they could relate to in the physical realm.  He demonstrated to them the knowledge that they had about interpretation.  They could interpret the morning sky.  They could interpret the evening sky and know what was coming before them.  So why did they not want to see the interpretation of what was before them so that they would know the truth.  They did not want to let go of the physical and accept the spiritual that was before them.  So instead of reaching understanding for themselves and having their eyes opened to the evil that was within them, they accepted the plot of evil and continued to live in the darkness.

They came to Christ and asked for a sign.  And Christ told them:   An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, and no sign shall be given it but the sign of Jonas."  And he left them and went away.

Are we like the Pharisees and the Sadducees?  Do we request a sign?  Do we demand a miracle so that we can say that we believe?  Do we counsel with evil that evil may reside within us?  For a sign will not be given except for the sign of Jonas.   Christ spoke to the Pharisees and the Sadducees to let them know that he knew of their evil.  Even more so, he spoke to the evil within them to let evil know that he was coming.  He told them that he would be with them for three days.  He told them that he would come to bring about a change.  He would reside in the belly of hell to release the souls that were trapped there.  He would come to the belly of hell to right what was wrong and to seal those who walked the earth and possessed men to do evil for them. 

Shudder in your spirits for Christ would come and exact judgement upon the evil in hell for three days.  He would come and release all the souls that lived in purgatory that had waited patiently until his coming.  He would come to hell and give life to those souls that lived by the laws of God and bring punishment to the evil that roamed the earth.  So, he gave the Pharisees and the Sadducees the opportunity to read the signs of the times.  He gave them the opportunity to awaken from their sleep with evil.  He gave them the spark that would ignite their minds and open their hearts that they may be healed.  But they refused to believe.  They refused to see.  They refused to know.  They only wanted to sleep in the bed of darkness.  They only wanted to remain in the web of evil that walked the earth and tempted them to do evil.

Where are we today?  Are we asleep with evil?  Are we not reading the signs of the times and awakening from the blindness of evil?  Many will go down the wide road of destruction.  Many will heed the call of sin.  Many will succumb to the passions of lust and open their hearts to the evil that comes from within.  And yet we refuse to understand truth for its simplicity and its beauty.  God loves us.  God created us in his image.  God wants each and every one of us to live with him in heaven.  But we continue to allow ourselves to follow the world down the path of destruction and death.  WAKE UP!  See the signs!  Open your hearts to the love of Christ who died that you would have life again.  Believe!  And be saved from darkness that awaits you.  Death is a thief and will come when least expected.  Be prepared daily, hourly, that you may not be caught unaware.  A trail of crumbs have been left for you to follow.  Come!  Christ awaits you and the Holy Spirit will guide you on this journey of life.

Read the signs of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ.   Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself.   Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding.   Read it for knowledge.   Read it for faith.  Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ.   The Holy Spirit awaits you.  Christ seeks to know you.   Open the door and let him in!