St. Matthew, Chapter 23, verses: 16b; Swearing by the Temple.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Their distorted religion) Part 2.  

He had called them names in public, names that caused other prophets to be killed.  He berated them for the things they did, for their so called pious behavior, for their religious demeanor on the outside and hypocritical behavior on the inside.  He saw everything that they did and made comment of it to the people.  And the Pharisees and the Scribes did not like what they heard from this man of low demeanor.

Yet he was the Christ that they could not see.  He was the Messiah.  He was the Chosen One and they still could not see the writing on the wall.  The people heard, the people saw, the people understood.  The people believed and knew that he was the one foretold, the one who would come and bring about change.  But they, the religious leadership, could not believe he was the one.  He called them blind guides: "Who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing."

Is it nothing to swear by the house of God?  Is it not something to make an oath and bind it by the house that the creator of the universe lives?  Does that not have any meaning?  We place our hands on the Bible and swear to tell the truth.  If we place our hands on the Temple of God and swear that we are bound does that not have meaning?

We say that a man's bond is his word but how true are those words today.  How often have those words been reversed or taken aback when convenient and to our benefit.  What is truth?  What is honesty?  What is love of brother, or neighbor of fellow man?  We are all brothers and sisters created by one God, given his one image.  Does that not make us the same?  

Least we forget who we are, we come from a different place.  As beautiful and wonderful as this place we live in, it is not the home we are destined for.  We are two in one.  A two-fer, one flesh, one spirit.  Until we come to realize and understand this we loose the truth of who we are in this world.  We loose the opportunity given us from birth to transform into the spirit that we are to become.  For we are truly spiritual beings in a physical body waiting for the transformation to take place at the given time and place designated by God.  Do not be blinded by the physical.  Open your heart and see the true you from within.

Read the sign 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 nd 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 23, verses: 16a; Blind Guides.

Our paragraph topic is: (Their distorted religion) Part 1.  

These were scary times and they did not realize or recognize the nature of it.  The Scribes and the Pharisees were gathered together to trick Christ.  But while they were gathered together he had the opportunity to address them as one.  He scolded them for their hypocrisy.  He told them of their false pretenses.  He showed them how they made converts for Satan.  And told them that they shut the doors of heaven for themselves and for others who wanted to enter.

These were indeed scary times to have the Son of God speak those words to the leaders of the people.  We would today shake to our very core and cry for repentance given the opportunity, but not the Scribes and the Pharisees.  Their core was filled with anger and rage as they listened to those words from Christ.  They did not believe.  They did not think.  They did not even consider the possibility that this man could be the Messiah.   He told them:  ''Woe to you, blind guides."

Some of us know but most don't.  Some submit to the temptation and ask for forgiveness knowing within that what was committed was against their beliefs.  But there are those who do not know and are influenced internally and externally to commit wrongs that go against man and God.  And yet God is a forgiving god because he knows that for those who ask he is willing to forgive.  Evil must have doers to commit its wrongs and it is the influence that it works within the mind and the hearts of men that brings about the evil that we experience today.

Blind guides, indeed they were, influenced by the ways of evil.  So pervasive had evil become rampant in the time of Christ that men were not only influenced by evil but they were possessed by demons also.  And the people cried out for help everywhere he went.  He came to put a stop to the storming of mankind.  He came to pay the price for our sins.  He came to set us free from death and dominion of evil.  And he arose to open the doors of heaven for all.

Christ is our Savior.  He is our Lord.  He is our life and our love.  Through him we have a new life, a new opportunity, a hand to hold, an ear to listen to our cries, an understanding heart to know our suffering.  He is with us.  His love fills us if we open ourselves to his heart.  He provides and protects.  His Holy Spirit will be our guide in daily life to show us the way.  He is yours for the asking.  Ask and receive!     

Read the sign 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 nd 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.