St. Matthew, Chapter 23, verses: 22; The Throne of God.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Their distorted religion) Part 13.  

You see, it had come to this, gold and silver, precious metals, and jewels were more valuable in the eyes of the religious than the kingdom of heaven.  They did not place much value on the temple and the sacred items in it.  They did not value the altar but they placed value on the gold and silver placed on the altar.  They did not place value upon the temple itself but on the gold that the temple was made of which is how their religious beliefs had become so distorted.

These were the leaders who taught the people what to believe!  How wrong could they be?  They despised Christ for telling them that their beliefs were distorted and that they had it all wrong.  This is why he had to tell them also:  "And he who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits upon it."

They had no idea that they were swearing by God himself.  They had no idea that they were telling their followers that their bond with God was nothing when they swore by the temple.  They had no idea that they were encouraging the people to break their vows that they were making with God himself, thereby bringing forth the wrath upon themselves.  The people only knew that they were following the rules and the laws that were handed down by their religious leaders.

They were sheep being led by their shepherds.  And we prey today that God has given us a true shepherds to lead us along the right path to the kingdom of heaven.  Of course the ultimate choice is up to us to follow.  The ultimate decision is within ourselves if we want to believe what we hear each Sunday.  And the choice is up to us if we want more than what we hear each week.  If our hearts desire to know more about our heavenly Father, it is up to us to seek him out.  If our hearts yearn to feel the truth of his love it is up to us to delve deeper into the knowledge that is available for us.  All we have to do is knock on the door to have it opened to us.  

And if we truly want to know him all we need do is get on our knees and ask him.  We have to be patient to get his response.  We have to listen quietly to hear his voice.  We have to know that he speaks when he calls us in that soft voice that fills us with joy and happiness.  We have to rejoice in his presence when he comes to us with the gifts that he gives us each and every day through the spirit of his heart.  For he is a loving Father, and he is a devoted Savior, and they have an everlasting Guide that will be with you until your time to return home.

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: 17a; Blind fools.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Their distorted religion) Part 4.  

He called them blind guides.  They were the leaders of the church, the leaders of the people, the religious guides at the time.  Yet Christ said that they were blind guides not knowing where they were going, where they were leading the people.  He said that they traveled miles to make a convert only to make that person a son of hell.

What kind of leaders would do that?  What kind of spiritual leaders would convert a soul to hell instead of heaven?  Yet that was the leadership present at the time of Christ and he wanted the people to know who they were following.  He wanted his disciples to know the kind of men that they would replace because he called this leadership: "You blind fools!"

They were not blind in the physical sense.  They could see with their eyes.  But their minds could not interpret what their eyes saw and their ears could not understand what was being spoken by what they heard and thus they were deceived.  And thus they were blind fools in total denial of what was happening around them.  The world was in the process of change.  The people where changing due to the excitement of the mood and the mist of change.  But the fools could not see it, they could not hear it, they could not understand it because they were in their own world apart from the rest.

Will this be the same today?  Will the coming of the Lord be a subtle change that we who are expecting him only know?  Will the excitement of his coming be in the air, on our minds, in our thoughts that others will not be able to see or understand because they are blinded by the world around them no matter how much we try to show them.  Will it all be too late for them?  Will our leaders be blind guides telling the people not to worry, not to be concerned?  Will they listen to the blind guides or listen to their hearts and turn to the Lord for their answers?  

Christ came and gave us new life.  We were dead but he renewed our sentence, paid our penance, and gave us new life.  Today we have a choice to have life in him.  We have a choice to be with him for eternity.  We have a choice to be fulfilled.  Today we have a choice to live.

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.