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! 

St Matthew, Chapter 16, verse: 2 - 4, The Test: Reading the signs.

Our paragraph topic is: (The Pharisees and Sadducees ask a sign) Part 2 
 
The Pharisees and the Sadducees came to Christ to ask for a sign.  They had devised a test for him.  They said they wanted to believe.  They said they wanted to know.  They said that they wanted to see for themselves that Christ was the Messiah and a sign from heaven would convince them that he was the one.  Yet evil had conspired with them.  Evil had devised a plan with them.  Evil had conferred with them to test Christ.  And the evildoers were in agreement that they would come to Christ and ask for a sign.

And Christ saw through them.  Christ saw their evil.  Christ knew of their test but the evildoers were blind.  They did not know.  They could not see who was before them for they could not see the evil that was within them.  But they claimed that they wanted a sign from heaven that they might believe.  Yet they knew how to read.  They knew how to interpret.  They knew how to explain the changes that were taking place but evil was with them and they were blind.  Christ gave them their explanation.    But answering them he said , ''When it is evening you say, 'The weather will be fair, for the sky is red.'  And in the morning you say, 'It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and lowering.'  You know then how to read the face of the sky, but cannot read the signs of the times!   

Christ gave them an example.  He showed them how to use their senses.  He told them that they could read, they could see, they could know if they only use their natural senses.  But the Pharisees and the Sadducees were blind.  They could see but did not want to believe.  They were filled with the darkness that would not allow them to know the truth of Christ.  But he gave them an example that they would know.  He gave them a riddle that would open their minds.  He gave them natural knowledge that they could use to open their hearts and see the truth of the signs that were being worked before their eyes.  But evil consumed them, darkness was within them, and it covered their knowledge of who they were in Christ.

Where are we today?  Are we consumed with darkness?  Are we blinded by the world?  Can we not see the signs that are before us.  Can we not know the truth of who we are and let Christ open our eyes that we may see, and open our hearts that we may know and heal us.  He came to suffer for our wrongs.  He came to die for our sins.  He came that we may have life eternal for without him we are dead.  And through him we have life if we only believe and turn from our evil ways.  The world does not want us to change.  The world would keep us in chains and dead to the life that Christ gives us.  The world would have us not believe.  The world have us partially believe so that we may sit on the fence, living in the world and thinking that we believe in Christ. 

The Father asks us to turn from the evil in the world and to obey his commandments.  The commandments are not meant to harm us, to block us from living.  If you tell a child not to touch the flame because it will burn and cause harm, that child does not know the truth of your words.  But it accepts that truth and does not touch the flame.  Our Father tells us to follow his commandments because to do otherwise would bring harm to us.  And yet we do not obey. 

I did not obey.  I followed the ways of the world, because everyone else followed.  Everyone else was in the world.  Everyone else was consumed with the world and I followed.  I tried to live in the world.  I tried to do as the world said.  I tried to make it work in the world, to have the riches and the desires of the world.  It only led to my destruction.  It only led to my downfall.  It only led me to be tested, to cross over to the darkness. 

Thank you Father for holding my hand.  Thank you Father for not letting go of me for not even sparrow falls to the ground except by the Father's leave.  Thank you Father for giving me your peace when I was a child that I would know how to find you.  Read the signs of the times.  Know the truth of who you are.  Follow the example that is given you as Christ gave to the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  Read the signs of the times!  Christ awaits you.  Christ is holding your hand.  Come back to him and know the joy and the peace that his love gives to all those who know him.  I did and I know the peace and the love that he gives me daily. 

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!