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.

St. Matthew, Chapter 23, verses: 15b; Sons of Hell

Our paragraph topic is:  (Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees) Part 9.  

How do you reach a lost soul?  How can you show them the error of their ways?  How is it possible to shock them back to a sense of justice that they might be able to see the mistakes that they made?  We all are human.  We all make mistakes.  We all are subject to the influences of evil.  In the time when Christ came, evil was rampant.  Evil was with men.  Evil was within the hearts of men and they had forgotten the God of their forefathers.

And this is why Christ called out the leaders, the Scribes and the Pharisees.  They were the ones who set the rules.  They were the ones who enforced the laws.  They were the ones who taught the people how to follow the laws of their forefathers, because they had the books written by the prophets.  They could enforce the laws the way that they saw fit and understood.  Christ called the hypocrites.  He told them:  "Because you traverse sea and land to make one convert; and when he has become one, you make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves."

He called them hypocrites.  They were masquerading as religious men but underneath the masks they were creating evil in the hearts of men.  They were creating sons of hell, doing the work of the devil, not the work of God.  

 How appropriate is this message for us today.  We go out and evangelize to bring others into the church so that they may be saved.  The church is something new for them in that there are guidelines that we live by to help us follow the life that God wants us to live.  These may be difficult for a new comer to follow or even comprehend if they see others who do not follow the same guidelines.

God our father gave us basic commands to follow to keep us away from harm, out of the way of evil.  He loves us and does not want us to be harmed, just as we love our own children.  We would tell our own children not to put their hands in the fire because it will burn them.  God wants to do the same for us.  We can not base our experience upon that which we see others do.  It is up to each one of us though, to seek a personal relationship with our Father so that we know in our hearts what his will is for us.  His love for us is the key.

Christ is our Lord and Savior.  It is through his passion that we were reborn into a new life.  He came down from his thrown in heaven to be with us, to walk with us and talk with us to leave a legacy that we might know that he is with us.  It is through him and with him that we have a spokesperson to the Father. He knows our faults and failures.  He knows our pains and our sorrows.  He knows our hopes and our fears.  He is with us and in us, if we open ourselves to him through the Holy Spirit.  His love is endless.  His love is boundless.  His love is fulfilling.  He is the be all and the end all of all our needs.  To be with him is to be at rest for all eternity.  

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.