Modern Day Pharisees and Sadducees

    This is one of those pieces that you hate to write, but you know it must
be written.
    We, the people of the church, have become the Pharisees and the
Sadducees of today. We talk a good game, but are we really followers of
Jesus Christ and the Bible, or are we just playing the game called Christianity?

    The Pharisees and the Sadducees were the Jewish leaders, their main
purpose in life, was to study the Torah and to help Israel stay close to
God, Jehovah. At some point in time, they began to study and spend more
time in studying the Rabbinical writings, The Talmud, than they did
Gods Holy Word.
    They became better at reciting what another Rabbi had said, about  the
Torah, than actually reading the Torah and practicing it. This was the
major division between these leaders and Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ,
in His teachings, in His sermons, in His everyday walk, was a living
Torah. Jesus knew of the Talmud, the Rabbinical interpretations, and
taught the difference between Talmud and Torah. Jesus taught people
to embrace the God of Torah.

    An old preacher once said, "When you feel like I am pointing at you,
in a sermon, remember I have three fingers pointing back at me." This
is one of those times, for me. It is very easy, in this day and age of
electronic gismos, to read and study everything about the Bible and not
actually read the Bible. This leads us into the danger zone.

    Do you recite the Bible or what someone says about the Bible?    

    Many things we believe are biblical, have no foundation in scripture,
but are strictly man made ideas and religious doctrine. Many churches,
have started or originated from doctrine not found in the Bible.
    Whenever and whatever we read, must be checked and double
checked against scripture, so that we may not be lead astray.
    Jude, a book of only 25 verses, felt compelled, by what he was seeing
in churches, to write a letter addressing false teachers in churches. If it
was a problem a few years after Jesus ascended into Heaven, how much
more of a problem, is it now, 2000  years later.
     This can not and will not happen, if the Bible, is adhered to.

    The Pharisees and Sadducees became more reliant on their Rabbis
traditions and Rabbinical writings, the Talmud, than being reliant on the Torah,
God's Word.

    We too, as Christians have become more reliant on what our preachers,
teachers, commentary writers, etc. say, than actually getting into the Word
of God, and validating everything they say. It is up to each of us, you and
I, to make sure these people don't lead us astray.
    We must hold on tightly to the Word of God. We must not add or take
away from it. Because when we do that, we become the Pharisees and the
Sadducees of our modern time.

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