Posted on 12/25/2001 10:35:40 AM PST by Wiley Sr
Why Watch Pharisees By C. E. Carlson
What better time than the birthday of Jesus Christ to examine the Pharisees, as He did. Jesus had much to say about this sect that had established control over spiritual life in Judea and was even able to manipulated the leaders of the occupying Roman Legion. The noun Pharisee occurs at least 87 times in the New Testament. They are invariably in conflict with Jesus. However, any use of this word has mostly been eliminated from the teaching of seminaries and pulpits of America's churches and the professing Christian media .
What is a Pharisee and WHY don't we hear about them any more? Webster defines Pharisee: "One of the members of a school or party among the ancient Jews noted for the strict formal observance of the rites and validity of traditions of the elders. Pharisee interpretation provided the standard of observation and belief for the great majority of the Jews from the 1st century A.D. Pharisaic: Hypocritical, self righteous and censorious of others" -- Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd edition, 1950.
Jesus confronted the Pharisees daily, as we believe all true followers of Christ should do. No longer an exclusive Jewish term, the pharisaic influence can be found in every church and synagogue in America, busily reshaping Christianity into its own image.
Every mention of "Pharisees" occurs in the New Testament, forming the center of conflict swirling around Jesus, His disciples and followers. The Pharisees stalked and persecuted them throughout their missions. Along with the 78 verses where they are mentioned by name, the Pharisees are also named by the pronouns "they" or "them" in many more verses. They are the object of Jesus' debates in several complete chapters of Matthew, John and Luke which provide accounts of the ongoing conflict and plot against his life.
The name Pharisee occurs 54 more times than the infamous name of Judas, and twenty times more often than the name of Pontius Pilot. It is without a doubt the most infamous name in the New Testament, second only to Satan. Jesus consistently denounced them as associates of Satan and his lies.
Yet the word "Pharisee" has been pointedly ignored and all but forgotten in modern Christendom. It may be the most avoided word found in the Bible. Many church pastors and most televangelists are capable of preaching the year through without ever mentioning the word Pharisee, except in passing over it like an extinct and irrelevant species. Bible study courses rarely mention who the Pharisees were, and why Jesus pronounced upon them so harshly. Could it be that any celebrity Christian who wants keep his TV contract knows that he must never suggest that the Pharisee's war on Jesus has anything at all to do with us, or that this anti-Christ sect may have survived to this day ?
The word "Pharisee" has not yet been removed from any Bibles we know of. Though we believe this too might soon be attempted. Most Bible commentaries and concordances avoid any serious treatment of who the Pharisees are and what they believe. One example is the concordance in the new, very popular Thompson Study Bible which is supposedly designed to help readers understand the scriptures. Amazingly it contains only one of the 78 sites about Pharisees found in Strongs, the accepted standard. The 1962 edition contained four of the 78. It appears that the publisher is progressively phasing the wordout of our Christian vocabulary.
Jesus denounced this most powerful and destructive faction of anti-Christianity as damned, calling them a "generation of vipers" and "sons of Satan." However, most study Bibles and courses omit all but a casual mention of the Pharisees.
The purpose of Pharisee Watch is to bring to light the ongoing influence of the Pharisees on our modern society and how they continue the attempt to control our lives. Jesus clearly shows us how they controlled Judea during His time. Needless to say we do not think Pharisees have gone away or they would not still be tampering with The Faith. Webster's definition spotlights Pharisaism as modern Judaism. This is proudly echoed by many rabbinical sources, who are quite arrogant of their station. They would move heaven and earth to discourage thousands of pastors and televangelists from teaching what Jesus has told us so clearly.
The granddaddy of all the Pharisee censors is the powerfully promoted Scofield study Bible, first printed in England in 1908, but sold in America. It contains hundred of notes about the "rapture in the last days" and the return of the ancient tribe of Israelites to the Holy land. The latest version of Scofield has even advanced "anti-Semitism" to the status of a "sin." Each of the four successive editions have further advanced the claim of the self-proclaimed Jews to the real estate known today as the State of Israel. However, Scofield hardly contains a note about the hundreds of verses recording Jesus' daily conflict and the plotof his death by the Pharisees.
The first mention of Pharisees occurs in Matthew 3:7 when they appear in number at the Jordan River where John the Baptist proclaimed the coming of the Messiah. John's encounter is vividly recorded in Mt. 3:7: "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" 3:8, "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance." King James Edition online: (http://www.genesis.net.au/~bible/kjv/matthew/) Genesis Network
One early exchange between Christ and the Pharisees occurred in Matthew 12 where Jesus called them "an evil and adulterous generation"in a powerful exchange that fills most of the chapter.
Matthew 23 primarily highlights Jesus' condemnation of the Pharisees. Verses 31-34 read: "Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city" (King James version).
How can such a discourse be ignored during the entire careers of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jack Van Empe and dozens more like them? They have made a career of promoting Israel, regardless of the moral cost.
Luke 21 and John 8 contain more of the incessant confrontations of Jesus with the evil ant-Christ sect. We suggest every skeptical reader look up and read each of the 78 situations in Strongs containing the word "Pharisee." Ask your own pastor when he last preached on what Jesus meant. Every follower of Christ should ask himself, "Why is almost all mention of the most powerful and evil cult to appear in the New Testament avoided and shunned by Christian leaders today?"
If you agree with us, we ask you to help to give every follower of Christ an opportunity to learn about Pharisee Watch. (http://www.whtt.org/pharisee.htm) Toward the strait gate (Mth. 12:7) C. E. Carlson Directors and Advisors, We Hold These Truths
Listen to WHTT Internet Radio conference, anytime on our site. Learn why many professing Christians support war, repression and torture without even knowing why they do it. Read SHERRY'S WAR, free on our site, hard copies are available from WHTT. (http://www.whtt.org/pharisee.htm), a must for all pastors.
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from the article
The latest version of Scofield has even advanced "anti-Semitism" to the status of a "sin." Each of the four successive editions have further advanced the claim of the self-proclaimed Jews to the real estate known today as the State of Israel. However, Scofield hardly contains a note about the hundreds of verses recording Jesus' daily conflict and the plot of his death by the Pharisees.
How can such a discourse be ignored during the entire careers of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jack Van Empe and dozens more like them? They have made a career of promoting Israel, regardless of the moral cost.
Sound like anti-Semitism to me!
BTW I do not endorse any of these men, but I question the true purpose of this article.
There were a number of Jewish denominations around the time of Christ. Included in these were the Pharisees, the Sadesses (sp?), the Zealots, the Essenes, etc.
Many Biblical students believe that Christianity is another brance of Judiasm. In fact, much of what Christians believe appears to be very closely related to what the Essenes professed.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are probably Essene writings. Obviously Jewish students have some different views of the import of those scrolls than do Christian writers, but as I understand it, there is little difference in litteral translation, but some moderately significant difference in emphisis between the Jewish and the Christian translations.
As some guy (not me) has said, in about 70 A.D. several Jewish sects fled Jerusalem after its fall. One of those sects were or became the Christians.
While Christians may be 6th cousins, thrice removed, to Islam through Ismael, we are siblings (or at least first cousins) of Jews. I believe (and hope) that Christians have a wider, shorter road to Heaven than do Jews, but that Jews, who have chosen to live by the old, tougher rules, are not ipso facto precluded from making it to Heaven.
Christ's major argument with the Pharisees is that they paid too much attention to the letter of the law and ignored the spirit of the law.
Chapter 15 of Matthew provides in part, "Just then a Canannite woman from that region came out and started shouting, 'Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.' But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, 'Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.' He answered, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' But she came and knelt before him saying, 'Lord, help me.' He answered, 'It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.' She said, 'Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.' Then Jesus answered her, 'Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.' And her daughter was healed instantly."
At least early in his preaching, Christ was not positively disposed to the Gentiles. As far as I can determine, Christ lost this arugment with this Gentile woman and it is the only arugment he ever lost. I am certin that there are others who disagree with my assessment of the situation.
As I recall, Christ had some significant arguments with the Pharisees and with most other religous "leaders" of the day, but the had some significant agreements with them also. For instance, according to Luke, Christ stayed behind in Jerusalem to discuss theological issues of the day with the then powers that were in the Temple while his mother and Joseph headed home. His take on the then religous Powers that Be (or were) seemed to be a reasonably friendly.
The long and the short of it to me is that Christ did not have much truck with slavishly following any fixed set of religous rules when that action did not promote the world as God saw fit, but that Christ had some small sympathy (but not a lot) with those who tried to do right, took some pains to figure out what God wanted to be done, but at the end of the day made an honest mistake. Of course, at the very best, each of us is going to be called upon to make judgment calls.
My take on the New Testament is that so long as we believe and make a reasonable effort to do right and use some reasonable judgment in that direction, Christ's suffered and died for us and that we will be ok at the last call. On the other hand, if we refuse to believe, or if we pay lip service to our belief and make no effort to do right, or if we insist on justifying all that we do, no matter what Christ has said, we may have some trouble later on.
Irrespective of my rantings, I hope all you Freepers have a Happy Christmas.
I believe Jesus (Happy Birthday to Him!) was condemning not any particular group that was racially or tribally defined, but rather a group as defined by those particular individuals who were hypocrites and considered themselves to be quasi-rulers who were above the common people.
MM
Jesus Christ met each person at the point of their need. Pharisees were called to task for lacking humility, a rich young ruler was called to surrender his wealth to make room in his soul for God, His own disciples were chastised for lacking faith, and a brash Christian-hating zealot named Saul was called to surrender his whole life to glorify God.
What Jesus Christ never did was relax the law to allow people to feel comfortable wallowing in their favorite sins. He fulfilled the requirements of the law and gave all mankind a means of escaping the penalty--but strictly on His terms, never theirs.
Any man who believes he has found a Pharisee should look first in the mirror of the Word of God and stand humbled.
Too harsh would be unbending, unforgiving. Too liberal would be....anything goes, if it feels good, do it. Christianity, according to the word of God is, if your brother errs and asks forgiveness, you have a duty to forgive. You also have a duty to stand up for what is right and accept responsibility. That, my friend, is the middle between the two extremes noted above.
You are angry because I condemned the actions of a group of anti-Christian ultra-orthodox Jews for burning a copy of the New Testament. You made a noxious comparison between the New Testament and the communist manifesto. I called you on this.
I have reported your comment to the moderators of this forum.
The Pharisees were the members of the the rabbinical schools of the time who engaged in the discussions, expansions and commentaries on the Old Testament that eventually were included in the Talmud. They were the progentors of what became the synagogue religion of the Jews after the destruction of the second Temple.
The Pharisees were far more likely to be sympathetic to Jesus' critical discussion of the rigid "Temple Judaism" because that is exactly what they were doing. Many of the sermons and sayings of Jesus were almost identical to those of the best of the Pharisee rabbis.
Find any such comment that I made anyplace on this forum. You won’t find it. Your problem as anyone who wants to check your record can see is an intense an irrational dislike for libertarians.
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