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Gary briefly discusses the Charlie Kirk assassination and goes into detail about a new book he received the day before called The Separation of Church and Hate.
While Jesus is often looked upon as a positive example of why Christians should not be involved in social issues, the Pharisees are seen as a negative example for why Christians should not get involved in social issues. The general impression is “the Pharisees were the best people of their day; and yet they were the greatest failures.”
The Pharisees were not “the best people of their day.” The best people were men like Zacharias (Luke 1:6), Simeon (2:25), Joseph (Matt. 1:19), the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:33), and women like Anna (2:36), Mary (1:46–56), and Elizabeth (1:6). Elizabeth and Zacharias “were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord” (1:6). The commandments of God were neglected by the Pharisees (Mark 7:8). They had become experts “at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep [their] tradition.” (7:9). Jesus told the Pharisees that they had the devil as their father (John 8:44). James B. Jordan sets the record straight on the true character of the scribes and Pharisees:
We are used to thinking of the scribes and Pharisees as meticulous men who carefully observed the jots and tittles [of God’s law]. This is not the portrait found in the Gospels. The scribes and Pharisees that Jesus encountered were grossly, obviously, and flagrantly breaking the Mosaic law, while keeping all kinds of man-made traditions. Jesus’ condemnation of them in Matthew 23 certainly makes this clear, as does a famous story in John 8. There we read that the scribes and Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman taken “in the very act” of adultery (John 8:1–11). How did they know where to find her? Where was the man who was caught with her? Apparently he was one of their cronies. Also, when Jesus asked for anyone “without sin” (that is, not guilty of the same crime) to cast the first stone, they all went away, because they were all adulterers.
A persistent belief beleaguers the church because the Pharisees have been portrayed as strict adherents to the law, and Jesus had His greatest theological disputes with the Pharisees, therefore, Jesus was opposed to the law. This is not what the Bible teaches. When the “scribes and the Pharisees . . . seated themselves in the chair of Moses,” that is, when the law was properly taught and applied, the people were to do all that they told them (Matt. 23:2–3). At the same time, Jesus admonished the people “not to do according to their deeds” (23:3).
In the same way, Christians today must listen to all of God’s Word, not just the outward example of Jesus and certainly not the negative example of the Pharisees. The whole Bible has been given for the whole of life. There are numerous admonitions for reform: from education to caring for the poor; from ensuring just weights and measures to seeing that there is equal justice for all under God’s law. The power of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of God’s people can be great instruments for reform in the world.
Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths
Christianity's failure to show itself practical in the past 150 years has guaranteed the success of secularism and militant Islam, both of which are doing incalculable harm at home and abroad. The rejection of any type of "this-worldly" application of the Bible has resulted in the proliferation of man-centered worldviews that have steadily drained the life out of our world and left behind a spiritual vacuum. Will the church of Jesus Christ be prepared with biblical answers for the millions who will be ready to follow the light of the gospel as the folly of humanism and Islam is made manifest? (2 Tim. 3:9).
Buy NowGary briefly discusses the Charlie Kirk assassination and goes into detail about a new book he received the day before called The Separation of Church and Hate. Leftists have long-claimed that “fundamentalists” and “white nationalists” misinterpret the Bible and “twist Scripture.” This book reveals who is really promoting modern “cleverly designed fables” about Jesus and the Bible.