Posted on 10/20/2009 8:00:19 AM PDT by Gamecock
Was Jesus acting unrighteously when he indiscriminately labeled the scribes and Pharisees “whitewashed tombs” and a “brood of vipers”? He never singled out individuals. He went after the bunch, the collective. It was the “leaven of the Pharisees”, the very core of what they stood for that was often in question. While externally pious (false piety, if you will), they remained whitewashed tombs and a mere zeal without knowledge.
Is that not the plain teaching of the NT?
And is it not this very core teaching of Pharisaism that led directly to the post-apostolic rabbis and their unchristian Talmud and other writings?
What do you want us to sugar-coat?
12 Then His disciples came and said to Him, "Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?" 13 But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch." (Matt. 15)Let’s not fall into that same ditch trying to defend the indefensible.
That sounds pretty reasonable to me. Thanks for your response.
Only two points need be made:
First, Yeshua's statement that the Pharisees who were actually offended by His parable were blind leaders of the blind, that those who personally rejected Him in Jerusalem were hypocrites and whitewashed tombs no more means that every Pharisee and rabbi through history was a blind hypocrite than a paid-for mob of a few hundred Jews in Pilate's court saying, "His blood be upon us and our children," means that every Jew throughout history is cursed.
Second, the Pharisees are not presented as all bad even in the New Testament! Yeshua commanded us to obey the rulings of the Pharisees at the same time that He warned us to beware of hypocrisy (Mat. 23:3). He told us that scribes (Torah-teachers, which later would be called rabbis) who were instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven would have special treasures to share (Mat. 13:52). Furthermore, the Pharisees considered Yeshua one of their own, as evidenced by the fact that they kept inviting Him over for dinner (Pharisees did not eat with non-Pharisees as a rule) and kept asking Him to mediate debates between the two houses of their sect. The man who you quote continuously over and above the words of our Master Himself, Paul of Tarsus, remained a Pharisee to the end of his days (Acts 23:6). So did Nicodemus, for that matter.
If all Pharisees are hypocrites, then I suggest that you stop trying to quote Romans, Galatians, etc. They're all written by a Pharisee who lived like a Pharisee and interprets Scripture like a Pharisee. Me, I'm greedy enough to want to access those storehouses that he did when he wrote those books.
Shalom.
Toikonomia = administration = dispensation
Very Biblical words..............
Yeah, unfortunately, some Christians may "buy into" the heretical and false doctrines of the Preterists (which is what you're reading). They teach that Israel has no significance in the future with God that it will not be His chosen nation before Him and neither will they have anything to do with the Millennial Kingdom of the Messiah (Jesus) as a nation before God.
It's all heresy and false teachings and doctrines and they've fooled themselves and some others into believing that they Bible does not mean what it says (and apparently they don't think God means what He says either... LOL...).
You can see the techings of the heretical doctrine of Preterism exposed below...
Here's a good study series of sermons about Dispensations and the Rapture, from Mark Hitchcock at Edmond Faith Bible Church in Oklahoma. Pastor Hitchcock just put up his own blog, too, recently.
A little bit about Mark Hitchcock (because you should get to know this prophecy teacher as he's a prolific writer and a good prophecy teacher and a good teacher in general.
Mark Hitchcock is a leading Bible prophecy expert, prolific author who has penned over 20 books on the end times, senior pastor, and adjunct faculty member of the Dallas Theological Seminary. He has appeared on hundreds of radio programs and in print as well as The History Channel, MSNBC, Fox, The Glenn Beck Show, and CNN. A leading Christian voice on Mayan 2012 prophecy, he is scheduled to appear on an NBC sci-fi special related to 2012 airing fall, 2009.
A former attorney, Mark initially worked for the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. Following a call to full-time ministry, today he serves as senior pastor of Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, just outside of Oklahoma City. He graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1991, where he subsequently earned his doctorate in 2006 and more recently has served as an adjunct faculty member.
Hitchcock has been a contributing editor for the Left Behind Prophecy Club for many years. His new book 2012, the Bible, and the End of the World (Harvest House Publishers) will be released September 15, 2009. He has also recently released Cashless (July 1, 2009, also published by Harvest House), showing how today’s headlines foreshadow a new and vastly different economic future—a one-world economy that is consistent with Bible prophecy in Revelation 13. Some of his other titles include: The Late Great United States: What Bible Prophecy Reveals about America’s Last Days; Armageddon, Oil, and Terror; Iran the Coming Crisis: Radical Islam, Oil and the Nuclear Threat; The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; What On Earth is Going On?; Is America in Bible Prophecy?; The Coming Islamic Invasion of Israel; Is the Antichrist Alive Today?; Seven Signs of the End Times; and What Jesus Says About Earth’s Final Days.
Hitchcock maintains an active speaking schedule, appearing frequently at prophecy conferences, seminaries, and churches. He and his wife, Cheryl, live in Edmond, Oklahoma with their two sons Justin and Samuel.
Faith Bible Church
600 N. Coltrane
Edmond, Oklahoma 73034
Phone: 405-340-1000
Fax: 405-340-7504
SERMONS
The teaching of Dispensationalim / Pastor Mark Hitchcock and Dr. Charles Ryrie
Left Behind - What's It All About? / Tim LaHaye and Gary Frazier
The Rapture
The Pre-Trib Rapture
And..., here's one to educate yourself about End Times Controversies, especially when you are challenged on the Rapture. It's about the false and heretical teachings of Preterism, which is the teaching which denies the future prophecies are related to and significant for Israel and denies that Israel is still the chosen nation before God and that it will have future significance in God's plan in the Millennial Kingdom (the 1,000 year Kingdom, before the final judgement at the Great White Throne) that Jesus, the Messiah sets up here on this earth
I would say this one is essential as it's jam packed full of necessary information. Mark Hitchcock did his Doctoral Paper on this subject at Dallas Theological Seminary and wrote a book about it, too.
About the Errors of Preterism and End Times Controversy / Pastor Mark Hitchcock
Faith Bible Church Teaching
Holy Scriptures
We teach that the Bible is the Word of God, supernaturally inspired so that it is inerrant in the original manuscripts and has been preserved by God, so that it is the divinely authoritative standard for every age and every life.
The Godhead
We teach that there is one God eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient manifesting Himself in three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit; one in nature, equal in attributes, essence, power and glory.
Jesus Christ
We teach that the Lord Jesus Christ is God incarnate, very God and very man, that He was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and offered Himself on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice, suffering the full penalty for sinners. He was raised bodily on the third day and ascended to the right hand of the Father, there to intercede for us as our advocate and High Priest.
Man
We teach that man, as a consequence of Adam's sin, is subject to the wrath of God, justly condemned in His sight, wholly unable to save himself. Although man was originally created in the image of God, apart from God's salvation through Christ man is eternally lost.
Salvation
We teach that salvation is wholly by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and entirely apart from any ordinance, ritual, human merit or works. Salvation is the free gift of God and once it is received it cannot by any means be lost. While sin may interrupt the joy of a believers fellowship with God and bring the loving discipline of the Father, the true believer is eternally secure.
Spiritual Gifts
We teach that Christ gives to each believer, at conversion, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, some gift or gifts to equip him to serve the Lord and edify other believers.
The Church
We teach that the universal Church consists of all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ from Pentecost to the Rapture. Each local assembly or church should be a miniature of the universal Church, expressing the great truths of the latter. The local assembly consists of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who meet regularly for teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer and evangelism.
Ordinances
We teach that there are two Christian ordinances: water baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism is the testimony of a believer showing forth in solemn and beautiful emblem his faith in the crucified, buried and risen Savior, and his union and identification with Him in death to sin and resurrection to a new life. We teach that the Lord's Supper serves as a commemoration and proclamation of Jesus' death until He comes.
Last Things
We teach the following future events: the personal, imminent coming of the Lord Jesus to rapture the Church, the tribulation period, the second coming of Christ, the millennial reign of Christ, the judgment of the lost, and the eternal state.
And here is the Faith Bible Church page with all the sermons on it.
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