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DEVOTION
Pharisees -- Oh, Please!
By
Dan Betzer
Guest Columnist
CBN.com
-- Almost all of the commoners loved Jesus. However, the Pharisees did
not think much of Him. They were the meanest people in town and still are today.
I ran across one just today, which is the reason why the subject is fresh
on my mind. Pharisees are people who have a set idea on what constitutes spirituality
and may God have mercy on anyone who disagrees with them. They are legalists.
Ask one what time it is and he will tell you how to make a watch. His prayers
are self-serving sermons. You can spot one immediately: a measuring stick in one
hand, a pair of binoculars in the other, and a huge plank sticking out of one
or both eyes. I have been using the pronoun "he," but Pharisees can be
females as well. A Pharisee knows little about love; he majors in law. He does
not show much grace because he is such a grump, that self-appointed "Lone Ranger"
of the public good. Very few want his particular brand of religion and we had
better know that he resents that. The Pharisee so desperately wants to
catch someone in an adulterous situation. He spends his whole life checking what
others wear, measuring hemlines, burning records or tapes, and going into fainting
spells at the sight of a Christian having a good time. Pharisees were always successful
in Scouts because of expertise at tying knots. Overkill is a Pharisee's secret
to success. He hunts hummingbirds with nuclear missiles. He fishes for Bluegill
with grenades.
Alexander Pope once wrote, "The worst of madmen is a saint gone
mad!" I believe it! What Pharisees do to people and churches is
sinful. How does one deal with such people? Ignore them and remember
that Jesus is loving, kind, understanding, considerate--and never
condemning.
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