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Washington, DC, today is like Jerusalem was in Matthew Chapter 23. The power elites are today’s Scribes and Pharisees. The definition of Pharisees is power-mad hypocrites that impose harsh, draconian (named after Greek tyrant Draco (Greek word for dragon) demands on others that they don’t even try to keep. See Matthew 23:4.

So how would Jesus interact with the Scribes & Pharisees in Washington, DC, if he was around today? Exactly how he handled the power-mad Pharisees in Jerusalem. Who are the Pharisees today? They include the politicians (especially the woke leftists). Many regulatory bureaucrats are Pharisees. They pass harsh, draconian (dragon) laws that are impossible to comply with. They impose severe penalties on those unable to meet their demands.

This is the worst possible violation of what Jesus said in Matthew 23:4, “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves [political elites] will not move them [they exempt themselves from draconian laws that they impose on others] with one of their fingers.”

Other Pharisees include Leftwing activist groups who make demands on people and businesses and blackmail with threats to file lawsuits or threaten violence. It is shakedowns.

More Pharisees: Vigilante prosecutors (Jack Smith is an example); vigilante leftwing judges; Big-Pharma drug executives; World Economic Forum Members; Globalists; Jan-6 vigilantes committee (like the Sanhedrin that sentenced Jesus to die); woke corporate elite executives; Deep-State Intelligence agents; Political Party leaders; Leftist College professors; University administrators; Public health officials; United Nations leaders; global-warming hypocrites (fly in private jets – in one trip, a jet uses as much fuel as a large car in an entire year), who demand the average citizens to cut energy consumption while they themselves use excessive energy; Woke Leftists. There are many other examples of Pharisees today.

How would Jesus interact with the Pharisees in Washington, DC? Exactly like he did with the original Pharisees in Jerusalem. Today’s Pharisees are much worse than the originals. Today, it is Washington, DC, that is the Jerusalem of Matthew 23. Jesus would condemn Washington just as much as he did Jerusalem. Just like he cursed the fig tree, he would also curse the cherry trees in Washington DC because of the lack of fruit.

Here is what Jesus is most likely to say to the Pharisees in Washington, DC:

“I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the father but by me.”

The Liberals would probably angrily react this way:

What right do you have to claim to be God? That is the most insensitive, politically incorrect statement we ever heard! You are in violation of the Supreme Court ruling on the separation of church and state in the Establishment Clause of the Constitution!

Here is what Jesus might say to the Liberals:

You are wrong; there is no mention of the separation of church and state in the Constitution. It just says, ‘Congress shall make no law respecting establishment of (a national monopoly) religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’ The Supreme Court abused its power and violated the intent of the founders in outlawing school prayer. They were in error and turned it upside down because the founders had prayer in their schools. They intended for the Constitution to be interpreted literally, not allegorically, as judges do today.

If Liberals ask him about abortion, here is what he might say to them:

Abortion is murder, and about 60 million babies have died in this holocaust because the US Supreme Court abused its power and twisted the Constitution in an allegorical interpretation. Woe unto them that offend my little ones! It would be better for them if they had a millstone tied to their necks than to face judgment because of what they did to the little ones! They violated the intent of the founders. The founders intended for the Constitution to be interpreted literally.

The Liberals would say,

You are against the rights of women!

Jesus might say to them,

Abortion is not right and is murder! If you don’t want to have babies, then don’t have sex outside of marriage!

How would Big Pharma and the Federal regulators react to Jesus healing the sick? They would not like it because it would hurt their business. Drug companies such as Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Astra Zeneca, Merck, and others would lose money if Jesus healed the sick, so they would complain to the Federal regulators.

So here is how the drug companies and the regulators would react to Jesus healing folks and hurting their bottom line:

See John 9:30-33 and other Scriptures objecting to Jesus healing people on the Sabbath. (The Pharisees were the gatekeepers and controlled the Sabbath because it threatened their power.) If Jesus healed people today, Big Pharma and federal regulators would say to Jesus:

You are illegally practicing medicine without a license! You are using treatments not approved by the FDA!

Here is what Jesus might say to the Feds and the drug companies:

Woe to you regulators and you greedy big pharma drug company executives, for your Covid clot shots have killed many! Woe to you that imposed vaccine mandates, for your mandates harmed many!

Matthew 23 applies just as much to Washington, DC, as it did to first-century Jerusalem. Here is Matthew 23:33-38:

“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I will send 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, that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth…

“Verily I say unto you, All these things [judgments] shall come upon this generation” [happened in AD 70; also applies today]. O Jerusalem (Washington DC is just like it), Jerusalem, thou that killest and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often I would have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house [Temple] is left unto you desolate.”

What Jesus might say to the Pharisees in Washington, DC:

Woe unto you politicians, bureaucrats, regulators, judges, lawyers, special interest groups, and others in power, for you pass impossible-to-comply-with, harsh, draconian laws (there are 800,000 pages and growing in the federal register, a list of federal laws thousands of times more harsh than first-century regulations passed by religious leaders in the first century) upon others that you will not apply to yourselves!

O, you hypocrites! You rattlesnakes! I send you prophets and wise men, and you brutally beat them and kill them. You will be held guilty of all the blood of the righteous saints whom you assassinated. I say to you that these things will come upon this generation. O Washington! Washington! You kill the prophets sent to you! I wanted to gather your children together even as a hen would gather her chicks under her wings, but you would not allow that. Behold! Your house is left unto you desolate!

He might say this to Deep-State intelligence agents:

Woe to you intelligence agents, for you have murdered leaders, overthrew governments around the world to destabilize things, and developed biological weapons in gain of function labs around the world!

What Jesus might say to the Globalist Elites:

Woe to you, World Economic Forum members! You are plotting to bring destruction upon humanity through famine and disasters. You are bringing harsh tyranny upon the population of the world. You are plotting to bring great tribulation upon the whole earth! Woe to you Bilderbergers, cfr-trilateralist members!

Today, the cherry blossom trees in Washington, DC, are in full bloom. If Jesus ever came to Washington today, he would curse those cherry trees just like he did the fig tree in Jerusalem because he would not find any fruit on them.

What might Jesus say about Washington, DC? This warning would apply to Tribulation Saints after the Rapture (evacuation):

Not one stone (in Washington, DC) will be left upon another except as ruins. (Could that be World War 3? Nuclear war? Big earthquakes?)

The Americans might ask,

When will these things occur? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of this world political system?

Jesus might say,

When you see America compassed with armies, then know that the desolation is near. Then, let those in eastern America flee into the Appalachian Mountains. And let those in western states flee into the Rocky Mountains. Let those that are in big cities depart out of them. Watch out! Many will steal my identity, saying I am Christ (artificial intelligence companies have come up with a fake version of Jesus in their AI programs; don’t take it) and fooling many. And you will see TV news of wars, riots (local wars), and Islamic terrorist attacks. These will get worse and worse as time goes on. Races will rise against races, and nations against nations. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

There will be more and bigger earthquakes everywhere (just like San Francisco in 1906). There will be widespread food shortages. You will be brought to trials in the name of “hate speech” (laws having made it illegal to call homosexuals sinners or to call Islamist jihadists terrorists). And you (Americans, Christians, and Jews) will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. But those who endure all this until the end will be saved. The gospel of the kingdom will be spread all over the world.

When you see the antichrist desecrate (abomination of desolation in Daniel 9:27) the Jewish temple in Israel (this warning applies worldwide to both Jews and Gentiles – tribulation saints), it will result in global martial law, then let those in the cities of eastern America flee into the Appalachian Mountains, and those in the west flee into the Rocky Mountains. For in those days will be a great holocaust (much like Hitler’s nazi gulags) like there never has been before and will never be again after that. And except those days should be ended very quickly, no flesh will survive. When the lord comes, it will be like lightning firing out of the East.

Washington, DC, today is like Jerusalem of Matthew 23. Is America about to get its own version of AD 70 (Tribulation)?

If Jesus had come to Washington, DC, in a flesh and blood body today, would he be crucified by the Beltway (Pharisee) crowds? Absolutely; they would have crucified him. They’ve already crucified him in their hearts.

Why did Jesus die on the Cross? God’s reason is that he was to be sacrificed as the Lamb of God for your sins and my sins. What would have motivated the political class to crucify him today is that he was not politically correct. It would be the cancel culture against him.

If you want to be saved, repent. Trust in Jesus, his complete sacrifice for your sins and my sins. Ask him to save you, and he will save you.

Keith Black

Israel Alone

A couple years ago at Calvary Chapel Appleton Wisconsin, I spoke on the subject, “Israel Alone.” My point was that, yes, Israel is now being isolated internationally as never before. This includes the official U.S. position, which has now abandoned God’s People in their ancestral home. Make no mistake, America’s Regime in Washington is evil, and every bit an enemy to Israel as Hamas, et al. But if we believe the Bible, we know that in the end, Israel will indeed end up alone.

But for God.

Yesterday, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer, posted a comment for the ages on Twitter/X:

“When I was Israel’s Ambassador to Washington, I must have met more than 160 other Ambassadors. I never met the Ambassador of Babylon, never met the Ambassador of Imperial Rome and I didn’t meet the Ambassador of the 1,000-Year Reich. But there is an Ambassador of Israel. We will survive this enemy.”

That is beautiful.

Today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to issue a statement after meeting with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Netanyahu stated the obvious, that Israel has no choice but to eradicate Hamas.

If necessary, he said, “We will do it alone.”

In the latest issue of The Economist, we see the cover story:

“Israel Alone”

The image is simply an Israeli flag blowing in the wind. I know many people are worried about Israel. If enough people talk about the possibility of Israel disappearing, everyone begins to believe it’s possible.

It is not possible.

God has promised that He will preserve His people, and through the most difficult circumstances. He was with them in ’48 and ’67 and ’73. He was with them when Yasser Arafat rejected a Palestinian state on 98 percent of the West Bank. He was with them when Israeli jets destroyed Saddam Hussein’s nuclear reactor at Osirik in 1981.

On and on.

Only a handful of Hamas’s original 24 battalions exists, thanks to the IDF. The remaining ones are in Rafah, and I am elated that Netanyahu defied that demon in the White House. Israel knows this is an existential war and they cannot afford to lose it. They won’t lose it.

Only three days ago, the IDF’s shock and awe descended on Shifa Hospital, where hundreds of Hamas terrorists were holed up. Israel killed 170 and took 800 prisoner. Reports are that Hamas was stunned by the covert operation. This is but one indication of how good the IDF is, and how far ahead they are of their enemies.

Southern Command commander, Yaron Finkelman, said at Shifa that “We will end this operation only when the last of the terrorists is in our hands – dead or alive.” This is Israel’s answer to the corrupt Western diplomats and Media goons.

What makes this period different is the sheer number of attacks on Israel, from all sides. Don’t forget, Jordan’s King Abdullah is not all that strong, and agitators in Jordan make his tenure shaky. Iran is back of all this, and thirsts to gain a foothold at Israel’s doorstep. Can you imagine if that happened? If Jordan was a launching pad for terror? But though we can’t see the end of all this, we know that Israel will survive.

The Iranian octopus is at work everywhere. According to a report this week from the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center:

“Reuters reported that in February 2024, Qods Force commander Esmail Qaani had met with Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah to discuss the existing risk if Israel attacked Hezbollah. According to the report, Nasrallah told Qaani that if war broke out against Israel, Hezbollah would fight by itself and that he did not want Iran to be dragged into a war with Israel or the United States. According to Reuters, this was the third meeting between the two since October 7, 2023. The report further stated that the meeting between Qaani and Nasrallah had been preceded by a two-day meeting in Tehran attended by IRGC commander Hossein Salami, the Qods Force commander, and representatives from the ‘resistance front’ from Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. At the end of the meeting, all the participants agreed that Israel was interested in expanding the war and that it was necessary to avoid falling into the trap because it would lead to another American presence in the region. Following the meeting, Qaani instructed the Shiite militias in Iraq to stop their attacks against the American forces in the region. Two sources told Reuters that Iran and Hezbollah were aware of the difficult implications of an all-out war in Lebanon, including the possibility that Iran’s nuclear facilities would be attacked as a consequence of the expansion of the war.”

The point I want to make is that with all this firepower, all these terror tentacles, aided by the corrupt West, God is in control. He is in control of your life, too, so meditate on that this week.

Our Great God is above everything and everyone else!

The Pharisees in Washington, DC: Matthew Chapter 23 :: By Keith Black

25 Mar 2024