Scripture: Matthew 12:22-42, Mark 3:22-27, Luke 11:29-32

Summary: The clash between Jesus and the Pharisees intensified during the time of His public ministry. He rebuked and condemned them for their hypocrisy and unbelief, warning them of the eternal consequences.

After healing the man with the withered hand (12:9-14), the Lord Jesus continued His work of healing the sick and teaching the Word. Now the people brought before Him a man who was not only demon-possessed but also suffered from blindness and the inability to speak. Jesus immediately cast out the demon and healed the man.

The crowd began to wonder if He could be the Son of David, the Promised Messiah of God. The Pharisees, who had witnessed these obvious miracles of God, reacted not with praise and gratitude but instead responded by saying a foolish and spiritually dangerous statement. They attributed Jesus’ miracles not to God but instead to the prince of demons, Beelzebub, “lord of the flies,” an idol that ruled over dung. This was an insult of the lowest type.

We can be shocked at this brazen outburst of rage, but we have to remember that humanity has insulted and downgraded the Holiness and Majesty of God ever since the Fall (Genesis 3). In our arrogance and defiance of God’s will, we have essentially given Him the middle finger and dared Him to do something about it. Even when we put on robes of religious behavior, we do so with the thought that our works and abilities are sufficient to meet what we think is a quota system for Divine approval. Scripture says otherwise (Isaiah 53:4-6, 64:6; Romans 3:10-18, 23).

Jesus responded to this outlandish accusation by showing them the irrationality of their accusations. Demons do not drive themselves out of people, and Satan does not cast himself out of anyone. There would be a “civil war” within the kingdom of darkness. Jesus then asked the Pharisees that if He cast demons out of people by the power of the demons, then by whom do “your sons” (fellow rabbis) cast them out? They attributed their exorcisms to God. Shouldn’t He as well? It made no sense for the Pharisees to say what they had said.

This encounter is a forerunner to the teaching concerning “the unpardonable sin.” Jesus brought forth His point. If demons were cast out of people, it is by the Spirit of God, which meant that in the person of Jesus Christ, the kingdom had come to Israel.

This chapter centers on the Spirit-empowered miracles of the Lord Jesus, which should have been viewed as evidence of His authority as the Messiah, who has the power to forgive sins on the earth. All of this was slandered by the spiritual blindness and rage of the Pharisees. They slandered the Spirit’s ministry by accusing Jesus of collaborating with the very forces He is overpowering. This is the unforgivable sin. Verses 31-37 describe it in further detail.

Blasphemies against the Lord are, unfortunately, all too common in this fallen world. The Holy name of God has turned into a term of cursing. This is the nature of an unredeemed person until their lives and tongue come under the control of Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Lord’s forgiveness expands many boundaries, but to equate His work with that of the devil cannot and will never be forgiven.

The Pharisees had crossed that line by declaring that the work of the Lord Jesus was of demonic origin. These same Pharisees who consigned Jesus’ work as being from the devil also crossed the line when they declared before Pontius Pilate that they had no king but Caesar (John 19:12, 14-16), rejecting God and violating the First Commandment (Exodus 20:1-2). They had been exposed as hateful and spiteful, willingly and deliberately blind to the obvious presence of God’s Promised Messiah. Their fruit was rotten and worthy of nothing more than the fires of eternal judgment (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:11-15).

Look at the fruit (vv. 33-37). Either a tree and its fruit are good or bad. There are no patches of both (James 3:11-12). The Pharisees were compared to a brood of vipers, full of poison, the most unclean of all animals. Jesus also called their attention to the fact that their words and actions do not coincide with the actions of godly people. Foolish and malicious words and their evil harvest will be the evidence used in their final judgment from God at the end of the ages.

The Pharisees, as well as all unrepentant people across history, will have to give an account of what they have said and done. Every idle word is the stored evidence against you and I when we face God at the end of our lives (Hebrews 9:27). If you are not redeemed by repentance for your sins and surrendering your life to Jesus Christ before your life ends, then your fate will be like that of the Pharisees and all the enemies of God.

Please do not ignore what you have just read. Your soul lies in the balance as to what you will do with the Lord Jesus Christ today (John 14:6; Acts 4:12, 16:31; Romans 10:9-10, 13; 2 Corinthians 5:10, 6:2).

donaldwhitchard@outlook.com

https://ocosbe.org/Donald-Whitchard/

Because Lucifer is real and lives among us today in the spiritual realm, we can expect him to try to influence us today. Often, he uses the church building as a playground to exercise his talents as the great deceiver, liar, and troublemaker. With audacity, he even twists the Word of God around to confound and confuse us, as in the story I’m about to tell.

We’ll call him Bill. Bill was new to the church I was attending at the time. Since I’d never seen him before after several years of attendance, I knew he was probably a new Christian who thought that a suit and tie were enough to make up for his lost time in the church. But those times had passed, and now people were wearing what best suited them. Crocks, shorts, T-shirts, and whatnot. He was a real newbie, and from the looks of his bewildered comportment, it was evident he wasn’t used to being in this unfamiliar environment and probably wondered why the church building didn’t collapse around him, as many such people are prone to think.

I encountered Bill in the Bible class I was attending at my church at the time. A class of about sixty or so. He came in with a degree of trepidation and sat next to me on the outer periphery of the horseshoe-shaped class. The teacher was a middle-aged man who took the task seriously, using his laptop to teach from the pre-arranged text.

Being already seated, I turned to Bill and introduced myself. Bill, in turn, was uptight and unsure of himself – we were about the same age, mid-forties. The theme of the teaching had something to do with a new book that was on the market, a book about an old woman who lived in a cabin in the woods, who was a prophetess or some such thing. Bill turned to me and whispered, “I just read that book!” At the time, there were several such books: The Gospel of Judas, Shades of Grey, and it (all of which were anathema to me). But Bill seemed to be excited about today’s teaching when he heard the title of the book. I suspect he wasn’t getting the gist of the teaching that the teacher was trying to impart – thinking that “Ah, so this is what Christianity is all about!”

I was daydreaming as the carefully coiffed teacher droned on and on with his teaching. I couldn’t make out what he was trying to say, and I couldn’t make out whether the teaching was good or bad. Bill, on the other hand, was elated by what he was hearing and turned to me with a smile on his face. “Wow,” he whispered to me, “I never knew.” I, on the other hand, was grappling with my own take on what the teacher was saying. The man had ignored my questions or input in the past. Obviously, something was wrong somewhere, but it obviously appeared that his girlfriend – who also attended his class – was impressed by the man’s wisdom and his title of “teacher.” I’m sure you’ve all met men like that.

Sorry to say, I missed a great opportunity to set Bill straight (as I am apt to do to the unlearned). Because the next Sunday, I learned that the teacher ran off with another woman, and the church began falling apart at the seams, with fighting between the church leaders. The church split shortly after, and I had to find a new church home, but this was confirmation that wherever man is, there is Satanic activity too. That is why I only adhere to what the Bible teaches. All else is speculation, theory, and manmade ideas of what God is like. And so it goes.

Somewhere along the line, we Christians have forgotten our mission, and that is to reach out to the lost and hurting with compassion. That is why I often tell the many stories of my encounters with people outside the church. In over 45 years of ministry, I’ve encountered and ministered to many lost souls. A mandate was given to me many years ago that I should strengthen the “brethren,” which I really didn’t understand at the time. But over the years, it became apparent to me that we had lost our zeal for rescuing lost souls – thereby losing our identity as followers of Christ. And so now it was up to us foolish/courageous souls to fill in the gap and spread this Gospel – since time is now of the essence and God will use anyone who offers themselves up to Him to help their fellow man come to know Jesus “The light of the world.”

Book report

I know I’m not the only one out there beating the bushes for Christ, and I must admit that Dr. David Jeremiah is just such a man who spreads the news that the rapture is imminent and urges people to repent and receive Christ. The latest book I’m reading, Is This the End? by David Jeremiah, is a real page-turner. In this book, he tells stories of people who have come to Christ in unusual ways, so I guess we are both doing what we’ve been called to do. Admittedly, I was skeptical at first since my latest book is about how apostates have invaded the church and are trying to destroy its founding principles – sometimes unknowingly.

I realize that many unchurched youths are coming to Christ, disregarding the hypocrisy of their fathers’ shallow faith.

With so many charlatans in the church, it’s a wonder we still exist. However, it seems that God is separating the sheep from the goats just before the rapture and at the same time exhibiting His power over all the earth He created. What with violent tornadoes, storms, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, hailstorms the size of softballs, famine, war, and rumors of war – plus signs and wonders in the skies – I’m inclined to believe we are living in the last of the last days. So, I will continue to tell you about my past encounters, along with extraordinary recent ones, which I refer to as “Divine appointments,” to hopefully awaken those who claim to be “woke” and spur the languid and apathetic church to action.

My present church (a hoity-toity one) despised me at the beginning of my appearance there, but now they are urging the huge Presbyterian congregation to memorize Bible verses after I asked where all the Bibles were upon my introduction to a class. I stood and said, “We Baptists don’t go anywhere without our Bibles!” They were flabbergasted and appalled as I held my old, worn-out red Bible in the air for all to see. After that fiasco, everyone avoided me like the plague, and the pastor hated me from that moment on.

If I continue attending services there, I’ll ask why they (sprinkle) baptize children erroneously, like the Catholic church does. I venture that if they had a show of hands, half of the congregants would indicate that they would like to be baptized (submersed) like John the Baptist did the repentant ones he baptized, even at ninety years old, which many of them are. Ah, but the choir and the associate pastors are some of the best pastors in the land – but alas, they seldom practice what they preach and lack the fruits of the Spirit, which are, love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control – like so many other church leaders across the land.

P.S.

My latest book is coming right along and should be ready for publication soon. That is, if I can find one among all the money-grubbing scammers.

YBIC

Jim Towers

You can write me at jt.filmmaker@yahoo.com or visit me at www.dropzonedelta.com. You can also find me on my newly restructured website www.propheticsignsandwonders.com, which now features videos of worldwide events taking place in the present time, as well as proof of God’s existence and the reality of Biblical places, and Moses himself.