When most people read the Bible, they read it as if it were a novel, nice stories but has nothing to do with my “real” life. Faith in the Word of God for our “real” lives has been eroded by the churches. Those who claim to believe in God are the very ones destroying belief in God. For some reason, churches, denominations, ministers, pastors and teachers believe they have the right to add their own opinions while subtracting the underlying principles of God’s Word.
There was a time when people gave their lives to hear the Word of God. Few were able to own even a portion of the Bible. Yet they hungered for the Word of God. The church kept the Bible chained up. The church refused to let the population own or read the Bible for themselves. It had to be interpreted by the church. But with the Reformation of the 1500’s, the people were able to hear the Word of God without interpretation or church bias. It was taught straight from the pulpit.
The devil was not pleased with the unleashing of the Word of God. People wanted the Word of God because it was valuable and rare. Scarcity made it desirable. With the unchaining of the Word of God, the world was enlightened and prospered. Therefore, the devil played along. If you can’t beat them, join them. Soon the Bible was in every home. Not only one, but many Bibles were in the homes. It was available for everyone to read. With that availability came danger. Anyone with a Bible could now teach what they wanted. Disinformation became the game. With so many voices claiming to be of God, few read the Bible any more. What people died to obtain, now sits unused and unread in people’s lives.
Luke 11:14 to Luke 11:54
Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed.
The devil has done a wonderful job of destroying our faith in God. Why are we amazed when God shows His loving powers? Is it because we have been brainwashed into thinking God hates us and is looking for every sin by which to destroy us? Why don’t we see a Father who loved us before we even knew we needed a loving Father. All love comes from God. But so few want to love the One who loves them, or even learn about His love. For some reason we have become scared of the love of God. How sad.
But some of them said, “By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.”
Basically it came down to two things: 1) Doubt! They really didn’t believe in God. We find that in our churches today. Most who go to church doubt God. 2) Church identity. If it wasn’t done in the name of “my” church, therefore, it could not be done by “God”. In saying that, the only other source had to be evil that did the “good”. How satanic.
Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven.
They had seen two years of signs and wonders performed by Jesus, but to a doubting heart no amount of “sign from heaven” would convince them. Jesus wasn’t here to “convince” the world, He was here to show the world. By His life and death He demonstrated the love of God to the world . If they wanted to be convinced, all they had to do was open their eyes.
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall.
Yes it will. millions of households are divided and falling today. The devil is working hard to destroy the family. The “Left” today is under the control of demons to demolish every institution and good God has set up for us. The “Left” hates God and is working to remove Him in every way possible from this nation and our lives. This “house” of America will fall as a God-given democracy if we let the devil divide us. “A wise man’s heart tends toward his right, but a fool’s heart tends toward his left.” Ecclesiastes 10:2.
If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebul.
Satan’s government will not stand. His angels do fight among themselves. They are in constant warfare within their own “kingdom”. It cannot stand. It will fall. Every nation that rejected the principles of God has fallen. God gives it time to develop either His righteous principles or its evil principles and then it falls. When the world comes to the realization that God’s way is the only way that works, then Jesus will be able to come and destroy the world. Why? The world will come to the realization that the Ten Commandments are just, righteous and must be obeyed for the good of the nations. That means that the people of the world will eventually reject the wicked “Left” and return to the “Right” conservative principles. The problem is, they will accept all of the Commandments except the 4th Commandment. Therefore, when the world declares death to those who obey the 4th Commandment, God will have the right to declare death to the world.
We are in that situation today. God is withdrawing His Spirit a little in order for the world to see the chaos, destruction, misery and death the “Left” policies produce. Reasonable, thinking men and women are realizing that “freedom” is not in doing away with laws, but enforcing the laws. “But the one who looks at the perfect law (Ten Commandments) of freedom and remains committed to it—thereby demonstrating that he is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of what that law requires—will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:25. FREEDOM!
Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your followers drive them out?
As back then, so today, many who are filled with demons are driving out demons in the name of “god” in order to deceive the multitudes. It is all a show. And yes, they will be your judges. You see this happening in our politics today. The “Left” will cause riots, carnage and death and then blame the Right. It is all a show to divide and conquer.
So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
The Kingdom of God was standing before them. The embodiment of the Ten Commandments stood before them. The One who will come in the clouds of glory to destroy the wicked and save His people had “come upon you”. But they knew it not. They refused to look, study and examine for themselves. They trusted their church to their own destruction.
“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder.
We are the “house” of God when we live in obedience to Jesus. He is “fully armed” and will guard “His own house” and keep us, “His possessions”, safe. But if we wander away from Jesus, evil is much stronger than us. It will plunder us and take away the “armor in which the man trusted”. We must never let temptation lead us away from Jesus. We must put on the whole armor of God, trusting in God’s strong armor to keep us safe. Never take it off!
The world is very tempting. The “Left” tempts people with free food, free education, free medical, free this and free that just to get you to lower your guard. You take off your armor and trust the state. And when you have been overpowered by the state, it will take away everything you have worked for.
The devil offers us free salvation, free eternal life, a free home in Heaven and freedom from the Law. Ok, how has that worked out in your life? Everything going smooth and peaceful?
“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
Over and over again Jesus reiterates that concept. Either we are living in obedience to Jesus, or we are against Him. We are with Jesus as we live in obedience to Him when He tells us to be perfect, stop sinning and to keep the Ten Commandments to get our eternal life. If not, you are not gathering with Jesus but scattering. As we live in obedience to Jesus, His love through us will gather people. “Come unto Me” is His invitation. But without the love of Jesus we will scatter people from us. Let us be gatherers and not scatterers.
“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.”
Many “an impure spirit” has been eradicated from people who have accepted the truth. However, soon that person sits in church feeling content and happy. He has cleaned up his “house” and feels pretty good about himself. What he forgot to do was fill his house with Jesus. He has been doing the work of sweeping and putting in order by himself and forgot to fill the house with the Spirit of God. It was all a show. It will not take long before the impure spirit comes back to check out its old haunting grounds and finds it very habitable. Then he goes looking for roommates to share such a nice place with. Soon the alcohol bottles, cigarettes, drugs, women, money, position, work, pride, ego and other things have cluttered up the house “worse than the first”. We must be vigilant in keeping our house filled with the furnishings of the Spirit of God: humility, love, forgiveness, peace and joy, the fruits of living the Ten Commandments.
As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
That woman was a good Catholic. Most of us are always looking around to praise someone other than Jesus. We praise our denominations, pastors, churches, and others, but Jesus would rather we “hear the Word of God and obey it”. That is all that counts. There is a lot of hearing, praising and shouting going on, but little obeying.
As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation.
Not very politically correct! Can you imagine someone coming to your church and stating, “This is a wicked congregation!” A lot of ears would close up, get up and walk out. And yet, churches are very wicked. They are taking the eyes and ears away from Jesus and His truths and placing them squarely on themselves. It is all about what the church says and does and nothing about our obligations to live in obedience to the teachings of Jesus.
And since our churches have been teaching lies, the people sitting in those churches are the ones running our government agencies. This is a “wicked generation”. Government is telling us lies. Government is telling us it will take care of us. It will heal us. It will educate us. All we have to do is obey it. People are trusting government instead of Jesus. But as you can see, people are beginning to rebel against government institutions. They are losing all faith in governmental agencies. By so doing, they will turn to their churches and unite with the Catholic Church to set up a “Christian” government to run the nations of the world.
It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom; and now something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here.
Jonah was a “wetback” and had nothing when he entered Nineveh, and yet the people did not judge the man by his situation but listened to the message. The “Queen of the South” rose up and took gifts to Solomon, putting her throne at risk by traveling over twenty-five hundred miles to listen to Solomon. How few listen when God tells us to stop sinning, be perfect and to keep His Ten Commandments. How true it is that they will stand up in the judgment and condemn this generation. This is a wicked generation because it has rejected God in every aspect of their lives.
For 23 years God has used this little ministry to reach the people of the world. The world would never have chosen me for such an important job. But Jesus didn’t want the praise, honor or glory going to anyone but Himself. So He chose the stupidest, most reviled (an inmate), and most incompetent person on the face of the earth to be His messenger. God is checking hearts!
“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.
Those who claim to have the light usually hide it in church. The church building is not the light. The “light” that is to shine is the Light of Jesus through us. We are to have His Light in us individually. Then we are to spread that light around so all may see. That “Light” is the character of Jesus, His perfect, sinless and Commandment keeping Light.
Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”
“When your eyes are healthy”. When you are able to see clearly! When you are able to see the perfect, sinless and Commandment keeping life of Jesus, you will then want to mimic that life. When you can see that Light and walk in it you will not walk in darkness. But our churches today are extinguishing that Light. It doesn’t matter how much of the Bible they read or quote to you. It doesn’t matter if they agree with 60% of His teachings. Only those with a 100 watt light will go to Heaven.
Walking around carrying a Bible is like carrying around a light bulb. Unless it is connected to power and turned on, it won’t do you any good. Many put thousands, if not millions of dollars into their churches and construct them in the most conspicuous places. But those attending are burned out light bulbs. It doesn’t matter how many light bulbs you have, if they do not work or are not turned on, you sit in darkness.
When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.
As long as the Pharisee saw Jesus from a distance gathering crowds and healing the sick, not a problem. But when he saw Jesus up close and “noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal”, surprise! How terrible! We do the same in our religious lives. People look good at a distance when we view them on TV, the internet or the radio when all we see and hear are the acceptable things. But when we get closer and put our judging eye on them, how terrible! They don’t eat the right foods, speak and act so piously or think as we think. Truth is never to be judged by the messenger. We must, individually, take the time to do a thorough investigation of the “truth” that is being propagated. Never think that just because you haven’t heard what is being propagated makes it false. It doesn’t matter how long you have believed something, God requires us to continuously study and check everything that we think to be truth.
Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people!
Most people who go to church are “foolish people”. They look clean on the outside, but the inside is “full of greed and wickedness”. Can you imagine what church members would do to one who told them, “You foolish people!”? We don’t want truth, we want platitudes, “goody-goody” speeches. Look at who got into the USA government in 2020. “Goody-goody” platitudes and praises were showered upon the Democratic candidates. Look how that turned out!
Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.
We can make the outside of a cup look clean and sparkly, but would you drink out of it if it hadn’t been washed on the inside in a month or two? Personally, I don’t care what the outside of the cup looks like, I do care that the inside is clean. Remember, the Pharisees went out of their way to put on a show of being “generous to the poor”, but it was only a show. Can you relate that to our political parties today. The party that makes a show and noise about helping minorities and illegal aliens and criminals is doing nothing but making money off of them while destroying minorities, illegals, criminals and society.
“Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.
Many have told me that tithing was only for the Old Testament. It goes to show how few people read with their eyes open. Most read with eyes wide shut. They read, but they interpret what they read by what their church tells them to understand. Here we have a very plain statement by Jesus that we are to continue the practice of tithing even in the New Testament. The problem was not tithing, but neglecting justice and the love of God. Oh, maybe justice and love were only for the Old Testament also. No, we must not neglect justice and the love of God, nor the former of giving “God a tenth”: tithe.
“Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.
I’m sorry, but that sounds so much like our churches today. Pastors, elders, ministers and deacons are all vying for the “most important seats” to be seen by the congregation. Others must be called “reverend” or “pastor” or “elder”, etc. People have the same problem with the name “Jesus”. They are all hung up over what to call Him. Maybe we should just call Him what the angel said to call Him: Jesus. Let us look at each other, not from status, but from the heart.
“Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.”
Would that be like saying they were all puffed up among themselves without even noticing that others didn’t care? You know, headstones thinking they are better than others, and then someone comes along and steps on them and there goes their ego.
One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”
Oh yes, “But that’s not me!” “You hurt my feelings”. “I have a degree from Andrews University”. So many trying to find a reason why they should not be included in the “insult”. Ever see that going on in your church?
Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.
We would be better off keeping quiet and investigating our own hearts to make sure our lives are sinless, perfect and Commandment keeping. Our churches are looking around at other churches going, “We are not like them!” “We go to church on the Sabbath!” And all the while they are loading people down with church burdens they can hardly carry while the pastor, General Conference President, leaders and ministers are not lifting the same burdens or help those under burdens. I am sure you have seen that attitude in our government leaders. Such hypocrisy!
“Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them.
Have you noticed the money that goes into tombs? The Lutherans spend lots for Martin Luther’s tomb. There is money spent by the Methodist’s on Wesley’s tomb. Money spent by the Seventh-day Adventist’s on Ellen White’s tomb. The Catholics spend immense amounts of funds on tombs of saints and shines. I’m sure the money could be better spent on the worthy poor.
So you testify that you approve of what your ancestors did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.
There is more than one way to “kill” a prophet. We uphold them when they are dead, but we killed them in our thoughts, tongues, looks and writings while they were alive. The churches don’t even live by what their “prophets” taught and lived. But they sure can spend lavishly on them now that they are dead.
Because of this, God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’
God has given every generation an opportunity to repent and make their lives right. Fewer and fewer are making it right. Much easier to spend money on tombs for show than to change the character.
Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.
And yes they were. The Jewish nation was totally destroyed, and the people were sent into exile to the ends of the earth. An exile that is still in effect. They have been scattered around the world.
“Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
And so it was, and so it is. The “experts in the law” do not teach the teachings of Jesus to stop sinning, be perfect and to keep the Commandments to get eternal life. The experts refuse to enter that knowledge which unlocks eternal life. They have made up new “knowledge” to hinder those who are entering. The churches, denominations, religions, pastors, ministers and leaders have truly “taken away the key to knowledge” and substituted it with “saved by grace”, “unconditional love of God”, “can’t stop sinning”.
When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, waiting to catch him in something he might say.
How true! People, religions, churches and denominations oppose this ministry fiercely and besiege me with questions and wait to catch me in something I might say. Nothing has changed since Lucifer was cast out of Heaven.