Christ reproved some Pharisees calling them hypocrites, and most “Christians” have mistakenly taken that to mean the word “Pharisees” denotes hypocrisy, even some dictionaries have defined the term “Pharisee” as “self-righteous person”, a pretender, etc. However, Christ’s criticism of the Pharisees as recorded in “Mathew 23” does not imply that all Pharisees were pretenders. As a matter of fact, Christianity and Phariseeism have many things in common. To begin with, the word Pharisees stands for “separated ones,” Christians also claim to be the “called-out ones”.  Just as the Christians have different denominations; the Pharisees were also of diverse groups during Christ’s time. Rabbinical literature (The Jewish Talmud- Ṣota 22b) shows that there were seven different categories of the Pharisees and they all had different characters, surprisingly Christians have the same characteristics of the seven groups of the Pharisees.

The Seven Types of Pharisees

(1) The Shechemite “shoulder” Pharisees, who displayed their charitable deeds on their shoulders for everyone to see, so that they could receive praise from people;

Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. (Mathew 6:1-4)

It is obvious that there are also shoulder Pharisees among the Christians. In fact, it is difficult today to find a single Christian or a group of Christians who are doing their charity works in secret as Jesus commanded; most Christians today can’t feed the poor or clothe the naked without advertising it, they must take sad looking photos of the poor people to whom they give food and use them to raise money. Some Christians will go as far as announcing their charitable deeds on television, radio, internet, posters and banners just to receive praise from people, and to get back the “double portion” of what they spent to help the needy.

(2) The wait-a-little Pharisees were always finding excuses to postpone God’s work. They would act as if they loved God so much but when it came to risking their life to do God’s will, the wait-a-little Pharisees would make excuses and suspend doing God’s work with hopes to perform it on a better day when they thought they could do it without stress. However, they gave little thought that life tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. (James4:13-14)

 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, (Mathew3:7-8)

 It is important to know that the wait-a-little Pharisees are no different from most Christians today; some Christians know what is right but won’t do it and instead give many excuses. Some will see people in need and instead of sharing whatever they have with the poor, they will pray and ask God the provide for the people, just because they don’t want to make themselves uncomfortable to perform God’s will;

 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:14)

If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (John3:17-18)

 

The above scriptures were not written for the Pharisees of Christs’ time, but to address the hypocrisy of Christians. It’s obvious that some Christians who don’t want to turn away from wrong doing will cite the slogan “no one is perfect, we are still flesh and blood” to cover their shortcomings. Like the wait-a-little Pharisees, most Christians don’t really fear God, they only want to use God’s name to achieve their selfish ambitions, while some are so occupied with activities of this world that they have no time at all to sincerely seek Gods face.

 

(3) The blind or bruised Pharisees, were those who ran into walls or fell into ditches and bruised themselves because they were trying to avoid looking at women. This sect of the Pharisees were unable to deal with their lusts or discipline their flesh. They were walking around with their eyes closed while lusting after things in their hearts. The blind Pharisees were also very judgmental, they judged other people and made rules based on their own weaknesses. For instance, since they couldn’t look at a woman without lusting after them, according to them, ANYONE who looked at or talked to a woman had committed sin. This type of hypocrisy influenced common Jews in the 1^st century;

Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” (John4:27)

There are bruised Pharisees in Christendom as well who wants everyone to dress and speak like them. Some Christians will judge you based on their own weaknesses. They don’t believe that someone else can do what they themselves can’t accomplish, so if you dare try to succeed where they failed they will judge and condemn you. Some Christians want you to behave exactly like them and if you don’t follow their way of life or their personal selfish religious rules and regulations they won’t consider you a follower of their Christ. 

(4) The Pestle Pharisees, walked bent over and wore simple clothes in fake humility. They spoke with a soft voice to make themselves appear holy and gentle before men while inwardly they were very arrogant and selfish;

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside, are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. (Matthew23:27)

 There are bent over Pharisees also among the Christians, they are called “God bless you” or “you are blessed” Christians.  Bent over Christians will walk majestically wherever they go, greet everyone sweetly with “God bless you’s” but their hearts reflect the opposite of what comes from their mouth. In certain regions of the world, some pestle or bent over Christian leader’s dress with short sleeved shirts and butterfly ties to make people think that they are very humble, while others will not drive expensive cars  in efforts to fool people.

 (5) The “ever-reckoning” Pharisees, kept track of the things they did for God, and always weighed their charitable deeds against their bad ones. This act shows that they had wrong motives, their charitable deeds weren’t coming from their hearts. The “ever-reckoning” Pharisees believed that they could sin as long as they did something good to balance the measures. In addition, when the “ever-reckoning” Pharisees did something good, they assumed they were doing God a favor, so God was always “indebted” to them. Most Christians are like the “ever-reckoning” Pharisees, they keep track of the things they do for God, thinking that God owes them everything. They cant do anything to help their neighbor without expecting double in return, these people don’t naturally with happiness want to do good, but only to make gain.

(6) The “fearful” Pharisees, were those who were always afraid of God’s anger. The “fearful” Pharisees saw God as a terror, not as a loving and merciful Father; all of their obedience to God’s commandments was based on the fear of Gehinnom (Hell). This is also the case with many Christians, most don’t really care about developing deep spiritual intimacy with God, the only reason they are practicing a moral life is to escape hell. However, such is not counted as true fear of God.

(7) The “God loving” Pharisee, were those who had a profound relationship with God like the father Abraham, their righteousness or practice of piety was genuine before God. The “God loving” Pharisee were very few, just as it is in Christianity religion.

We should stop thinking that all Pharisees were hypocrites, because it would be wrong to generalize that all Christians are hypocrites simply because most them are pretenders. As mentioned above, some Pharisees were loving and kind to people, for instance, some of them secretly and openly supported Jesus, even some volunteered to become Jesus’ informant (Luke 13:31-32) thinking that they could protect him from danger. Nicodemus, a chief among the Pharisee was also a true disciple of Jesus (John 7:50, 19:38-40). If all the Pharisees were totally enemies of Jesus why did they invite him for dinner (Luke 14, 7:36-39). Personally, I don’t see how Christianity is better than Phariseeism, what is it that Christians are doing today that the Pharisees didn’t do? In fact, in certain areas of service the Pharisees were more serious-minded compared to the Christians today, for instance;

The Pharisees Were Prayerful:  The Pharisee were prayerful people, they developed a system whereby they prayed three times a day and fasted twice a week (Luke 18:9-11). The Pharisee created a very high standard of outward holiness, which made some of them become proud and despised other people who didn’t meet their religious standard. How many Christians fast twice a week and pray three times a day?

The Pharisees Were Evangelistic: The Pharisee were more zealous in evangelism compared to the Christians today. Jesus says; Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. (Mathew 23;15),

“You travel over land and sea to win a single convert” shows that the Pharisees were dedicated and committed cross-culture evangelists and missionaries who could offer their lives to go to the dark regions of the world to make disciples. Paul as a Pharisee maintained his evangelical zeal after his conversion. Now, are the Christian pastors and bishops today not afraid of taking the gospel of Christ to the Middle East, North Africa, and interior regions of the world? Are there bishops not only powerful inside their cathedrals? Jesus mentioned that “when the Pharisees win a single convert they make that person twice as much a child of hell”. Most Christians are doing just the same; some will evangelize not to win and establish their convert in Christ, but to increase the number of people in their church, and afterward indoctrinate the person.

The Pharisee Were Active Charity Workers: the Pharisee were dedicated charity workers, Jesus said; For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew5:20)

 The word translated as righteousness from the Hebrew word is “Tzedek” which involves giving of alms, so in the cited text from Mathew, Jesus commanded the Christians to engage in charity work more than the Pharisee. However, it is prophesied in the Christian scripture that; “In the last days, perilous times shall come.²For men shall be lovers of their own selves,” (2Timothy3:1-8).

What Paul the apostle meant when he said that “Men shall be lovers of their own selves” is that, time will come when the Christians will become self-seeking; they will no longer seek for the interest of other people like in the early days of the church. Presently Christians are fulfilling this prophecy; many Christians can preach and teach the bible w but can’t demonstrate the new commandment of Christ; Christians today are not ready to give up their lives for their brothers and sisters (John13:34-35, 1 John3:15-16). Many have thousands of dollars in bank accounts but are uninterested in assisting the less privileged. Many only care about themselves and their own family. In Christian churches today, the poor are getting poorer, while the rich are getting richer contrary to the word of God; the scripture plainly stated that there were no needy persons among the Christians in the first century, because from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to those poor in the church who had need (Act4:32-37). Today, Christians are completely practicing the opposite, all their giving goes to the pastors, they don’t consider giving to the poor people in their church or in the streets, their only interest is paying their ten percent (tithe) and throwing an unsubstantial amount in the offering basket on Sunday and mid-week services- that all. If they see someone with a desperate need, instead of sacrificially sharing what they have to help the people just as Jesus and his early disciples did, the Christians today will hypocritically pray for the people asking God to provide for them what they need.

The Pharisees Were Charismatic:  Most think that the Pharisees were like today’s orthodox Christians who don’t believe in the gifts of the spirit, but that is not the truth of the Pharisees. Some Pharisees were miracle workers. At least two well-known miracle workers who lived almost the same time of Jesus were Hanina Ben Doza and Honi the circle drawer, both men were outstanding miracle workers even though they were not matched up to Jesus Christ. Some disciples of the Pharisee were specialized in exorcism (casting out devils). (Mathew 12:25).

The Real Problem Jesus’ Had with The Pharisees

 The main disagreement between Jesus and the Pharisees didn’t have anything to do with them not praying every day, fasting often, going to the temple service every Saturday, or not giving tithes to the priests, preaching, and making disciples and so forth. As discussed earlier, the Pharisees were good in fulfilling Judaic religious obligations, however, the real problem that Jesus had with them was that the Pharisees were spiritually blind but claimed that they saw more that everyone;

Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains (John9:40:41).

The majority of people with two functional eyes always consider “the blinds” to be people who’ve lost their natural sight, however, blindness goes far beyond not seeing with the natural eyes, one can have the ability to see clearly with his physical eyes, but still be blind, which is one of the reasons why Jesus entitled the Pharisees “blind leaders of the blind”:

“Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” (Matthew 15:13-14, 23; Luke 6:39, 41)

Blindness which can be defined as a condition of lacking visual perception is one of the most dangerous illnesses. Naturally speaking, a person who is blind lives in a world full of darkness; he can’t appreciate the beauty of nature in its entirety, and he is exposed to all sorts of accidents while walking alone on the street, sitting down, or standing in one place. Which is why every blind person needs a guide.  Jesus asked the question, can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?” (Luke6:39). It’s evident that every blind person needs a guide; however, a blind man can’t be a guide to another blind man, because both can have an accident that will cost them their lives. A person who is blind needs someone who can see to guide him. Spiritually speaking, blind guides represent religious leaders who missed spiritual transition and ignorantly stuck to the old move of the spirit. The move the spirit represents a paradigm shift or divine revolution; a complete turnaround from one way of doing things to another way that is usually diametrically opposite, or a change from one way of thinking to another. It’s a transformation, a sort of metamorphosis, or when a significant change happens, usually from one fundamental view to a different and better view. For instance, Luke tells about a man called Apollo, a great and eloquent preacher from Alexandria; He was a learned man with thorough knowledge of the bible. Apollo taught about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit, however, he knew only about John’s baptism (old move of the spirit). In other words, Apollo was preaching the message of John the Baptist; preparing the way for the coming of the Lord, without the knowledge that the Lord Christ had already come and gone back to heaven. When Priscilla and Aquila, who were following the new spiritual order heard Apollo preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained THE WAY OF GOD more accurately, and when Apollo received the true light of God in his heart, he started afresh to preach an accurate inner revelation of Jesus Christ, instead of the bible doctrines of Christ (Act18:24-28). In most cases when people who call on God’s name missed a spiritual transition they will become antagonistic to God’s present reality. For instance, that was the case between the Roman Catholics and the protestants. In Addition, blind guides includes people who assume offices of spiritual leadership without a vision, revelation, or an accurate insight in God’s plan and purpose to mankind.

Jesus called the Pharisees “blind leaders of the blind,” because the Phariseesic Rabbis (scriptural teachers) of Jesus’ day could see clearly with their physical eyes, they studied the Mosaic laws more than any sect inside Judaism, and possessed tremendous “bible knowledge,” however, they lacked divine insight; the Pharisees were unable to make use of their inner sight, or the eyes of their heart. They believed that Moses and the prophets had spoken everything concerning God; they didn’t realize that God was still speaking to His children, giving them accurate internal meanings of the written Laws. Instead of the Pharisees to develop the inner ability to hear from the Holy Spirit, they composed their own static interpretation of the Mosaic laws and called it oral laws, claiming that the oral laws were also given to Moses in mount Sinai. After fabrication of the Oral laws, the Pharisees refused to accept any revelation of God that’s had not been discussed in the so called oral laws. However, just like human beings have a spirit, soul, and body, so do the scriptures; there is an innermost, inner, and outward interpretation of the scriptures. The external word are the written scriptures obtained in the bible, and the inner word of God is the hidden truth behind the letters of the bible. God’s people are supposed to seek and abide in the inner interpretation of the letters by the Holy Spirit because that is where the true life, light, and the power of God reside.

 “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”(John8:31-32)

There is no life in dogmatic theology, what people need to advance to the next level in God is a daily revelation. One can learn everything that is written inside the bible and understand all religious matters and remain internally blind not being free from the power of sin and death. Even though the Pharisees lacked spiritual vision and direction, they wanted to maintain spiritual leadership in Israel. Their lack of spiritual awareness, or not having the ability to perceive beyond what is physically written in a religious book resulted in the established of external religion that depended on man-made doctrines, static dogmas, and constitutions for eternal salvation.

This is same problem facing Christianity religion today; majority of the Christians leaders and their followers are depending on human tradition instead of the spiritual revelation of God, for instance, the Lutheran Christian groups have established with the teachings of Martin Luther and refused to accept anything contrary to what Luther said about Christ and His kingdom, the Presbyterians established on the doctrine of John Calvin and John Knox, Mennonites on the teachings of Menno Simon, Methodist on John Wesley, most Baptists on John Smith, Pentecostals construct on the views of William J. Seymour, Charismatic’s on Demos Shakarian, David du Plessis and Dennis Bennett. Church of God worldwide follow Herbert W. Armstrong’s doctrine, Word of faith movement follow teachings of E W. Kenyon, Kenneth E. Hagin, Jehovah witnesses follow Charles Tazel Russell, Seventh Day Adventists on the prophecies of Ellen G. White, and Latter Day Saints settled on the doctrines of Joseph Smith. You can’t find any Christian denomination that’s not following someone’s view of Christianity, only very few Christians are hearing directly from the Spirit and that’s what made Christianity religion powerless! Most Christians aren’t willing to accept anything new from God because they believe their founders have revealed all that’s needed to know about God. The worst part of it is that most of these blind Christian leaders are letting their blinds followers called them “spiritual fathers,” contrary to the word of the Lord; And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. (Matthew23:9) Are they not worse than the Pharisees who never claimed to be spiritual fathers (local almighty or demi-gods)?

The Pharisees Were Religious but Failed To Live an Inner Life

Though the Pharisee were very zealous in religious matters, however, they were unable to discover the esoteric path to sinless perfection and immortality in God, as a result failed to practice “Inner Life;” which involves daily cleansing or renewing of their inward man based on God’s present realities or daily revelation of Christ given by the Holy Spirit;

 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity (Mathew 23:25-28).

As mentioned earlier, The Pharisees were scriptural orators’ that totally lacked the revelation of inward purification. They concentrated only on the outward religious ceremonies like most Christians, while their inward man was still full of wickedness. They thought that washing their physical bodies with water as in baptism, preaching and converting people to their religion, and other outward religious activities would make them perfect. which is exactly what’s wrong with today’s Christianity, most Christians are so consumed with going to religious temples on Sundays, evangelism, debating about bible doctrines, and so forth that they overlook the inward cleansing or daily inward movement towards sinless perfection which should be their primary focus;

“Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. (2Corinthians7:1)

 “that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians5:26-27)

 Most Christian preachers and teachers think the gospel is all about gathering crowds and proclaiming Gods’ financial blessing and easy life over the people. However, the essence of scriptural studies or practicing a spiritual life is the purification of the heart or to achieve total conformity to the image of God;

 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans8:29-30)

My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, (Galanthians4:19)

There are MANY Christian preachers, teachers, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and bishops- and all that they are doing is gathering crowds in their auditorium and using the people to generate money to support their religious enterprises (aka ministry). These people have no idea of inward purification like their Pharisees predecessors. As a result, they won’t be able to lead their congregation into true holiness.

The Pharisee Shut Up the Kingdom of Heaven Against Men

 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. (Matthew23:13)

To achieve accurate understanding of this scripture, we might have to compare it with another scripture from Luke; Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered. (Luke11:52)

These two scriptures are saying the same thing, the Pharisees shut up the kingdom of heaven against men by taking away the key of knowledge. The key to enter heavenly dimensions or to achieve profound mystical experiences comes from an accurate revelation of God. When a leader sticks to a fundamental truth about God and refuses to make the sacrifices necessary to attain a dimensional revelation of God, he or she will experience spiritual death or stagnancy, and whereby became a hindrance, or a stumbling block to the people that they are leading. Their followers will never be allowed to see beyond them; if the followers dare claim to see spiritually what the leader hasn’t seen or experienced, the leader will declare the person an enemy of truth and raise persecution against him or her. That was the problem with the Pharisees; with the mere theological knowledge they attained, they became convinced that they had seen and learned it all, so nobody was able to tell them anything.

It’s evident that most “Christian pastors and bishops have taken away the key of knowledge just like the Pharisees, most pastors and bishops are no longer growing spiritually, and they are not letting their followers move forward. Christian leaders today can’t lead souls into everlasting righteousness because they lack perfect revelation of Jesus and a clear view of eternity; when a leader fails to see the goal that’s divinely set before him, he’ll end up playing religion to mask his shortcomings. Christians today live in sin yet profess they belong to God, even preachers tell lies in the pulpit yet their conscience doesn’t judge them because they lack vision. Prophetically, one can see that most Christian churches today are like dungeons, spiritual prisons! Since most of the leaders lack spiritual insight, people continue to gather around them without attaining spiritual maturity. Most Christians today aim to become like their pastors instead of becoming like Christ, and this is simply because all that the people have been able to see so far is their pastor who has positioned himself in the center of the church as God’s standard or the ultimate oracle. However, we are commanded by the lord not to follow men; the children of God must fix their eyes on Jesus Christ not on men(Hebrews12:1-2). If you place your trust or focus on religious leaders, your life will be full of disappointment, hurt, and bitterness, but as you pursue holiness and continue looking unto God, your life will be transformed daily. Those who look to God are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame (Psalm34:5). It’ll be impossible for those who are looking unto God to become fixed and static in one revelation of God like the organizational Christians. God is new every morning, and every day we must see something new in Him that we have never seen since the day that we were created. It’s the spiritual image and likeness of Christ that our internal eyes perceive that changes our physical personality, not bible stories; believers should be encouraged to see Christ and establish a personal relationship with Him.

The Pharisee Refused to Go in Themselves

The Pharisees prefigured evangelical Christians, they had a great zeal for God, but lacked spiritual understanding. They eagerly waited to see the Kingdom of God coming down from heaven without realization that God’s kingdom was to be discovered within them;

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke17:20-21)

The Pharisee were busy rushing into the religious temple every day to perform physical religious rituals but failed to enter in “within themselves” (Matthew23:13) to make the kingdom of God a reality by repenting and cleansing their heart daily by the present revealed truth of God;

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity (Mathew 23:25-28).

 We must enter deep within ourselves daily to perfect God’s character or to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit which represents the pure nature of God (Romans14:17, Gal5:22), that is what the following saying of Christ means: “for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in (Matthew23:13.) Christians leaders today are walking in the exact ways of the Pharisees; the Blind guides (Christian leaders) are not searching and cleansing their hearts daily, neither are they suffering their followers to do so; they will never let their blind followers (their church members) fully comprehend that they’re Gods temple (1Cor 3:16-17). We are God’s temple, God has chosen to dwell in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. The outer court, Holy place and the Holy of Holies of the Old Testament tabernacle represents our spirit, soul and body. God has come down from heaven to tabernacle in us so that His Spirit can gradually cleanse us until we reach sinless perfection and translate to immortality. Him choosing to dwell in our hearts through the Holy Spirit means that all of those cleansing rituals that were transpiring inside of the Old Testament temple should be transpiring IN OUR HEARTS daily; we’re to purify ourselves from everything that defiles our body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God (2Cor7:1). If each individual Christian would comprehend the truth that we’re representing God on earth and that God is living in us, we would remain holy each day!  It’s not a matter of keeping a day holy for God, but to keep ourselves holy each day! While we are hoping to go to heaven and be with God, God has come down to dwell in us first, His name is Emmanuel meaning God with us (Mathew1:23). The purpose of God making His abode in us is to fully form His nature and character in us (Galatians4:19). As God has chosen to reside in us, the best place to hear from God is within our hearts not in any physical structure. As you’re looking up to hear from God, He’s speaking continuously within your heart. It’s a pity when people say they “feel the presence of God” upon entering a building; this is due to lack of understanding and lack of spiritual maturity. We are God’s temple; you should be the carrier of the divine presence of God, wherever you go God’s presence should be present there. It’s not a matter of “feeling it” in one place, if you’re not feeling God’s divine presence until you enter a religious building, you have problem! As a true Christian, anywhere you are God’s presence must be present there (Luke5:17).

The Pharisees Couldn’t Perceive the Narrow Way

Upon all the vast knowledge of the bible that the Pharisee attained, they couldn’t see the way to attain total perfection and immortalization of the total man, and thought it was all about being religious;

 “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there at: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew7:13-14)

In the above scripture, Jesus pointed out the narrow way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Why is it few people find it? Because the narrow way has nothing to do with religion. Those seeking the way through religion are looking in the wrong place. It is a pity that most Christians today like the Pharisees think that you must belong to a religious sect to be saved, however, it is clear from the above scripture, Jesus Christ is not urging His disciples to form or join a religious group, instead He is telling them to enter a spiritual path. And walking on the narrow way is different from following religious man-made religious rules and regulations. Just very few people are found walking in the narrow way, and most of the world’s population is going through the broad way because religion has deceived them. Religion will make you believe that worshiping God is just about having a good knowledge of religious books, live faithfully according to sectarian doctrines, attend regular religious meetings, and try to convince other people to join your religious organizations. However, the way of God is so profoundly hidden that even the kings of the earth, most powerful, and highly intellectuals can’t by human knowledge perceive or visualize the way;

There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the eagle’s eye hath not seen:  The lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it. (Job28:7)

Quoting bible verses, preaching good sermons, evangelism, and going out for missions is good but aren’t enough to perceive the true path to HOLINESS; the Pharisees did all these things and still missed the way.

You Christians who think that you can preach, please understand that it is very easy to preach and teach about the historical Jesus Christ of the bible, Holy Ghost water baptisms, tithes and offerings, faith to receive God’s financial blessings, repentance and restitution, doctrine of hell, etc; but it’s difficult to cultivate a fasting, prayer, study and deep meditation lifestyle, in order to discern accurately the spiritual PATH OF GOD and to journey on it carrying other disciples along. God’s internal path can’t be discovered by merely reading Christian religious literature or cramming bible verses. You must pass through the process of God or have a serious wilderness experience with His Spirit. No one can proclaim God’s eternal truth (the everlasting gospel-Revelation 14:6), without a divine revelation; it’s not a matter of quoting the King James Version of the bible or NIV. The apostles and prophets of old who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice and gained what was promised, who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies (Hebrew 11:33-34) were all spiritual men with a divine insight and not theologians. They lived their lives based on what their internal eyes perceived not by any religious organizational church doctrine. For instance, Enoch spiritually perceived immortality and pursued it with great sacrifice until he was translated without experiencing a physical death (Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5). Abraham and Sarah throughout their lifetime pursued a spiritual city they perceived with their internal eyes, the city hath foundations, and its builder and maker is God (Hebrew 11:10). When you study the writing of Paul in 2 Corinthians: 5, you’ll understand the city that Abraham and his wife were hoping to reach during their lifetime was to achieve immortality of the total man. When Christ was physically here on earth, He didn’t do anything on His own; He brought down into physical manifestation only what He saw the Father do in the heavenly realm(John5:19). If you claim that you’re a spiritual leader when you have no profound specific and accurate revelation of Christ and his character you’re a blind leader of the blinds.

Anyone who wants to uncover God’s internal path must be extremely humble, die to self, forsake earthly pleasures, abandon man-made religious traditions, consecrate himself or herself and depend on the Holy Spirit for spiritual guidance; only the Spirit of Truth can make the eternal truth known to those who are sincerely and humbly seeking for it. As it is written:

“He made known his WAYS unto Moses, his ACTS unto the children of Israel.” (Psalm103:7)

The scripture shows that Moses was a very humble man, more-humble than anyone else on the face of the earth. (Numbers12:3) As result of Moses’ humility, and intense desire to learn and to obey God’s voice, to keep His charge, His commandments, statutes, and His laws, God decided to reveal His “Path” to Moses, and not just His “Acts.” As we should know, there is a difference between the “Path the of God” and the “Act of God”, basically, The Path of God represents a hidden principle to attain God’s divine nature and character, while The Act of God is about His miraculous powers. Under the New Testament, I can say that the Path of God is represented by the Fruits of the Holy spirit, which are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control Etc. (Galatians 5: 22). The Act of God stands for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit which are words of wisdom, words of knowledge, faith, healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues, etc. (1Corinthians 12: 4 -8). When the Spirit of God manifests Itself on earth, both His Path and Acts will be revealed, however, the majority always pursue the Acts and the end up forming religion based on the temporary manifestation of the gifts of the spirit, while the minority will catch the vision of the way and embark on the inward journey of perfection. Anyone who is sacrificially crucifying the flesh daily by hearing and obeying the internal voice of the Holy Spirit, with an expectation to conform fully to the image of Christ is among the remnant journeying through the narrow way (Romans 2:7-8), but, those walking in the broad way are the material conscious believers; miracles, signs and wonders seekers that are not passionate about Holiness, their only desire is to receive miracles from God, while continuing in their selfish ways.

My prayer is that “Christians” will come to the full realization that walking in God’s way is more than sitting under a pastor every Sunday to listen to textural sermons and giving monetary offerings. True worship has nothing to do with the formation of religion; it isn’t about Judaism, Christianity, Islamic religion and so forth. It is about finding and following “THE WAY,” the sacred hidden path that leads to holiness; sinless perfection, and immortality in God. PHARISEEISM AND CHRISTIANITY IS THE SAME, LOOK FOR “THE WAY” NOT RELIGION!