XPost: alt.religion.christian.adventist, alt.religion.christian.boston-church,   
   alt.religion.christian.baptist   
   XPost: alt.religion.christian.biblestudy   
   From: Donna@nospam.com   
      
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   Dear Readers,   
      
   After reading this, I can only say to this writer, by rejecting Jesus you   
   are rejecting the only way  to God the Father.   
      
   To the rest of us I would like to bring to our minds what our Lord Jesus   
   Christ told us in Matt. 15: 14 "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the   
   blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."   
      
   We have also been told in Isaiah 8:20 "To the law and to the testimony: if   
   they speak not according to this word, {i[it is] because [there is] no light   
   in them."   
      
   Then we have the following words of inspiration.   
      
   March 21, 1878-The Sins of the Pharisees by E.G. White   
      
   "Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, saying, The   
   scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All therefore whatsoever they   
   bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works; for   
   they say, and do not." The scribes and Pharisees claimed to be invested with   
   divine authority similar to that of Moses. They assumed to take his place as   
   expounders of the law and judges of the people. As such they claimed all   
   deference and obedience from the people. But Jesus admonished his hearers to   
   observe and do that which the priests taught according to the law, but not   
   to follow their example, for they neglected the duties which they taught   
   others to observe.   
      
     The Saviour made it plain to all that he held no personal grievance   
   against the scribes and Pharisees, notwithstanding their abuse of him; but   
   he openly condemned their characters and acts as directly opposed to their   
   teachings, and therefore not to be imitated. Said he, "They bind heavy   
   burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they   
   themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." The Pharisees   
   enjoined a multitude of minute regulations having their foundation in   
   tradition, and unreasonably restraining personal liberty of action.   
      
        God forbade the eating of unclean beasts, not to exercise an arbitrary   
   authority, but to preserve the life and health of his people. In order for   
   them to retain their faculties of mind and body, it was necessary that their   
   blood should be kept pure, by eating simple, healthful food. He therefore   
   specified the animals least objectionable for food. The leading Jews who   
   delighted in teaching and in administering the law, carried the prohibitions   
   of God to unreasonable lengths, making life a burden of ceremonies and   
   restrictions. They carried the regulations of eating and drinking so far   
   that the mind was kept on a continual strain in discriminating between what   
   was considered clean and unclean, and in following out the multitude of   
   injunctions imposed by the priests. All the water was strained lest the   
   presence of the smallest speck or insect might render it unclean, and   
   therefore unfit to use. They were in constant fear of infringing upon   
   customs and traditions which were taught to them as portions of the law.   
      
        The Pharisees by their endless round of forms, fastened the minds of   
   the people upon external services to the neglect of true religion. They   
   failed to connect the thought of Christ with their ceremonies, and, having   
   forsaken the fountain of living water, hewed out for themselves broken   
   cisterns that could hold no water.   
      
        The priests, scribes and rulers not only rejected Christ themselves but   
   took the most unfair means to prejudice the people against him, deceiving   
   them by false reports and gross misrepresentations. Said Jesus: "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." These words, condemning this sin of the Pharisees,   
   are applicable to all who follow their example. In all ages of the world   
   truth has been unpopular; its doctrines are not congenial to the natural   
   mind. The cold professor, the bigot and hypocrite are not willing to accept   
   that which searches the heart, and reproves the life. Some ministers turn   
   the ears of the people from truth unto fables, stopping at nothing that will   
   help to carry out their purpose. They even stoop to pervert the words and   
   malign the characters of those who receive and love the precious truths of   
   God, and labor to bring others to a knowledge of them.   
      
        The Saviour pronounced a woe on those who, imitating the great rebel,   
   compass all difficulties to make one proselyte. Said he, "Woe unto you   
   scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one   
   proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell   
   than yourselves." Those whom he addressed would resort to any species of   
   deception in order to gain influence with the people, and prevent them from   
   believing and obeying the truth. The Saviour declared of them: "Ye are of   
   your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a   
   murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there is no   
   truth in him; when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a   
   liar and the father of it." These cutting words were applied to those who   
   made the highest pretensions to godliness, and who regarded all other   
   nations as contemptible in the sight of God.   
      
        Just such zealous adversaries of the truth are met in our day. They   
   leave no means untried to subvert the minds and consciences of men. They   
   originate falsehoods, and find plenty ready to believe them. They have taken   
   step after step away from the light into darkness, until the light has   
   become darkness to them. They possess a determined zeal, which savors of   
   honesty, and appears to many as such. They are willing to make great   
   sacrifices and endure rebuffs for the sake of attaining their object,   
   returning again and again to the same point, seeking to turn souls away from   
   the divine truth unto superstitions and fables. These pious pretenders come   
   as angels of light, professing deep experience in the things of God, while   
   they are doing the work of Satan. Those whom they succeed in gaining become   
   even worse than themselves; such is the downward road to ruin. Jesus says of   
   this latter class, "Ye make him twofold more the child of hell than   
   yourselves."   
      
        The Saviour continued: "Woe unto you, ye blind guides, who say,   
   Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall   
   swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! Ye fools and blind; for   
   whether is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? And,   
   Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by   
   the gift that is upon it he is guilty. Ye fools and blind; for whether is   
   greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?" The priests   
   interpreted the requirements of God to meet their false and narrow standard.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)