Israelites, Pharisees & Sadducees In The 21st Century Church

While Pharisaism is in sharp decline today (experiencing advanced stages of rigor
mortis), the pharisaic spirit still exists. And it’s the chief reason why so many non-
Christians want nothing to do with Jesus.
When I was 18 years old, I spent a lot of time in a group that bred Pharisees like rabbits.
And I will shamefully admit that I was one of them.
Thank God, however, I experienced the washing machine of life and it drained much (or
all, hopefully) of the Pharisee out of me. Regrettably, that doesn’t happen with
everyone. Many Christians waste their sufferings. And so they remain just as hardened,
callous, self-righteous, and judgmental as they were in their youth.
What follows are 8 characteristics of a “Christian” Pharisee:
1) Pharisees spend more time focusing on what they hate rather than on what
they love.
And what Pharisees hate are people. Well, people who sin differently than they do. (Isn’t
it convenient that God hates the same people Pharisees do?) Cough.
To a Pharisees’ mind, Jesus-followers who hold to a different theology shouldn’t be
allowed near children or small pets. If you tell them, “I disagree with you,” they interpret
those words to mean “the gospel is at stake,” and then dive off the cliff into a
culture/theological war against you and your friends.
Because of Pharisaism, Christians are known for what they are against rather than for
what they are for. It’s because of them that “evangelical” has come to mean fanatical
zealots who have perfected “culture war” tactics and represent the grotesquely hateful
versions of Christianity commonly peddled by ambitious politicians.
2) Pharisees magnify the sins of others while minimizing — or even ignoring —
their own.
Jesus said to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. A.W. Tozer put
it this way, “A Pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, but a spiritual man is
easy on others and hard on himself.”
3) Pharisees believe (and spread) accusations against others without ever going
to them directly, something you’d insist on if it were you being slandered
(Matthew 7:12).
Regrettably, “Christian” Pharisees produce more vitriol and spread more poison than a
Chernobyl-like nuclear disaster. Dispensing slander is labeled “poison” by the Bible
because it exposes innocent souls to toxic substances which are spiritually lethal.
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