Daily Devotional, Year 3 – September 13 (The City of Morality, Part 6: “The Pharisees of Prosperity”)
By admin On May 30th, 2024.
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Daily Devotional, Year 3 – September 13
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The City of Morality,
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Part 6: “The Pharisees of Prosperity”
To read Part 1, click here… “January 5th (The City of Morality)”
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When Lucifer deceived and tempted Planet Earth into sin, God mercifully provided a way back from damnation and death.
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And so, there became just two choices for mankind:
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1. Continue on in sin and suffer the wages of sin: “death”.
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2. Or return to the beckoning arms of Jesus, and to the ways of Heaven
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Eve – Tizian – Wikipedia – pub-dom
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SATAN, THE MASTER OF CONFUSION!
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But now, having given rulership over Mankind, Lucifer knew well, that such a simple choice would make it far too easy for fallen, erring humans to return to God.
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And so, Lucifer, now called Satan, set about to create a world-system in which a “form of godliness, without the power thereof” would give his kingdom of sinful selfishness a nice glossy sheen!
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Satan presiding at the Infernal Council – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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“AFTER ALL, I’M NOT SO BAD!”
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And thus, the inhabitants of Earth would be deceived into thinking that this world was “a pretty good place”.
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Oh yes, wickedness still existed here. But the human mind is very deceitful and self-justifying.
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And we humans think “Well, I’m a pretty good person, and not like those bad guys over there!”
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New York Times Square – terabass – cropped image – Wikipedia – Share-alike License
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SATAN BLURRED THE LINE!
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And so, the choice now became beclouded.
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Thanks to Satan, the dividing line between good and evil now became very indistinct and extremely murky.
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Question Marks – At a loss – svg – Wikimedia Commons – Share-Alike License
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ONCE AGAIN HE BLURRED THE LINE
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Well, let’s “fast forward” to the church-era.
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Yes, in the last two millenniums of Earth’s history, God has established the Church.
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And once again, the choice became clear: either join the Church, or remain in a lost spiritual condition in this fallen world.
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But Satan knew that such a choice was far too easy to make!
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And so, once again he set about to becloud the choice by creeping into the church-world via “Christian” impostors. (see Jude 1:4)
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ABOVE PICTURE: Satan, The False Prophet who offers a world-loving gospel
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CHURCH-WORLD NO LONGER TOLERATES SOUND DOCTRINE
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And now in this very last hour of Earth’s history, Satan has successfully infiltrated the church-world to the point that the following prophecy of Paul has been fulfilled…“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;” 2nd Timothy 4:3
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Yes, the church-world has reached that day in which the itching ears have filled up the various churches and denominations to the point that any truth preached is now mingled with and defiled by the prosperity-driven gospel (and other false doctrines).
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PROSPERITY-DRIVEN GOSPELS
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Oh yes, this prosperity-driven gospel takes on several different forms, ranging from the so-called “Name-it-and-claim-it” churches to the more conservative form known as, “The Entreprenurial-Spirit”, or “The American Dream”.
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Either way, liberal or conservative, the end result is the same: a church filled with parishioners who attempt to have Jesus in one hand and this selfish world in the other hand!
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In other words, these modern-day prosperity-driven gospels give lip-service to Jesus, yet encouraging their members (either by word or by bad-example) to pursue the earthy pleasures and/or the proud, ambitious pursuits of this, the Devil’s selfish world-system!
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ABOVE PICTURE: Satan, The False Prophet who offers a world-loving gospel
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AN OUTWARD MORALITY
Now what does all this have to do with Phariseeism?
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Well, simply put, Phariseeism is merely the spirit of human pride, and largely manifested in outward morality.
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And Satan attempts to deceive even the very Elect (true Christians) via all the proud, moralistic behavior now exhibited in today’s church-world!
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James Tissot – The Pharisee and Publican – Brooklyn Museum & Wikimedia – US Public Domain
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A COUNTERFEIT GOSPEL
And so, in the current-day church-world, it is not uncommon to see many prayers, and much Bible-readings, and the often singing of hymns.
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After all, the Bible does warn us that the False Prophet will come, “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,” 2nd Thessalonians 2:9
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Therefore, this above verse reveals that Satan and his “ministers of righteousness” (who comprise the long-foretold False Prophet) will come with counterfeit “power, signs and lying wonders, to deceive if possible, even the very Elect” people of God! (see 2nd Thessalonians 2:9 & Matthew 24:24)
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ABOVE PICTURE: Satan, The False Prophet who offers a world-loving gospel
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SUBSTITUTE PROGRAMS
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And so, it shouldn’t surprise Christians that today’s itching-ears gospels are filled with great light and much truth, howbeit a counterfeit light, and a compromised truth!
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That’s right! Many churches today have a pharisean morality about them: such things as prophecy seminars, health seminars, Creation seminars, prayer meetings, etc…
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Audience hands – Wikimedia – Public Domai
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SELF-ABASEMENT
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And some of today’s churches even go beyond normal morality, attempting to deny the flesh!
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Even the Apostle, Paul warns Christians against being…“subject to ordinances, ‘Touch not; taste not; handle not’…Which things have indeed a show (outward display) of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body;” Colossians 2:20, 21, 23
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In other words, Phariseeism can even go to the extremes which are often witnessed in various false gospels whose members practice a very self-denying form of worship and lifestyle.
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Sunday preaching – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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“A FORM OF GODLINESS”
2nd Timothy 3:5
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Quite often, these false gospels become very exclusive, seclusive, and very critical of all outsiders.
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They may even have some type of uniform dress-codes.
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But no matter what degree of morality is practiced from congregation to congregation, the fundamental spirit behind all such morality is the spirit of Phariseeism which simply put is, “human pride”.
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It is the outward display of self-righteous behavior in effort to impress others.
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It is the product of foolish human pride manifested in an outward display of pretentious and counterfeit self-righteousness.
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James Tissot – The Pharisee and Publican – Brooklyn Museum & Wikimedia – US Public Domain
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THE GOOD NEWS!
The Good News amid all this negativity is that there exists a true goodness!
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And this true goodness is now being offered to each and every member of the human race! Yes, the gift of Salvation is now available to any and every willing recipient who begins to follow Jesus by faith on an upward, Heavenward journey to the Celestial City of God!
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And instead of a mere outward display of moral behavior, Jesus can come and live out His life through each and every Heaven-bound pilgrim, as he or she walks that narrow pathway (comprised of every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God!)
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To read part 7, click here…
September 17 (The City of Morality, Part 7: “The Sadducees of Prosperity”)
Jesus Speaking to Sadducees Pharisees – by James Tissot – www.catholic-resources.org – US Public Domain
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Drive out all my foolish proud judging! Purify my heart. Give me the mind of Christ, so that I too can become meek and lowly on heart…
Woman Praying – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read…January 20th (3 Fingered Judgment-Day)“, or you can also read… “September 30th (How To Spot The Biggest Sinner!)”
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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“THE SCORNER (THE PHARISEE)”
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“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, AN EVIL EYE, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” Mark 7:18-23
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Please tilt your head to the left. Do you see a man with a very long pointed nose. (Obviously, the sketch to the right is just an exaggeration in order to help you find the face in the photo to the left.)
Do you see an angry look? His right eye-brow is raised as if he is judging.
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This second face in the Moon appears to be that of a combination of a man as well as a fox. Or maybe a wolf. Doesn’t he have a long narrow nose like a wolf or fox? Maybe even a dog. Nevertheless, the expression on his face, as he appears to look down upon the Earth, is that of scorn. Unlike the first Moon-man’s sad shock and awe; this ‘man/fox/wolf/dog’appears to be that of anger and scorn. As if he is disgusted at the sinful planet below.
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He is very moral, you see!
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “Moon Into Blood Trilogy: 2nd Face: The Evil-Eyed Pharisee Scorner”
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TOMORROW:
September 14 (Television & The Image That Speaks, Part 5: “Television, Satan’s Advertiser-in-Chief!”)
TV – The Image of the Beast – www.theheavensdeclare.net – Not for commercial uses
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20+ MINUTE AUDIO JEREMIAH STUDY
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ALL‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.
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THIS IS STUDY #254 PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING
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Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.com – Public Domain
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