In the previous posting we learned that the Apostle Paul spent hours proving to the Jewish leaders of Rome that the Messiah pictured in the Tora and the teachings of the prophets was Jesus of Nazareth. Following his exhaustive, passionate presentation of Biblical facts, Paul finds that his efforts have been in vain. Instead of believing what is written in their own Scriptures, his visitors consulted with each other to determine if they should believe those passages. By his parting words to them it is clear that Paul is thoroughly disgusted by their reaction to the Words of the One they call their God. We find his final statement recorded in Acts 28:25-27 where he repeats the condemnation God had leveled on their ancestors many years earlier : “… well spoke the Holy spirit by Isaiah the prophet to our (Israelite) fathers saying, ‘Go to this people and say to them, hearing you shall hear and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see and not perceive, for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed lest they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them.'”

The leaders of God’s Chosen People refused to accept His Holy Words written in His Holy Text and spoken by His holy prophets who had received them as the Holy God spoke to them through His Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21). Others, however, would believe him. Acts 28:30,31 tell us that other Jews visited Paul and heard him “preach the Kingdom of God and teach those things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Biblical ignorance and its cause–religious arrogance–are two of Satan’s most effective weapons of mass (spiritual) destruction. With them he has managed to deceive billions of people over the past 2000 years and billions more over the previous 4000 years. Religious man’s arrogance causes him to refuse to study, believe and obey the Lord’s pure Word of Truth (Jn. 17:17) concerning his deadly spiritual condition. Having “compared themselves among themselves” relative to right and wrong, the typical church attitude is: “I know all I need to know.” No one, including this writer, knows all he/she needs to know. God, the consummate teacher, brings true seekers to Himself one step at a time as He ushers them through His strait gate and along His narrow way that will, if followed to the END (Mat. 10:22), lead the walker (1 Jn. 2:6) to His kingdom. The problem is that church people, having been deceived by Satan (Rev. 12:9), have entered his wide gate and are walking along his broad way leading to death. See Bait and Switch. Catholicism and Protestantism serves as waystations for religious people on their way to destruction. Ironically, these people “know” that they are saved and born again. Truly the Lord was right in Proverbs 14:14 where He wrote: “There is a way that SEEMS RIGHT to a man, but that way leads to destruction.” Note that religious man “knows” that he is “right” in his choice of spiritual truth–he “knows” that he is saved and on his way to heaven, neither of which is true if God is to be believed. See Hope and Salvation along with Born Again for God’s Word on the subject of salvation and rebirth. To be continued. L.J.