It has become clear to me over the weekend that there are three classes of those who are outside the real
The Barbarians are those who are completely unexposed to any sort of sort of Christianity and have very dark spiritual lives. Their societies are often cruel and barbaric compared to the societies where the first two classes live.
The Samaritans are those who have a more developed form of so called righteousness than the Greeks, but still are far away from God. These people work a little harder than the Greeks to make the outside of the cup clean, but they are still full of wickedness. Jesus encountered a Samaritan woman at a well in John 4. As can be seen from this passage, the woman had a form of religion, but it seemed to be less formal than that of the Pharisees. Also, she had sin in her life that the Pharisees would condemn, thus showing that the outward morals of this group were less developed than the Pharisees. She and her kind worshiped in a set place and knew of the One God.
And lastly are the Pharisees. Among all the classes, this group comes the closest to authentic Christianity, but since it remains outside the real church, it is the most deceptive of the three. Its adherents work the hardest to appear righteous; the outside of the cup is the cleanest of the three. But it could be argued that the inside is darker than the other two because of the self-deception that goes on.
When I view these three groups today, I see much intermingling such that the lines dividing them are not clear often and become less clear all the time. Additionally I see that the natural progression in the world is from the society of the Barbarians into the society of the Samaritans and then finally into the Pharisaical society. This is inevitable for two reasons. First God declared of Jesus that of the increase of His kingdom and power there would be no end. So we know that the real church is always in the long run advancing. But secondly, we also know that the Devil always sows tares wherever Christ sows wheat. Thus, though the church advances, the latter group also is gaining converts and grows in power and influence all the time.
It seems almost certain to me that when Satan comes and the full power of the Anti-Christ is made manifest on earth, he shall use the Pharisees to accomplish his designs. The mighty sorcerers of
Brethren, if these things be so, how now shall we live? Should we not be wary of those who are clean on the outside, having a facade of religion, but deny its power? Should we not be most concerned that those who are forerunners of the great church of the anti-Christ not infiltrate our churches and mislead us? Indeed, I put forth that it is this Pharisaical group of which we should most closely examine and watch lest they deceive even us (Matt 24:24).
But even now the power of anti-Christ grows strong and has deceived many people…especially by way of politics. Satan has set up the Samaritan group; in this country they are called the liberals. Just like the woman of John 4, they have a form of religion, but it is less developed than the Pharisaical system. They also are corrupt on the inside, but because the cup is not as clean on the outside as the Pharisees are, their wickedness is more easily seen. However, these Samaritans have a form of religion that is far more advanced than that of the Barbarians. But they lag behind the third group. The Pharisaical group in this country, who are also often called the conservatives, delight in viewing the wickedness of the Samaritans for it makes them feel more righteous. These Pharisees view the Samaritans as one of their worst enemies and gather together to plot their destruction. The Samaritans do likewise with the Pharisees, and both call upon God to bless them and curse the other. However, both groups are deceived by The Deceiver, who uses their self-righteous feelings to lead them to hell. Both groups are set up by Satan to attempt to mislead the elect who may be deceived into taking sides in the fight. But their wrangling is no concern of ours; leave them alone for they are both blind leaders of the blind. Brethren, I urge you to instead follow Christ and derive your sense of righteousness from how well you compare to Him.
There is one last thing to note concerning the Pharisaical group. It is my strongest conviction that the full deceptive power that this group will wield as it is used by Satan has not ever been seen by the world. Any deception that the Pharisees exude at the current moment is in its infancy compared to the mighty horrors that Satan will unleash to deceive if possible even the elect. It is safe to note therefore, that this group will at that time advance to a level that sophistication that is not seen today.
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