The leaven of the Pharisees

It's everywhere. It exerts its malign effects wherever men have replaced or augmented true divine law with their own tradition; wherever they falsely accuse others based on those traditions. Its result is not only to puff the Pharisees up with hypocritical pride, but to cause in their victims a false sense of shame, and ultimately, spiritual shipwreck.

The Pharisees sinned in one way by violating the real law, while professing to be its most zealous adherents. They sinned in another way by setting up spurious commandments . Such non-laws based on tradition form the basis of human societies, governments, and of course, most churches. They obscure the true commandments and encourage obedience to men rather than the Eternal. They enable the Pharisees to falsely accuse others, which in turn creates false guilt, a favorite weapon of the Accuser. False guilt often drives an individual away from the Eternal rather than toward him; in shame and fear of damnation, or in fear that his prayers simply will not be answered, he runs and hides. This leads eventually to a downward spiral of resignation, and then, defiance – for why wouldn’t the burdensome laws and false accusations of Satan make one feel defiant? But since these laws of Satan are falsely represented as of divine origin, the individual blames the Eternal for the burden and the the guilt, rather than the Accuser.

Such beleaguered individuals may turn away from prayer, Bible reading, and church altogether, convinced that it is the Eternal who has bound them with such a heavy burden, with laws impossible to follow, the inevitable result of which is hypocritical deception or outright apostasy. Thus Pharisee tradition has done its job, and the Pharisees' proselyte become twofold more the son of hell than he was before!

Better to be found picking an ear of grain on the Sabbath than to be found puffed up with this leaven.