Are you ready to think a little?
Let’s get some biblical exercise!

Consider these words of Yeshua Messiah:
Matthew 23:13
 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves,nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.”

Do you recognize what Messiah is saying to the educated religious leaders of His time?
1.  Woe to you…  [this is never good in scripture]
2.  You are not going into the kingdom of heaven
3.  Those you teach are also not going into the kingdom of heaven

WOW.  
Double WOW.
This is a big deal.
This statement has eternal consequences, not just for the religious teachers, but for their students (the masses) as well.

Am I right about this?
Or am I just mistaken about what Yeshua is saying?
Check out Matthew 23 verse 33—
^” Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?”
Nope, I don’t have it wrong.
He really is saying they are not going to heaven.

But why would our Savior say such a harsh thing, with such harsh consequences?
Check out His admonishment in Matthew 15
Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. ⁷ Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
⁸ ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
⁹ And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

He is angry with the Pharisees for teaching the traditions of men, as though it is the word of Yehova [when it is not].
And a detailed reading of Matthew 23 indicates many evil crimes against Yehova, even though they fake a righteous outward appearance.

So far, we have established that Messiah was very displeased with the educated religious leaders of His time.  He point blank tells them they will not be in heaven, nor will their followers.

What does any of this have to do with 2018?
Well, this is what it has to do with today’s time, and today’s people. Pay particular attention to the first and last verses I’ve quoted:
Ecclesiastes 1
⁴ One generation passes away, and another generation comes;
But the earth abides forever.
⁵ The sun also rises, and the sun goes down,
And hastens to the place where it arose.
⁶ The wind goes toward the south,
And turns around to the north;
The wind whirls about continually,
And comes again on its circuit.
⁷ All the rivers run into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full;
To the place from which the rivers come,
There they return again.
⁸ All things are full of labor;
Man cannot express it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor the ear filled with hearing.
⁹ That which has been is what will be,
That which is done is what will be done,
And there is nothing new under the sun.

What was will be again.
If Messiah was angry and displeased with the religious leaders during His time on earth, is there any chance He might be angry and displeased with today’s religious systems, and the men and women who operate within those systems?

First of all, we know this about Yeshua Messiah.
Hebrews 13:8
⁸ Yeshua Messiah is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The things that made Him angry 2000 years ago will certainly make Him angry today. He does not change.
So the next question — do educated religious leaders of the 21st century teach the traditions of men, instead of the Word of Yehova?
If they do, then this 2000 year old statement applies to them, just as it applied to the Pharisees:
“But woe to you, pastors-priests-ministers-bishops-popes-cardinals-reverends [scribes and Pharisees], hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves,nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.”

If men (and women) today are teaching the traditions of men instead of the truth of scripture, they will be excluded from the kingdom of heaven, and sadly, their followers will also be excluded.
Is there any scripture that indicates this might happen?
What if I show you not only that it could happen, but that it absolutely is happening?

Jeremiah 16:19-20
¹⁹ O Lord, my strength and my fortress,
My refuge in the day of affliction,
The Gentiles shall come to You
From the ends of the earth and say,
“Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
Worthlessness and unprofitable things.”
²⁰ Will a man make gods for himself,
Which are not gods?

Wow.
Double Wow.
Scripture says that in end times, the Gentiles will realize they have been taught nothing but lies.
Lies that have been inherited.
Generation after generation of worthless lies.

Is this possible?
Not only is it possible, it is guaranteed.
Scripture says so.

Not only will we realize we’ve been taught lies, but check out the consequences of those lies.
Men will make up gods who are not gods.
If these made up gods are not gods, can they grant salvation?
That would be a resounding NO!!
[Refer again to Matthew 23 — ^” Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?”]

Am I sure about this?
Check out Ezekiel Chapter 22
Ezekiel 22:25-28
There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing prey. They have devoured lives, they take wealth and valuables, they multiply widows in her midst. ²⁶ Her kohanim [priests] have violated My Torah [the law] and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, nor have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean. They shut their eyes to My Shabbatot. So I am profaned among them. ²⁷ Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing at prey, spilling blood and destroying lives for dishonest gain. ²⁸ Her prophets have plastered them with whitewash, seeing false visions and predicting lies to them, saying ‘Thus says Elohim,’ when Elohim has not spoken.

Could this be describing our church system today?
Our churches collectively take in billions and billions of dollars each year.  They demand it. They tell people to tithe, even though they reject the Old Testament law, which is where tithing comes from.
They teach that the parts of the law they don’t like are done away with, but the tithing benefits them, so they teach it is still applicable and necessary.
Hypocrites.
What did Yeshua say about hypocrites in Matthew 23?

What do churches do with all these billions and billions of dollars?
Well, there is no such thing as hunger in our world.
There is no such thing as homelessness.
There is no such thing as poverty.
It sounds like the church has used all this money to solve the ills of our society, right?
Nope.
They use this money to purchase [collectively] trillions of dollars worth of commercial properties. They fill those properties with carpet, and padded chairs, and coffee kiosks, and sanctuaries, and sound systems, and offices, and on and on and on.
And then, they fill these properties with employees.
That is where nearly all of the money goes.
Is that biblical?
I’ve searched my bible. I’m having trouble finding the part where we are commanded to purchase property and hire people to maintain and work in those properties.

Do our modern churches profane the Torah (the law)?
Absolutely and completely.
They teach against it.
Do churches teach clean and unclean concepts?
Nope.
In fact, I’ve been to church pig roasts.
So, yeah, they fail this badly.
Do our modern churches honor the Sabbath?
Nope.
Really?  Do you know that honoring the Sabbath is the 4th of the 10 Commandments?  And our churches teach against it.
They’ve replaced the biblical Sabbath with Sunday worship.
Not only did they change the day, but the concepts are lost as well.
Our modern churches profane the Sabbath.  God says anyone who profanes the Sabbath will surely die. Not good…

Yeah, this passage in Ezekiel is pretty spot on with regard to our modern day churches. I’m not talking about the obviously corrupt tv evangelists. I’m talking about the entire system of 40,000 plus denominations.

How about this one:
2Timothy 4:3-4
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; ⁴ and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

Does this statement describe the modern church system?
I could spend hours on this…
But I won’t.
I’ll leave you with this simple test, given in scripture.
I’ll let you decide if our church system passes these tests (one from the Old Testament, and the same test given again in the New Testament):

Deuteronomy 13:3-5
for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. ⁵ But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.

And the same test, still applicable after the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of our Messiah:
1John 2:3-6
³ Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴ He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. ⁶ He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

What do you think?
Do our 21st Century educated religious leaders pass this test?
Do the millions upon millions of people in their congregations pass this test?

Matthew 23:13
 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves,nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.”

I don’t study and write these articles in order to criticize or exclude anyone, not that I would have the authority to do so anyway.
I study and I write these things because I have a heart for people.
Family, friends, total strangers.
It does not matter.
I see a whole world of people violating the warnings we are given in scripture [I was one of them for 30 years].
Not understanding, or even ignoring, these warnings has harsh consequences.
I fear for the masses.
I spend my time studying, praying, and attempting to reveal these pitfalls to anyone who will listen.

Messiah said this for a reason, and He is not a liar:
Matthew 7:13-14
¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. ¹⁴ How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”