Take a look at the photo above. It says BELIEVE. Actually, it says BELIEVE twice. Yet, one BELIEVE is an actual structure with mass and the other BELIEVE is a mere shadow created by the sun. Does the one with actual structure and mass that you can pick up and hold exist? Is it real? Does the shadow which can be captured only by the human eye or in a photograph also exist? Is it real? Is one more real than the other or do they both exist in unison and in the same time and place yet in different forms?
How about the Physical Realm? You exist within it; you can see it; touch it, which makes it real. But how about the Spiritual Realm? Some can see it with the human eye and it has been captured in photographs, so does it exist? Is it real? Or, like the photo, do they exist in unison and in the same time and place yet in different forms?
The Sadducees were priestly and aristocratic families who interpreted the law more literally
than the Pharisees. They only recognized precepts derived directly from the Torah as binding and denied the concept of the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, and the existence of angels.
After reading the above, would you be in agreement if I said that the Sadducees, based on their beliefs, would have discounted the existence of that shadow because it was not physical?
During Christ’s ministry, his teachings were not accepted by the Sadducees and Pharisees who were the religious authorities of the time. They confronted him and tested him because these things did not fit in with their own belief systems. And in turn, Christ himself warned his followers to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees because they were not of truth.
Their mindset towards Christ Jesus, who was truth in the flesh, and his teachings, was mainly because they were thinking in such a physical realm literal sense that they either couldn’t perceive of or understand the spiritual things Christ spoke of at all. Their hearts just weren't open to it or their minds either and Christ knew this. Therefore, they rejected the truth that stood before them both physically in their personal rejection of Christ and spiritually in the rejection of Christ’s teachings within their hearts.
As a minister of Christ’s ministry in these End Times I see this today all over again - history repeating itself as there is nothing new under the sun.
Not long ago, a friend of mine said to me that she did not believe that angels continued their work among mankind as they did in the Bible. And she, like many, cannot understand or accept that which is spiritual, things like the parts that Holy Angels and Holy Ghosts play in the Spiritual War and in bringing Father’s will into fruition, because they are so focused with that which is physical and literal. To not believe that that which resides in the Spirit Realm still play a large part in bringing into fruition Yahweh’s will today as they always have since the beginning of time, is to me, the same as the Sadducees who, while spoken of numerous times in the Old Testament, did not believe in the existence of angels. It is a repetition of what has happened before and it is taking and rejecting truth in favor of personal beliefs. This is not faith. Faith is believing in what one cannot yet see, perceive of, comprehend or even understand.
There are also those like my friend, who read and attempt to decipher prophecy on their own accord. But they are thinking in a physical realm literal sense just like the Sadducees were during Christ's ministry; so much so that if the truth of what occurs in the spirit realm is even brought up, it is to them, considered to be "New Age", "Heresy" or "Un-Christian". In essence they pick and choose what they believe and challenge the truth or dismiss the truth all together in the same way that the Sadducees and Pharisees tested and challenged Christ. Rather than taking the time listen, and then ponder or pray on anything new that they are exposed to, they instead make a snap decision not to believe because it doesn’t line up with what they’ve convinced themselves of, been taught or have believed up until then to be truth when in fact what they believe is only partial truth or even complete fallacy.
When Christ said to the Sadducees, "For the kingdom of God is among you" – I think of the many times that as a paranormal investigator I had been asked about the existence of the Spirit Realm and had attempted to explain its existence and how it is not in some far off place, but in fact right here with us and among us. Many have a hard time comprehending this because they are so accustomed to only that which is Physical. Some accepted what I had to say, others denied it – but all the same it was truth. The Spiritual exists right alongside the physical and literal in creation in the same way it exists in the Scriptures and one cannot deny or reject one in favor for the other because they are simultaneous and both parts of a whole. They are one.
Having this mindset or point of view when it comes to discarding the spiritual and favoring only the physical is the same as discarding the teachings found within the New Testament for those in the Old Testament or those in the New for those in the Old, or, a God of wrath for a God of love. It is all, in its entirety, truth and one cannot favor or choose to believe or accept one over the other because to do so is to choose to accept only parts of Truth rather than Truth in its entirety. It's like following a recipe. If you leave out one ingredient, it's not going to taste as it should. And substitutions of ingredients will change the entire essence and flavor and even make it something else entirely. And something else is not the whole and complete Truth.
In today’s day and age, there are countless different beliefs. So, what do you believe? Do you accept only that which is Physical and Literal? Or are you open to the Spiritual as well? If you’re unsure, pray to Father Yahweh. Open your heart. Meditate. Do not immediately dismiss based on your own personal beliefs, but instead be open to that which is new, yet in line with the Scriptures. Be a Believer of Truth. Be a Follower of Christ.
Psalm 25:5 "Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; I wait for You all day long."