In John 9:13-34, the Pharisees angrily questioned a man Jesus healed of blindness. They wanted to discredit Jesus, insisting He couldn’t be from God because He healed on the Sabbath.(1)
When the man’s parents verified that he was born blind and the man called Jesus a prophet, the Pharisees ignored this evidence, commanding the man to “give glory to God by telling the truth.”
When the healed man further defended Jesus, the Pharisees childishly insulted him. No matter how much proof they had of Christ's power and character, they would not believe.
We see similar attitudes today. Atheists insist Christians are fools to believe there’s a God. Many people reject the obvious proofs of God and depend on human wisdom or false religions.
But I think the incredibly popular ex-vangelical movement most clearly mirrors the Pharisees. Raised in Christian homes, ex-vangelicals cut and paste Scripture to create a Jesus in their own image, claiming they are the true followers of Christ. Like the Pharisees, they suppress the truths staring them in the face and reject the true Jesus (Romans 1:18-21).
We must face these false prophets like the healed man faced the Pharisees, standing firm and defending our Lord (Jude 3-4).
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(1) It's important to note that in this passage some Pharisees in the group disagreed, saying, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” We'll talk more about that in a future post in this series.
Some helpful posts about ex-vangelicals:
Muddled Views of God, Scripture, and Women: This post explains the beliefs shared by Rachel Held Evans, a NY Times best-selling author.
Behold, He Stands at the Door: This post shares a popular ex-vangelical meme that seriously mocks our Lord.
Don't Be Misled: This post debunks two popular ex-vangelical beliefs.
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