Isn't it fascinating how history repeats itself?
In nearly all arenas; social, political, cultural, discernible patterns repeat themselves with varying cycle lengths.
Spiritual matters are not immune. Throughout the scriptures we find repetition in how Heavenly Father deals with His children, and how Satan seeks to destroy truth. Perhaps this is at least partly due to our apparent unwillingness to learn from the past. It's no wonder one of the most often repeated words in scripture is 'remember'.
During some time recently spent studying the New Testament, and specifically the 4 gospels, I've noticed undeniable parallels between the Scribes and Pharisees that sought to destroy Jesus Christ and the movement He began, and today's self-anointed "Evangelicals" that seek to destroy His restored gospel. Granted this applies to a minority of Christians. I hope.
**Orthodoxy -- During Jesus' ministry the Mosaic Law had gradually been mutated from its original intent. The orthodoxy of the time, defined predominantly by the "experts in the law", the Scribes and Pharisees, had drifted so far from truth that Jesus Christ, the great I AM, even He that was the author and giver of that law was labeled a blasphemer by them.
Predictably, that pattern has repeated. After centuries of misinterpretation and diversion, sprinkled liberally with power broking, Christian orthodoxy also mutated so that many precious truths were lost. Along the way many recognized this drifting and attempted to correct it through Reformation. These attempts were incomplete at best. Alas the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Saints are often told they are not Christians because we don't align with current Christian orthodoxy. But that is exactly the point. In our day, just as in the Master's earthly ministry, it is the orthodoxy that is incorrect. It is a common human weakness to not recognize truth when it doesn't conform to preconceived notions.
**Misinterpretation -- Much of the cause of the mutation of The Law was the misinterpretation of scripture. The Pharisees intently studied the Torah and vehemently fought against any interpretation other than theirs. They could quote the Torah and regularly used passages from it to attempt to prove Jesus a fraud. They were certain they were correct. Clearly Jesus' ministry demonstrated that despite all their study and vehemence, they had missed the point. Latter-Day Pharisees also study the scriptures and are equally certain their interpretation, or Hermeneutics, is correct. They likewise attempt to use select, out of context Bible verses as blunt instrument weapons. If they truly understood the Bible they would be eagerly searching for the restoration of all things foretold therein.
I find it very interesting also how in both cases, people that had long been persecuted became the persecutors. The Jews had been persecuted for centuries. Modern day Christians are victimized all over the world, and even increasingly so in the quickly liberal-moving society in Western cultures. Many even hold their persectutions up as evidence that they are correct. And yet the experience of being persecuted and hated unjustly hasn't prevented the Latter-Day Pharisees from becoming persecutors any more than it stopped them in Jesus' time.
I find these comparisons to be fascinating. I also find them to be testimony that Lucifer's tactics for combatting truth haven't changed.
Hindsight being 20/20 we now know that Jesus of Nazareth IS the promised Messiah and that the Pharisees missed the boat. In time the Latter-Day Pharisees will likewise find themselves regretting.
