The New Pharisees: How Conservative Churches Betray the Faith
They live an entirely secret life that is at odds with the faith they profess.
In our previous article, The Cowardice of Conservatism, we discussed the essence of the conservative—a spirit that is not grounded in traditional values, but instead in the status quo—a spirit that is incapable of lifting our nation and our people out of the mire it is engulfed in. This spirit is as old as time and is present in every age that God’s people have found themselves in.
We also see this in Scripture, primarily in Jesus’ interactions with the Pharisees. By examining their ideology, we will see that they were the conservatives of their day—twisting truth to serve their own ends and maintain the status quo instead of serving the people under them. By examining the woes that Christ pronounced on them in Matthew 23 and Luke 11, we will see how it applies to the clerical class of our day, demonstrating the spirit of the Pharisees can rise in any age and must be eradicated by the faithful.
Christ begins in Matthew, “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in” (Matt. 23:13). How many false pastors does this verse apply to today? Men may come to the churches to hear God’s word, but they risk their eternal souls if they are not taught rightly. How many parishioners, let alone pastors, send their children to public schools, one of the worst dens of iniquity in our nation? How many voted for Joe Biden or Kamala Harris without pastoral admonishment? How many openly support BLM and other Marxist ideologies and are still permitted to partake of the Lord’s Supper?
As we read Ezekiel, we hear:
But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. (33:6)
Countless come to church weekly and never hear the blast of the trumpet against their sins, but instead their consciences are placated. The Lord will require all these souls of every false minister that occupies our pulpits.
Christ then reveals more hypocrisy—demonstrating they are openly living a double life before men. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation” (23:14). Under pretense of helping widows, the Jewish rabbis would take over their estates for their own profit, one of the worst offenses imaginable. To keep up the veneer of righteousness, they would make long prayers to appear holy before men.
Today, many of these same ministers live lives of equal hypocrisy. Though we may be quick to point to the prosperity preachers, the same spirit exists in the “conservative” confessional churches. Countless ministers crush bruised reeds and snuff out burning wicks in the name of following the law of God, instead of being the gentle, yet firm shepherd that many sinners need. They are harsh with their wives and children under equal pretense, failing to lead their family in love as Christ leads his church. Despite this, for a few hours on a Sunday morning, they will make the appearance of piety through equally long prayers and sermons, with the utmost attention to doctrinal precision, showing that their religion is but damnable hypocrisy.
He then condemns their propagation of their wicked ideology. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (23:15). A modern parallel to this is our “conservative” seminaries, and today’s Pharisees are twice the children of hell as their forefathers.
The Pharisees no longer expend the effort to go to their proselytes. Instead, they demand their students come to them at their seminaries and their conferences. Ligon Duncan is one of innumerable examples. Chancellor of the ostensibly conservative Reformed Theological Seminary, he is famous for promoting “social justice” and “racial reconciliation,” even writing the foreword for Eric Mason’s book, Woke Church. Such liberalism will inevitably trickle down throughout the institution, leading to more liberal professors with positions, ensuring that its graduates and future pastors will be twice as damned as Duncan, dragging them and their congregations down to hell. The judgment on Duncan and men of his ilk shall be furious. The Pharisees were surely wicked, but today’s religious leaders put them to shame with their heresy and apostasy.
Christ then shows their hypocrisy regarding holiness. “Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor” (23:16) The wicked Pharisees failed not only to keep their oaths, they used deceit to avoid keeping them. Even more so, they inverted the greater and lesser holy things. As our Lord says, “Whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?” (23:17). The temple is holy by nature, as it is where God’s dwelling place is. The gold only becomes sanctified by the temple and is therefore lesser than the temple itself.
Although the taking of oaths in the same manner is no longer the practice of these hypocritical clerics, the same emanating spirit remains. Today, men think their deeds are righteous because they appear to firmly hold to the Confession of their forefathers, yet their deeds are evil. It is well and good that one holds firmly to his Confession. One may swear to God and man that his theology is right and proper, yet if his deeds are evil, his confession is false and demonstrates that he rejects the full confession of the men who fathered the Reformation. Our pulpits are filled with such men—men “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:5).
Christ continues, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel” (23:23–24). Countless confessional ministers are careful to commit many outward acts of righteousness – staying true to their historic confession of faith, holding to pure doctrine, tithing according to God’s commands, and other acts that can be seen by others.
Despite this, they have no heart of true righteousness, showing their faith is in vain. Such outward acts must be done but only with a heart that is in humble submission to God and in love for the church and its purity. Salvation is not demonstrated in mere outward acts but is done in a heart of true faith. Without true judgment, mercy, and faith supporting these works, such works are dead works and will only lead to one’s damnation.
He then condemns them for the outward appearance of life, while instead, only bringing death to those who they encounter. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (23:27–28). It was a Jewish tradition to whitewash tombs to mark them out, lest someone come into contact with them and become unclean. This soon became a yearly tradition by which they would decorate the tombs of the dead.
Countless ministers today fit this exact description. They have the appearance of godliness and confessional adherence before men, but they deny its power with their lives. They are drunkards. They are enslaved to pornography. They are derelict in their duties to their wives and children. They live an entirely secret life that is at odds with the faith they profess and the façade that they display to their parishioners and those they wish to impress. Such hypocrisy may fool man for a lifetime, but the Lord is not deceived. One day, the whitewashed exterior that hides rotting death in their hearts will be exposed and judged.
This then naturally brings us to the final woe. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers” (23:29–32). How fitting is this final woe for today’s ministers! They praise Luther, Calvin, the authors of their confession, and their favorite long-dead theologians, yet they deny these fathers on the very issues that define our day and persecute the very men who still defend them.
Countless Lutherans apologize for Martin Luther’s condemnation of the Jews. Equal numbers of the Reformed are ashamed of John Calvin’s hand in the just execution of the heretic Servetus. They are equally ashamed of R.L. Dabney’s comments on race. As the entire nation burns due to the effects of Jews and Blacks in our society, conservative pastors besmirch the name of those who would be standing with today’s most persecuted men in the church today. Countless men, and even pastors, have been driven from churches for simply repeating the same ideas of the old Reformation prophets, whose tombs are decorated by these so-called “conservatives.” Michael Spangler was divested by the OPC for fighting feminism in the denomination. Samuel Ketcham was excommunicated by the RPCNA for addressing the reality of race. Zachary Garris was just recently suspended by the PCA for the great crime of simply telling a Black man he was wrong online. Time would fail us to tell the countless stories of men in the pews who have also been driven from the churches for espousing these same ideas. All these men came from supposedly conservative and confessional denominations, yet today’s clerical class has done nothing but persecute those who wish to walk in the old paths. God deliver us from all such men!
“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” (23:33). The Pharisees suffer the eternal flame of damnation at this very moment! And so it shall be for all such clerics who follow in their footsteps. May God remove their lampstand quickly and so replace them with more fitting vinedressers who will serve Christ and his kingdom. Let us all put our trust in the Lord that no matter the outcome in this life, the Lord sees and will judge the wicked and will reward those few who walk the narrow path of righteousness.
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