PROF.M.M.NINAN

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5.1 THE PARABLE

Matt. 13:33 He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."

This parable which also appears in Luke is usually explained as a figure of how the presence of the Gospel in a wicked world permeated into it and transformed it into a heaven. But if you critically look at it, that is exactly what it is not.

Christ was not a reformer. His message was not one of reformation but of rebirth. Creation of a new creature was his method of creating the kingdom of heaven. Man with his sinful nature cannot be reformed into a sinless creature. By gradual evolution even under ideal conditions men do not become Gods. The sickness of man cannot be cured from inside or from outside.

Jn.3:3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

4 "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'

8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

True enough rebirth is produced by the presence of the witness in a community. "But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to hear without a preacher?.... So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes from preaching Christ." (Rom. 10:14-17)

However Jesus never expected the whole world to be born again. He wants it. But he knows that it cannot be, so he compares Christians to light and salt. But he never compared himself or his people to leaven.

The Kingdom is ushered in its fullness only on his personal return. Even then after a thousand years of peaceful and righteous reign, when Satan is unleashed, the unregenerate people of his temporal kingdom will revolt against him. This only shows that sinful men cannot be reformed.

Then what is the meaning of this parable? This parable we know refers to a period following the period of mustard tree.

5.2 THE LEAVEN

Let us look into the word of god to see the meaning of the symbols. Nowhere , repeat, nowhere under any circumstance, leaven is associated with a constructive process. Leavening is a decaying process and all through the Bible it is seed as a symbol of sin and heresy and false teachings.

1 Cor. 5:6 Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?

7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

Galations 5:9 repeats the same idea.

Because of this symbolism, leaven was never a part of the sacrifice. It was strictly forbidden, even when it forms part of a first fruit offering it may be brought in but never burned. Thus in priestly code we see, "No offering which you bring shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven, nor honey as an offering by fire to the Lord. As an offering of first fruit you may bring them to the Lord, but they shall not be offered on the altar." (Lev. 2:11-12)

Leaven is a symbol of sin, and as such on the feast of the unleavened bread, the feast celebrating the separation of the nation of Israel as a Holy nation liberated from the bondage of Egypt (sin and slavery) "seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the first day you shall put away leaven out of your house, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.......For seven days no leaven shall be found in your house.....you shall eat nothing leavened...." (Ex. 12:14-20)

It is reported again in Ex 13:6-7 "No leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with in your entire territory."

Even today Jews keeps this strict search of leaven on the eve of the unleavened bread festival with meticulous care.

Thus quite contrary to normal interpretation, the leaven represents the false teachings, sin and heresy while the flour (meal) represents the body of Christ, the Church and Jesus himself and the Word of God.

5.4 THREE MEASURES OF MEAL

The number three as we know represents the divine perfection. Thus we have the perfection of Godhead in the trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We have the perfection of divine witness also as three in Spirit, Water and Blood ( 1 Jn. 5:7-8) The appearance of number three clearly indicates that Jesus did want to make a point of the divine perfection . The story otherwise does not require any measure specification. It is otherwise utterly superfluous. The leaven therefore is directed against the perfection and totality of God and his totality of witness - against the person of God and his means of working his purposes on the earth. Meal, the flour mixed with oil then clearly represents the Church.  Thus the leaven in the meal denote the springing up of heretic teachings that undermine the concept of God.

5.5 THREE TYPES OF LEAVENS

Now we turn to the Mark 8:15. The story told here is the same as in Mathew 16:6. But here we are given a third type of leaven - the leaven of the Herodians. Herodians were a cult who mixed Jewish faith with Greek paganism. Herodian heresy was syncretism.  They played down the consequence of sin. This could be termed the teaching of Balaam which entertained joining in the eating of food sacrificed to the idols and in cultic prostitution. Spiritual fornication is the usual name given to this. It is directed directly against the holiness of God and his work in history. Man is the supreme authority and body is the pride of man. Herodians displayed their bodies for its beauty. The Jews even tried to surgically remove their circumcision - the sign of the covenant for this.

5.6 THE WOMAN

Who is this woman? There are essentially two women in the Bible. Others are patterns of these two. One is the bride of the Lamb - the Church and the other is the bride of Devil - the harlot. Both have the same function in relation to the head. If the duty of the church is to keep the faith from corruption, it is the duty of the harlot to corrupt it. The Church therefore mixes the cereal offering with salt that it may not decay. The Church members are the salt of the earth. Thus in Lev. 2:13 we are told that "you shall season all your cereal offering with salt; you shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be lacking from your cereal offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt."

Thus from the evidence we identify the woman as the bride of Satan:

Rev 17:1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.

2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries."

3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.

4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.

5 This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.

7 Then the angel said to me: "Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns.

8 The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.

9 "This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits.

10 They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while.

God created woman as an emotional and susceptible personality. Therefore they are symbols of churches - good and bad. Women are the backbone of every church. And they are the greatest supporters of heretics too. Jezebel the wife of Ahab is usually the symbol of evil forces. As a foretaste of spiritual fornication encouraged by Jezebel stands two women figures of this Church Period - Empress Irene and Empress Theodesia. In AD 726 Pope Leo III in an attempt to eradicate idol worship started a widespread destruction of images and persecution of image worshippers. The result was a religious riot which Pope handled with the might of the army. Gregory III at the Synod of Rome excommunicated all proponents of icons and idols in 732 AD and the Ecumenical Council of Constance declared that only Satan could have introduced image worship into the Church. But the tables were turned with the ascension of Empress Irene and by AD 787 in the second General Council of Nicea convened by her, iron relics, pictures and idols were authorized. It is in fact decreed that anyone who consecrates a church without these must be punished as a transgressor. This Jezebel has the zeal even to tear out the eyes of her own son by this decree. Under her the Marilatory came into its zenith as we should expect.. In 794 the Council of Frankfurt again condemned the image worship which was ratified by the Council of Paris. But in AD 842 another Jezebel came to power - the Byzantine Empress Theodosia. She re-established the image worship and set out on an inquisition. Between 842 and 847 she was able to destroy more than a hundred thousand people who refused to bow down before the idols - beheaded, burned or drowned. These martyrs are remembered today as Paulicians.

As to Jezebels who committed physical fornication we have the history of two harlots who actually ruled the church - Theodora and her daughter Marozia. These prostitutes controlled the Popes and the Papal chair for over 60 years (904 - 963 AD) and the period is known as the era of Pornocracy`

5.7 RISE OF THE PAPAL CHURCH OF ROME

Rome is the only city that was built on seven hills. We have seen how the Emperors of Rome persecuted the early Christians and how a twist in history Christianity became the State Religion. This provided a congenial atmosphere for the infiltration of Roman religious cults and ceremonies into the now popular Christian Church. It also encouraged the growth of priestcraft, also borrowing heavily from the local paganism. A separate class of clergy and a hierarchy of priests ranging from Pope to deacons came into existence with well defined job descriptions and status.

Now there were two authorities - the State and the Church. As the power of the priests began to reach heights, a struggle between the state and the church began. As the secular Roman Empire began to disintegrate, the all embracing cohesive factor of faith gave the Pope a superiority over the Kings of the various countries which constituted the old Roman Empire. It came to a head at the time of Gregory in 590 AD. Gradually Popes became the King Makers.

When the Papal chair became the seat of ultimate authority, the power struggle set in and instead of being a seat of spiritual authority and strength, it became a seat of worldliness. Evil men and women often took control of it. Murder, treachery and simony (buying position with money) were constant recurring events, There was a period (AD 904 - 963) in the papal history when two harlots took control of the Papal throne. Marozia, the daughter of Theodora, wife of Senator Theophylact became the mistress of Pope Sergius III, Marozia and her mother became very powerful, so they imprisoned the next elected Pope- Pope John X and made the illegitimate son of Sergius from Marozia Pope under the title Pope John XI. Then his brother Alberic followed as Pope Alberic II. He was succeeded by Pope John XII who was the nephew of JohnXI when he was only 18 years old. He proved to be so highly immoral that one of the Kings took courage to arrest him, try him and depose him in AD 963. But when King Otto I returned to his country, Germany, John came back to power and ruled for another year.

In AD 1032 the ruling Pope Benedict VIII made his nephew as Pope Benedict IX when he was only 12 years old. He obtained the chair by simony. He was highly immoral and lived in adultery and was involved in robbery and murder. So the people of Rome drove him out. But he managed to sell the papacy to Gregory IV. Later Benedict IX killed the them reigning Pope, Clement II and again became Pope. In AD 1045 he again sold it to one John Grattan who became Pope Gregory VI. The history of Papacy thus continues as a worldly power beset with the birds of the air.

5.8 PHARISEES AND THE HERODIANS

The rise of clergy gave rise to the trend of creating new techniques of efficiently controlling the masses. All efforts were directed towards building up a theology which would defend and enlarge ecclesiastical authority and claims. It took three forms:

1. Primacy and Universality of Roman Pope. Doctrine of Petrine succession and authority of Pope as the sole custodian and distributor of divine will and purpose)

2. The supremacy of spiritual authority over temporal authority. (As God’s representative Popes became King Makers)

3. Transmission of Grace through sacraments. "The priests alone, by the appointment of Christ, has in his hands the power of the sacramental impartation of Grace, and thus the redemptive miraculous element of the church, without which there is no deliverance from original sin or from purgatory."

Seven sacraments were decreed: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Orders and Matrimony.

This scheme was complete when the word of God was taken away from the common man in AD 1198 and a sever inquisition was instituted to destroy all those who held different views and they were exterminated with an iron hand. One means of making money was to sell ‘masses’ and forgiveness of sin. One could buy this pardon in advance for a whole life time and even for dead people.

But in spite of all these, there were people who learned to love the Lord. Through persecutions they kept the word and studied it. Some even ventured to translate the word of God into the languages of the common people. Hue and cry, excommunication and stakes followed. The first English Bible was translated and published by John Wycliff in 13 82. Xemenes de Asners, a Pope who became a hermit produced the Polglot Bible in Hebrew, Greek and Latin and got in printed. The Spanish Bible appeared in AD 1478, the French Bible in AD 1487, the Bohemian Bible in 1488 and the Scottish and German Bibles in Ad 1520. Wherever and whenever the Word of God was given it was followed by great revivals which gradually got momentum till reformation and Protestantism led by Martin Luther (AD 1517)and other caved in.

Even within the Roman Catholic Church were people who consecrated themselves to serve humanity and extension of the idea of Christian love and faith though shrouded in Romanism. Thought they never came out of the Romanism and remaining within its bounds they evangelized as much as they could. Among them are Adrian ( who evangelized Scotland), Wilfred (who evangelized England), Cadda of Northumberland, Wilfrid the apostle to Germany, Bernard of Clairvauss the hymn writer, Peter Bruyes, Dominic, Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas and Catherine of Sienna - the patron saint of Italy.

5.9 JESUS WRITES TO THE CHURCH IN THYATIRA

This church is addressed by Jesus as the Church in Thyatira. Thyatira could be translated as Sacrifice of labor or as Goddess of Hunting. To this chuch Jesus writes this letter.

Rev. 2: 18 "To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.

20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.

21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.

22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways.

23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

24 Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you):

25 Only hold on to what you have until I come.

26 To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations--

27 'He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery' -- just as I have received authority from my Father.

28 I will also give him the morning star.

29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.