And the Testing one, two three, testing one, two one two three this is radio free Mormon on the air

broadcasting behind enemy lines tonight's episode the Pharisee phenomenon now we all know who The Pharisee phenomenon. Now we all know who the Pharisees are. The Pharisees

were the religious leaders of the Jews in Jesus' Day. And there are many stories

in the New Testament about the arguments and

confrontations that Jesus got into with the Pharisees. It is quite common in

the LDS Church to paint a caricature of Jesus as someone who was all loving all the time

24-7 Jesus loves everybody but anybody who actually spends any time reading,

the four Gospels in the New Testament

know that that is not the case.

Jesus certainly was a loving, accepting,

kind and supportive individual

to the displaced, to the outcast, to those who were

marginalized within his religious system. But when it came to the leaders of that religious

system, Jesus was not loving. He was not kind. of that

he was not kind and he was anything but supportive in fact he was

confrontational and bombastic he did not simply go to the Pharisees himself behind closed doors and express his

disagreements. No, he did it publicly and he did it frequently and this conflict ultimately ended up in Jesus getting crucified.

I remember hearing this characterization of Jesus as all loving being taught from the pulpit

at a sacrament meeting a few years ago and I remember the

thought coming to my mind well you have to step on somebody's toes

somewhere along the way if you're going to end up getting crucified. And it was the Pharisees on whose toes

Jesus stepped heavily and often. What was it about the Pharisees that Jesus did not like? Well there are a number of

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