The Pharisees were a sect of essentially lay teachers that began to form and grow in number probably about 100 years or so after Ezra and his generation passed away. Ezra reestablished the law in Judaea in the mid 5th century BC; and from that point forward no more did Israel ever go back into idolatry. However, something new began: an attitude of using the once-neglected scriptures to extract laws by study— in Hebrew “talmud.” The process struck many Jews as repulsive, who viewed it merely as intense reading into the meanings of words and then applying elastic interpretations to basic sentences, etc. In short, it was not based on what the scriptures said but what one could make them say. The Pharisees were the center of this whole process.

   This process of extracting laws by study (talmud) was especially disgusting to the Essenes and Sadducees. The Essenes at Qumran had a palpable hatred of Pharisees, referring to them metaphorically as “Ephraim.” An early derogatory reference to the Pharisees’ methodology can even be found in their sectarian documents. Speaking of their foundation document Miqsat Ma’aseh ha-Torah (Some Rulings Pertaining to the Torah), Lawrence H. Schiffman writes: “The sect, using a play on words, derisively called the Pharisees doreshe halaqot, best translated as ‘those who expound false laws.’ The same text refers to the talmud (literally ‘study’) of ‘Ephraim’ as falsehood, no doubt a reference to the Pharisaic method of deriving new, extended laws from expressions in Scripture. In these texts from Qumran we see that Josephus’ description of the Pharisees and their traditions— which were the precursor of the concept of oral rabbinic law that became embodied in the Talmud— were essentially in place in the Hasmonean period.”

   It seems certain the Pharisees are Ephraim. Polemics exist in the sectarian document referred to above where the author(s) denounce certain laws which “Ephraim” has expounded, all of which are noteworthy for being rules which the rabbinic tradition would later attribute to the Pharisees. The group of Essenes which lived at Qumran essentially broke away from civilization because of the growing power of “Ephraim” gained through its alliance with the Hasmonean monarchy. The Pharisees were now in a position to actually begin to enforce their extracted laws and rules (now called gezeirah) with equal force as direct commands from God.

   From both the voluminous records of the Qumran sect (Essenes), the preaching of John ben Zechariah, and Jesus’ own comments, we know that on the whole many Jews were either wary of or burdened by the Pharisees and their teachings, largely, one might suppose, because of the intense self-obsession their rules required and the often hawkish nitpicking at the littlest of things.

   Much of the knowledge of pre-destruction Judaism’s aversion for the Pharisees was lost until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This was because the Pharisees were essentially the only sect of Judaism to survive intact after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD. It was only then that they and their successors were eventually able to codify without strong objection all their views, oral laws, and extrapolations which they had gleaned from the Scriptures, calling this compilation Talmud, again, meaning study. Judaism became an almost entirely new religion based only on the influence of the surviving sect. Yet it was one that had been clearly held in derision by many Jews before. There were only rare instances where large groups of Jews broke from any recognition of the Talmud thereafter until modern times.

   Modern Judaism is the by-product of the Pharisees and pharisaical method. The early teachers, or rabbis, were Pharisees and they taught Pharisaical interpretations and used this method. This attitude has continued, with modifications, to the present, and it is not surprising that Pharisaical teaching gave a rather glowing impression of their history to the rest of the world. Again, it was the discovery of Qumran’s scrolls that blew the lid off of this and showed that an abhorrence for Pharisaical methodology was not an exclusively Nazarene or Christian point of view. Essenes and Sadducees, the latter largely the priestly caste, were decidedly against the whole method.

   Today, one Pharisaical Hasidic Rabbi even boasts a web site in which he brags of speaking at Christian Churches and telling Christians that “Real” Jews of today are not the “Old Testament” Jews that Christians read about. He stresses the Pharisees were not hypocrites but that they were well-respected teachers. Then later he disputes that there is any justification for Jesus healing people on the Sabbath Day, thereby breaking it by doing so; however, just a little bit later in his dissertation of FAQ on Hasidism he explains how one can get around legal restrictions to feed a dog on the Sabbath. You see, Pharisees were hypocrites. . .and they still are. This also shows their mean level of intelligence in that this Hasidic “New Age” Rabbi doesn’t even notice the contradictions.

   This is also seen in the embarrassing demonstration of 3000 of an Hasidic sect in the Hasidic area of New York. This demonstration was incited by the use of an eruv, an “enclosure” of wire and thread used outdoors and along public byways so that in the style of an overhang or construction this eruv creates any street or courtyard symbolically into a private space. In doing so, “orthodox Jews” can carry a baby, push a stroller or even carry their house key in their pocket on the Sabbath to and from the synagogue, etc. Orthodox Jews are not allowed to carry anything outside of their homes on that day because by their interpretation they believe this is working or carrying a burden. They cannot carry even their babies. How to get around this? “Symbolically” enclose the spaces by mock shanties so that these areas can be regarded as extensions of the home or private area. This is now not going outside of private places.

   That is, in fact, what has become of Judaism today: a strange picayune world of petty interpretations (whole laws often based on one word, such as Jewishness coming from the Maternal line); and then, interestingly, loopholes to get around these restrictive interpretations. Another example: the Hasidic wearing of shawls with tassels (tzittzit). If it is inconvenient to wear the tassels on any four sided garment, one cannot simply have the shawls without them. The answer: when making one, simply round one corner of it and therefore the laws of having tassels do not apply. The paintings from the synagogue at Dura Europus (1st- 2nd Century) show that no Jews even wore such things as modern Hasidic Jews, never reading into the plain Scriptures the things that the Pharisees and their rabbinic successors would later do in order to make new customs and laws binding. To fringe one’s garments had an entirely different manifestation 2000 years ago. (They had prayer shawls, but it was not mandatory that such things were always worn in order to fulfill the Pharisaical understanding.)

   Indeed, the growing of sidelocks (peyot) has no Scriptural basis. It is based merely on the later Pharisaical recension of the Scriptures. After the destruction of 70 AD, the Babylonian Pharisees kept the texts of Scripture they had used in Babylon rather than the more commonly used conflated text from which the Septuagint was translated. Therefore the version of the Scriptures which was in common use was entirely cast aside. Because Babylonian Hillelian Pharisaical Jews had the control, they used their own readings instead of comparing with the others. Since most Hasidic Jews are some form of Pharisees scion (as most Jews, though that word is not used anymore), many of the sects grow long sidelocks. Many even keep the rest of their head hair closely cropped to accentuate that they grow sidelocks, as if it is some great accomplishment to let your hair grow in certain places. At the time of Christ, no Jews wore sidelocks because the Babylonian Jewish text was not the sole text of Scripture being used, nor was the later Pharisaical interpretation in existence regarding “cutting the corners of your beard.” The actual reading states you are not to make “engravings” in the corner of your beard, something that the pagan Canaanites did.  

   This is just one problem found in modern Judaism, which demonstrates what little basis it has in the Scriptures and in anything truly “traditional.” This is why a massive reformation cannot be stopped any longer. Over half of the Jews in the world consider themselves “secular” non religious Jews (in other words, Hebrews) with no identity to Scripture or to the idea that the God of Israel is the only God. Why should they from what they have seen? They have seen a religion that is all too easily adjusted by men and consensus as time goes on, and adjusted by petty interpretations of words and half sentences. Those who were once repulsive (the Pharisees) are now the masters; those who were once excommunicated (the Hasids) are now viewed as poster children of “orthodox” Jewry.

   Many of those adamantly touting Judaism do so like it was just a culture club. They may not really know what they appear like, but most appear nothing more than lackeys acknowledging that whatever the rabbis make up is equal with what God commanded. Man may merely adjust scripture . . .because, well, that’s what Judaism has been for so long.

   The Pharisaic heresy was well foretold by Isaiah, one reason why perhaps the Essenes loathed the Pharisees so much; the Essenes had a great fondness for Isaiah’s prophecies. In Isaiah 28:9 we read:

  To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he interpret the message? Those who are weaned from milk, and taken from the breast? For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.
   But by men of strange lips and with another tongue will he speak to this people, to whom he said: “This is the rest, give rest to him that is weary, and this is the refreshing; yet they would not listen. Therefore the word of the LORD will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little— so that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

   Such is the curse. Christ came preaching rest for our weary souls. The apostles were illiterate, crude men; uneducated and of base dialects. But because the Pharisees had made the ways of God small and constricted with petty rules based line upon line, precept upon precept, rather than the meaning of what the Scripture was saying, they could not and would not hear such common, stupid men speaking the truth. Therefore God gave Judaism up to such a petty method, that we might be destroyed because we could not see anything in the Scripture but harsh and restrictive rules: precept upon precept, line upon line, have we gone to hell because we would not hearken unto the LORD. What else did God declare through Isaiah that he would do to such as these?

   The terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: that make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.

   Surely, that applies to those who have so intimidated Israel, have been so consumed with their own nitpicking, they have made it a sin to carry one’s own baby on the Sabbath Day. It is amazing how Jews can acknowledge a holocaust, and then think it came upon us for our righteousness. The Sabbath Day was created to free us from man’s oppression, so that we can rest and not be forced to work. Now “orthodox” have made the day into a burden of self-conscious, hawkish nitpicking. They can protest and be contentious on the Sabbath, but please don’t carry a house key on you. Hypocrites! 

   The time of the LORD is coming upon Israel, to remove those that became the head of such hyper-judgmentalism as the Pharisees, those who sought to snare people by one word from their mouth, and found things of irrelevance to judge them by— those who strain out a gnat and yet swallow a camel whole.

   We would not listen to the Messiah, as it was written, and destruction came our way. It is now time to fulfill all that which was written in the prophets, and turn back unto God, and believe. For it is written that he would build again the “tabernacle of David which is fallen” (Amos) and that he would return the captivity after he had long kept silence. Such men as referred to above will never build the house of God, for his holy name will not be mixed with primitive superstition. The strange mysticism of 18th century Europe that inspired sects and movements from which even Rasputin came are no better when Judaized. The fathers saw this and tried to eradicate it. But they failed because they practiced the same method with only less literal interpretation. Because we once again walk in the ways of the nations, God’s hand will move against us.

   God did not preach nitpicking, but freedom from oppression, true freedom for the soul, not peasant Polish mysticism.   (Isaiah 42)

     Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and in his name shall the Gentiles trust.

   Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

   I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

   Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.

   The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies. Certainly I have kept silent for a long time. I have kept still and restrained myself. Now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once. I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools. And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

   Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Who is blind, but my servants? and deaf but they that rule over them? yea, the servants of God have been made blind. Ye have often seen, but have not taken heed; your ears have long been opened, and ye have not heard.

   The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify his torah, and make it honourable. But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they have become prey whom no one rescueth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. Who is among you that will hear this? Indeed, let him pay attention and listen for the time to come. Who gave Jacob over to be despoiled, and Israel to plunderers? Was it not I the LORD, against whom we have sinned? and in whose ways they were not willing to walk, and whose instruction they would not obey? Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the fierceness of war: and it hath set him on fire round about, be he did not recognize it; and it burned him, but he did not think about it.

   But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

   For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.

   Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled. Who is among them that can declare this, and shew us former things? Let them produce their witnesses, that they may be vindicated. Let them proclaim so the people will say, “It is true.”

   Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am the one: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. I have declared, and I have saved, and I have made it known. There was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God. From this day forth, I am the one; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I work, and who can undo it?

And that is what we are doing here. We come forward and bear witness before you that the former things have come to pass: the Messiah was “cut off” for his people, as Daniel prophesied, and we believed not. We were driven into all the world and were punished. Now he calls us back. He prepares the way. He makes it clear to us that he did indeed walk among us and there is no God but he. That which the LORD has declared here shall come to pass. The witnesses are called forward and say, “This is true.” We bear witness. This is true. Amen; even so, Amen. (See Messianic Prophecies.)

Did you know that there are Christian Pharisees?— those who use the scripture with the identical methodology of talmudism?

Did you know that one of the major reasons there is judicial corruption in the United States is because of the same methodology of talmudism?— hundreds of jurists merely reading into the laws already written in order to extract new laws, often off the cuff, while the accused is before them. This stems not from Jewish Phariseeism but from Christian Phariseeism. The early Americans were from the Calvinist denominations.

Did you know that American and European “political correctism” is Pharisaical methodology in origin?— the desire to find people guilty for a word here or there instead of the context in which it is used. Yet God declared by Isaiah: “All those that watch for iniquity are cut off.” Even animals can tell intent by tone and inflection. But most political correctism is merely self-righteous searching for iniquity in a word here or there despite the tone in which it was used.