Burn Up The Chaff
“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: You brood of vipers! ...every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire…" (Matthew 3:7-10) "Vipers" spew out poison from their mouths. These "vipers" that John the Baptist is talking to are the religious leaders, not their congregations, or those outside which they termed sinners. Whatever they were spewing from their pulpits was not "good fruit" . “...after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire… “ (Matthew 3:11) Of course John is talking about Jesus. Those religious leaders needed a strong dose of his Truth, not the poisonous "precepts of men" they were passing out. “They worship me in vain, they teach as doctrine the precepts of men." (Matthew 15:9) When Jesus returns he will "baptize...