What Does a Little Leaven Do? | The Institute for Creation Research

What Does a Little Leaven Do?



“And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of…the Sadducees.” (Matthew 16:5-6)

After taking a boat to the northern Sea of Galilee shore, the disciples realized they didn’t have bread. Jesus, with time running out before His imminent death, took the opportunity to teach them what was the most critical thing for their spiritual survival: spiritual bread (Matthew 4:4). So, He warns them to “beware.” Beware of what?

Leaven is a single-cell fungus that, once activated, permeates bread dough, feeding on the natural sugars. Our Lord likens this activated yeast to an insidious weapon and points to the Sadducees. The Sadducees, sons of wealthy aristocratic families, were highly influential and controlled religious politics. They taught religious naturalism, all but denying God’s miraculous intervention in creation. These pragmatists constructed a synchronistic theology that is still alive and well.

Today’s Sadducees spin their insidious influence in churches, schools, and seminaries. Their leavening influence includes rejecting the biblical teaching of a six-day creation, adopting Darwinian ideologies like natural selection, rejecting the Noahic worldwide Flood, nullifying miracles in Scripture, and denying Jesus Christ’s deity and resurrection.

What does just a little leaven do? It blinds people from seeing the gospel. It dulls a believer’s understanding of clear biblical truth. Allowing these microbe-like single-cell ideologies to grow unopposed always spells spiritual catastrophe.

Believer, don’t allow any of these influences a foothold in your life, the lives of your family, or those lives you shepherd in your spiritual family. As our Lord warns: Believer, beware! CM

Days of Praise Podcast Days of Praise Podcast is a podcast based on the Institute for Creation Research quarterly print devotional, Days of Praise. Start your day with devotional readings written by Dr. Henry Morris, Dr. Henry Morris III, Dr. John Morris, and others to strengthen and encourage you in your Christian faith.
 
         

 

The Latest
NEWS
May 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans...

NEWS
Acoustic Communication in Animals
We are all familiar with vocalizations in the animal world. For example, dogs bark, birds sing, frogs croak, and whales send forth their own distinct...

ACTS & FACTS
Creation Kids: Crystals!
by Michael Stamp and Susan Windsor* You're never too young to be a creation scientist and explore our Creator's world. Kids, discover...

APOLOGETICS
Playing Chess with Little Furry Critters
God’s multifarious and marvelous designs for basic creature needs are so innovatively clever and providentially purposeful that Christ’s...

ACTS & FACTS
Credit Only Our Creator
History was my favorite subject as a young kid. But it always puzzled me when my teachers said, “We study history so that we don’t repeat...

ACTS & FACTS
Genomic Tandem Repeats: Where Repetition Is Purposely Adaptive
Tandem repeats (TRs) are short sequences of DNA repeated over and over again like the DNA letter sequence TACTACTAC, which is a repetition of TAC three...

ACTS & FACTS
Dinosaur National Monument: Fossil Graveyard of the Flood
Straddling the border of Utah and Colorado, Dinosaur National Monument (DNM) is one of the richest exposures of dinosaur fossils in the world.1...

ACTS & FACTS
The Transforming Influence of Genesis: Worker Dignity and Safety
When Pharisees questioned the Lord Jesus about marriage, He answered by quoting Genesis 1:27: “But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made...

NEWS
Giant ''Meg'' Shark: Longer and Leaner?
Fossil remains of the giant shark Otodus megalodon have been found in Miocene1 and Pliocene2 rock layers, which ICR scientists...

CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Searching for Truth Across the Globe | Creation.Live Podcast:...
How can we bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the truth of creation to others outside our small spheres of influence?   Host...