Jesus was accused of being evil by the most religious people of his day.
Matthew 9:32-34 32 After they had gone away, a demoniac who was mute was brought to him. 33 And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke; and the crowds were amazed and said, "Never has anything like this been seen in Israel." 34 But the Pharisees said, "By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons."
Do we ignore Jesus' experience that the most religious people of his day explained away his power by saying he was evil?
Note: The Pharisees were the most "religious" "denomination" of Jesus' day. They are most commonly known for keeping a long list of rules meant to help them from straying from God's law. But they also had a well developed theology... they believed that an afterlife existed where God would punished the wicked and rewarded the righteous. They believed in a messiah that would herald an era of Jewish rule and world peace. Jesus had problems with some of them because there is a difference between practicing religion (following a list of rules, believing a particular doctrine, performing a list of good works) and having a relationship with God. And many of them didn't have the latter. Jesus says they were more interested in what humans thought of them than God (Matt 23:28 and John 12:43). Some Pharisees were followers of Jesus, but the ones in this story are so disturbed that Jesus has power apart from their religion that they can only explain it away if they believe that Jesus is evil.
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