Every church on earth, just about, sings "Amazing Grace" - "I once was blind but now I see", they sing. The sad thing is, they get a glimpse of Jesus, they see He is their Savior, for instance, and they confess Him at an altar, once, and from then on they believe they can see - but it's not what you did at that altar once, it's what you do after....many go to the altar and confess their love for God but very few consummate the marriage. The church where we first confess Christ becomes, in our minds, our spiritual mother, like the ducks who, upon being born, think the first living thing they wee is their mother, in one case, a researcher named Rick. It's called imprinting. The ducks willingly followed Rick wherever he led them, sincerely believing he was their mother. New born Christians associate the euphoria they feel upon meeting Jesus for the first time with whoever led them to Christ, not realizing it was the Holy Spirit who did it. "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit" "But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit".
But rather than continue to be led and taught by their Father's Spirit - they follow after their "Mother", who immediately teaches them, among other falsehoods, you must remain faithful to US, you must become one of us, a member of our "congregation", in order to remain faithful to God. We, after all, are the ones God used to reveal Himself to you - WE SEE! We see God, we see truth. They may not say this. They may not say this explicitly (though some do) but it's implicit in everything they teach. They do not teach people to follow and learn from the Holy Spirit for they themselves are not doing so. Those who say they see (but are blind) must become blinded by Jesus so they can see with spiritual eyes and perceive they are blind, while those who are blind, but do not falsely profess  they can see, will have their blind eyes opened by Jesus. The religious leaders, the ones who say they can see, who say they have the knowledge of God that people need, are usually the ones who miss Him, who miss the day of His visitation (though there is the occasional Nicodemus) because Jesus came (and still comes) for the poor in spirit, the poor in knowledge, those who are empty of pride, those who humble themselves continually before God. "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank You, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto Heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying "God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
One definition of Pharisee is "a person who thinks they are very religious but who does not care about others" - I can tell you story after story of churches in America who "think they are religious but do not care about people". They, like the Greeks before them, pursue knowledge, not Christ. Christ, after all, is love made flesh. "Knowledge puffs up (with pride, the leaven of the Pharisees) but love (Christ) edifies".    To be continued.....