In Matthew 12, Jesus incites the anger of his adversaries by healing a demon-possessed man in the presence of a Jewish multitude. These impressionable Jews began to wonder if he might be the King and Savior for which they’d been waiting. The Pharisees, a leading political sect of the Jews, were not so enchanted. They couldn’t deny what they’d just seen with their own eyes, but nor could they concede that this man might actually be the Messiah. Since they couldn’t believe that this wonder was accomplished by the power of God, they quickly concluded he must have done it by the power of Beelzebub – Satan himself. In his rebuttal, Jesus made this instructive statement: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.”