WHILE MEN SLEPT...

In Matthew 13:24-30, Jesus speaks a parable of the wheat and the tares saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a Man which sowed good seed in the field. But while men slept, His enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, did not you sow good seed in your field? From whence then has it tares? He said unto them, An enemy has done this. The servants said unto him, Will you then that we go and gather them up? But He said, No; lest while you gather the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn (my italics)." Then in Matthew 13:36-43, Jesus explains the parable to His Disciples where it says, "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the Kingdom; but the tares are children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the Angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth His Angels, and they shall gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Who has ears to hear, let him hear." The variety of weed Jesus refers to as "tares" is also called "darnel" or "false wheat." It is called false wheat because as it grows it looks almost identical to true wheat. When it comes close to harvest time, the wheat turns golden brown; but the darnel turns black and is actually full of poison! The farmers in the modern wheat belt of America have to take measures to control the effects of tares on their cattle. In a 30 year study, 250,000 sheep and 600 cattle died because of it, not to mention the effects of intoxication on a score of others. The symptoms concerning the consumption of darnel are: sleepiness, drowsiness, hypnotic episodes, convulsions, drunkenness, intoxication, trembling, inability to walk, hindered speech, vomiting, stupefaction, dim-sightedness. Other sites I visited include giddiness, apathy and various abnormal sensations as effects of darnel. These symptoms describe perfectly the modern day Church world! Churches today are full of apathetic, sleeping, dim sighted "Christians," who no longer share the Gospel message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, but are more interested in self-help or expanding the numbers in the Church pews. It is disheartening and sickening to those of us who see this damnable trend. Charles Spurgeon said, "Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you're not saved yourself, be sure of that!" The result of the watered down social gospel preached by many in the pulpit today is a Church full of people who are living alongside the world without any conviction of sin. One effect of darnel mentioned above is the "inability to walk," which adequately describes the sinner who has no idea how to walk in the Spirit by following the Holy Spirit's guidance. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit after His ascension into Heaven and promised that the Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth (John 16:13). He also guaranteed that the Holy Spirit would be our power source against the bondage of sin. He commanded His Disciples to wait for the Promise of the Father (Acts 1:4)! The majority of the Churches today do not welcome the Holy Spirit and do not encourage their believers to be baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. This phenomenal experience was recorded in Acts 2:4, and while many preachers today claim it was only for the early Church, I can assure you that it is not! I personally experienced it and I can tell you that it is a Gift of God that has made all of the difference in my walk with the Lord! Before harvesting the wheat, there is time to distinguish between the darnel and the true wheat. The fruit of the darnel is smaller than the fruit produced by the wheat. Metaphorically, the fruit of the darnel is smaller represents the fact that the preachers who are teaching self-help instead of the Gospel will produce little to no fruit or "souls" for the Kingdom. The numbers in the Church pews may grow and most of these Churches are large in number, but unfortunately, they are full of unsaved people who come to hear motivational messages each week. These messages build up the individual when in actuality, we should decrease so that the Spirit of God can increase (John 3:30)! Sometimes it is hard to differentiate between true or false preachers but that is why we need Holy Spirit discernment to show us more clearly who is preaching truth and who is preaching false doctrine. One earmark of a Church preaching false doctrine is that the sermons are not about Jesus and what He did on the Cross for us; they are not about denying self and walking in the leading of the Holy Spirit, but the sermons are about "self." There is one thing for sure, the one who planted the good seed which bears fruit will come back to harvest His wheat and not one grain of tare will be found in the harvest!