36Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; Matt 13:36-38
The wheat are the children of God.
The tares are the children of the devil.
We are either wheat or a tare but we are not both at the same time.
Tares are sown by the devil. They are PEOPLE.
They are brought into the Church (building or gathering) by satan. They don't have the Holy Spirit so they cant live a life of holiness nor love the brotherhood, nor understand truth. The enemys purpose in bringing them into the company of saints is an attempt to confuse the real saints.
Ive believed for a while that we tend to focus more on "what" than "who" when speaking of truth.Maybe thats why Pilate didn't get a answer from Jeaus...he asked the wrong question...he asked "What is truth?" When Truth was standing personified right in front of him.
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Blessed are the merciful for they SHALL obtain mercy.
For the original poster, I believe that God often does speak to us, but then, in our eagerness to grasp Him, we throw our own thinking in to the mix.
For example:
Baptism should be performed in the Name of Jesus-- from God.
Baptism should be performed in the Name of Jesus because that is the only way to have your sins remitted, forgiven, [enter whatever word you want]-- probably from a well-meaning man.
The part about the wheat and the tares is not biblical, so it probably came from you, with your good intentions to grasp at what the Lord was speaking to you.
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"The choices we make reveal the true nature of our character."
If I am understanding the original post properly, it appears to be making the claim, with the Lord Himself being the claimant, that He is the one who puts both truth and deception into the human heart.
2. In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Jesus Christ is the Son of the very God who cannot lie. He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), and since no lie (which engenders deception) is of the truth, i.e. of Jesus Christ, the Son of the God who cannot lie, Biblically speaking, it is not possible that the Lord would ever say that He Himself is the author of deception in the heart of someone who follows Him.
For Him to have said that, or worse, to actually do that, means that the Son of the God who cannot lie, is actively lying to people to cause them to be deceived. This is unacceptable.
Jesus said that He was and is the light of the world. And regarding God His Father, we are assured that in God there is no darkness at all because God Himself IS light (1 John 1:5). Lying or being a liar is to walk in darkness (1 John 1:6), i.e. such a person is not in God; rather they are in darkness.
Lies and deception come from somewhere else, namely:
2.) The deceitfulness of sin, which causes a hardening of the soul that leads to unbelief until backsliding occurs (Hebrews 3:12-13)
The first is obvious; the second is where the problem is at. The second is why we need to pray in the Holy Spirit, building ourselves up in our most holy faith, so the flesh, and all the things within us that make us become people "that loveth and maketh a lie" (Revelation 22:15) can be crucified with the lusts and affections thereof.
Nothing but the Holy Spirit of God's truth can set a person free from deception. The Lord is not going to, on the one hand, cause a person to be deceived, then on the other, through the Holy Spirit, cause them to repent and reject the very deception He gave them.
So if a person is loving and making a lie, and is deceived, it's either because the Devil has whispered something into their ear, and they have believed it, or because the flesh of that person is alive and well and is ruling over them in all of its shame, allowing the law of sin and the deceitfulness thereof, to have its way.
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For anyone devoted to His fear:
So if a person is loving and making a lie, and is deceived, it's either because the Devil has whispered something into their ear, and they have believed it, or because the flesh of that person is alive and well and is ruling over them in all of its shame, allowing the law of sin and the deceitfulness thereof, to have its way.
And if so, such a person is damned because such a person, if they do not ever repent, have lost the love of the truth (if they ever had received it to begin with), and so, prove that they, like the the Wicked, are of Satan. They are living in what is called "all deceivableness of unrighteousness" and so, will perish under strong delusion (2 Thessalonians 2:8-11).
And since all unrighteousness is sin (1 John 5:17), we can safely say that such a person, unfortunately, is not abiding in God (1 John 3:6), which leads to the ultimate self-deception:
The truth is, all who have the hope that they will finally become exactly like Christ when He comes, purifies himself or herself, even as the Lord Jesus is pure (1 John 3:1-3).
As they purify themselves, darkness, deception, and the lies that create the darkness and deception disappear.
Did not the messenger of YHWH say that the Messiah would sit as a refiner tending His fire, purifying the silver until the dross is purged (Malachi 3:1-3)?
And what is the dross?
In Hebrew, it is the word cuwg, and it means the things which cause us to flinch or fall away. The Lord, through the Holy Spirit and fire, is purging us of the dross of our souls, purifying us, causing us to become that holy Bride without spot or blemish. Yes, we must sit in that fire until all that is not of God, like deception, is burned away. In this I will agree.
The issue remains, however: who is willing to sit at the Master's feet long enough for His eyes, which burn like flames of fire (Revelation 1:14), to pore into us and burn away all that is not of Him?
Are you? Am I? I hope we are, because in that fire is where the glory dwells.
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For anyone devoted to His fear:
it's funny, i agree with MtD, yet disagree with him in that this view supposes that wheat and tares are two different people, when they can be one, imo. If you are not Jesus, you have tares in your life in some area. You might be sinless in every area of your life right this moment--but this ignores the dynamics of life. after you read this post, you are going to go do something; and that choice alone might indicate where your head is at, at that moment--but regardless, tares might 'spring up' even in the most pious of pursuits.
Ok, so perhaps the tares and the wheat have got everybody riled up, because no one wants to believe that one is the "tare", myself included.
Not a problem. We can see that tares and wheat are people, but it is also possible to see the point of view that wheat and tares could be one individual, instead of two.
I do not claim to have some great new vision or revelation. Just trying to seek after and know Jesus, who is Truth, with all my heart, as I believe each one here that has responded is trying to also.
I think the most important thing to remember here is that while all of us want to believe we have ALL the truth there is... what if we don't? Not yet?
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