In Galatians 6:6-9 the Apostle Paul tells us that whatever a man sows he will also reap. In Hosea 8:7 the prophet adds that if a man sows the wind, he will reap the whirlwind. This proves that Old Testament and New Testament teachings are from the same UNCHANGING AUTHOR (Mal. 3:6) and go hand-in-hand. In Ephesians 2:20-22 Paul notes that the New Testament Church was built on the teachings of BOTH the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles. In 1 Corinthians 10:11 he tells us that God’s dealings with ancient Israel were recorded and preserved for the benefit of the end-time church. In Second Corinthians 1:20 he reminds us that all of the promises God made to Israel ARE–THEN AND NOW–YEA (“YES”), AND IN HIM (CHRIST) AMEN (“SO BE IT”). We are told that JESUS CAME TO CONFIRM THE PROMISES MADE TO THE FATHERS–ABRAHAM, ISAAD AND JACOB (Rom. 15:8). THE NEW TESTAMENT RECORDS THE END-TIME REALITY PROMISED BY THE LORD THROUGH THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS. THERE SHOULD NOT BE A BREAK BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. Now back to the subject at hand.

In Matthew 13:24-30 Jesus is telling His disciples a parable about the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN–God’s church (the “Israel of God”–Gal. 6:16) that would come into existence a short time later, a tiny remnant of which is still in existence today. In this parable Jesus uses well-known symbols to represent present day entities. In the parable Jesus is telling about a man who had sown good wheat seed (vs 24) in his field. However, his servants, who have returned from the field, are telling him that there are tares (a poisonous wheat-like plant) growing among the wheat (vss 27,28). Though he (God) had sown good seed (His Truth) in his field (church), his “watchmen” (pastors, evangelists, etc.) had “slept” on the job (allowed wrong doctrines to be taught), whereby an “enemy” had crept in and sown (preached and taught) tare seeds (false doctrines) among the wheat seeds ( vs 25). Tares look very much like wheat until they are grown at which time they turn black and are recognizable (vs 26). Pulling up the tares would cause the wheat to be pulled up also (vss 28,29). Therefore the land owner (God) would allow them to remain together until harvest time (judgment). At that time the harvesters (angels) would gather the wheat and tares, separate the tares from the wheat and burn them. Then they would place the wheat in his barn (the Kingdom of God on earth). Read the series by that name. Key world–Kingdom. In summary, at present, that which is called “the church” contains both good and bad people (read about the ten virgins in Matthew 25). Read also First Peter 4:17,18. Also read Christ’s Words to the SEVEN CHURCHES in existence at that time (Rev. 1:12-3:22). Also read Who Are God’s People? Key word–People. The churches represent the church eras through which God’s church would pass until Christ’s return. The final (Laodicean) era is now in existence and is divided into two bodies and hundreds of mini-bodies. The Satanic mess is known as Catholicism/Protestantism.

The obvious questions are: 1) Why has Satan (the “enemy”) placed his people (Catholics and Protestants) in God’s church? For the same reason tares were sown in the wheat field–TO DESTROY GOD’S CROP (TRUE CHURCH). 2) How has Satan been able to convince church people to reject God’s Words and believe his words? He uses DEMONS who control Satan’s false prophets. 3) How are Satan’s demons able to deceive the vast majority of church people? BY TELLING THEM WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR (THE “THINGS OF MAN”–Mat. 16:23). Our original parents fell for “the lie” (2 Thes. 2:11) that one can reject God’s words, obey Satan’s words and live forever in paradise (Gen. 1:1-4). Their descendants have fallen for the same lie and for the same reason.

Notice in Second Thessalonians 2:9-12 that there are those (both churched and unchurched) who will readily believe a lie due to ignorance of, or lack of faith in, God’s Truth. These are they who refuse to love the Truth, believe and obey it so that they can be saved. Instead they will be damned because they do not believe God’s righteous Truth. Why do they not believe God? DEMONS–“powers of the air” which are in “high places” and are led by the “prince” of God’s enemies–Satan. Read Ephesians 2:1-3 for Paul’s description of church people who have rejected the warning of Jesus found in Matthew 25:4,5 and have reverted back to what they were before coming to the Lord. The five foolish virgins (Mat. 25) remind us that even the highest of the high can be deceived by unseen powers in high places. Even God’s Very Elect are subject to the temptations of Satan and His demons (Mat. 24:24), as was Jesus Christ (Heb. 4:15).

An excellent example of the power of evil spirits is displayed in an episode recorded in the tenth chapter of Matthew 21. Here we find a rich man who had been looking for Jesus, having finally found Him, “came running” to Him. Falling to his knees before Him, he had asked Him what he must do in order to receive eternal life. In response to his question, Jesus began to voice the Ten Commandments. The man assured Him that he had obeyed all of the commandments since the days of his youth. Notice the following words carefully. “Then Jesus, beholding him, LOVED HIM. Note it: JESUS LOVED THIS MAN BECAUSE HE OBEYED GOD’S TEN COMMANDMENT LAW. But notice that Christ’s love for him did not qualify him for salvation. Jesus “beheld” him. He looked into his heart and saw a problem. The man had a spirit of greed living within him.

Let us consider how intent this man was on being saved. Being rich, he as undoubtedly well known in religious circles. He knew about the resurrection and salvation. He no doubt had talked with various priests about the subject. He no doubt had bought his way into the presence of the chief priest in Jerusalem. His great wealth would have enabled him to speak with anyone in the kingdom. In that society “everyone knew” that the rich were favored by God and salvation was part of His salvation package. Read Matthew 19:23-25, which the priests, family and friends had undoubtedly reminded him. But this man sensed that they were wrong. He knew that there was only one man who could tell him the Truth–this man Jesus who came from of Nazareth. This salvation-seeker was desperate. He had gone looking for this mysterious carpenter. Having found Him, he CAME RUNNING TO HIM AND FELL TO HIS KNEESS BEFORE HIM.

Think about it: a wealthy, well-known man who could buy anything he wanted, searches the land for a someone and, upon finding him, runs to him and falls to his knees before Him. This would have been humiliating for one of his social status. But he was desperate. Now he hears the words he had been wanting to hear. But upon hearing the preacher’s words, he “went away sad” because HE WOULD NOT OBEY THE WORDS HE HAD HEARD. Jesus had given him two commands that he must obey: 1) he had to give away all of his great wealth and 2) follow Him. After all he had gone through–the hungering and thirsting for Truth; the exhausting search that had undoubtedly been going on for quite some time. Then after finally finding Him, there was the humiliation of humbling himself before this itinerant carpenter who lived from hand to mouth. The rich man had found Him; the Truth was about to be declared in his ears. To his chagrin, he is told that in order to be saved he would have to give away his wealth and follow a man who had nothing.

This would have indeed been a hard decision to make. Though not rich by any means, I made the decision to obey God–to stop teaching and go into full-time ministry. I have no church. Only one person in the area where I live believes what I preach and write. And yet God provides everything I need. The rich man, though desperate for salvation, could not do what he KNEW was God’s Truth. Why? What could be so powerful as to cause him to reject eternal life? Demons. Unlike Adam and Eve and their religious descendants today, this man BELIEVED THE LORD’S WORDS. He KNEW that he would lose eternal life if he did not obey this man. BUT HE REFUSED TO DO SO. Only a demonic spirit can exert that much power over a human being. Today demons exert the same power over the Catholic/Protestant Church System today. By convincing those within her that they can reject God’s Words (continue to sin) and live forever, those same demons do to professing Christians today what they did to the rich man 2000 years ago. But there is a difference between him and his modern day counterparts. He had more faith than they do–HE KNEW THAT REJECTING JESUS’ WORDS WOULD COST HIM ETERNAL LIFE. His counterparts in the Institutional Church do not believe Christ’s Words. They KNOW that the words they are told by their hirelings are God’s Words. They also “KNOW” that the words of people like me are not of God. What makes them “KNOW” this? Demons. Never underestimate their power nor the power of their leader–Satan: the god of “the church.” L.J.