The Tares are Poisonous

There are many tares in the church today, spreading division, upsetting the holiness of the group.

Let us remember that God told us not to uproot the tares in the church because we might be pulling up the wheat. The wheat and tares look so much alike that they are difficult to discern. Some tares say and do all the right things, but have trusted in themselves and not Christ.

Tares and wheat are almost identical. Something to note about the tares is that they are deadly because their appearance is so much like the wheat, and yet they are ruinous to a gathering. The wheat are good for food but the tares are poisonous and cannot be eaten.

One way to tell the difference is to challenge individuals with Scripture and watch what comes out. The tares will be very uncomfortable and even combative. They don't always fight, but they live by cliches and unbiblical mantras they think are Biblical unwilling to change what they want to believe.

Tares see the benefits for themselves of being in the church gathering. They are not there because of Christ but only for themselves. They see the lifestyle as better for them, but have no interest in Christ guiding them through life or cleansing them.

The roots of the tares are entangled with the wheat roots. Uprooting the tares may disturb the roots of the wheat. Sometimes, wheat is not able to discern the tares and will become offended, causing a distraction in the gathering.

Matthew 13:24-30
The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares
24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;
25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.
27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’
28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’
29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

Satan Hates Marriage

Satan hates marriage because the sealed union of two people into one person by God is representative of the relationship between believers and Christ.

The woman covered represents the church, and the man uncovered represents Christ. The devil hates anything that protects the gospel and is a symbol of the permanency of salvation through faith in Christ.

Ephesians 5:22-33 " Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,
30 because we are members of his body.
31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."

The wife is one with and alongside of her husband, just as the husband is one with and alongside of his wife. The husband's role is to protect and uplift the wife in the word as well as support her in her calling as the keeper of the home.

The wife's role is to support the husband in his calling and counsel him when he strays from the word. Standing by someone does not mean doing their bidding; it means seeking Christ for the truth while coming alongside to support doing what is right.

God said it was not good for man to be alone. He needed a support system that helped him in his weaknesses as well as his support in his strengths.

Proverbs 31 says that the woman elevates her husband in the eyes of others by her good standing in the community, so that he will be honored in the city gates because of her.

When a woman takes care of all the household needs, interacts in the community as she makes goods to sell and buys a field to plant a vineyard, she is seen as diligent while providing everything the family needs.

When the husband treats his wife with the highest respect, protecting her from those who would demean her, she will be seen as special and cherished to her husband.

It is important to notice from Scripture that God never commanded each spouse to make sure the other one does what they should. Each spouse must choose to do what is right, even if the other spouse does not do what they should, while never supporting sin or evil.

No one will stand before God on judgment day and be able to use their spouse as an excuse for bad behavior or willful and angry character. We stand before our Lord alone, completely responsible for our own choices.

The purpose of marriage is to reflect the relationship between Christ and His church. No marriage should be operating under the curse when each party is attempting to dominate the other. This was a condition of the fall and not what God intended for marriage.

The husband is to lovingly lead and protect his wife, and the wife is to follow when the husband obeys God. Each one must obey God first. Submission to God is for everyone by their own choice, not compulsion or domination by anyone else.

Those who think they must dictate to their wives or the wives to their husbands are not acting in love, but in selfishness and tyranny. This is not godly and sends a monstrous witness to the world of false Christianity.

My hope is that those who are using the fall, "a woman's desire will be to rule her husband, but her husband will rule her," as an excuse for the husband to act in disrespectful ways to their wife, will stop using this passage to justify rudeness. This condition of spouses ruling over one another is a condition of the fall and not the example of a godly marriage.

No one should be ruling over the other; each should be willingly submitting as each one obey's God in a deep, abiding love for one another.

And lastly, no one should ever judge another person's marriage!!!! My mantra in the past few years has become, "mind your own business.",No one can know exactly what goes on in someone else's marriage.

Unless someone comes to us for advice and is willing to listen to Biblical counsel, we should make a practice of never judging someone else's marriage. Those who insert themselves into the marriages of others without being asked are busybodies and need to mind their own business.

1 Thessalonians 4:10-12 "…10 And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more 11and to aspire to live quietly, to ATTEND TO YOUR OWN MATTERS, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you. 12 Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone.…"

2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 "For even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.” For we hear that some of you are leading undisciplined lives, accomplishing nothing, but being BUSIBODIES. We command and urge such people by our Lord Jesus Christ to begin working quietly to earn their own living.

Just Saying!!!!

Encountering Rebellious Unregenerate Hearts

When someone is unkind to you but kind to everyone else we know this person is in their character a mean person.

 
A kind person is kind all the time to everyone. If a kind person is having a rough time and rarely shows rudeness they will feel bad, admit it and convey that to the person they were unkind to.

 
Unkind people make excuses for their rudeness and blame the one they treated disrespectfully as though they had a good reason.

Proverbs 9:7-8 "…6Leave your folly behind, and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.” 7He who corrects a mocker brings shame on himself; he who rebukes a wicked man taints himself. 8 Do not rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.

Matthew 7:6 "Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces."

It is possible to discern a rude person from a kind person by which trait dominates their life.

 
It is better to avoid a consistently rude person who mocks the ways of God by their attitude. It is not possible to reason with those who have no conscience about harming others to elevate themselves.

 
Arrogant, rude people cannot tolerate a correction, even in the mildest terms. They will accuse the one who corrects them of saying it the wrong way or having unkind motives.

 
A wise person who is corrected considers what is said and discusses it to reach an understanding. This person will grow in character, but the arrogant one cannot grow, remaining ignorant and snarky into old age.

 
Matthew 15:14 "Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

Luke 10:10-11 "But if you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go into the streets and declare, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off as a testimony against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.’"
2 Peter 2:12 "These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they too will be destroyed."

We have to remember that those who live in a state of selfishness and rudeness toward those they do not respect do not understand the ways of God because Christ does not live in them.

 
1 Corinthians 2:14 "The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."

May we become equipped to deal with these people in a godly manner when we have to encounter them. Let us not become like them by becoming like them. "Answer not a fool according to his folly", resist responding or explaining yourself to anyone who is fighting to win.

Praying for Individuals not Nations

It also seems like the time to pray for individuals, not entire nations, since prophecy clearly says all nations will be against Christ, Christians, and against Israel.

We are to pray for souls, not the preservation of nations. It is the demise of nations that will cause many to see their need for God when things become deeply frightening.

It is rare that anyone comes to Christ because everything is going their own way. The more prosperity in a nation the more it drifts away from the need for God and the more it becomes hostile to Christ.

My prayer is for the souls of individuals, not for this nation. Perhaps great trials and impossible situations would be the vehicle through which many come to the end of themselves and seek Christ.

Much prosperity breeds pride and self-reliance! It is a fearful thing to think we might endure tragedy in our country, we would rather believe people will come to Christ "just because" things are so good. We have seen this is not the case in our own country. The more prosperous we have become the more sin and arrogance grows.

Malachi 4:5-6 "5 "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction."

Galatians 6:7 "7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap."

May we turn away our hearts from this world and toward Jesus Christ, the only answer to the problem of sin and the broken hearts of the rebellious who have no remedy except Him.

Proverbs 29:1 "He, that being often reproved hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy."

Biblical Repentance

Biblically, repentance (confession of wrong) and forgiveness are two sides of the same coin for the purpose of reconciling a relationship.

If neither or only one of these things happens, then there is no reconciling of the relationship. We do not hate those who have wronged us, and when having to be in their presence, we show the respect that was not shown to us, but this is not reconciliation; it is just Christian graciousness. However, we cannot be friends with those who cannot be trusted because they thought it was alright ot offend.

Modern Christianity is burdening those who were innocent to forgive when the offender is not sorry. But I don't see them chastising the offender to repent. This is the opposite of what God teaches in His Word.

Luke 17:3-4 "3Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

Notice the words "if he comes and says I repent." Why is this always left out of the admonishment to forgive offenders?

God has a reason for His commands on how and when to forgive. When we follow humanistic psychology, we enable people, and even encourage them to sin for lack of chastisement. The innocent one gets pressured to forgive while the perp is let off the hook for his sin. This is backward from God's order and purpose.

Let's be diligent to do things God's way so that people learn to be repentant.

Divorce and Remarriage Childish Response to Adult Problems

As I was pondering the mess of divorce and remarriage, God brought to mind relationships between little girls in elementary school. Grade school children are emotional and basically have no filter when it comes to actions and responses to one another.

Little girls will declare they won't be our friend anymore because we didn't give them what they wanted. They will take their toys and go home if they can't win.

Little girls will ignore you in the halls to show you that you are not worthy of kindness and respect because you didn't validate what they wanted to do.

Little girls will friend a new person and flaunt them past you at recess and in the halls to show you they have found someone better than you. And, worse they will gossip about you to the new friend and turn that person against you.

Little girls will treat the new friend better than they did you so you can see their love is only for the new friend and you are irrelevant and unimportant to them.

Little girls will take innocent comments and actions, spinning them to the new source as bad things even if there was nothing at all unacceptable in your activities or verbal exchanges.

In short, little girls can be very petty and mean merely because they were not praised or their perception was that they were not validated in some way. And, often their perceptions are entirely wrong based on their own selfish mindset.

Why do I equate little elementary school girls to divorce and remarriage, you might ask? Divorce and remarriage is elementary school immaturity at best and devastating to families at worst.

I don't think it is that complicated, really. The excuses I have heard for divorce have been on the level of spoiled little girls who refuse to work through anything, because they have no sense of a deep love for the one they harm.

I knew of one woman who divorced her husband back in the day because he didn't want her to buy a car; he felt a one-car family was enough. While this would be very irritating to some, it is not a reason to throw away a husband.

I laughed at this because we were a one-car family for the first 18 years of our marriage. We worked things out as needed, and we didn't fight over it. We have been married for almost 54 years now and over the years, many things have changed as the finances have improved.

I have heard of situations in which husbands and wives were into some very bad lifestyles. Their spouses divorced them and married someone else and years later their original spouse repented, cleaned up their lives and they were able to reconcile. Keep in mind it takes faith in God to obey Him when things are very hard.

Divorce and remarriage are acts of defiance against God and hatred for the spouse. Not to mention they are as childish as the little girls in elementary school who want harm to come to their former friend.

Christ died for us while we were still sinners. He experienced a brutal and hateful persecution so that we could become saved from our sin and hell.

When Christ makes two people one in marriage, our treatment of our spouse cannot be based on feelings; it must be based on God's truth and faith in His ways. We do not love for what we get out of it, we love because Christ loved us, and we should practice love as a choice with the person who is our other half.

Matthew 19:6 "6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.”

Many times I have heard people proclaim they love the one they are dating because they make them feel good or make them laugh. Notice the focus here: "they make me", "they give me", nothing about that love interest being a good companion because they make them a better person or they love God. It's all about how they feel when they are around the one they are thinking of marrying.

Philippians 2:3 "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves."

No one can separate what God has joined. It is a picture of salvation for the born-again believer; no one can be separated from Christ when He lives in us, has transformed us, and keeps us.

When He died to reconcile us to Him, we trusted in what He did, and that He can keep us, we know that our oneness with Him cannot be undone because it was not something we did; it was His work. Nor can the oneness He did in a married couple be undone by any piece of paper or decree of a human judge.

Because the modern Christian who accepts and defends divorce and remarriage views human relationships as expendable rather than a melding of souls. They continue to treat one another as separate individuals rather than half of a whole. And, worse they use one another until they lose their usefulness.

Malachi 2:16 16 “For I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with violence,” says the Lord of armies. “So be careful about your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”

God says that if we so much as hate our brethren, we are committing murder. Divorce is an act of hatred, the deisre that the spouse were dead.

1 John 3:14-16 "…14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer. 16 By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."

Matthew 5:21-22 "You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not murder’ and ‘Anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire of hell.

Matthew 15:19 "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander."

Divorce is hatred and a desire that the spouse never existed. And remarriage is an act of sexual immorality since the first spouse remains alive and God's command was that the oneness union is not severed until death.

John 8:44 "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies."

Mark 10:11-12 "So He told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

Luke 16:18 "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery."

The mentality of the modern Christian is that if they can find a good reason to defy God's commands, they are free to do what displeases Him. They cherry-pick the things they like to follow and pride themselves in it, but ignore the things they don't like while disrespectfully treating anyone who speaks the truth that exposes their rebellion against God.

These are the end times, truth telling Chrsitians are despised, excluded, and rejected.

2 Timothy 4:2-4 "…2Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. 4So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.…"

We are living in apostate times in which very few people attending the institutional church gatherings will endure sound doctrine. Don't let it discourage you, keep obeying Christ, speaking truth as led by the Holy Spirit, and ignore those who are hell-bent on rejecting God's word.

Keep Looking Up!!!!!

Living in Prophetic Times

Amen, we are living in prophetic times right now! Watching events and the attitudes of people match with what the Scriptures say will happen is a blessing to us, it builds our faith as we navigate through all of it.

Cory Buchanan

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There is a verse that becomes clearer the longer you watch conversations about Scripture.

2 Timothy 4:3

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.”

Notice what Paul actually said.

He did not say people would stop talking about the Bible.

He said they would stop enduring sound doctrine.

In other words, people will still quote verses. They will still say “the Bible says.” They will still claim to be teaching Scripture. Yet the moment the text confronts their beliefs, they reject it.

Instead of adjusting their beliefs to match the Scripture, they begin searching for teachers who will tell them what they prefer to hear.

That is what itching ears means.

Truth becomes uncomfortable.

Correction becomes offensive.

Context becomes optional.

So what happens next?

Verses get lifted out of context.

Assumptions get attached to the text.

Doctrines get built around what people want the Bible to say instead of what it actually says.

Then when someone slows the conversation down and asks people to look at the full passage, or asks them to compare Scripture with Scripture, suddenly that person becomes the problem.

Paul warned this would happen.

Not outside discussions about God.

Inside them.

That is why Scripture repeatedly tells believers to examine what they hear.

Acts 17:11

“They received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

The Bereans did not reject teaching.

They verified it.

They listened carefully, then they went to the Scriptures themselves to see if what was being taught actually matched the text.

Truth can withstand examination.

False doctrine cannot. False doctrine survives by avoiding context, ignoring passages that challenge it, and repeating conclusions that the text itself never actually says.

Eventually every believer has to answer a simple question.

Are we willing to let Scripture speak for itself?

Or are we only willing to accept interpretations that agree with what we already believe?

Because Paul warned us that a time would come when many people would no longer endure sound doctrine.

If we are honest, we are watching that happen right in front of us.