In the parable of the tares and the wheat, if we look at the field as an individual person, the fertile parts of the field are the heart and the mind. The master sowed good seed into the fertile field. An enemy came along and sowed tares. When the plants started to grow, the servants noticed the tares were growing among the wheat. In the heart and in the mind, God planted His word through teachings (doctrines). An enemy came along and planted a false word through false teachings. Both took root and grew. It happens to all of the fields – all the believers. The enemy is crafty and sows different false teachings into different groupings of believers. When one believer hears the false teaching from another believer, they go to master and say, “Didn’t you plant good seed in that field.” The Lord said to let the good seed and the bad seed grow up together, least when we pull up the bad the tender plants might be harmed.

We may have a hard time getting our theology around the idea that believers have both the word of God and the word of the enemy growing in them. Look around at all of the denominations. We all have the Gospel of Jesus Christ with varying differences, especially in the sacraments. Read Revelation chapters two and three. The seven churches are all the one church, the one body, but with doctrinal differences. God gave us a pure Word who was willing to go into ground for us. The enemy has given us varying false teachings. One such differing doctrine is Good Friday. The scriptures tell us Jesus died the eve before a High Sabbath, the First Day of Unleavened Bread. Jesus said He would be in the tomb three days and three nights, the sign of Jonah. But is it worth uprooting the tare and chance harming the truth about the Gospel; their roots being entangled together. Jesus said He would send His angels to pull the tares. I trust Jesus will be faithful.

Too often we focus on what the enemy has done and is doing and fall into his trap. When we see a person by what the enemy is trying to do to the person, instead of what God is doing in them, it is for intercessory prayer. The prayer is for the Lord, in His time, to send His Holy angels to do a work in the person. God once showed me a Jezebel and accompanying Ahab spirit sprouting up in a ministry team. He withheld me from ministering to them about the spirits. Instead He had me minister a simple Gospel message to the Pastor. Members of the fellowship came to me and asked if I saw what was going on. God had me pray with them and ask them to pray about what they were seeing. I would have liked to have charged in like the US Marines, but God withheld me. God removed me from the fellowship, and sent me to another. Now, I trust the Lord will send His angels to do a work they are prepared to do.

The person or the people are not our enemy. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). And God has our victory! For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39). The strategy is the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are the servants of the Lord and we want to pull out the tares, but it isn’t our job. Our job is to love one another, while we are all going through the stuff. Jesus instructed us to pray the Father keep us from the evil one. Love the person. Know them as God does and not as the attacks of the enemy against them. Use love and prayer to fight in the spirit for them.

And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him. Some said, “He is good”; others said, “No, on the contrary, He deceives the people” (John 7:12). Among those who have walked as a man, only Jesus had the pure truth and the people were divided. When the truth conflicts with our doctrine (teachings), we see the truth as being deceiving. I have even heard ministers claim that the truth was true, but it wasn’t time for truth to be taught because it conflicted with their current teaching. The Jews thought Jesus’ timing was wrong. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? (John 7:23). The fact that a man was healed was true, but the timing of the healing was wrong according to their tradition. Because of their tradition, based on false doctrine, they would not give the glory to God.

© 2009, Tim D. Coulter Sr.