CHAPTER # 1
# 1 > It was a hot, humid afternoon as I parked my pickup truck in the front yard of a slightly tilted frame house on the outskirts of town. Dogs of all shapes and sizes seemed to materialize, greeting me with a diversity of wags and barks, as I made my way to the rear of the house. Behind the house, long rows of greenhouse emerged out of an immense growth of ugly dog fennel weeds. A well-worn path led me through the ugly plants to the front door of the first plastic house. Pushing my way through the door, I stepped into a controlled environment where all of the necessary ingredients for the germination of a seed were carefully regulated. Long rows of tables sagged with the weight of hundreds of vessels of potting soil that were neatly arranged under a complex network of irrigation pipes. Workers carefully tended their needs, and each vessel brought forth fruit according to the seed which the husbandman of the greenhouse had sown. And so it is with the universe. God has created an environment that houses a world full of "clay vessels" . . . people ( 2 CORINTHIANS 4:7 ). Each vessel is a fertile container endowed with the capacity to germinate the seed of truth, which is referred to in Scripture as the "wheat." Unfortunately, we are not restricted to the seed of the wheat only but are also able to receive and germinate the engraftable seed of deception . . . the tare. The wheat is the good seed of the Word of God sown by the Son of man ( MATTHEW 13:37 ). Those who receive and nurture the good seed are the children of the kingdom
( MATTHEW13:38 ).
The wheat is the seed of truth ( God's Word ), that matures into the fruit of understanding, which causes us to humble ourselves before God.
# 2 The tare is the seed that is sown by the Devil ( MATTHEW 13:39 ). Those who receive and nurture the seed of the tare are the children of the Devil ( MATTHEW 13:38 ). The tare is a seed of deception, that matures into the fruit of confusion, so that we act with arrogance before God. The tare is indistinguishable from wheat while the two are growing into blade. But when they become ear, they can be separated without difficulty, for it is by their fruits that they are know ( MATTHEW 7:15__20 ). And so it is with the world. Two seeds are sown in the earth. both are bringing forth a mystery. The seed of the wheat is bringing forth the "Mystery of God . . . he hath declared to his servants the prophets"
( REVELATION 10:7 ). The seed of the tare is bringing forth the "Mystery of iniquity" ( 2 THESSALONIANS 2:7 ). Both seeds will continue to grow together until the end of the age and the time of the harvest ( MATTHEW 13:30 ).
There is enmity between them! ( GENESIS 3:15 ).
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