POSTED 29 JUNE, 2008

Tare-erized! Beware!

by Mark Huey
mark@outreachisrael.net

reproduced from the McHuey Blog

This past week, as a result of a recently published book that our ministry has encountered, I was reminded of Yeshua’s parable about the wheat versus the tares (Matthew 13) where contrasting perspectives on the Kingdom of God are contextually proclaimed. The fallacious publication entitled Sex and the Believer: Shocking Freedom of Sexuality in Torah was so egregiously disturbing to our family that we considered altering our long-standing ministry policy of addressing teachings rather than teachers. However, while being reminded of the admonition that “If you do not have something nice to say about someone, do not say anything at all,” instead of naming names this parable—adroitly describing an agricultural principle—kept coming to mind. Therefore, frankly discussing the differences between tares and wheat can be applied to abominable teachings sown in and amongst those who are seeking the truths gleaned from the Holy Scriptures. This is an appropriate and responsible watchman’s response when false teachings are purposely damaging the body of Messiah.

In His wisdom, Yeshua indirectly yet adamantly commanded His followers to allow various tares to mature along with the wheat. When one contemplates His words, the thought comes to mind that perhaps there are Divine purposes for “evil” tares to co-exist with “righteous” wheat, until the final harvest initiated by the Lord. According to the following passage from Matthew’s Gospel, at the End of the Age, the wheat and tares will be harvested by the angelic host but ultimately consigned to very different destinies:

“Yeshua presented another parable to them, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?” And he said to them, “An enemy has done this!” The slaves said to him, “Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?” But he said, “No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.’”’ He presented another parable to them, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches’ [Psalm 104:12; Ezekiel 17:23; 31:6; Daniel 4:212, 21]. He spoke another parable to them, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.’ All these things Yeshua spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: ‘I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world’ [Psalm 78:2]. Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, ‘Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.’ And He said, ‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun [Daniel 12:3] in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear”’ (Matthew 13:24-43).

You might ask yourself, “Why does God not only allow the tares to be sown in among the wheat, but why does He command that they remain until the final harvest?” Are there some reasons why the tares or tare-like teachings are allowed to flourish along with His wheat? Is it possible that the tares and their teachings are simply used by God to test, try, and bring tribulation and/or refinement upon His righteous wheat?

For years we have observed a phenomenon of errant teaching being sown among the slowly maturing Messianic community of faith. Frequently, we have responded to some of them in various publications, articles, and FAQ entries. In many respects, we have concluded that much of the horrific teaching is simply HaSatan’s reaction to the fact that he knows the Scriptures and understands that with the restoration of the whole House of Israel coming about, his days to deceive mankind are running out. As the Evil One watches Jews in ever increasing numbers coming to faith in Yeshua as the Messiah of Israel, and notices thousands of non-Jewish Believers coming back to the basics of their Hebraic Roots and embracing a study of God’s Torah, he sees that the prophecies regarding the End of the Age and the corporate redemption of God’s people are coming into clearer focus.

Correspondingly, our Adversary seems to have redoubled his efforts to sow discord, division, and strife among the seekers of God being drawn into this restorative process. He has been able to find willing vessels, who, for want of fame or fortune (or possibly ignorance), simply become his tools for sowing deviant teaching that can deter and discredit the long-prophesied return our Father is accomplishing. Whether it has been an off-balanced way of approaching the restoration of the Two Houses of Israel, casting aside books of the Bible as being uninspired, dishonoring the Divine Name of God, claiming things about Jewish and Christian history that are unsubstantiated, disparaging traditional interpretations and applications of the Torah, calculating and picking a set date for the Second Coming of Yeshua, and now perverting human sexuality and promoting polygamy (see the FAQ entry on TNN Online website, “Polygamy”), the fact remains that the enemy of our souls is cleverly behind many who self proclaim to be teachers, or prophets, or apostles.

Lamentably, the facts remain that these selfishly ambitious people (James 3:14-16) could better be described as false teachers, false prophets, and false apostles. Few appear to be concerned about the greater issues of faithfulness, holiness, justice, mercy (the weightier matters), and spiritual wholeness that are seen all throughout the Tanakh and Apostolic Writings. These are things that are demanded of each of us who claims to know and serve the Lord.

The challenge that truly sincere Messianic seekers of the Most High have, is lovingly handling the tares among the wheat without over reacting. After all, if God can transform the heart of a lost person to become a new creature in the Messiah Yeshua, then there is always hope for those, who for whatever reasons, continue to be pawns of the Devil. Our Heavenly Father, in His great mercy toward each of us, is patient desiring none to perish. Yet, He has also given us as His children the opportunity to have the discernment we each need to know His truth when set against the enemy’s lies, which should come forth as we love Him with all our of our heart, soul, mind, and strength—while exhibiting unconditional love for our neighbor as ourselves. Any warning that is issued of false teachings among us should only be delivered out of an unconditional love for neighbor, and a desire to see all tread the narrow road of faith.

For years we used to refer to certain teachers in the Messianic movement as Torahrizers, because they were literally terrorizing the masses with their rigid interpretations of how to walk out the Messianic lifestyle, given a certain amount of illumination with little mercy or grace toward others. Well, it occurred to me that we have another category that should perhaps be included among those who terrorize people with their false teaching. Let’s label them the Tare-erizers—the tares sown into the Messianic community by the enemy—those who simply mislead people with their bad or deviant teachings. It brings me no delight or pleasure to have to add this to my list of classifications.

However, let us each never lose sight of the fact that the tares will be with us until the end, and that it is the tares and their obscure or errant teachings that God uses to test and try each one of us as we seek to follow His commands. If there were ever a time for us to truly desire confirmation that Yeshua the Messiah is the center of everything that we do (cf. Philippians 3:8-11), now would be that time! As the Apostle John concludes his first epistle, he gives every one of us some excellent instruction about how to pray for and deal with the tares among us. May his words convict us of our own needs—that we will not stumble on our own idols that may simply be following a tare or his or her false teaching:

“Whoever believes that Yeshua is the Messiah is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Yeshua is the Son of God? This is the One who came by water and blood, Messiah Yeshua; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Messiah Yeshua. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, guard yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:1-21).

Now we all know how to pray for those in sin, not leading to death. May our prayers be a pleasant aroma in the nostrils of our Heavenly Father.

Until the restoration of all things…

Mark Huey (B.A., Vanderbilt University in History and Graduate Studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University) is the Director of Outreach Israel Ministries (www.outreachisrael.net). He is the author of several books, including: TorahScope, Volumes I & II, and Counting the Omer: A Daily Devotional Toward Shavuot. He is also co-author of Hebraic Roots: An Introductory Study.