I Agree. Cautiously.
I read the following in an email from a discussion group I follow:
In essence you are stating that the “traditional Christians” are not filled with the Spirit, not following the Spirit, maybe not even saved. And that just isn’t true.
I think the majority of those good people are following the leading of the Spirit to the very best of their enlightenment. They are just under bad (not false) teachings. And those teachers are teaching to the best of their enlightenment also. None of these people (laymen nor teachers) are maliciously disobeying God’s commands.
[snip]
We need to be very respectful of our brothers and sisters who are “not obeying” as we see obedience. After all, look how long it took most of us to see through all the layers of bias we’d been taught. And we still don’t have it all right. We’re just barely scratching the surface.
Great insights! This is also a great example of the “benefit of the doubt” we should give to all who, in good faith, don’t see things in our faith as we do. And there are many who fall in that category.
I think the person who wrote those words echoes the same Spirit as Paul admirably:
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. (Philippians 3:13-16 KJV)
BUT there is an important caveat: “Wolves” and “Weeds” among the brethren also see things differently than us. But in their case, they are part of a strategy of Satan meant for our harm.
Note how Paul continues after the verses we just read:
Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) (Philippians 3:17-19 KJV)
Immediately after encouraging the Phillipians to set aside honest differences in pursuit of the bigger picture, Paul warned them about staying away from trouble-makers in their midst. That’s the other side of the coin of appropriate action toward those who disagree with us.
We must give the benefit of the doubt to those who arrive at a different understanding of YHWH honestly. But Wolves and Weeds don’t differ with us honestly. They differ oppositionally.
Their interest is not in arriving at truth but rather in obscuring it so they can continue their destructive activity. That is their function among believers: destroy the saints by choking them out or by tearing them up.
Wolves and Weeds are not keeping in step with the Spirit, or even trying to do so. In fact, they work against the Spirit. They are sent by the Enemy to hinder us, even to the point of stopping us. “Wolves” are those who enter the flock with a lust to kill sheep. They usually come dressed in “sheep’s clothing” and they hide among the “Weeds” for cover.
Those of us who are charged with the responsibility of protecting a flock have learned that Wolves are very tricky. Usually there is no indication of a problem until a string of ripped-up sheep begin popping up. Then we know there is a resident problem. And experience tells us the place to find them is usually hiding among the Weeds.
The Weeds are those that are present to choke out the good crops. They have no intention of producing a harvest of righteousness nor a harvest for the Kingdom. Rather they multiply and attempt to smother the Spirit in a congregation. They do this by nay-saying, discouragement, and providing examples and enticements to follow them in their worldliness.
Wolves and Weeds do have one important function among believers: expose the real flock among the brethren:
For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. (1 Corinthians 11:18-19)
I appreciate the words in the email I quoted above. I applaud the spirit in which they were written. We should seek to have an attitude of charity and good-will with other believers, even when we have come to different conclusions about our faith in good faith.
That doesn’t mean we have to do what they do. That also doesn’t mean we should not teach or explain our position. Further, it does not mean we should not cling to our good conscience and considered study in a matter.
But it does mean that we accord those in our faith who honestly disagree with us the respect and love due brethren. In the end, just as we should do with ourselves, we must leave them to the hand of their Master.
He is able to make them stand just as He is able to make us stand. But Wolves and Weeds are a different story. They will not be made to stand. In fact, they will fall in due time. Until that day, we must take care not to be choked out or ripped up by Wolves and Weeds.
But we must also refrain from choking out or ripping up the brethren who disagree with us. If we don’t, what distinguishes us from the Wolves and Weeds?
Abba, Father in Heaven, we thank you and praise you for your great goodness to us. You have provided us with your Spirit and your Word and all of your great and precious promises that by them we may lay hold of life and godliness. May we treat our brethren with all charity and may we see all Wolves and Weeds with clarity. Grant us the grace, Father, to see as your Son sees, as we have the same Spirit as He. Glorify your Name and your Kingdom in us by helping us to respond appropriately to the brethren and also the world. We ask these things in the name of Yeshua our Messiah. Amen.
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January 27th, 2010 at 1:50 AM
Todah Jim…This is an excellent teaching. I often wonder with great wonder, how any one group anywhere would be so arrogant to over look that no group who is Born of ruach ha’kodesh is all right or wrong. I have seen many things that have been taught in HR, Messianic, and Christians, that are flat our error. And there are wolves n weeds in them all, as well as true diggers and lovers of Y’hushua ha’moshiach who delight and pursue steadily after the pure word of truth.
Why is it that every time there is a new wind of movement of His Spirit..many try to corral it and work it to their power agenda based advantage?
Instead turning the heart to notice that Y’hushua is stepping out of the corral, and they will remain ALL KNOWING and in the end find themselves in a pool of tears and repenting of all of the things they were sure we had all the info on, only to discover differently down the road.
And that self righteous pride we all love to hate in everyone else.. without a sensitive heart rooted in love, and tender compassion’s as well as discernment and wisdom and controlled boldness from above, will come bite ya in the behind every single time ……. …great post beloved…sooo needed…
shalom, shalom…Tina
January 27th, 2010 at 9:06 PM
You’re welcome, and todah to you too, Tina
You’re right on about the Wolves and the Weeds in all the groups, and about the flat out error that is often taught in the various movements. Thankfully, you’re also right about the seekers in each of those groups. Those are the people of the Kingdom that are most dear to me. I am far less concerned with the beliefs a believer holds for the moment than I am about their heart-condition toward truth.
Those who humbly seek will find truth in the end no matter how far off they are in the beginning. Those who are arrogant or self-righteous will find YHWH’s resistance. Of course that resistance is an act of grace on YHWH’s part, and an invitation to repent and go forward in the right way. But the proud and arrogant will miss that fact over and over, continually blaming the resistance of YHWH on everyone around them without ever looking to themselves as the source of their troubles.
You raise a good question about those who seek to control the moves of the Spirit. As far as I can tell, these are motivated by the flesh, of course. At worst, they are the actions of some who are not even under the New Covenant to begin with. Without the Spirit, they have no hope of following truth. They can only hit it accidentally from time to time. And then they couldn’t even tell the true from the false when they do. As you point out, there is weeping in their future. Even gnashing of teeth for some.
Pride and arrogance have been the hallmark of many a believer’s walk. But it is a hallmark not of the Spirit. Rather it is a mark of flesh which has not yet been laid to rest, as Paul found he must do in Romans 7 and 8. You’re right, the bite in the hand will come–a divine spanking that will hopefully awaken the senses of an immature believer.
Glad you found the post valuable, Tina. Wonderful to hear your thoughts on the matter dear sister! Shalom shalom to you too, friend.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:23 PM
Shalom Jim…Thank you Jim…Your post was so well written and “The Wolves and The Weeds,” analogy was straight from the exhale of YHWH…it was inspiring!
And I so agree…The condition and position of our heart is everything..
may we never misrepresent His Name=His Character –
but display Him knowing that a just balanced is of YHWH our Elohim….
So, grateful for U my brother…and for putting such thought and time into your answer to my comment..it has not gone unnoticed my brother..Thank you;)
On a humble and contrite heart, HE WILL GAZE…and..
PROVERBS 16:18-21..
18 Pride goes before destruction, and arrogance before failure.
19 Better to be humble among the poor than share the spoil with the proud.
20 He who has skill in a matter will succeed; he who trusts in ADONAI will be happy.
21 A wise-hearted person is said to have discernment, and sweetness of speech adds to learning.
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May Abba kiss the face of you and your beloved family, as He draws you near with His chords of loving kindness…..
shalom, shalom my brother….tina
February 1st, 2010 at 1:16 PM
Shalom Tina,
Thank you for the kind word and blessings! There are many metaphors to be found in the Bible that make vibrant impressions on us when we have experience with the ideas they represent. We have such an abundance of “Wolves” and “Weeds” among us that those pictures come alive for us when we attach the two. I’ve found those metaphors to be very useful in helping other picture what is taking place among the flock. Glad you found the analogy striking!
Thanks for sharing those wonderful Proverbs and blessings for my family and me
From your mouth to YHWH’s ear! And the same back to you, dear sister.
Blessings and Shalom!
February 16th, 2010 at 11:26 AM
I am not certain where I “classify” here….however, I do love my Savior, Jesus Christ and my Father, God. I know, through Him, that I have stumbled upon you.
I enjoyed this article about Wolves and Weeds. Iron does sharpen iron, and we need one another to build one another up and to help create discernment among the world.
The Spirit has led this vulnerable sheep through much. I live in the south and definately understood the titles given to christians who truly felt they were following God, and the pardon that you made known about ignorance of believing that it is all there is. I have always left church still feeling “hungry” for the Holy Spirit. As I have grown with God, I feel him more than I realize others do. He is very real and my only source of comfort. I confess ignorance to your teaching, but the method and beliefs of passion are the same.
I look forward to more of your teachings and may God bless you and your efforts.
Many are simply not exposed to other teachings due to lack of them in their areas.
Much Love and Grace to you, Jim. I look forward to our friendship and feeding of one another.
Tricia Carson
February 16th, 2010 at 7:54 PM
Hi Tricia,
Thanks for introducing yourself! Great to meet you and hear a bit about you. From what you wrote
It sounds like you’re a follower of Messiah/Christ Yeshua/Jesus! Glad to know you
Your path has trained you and has made you sensitive to the truths He will show you as you go forward. Though what you were referring to was probably very hard and disappointing, they were given to you to polish you and to make you ready for His Kingdom. How awesome is that?!
The Wolves and Weeds are a concept honed on the edge of the “Bible-Belt,” of which I’m sure the Devil uses to hold up his pants and keep himself from being exposed everytime he turnes around! That’s not to speak badly of all those who genuinely serve our Master. But they are awash in weeds and wounded by wolves all too often. But for us, He has moved us through all that safely, though wiser from the experience.
You know Him, it sounds, along the lines of:
A passionate love for Yeshua accompanies a passionate desire to follow in His ways. As the verse above says, when we love Him that way, He will “manifest” himself to us. “Manifest,” of course, means “reveal” or “show.” So what is really important in our walk with Him is not what we happen to know right now, but rather are we doing what we know right now. He will lead us into truth as He shapes us and as we follow, keeping in step with the Spirit. It sounds like He is leading and you are following! That’s awesome, Tricia!
Thanks for the blessings, sister. I appreciate the kind words. It’s always a pleasure to meet someone that seeks first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness! As He promised, the seeker will find. And so we are!
Blessings back to you, Tricia, and to your loved ones. I look forward to our fellowship here online. If you have any questions or thoughts, please don’t hesitate to bring them up!
Jim