The Difference Between Wheat, Tares and Thorns
Did you ever wonder why there have been separations from various Christian bodies throughout the centuries, when God says in Matthew 13:29, 30, that the tares are to grow with the wheat until the harvest, and verse 39 says that the harvest is the end of the world? From whence, then, cometh all the hundreds of various Christian denominations etc., etc.? Why did Jesus separate a group of Christians from the apostate Jewish church of His day? Why did God separate Satan and his followers from the heavenly church before the harvest time? Why did Moses separate those who repented of building the golden calf from those who did not? Why did Moses separate those who repented from Korah's company, and then destroy the rest? Why the Protestant Reformation separation from Rome?
I will tell you why friend. Tares are defined by the Spirit of Prophecy as insincere believers, but when insincere belief turns to open sin rebellion, you have another element: you have thorns which choke out the wheat and make it impossible for the wheat to mature. This is the point at which separation from a professing religious body becomes an absolute necessity if the wheat is to survive, because Scripture says that it is impossible for the wheat to unite the corrupt and remain pure. So thorns are open sinners, and open sinners were ever to be put out of the camp if they would not readily repent and reform.
God did not remove Satan from heaven until his rebellion became open. So that is a Biblical precedent for removing open sin rebellion from the church, and if the church fails to do this, then the faithful must leave such a church, or they will be choked out and die.
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." II Corinthians 6:14-17.
We find in the above Scripture what IS NOT considered mere tares or insincere believers. We are to separate from the following elements:
- Unbelievers or infidels
- Unrighteous persons
- Any form of idolatry
- Any unclean thing
"No confederacy With Those Opposing the Truth.--"Let he watchmen on the walls of Zion NOT JOIN with those who are making of non-effect the truth as it is in Christ. Let them not join the confederacy of infidelity, popery, and Protestantism in exalting tradition above scripture, reason above revelation, and human talent above the divine influence and vital power of Godliness." E. G. White, SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, pp. 1141, 1142.
Every member of the professing Seventh-day Adventist Church is corporately responsible for the church's violation of each and every specification of the above statement, via the church's ecumenical connections. What is Ellen White's instruction when there is confederacy (union) with those who oppose the truth?:
Corporate Responsibility
"The plain straight testimony must live in the church, or the curse of God will rest upon His people as surely as it did upon ancient Israel because of their sins. God holds His people, AS A BODY, responsible for the sins existing in individuals AMONG THEM." Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 269.
What about the New Movement which has formed "AMONG THEM" that has removed God?! Are His people, AS A BODY responsible for that New Movement, that will permit nothing to stand in its way. (See Selected Messages, Vol. 1, 204-5)."I was shown that the pointed testimony must live in the church. This alone will answer to the message to the Laodiceans. Wrongs must be reproved, sin must be called sin, and iniquity must be met promptly and decidedly, and put away from us AS A PEOPLE." Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 260.
"They that forsake the law praise the wicked.' Proverbs 28:4. When those who are uniting with the world, yet claiming great purity, plead for union with those who have ever been the opposers of the cause of truth, we should FEAR AND SHUN THEM as decidedly as did Nehemiah. Such counsel is prompted by the enemy of all good. It is the speech of timeservers, and should be resisted as resolutely today as then. Whatever influence would tend to unsettle the faith of God's people in His guiding power, should be steadfastly withstood." E. G. White, Prophets and Kings, 660.
"Those who are uniting with the world [and the fallen churches that cannot be distinguished from the world, Early Writings, 273] are receiving the worldly mold and preparing for the mark of the beast." E. G. White, Testimonies, Vol. 5, 216.
"Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon, For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye." Zechariah 2:7.
"The thorns of sin will grow in any soil/ they need no cultivation; but grace must be carefully cultivated. The briers and thorns are always ready to spring up, and the work of purification must advance continually....
The thorns that have been cut off but not uprooted grow apace, until the soul [and/or the church] is overspread with them." E. G. White, Christ's Object Lessons, 51.
Quiescent, insincere believer tares, are not to be uprooted until the close of probationary time, Christ's Object Lessons, 72. Open sinning tares and thorns are to be uprooted, o the church will be overspread with them and they will choke out and kill the wheat, making it impossible for the wheat to mature. This is why the wheat must be separated from a church that is controlled by open sinning, apostate tares and thorns.
"Christ has plainly taught that those who persist in open sin must be separated from the church..." Christ's Object Lessons, 71.
But what about a church that refuses to NEVER AGAIN show its people their sins, much less separates them from the church?
"Here we see that the church--the Lord's sanctuary--was the first to feel the stroke of the wrath of God. The ancient men, those to whom God had given great light and who had stood as guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, and betrayed their trust. They had taken the position that we need not look for miracles and the marked manifestation of God's power as in former days. Times have changed. These words strengthen their unbelief, and they say: The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil. He is too merciful to visit His people in judgment. Thus 'Peace and safety" is the cry from men who will never again lift up their voice like a trumpet to show God's people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. These dumb dogs that would not bark are the ones who feel the just vengeance of an offended God. Men, maidens, and little children all perish together." E. G. White, Testimonies, Vol. 5, 211.
What do we do with a church which will "never again" show the house of Jacob its sins, let alone remove those who persist in them? We must separate from such a church, because in such a church open sinning tares and thorns will kill, choke out, and make it impossible for the wheat to mature.
If Ellen White prophesied that the church would never again show the house of Jacob its sins, why did she not advocate leaving such a church? Ellen White's prophecy in this regard was conditional at the time she made it. The church could have gone either way. It had not yet gone beyond the point of no return by marrying (joining) the world confederacy of Satan's fallen churches, which is unpardonable sin, after the church knew the Everlasting Gospel of Revelation 14, and the Midnight Cry of Matthew 25. To ignore the Midnight Cry and the Second Angels' Message which called us out of association, counsel, girding, confederacy and "working relationship" with the fallen churches, is to take one's eyes off the Midnight Cry lighted path, and Ellen White says this is unpardonable, because she says it is impossible for all who do so to ever get on the path again, Word to the Little Flock, p. 14. Does that stand agree with Scripture? Yes indeed! Isaiah 8:9-20, says that all who do such are broken in pieces, and this is Ezekiel 9 destruction, as the slaughter weapon of Ezekiel 9:2, is defined as "a breaking in pieces weapon" in the margin reference.
Consistent with this stand is Ellen White's commentary that all who heard and understood, but did not heed the second angels' message and the Midnight Cry in 1844, went into irretrievable darkness which is the same as rejecting light, which is the same as committing unpardonable sin. Ellen White says that reformers of all generation left churches which refused advanced light, Desire of Ages, 232, so rejection of light and truth is sanction for leaving any church. And, it gets more serious than just sanction; those who remain in a corrupt church will become corrupt, because it is impossible to unite with the corrupt without becoming corrupt!
Can Men Distinguish Between Thorns and Mere Tares?
"How shall we know that they are disloyal and untrue?--'By their fruits ye shall know them'...The Lord will not write as wise those who cannot distinguish between a tree that bears THORN-BERRIES and a tree that bears olives." E. G. White, Review and Herald, September 7, 1897.
It is not always possible to distinguish the tares from the wheat without judging character, but such is not the case with thorns! The surface readers have never made the distinction between tares and thorns, so they believe all dwell together to the end and that is fatal to all who so believe.
Thorns Are Apostates Who Make it Impossible for the Wheat to Mature
"Thorns sprung up.--The thorns made it impossible for the wheat to mature (see Luke 8:4). In the same way secular interests prevent the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23) from reaching maturity. Religion is relegated to the subordinate position of being only one interest among many. For lack of cultivation it withers and eventually dies. That which the thorny-ground hearers lack is a moral transformation (Christ's Object Lessons, p. 50). SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, 405.
"Behold, the sower went forth to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them" (R.V.); "some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: but other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold." {COL 34.3}
Thorns believe the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which God especially hates. That doctrine is only believe or confess with the lips.
"(Rom. 3:31.) Doctrine of the Nicolaitans.--The doctrine is now largely taught that the gospel of Christ has made the law of God of no effect; that by "believing" we are released from the necessity o being doers of the Word. But this is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which Christ so unsparingly condemned." E. G. White, SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, 957.
"The doctrine of the Nicolaitans appears to have been a form of antinomianism. Nicolaitans of the 2d cent. seem to have continued and extended the views of the 1st-cent. adherents, holding to the freedom of the flesh, and teaching that the deeds of the flesh had no effect upon the health of the soul and consequently no relation to salvation." SDA Bible Commentary, 771.
Definition of antinomian--'One who holds that under the gospel dispensation the moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation." Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary.
"But the doctrine is now largely taught that the Gospel of Christ has made the law of God of no effect; that by 'believing' we are released from the necessity of being doers of the word. But this is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which Christ so unsparingly condemned.... Those who are teaching this doctrine today have much to say in regard to faith and the righteousness of Christ; but they pervert the truth, and make it serve the cause of error. They declare that we have only to believe on Jesus Christ, and that faith is all--sufficient; that the righteousness of Christ is to be the sinners credentials; that this imputed righteousness fulfils the law for us, and that we are under no obligation to obey the law of God. This class claim tat Christ came to save sinners, and that he has saved them. "I am saved,' they will repeat over and over again. But are they saved while transgressing the law of Jehovah?--No; for the garments of Christ's righteousness are not a cloak for iniquity: Such teaching is a gross deception, and Christ becomes to these persons a stumbling-block as he did to the Jews,--to the Jews because hey would not receive him as their personal Saviour; to these professed believers in Christ, because they separate Christ and the Law, and regard faith as a substitute for obedience. They separate the Father and the Son, the Saviour of the world. Virtually they teach, both by precept and example, that Christ, by his death, saves men in their transgressions." E. G. White, The Signs of the Times, Vol. 3, 363, col. 1.
"It is IMPOSSIBLE for you to unite with those who are corrupt, and still remain pure. (II Corinthians 6:14-15 quoted). God and Christ and the heavenly host would have men know that if he unites with the corrupt he will become corrupt." E. G. White, Review and Herald, Vol. 4, p. 137.
Thorns--Nicolaitans to be Separated From the Church--"It is our work to know our special failings and sins, which cause darkness and spiritual feebleness, and quenched our first love. Is it worldliness? Is it selfishness? Is it the love of self-esteem? Is it striving to be first? Is it the sin of sensuality that is intensely active? Is it the sin of the Nicolaitans, turning the grace of god into lasciviousness? Is it the misuse and abuse of great light and opportunities and privileges, marking boasted claims to wisdom and religious knowledge, while the life and character are inconsistent and immoral? Whatever it is that has been petted and cultivated until it has become strong and overmastering, make determined efforts to overcome, else you will e lost. It is these cherished sins, abhorrent to God, that make enfeebled moral courage, and leave you to choose to walk apart from God, while you retain a miserable, heartless, outward form. Once the soul was all aglow with the love for Jesus; but all this is changed. The great Head who moves in the midst of his candlesticks will never be without a church. There will be faithless ones who will go out from us because they were not of us. There will be apostasies. But 'nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.' There will be those who are evil, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, who are sensual, who are controlled by the master-worker in all evil, who will have to be separated from the church."...
This labor of purifying the church is a painful work, but one that must not be neglected, if the church would have the commendation of God." E. G. White, Review and Herald Articles, 06-07-1887, paragraph 16.
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