In connection with the parable of “The Sower” Christ uttered another parable in which He said: “The Kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man that sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the blade sprang up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also” (Matt. 13:24–26).
Tares are said to be quite like wheat until the heads show and then there is a plain difference. Side by side with the sowers of the good seed, the counter-working of the enemy goes on. Every truth has its counterfeit. Both the wheat and the tares go through a process of growth, and the difference between the wheat and tares often does not become apparent until the tares are fully grown. Sin cannot always be detected in its initial stages. Many times it can only be discerned in its results.
Mystery of lawlessness at work – Paul says in II Thessalonians 2:7, “For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work.” Satan sows his seeds in the fields of God’s Kingdom at night; that is, secretly, deceitfully, mysteriously, and deceptively in bringing the whole world under his control.
Sin gradually penetrates every sphere of life, in ever widening circles, through a process of secret and mysterious growth. Satan desires nothing less than to bring every form of government, every school, every church, every institution, and every organization under his control. He is able to accomplish his nefarious purposes because he masquerades in the name of education, religion, culture, science, social welfare; and in the name of the good, the true, and the beautiful. Through these means, Satan has been able to make himself so attractive, so alluring, so necessary and important in the minds of many, that large masses not only follow him but even defend his program against all opposition. Thus the mystery of iniquity doth already work.
When Satan has churches, governments, institutions, and organizations, as instruments to promote his kingdom, a tremendous force of evil has been set in motion. When we consider that almost every denomination is permeated with liberalism, it seems that the great apostasy of which the Bible speaks, has made a powerful beginning. The mystery of lawlessness is already at work.
Asleep at the post – This very sad state of affairs has come about simply because vast numbers of church members were asleep at the post. “While men slept” can be written over the gravestones of many nations that have succumbed to the total tyranny of Communism.
While Boards of Education sleep, educators of many schools, colleges, and universities, are allowed to teach evolution, agnosticism, Freudianism, atheism, and many other isms, undermining the faith and the morality of American youth.
While Samson was sleeping on the knees of Delilah, he lost the seven locks of his consecration and “knew not that Jehovah had departed from him.”
While the bridegroom tarried, the five foolish virgins fell asleep, and when they sought entrance into the marriage feast, the door was shut.
The Church of Laodicea was sound asleep, thinking it was rich and in need of nothing, when actually it was wretched, poor, blind, and naked. “While men sleep” tells the story of the downfall of many denominations.
Auburn Affirmation – “But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away.” Way back in 1924, thirteen hundred ministers of the Presbyterian Church signed a document known as the Auburn Affirmation. This document states that the inspiration of the Bible, the Virgin Birth, the vicarious atonement, the resurrection and the miracles of the Bible were not essential to the system of doctrine contained in the confessional standards of the Church.
Concerning this document, Rev. R. B. Kuiper wrote: “If thirteen percent of the ministers in a Church sign a heretical document, that is serious enough. But if the other eighty-seven percent rise in opposition and seek to persuade their erring colleagues to retract—failing in this take steps to depose them, the Church will be saved. However, if heresy is tolerated it will eat as doeth a gangrene and the Church is appointed to perish.” But the people of this Church were asleep and nothing was done about it.
Social Gospel – The Christian Cynosure of November 1971 states: “It is significant that the Department of Evangelism of the United Presbyterian Church regards Social Action as Evangelism.” To equate social action with evangelism is heresy number one, which has corrupted almost every denomination throughout the land.
There is no greater destructive force working in the churches today than the preaching of the social gospel. And with the emphasis on social activity, as we find it in many churches, Satan is sowing the tares of infidelity in the name of Christianity. “But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.”
The alternative – The only prevention against falling away from the truth is continual progress. The alternative to advance is retrogression. As soon as growth ceases, disintegration commences. There must either be continual advance or there will be certain decay and corruption. Truth which is not growing becomes fossilized.
There are men in all churches and there are denominations whose creeds are the most orthodox and yet utterly useless because the creeds are accepted and then shelved. The alternative to growth is apostasy. Apostasy may be very real and yet deceptive. We grow in the knowledge of Christ and His redemption by penetrating more deeply into the truths we have learned long ago. This is the best antidote for apostasy.
Arousing the laity – “But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.” Considering the many problems facing our Church today, Neo-orthodoxy, Pentecostalism, the new hermeneutics, and the social gospel, it is of utmost importance that our laity become aware of the many dangers that threaten the Church.
In Hosea 4:6, we read: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy Cod, I also will forget thy children.” The prophet Isaiah wrote: “Therefore my people are gone into captivity for lack of knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst.” Paul writes to the Ephesians: “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee” (5:15).
A proposal – The purpose of this article is to present a modest proposal to counteract the heterodoxy facing the Church. I was happy to be informed that on May 5, 1971, a group of men from various parts of Ontario assembled and organized an affiliate of the Reformed Fellowship. These people were drawn together out of a commonly felt need to speak out clearly concerning the many spirits and movements facing the churches and their members today. They believed that a clear expression of the Reformed Faith is essential to preserve the precious heritage of the Church. We were also delighted that a similar group, constituting members of both the Sioux Center Christian Reformed Churches, organized a Reformed Fellowship affiliate, during the month of December, 1971.
I would propose to every Christian Reformed community to organize such a Reformed Fellowship group to give the laity an opportunity to become acquainted with the enemies that are sowing tares, and to renew their knowledge and enthusiasm for the rich heritage of the Reformed Faith. Our hope for survival lies in an informed laity, which can operate as a regenerated leaven in the midst of the Church.
With the blessings of the Lord, such organizations could develop into a mighty movement within the Church unto the preservation of the Christian faith. Such meeting need not be primarily polemical, but rather informative. The Bible says, What can the righteous do if the foundations be destroyed? The foundations can be reinforced, when large numbers of our constituency renew their dedication in searching the Scriptures. We need a revival—a revival in love for our Reformed heritage. May it never be written on the tombstone of our denomination: “While men slept an enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat.”
Cornelius J. Van Schowen (emeritus) of Sioux Center, Iowa, taught Bible at Dordt College from 1954 until his retirement in 1968.
Tares are said to be quite like wheat until the heads show and then there is a plain difference. Side by side with the sowers of the good seed, the counter-working of the enemy goes on. Every truth has its counterfeit. Both the wheat and the tares go through a process of growth, and the difference between the wheat and tares often does not become apparent until the tares are fully grown. Sin cannot always be detected in its initial stages. Many times it can only be discerned in its results.
Mystery of lawlessness at work – Paul says in II Thessalonians 2:7, “For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work.” Satan sows his seeds in the fields of God’s Kingdom at night; that is, secretly, deceitfully, mysteriously, and deceptively in bringing the whole world under his control.
Sin gradually penetrates every sphere of life, in ever widening circles, through a process of secret and mysterious growth. Satan desires nothing less than to bring every form of government, every school, every church, every institution, and every organization under his control. He is able to accomplish his nefarious purposes because he masquerades in the name of education, religion, culture, science, social welfare; and in the name of the good, the true, and the beautiful. Through these means, Satan has been able to make himself so attractive, so alluring, so necessary and important in the minds of many, that large masses not only follow him but even defend his program against all opposition. Thus the mystery of iniquity doth already work.
When Satan has churches, governments, institutions, and organizations, as instruments to promote his kingdom, a tremendous force of evil has been set in motion. When we consider that almost every denomination is permeated with liberalism, it seems that the great apostasy of which the Bible speaks, has made a powerful beginning. The mystery of lawlessness is already at work.
Asleep at the post – This very sad state of affairs has come about simply because vast numbers of church members were asleep at the post. “While men slept” can be written over the gravestones of many nations that have succumbed to the total tyranny of Communism.
While Boards of Education sleep, educators of many schools, colleges, and universities, are allowed to teach evolution, agnosticism, Freudianism, atheism, and many other isms, undermining the faith and the morality of American youth.
While Samson was sleeping on the knees of Delilah, he lost the seven locks of his consecration and “knew not that Jehovah had departed from him.”
While the bridegroom tarried, the five foolish virgins fell asleep, and when they sought entrance into the marriage feast, the door was shut.
The Church of Laodicea was sound asleep, thinking it was rich and in need of nothing, when actually it was wretched, poor, blind, and naked. “While men sleep” tells the story of the downfall of many denominations.
Auburn Affirmation – “But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away.” Way back in 1924, thirteen hundred ministers of the Presbyterian Church signed a document known as the Auburn Affirmation. This document states that the inspiration of the Bible, the Virgin Birth, the vicarious atonement, the resurrection and the miracles of the Bible were not essential to the system of doctrine contained in the confessional standards of the Church.
Concerning this document, Rev. R. B. Kuiper wrote: “If thirteen percent of the ministers in a Church sign a heretical document, that is serious enough. But if the other eighty-seven percent rise in opposition and seek to persuade their erring colleagues to retract—failing in this take steps to depose them, the Church will be saved. However, if heresy is tolerated it will eat as doeth a gangrene and the Church is appointed to perish.” But the people of this Church were asleep and nothing was done about it.
Social Gospel – The Christian Cynosure of November 1971 states: “It is significant that the Department of Evangelism of the United Presbyterian Church regards Social Action as Evangelism.” To equate social action with evangelism is heresy number one, which has corrupted almost every denomination throughout the land.
There is no greater destructive force working in the churches today than the preaching of the social gospel. And with the emphasis on social activity, as we find it in many churches, Satan is sowing the tares of infidelity in the name of Christianity. “But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.”
The alternative – The only prevention against falling away from the truth is continual progress. The alternative to advance is retrogression. As soon as growth ceases, disintegration commences. There must either be continual advance or there will be certain decay and corruption. Truth which is not growing becomes fossilized.
There are men in all churches and there are denominations whose creeds are the most orthodox and yet utterly useless because the creeds are accepted and then shelved. The alternative to growth is apostasy. Apostasy may be very real and yet deceptive. We grow in the knowledge of Christ and His redemption by penetrating more deeply into the truths we have learned long ago. This is the best antidote for apostasy.
Arousing the laity – “But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.” Considering the many problems facing our Church today, Neo-orthodoxy, Pentecostalism, the new hermeneutics, and the social gospel, it is of utmost importance that our laity become aware of the many dangers that threaten the Church.
In Hosea 4:6, we read: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy Cod, I also will forget thy children.” The prophet Isaiah wrote: “Therefore my people are gone into captivity for lack of knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst.” Paul writes to the Ephesians: “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee” (5:15).
A proposal – The purpose of this article is to present a modest proposal to counteract the heterodoxy facing the Church. I was happy to be informed that on May 5, 1971, a group of men from various parts of Ontario assembled and organized an affiliate of the Reformed Fellowship. These people were drawn together out of a commonly felt need to speak out clearly concerning the many spirits and movements facing the churches and their members today. They believed that a clear expression of the Reformed Faith is essential to preserve the precious heritage of the Church. We were also delighted that a similar group, constituting members of both the Sioux Center Christian Reformed Churches, organized a Reformed Fellowship affiliate, during the month of December, 1971.
I would propose to every Christian Reformed community to organize such a Reformed Fellowship group to give the laity an opportunity to become acquainted with the enemies that are sowing tares, and to renew their knowledge and enthusiasm for the rich heritage of the Reformed Faith. Our hope for survival lies in an informed laity, which can operate as a regenerated leaven in the midst of the Church.
With the blessings of the Lord, such organizations could develop into a mighty movement within the Church unto the preservation of the Christian faith. Such meeting need not be primarily polemical, but rather informative. The Bible says, What can the righteous do if the foundations be destroyed? The foundations can be reinforced, when large numbers of our constituency renew their dedication in searching the Scriptures. We need a revival—a revival in love for our Reformed heritage. May it never be written on the tombstone of our denomination: “While men slept an enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat.”
Cornelius J. Van Schowen (emeritus) of Sioux Center, Iowa, taught Bible at Dordt College from 1954 until his retirement in 1968.