Orbs & Raindrops

The Purpose of Parables

And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

¹¹ He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹² For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴ And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;¹⁷ for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

Matthew 13:10-17

This is truly an interesting passage in Scripture as it talks about the true spiritual condition of people and their receptivity to spiritual revelation.

Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance – The Holy Spirit gives understanding of Scripture to those who truly belong to the Lord. Some people make the assumption that the Bible can be read just like we do any other book, but not so. A person without the Holy Spirit can never grasp the fullness of the spiritual message unless it is divinely revealed. 

but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him – There are those who cannot understand what the passages mean and for good reason. They do not have the Holy Spirit and yet profess to be members of the house of God who do not really belong. False teachers and false apostles belong in this camp. For Satan’s deception to work, these deceivers study the real deal and imitate them. They employ the same modus operandi as their father, who was a liar since the beginning (John 8:44). Satan is not an original and so are the wolves in sheep’s clothing. There is always an element of mimicry and disguise. Since they have grabbed the correct biblical interpretation from those who do understand, they work with their “stolen” understanding (“but to them it has not been given” – anything taken that has not been given is theft), since they did not really receive it from the Holy Spirit as they tweak and adopt it to make it their own.

The moment of truth: “what he has will be taken away from him” The moment you isolate a false teacher from the material and ask them a question on the spot, they cannot defend what they purport to believe because their understanding is as far as what it was they grabbed from someone else. Seeing a false teacher being interviewed on the spot can expose this and the same can be said about those whom you deal with even on this platform.

If you or someone you know are following someone whom 75-80% of the time ONLY forward other people’s work, that should be your indicator. Someone who hears from God need not do that because as the preceding sentence says, “For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance.” Obviously, this means those who have true understanding will not need to “grab” understanding from someone else. 

There is no skirting around this fact. When we are new to the faith, we learn from people but we are not meant to linger as spiritual babies. We are meant to mature and pursue our intimate walk with the Lord. Someone might ask, “But wait! Isn’t that an unfair judgment?” Jesus clearly gave us an indicator of how to spot the true believers from the false,

“Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

Proof of Divine Revelation

Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

¹⁵ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷ Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”²⁰ Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Matthew 16:13-20

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” – This is an example of hearsay. Somebody stating what they believe without conviction. They cannot possibly be firm because they are not sure. The truth has not been revealed to them.

Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven – Peter gave a sure answer because it was given to him from above.

And now, I shall ‘expose’ my “hypocrisy” by blatantly echoing the sentiment (not understanding) of Baruch in this matter by saying, “Woe is me now!” since exposing wolves is a heavy burden. The wolves actually have the audacity to assert a claim to victimhood. Imagine the spiritual frauds of Jesus’ time. The hypocrites were devoid of conscience to save their false religiosity at all cost. They put Him on a cross! They will do the same to you, metaphorically speaking.

Brothers and sisters, beware and be vigilant. The wolves are not described as “ravenous” without reason (Matthew 7:15). They are intent to destroy. Take courage. You have the Holy Spirit and my hope is that you will not ignore the warning signs and the fruits of those who claim to be sincere believers but are not.