“Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” – Matthew 3:10-12
Winnowing the Wheat from the Chaff
Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” – Matthew 3:10-12
Given the state of affairs in the world today, one has to wonder if God has begun the process of separating the wheat from the chaff. Has the spirit of deceit again been unleashed on mankind?
Sometime around 560 and 540 B.C. Jeremiah decried the aberrant behavior of the Jewish people, the behavior which led to their exile into Babylonia. He warned them, "And one said this, another that, until this spirit came forth and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will deceive him.’ The Lord asked: How? He answered, ‘I will go forth and become a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ The Lord replied: You shall succeed in deceiving him. Go forth and do this. So now the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours; but the Lord himself has decreed evil against you.” 1 Kings 21-23
Nearly one hundred years later in 450-425 BC, Ezra recorded the misdeeds of Ahaz and his people and echoed Jeremiah’s words in 2 Chronicles 19-22.
St. Paul warned the early Christians that the deceiving power was active in their time, and it seems apparent it is active in ours as well: “Therefore, God is sending them a deceiving power so that they may believe the lie, that all who have not believed the truth but have approved wrongdoing may be condemned. – 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12
So what is this lie? Isaiah identified it for us: “Ah! Those who call evil good, and good evil, who change darkness to light, and light into darkness, who change bitter to sweet, and sweet into bitter!” – Isaiah 5:20
Look at our world today. How perceptions have rapidly changed. Beginning gradually, with the introduction of “the pill” we have seen the disintegration of the family in favor of cohabitation, children born out of wedlock, and even the so-called “alternative families and life styles,” which defy natural law.
These are now deemed normal, when 50 years ago sexual promiscuity was scandalous, and bringing children into the world in that situation unacceptable. Homosexuality was considered aberrant behavior and in many places, criminal. Now, because of the pressure of the so-called LGBTQ community and the threats of boycotting, its classification in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (ICD-10) was changed from that of a mental illness to alleged normal behavior.
The notion of pre-teens and young children engaging in sexual behavior was not even on the radar, nor was there a crisis of “sexual or gender identity.” It was a given, you were either male or female based upon your biology. Now places like California have passed laws the indoctrinate children as young as kindergarten in sex education that includes explicit information on homosexuality, transgenderism and sexual play that according to the American College of Pediatricians is a form of child abuse as is is harmful to children. See: Gender Idiology Harms Children.
When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off, the storm shall scatter them. But you shall rejoice in the Lord; in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory. – Isaiah 41:16 I winnowed them with a winnowing fork at the gates of the land; I have bereaved, destroyed my people; they have not turned from their evil ways. – Jeremiah 15:7
The Parable of the Weeds Among the Wheat. He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.” – Matthew 13:24-30
