Steven Garofalo
Spirituality/Belief • Education • News
Living life In A Material World (P2)
By Steven Garofalo, June 3, 2024 (Copyright 2024)
June 03, 2024

PART2: JESUS’ PARABLE OF THE SEED DECODED

Welcome back to Reason For Truth, This is continuation of the Parable of Seed. This week we will look at the parable as it was “DECODED” by Jesus Christ himself. To recap, all Christians share one thing in common. We are all one way when we get saved and change over time as we strive to live out our Christian faith. Speaking of American Christianity and for the West in particular, in general, the worries of this world and our current state of unsettled politics, economics and security are pulling down many Christians faith. For some, it’s material wealth beyond expectations that has distracted them from living out their “GOOD SOIL” with a solid faith and a dependence on the Lord. That has nothing to do with their being saved, but everything to do with state of their faith and how they live out that faith. Without further ado, let’s jump in with Jesus’s decoding of the Parable of the Seed in Luke 8:

JESUS’S PARABLE DE-CODED VERSE BY SEED VERSE (LUKE 8 PARABLE OF THE SEED BROKEN DOWN)

  1. SEED: “The seed is the word of God” (v.11).
  2. THE SHALLOW SOIL: The SEED that fell upon the PATH (Shallow soil or shallow person or person with shallow faith): “Are those who heard or hear God’s word; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved” (vs.12). Matthew tells us, “And as he sowed some seed fell along the path and the BIRDS came and devoured them”. The “BIRDS” represent “SATAN” or “EVIL”.  It’s easy to get excited about Jesus, Christianity and a church with great worship music and friends. But, it’s another to be filled with joy and make Jesus Christ the center of our faith as opposed to the external, human elements that result in the devil being able to distract and destroy that shallow faith. 
  3. THE ROCKS” OR THOSE WHO FAIL THE “TEST”: Those whose faith are like seed falling upon the rocks. “And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while and in a time of TESTING fall away.” MATTHEW 13:5 calls this “ROCKY GOUND” in that it’s shallow soil on top of solid rock. At some point, and even periodically, our faith is TESTED. How and if we finish the race reflects our perseverance or lack there of in our life. The bottom line is this: What determines success as a truly saved Christian is a successfully tested faith.
  4. THOSE WHO ALLOW WEALTH AND MATERIALISM TO CHOKE OUT THEIR FAITH. This faith is the one I want to focus on the most today. “And as for what fell among the thorns (and weeds), they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature” (vs.14). Matthew’s telling of the Parable Of The Seed in 13:25 is most likely speaking of “Darnell”which was a serious weed of that grew among the wheat in the time of Jesus. At that time in history there were no modern sorting machinery to enable Darnell seeds to be separated efficiently from seed wheat, so they grew together as similarity between Therese two plants is so great that in some regions, Darnell is referred to as “false wheat”.  Simply put, the :Darnell” blade resembles “wheat” but can only be distinguished from wheat when it becomes fully ripe. Biblical speaking, it’s like a FAITH that “LOOKS” authentic, but is not. This speaks to “CULTURAL CHRISTIANS” (those who are Christians in name only) as opposed to “AUTHENTIC CHRISTIANS” (those who authentically and truly place their daily and eternal life and trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation and daily living). This is the toughest one for American’s and many people around the world to accept because we live in an era of unprecedented wealth, comfort and political correctness. To make the declaration that cultural Christians cannot earn their way to heaven through good works is politically unpopular.  If honest, we must admit that most of us live a privileged life to one degree or another. This is true of the poor in the projects as compared to how the poor live in most other countries around the world. 
  5. THE THORNS: Many Americans have started off humble with a strong faith and have become wealthy over time. In a few cases, those in this category are able to manage their wealth biblically in light of God’s word. In most cases though, naturally, that wealth leads to a false “independence” in light of their daily need for God in their lives. As a result, the “THORNS” of this world are strangling them and their faith. This never is or was Inited to be the case to begin with. In other words, no Christian ever sets out to harm their faith, but a natural by-product of riches is the danger of allowing the “THORNS” of this world to begin to choke out their faith and walk with Jesus.
  6. FINALLY, THE GOOD SOIL: Lastly, Jesus says, “As for that in the good soil, they are those who HEARING-the word (God’s Word), HOLD it fast in an HONEST and GOOD HEART, and BEAR FRUIT with PATIENCE” (Luke 8:15). This verse is a sermon all its own. That being said, once saved-always saved. Again, in application for you and I today, all authentic Christians start off as “good soil” but if not careful, as a saved person in Christ, still allow a shift to the thorns of this world to choke out their commitment and vigor for Jesus Christ as they become more successful, more affluent and more independent in light of how the world defines success. This by its very nature leads to a departure at some level, away from the dependence on God, where they started.

THE LITMUS TEST:

What I find interesting about Luke’s account of this parable is found in Luke 8:16-18 in that the TRUTH is brought to light in one’s actions, or HOW they live out their faith. These are the words of Jesus through Luke 8:16-18.

16 “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 17 For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 18 Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

Continuing with the theme of the word of God introduced in verses 4-15, Jesus compares His teachings to “LIGHT”. He said it (the light of God) should not be hidden, but displayed, so that people can benefit from the illumination. Eventually everything will be revealed by the light of the word of God (Hebrew 4:12, 13). And in the end, Jesus tells us to “take heed how you hear”. Jesus ends the parable with a warning to His audience to listen to and follow the word of God (James 1:22-25). In other words, turn their faith into ACTION-being “DOER”S of the word and not just hearers.

CONCLUSION: The parable teaches that there would be four different responses to the Word: FIRST: No response. SECOND: Emotional response. THIRD: Worldly response. This is the seed I want us to focus on today. Are you currently, or have you ever made a lot more money as compared to when you first trusted in the Lord as Lord and Savior-as the seed that bared 100-fold? Have you ever or are your current long allowing the “Cares and riches and pleasures of life stifle or “choke out” your spiritual fruit from maturing further in your faith? Remember, there are four kinds of seed, but for American’s especially, (vs. 14) this is an interesting seed category to look at for the authentic believer who, as a saved believer, has now made quite a bit more money, experienced a great more deal more pleasure, independence and who have been blessed by God materially. How has that effective your life as such?

CONTINUANING FROM ABOVE-FOURTHLY and LAST: What is a fruitful response. Speaking of American Christianity and for the West in general, we live in a time whereby these four categories mandate a fresh look. Not in terms of our salvation but how we are currently living out our faith in the modern world. Are we meeting with the Lord daily in prayer and Bible study? Are the worries of this world and our current state of unsettled politics, economics and security pulling down our faith, or strengthen ending it through a deeper dependence and trust in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Or, for some of us, is material wealth beyond expectations distracting us from being “GOOD SOIL” with a solid faith and a dependence on the Lord? 

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Not Serpents of Skin, but From The Falsehood Of Sin: Uncoiling The Ending of Mark’s Gospel
By Del Potter, M.A.A. (Copyright 2025)

Not Serpents of Skin, but From The Falsehood Of Sin: Uncoiling The Ending of Mark’s Gospel

By Del Potter, M.A.A. August 27, 2025

Opening Remarks

From the outset, this article is NOT contending whether or not the ending of Mark 16 should be included. Although, it is in my humble opinion that some of the strange language in the ending of Mark actually affirms the truthfulness of the events inserted into the ending of Mark. There are several striking words in Mark's longer ending (Mark 16:17–18):

“These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them...”

As a first impression, the imagery suggests a miraculous ability to resist snakes and poison. It is nevertheless important to note that serpents and poison consistently function within Jewish, Biblical, and early Christian thought as symbols of false teaching and spiritual corruption, not simply physical danger.


Serpents in Scripture: Symbols of Deception

From the beginning of Genesis through Revelation, the serpent is never merely zoological—it is the archetype of deceit. In Genesis 3, the serpent slithers into the Garden not to bite with fangs, but to inject Eve with poisonous doubt about God’s word. Later Jewish wisdom literature follows this thread:

  • Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 21:2: “Flee from sin as from the face of a serpent: for if thou comest too near it, it will bite thee.”
  • Psalm 140:3: “They make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s, and under their lips is the venom of vipers.”

This same imagery flows into the New Testament:

  • Matthew 23:33: Jesus calls the Pharisees a “brood of vipers,” not because of biology, but because of false teaching.
  • 2 Corinthians 11:3: Paul warns that, just as the serpent deceived Eve, so false teachers corrupt the simplicity of Christ.
  • Revelation 12:9: John describes Satan as a serpent “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

Therefore, when Mark refers to "serpents" and "deadly poison," his Jewish-Christian readers would have recognized the metaphor: heresy slithering into the church among the people with its false doctrine poisoning the entire church (2 Peter 2:1).


The Poison Of Heresy: A Dangerous Drink

The early Church frequently described heretical teaching as venom or poison. Ignatius of Antioch warned the Trallians:

“I therefore, yet not I, but the love of Jesus Christ, entreat you that ye use Christian nourishment only, and abstain from herbage of a different kind; I mean heresy. For those [that are given to this] mix up Jesus Christ with their own poison, speaking things which are unworthy of credit, like those who administer a deadly drug in sweet wine, which he who is ignorant of does greedily take, with a fatal pleasure leading to his own death.” (Letter to the Trallians 107 A.D.).

This language reflects the very pattern of Mark 16—poisonous teaching disguised as nourishment. The faithful, however, are promised preservation: “it will not harm them.” The believer, rooted in Christ, can discern and resist corruption.

No early Christian expressed this more vividly than Tertullian of Carthage (c. 200 AD). In his treatise Scorpiace, he likens heresy to venomous creatures:

  • Heresy “creeps into the church like a scorpion,” injecting spiritual poison.
  • The faithful must resist with the antidote of Scripture, wielded like the staff of Moses against the serpents of Egypt.

Tertullian believed that the danger was not from reptiles in the marketplace, but rather from false teachers within the church. Similarly, heresy pierces the souls of believers in a quiet and lethal manner, just as the scorpion stings unseen. As a result, he viewed Christ's promise in Mark not as a test of reckless physical stunts, but as a promise that the faithful will not suffer from the venom of falsehood if armed with the truth. As Paul rightly reminds his audience:

 "Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil (i.e. snakes & poisons)." - Ephesians 6:11


Mark’s Ending and the beginning of the Early Church

NT writers wrote within a culture steeped in metaphor. The early church never staged snake-handling rituals to “prove” faith. Instead, they testified by enduring persecution, refuting heresy, and preserving sound doctrine.

The apologetic force of Mark 16 is not spectacle—it is survival. The church would face vipers in pulpits, scorpions in councils, and poison in doctrine. Yet Christ promises: “These things will not harm you.”

Just as in the first century, serpents and scorpions creep into the church today—not in the form of reptiles, but in the form of false witnesses, compromised truth, and distorted gospels. The call of Mark 16 is not to chase miracles, but to guard against lies.

In a world full of theological poison, the believer’s protection is not daredevil faith, but faithful discernment: Scripture, the Spirit, and the witness of the saints.

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers [i.e. snakes] among you, who will secretly introduce destructive [i.e. poison] heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.” - 2 Peter 2:1


Closing Remarks

The ending of Mark’s Gospel, far from a literal dare, is a prophetic warning and promise:

  • Serpents = false teachers.
  • Poison = heretical doctrines.
  • The promise = Christ’s people, if grounded in truth, will not be overcome.

Tertullian’s scorpions, Ignatius’ poison, Paul’s vipers, and Jesus’ own words unite: the greatest danger to the church is not fangs and venom in the field, but lies and venom in the pulpit.

In Christ, the Church endures—immune not to biology, but to blasphemy.

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MAN'S PROBLEM-"HIDDENESS"
By Del Potter, M.A.A., August 16, 2025

The Problem Is With Man's Hiddenness Toward God, Not Vice-Versa

Why Doesn’t God Make His Existence Unmistakably Clear to Everyone?

One of the most common objections to faith is: “If God is real, why doesn’t He just show Himself beyond all doubt?” Skeptics ask why God doesn’t write His name in the sky or make His presence undeniable. But Scripture, reason, and the earliest witnesses of the Church tell us a different story: God has already made Himself known, yet it is humanity that hides.

God’s Self-Revelation in Creation

Scripture consistently teaches that God’s fingerprints are everywhere. The Apostle Paul writes:

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)

Psalm 19:1 echoes this truth: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.”

Job reminds us that creation itself—beasts, birds, earth, and sea—all testify to the Creator:

“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.” (Job 12:7–10)

God’s existence, then, is not hidden. It is written into the very structure of reality. As St. Athanasius later argued, creation itself acts as a universal witness, speaking of God’s power to every culture and language without need for words.

Why Does God Seem Hidden?

The real issue is not divine silence but human resistance. Moses records God saying:

“I will surely hide My face in that day, because of all the evil which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.” (Deuteronomy 31:18)

This is not a statement about God being unknowable but about mankind turning its back to Him. God’s “hiddenness” is a moral and relational reality, not an intellectual one. As Isaiah wrote:

“Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.” (Isa. 59:2)

Early Christians echoed this. Justin Martyr argued that those who live according to reason (logos) recognize the true God through creation and conscience. Clement of Alexandria explained that ignorance of God is not due to His absence, but due to the blindness of the soul enslaved to passions.

The Attributes of God are Revealed According To His Nature.

If God were to force belief by overwhelming proof, He would violate the very nature of faith and love. Love cannot be compelled; it requires freedom. Blaise Pascal later captured this well: “There is enough light for those who desire to see, and enough darkness for those who do not.”

The early Church understood that God provides evidence sufficient for faith, but not coercion. Origen taught that God “gives signs to those who are willing to see, but hides from those who shut their eyes.” This allows space for genuine seeking, humility, and love—rather than forced acknowledgment.

God Is Not Hidden—We Are

When people ask, “Why doesn’t God make Himself clear?” the biblical answer is: He already has. The problem is not with God’s silence but with our ears. The witness of creation, conscience, Scripture, and Christ Himself leaves us without excuse.

It is not God who hides, but man who hides from God—just as Adam and Eve once hid in the Garden. And yet, even then, God sought them, calling out: “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9).

The same God still calls today through the beauty of creation, the testimony of Scripture, and the living Christ. The question is not whether God is clear enough but whether we are willing to see Him more clearly!

"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known." - 1 Corinthians 13:12

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INFALLIBILITY IS GREATER THAN INERRANCY
By Del Potter M.A.A.
 
God's truth (Infallibility) is greater than man's inability to write down or transmit His word (Inerrancy) perfectly. God's truth remains true regardless if man regards or disregards it to be true.
 
Allow me to explain more in-depth. Inerrancy, is defined as the belief that Scripture contains no errors in its original manuscripts, so obviously inerrancy struggles with textual variants like John 8:1–11. The story is missing from the oldest Greek manuscripts (e.g., Codex Sinaiticus, Vaticanus) and its stylistic differences raise red flags for many textual critics. But if our faith rests solely on inerrant transmission, what happens when that transmission wavers? Are such passages now less inspired? We are warned from scripture itself that errant transmission could and can occur. God through Moses warns the Israelites that "You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I am commanding you" (Deuteronomy 4:2).
 
Jesus seems to place an exclamation point on this line of thinking and says “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (John 14:15) clarifying further that if you love God you will not tamper with His word. God places a capstone on this discussion by warning His readers at the close of Revelation "and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book" (22:19). My point? We are warned through scripture itself there is and would be a problem with those that would add or even take away from God's infallible word thus making it errant and not inerrant. This is where the strength of infallibility steps in.
 
Infallible simply means “incapable of error.” The difference is God is incapable of error and is against His nature to error. "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless" (Psalm 18:30:). Inerrancy is like a flawless earthly mirror. Crack it, and it’s compromised. However, Infallibility is like the sun: Even if seen through a foggy lens, it still gives light and heat because its origin is not of the earth.
 
Psalm 119:89 reminds us that truth originates not in human manuscripts, but in the eternal counsel of God. Combined with John 21:25 - "Jesus did many other things... if all of them had been written down, the world itself would be unable to contain the volumes" We are confronted with a key theological insight: not all truth has been written, but all truth is known. In Scripture, it is clarified that omission from man's history does not imply absence from God's history. So, even when the earthly record is incomplete, the heavenly record has been completed.
 
Again, it is true that manuscripts such as Codex Sinaiticus omit stories like the Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53–8:11), leading some to question its authenticity. Yet, early Christians like Didymus the Blind (pre-Nicene era) affirmed the passage’s existence in "certain Gospels." Augustine later wrote that some scribes intentionally excluded the story out of fear it could be misused to justify sin using the story of the Pericope Adulterae.
 
“Certain persons of little faith... removed from their manuscripts the Lord's act of forgiveness toward the adulteress.” (Augustine 'De Adulterinis Coniugiis' - 419 A.D.)
 
This demonstrates that the story may have been removed due to fear, politics, or human discretion, but not by divine silence. In light of Psalm 119:89, we must remember that God's word is "SETTLED" [Greek: Natsab = stationed/established] in heaven before it’s written on earth.
 
This challenges an empirical view of truth. If divine revelation is only accepted when it aligns with surviving manuscripts, the church’s oral tradition, apostolic memory, and lived theology are undermined. The early church did not rely solely on manuscripts, but on witnesses, oral, and Spirit-led preservation. As Tertullian wrote in the 2nd century:
 
“We do not need curiosity after Christ Jesus, nor inquiry after the gospel. When we believe, we desire to believe nothing more. For this we believe, that there is nothing else which we ought to believe.” - Prescription Against Heretics, Ch. 7–8.
 
Scripture acknowledges its own incompleteness—yet affirms the completeness of God's eternal counsel.
 
The failure to accept any truth that has not been recorded in early papyri amounts to ignoring the 'heavenly library' where truth is established. There is a consensus among Scripture, tradition, and theology that the absence of paper does not imply the absence of preservation. Despite the fact that earth has not penned it, that does not mean heaven has not done so. As Christians, we believe that the eternal Word, who is Jesus Christ, the Logos (John 1:1-14), has embodied and preserved all truth, some written, some spoken, and some remembered in the heart of the Church. The Word of God cannot fail - even if manuscripts do. That is the beauty and greatness of infallibility over inerrancy.
 
"And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written." (John 21:25).
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