HEIRLOOM SEEDS

Have you ever wondered why there are so many religions?  Why are there several varieties even within denominations?  How do beliefs change from one generation to the next?  Every denomination believes their doctrine is “the truth” and all can “prove it” by tracing their history to the “Original.” So what happened?

Last Spring, I decided to plant a garden.  I prepared the soil and picked out the strongest, healthiest looking plants from the garden supply nursery.  After planting, I tended them with loving care; pulling weeds, daily watering and periodic fertilizing.  In August, my diligence began to pay dividends; I harvested a bumper crop of delicious, beautiful tomatoes.  What I did not know until later, is that this is the first and only crop that these plants will produce because they were grown from HYBRID seeds.  If I save the seeds and plant this spring, I may or may not get delicious, beautiful tomatoes.  If they do grow, they will have a different taste and appearance because I do not have access to the original “parent” plants.  A master gardener has this advice, “You shouldn’t save seeds from HYBRID VEGETABLES because they won’t produce “true” in the next generation.”

Then there are HEIRLOOM SEEDS.  Heirloom seeds are carefully tended and protected.  According to one source, “a true heirloom is a cultivar that has been nurtured, selected and handed down from one family member to another from one generation to another.”  Another important fact regarding Heirloom seeds; they adapt to the soil, climate and conditions they are grown in, making them MORE resistant to pests, diseases and weather extremes. Heirloom seeds contain pure genetic material from the original parent plants and produce the same uncorrupted fruit generation after generation.

If we examine the Christian church history, we find the teachings of the Apostles contained in the Bible, then we come to the Apostolic Fathers who were taught by the Apostles and attempted to carry on the original traditions and teaching.  In the next generation we find the ante-Nicene Fathers and the post-Nicene Fathers.  By this time there were so many teachings, opinions and writings that these men grew more “interested in methods of defending the gospel and less interested in transmitting the gospel in a true and pure form.” (author of quote unknown)  And here we find the BIRTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.  The teachings of Jesus and the Apostles became a HYBRID SEED!  RELIGION is always birthed from HYBRID SEED.  Remember, replanting a hybrid seed will produce different fruit every season.  They may still be called tomatoes, they may look, smell and taste like tomatoes but they will never have the purity of the original plant.

1 Peter 1:23 Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever.  

Take a look at your life, your theology; are you of HEIRLOOM SEEDS or have you become a HYBRID, producing beautiful fruit for this season and then passing on an uncertain harvest to the next.  The only true test is to measure your seed against that of the parent, which is the WORD OF GOD. It is only the HEIRLOOM SEEDS that will be resistant to the pests, diseases and storms of life.  Extreme measures must be taken to rid yourself of all the HYBRID seed. First, all the thriving Hybrid plants must be pulled up by the roots.  Then we must allow the “Fire of the Holy Spirit” to consume the plants, roots, little cuttings and buried seeds.  Then we must cultivate the soil, allow the Heirloom seeds to take root through study of the Word and water the seedlings with prayer.  Soon the HEIRLOOM SEEDS will grow to beautiful healthy plants, producing fruit and seeds to pass on to the next generation and the next and the next…