The Parable of the Sower

The Armstrong Churches of God have used Christ's "Parable of the Sower" to club those who would dare to leave them and as a prop for explaining their behavior to the folks who stay. However, if one is willing to take an objective look at the parable, any use of it as a cudgel or excuse is rendered preposterous.

The parable occurs in three of the four gospel accounts (Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20 and Luke 8:4-15). It has been summarized thus: "Jesus tells the story of a sower who scattered seeds on four different types of soil. The first type of ground was hard and the seed could not sprout or grow at all and became snatched up instantly. The second type of ground was stony. The seed was able to plant and begin to grow, however, it could not grow deep roots and withered in the sun. The third type of ground was thorny and although the seed could plant and grow, it could not compete with the number of thorns that overtook it. The fourth ground was good soil that allowed the seed to plant deep, grow strong, and produce fruit." see The Parable of the Sower

Fortunately for us, Christ himself explained the symbolism in the story. He said: "Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds: The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!" - Matthew 13:18-23, NLT

Notice that the folks in the first three categories either never accepted or abandoned altogether Christ's message about the kingdom. In other words, the message is not retained by them. Hence, while we could make a compelling argument that those who have turned their backs on God, Christ and His message could be associated with this parable, it does NOT necessarily follow that someone who has abandoned some or all of the teachings of Herbert Armstrong has done any of that. In other words, the discovery of error in the teachings of some follower/minister of Christ is NOT the equivalent of rejecting God, Christ or His message! Those who accept Christ and His message (irrespective of the degree to which they may or may not fully comprehend it, because we <Christians> all currently have an imperfect understanding of both) can continue to grow in grace and knowledge. All of Christ's followers have the potential to produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Hence, in the language of the parable, those who continue to follow Christ and His message are among "the seed that fell on good soil." Now, we do know from Christ's "Parable of the Tares" that the enemy can sew bad seed among the good. However, even in this instance, Christ told his followers not to attempt to remove the tares because they might uproot the good plants in the process! - Matthew 13:24-43 So, we see that ANY attempt to portray those who leave an ACOG as failures, or anything other than a brother or sister in Christ, is NOTHING but a flagrant misuse of Scripture!