By Larry Young

Jesus once told a story about a field that looked perfectly healthy at first glance. The farmer planted good seed, tended the soil, and expected a clean harvest. But while everyone slept, an enemy slipped in quietly and scattered tares among the wheat. Nothing seemed amiss in the early days. Wheat and weeds sprouted side by side, nearly indistinguishable. The danger wasn’t loud or dramatic. It was subtle — a slow takeover hidden beneath the green surface.

As the season progressed, the tares thickened. Their roots intertwined with the wheat. Their presence became normal, almost expected. By the time the difference became obvious, the damage was already done. The enemy’s work had been unfolding silently, patiently, waiting for the moment when the true nature of the field could no longer be ignored.

This is the unsettling truth Jesus wanted His listeners to grasp: the most serious spiritual losses rarely happen in a single moment. They happen gradually, quietly, while people are distracted by their own needs and desires. The field doesn’t suddenly become hostile to the wheat — it becomes so inch by inch, root by root, until the good grain finds itself choked out by the weeds.

In the same way, Scripture describes the closing scenes of earth’s history as a time when the Holy Spirit’s influence is slowly withdrawn (Rev.7: 1-3) Not in a thunderclap, not in a single catastrophic moment, but in a steady, almost unnoticed retreat — a world filling with tares while the wheat scarcely realizes what is happening.

As God’s withdrawal of the Holy Spirit slowly progresses, everyone will eventually “get off the fence” and take a side. There will be those who finally choose to take God’s still outstretched hand of mercy and grace, joining those who have already been sealed on the one side. Then there will be those who no longer value God’s mercy and grace, choosing only what the world has to offer, on the other side. This grinding process is no longer future; we are in the middle of that end times struggle right now!

Paul lists the characteristics of those who choose only what the world has to offer today: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” (2 Timothy 3: 1-5)

God desperately wants you to decide to choose His side and to follow Him into eternal life. The devil desperately wants you to decide to choose his side and to follow the world into eternal death. The whole point of this article (and all my previous articles) boils down to this clearly simple child-like choice. The irony and the real tragedy is that the vast majority of people alive today will ultimately choose the devil’s side!! Look again at what Jesus said: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which lead to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7: 13-14) The choice is yours!