Let us at this point, recap some of the things said so far in this article about the Samaritans. The Samaritans were Assyrians who came to inhabit parts of Israeli lands in the year 721 BC, after their king conquered and carried into captivity, all the Israelites who were occupying these lands. The Assyrian occupation of Israeli lands continued into the days that Jesus Christ walked our earth.
After staying in these lands for many centuries, making every effort to imitate the lifestyle of the true children of Abraham, these Assyrian colonists deluded themselves into believing that they were true children of Abraham. And why would they not delude themselves, after many centuries of living in Israel, to think of themselves as being true children of Abraham?
After all, they had lost all physical, emotional, and cultural links with the lands of their births. The only visible links they had were with Israel. Israel, being in fact, Jacob, the Samaritan saw himself as being related to him alone. No one else was his relative. To claim son-ship to Jacob seemed to be his only option and apparent right.
The way of life and occupations of the Samaritans had come to change over the centuries of their sojourn. Their religion looked more like Judaism than idol worship. Their diet must have changed, to be the Israeli kind, which was cut out for them (Israelites) by their religion. Their manner of dressing must also have changed in conformity with the dictates of their new-found religion.
After living in Samaria for centuries, and undergoing radical transformations in almost every facet of life, the Samaritans had come to lose any trace of belonging to their roots in Assyria. They looked more like Jews than Assyrians.
To tell anybody they were Jews would sound and seem convincing. But that would be a palpable lie to anybody who knew them, and their ancestry, and kept genuine records about them. The Samaritan could not be a child of Abraham because he was never begotten out of the loins of Abraham. No matter how hard he tried to prove he was a child of Abraham, he could never pass a DNA test.
The Samaritan could be the look-alike of the Jew, but that was only how close he could come to the Jew. The ignorance of the Samaritan about this, and his false claims of being a child of Jacob (and of Abraham) could not change anything. A leopard cannot deliver itself of its spots and become a lion. And so can a snake living in water for a long time not be able to change into a fish.
Things do not work that way. The Irishman staying in Zimbabwe for a long time does not evolve to be an African. One day one day, somebody will embarrass and or offend him by telling him in the face the plain truth of him not being an African. This evolution thing does not seem to work, I dare say.
Now, let us focus on wheat and tares. Many people know what wheat is, simply because wheat is a major cereal for bread. So let me not waste time asking what wheat are. But let me ask: what are tares? Tares are the look-alike of wheat. Tares only have one close similarity to wheat which is–appearance. Beyond appearance, the two have nothing else in common.
Very often, wheat and tares grow side by side. When they do, they both take the same soil nutrients and water. Also, they very often appear outwardly to have the same health status, but inwardly, this is never to be so. They may seem to have the same prospects of yielding a good harvest, but alas, this is never to be; for it is impossible for tares to bear grains, as wheat is able.
From the parable of Jesus Christ, we are able to distinguish between wheat and tares, only at harvest-time. Tares will never be able to bear useful or useable grains, no matter how much soil-nutrients and water they have access to, and no matter how long they stay in the fields. Tares by their origins can never bear the grain that wheat by their nature can bear.
Maybe, the Assyrian colonists living in Samaria did not know these simple truths. If they knew them, I am sure they would in wisdom, apply them to their situation, and correct or deliver themselves from their delusions.
Or were they deceived by somebody into their delusion of being Jews, when they never came out of the loins of Abraham? Did somebody, somewhere in far-back home Assyria, encourage them to believe that because they had been marooned on Israeli lands for centuries, they could claim inheritance of them and all the blessings, spiritual and economic, due all true children of Abraham?
They lived in their delusion till the Messiah of God came to earth and accomplished his sacrifice, opening the door for mankind to be begotten spiritually, out of the loins of Abraham. This spiritual rebirth, into the family of Abraham, became possible, not only for the Samaritan dwelling on Israeli lands, but for all mankind. This rebirth is what many people, who subscribe to the Christian faith, believe and call, the Born Again experience.
It was in the year 30 AD, or thereabout, when the Samaritans benefited from the works of Philip the evangelist, Peter and John, apostles of Jesus Christ, when they were guided into the genuine Born Again experience, and thus into the family of Abraham, and of God (Acts 8: 5-25).
Jesus Christ, after opening the door into the salvation of God in his sacrifice, made it possible for all men of non-Abrahamic blood to enter the fold of Israel. The Samaritans had therefore been living in their delusion of being the children of Jacob (and of Abraham), from 721 BC to about 30 AD, a period of over 750 years!
Today, there are many people living in delusion in the like manner that Samaritans did for over seven centuries. There are many salvation-seekers in today’s post-Messianic times, who, live in the kind of delusion as Samaritans did in pre-Messianic times.
The simple reason being that many salvation-seekers today have been misguided by their spiritual leaders on how to be born of God into today’s spiritual family of Abraham (and of Israel). This post-Messianic delusion has existed since 30 AD, for 1800 years; more than twice the period of the Samaritan delusion!
There are many people today who are not in the kingdom of God, and yet delude themselves as being in it. This is because they are not genuinely Born Again. They are not born of water and of the Spirit.
The Word of God demands of all who want to enter God’s salvation, and thereby have the hope of being in Abraham’s bosom, to be born of water and the Spirit (cf. Matthew 28: 18-20, Mark 16: 16, John 3: 3, 5, Acts 2: 38-39, Romans 6: 3-6, First Corinthians 12: 13, Galatians 3: 27, First Peter 3: 20-21, KJV, and many other verses in the Bible). [—the concluding part of this article is in Part Five: soon to be published].
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Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and is the author of the book entitled: “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”. His e-mail address is: [email protected].
