False Converts (Part 2)

Do you remember the parable of the sower? The story where Jesus tells of a man who goes out to sow seed, and some falls on good ground, some on stony ground, and some among the weeds, and yet some seed is actually eaten by birds?

Here Jesus is describing those (false) converts, who immediately receive the Gospel with gladness, but because of life's circumstances quickly fall away.

Some will argue whether or not these false converts were actually ever converts at all. In my opinion, that argument is beside the point, and detracts from the truth of what Jesus is trying to convey. The truth is that there will be some folks who will embrace the Gospel for a period of time, but will eventually fall away from the truth. Some folks may fall away because of persecution or ridicule. Some will fall away because God appearingly doesn't come through for them in the midst of one of life's trials. Regardless of the cause, these people have heard the truth, responded to it, and then walked away.

See Mark 4:3-20 where the seed represents the Gospel of the Kingdom:

3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. 5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. 7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” 9 And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”