A Seed Tree

He was a logger with years and years of experience. I tried to learn from him as much as I could during the few weeks he worked for me harvesting my timber. He pointed to one exceptionally large Douglas Fir tree and pointed out how much taller it was than all the surrounding trees. There were eighty other exceptionally fine trees harvested within 500 feet of it, but that one tree was stronger, taller, broader, better. He explained how it would be a good seed source for starting good strong seedlings, trees that would grow up with the same genetics.

Tree farming often turns my thoughts to ministry and to leadership. Why does one teacher stand above the many others of his time or locale? How is it that a few teachers are capable of starting huge followings? Jesus, the ultimate teacher, trusted the propagation of his seed to twelve convinced, well-trained disciples. And Christianity has never stopped its spread.

Others have seeded similar followings, but not by the providence of God. Mohammed started the Islam faith in 610 AD and Muslims now constitute the second largest religion in the world, and arguably the fastest growing. Joseph Smith, in the 1830s and 1840s, persuaded a few disgruntled Christians to believe his visions and new ideas, and the Mormon religion has been growing ever since. Ellen G. White, with her prolific writings, laid the groundwork for the start of the Seventh Day Adventist group in 1863, and it continues to grow and to thrive. A friend of mine attends an SDA church and says that whenever they teach they usually teach directly from Ellen White’s writings, not from the Bible. “The Bible is confusing and hard to understand, but she always says it so clearly.”

Even within evangelical Christianity we have teachings that grow widespread, but are a seed born from a suspect tree. Consider the “seed tree” of the teaching of the Great Tribulation. John Darby came up with a new teaching of “end times”, ca 1830, the idea to separate the seventieth week of Daniel’s Messianic prophecy from the previous 69 weeks (Daniel 9:24-27). He came up with the novel idea of setting apart this seven year period to the end of the church age, a unique and theretofore unknown dispensation. C.I. Scofield picked up on Darby’s idea and popularized the new teaching in his famous “Scofield Reference Bible” notes, first published in America in 1909. Then Moody Bible Institute and Dallas Theological Seminary put this seed to the wind. Today you can hardly find historical premillenial teaching of the Bible in America. Rather, teaching about the end times centers around colorful, detailed charts of the “seven year tribulation”. Only problem is, it’s not in the Bible. But with all the charts, books, and teachers to propagate it, how would anyone know that?

By the way, that enormous seed tree was left standing by the logger. With his keen eye he noticed a barely detectable scar on its back side, about 40 feet up. He told me that the wood of the tree was worthless. Someday I’ll cut it down for firewood. Lots and lots of firewood. What a crash it will make when it comes down.

“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire… by their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matthew 7:19-20)

“Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” (James 3:1)