Most people who have been around the church or the Bible have heard Jesus’s parable of the sower who sowed seed on various types of ground. Just as there is some disagreement on which soil corresponds to a true Christian, so also there is disagreement on who is a true Christian today. I’m going to investigate what the Bible says on the subject. > And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds **fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up**. Others **fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil**; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. Others **fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.** And others **fell on the good soil and yielded a crop**, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:3-8) > > “Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.” (Matthew 13:18-23) {emphasis mine} Nearly everyone agrees that the seeds that *“fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up*” refers to those who heard the word of God, but didn’t not believe and are not Christians. These people neither believe they are saved, nor pretend to be. Everyone agrees that the seed that “*fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty*” refers to those who heard the word of God, believed, and were saved. There is a little more confusion and disagreement on the seed that “*fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil*” and the seed that “*fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out*.” My interpretation is that the seed that fell on rocky places represents those who heard the Gospel and liked the sound of it, but they never truly repented and were never actually saved, whereas the seed that fell among the thorns and was choked out are those who truly repented and were saved, but who got so distracted by the world that they failed to live faithful lives. In the same way, there are many people confessing to be Christians, but who don’t truly believe what the Bible says and who don’t live lives honoring to Jesus. We can’t know for certain who are real Christians and who are not. Only God knows, but there are definite signs pointing to one or the other. This article is my investigation of what it means to be a true, born-again Christian versus those who claim to be Christians, but are not considered children of God by Jesus. In today’s culture, this sounds very judgmental and divisive, but it is what Jesus said about His followers. > **“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,** but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23) {emphasis mine} I think those of us who think we are Christians would like to make sure that we are actual Children of God and not pretenders. I also think, when we are looking for people to help us to follow Jesus, we would like to make sure we are following and/or learning from those who actually know Jesus and not a pretender. Whether the pretender knows they are lying or believes they know Jesus, but don’t, doesn’t really matter.[1](https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/the-wheat-and-the-tares#footnote-1-152031962) Similarly to the categories in the above parable, there are many people that are so anti-God, it is obvious they are not a real Christians. There are a small number of people who live such Christ-like lives that there can be little doubt that they are real Christians. There are many people who call themselves Christians, but who may or may not have a relationship with Jesus. It is hard to tell if they are true Christians, are just good at faking it, or believe they are saved while not having a true relationship with Jesus. Immediately following the initial parable of the sower, Jesus gives another related parable: > Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘**No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest**; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ” (Matthew 13:24-30) {emphasis mine} For those that don’t know about plants, a tare is a plant that looks a lot like wheat, but doesn’t produce the grain heads that we eat and is therefore unprofitable. Just as the slaves say about the tares, “*Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up*?” and he replies, “*No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest*,” in the same way we don’t want to go around judging people and deciding for ourselves who is the bona fide Christian because we “*may uproot the wheat with them.*” Only Jesus knows for certain who is real and who is not. At the same time, we Christians should be closest to those who show the [fruit of the Spirit](https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/fruits-of-the-spirit-6fc) and live a life that imitates and honors Jesus. We need to be careful who we follow and who we chose as teachers. > “**Beware of the false prophets**, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. **You will know them by their fruits**. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. **A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit**. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:15-19) {emphasis mine} Ultimately we are not to be judges of who is a real Christian and who is not, but we are warned to be aware that there are false prophets and false Christians in our midst. Anyone who produces bad fruit (an ungodly lifestyle, hate, disinterest in things of God, etc.) is likely not a true Christian, even if they proclaim to be and never miss a Sunday service. Anyone who produces good fruit (a godly lifestyle, love, and a yearning for the things of God) is likely a true Christian. It is not which denomination or church a person is associated with that matters. It is a change in the life of the individual that matters. It is a relationship with Jesus that matters. It is love for God, God’s word, and fellow people that matters. There can be a true Christian that is a member of a dead church. There can be a vibrant, godly church that has unbelievers that have crept in as members. I was recently having a conversation with a fellow Christian and a friend made a comment that it was so hard to witness to a person who thought they were a Christian, but were not. I’d argue that those who believe they are Christians, but are not, and family members, especially parents, are the hardest to witness to, but we are still called to do so. We may just need to be extra delicate in how we do it. > “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16) In addition to witnessing to the unsaved who believe they are saved, we also need to beware of those who pretend to be Christians or believe they are Christians, but don’t believe the Bible. They can easily lead us astray. Talking to another friend who also has a college aged son, we were discussing how sometimes a believing student might be better off going to a secular university, where they expect to be taught falsehood and are staying aware, than to attend a liberal Christian university that might teach the same falsehood, but not be noticed because it is couched in Christian sounding language and because the students don’t have their guard up like they would at a secular university. On the other hand, if your kids are going to attend college, a Bible believing college (like Liberty University or Grand Canyon University) is a good choice. We need to intentionally teach our kids truth, so they will recognize the lies they will be told and taught. > And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in **real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent**, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11) {emphasis mine} How do we have “*real knowledge and all discernment*?” We must be reading our Bible daily. We can’t know God and know what He wants for us if we don’t know His commands and His word. We can’t judge teachers and preachers to know if they are teaching the truth if we don’t know the Bible. We need to be like the Bereans: > Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. (Acts 17:11) As true Christians, we should have a hunger for God’s word and God’s presence. We should be interested in what God is interested in. We should care about others as God cares about others. As Christians we should long for conversation with God (prayer) and include Him in our lives. When things are going well, it is hard to tell the wheat from the tares, or the real Christians from the pretenders. When hard times come, especially persecution of believers, it becomes much easier to differentiate between the two. > “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. **At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.** Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:9-14) {emphasis mine} Only the true believers will stay true to Jesus during persecution. Those who were faking it for earthly reward will turn against the persecuted believers. Those who don’t have a true relationship with Jesus will drift away to avoid persecution because they don’t have saving faith. No true believer will permanently leave Christ, but there will be some (many?) who wander away because their faith was not real. A simple prayer, without true repentance and without true faith, does not magically make a person a Christian. The Bible does give believers a litmus test on who and what to trust: > Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:1-6) The Bible also gives a test to see if we are true believers: > Test yourselves *to see* if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5) As Jesus said, > “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. ” (Matthew 10:16) I pray that God will give you wisdom to rightly judge people, teachings, and truth and that you would fully trust in Jesus through all circumstances and become conformed more and more to His likeness. Trust Jesus.