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essays of a post-Christian

The Parable of the Farmer

22 August 2017 · By Manny Glover

And Emanuel spake this parable unto certain which trusted in the Resurrection that they were righteous, and pitied others who were lost: Two went to the Scriptures to open and read; the one an Evangelical, and the other a Chinese farmer. The Evangelical stood and read thus with himself, “… that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”, and likewise, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” And he prayed, “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, trusting in their own righteousness, denying Your undeniable testimony of raising Your Son from the dead, or even as this farmer, uninterested in your Holy Word.” And the farmer, opening the Scriptures for the very first time, read, by chance, “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” And he closed the Book, and he went and did likewise. At the Judgment Day, will the first man enter the gates of Heaven and the second perish?