"Lost To Self"

"For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish." (Psalms 1:6) I might have been a little harsh yesterday, but you must know that I was in a AA program once, before I was a Christian, and while I was in the Navy. I really tried to get into it, and became very outspoken; but towards the end of my 90 day ordered program, I began to realize that those that were hardcore program people had some real serious issues, and seemed to like to hold on to them. Besides that, my mother died while drunk, after ridding in that roller coaster ride for almost ten years; there are only a few that can really grab hold of that program and actually make it their god; she was not one of them. Anyways, about verse six. I was praying about this for quite awhile, and asking God why must it be so difficult for some to see the truth, even after being exposed to it year after year. Then the Lord spoke to me about the "Wheat and the tares", and why it is that God waits up to the very last minute before sifting out those that are not really His. The "tares" are those that I would like to call 'lame'; partly because I was wanting to make it rhyme: shame, blame and lame; but mostly because they are an artificial limb in the body of Christ. They actually might be serving a purpose, but they are not really a Christian, only pretending to be one, and maybe even fooling themselves, besides fooling others. But God is not fooled! And there will come a day when He will separate the tares from the wheat, and the tares will be burnt up in the fire! So then, why does He allow them to stay? Jesus answered this within the parable of the wheat and the tares, by saying, "Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." (Matthew 13:29 & 30) Jude 9 gives us an illustration of another angle on this verse, in that he shows how that when Michael the archangel disputed with the devil over the body of Moses, he did not bring against him a railing accusation, but rather said, The Lord rebuke thee; making it known to him and to all concerned, that his day would come. In other words, the point is that neither we nor angels, no matter how hard we try, will be able to put the devil out of commission, but that his time is coming one day. Many of these lame (as I wish to call them) are people who might be leaders, even pastors in our churches, who when taken out can also take with them many that are sincerely believers, but have become casualties of an uprooting. Some people are just too trusting of others, making them become overly dependent upon a person whom they might be looking up to, and when that person is exposed, they become devastated, and even lose faith in the church as a whole. But my question that I wrestled with, was not really why God did not take them out, because that is easy enough to understand; but, why do they not get the message? People who are active in the ministry for years and years; hearing sermon upon sermon; some are even the ones giving out the sermons; and yet they do not receive the message!!!! These are those that have chosen what they are: they are tares, period! They are not going to change, because they are what they are! The Lord does not hold off pulling them out for the sake of them changing into wheat, because they will not be changed; but He holds of from pulling them out for the sake of the wheat!!! Listen to their description by Jude, and you tell me if you see any changing in their future: "These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever." (Jude 12 & 13)