Others indicated that the leaven also was good and positive, saying that if bread does not contain leaven, it is difficult for people to eat. This is correct. However, according to Leviticus 2:4, God did not allow any leaven to be added to the meal offering. The meal offering had to be unleavened. Catholicism excuses its use of leaven by saying that it is difficult for people to take Christ if leaven is absent. Catholicism claims that people will not accept the simple truth of the birth of the Lord Jesus or the resurrection of Christ without the leaven of Christmas and Easter. Christ is the meal; "mas" is the leaven. Christmas is Christ plus "mas," that is, the meal plus the leaven. The resurrection of Christ plus the leaven become Easter.

I have visited Catholic cathedrals in the Philippines to study the situation. At the side of the entrance to the cathedral I found an idol of Jesus. I debated with them, saying, "The Bible says clearly that we should never make any images, any idols. Why do you make an image of Jesus?" They argued back, replying, "Without an image of Jesus, it is difficult for people to have some realization of Jesus. We put up such an image so that everyone can have some impression of Him as they come in." This is evil leaven. Perhaps you still have some portraits of Jesus in your home, which make Him appear beautiful or handsome. The Bible says that the Lord Jesus had no beauty or comeliness (Isa. 53:2). Many Christians, not realizing the leaven involved, have such pictures of Jesus in their homes.

In 1936, while ministering in the central part of China, I met a young sister who had become possessed by a demon as a result of worshipping a picture of Jesus. Whenever she prayed, she knelt down before that picture and prayed to it. When she destroyed that picture of Jesus, she was delivered from the demon.

The clergy-laity system is also a kind of leaven. Every Christian is a member of the Body of Christ, and as a member, he must function. But what is the situation today? In the so-called Christian service most of the Christians are silent while one man ministers to them. This is the clergy-laity system. People attempt to excuse themselves, saying that today is an age of science, that not everyone knows the Bible and not everyone can deliver a sermon. According to the advocates of the clergy-laity system, not everyone knows how to serve God. Therefore, some must go to seminary to learn the art and technique of serving God, just as others go to medical school to learn the practice of medicine and others to law school to learn how to be an attorney. The defenders of this system argue that many Christians lack the time to learn the things of God and that they do not know how to minister or speak. Thus, some must dedicate themselves, study at the seminaries and Bible schools, and go to serve God. This appears to be a good excuse, but actually it is leaven, helping people to serve God in an easy way.

Because many of you were born and have grown up in Christianity, you were deeply influenced. Whenever you come to a meeting of the church, you are still under the unconscious or subconscious influence of the leaven of the clergy-laity system. You think that the meeting must be conducted by some leading ones and that all you need to do is sit, listen, watch, and discern. Eventually, you learn to be critical. When you come to the meeting, do you have the burden or desire or concept that you must function in the meeting? I am afraid that many of you do not have this realization. Your concept is that someone else will do it. This is some of the leaven which that woman took and hid in the fine meal.

In the Bible, leaven is always something negative. It may help, but in a negative way. If we have an open and sincere heart with a genuine concern for God's will, then He will give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation to see all these things. By His mercy, He has shown us the real meaning of all the figures in these parables. In the first four parables of Matthew 13 there are six positive things: the sower, the seed, the good ground, the wheat, the mustard herb, and the meal. The sower is the Lord Jesus who came to sow Himself as the seed into the good ground. The good ground grows wheat, and it also grows the mustard herb. Both the wheat and the mustard herb are good for food. The mustard herb is food for man; the wheat is food, not only for man, but also for God, because wheat was used in making the loaf presented to God in the meal offering. In 1 Corinthians 10 we also see a loaf made of wheat. That is the bread at the Lord's table—food for both God and man. The church must be like this, a mustard herb and wheat for producing fine flour to provide food for both God and man, satisfying both God and man.

In these four parables there are also several negative things: the birds in the air, the stones, the thorns, the tares, the great tree, the leaven, the woman, and the evil one. We all must be clear about these items. The birds represent the evil one, Satan. The stones signify the unrenewed mind, the untreated emotions, and the unsubdued will. The thorns signify the anxieties of this age and the deceitfulness of riches. The tares signify the counterfeit Christians. The great tree represents today's Christendom. The leaven is all manner of paganism, worldliness, sinfulness, and idolatry. The woman signifies the Roman Catholic Church, even Christendom, and the evil one is Satan himself. Bring all of these items to the Lord and pray over them until they become transparently clear to you. This will become the greatest rescue and safeguard to you.