"When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not
destroy the trees thereof by forcing an ax against them; for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt
not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man’s life) to employ them in the siege; only the
trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down;
and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued"
(Deut. 20:19,20).

Many are the beneficial lessons which the Holy Spirit has put before us by means of the
instruction given to Israel. We are familiar with the fact that the things which happened unto them
were our types, and written for our learning. And such is the passage quoted above. Just as, when
God commanded Israel saying, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn," He had
His own servants in mind (as so clearly shown us by the apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 9:9-14), so here
may we not see pictured by the "trees good for food," these same servants in another aspect, and
made the objects of the Lord’s particular care?

The children of Israel were admonished against all recklessness and waste in felling standing
timber when they besieged the cities of the land. They were carefully to ascertain the character
of each particular tree before venturing to lift an ax against it. All fruit trees were to be spared,
because they were part of God’s gracious provision for ministering food to His people.

May we not say that God would have us make the same distinction today? There are trees to the
very roots of which the ax must be laid; trees that are either mere cumberers of the ground, or
producing only that which is noxious and poisonous. Such are the present day advocates of human
righteousness as a basis of acceptance with God, or the propagators of wicked teachings that deny
the very foundations of the faith. Soldiers of the Lord of Hosts may be assured of His approval
when they use the ax against these _exposing their fallacies. "Every plant," said the Lord Jesus,
"that My heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." To oppose fearlessly such evil
teachers and denounce their doctrines and practices is in accord both with the Spirit of the Lord
Jesus and of His apostles. None reproved hypocritical pretensions more scathingly than Christ
Himself. No modern controversialist, with any claim to piety, would be likely to use stronger
words than those of John the Baptist when he sternly arraigned the "generation of vipers" of his
day. Tremendously telling are the denunciations of the apostle Paul, when necessity compelled
him to meet the errors of false teachers, troubling the early Church. John, Peter, and Jude did not
hesitate to decry the antichrists, the purveyors of damnable heresies, and the ungodly men "turning
the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus
Christ," who were creeping in among the saints and seeking to overthrow their most holy faith.

But, be it noted, those so solemnly accused and vigorously combated were not erring saints or
brethren with mistaken views, but they were relentless "enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end
is destruction, whose god is their belly, who mind earthly things." And wherever such are found
today, and are manifestly proven to be such, they should be dealt with in the same way.

But there is grave danger lest the ax be lifted up against another class altogether_the fruit-bearing

trees_whom the Lord has forbidden our judging or condemning. Every fruit tree is the object of
His tender solicitude. Such are truly born of the Spirit, and genuine lovers of our Lord Jesus
Christ. They may at times, in their zeal for God, or their earnest passion for the souls of lost men,
overstep bounds and use methods of which their more conservative or better instructed brethren
disapprove, but they are the Lord’s servants and He has said, "Who art thou that judgeth another
man’s servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth."

The spirit of criticism may lead to very unhappy results, and often one is in danger of finding
himself arrayed against men and movements which God is owning and blessing. The utmost care
is required to distinguish things that differ _that what is of God and what is of Satan may not
come into the same sweeping condemnation. And our Lord Himself has given us the rule whereby
we may make this distinction. He has said, "By their fruits ye shall know them." A corrupt tree
produces corrupt fruit, whereas a good tree brings forth good fruit. In either case, the fruit may
not always be the same in quantity or quality, but it will be either deleterious or "good for food."
Because healthful fruit is sometimes small, or not up to the standard, one does not necessarily
chop down the tree, but rather, wisely uses the pruning knife and purges it that it may bring forth
more and better fruit.

This pruning process is one that all God’s fruit trees have at times to undergo. Often He uses one
servant to correct and help another; but this is accomplished far better by a kindly personal
admonition, or a brotherly effort to instruct, than by unkind criticism and a hard judging spirit.
A beautiful example of this gracious care for one of God’s fruit trees is given us in the Book of
Acts, in the case of Apollos whose earnestness and love for the Scriptures appealed to the hearts
of Priscilla and Aquila, though he was not at all up to the standard of New Testament truth. He
had not got beyond the baptism of John. But this godly couple, instead of exposing his ignorance
to others, or roundly denouncing him as a legalist without true gospel light, take him into their
home, and there in true Christian love expound unto him the way of God more perfectly. What
precious and abiding fruit was the result!

It is to be regretted that the same gracious spirit does not always characterize us when we meet
with, or hear of, those who are manifesting similar devotedness, while ignorant of much that we
may value. How senseless the folly that leads us often to array ourselves against such servants of
Christ, in place of manifesting a godly concern for them. We thoughtlessly lift our axes against
God’s fruit trees and would destroy where we might save. Many a one who is ignorant of such
precious truth is nevertheless bearing fruit in the salvation of souls and the refreshment of the
spirits of believers; while, on the other hand, one may have a very clear intellectual grasp of
divine principles and understand much that is called high truth, who produces very little of this
same blessed fruit.

Oh, beloved brethren, let us keep our axes sharp for the deadly trees of sin and fundamental error
that abound on every side; but shall we not seek grace from God that we may have spiritual
discernment to refrain from damaging in any way trees that are good for food?

Satan and his emissaries can be depended upon to bestow enough abuse on real Christians and true
servants of the Lord Jesus without their fellow servants joining in the same unworthy business.

Let us not forget the words already quoted:"Who art thou that judgeth another man’s servant? To
his own master he standeth or falleth." And the Holy Spirit goes on to say, "Yea, he shall be
holden up; for God is able to make him stand" (Rom. 14:4).

(From Help and Food, Volume 34.)