Unequally Yoked

This is series of articles designed to help professing Christians to turn from their wicked ways and get back to following New Testament ethics.  Compromise is increasing in the church.  Popular opinion among churchgoers is often in stark contrast to the very words of Jesus on many issues.  Christians need to know the word of God and get back to using it as a reference book when they are faced with important decisions. 

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

II Corinthians 6:14-18 (KJV)

The above passage is often quoted as proof that Christian should not marry a non-Christian.  And yes, that is an appropriate application of this passage and I will discuss this further later in this post.  But there are a lot of other ways that a Christian can be unequally yoked to a non-Christian besides just marrying one.

I know a Christian who had a non-Christian business partner.  The non-Christian partner was dishonest.  He cheated on paying taxes for the business by claiming purchased items for tax exemption that were not really being used for the business, but were really personal items.  It started out with just small items, but then it gradually built up to more and more expensive things.  Then the unbeliever stole from his partner and blamed him for tax cheating when he got caught.  The result was a messy lawsuit.

10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

II John 1:10-11 (KJV)

1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

II Timothy 3:1-5 (KJV)

I now return to subject of the sinfulness of a believer marrying an unbeliever.  It must be clarified that if you are already married to a non-Christian, you should remain in the marriage as long as the unbelieving spouse would have you remain.  (See I Corinthians 7:13-14.) 

But for a believer to marry an unbeliever is unthinkable.  If you do it, you will be putting yourself into a situation of temptation to be drawn into the sins that your spouse may commit and you may be tempted to abandon your faith altogether.  If you are looking for a church, do not join a church where they perform marriage ceremonies for such mixed couples.

Modesty

This is series of articles designed to help professing Christians to turn from their wicked ways and get back to following New Testament ethics.  Compromise is increasing in the church.  Popular opinion among churchgoers is often in stark contrast to the very words of Jesus on many issues.  Christians need to know the word of God and get back to using it as a reference book when they are faced with important decisions.

I am not going to write about Thanksgiving today because today is not Thanksgiving.  It is next Thursday.  I am going to ignore Franksgiving and talk about an entirely different subject.

I have noticed that women (and to some extent even men) have become less and less modest.  Most Christians are going along with it and many are participating in this wickedness themselves.  Many are not even afraid to go into God’s house inadequately covered.  

It is particularly disturbing that parents allow their teenage daughters to dress immodestly in church.  In recent years it seems that a tradition has arisen in which the girls wear their prom dresses to church on the Sunday after the prom and these dresses tend to be very immodest. 

The Bible says:

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; 

I Timothy 2:9

 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. 4 A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.

Psalms 101:3-4 (KJV)

Our church has dress policy.  “Everything should be covered from just below the neck to just above the knees.”  This is great, but nobody pays any attention to the policy because it is undermined by these sentences:

We will continue to encourage our members to accept visitors whatever their mode of dress.  By meeting them where they are, we can love them to Christ who can transform their hearts so that they are no longer conformed to the world…

In other words, we are cowards.  We would rather see people enticed by the lust of the flesh and put them in danger of going to hell than do what is right.  Jesus said: 

27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Matthew 5:27-30 (KJV)

I am tired of all this political correctness and saying that Jesus accepts people just the way that they are.  The Bible makes it clear that you must turn from your wicked ways and repent in order to be saved.  By allowing these people to participate in church service not fully clothed, it is we who are “conforming to this world”.  What is ironic about this is that the visitors aren’t usually the ones who dress too immodestly.  It is actually the regular members are actually by far the worst culprits in this area.  What poor example to set for the visitors!  I am tired of hearing all this garbage about the church being “a hospital for sinners and not a museum for saints”.  The church should be a safe haven for upright Christians, not just another den of wickedness!  If not in the church, where else can we go to be safe from the temptations of sin?  This political correctness is not about restraining a judgmental spirit, but it is about cowering in fear over what people will say if stand up for what is right!  When young girls dress immodestly and it causes young men to sin, God is angered greatly.

6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.7 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! 8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. 9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. 10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 18:6-10 (KJV)

Last week I quoted a verse about disfellowshipping fake Christians:

But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

1 Corinthians 5:11

Note that the word “fornicator” is the word “pornos” in the original Greek.  The root of the word is where the word “pornography” comes from.

Someone might say that you can’t totally keep sinfulness out of any place even the church.  That is true.  They may say that you wouldn’t keep a drug or alcohol addict from coming to church.  That is also true.  But I wouldn’t allow the addict to bring his drugs or alcohol into church and do them while the service is going on!  I wouldn’t allow them to tempt children to do the same inside the church!  Duh!  And while it may be difficult for someone to give up an addictive habit, it is not at all a difficult thing to dress modestly.  It is so very stupid not to require a reasonable level decency in the church! 

Why Evil Exists in the World Today, Part 2

We see evil all around us today. TV, newspapers, and radio all chronicle the ravages of evil. I am continuing in a new series today, taking a brief break from my current series, “Armor of God.”

If you wanted someone to love you; wouldn’t you want them to love you of their own free will, rather than because they had no other choice?

God Provided the Human Race with A Choice: To Obey God or To Disobey God

God accomplished giving mankind a choice at the time of creation. He created the Garden of Eden and put in it the Tree of Life and also the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Genesis 2:15-17, “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

Satan used the serpent to deceive Eve. She chose to disobey God by eating of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam, who was not deceived, also disobeyed God by eating of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Genesis 3:6, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”

I Timothy 2:14, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”

This was how sin originated in mankind. The source of temptation was Satan, who is the personification of evil. Eve, then Adam, succumbed to the temptation and sinned. Human nature has been fallen ever since.