Not Be Unequally Yoked With An Unbelieving World

PART SIX
To Not Be Unequally Yoked With An Unbelieving World

74. The CCMI has committed spiritual adultery in joining itself with the wayward world in trying to forward the message of the gospel. This has and will prove to be fatal for Gospel music, as we know it today. (Deuteronomy 32:22-24; Psalm 1; Jeremiah 17:5-8)

75. We cannot partner with the believing world in common spiritual enterprise or ministry. To harness unbelievers and believers in a Christ-centered endeavor is to be unequally yoked. (2 Corinthians 6:14-16)

76. We must be separate from non-Christians in positions of ownership, authority or influence in the advancement of the gospel. (Ibid.)

77. The kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness are two mutually exclusive worlds; two opposing societies; two converse communities that are incompatible and incongruous with each other in regards to the faith. (Ibid.)

78. One is characterized by righteousness. Light, Christ, believers and the temple of God. Lawlessness, darkness, Belial, unbelievers and the temple of idols distinguish the other. One is based on God's truth-the other on Lucifer's lies. In matters of Christian faith and belief no partnership does or really can exist between these two realms. (Ibid.)

79. "To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being detestable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work." (Titus 1:15-16)

80. God is our Father and we, as His children, must disavow all praetorian religious and spiritual alliances with sin and Satan or we will forfeit the joy and blessing that flow from obedient fellowship in the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4:17-18)

81. Satan's number one assault on the church is to infiltrate with error. He doesn't want to fight the church-he wants to join it. (John 8:44; 2 Cor. 11:12-15; 1 Timothy 4:1)

82. Undiscerning believers think it a profound ministry strategy to join forces with unregenerate people in forwarding the gospel. Unwittingly, they harness Jesus Christ, the Worthy One, with Belial or Satan, the worthless one, in an unholy alliance-the very essence of being unequally yoked. (2 Corinthians 6:15)

83. "Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone" (Hosea 4:17)

84. We are not, however, called to isolationism. We are called to be salt and light in the world. We are to be faithful witnesses of God's mercy, love, and grace to the lost and dying. We are to cultivate personal relationships with unbelievers, love our neighbor and our enemy, serve them and share our faith with them. (Matthew 5:13-16; 40-44)

85. We are to be in the world but not of it-and this is our greatest challenge. Separation is not being divorced from our contact with the world, but from complicity and conformity to it. (1 John 2:15-17)

86. For instance, it is not unBiblical to consult non-Christian experts in matters of business, craft or trade (though whenever possible, Christian experts respected in these fields are preferable because of shared integrity), but we can never engage in intimate binding-indissoluble relationships, alliances, or partnerships that result in shared responsibility or authority for ministry purposes. (Deuteronomy 22:9-11; Philippians 2:14-15)

87. The promise of increased financial resources, wider distribution and a larger audience is not justification for the surrender or our spiritual autonomy. (Luke 4:4-12; Ephesians 5:8-12)

88. It is impossible for God to fully bless and use His children who are in compromise with non-believers. (Romans 8:7-8)

89. "Adulterers and adulteresses. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." (James 4:4)