Alliance Forbidden!
by Sis Bala Samson
Website: www.worshipjesusministriestrust.com
Email contact: bala@worshipjesusministriestrust.com
This message has the following headings:
a) Conversion is not enough, you need commitment.
b) Follow commandments of God instead of commandments of men.
c) What are the repercussions of marrying a non-believer?
d) Falling in love with a wrong person!
When a believer marries a non-believer, the family is divided. And as Jesus said, “A house divided against itself. . . cannot stand.” (Mark 3:25)
a) Conversion is not enough, you need commitment
Right from day one, the home becomes a battle zone; when there are two people following two different faith. It may seem all hunky-dory for a while, but very soon the topic of religion would crop up.
Friend, conviction of sins should lead to confession of sins, conversion of heart and then followed by commitment. Conviction, confession, conversion and commitment! The latter one is lacking among the gamut of Christians! Commitment! After experiencing God in a powerful way, it is heart-rending to watch people turn back to their old life style. When his son was forty and things looked bleak, Abraham dug his heels deep and stood ground and said: (Genesis 24: 3,4) “I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac." God honored the faith of Abraham and blessed him with the lovely daughter-in-law Rebecca who watered ten camels belonging to the servant of Abraham. You would get the best when you take the best stand for God! Do not buckle down to pressures, stand firm for His values and walk the path of God!
Does not the Bible warn us:
2 Corinthians 6:14 – “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? “
Exodus 23:32 “Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
Exodus 34:12 “Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee.”
Numbers 16:26 "Depart now from the tents of these wicked men! Touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins."
1 Corinthians 10:14 “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”
The above are not mere statements but they are the commandments of God! Hearken unto His voice today! If we disobey then there would be CURSES in our life!
Deuteronomy 11:26-28 "Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:
27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today;
28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.
God warned the people through Moses to stay away from idol worshipping people:
Exodus 23:31”And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.
32 You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."
Further He gave a strong instruction to burn the idols:
Deuteronomy 7:25”You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.
26 Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing.
I had written a devotion on ‘commandments of men’ which I reproduce here so that you get better understanding on the subject of ‘forbidden alliance.’
b) Follow commandments of God instead of Commandments of men!
Mark 7:3,7’For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. 7 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'
Sit to the left, face east, there should be exactly 9 plates to be carried by the bride, where is the uncle, betel-leaf and betel-nuts should be kept on the plate, not to forget sandal paste, kumkum, turmeric powder, scented powder, colored rice and rose water!!! Don’t mistake this to be voices heard at a hindu wedding; these were the statements/arrangements made by church-going Christians who had Bible in one hand and the scented sandal paste in the other hand. Wonder what it is all about? I am talking about commandments of men today! Stay with me to hear things that are hushed and shoved under the carpet; abominations done by the children of God.
Dates are fixed, keeping in mind numerology and astrology, a short prayer is made by the Servant of God, he is royally ignored after that and what follows are rigorous rituals conducted by the elders of the family. Silently as a servant of God I had watched, many, many times with tears the drama that goes on in functions like ‘house-warming, christening, wedding and many such functions.’ God is not in the agenda, but the entire arena stinks of religious customs, rituals and the vain display of glamour and money. When I found educated Christians applying turmeric powder on the legs and hands of the bride and themselves, showering colored rice on the head of the bride; I wondered, ‘why do we follow the customs of the people around us; when we are strictly commanded by God not to do so?’ Read:
Leviticus 18:30 'Therefore you shall keep My ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the LORD your God.”
Jeremiah 10:3 “For the customs of the peoples are futile..”
Ezekiel 11:12 “And you shall know that I am the LORD; for you have not walked in My statutes nor executed My judgments, but have done according to the customs of the Gentiles which are all around you."
Friends, read the above scriptures properly because I can very categorically say today, many, many Christians do not even know where the above scriptures exist in the Bible. Bridal Jewelry, Bridal Hair Accessories, Wedding Makeup, Wedding Hairstyles, and honeymoon plans are given predominant importance than GOD AND HIS WORD. Anybody listening? No wonder, after all the extravaganza, alas, the marital bliss turns out to be like the morning mist that vanishes away in a jiffy.
We seek our pleasures than pleasing Him. How often we know that what we are pursuing is in violation of His Word, yet, we feel, God would understand and we are not too bad. Mark it friends, you are deceived by the devil!
c)What are the repercussions of marrying a non-believer?
I will take the words of Joshua to explain this to you which is very important:
Joshua 24:19,20 “But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.
20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good."
I warn you here to never downplay the words of God; as much as He keeps His Word to do good, He would also keep His Word to do harm. Beware!
Let me share a personal testimony here, a Christian family decided to get their daughter married to a hindu man under the pretext of conducting a neutral wedding, because the boy was highly qualified and Government employed; however, immediately after the wedding the groom’s family took the upper hand and took the girl to a small temple. The moment the Christian family transgressed the Word of God, a curse started operating in the family. Though things seemed blissful for a while with the birth of kids and promotions, yet after several years the family is now plagued with sickness, quarrels and pain. Be warned!
When we carelessly disobey God and selfishly go forward with our plans, then several curses would destroy our life. When Solomon daringly disobeyed God and married many pagan women, the curse followed the life of his children and grand children.
1 Kings 11:42 tells us that Solomon reigned 40 years.
Rehoboam the son of Solomon was born to his mother - a wife of Solomon named Naamah the Amonitess (idol worshipers).
1 King 11:21 “And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king. He reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother's name was Naamah, an Ammonitess.
22 Now Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done.
23 For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree.
24 And there were also perverted persons in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.”
From the above scriptures, we can see that Solomon married Naamah while his father David was alive, probably during his last years. How could David allow Solomon to marry Naamah? Probably Solomon rebelled (like many) and married her because he was in love with her. However, the aftermath of such a disastrous marriage not only affected his family but the entire nation as well. The Bible says that because of wrong tutoring from his mother Naamah, Rehoboam grew to be a wicked man and eventually he made Judah to sin. The Bible says: ‘Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord.’ One idol worshipper in the family is enough to lead the entire family away from God! Ecclesiastes 9:18”…one sinner destroys much good." It is for this very reason God warned us to be away from the pagan crowd. Rehoboam was not happy though, the Bible says (1 King 14:30)”And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.”
I want to conclude by telling the sad end of Rehoboam, he died at the age of 57, a prime age, after reigning for 16 years, I would say 16 years of destroying the nation of Judah. I personally know many people who had suffered serious sickness and pain, who had strayed away from the ways of God and got entangled with idol worship. Mathew Henry says: “But sin often shortens men's lives and comforts.”
d) Falling in love with a wrong person!
At times people wrongly term infatuation as divine love! I am not against people genuinely in love with each other, though; yet, Biblical principles got to be meticulously followed. Alas, when two people fall in love, to see things clearly will begin to fade! Every thing takes back seat including God. They strongly reject Biblical counseling and every form of reasoning and recklessly walk the path of destruction. Ecclesiastes 9:17”Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools.”
Some people are led to believe the lie of the devil: ‘he will change after marriage, take him/her to church and teach him/her the Bible after marriage, God understands your predicament.’ All these are deceptions of the devil. Some people go through the church rituals and the temple rituals and get married; thereby they think that they have pleased God. This is like pleasing God and the devil. The Bible says:
2 Corinthians 5:9 “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.”
Colossians 1:10 “that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”
1 Thessalonians 2:4 “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.”
God wants you to obey His Word. Some people enthusiastically agree in the beginning to accept Christ (most of the time this is due to infatuation that blinds the eye or either they don’t take religion too seriously ) but after marriage when you want to honor the Sabbath day and go to church, he/she might want to go to the theatre. Besides all this, children are torn between the father and the mother. THINK! Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” - Matthew 16:24
We have to obey God and not be led by emotions, blessings await those who obey God .
