132 CORINTHIANS, 1st, 5:18, C. H. Cayce “And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?”
This language teaches us that the Lord’s children should keep themselves out of all the institutions that are partly composed of infidels. Verse 14 says, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” For a believer to be yoked with an unbeliever is to be unequally yoked. How can we engage with them in worship without being yoked with them? It seems to us that we should not do this. Then follows the language of the 15th verse, as quoted above. “And what concord hath Christ with Belial?” The word “Belial” means a vile, worthless person, reckless of God and man. It seems to us that we should hold ourselves aloof from all such characters. The institutions of the world, which are called benevolent, are largely composed of men who are reckless and who are infidels and who reject Christ. The orthodox Jew rejects Christ. So, also, does the Mohammedan. We do not say they are all bad, but many of them are not good men, many of them are “reckless.” The man who denies or rejects Christ is to that extent an infidel. Should we “brother” them, and meet on a common level with them in any kind of religious service or ceremony? It seems to us we should not. To pray a prayer the orthodox Jew will receive we must not approach the Father in the name of Christ. If we must not pray in the name of Christ, then we must deny Him just to please the one who despises our blessed Lord. Should we do this? We do not think so. Search the prayers and forms of service of the different institutions called benevolent and see how many of them have the name of Christ in them. Some of them have the altar erected to the “beloved. St. John.” May we not just as well approach the Father through the mediatorship of the virgin Mary? We think so.
Verse 16 says, “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.” Surely the temple of God hath no agreement with idols. Verses 17 and 18 read, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” We would humbly beg our brethren, in the language recorded here, to come out from among all those things and be separate from them, and the Lord will receive us. We have no desire to unite with those things or to affiliate with them. The Lord’s kingdom is above them all, and we do not wish to go down to them. We would be so glad, and rejoice so much, if all our brethren would come out from all those things. We feel that we love our brethren and the church so well that we would be willing to give those things up for their sake, even if we were affiliating with them and thought there was no harm in our doing so. If our brethren thought it was wrong and thought we should quit it, we believe we love them so well that we would quit for their sake.
Jesus is our only Mediator, and He has promised, “If ye ask anything in my name I will do it.” We should pray in His name only. We can come to God in no other way. Dear brethren, “Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith.” We cannot draw near any other way. The Lord will not recognize any other way. Let us all give our time of service in the Lord’s church, and draw near to Him there, and He will bless us. He has not promised to bless us in these other things. If we desire to perform acts of benevolence, let us remember to “Do good to all men, especially to the household of faith.” If we would give our time to the church and spend the same means that way that is spent in the other things, would it not be much better, and would not the church then be what some brethren say it lacks? The Primitive Baptist, May 14, 1907.