Don’t Mingle With Unbelievers

“Don’t mingle with unbelievers.”

The first time I heard this, I thought I understood what was being communicated. I was just a child, following mummy and daddy to church. I thought unbelievers were non-Christians, pagans, Muslims, and ‘children of the world’. But growing up, I began to observe the discrimination between Christians.

The orthodox against the Protestants.
Protestants against the Pentecostals.
Pentecostals against the Sabbatical.
Evangelicals against the White Garments.
The White Garments against the rest.

We have forgotten that the basis of this religion was love for humanity. But no, for us it’s criticism. Religious wars everywhere and still passing it on to the next generation.

Children come into this world and see things and start asking questions. It’s the answers we give to these questions that cause these discriminations. Imagine that a child who is born into a Pentecostal church sees another child who wears white garment to church and asks the parents why the other child wears uniform to church and the parents go “because their doctrine is wrong”.

I found myself in the Pentecostal sect, so I narrowed it down to the sect and observed that we are also against ourselves. Assemblies of God against the Synagogues of All Nations. Deeper Life against Christ Embassy. Winners’ Chapel against The Lord’s Chosen, each church judges the other. Schisms everywhere!

Gradually, “don’t mingle with unbelievers” embraced a new meaning. By ‘unbelievers’ my pastor meant non Deeper Life members.

I remember, during Search The Scriptures (our version of Sunday School), the youth leader used subtle words to describe the so called ‘unbelievers’.

• “Those churches where women wear trousers”
• “Those churches who claim to know God but play drums and dance like the world”
• “Those pastors that dye their hair and make jerrycurl of it, they are end time prophets of doom.”

They planted the seeds of discrimination and segregation in us. The same people who preach against racism place boundaries among religious sects. They never ceased to remind us that we are a pure breed, custodians of the holy word of God, privileged people called out of the world into the kingdom of his dear son. They praised the founder, a man called by God. One that maketh no mistake and haveth no flaw.

We were encouraged to be like him, dress like him (for the males), dress like his wife (for the females), and Speeeeeaaaak liiiiiiiiikeeeee hiiiiiiiiiiim.

Associating with children from other churches became taboo. It does not matter whether or not they are all from Christian homes. If they are not from our church, they are unbelievers-sinners, bound to eternal damnation in hell.

I do not understand why and how every denomination has its own doctrines created for the members. Didn’t Jesus pray that we all be one?

Are we following his footsteps or walking in the steps of church founders whose doctrines are influenced by their temperaments, life experiences and personal views of the holy writ?

Each denomination believes their denomination is the best. They believe the others are hell-bound. They instruct their followers to beware of the other church. They judge themselves. Yet, we claim to serve and love the same God. How?

Why can’t I mingle with the Catholics or marry from Christ Embassy? Why is it taboo for a member of the Assemblies of God to marry a Witness? What makes them unbelievers?

What happened to Paul’s epistle: “…there’s neither Greek nor Jew?” In Christ, every identity collapses, leaving Him as the only seal in our hearts.

Who Are Unbelievers?

Is it the fellow from a different church or the fellow who does not believe in God and his Christ?

According to Vocabulary.com, if you’re not a believer — that is, if you don’t believe in something — you’re an unbeliever. This noun usually turns up in religious contexts, either as another word for an atheist (someone who doesn’t believe in any god or deity), or simply to denote someone who isn’t a follower of a certain religion.

The Bible teaches that God makes a distinction between people according to what they believe about Jesus.

The unbeliever refers to the person who rejects Christ or doesn’t believe in Him as his personal Saviour. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16-18)

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16)

With the exception of the Jewish people with whom He is still dealing with separately, God divides the world into two categories: believers and unbelievers. The believers have heaven promised while the unbelievers have only hell to look forward to because their sins aren’t washed in the blood of Jesus. This is why it is so important for the Christian to propagate the spreading of the Gospel.

What do we believe in?

Is it our pastor’s interpretation of God’s word or the Spirit’s inspiration of the same? Men created dogma and doctrines, restructuring the Christian narrative to suit their length of spiritual sight and ego.

Our religious leaders present themselves like God himself. A lot of us, even at maturity, let these men plant schism within us because we look up to them not Christ. I’ll always maintain, religion is the biggest problem threatening humanity.

Religion has been politicized and merchandised to an extent where competition is the order.
Churches strife to win members and not souls for the kingdom. Once you stop coming to their church, you are seen as a backslider.

We Are All Mad!

On my way to work in the morning, the bus I was on passed by a madman wearing a nose mask.

My co-passengers thought it was weird. The driver made a joke of it. The bus conductor had a great time laughing out loud. But what they failed to understand is that we are all mad.

The religious, mad!

The irreligious, mad!

The Orthodox, mad!

The Protestants, mad!

The Pentecostals, mad!

The Celestials, mad!

The Evangelicals, mad!

The Witness, mad!

The Sabbaticals, mad!

We. All. Are. Mad. In. The. Lord, doing the work of God with the zeal of the devil. And the madman with a nose mask is saner than us all.