Living Hope Fellowship Church...Sermons From the Pastor
LODGES
by Pastor Kevin Badgley
In Galatians 5:1 God makes a declaration: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Verse 7-8 says, "Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you." It comes from the enemy. You may say, What are you getting at?
I'm talking to anyone who thinks themselves to be a Christian. This is about belonging to something that is not godly. You cannot belong to organizations that are anti-Christian. You cannot belong to organizations that have hypocritical doctrines in their by-laws, etc., and still belong to God. You cannot be entangled with the yoke of bondage of things of the world, and organizations of the world, and still be born again, and walk in the church of the Living God.
A sinner can belong to anything because he's a sinner. He's not a believer, he is not saved, and he's going to hell anyway. I want to preach to you about saints, children of God, or people who are claiming to be Christians who need purifying, because they have defiled themselves. They have become afflicted and mourn, and are tormented in mind, body, soul, and spirit, because they are willfully participating in things that are not of God.
You cannot serve God and the devil. It says this in Matthew 6:24: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." You cannot serve the things of man or of the world. You cannot mix it and prosper in it. We know that we are in the world, but we are not to be of the world. If you are of the world willfully and knowingly, then you will be cursed with a curse. Deuteronomy 30:19 says, "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live."
Leviticus 10:10 says, "And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;" Many do not know the difference between the blessing and the curse, because it has been so run together, and the church world has not preached to you the difference. They have not taught the difference between the holy and the unholy; between the profane and that which is righteous; between the clean and the unclean. However, it is our job to preach the difference, so that you can make a choice by your own free will.
The Bible declares in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 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. 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."
You cannot be in fellowship with unbelievers in their organization. There are good will organizations. Some have built hospitals, and named them after their organizations. There are goodwill organizations-so called-who are binding up souls, holding large membership, handle large amounts of money, and are known world wide, but they are not of the things of God.
Many Christians, or so-called Christians, belong to these organizations, and are actually better in them than they are in the church. They know more about their by-laws and about their "sayings," than they do scriptures in the Word of God. Many preachers belong to these organizations, and they call them places of refuge, or lodges, etc., and they say, Well, this is a good work, and I could use it, and I bring forth good will to my fellow man, and I can go out in the world and make changes. No you can't, because the thing is copied from many centuries ago where there were witchcraft performances done. They bring damnation and cursing to those who are involved in it. The difference between this and Satanic worship is that Satanic worship is a known willful act; this other is when the people involved in it are deceived into thinking that they are doing good.
Many people today would not argue with the devil one iota if he came to them in his full wretchedness and said, I want to give you a million dollars to give to your church. Many would take the million dollars and give it to the church, not knowing that there is nothing that the devil is involved in that can be clean or pure in any fashion. The Bible declares in 1 Corinthians 10:21, "Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils." You cannot "mingle" with sinners, even in an organization that claims to be a good will organization, and expect to go to heaven!
This makes some people furious, but I want you to know the truth, as furious as you may get. The Bible makes a declaration in the book of Ephesians 5:11: "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." We are supposed to show them that they are wrong about it. Ephesians 5:12 says, "For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret." One of the common factors among many of these organizations is that many of them are done in secret, or their ceremonies are behind closed doors.
The Bible declares as a Christian you are to be a light, and not put your light under a bushel. (See Matthew 5:15.) How can you be told to keep it quiet, and behind closed doors, and at the same time not put your light under a bushel? This thing confounds a Christian, and is contrary to God's Word.
You cannot remain a Christian, and belong to an organization, even a good will type of organization, that says you must be in secret. Some have secret handshakes, secret remarks, secret words, and other things. One of the common terms in witchcraft that they say for an amen is "so-mote-it-be."
There are other organizations that exist because the people went to war together, but the sin is rampant in their meetings. They have their wet bars, dances, and parties. You, as a Christian, cannot mingle with that type, even if you fought in the trenches with them. The war was so that the powers of darkness would be destroyed, and God used sinners and saints in those wars. Once you are in peace time, then you are to witness and to get them saved, but not to participate with them.
A common thing in the church world today is that they say, Well, we will go in and mingle; we will go in and be with them so that we might win them to God by our good witness. How are you going to win somebody to God when you act just like them? Why would they change when you act just like they do? Why would they want to make any difference, when you aren't making any difference? Many times the loudest cry to holiness is the fact that you don't participate with them.
The Bible warns us about making vows. Many of these organizations have vows that tie you up. The Bible declares in Numbers 30:2, "If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth." It binds your soul with a bond when you make a vow.
In Deuteronomy 23:21-22 it says, "When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee. But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee."
You may say, Well, I didn't vow a vow unto the Lord, I vowed it to the organization. It will still be required. You may say, Well, it didn't mean anything. Then you are a hypocrite, because you vowed a vow, and you didn't mean it. When you said that you were going to serve the Lord Jesus Christ after you got saved, and not the enemy, you vowed a vow to the Lord. If you vowed that vow to God, you can't back up on it. You cannot change or add to it by joining organizations of men which will pull you down into the pit.
God wants us to belong to the church of the Living God, which is the fellowship of believers, the saints of the Living God. The Bible declares in 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:" Verse 14-15 says, "For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;"
Exodus 34:16 says, "And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods." In other words, it's a family thing. You will pull your sons and daughters into it. There are men and women organizations of many kinds. Some compliment the other so that all the family can be involved in it. This is a counterfeit religion. They say that it is Bible based. They say it is godly, yet they differentiate between the blacks and whites, between Jews and Christians, and other races. They are hypocrites of their own council.
They have high orders, and long memorization of vain words that contain no knowledge, to keep people fooled, and make them think that they are looking right. Job 38:2 says, "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?" Who is it that does that? Look in Daniel 8:23. It says, "And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up." It's a devil. Those dark sentences don't make sense, and yet you go on with them. They are of the devil.
1 Corinthians 5:11 says, "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." Today, you have no part or lot in the things of the world.
Jeremiah 17:5 says, "Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD." God have mercy upon Christians who mix with the people of the world.
God, set every captive free today by Your Word, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Email the pastor at
© Living Hope Fellowship, Inc
.