(1 Cor 15:33) Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
As we continue to examine reasons that people depart from the Christian faith, we come to a Scripture that needs to be proclaimed loud and long throughout the Christian world; to adults and teens alike. Wrong relationships can cause us to depart from the faith and often without really knowing what happened.
When Samson fell in love with Delilah, he became blinded to what an association with this woman would do to him. He was God’s judge for that particular time and God used him to destroy many Philistines and even through a relationship with a questionable woman. When Samson sought a wife the first time his father and mother were grieved that he chose a woman that was not of Israel, but the Scripture tells us that this was of God because God would use this situation to destroy of the enemy – “But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.” Samson may have thought that this was another one of those occasions, but he did not realize that he had become emotionally involved with Delilah and soon he was grinding in a Philistine mill.
Solomon warns of those who listen to the wrong crowd – “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” Hanging around the foolish can cause us to think and reason foolishly. The fool has said in his heart, “There is not God.” We may never get to that point of saying, ‘There is not God” as they do, but we begin to act that way. How many times has God warned one of His children of their wrong doings by bringing a message across the pulpit that fit exactly what they were doing and/or saying? Only to have someone tell them that the speaker knew about their situation and he was taking a “pot-shot” at them. All the while the speaker may not have known anything about the situation and God impressed him to say words that the guilty person said. If that person has been a companion of fools they will counsel him to seek another church because God could not have done that. Again people commit sin – lie, adultery, fornication and etc. – and believe that there will not be any reckoning about their sin. In essence they are saying, “There is no God.” Solomon says those Christians hanging around the fools will be destroyed. The word destroyed comes from the Hebrew word for “shout of triumph” and means that the person will be triumphed over by their sin or the influence of the fools. Ultimately if they do not return to God they will be destroyed in eternity.
Paul tells us no to be yoked with unbelievers – “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” Many Christian young people have become involved emotionally with unbelievers and some have even married them only to find out that the unbeliever pulled them away from God. The unbeliever may come to Christ by the witness or influence of the Christian but it is the exception and not the rule. We cannot violate Scriptural principles and expect God to work as He would when we keep His commands. These are dangerous relationships and they can bring us down spiritually to the bottom.
Some try to use Jesus as an example of hanging around bad people to justify their actions. But Jesus did not hang around with bad people in the sense that I have been speaking about. Jesus had the reputation of being a friend of sinners and publicans And of eating with them. But Jesus went to where sinners were in order to win them and bring them to repentance, not to just hang out with them and go bowling or socializing with them in their sins. Those who encountered Jesus eventually either went away from Him or became His follower. He did not become their follower.
Solomon, the wisest man on earth other than Jesus, fell away from the faith because he loved so many women. He soon became involved in trying to please them all and the Scripture says – “For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.”
We are not to become totally separate but we are to be