Religious Half-Breeds

By Roy Loney

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     In 2 Kings 17 is the history of the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel, consisting of the ten tribes which revolted from Rehoboam, grandson of David. The Assyrians carried the majority into captivity replacing them with people of other nations. The writer says: "And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, they feared not the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them." They appealed to the Assyrian king who sent an Israelite priest to teach them "the manner of the god of the land." Then "they feared the Lord and served their own gods, after the manner of their own nations which carried them away from thence." They mixed a knowledge of God with idolatrous practices. They were religious half-breeds who later developed into the people called Samaritans.

     After the captivity of Judah in Babylon ended and the people returned to rebuild Jerusalem, the Samaritans, who had been infiltrated with many Jews, sought to assist them. They were firmly repulsed and did everything in their power to hinder the Jews until they were effectively silenced in the days of Darius (B.C. 519). The feud between the two peoples increased year by year until climaxed in B.C. 409 when Manasseh, a man of priestly lineage, being expelled from Jerusalem by Nehemiah for an unlawful marriage, obtained permission from the Persian king to build a temple on Mount Gerizim for the Samaritans. They accepted the law of Moses but rejected the remainder of the Old Testament.

     From time to time renegade Jews joined the Samaritans who came by degrees to claim they were of Jewish blood. Their temple became a rival of the one at Jerusalem. Neither people would worship with the other. They looked upon each other as apostates. This antagonism showed itself when the Samaritans refused hospitality to Christ who was on the way to Jerusalem (Luke 9: 52,53). The nature of this rivalry is indicated in the words of the Samaritan woman to Christ: "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain (Gerizim), but ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship God" (John 4: 20).

     It is claimed today that a small remnant of Samaritans observe the passover just as did the Jews in the days of Jesus. It is said the worship in the temple on Mount Gerizim was practically the same as that at Jerusalem. Their temple was built without God's authority, so its worship

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was never acceptable unto Him. They were a mongrel people, a mixed race with a mixed religion. They were half-breeds and not the true people of the Lord.

     The same can be said of thousands today. Their religion is mixed with the doctrines and commandments of men. A true child of God does not render partial service. His spiritual birth originates in the seed of the kingdom (Matt. 13: 23) and not in the doctrines of men (Matt. 15:9). He is born, not of the will of men, but of the will of God (John 1: 13). One is not a true child of God who is born of mixed seed. God's children are not mongrels!

     The pure blood of God does not flow in the veins of those who accept any part of denominationalism as true, regardless of how much truth they have. One conceived in spiritual adultery cannot be a full-blooded son of God. Peter speaks of those who were born "not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever" (I Peter 1: 23). Billy Graham, regardless of the fine things he preaches, accepts as scriptural the denominational divisions of this age. Is he not thereby a religious Samaritan? Ignorance cannot be pleaded as an excuse for his sins, for no one can know as much as he does about God's word without knowing that denominationalism is an enemy to the righteous purpose of God.

     If the acceptance of the doctrines of Balaam or the Nicolaitanes, merited the stern rebuke of the Lord in the first century (Rev. 2: 14,15) we can be sure the same will hold true in the twentieth century. God had a people in Babylon, but as long as they remained there they were in the wrong place. His call was "Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Rev. 18: 4). God receives as His own only those who separate themselves from evil (2 Cor. 6: 17, 18). Please read that passage!

     One who is so steeped in denominationalism that he will defend, propagate, and remain in it cannot be worthy to eat at the sacred table of the Lord even though he may preach much of God's truth. Faith in denominationalism mixed with the word of God will produce a hybrid religion, something God has never accepted. In all religious discussions, every issue is to be decided by the question, "Is it from heaven or from men?" The pious unimmersed are not God's people until they have been born of water and the Spirit. Piety alone will not make one a child of God. Only a spiritual birth makes one a member of God's family.

     God, in giving the pure word (Psalm 19: 8) left out nothing needed. He supplied everything essential to salvation and I can make no apology for those who find an insufficiency in God's arrangements and call upon men's wisdom to supply more than God provided. A way may seem right to a man but his sincerity does not offset the fact that it may lead to death (Prov. 14: 12). As long as the thoughts and ways of men differ, we have no alternative except to follow the wisdom of God and it alone (Isa. 55: 8, 9). Will you answer this question: Just how right must a man be to be right with God?