Mixing Light With Darkness

It might seem that Paul is being overly harsh and severe in rebuking the Galatians’ weakness, seeing they had never once thought of rejecting the gospel, nor Jesus Christ who had been preached to them. But Paul pays no attention to the way they viewed the situation; he sees it as it really is — in other words, that once people turn away from the truth of God, they are rejecting Jesus Christ and cutting themselves off from him. Some people may think this strange, for many would like to mix light with darkness. Indeed, the confusion that exists in Popery is an outstanding example of this. They make many wonderful claims to the effect that they are upholding the Christian faith into which they have been baptised. But, for all this, it is clear that they have turned everything upside-down. Superstitions reign, and they practise open idolatry of a worse kind than has ever been known, even among the pagans. Any reverence for God is destroyed, since each one sets himself up as a saviour in place of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Papists would respond by saying that they are not apostates, and that they have not abandoned Jesus Christ. But our Lord Jesus Christ is no ghost; he cannot change according to the whims of men. In short, he cannot be separated from his church.

-ooOOoOOoo-

What an object lesson the errors and apostacy of Romanism is!  We can still hold on to the name of Christianity, yet be as far away from Christ as it possible to be!  You can be an apostate and still call yourself a Christian. What authority does Jesus Christ have in your life, your family and your church?  Do you pay attention to what He says to you?  Are you quick to obey His call?  True, sometimes we are very slow to follow Him, and are all too quick to be led down some other road.  We doubt.  We weigh up the options.  Will it be this, or that?  Which will gratify me more, this or that? Which will bring me most immediate pleasure, this or that? We dither, we doubt, and we stray.

May God keep us from following the devil’s suggestions and enticements.  And may we, by God’s grace, stay on the path.