Should Christians Be Members of Secret Societies?
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“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (
Matthew 5:16
).
But if we are Christians, having the Spirit of Him who died to save
men from their sins, we shall love the souls of our fellow men too well
to countenance their sinful pleasures by our presence or our influence.
We cannot sanction their course by associating with them, partaking
in their feasts and their councils, where God does not preside. Such a
course, so far from benefiting them, would only cause them to doubt
the reality of our religion. We should be false lights, by our example
leading souls to ruin.
I lately read of a noble ship that was plowing its way across the
sea, when at midnight, with a terrific crash, it struck upon a rock;
the passengers were awakened only to see with horror their hopeless
condition, and with the ship they sank to rise no more. The man at
the helm had mistaken the beacon light, and hundreds of souls were at
a moment’s warning launched into eternity. If we present a phase of
character that misrepresents Christ, we present a false light, and souls
will surely be misled by our example.
Danger of Spiritual Declension
And Christians who connect themselves with worldly associations
are injuring themselves as well as misleading others. Those who fear
God cannot choose the ungodly for companions, and be themselves
unharmed. In these societies they are brought under the influence of
worldly principles and customs, and through the power of associa-
tion and habit the mind becomes more and more conformed to the
worldling’s standard. Their love for God grows cold, and they have no
desire for communion with Him. They become spiritually blind. They
can see no particular difference between the transgressor of God’s law
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and those who fear God and keep His commandments. They call evil
good, and good evil. The brightness of eternal realities fades away.
The truth may be presented to them in ever so forcible a manner, but
they do not hunger for the bread of life, or thirst for the waters of
salvation. They are drinking at broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Oh, it is an easy thing, by association with the world, to catch their
spirit, to be molded by their views of things, so that we do not discern