Should Christians Be Members of Secret Societies?
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Christians must sever every tie that binds them to these secret
orders that are not under the control of God. They cannot be loyal to
these organizations and loyal to God. Either the connection with these
bodies must be severed or you will assimilate more closely to them,
and as the result will come to unite more fully with them, and will sever
the ties that bind you to those who love and fear God. The Christian
will abandon those things which are a hindrance to his spirituality, be
the sacrifice ever so great. Better lose money, possessions, and life
itself, than to imperil the vital interests of the soul.
Stewards of God
You who have connected yourselves with these secret societies are
trusting in a staff that will be broken in pieces; you do not trust in the
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Lord God of Israel, diligently searching to know His will and to follow
in His way. When you invest money in these organizations, you do so
in the hope of making provision for the future. You have given them
time and thought and labor and money, while the cause of Christ has
been neglected. Every dollar paid into these organizations is as truly
turned away from the cause of God as if sunk in the ocean. But was
not this capital entrusted to you of God to use in His service, for the
salvation of your fellow men? By investing it where it cannot honor
God or benefit men, you are repeating the sin of the slothful servant
who hid his Lord’s talent in the earth.
The Lord had entrusted to the unfaithful servant not a large capital,
but only one talent. That one talent the man did not invest for the
interest of God; he hid it in the earth, complaining that the Lord was
a hard Master, reaping where He had not sown, and gathering where
He had not strown. The selfishness he manifested, and the complaints
he made, as though God would require of him that which He had
no right to claim, showed that he did not know God, or Jesus Christ,
whom He had sent. Everything he possessed was the Lord’s own
property, and was entrusted to him to use for God. When he says, “I
was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth” (
Matthew 25:25
),
he acknowledged that the talent was from God.
And what saith the Lord?—“Thou wicked and slothful servant,
thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have
not strawed” (
Matthew 25:26
). Here He repeats the servant’s words,