What is not clean cannot be blended with what is clean. In the same manner, the unholy cannot be intermixed with what is holy.
Things considered clean are washed, cleansed, spotless, virtuous, upright, and/or polished. To be Holy is to be sacred, consecrated, sanctified, revered, divine, blessed, and/or dedicated, like Christ.
If the aforementioned were true, blending clean with unclean would be like mixing Holy with the unholy. One has the ability to infect or disgrace the other. Doing so is blasphemous, improper, and/or irreverent.
Can you imagine blending vomit with your dinner? Doing so mixes something already eaten with what is on today’s menu. If there is vomit all over your table, not one clean spot, could you sit down and have a meal on that table? Let us imagine that same table, after the vomit was left on it from dinner, and breakfast was served the next morning over the spots. Could there be a putrid smell?
If a house of worship, meant for teaching Holy Scripture, is tainted or soiled with false doctrine and devotion to idols, will you praise God there? Will you follow a false prophet whose sermons are mixed from his or her own cookbook of unholy dogma? Is it likely you will eat from a chef who feeds you rotten food as a daily special? Should you decide to ignore the smell and eat the food anyway, are you willing to pay full price for the meal?
Can we praise in a place where prayer is offered at a price? Will you negotiate with the devil because a family member introduces him to you? A man who profane God’s law, makes no distinction between clean, unclean, Holy and unholy. Will you follow his teachings? Where there is death and devastation, can we suffer lies too?
In a Holy sanctuary, the Bible is similar to a menu that offers an assortment of specialty meals. The preacher is not a chef who prepares his own dishes. He is a server of Living Water, which are meals previously prepared. In a Holy place, everything Holy remains Holy because it is intermingled only with that which is Holy. We can be assured that everything served there is clean and free of artificial ingredients. God’s provisions are like a complementary meal that is served when we hunger for it the most.
In a world that needs to be served the Word of God, there can be no charge for service. For the last time, Jesus is telling the church; “feed MY sheep!”
Ezekiel 22:26
New International Version
26 “Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.”
1 Corinthians 9:18
New International Version
18 “What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.”
2 Peter 2:22
New International Version
22 “Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,”[a] and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.” ”
2 Timothy 3:2
New International Version
2 “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,”
Isaiah 28:7-8
New International Version
7 “And these also stagger from wine and reel from beer: Priests and prophets stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine; they reel from beer, they stagger when seeing visions, they stumble when rendering decisions. 8 All the tables are covered with vomit and there is not a spot without filth.”
John 21:17
New International Version
17 “The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” ”