Do Two Walk Together?

Hi Friends,

I am writing today about two visions which represent relationships we have with others.  Some relationships are beneficial and encourage us to walk with the Lord, while others undermine our faith in him.  Other relationships do neither.  But I believe that the Lord is showing us what is  most important when choosing our closest friends and partners.

The Visions

The  Two Acrobats

I saw two men in medieval dress engaged in a tumbling or acrobatic exercise.  The men faced each other holding hands.  One acted as the support for the other, who kicked his legs up and over while rotating his body in the air something like an aerial (a cartwheel without hands touching the floor).  The one who was supporting the other, then did the same movement as the first man who then became a support for the second man.  This action became continuous as they traded off rotating and supporting.

There is no doubt what this vision means to me.  It shows a partnership between two people who are perfectly matched to support each other.  This is an ideal partnership.  They are equally yoked.  

The next vision I received shows a partnership that is not working.

The Two Carpet Runners

A carpet runner is a woven rug that is long and narrow, designed to cover a flight of stairs or a long stretch of hallway.  In the vision, I saw an Oriental carpet runner that was placed down the center of a long hall.  It was multicolored with red as the field color.  There was a second runner made of clear plastic used to protect the carpet from dirt and moisture. It was placed in the hall overlapping the right half of the Oriental carpet runner and extending beyond to meet the wall.  I was standing on the plastic portion that covered the carpet runner.

Again, I knew immediately what the vision meant.  This passage of scripture came to mind:

“Do two people walk together unless they have agreed to do so?”  Amos 3:3

Because the vision came in regards to a situation for which I was praying, its meaning  is very clear to me.  The carpet runner in the vision represents the domain or area that someone controls. The plastic runner, a barrier to dirt and moisture, was not placed down the center of the Oriental carpet, but covered only the right half of its full length.  The scripture concerning the  two people walking side by side, asks the question, “Do two people walk together, unless they have agreed to do so?  And the answer is “No.”  Agreement is necessary to walk in the same direction at the same time.  However, in the vision, if two people were to walk side by side down this long hall, one would be walking on the carpet, and the other would be walking on the plastic.  What I see is that the person who controls the carpet runner (the domain or area of authority) does not want anyone to walk on the carpet except himself.  Everyone else is to stay on the plastic, so that their dirty feet do not touch his carpet. This vision speaks of an unequally yoked partnership.  It is not a healthy partnership, for there is an obvious barrier to truly walking together.  The one who owns or controls the carpet, does not accept the one who is on the plastic. In the vision, I was standing on the plastic runner showing me that I was not accepted.  The plastic runner is a barrier set up to keep me at a distance.  This is not a good relationship, for one person does not accept the other.  Even though they agreed to walk together, they are not walking in a mutually beneficial relationship.

The Lord has given me three scriptures regarding these less than perfect relationships:

 “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”  Romans 12:18

 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves.”  Philippians 2:3

“But I tell you, do not resist an evil person.  If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other cheek also.”  Matthew 5:39     

There are no perfect relationships, but we need to know how to work with difficult people, and when it is best to simply leave them alone.

The Lord speaks of a type of relationship that we as believers should not have.  Through Paul’s  second letter to the Corinthians, he quotes what the Lord had said to the prophets that applies to us today:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?  What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?  What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”  2 Corinthians 6:14-18

We are not to be yoked with unbelievers, because it is said, “We become like the company we keep.”  Therefore  having close friendships or partnerships with people who do not believe that Jesus is Lord, God, and King, is a problem.  These close relationships can affect one’s personal faith and walk with God.  When we have a close friend and confidant that does not believe in God, we may not want to offend him, so we dance around the topic of Jesus.  If we are afraid to speak of Jesus to our friend, then  we have compromised our witness and our faith.  By doing so, we hinder our friend  from coming to the Lord. 

I read a book many years ago called The Contagious Christian.  I took the author’s advice to “barbeque” with a new person before sharing the gospel.  Make a friend first and then share later.  I believe that this is a dreadful mistake.  What happened for me, was that I made friends with a Jewish couple, talking about everything except Jesus.  Hoping that there would be an opportunity to share the gospel in the future. I was looking for a natural opening in the conversation, only to find that they were not open to speaking about the Christian faith at all.  

Since I had made friends with her and her husband, and had been praying for their salvation, I didn’t want to stop being her friend, because my hope was, and still is to reach them.  They appreciate my prayers, for they have experienced miracles in their family as a result.   They want me to pray for them, but do not want me to pray with them.  They know that I pray to Jesus, who is God.  But they are afraid to lose what they don’t have, (the Father),  to receive what they are afraid to recognize (the Son, their Messiah).

“Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”  1 John 2:23

So I continue to pray for them everyday, as I do for my family members who also do not know the Lord.  We all have close relationships with family members who are unbelievers.  But we must not allow their opinions to infiltrate our minds to cause doubt or compromise.

The Bible does not say “Do not be yoked with unbelievers,” without reason.  We may have close relationships that pose a threat to our faith.  I have seen several cases like this: a woman who loves the Lord and comes to church regularly, is faithful until she meets a man who is not interested in God.  The woman then stops coming to church, in order to do something fun with her new love.  She compromises to such an extent, that it is seemingly impossible to win her love over to her faith, for she has already convinced the man that God is not important as he. For she compromised her faith choosing her personal affairs and him over God.

Sometimes it can be a family member that tries to influence us with their own faith, or their own ideologies.  They want to “help us see the light of truth,” which is no truth at all.   My own mother tried her best to convince me that Jesus was only a man, and that the Bible was not from God but came from the minds of men who were deceived and wrote and spoke in error.  I thank the Lord that as a young child I already had a strong relationship with him.  No matter what she shared with me about Astrology, Reincarnation, Edgar Cayce the “sleeping prophet,” New Age Ideology, etc. I could not be convinced of such lies.  

But on the other hand, I was persuaded by my brother that certain activities were not sin.  And because I valued his friendship and his leadership (being older than me), I did as he asked, and my life took a turn for the worse.  My faith got put on hold.  And my relationship with the Lord became distant.  Rather than confessing my sin, I hid it, and pretended that I never did anything wrong. This is a bad place to be. Our close relationships can absolutely hinder our walk with God and lead us far from him.

I thank the Lord that now my brother has been saved for many years, and that he loves the Lord without any reservation.  But my mother is still far, far from God and the truth of his Word.  But we must never give up. We must pray and keep praying for our loved ones’ salvation.  

“This Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”  Acts 4:11-12

I had another close friend who believed in the Lord, but her husband did not.  He was a Muslim, and told me that he was not about to change.  I had shared with him about the Lord on several occasions, hoping that I might say something that would change his mind.

But one day, the Lord gave me a vision of two donkeys, one black and one white.  They were standing so close that their legs (8 legs altogether) appeared to alternate: white, black, white, black, white black…

The Lord was showing me that the two donkeys in the vision were demonstrating a partnership between two opposites.  He chose to use donkeys, because they form intimate, close partnerships.  Two will stand next to each other, walk together, graze together and sleep with their heads resting on each other’s backs.  If they were both white, there would be no problem.  But the donkeys were opposite: one white, the other black.

“What fellowship is there between light and darkness?”  The Lord showed me that I had to give up this relationship.  So I did.

Sometimes relationships that undermine our faith are with people and groups that  have influence over us.  These people may be on television or online.  They may sound like god-fearing people, but they can share worldly values along with their opinions.  We need discernment, for those who express their opinions and promote an ideology that is counter to God, can lead many people astray.  Pastors, televangelists, and self proclaimed prophets may not be as they appear to be.  If what they say does not line up with the Word of God, then we need to avoid them and their teachings.  Apostasy is a real threat.  It is falling away from the true faith.  If we are not reading the Word of God for ourselves, we can be misled into believing a faith that is not Biblical.  False teachers and false prophets want people to follow them.  They want to be heard.  Jesus himself warned us:

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?  Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”  Matthew 7:15-20

Warnings also came from Jude and Paul:

“For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”  Jude 1:4

“Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”  1 Timothy 4:1

And of course there will be those who want to hear messages that align with their own values and affirm or justify their sinful lifestyles.  Because everyone wants to be accepted, most people will avoid those who challenge them with the true gospel, and will instead find people that will agree with them.  This is a type of apostasy.  They do not embrace the true faith, but serve a “god” of their own choosing. They may call him “god” but he does not have the same attributes as the one true God, nor does he have the same values.  Therefore they are placing their hope in one who cannot save them.  Apostasy leads to eternal death, not life. 

“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”  2 Timothy 4:3

I believe that is where many people find themselves today.  There are churches that throw the Bible and the gospel out.  They please people with up beat music, positive thinking messages, and provide enough activities to include everyone’s interests.  They are social clubs that appeal to the natural man, not to the one who is born from above and filled with the Spirit of God.  There is no conviction of sin and therefore no salvation message.  There is no demand for holiness and a true relationship with the Lord.  They simply offer comfortable messages and comfortable surroundings.  These churches will have charitable activities to validate their existence, and give their members the opportunity to feel that they did something good.

These apostate churches are appealing to many people, but they will not produce god-fearing disciples of Christ.  When genuine persecution comes, those that have not known the Lord, and have not prepared themselves with the Word of God, will collapse under pressure and conform to the world’s view to avoid trouble.  I hope and pray that those who have not fully surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus will do so.  We want everyone to know him and have salvation in his name.  Only those who overcome will be able to receive the gift of eternal life in him.

Please find a Bible based church, one that is filled with the Spirit of God and one that will build you up in your most holy faith.  Please read and study the word of God for yourself so that you will not be led astray by false teachers and false prophets.  

“Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”   Hebrews 3:15

 Now is the time to come to Jesus and surrender your life to him.  He will lift you up, and will protect you.

“I will never leave you nor forsake you!”  Deuteronomy 31:6

“If God be for us, who can be against us?”  Romans 8:31

God bless you!  Please share this post with others.