"Be Not Deceived"

The story is told of two men who were friends — both purchased parrots for pets. It turned out that one of the parrots was accustomed to singing spiritual songs, while the other used many curse words. The owners thought if they would place the parrot which sang spiritual songs with the one that cursed, the bad habit would be corrected.

It turned out in the end that the opposite happened. The good parrot began to also use curse words!

Often Christians think they can associate with wicked people and not be affected. Some even think they need to get involved with evil people so that they can convert them. To the contrary, one does not need to jump into quicksand in order to get someone out of quicksand.

“Be not deceived. Evil companionships corrupts good morals” (1 Corinthians 15:33 ASV; cf. 1 Corinthians 5:6; 2 Timothy 2:16-18).

Beloved, let’s think about it!

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets