There’s a wonderful account, actually, as a somewhat old account of a man who was brought to trial, by the name of Ignatius. He was standing face to face with the Roman emperor Trajan. “Who art thou?” said Trajan. “Thou wretch of a devil, that are so ready to transgress our orders while you seduce others also that they may come to the same bad end.” Ignatius said, “No man calls one that beareth God a wretch of a devil, for the devils stand aloof from the servants of God.”
Trajan said, “And who is he that beareth God?” Ignatius answered, “He that hath Christ in his heart.” Trajan said, “Do you not think then that we too have gods in our hearts, seeing that we employ them as allies against our enemies?” Ignatius said, “You are deceived when you call the devils of the nations gods, for there is one God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all things that are therein and one Christ Jesus, His only begotten Son, whose friendship I enjoy.”
Trajan said, “Are you speaking of Him who was crucified under Pontius Pilate?” Ignatius said, “I speak of Him that nailed on the cross sin and its author and sentenced every malice of the devils to be trampled underfoot of those that carry Him in their hearts.” Trajan said, “Do you then carry Christ within you?” Ignatius said, “Yes, for it is written, ‘I will dwell in them and will walk in them.’”
Trajan then gave the sentence and this is the sentence: “It is our order that Ignatius who says he bears about the crucified in himself shall be put in chains by the soldiers and taken to mighty Rome, there to be made food for wild beasts as a spectacle and a diversion for the people.”
The lines are drawn just that clearly. We have Christ in our hearts. We have no religious communion with those who do not. We are the children of God; they are the children of Satan. There can be no mutual spiritual enterprise. Such compromise desecrates the name of Christ, gives false assurance to the unbeliever, and pollutes the Christian.
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