On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God, because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam to call a curse down on them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.) Nehemiah 13:1-2

            As Jesus left this earth, He commissioned His people to go to all the world and reach all people.  The apostle Paul focused his attention on people outside of Israel. 

            In the book of Nehemiah, they operated under the Old Testament rules of separation for purity sake.  They could not allow the temple to be used for any other purposes except what God designed it for.  Outsiders had a habit of influencing Jews to worship other gods.  These hard-handed rules kept certain people out of the temple to protect people’s focus on God. 

            This is not the way we should run our churches today, accepting all people while keeping the integrity of the Gospel intact and enforcing rules of morality throughout.  A church, though, would have restrictions regarding leadership.  A church wouldn’t allow a Muslim to be a deacon…right?