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WHO DOES GOD USE? By typical fundamentalist standards, if any man “couldn’t be saved and live that way,” it was Samson the walk-by-sight Nazarite who lived an immoral life and then went out with a bang by taking his own life along with the lives of thousands of enemy Philistines. Surely, God could never use a man like that. Wrong. Rather than make his entrance on the pages of Scripture with the godly example of a consecrated Nazarite, Samson instead charges in with carnal affections for a Philistine woman: “And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.” (Jud. 14:1-3) In addition to being a violation of God’s law regarding heathen marriages (Deu. 7:3), this was also a violation of the fifth commandment since this was contrary to his parents’ wishes. But this was only the beginning. Samson went on to defile himself with a dead animal—twice (Jud. 14:5-9; 15:15-19), yet he refused to cut his hair as the law required of a Nazarite (Num. 6:6-9), and his weakness for women even landed him in the arms of a harlot (Jud. 16:1). Yet, in spite of such carnality, God took care of the hair cut (Jud. 16:19) and the walking by sight (Jud. 16:21), and He inducted wild Samson into the hall of faith (Heb. 11:32) after using him to overthrow the Philistines. This, of course, would give ulcers to every white-washed Pharisee for the next three millenniums, although we were all told what God was up to in advance: “But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.” (Jud. 14:4) So Samson’s immorality was secondary; the primary issue was God’s desire to overthrow Israel’s enemies, and that’s just what He did. He didn’t ignore Samson’s carnal conduct, but He didn’t highlight it either. The thing that God highlighted was His glory in getting victory over the Philistines, and Samson was the strong man that He used to get it done, regardless of anyone’s opinion. So, who does God use? Anyone He chooses to use, and His choosing deals largely with the HEART, which only He can see (Judges 16:17-18, I Sam. 16:7, Isa. 66:2). Religious big-shots never have understood that, and they never will.