Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Sadly, recently I had to tell a protégé to be cautious about encouraging her parents to return to “church” meaning just any church. Why did I have to do that, caution her in such a way? I had to bring a word of caution because the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant of God does not lead most of the “religious churches” in the landscape of our society and communities.

Here is what I shared with her:

“As you allow God to use you with your parents, I caution you against outwardly encouraging your parent to reenter a religious setting and instead encourage them in things that will grow their relationship and closeness with God. If your parents reenter a religious church system and something should happen or it is an apostate type of environment, it could well drive them away from God even further. A case of the cure being worse than the sickness situation. People associate the religious church system in this country with God – rightfully so to a small degree – but when the real church’s existence has been replaced largely in public society by an apostate religious church it does not represent God well and He gets the blame for man’s sins. The spiritual environment has drastically changed in our country since your parents where young and the true church is rarely seen publically – therefore, if they are exposed to what makes up most the religious landscape of our country they could be more spiritually harmed than helped.”

Yes, many, if not most of the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant have defected from the religious communities throughout the United States. Is this a bad thing? A necessary thing? God’s Will? Yes and no. Yes and no. And finally yes and no. Let’s explore why.

What does it mean to defect? Well per Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary –

defect: to forsake one cause, party, or nation for another often because of a change in ideology

Because some individuals/ministers teach the theory of christianity while other individuals/ministers live out Christianity there has clearly been a parting of the ways, so to speak, in the ideology of what the true face of Christianity is today. Secular religion is widely viewed as Christianity in America and it is not true Bible based, Jesus following, Christianity.

Therefore, we find that many of the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant of God has defected from these religious communities but not necessarily from ‘gathering with the church’ and serving God. It has been necessary for some to depart religious communities in order to fulfill God’s call on their lives and it has been necessary for others to remain for a season to do a specific work within that religious community. However, it is never God’s Will that His Remnant either run from or remain with the secular religious community. Each person’s situation and circumstances must be examined in light of God’s overall Will for His people and God’s specific Will for that individual. Hence, the ability for the answer to our earlier question to be “yes and no.”

Whereas, there are many different individual, in various stages of their walk with God who will read this material; I would like to take a moment and address a specific group whose actions and reactions to what is happening within our religious society, and within the Remnant, will cause the most damage or do the most good for God’s Kingdom. That would be those who know they were called by God, know they are part of the Remnant, know they were given an assignment but have stumbled or are struggling in relation to what God would have them do – the part He would have them play.

Now within that group of the called, many individuals come to mind and many will be able to relate to what I am about to write. Nevertheless, the balance of this specific paragraph will speak loudly and clearly to the hearts and spirits of one specific couple. Here is what needs to be said… ‘Most ever good parent wants better for their children than what they had or were able to accomplish. Whereas, your early leaders are godly men and women of God, God would have you exceed what they were able to accomplish. The reason you struggle is that you see what God is showing you to do as a departure from, and therefore a betrayal of, what your mentors and leaders invested in you. It is no betrayal and no departure; it is a further fulfillment of the same. The vision that God gave your mentors and leaders was for that time and to the degree that they could and would accept and thus be able to walk in. What God shows you now is an improvement upon what they did. By doing what God is leading you to do you are not dishonoring your former leaders and mentors but instead honoring them by doing better, and going further, toward God’s ultimate goal.’

Back to the subject of the stumbling and struggle that comes with a task and calling that seems beyond anything you can imagine. Well guess what, it is beyond you and thus you need God. Let us look at another servant of God who experienced what it was like to struggle with a “tough calling” – King David.

Prior to the following Scripture and during the events, which lead to this moment in Scripture when David was confronted by the Prophet and fell into such distress, should you read the accounts in 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles in context, you can safely glean two Truths.

1 – David saw that God’s people were involved in evil and sinful ways and did not do anything.

2 – David deserted the throne [calling/assignment] God had given him and was in a place in life where he did not trust God to fight his battles for him.

Where did these actions and attitudes lead David?

2 Samuel 24:14 (NKJV)

^“And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.” “

If we find ourselves in the place that David found himself, Scripture give us an answer to our concerns. Humble ourselves and return to what God has given us to do. Submit ourselves and trust once again in the protection of our God.

Isaiah 66:2 (NKJV)

For all those things My hand has made,

And all those things exist,”

Says the Lord.

“But on this one will I look:

On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,

And who trembles at My word.

If God has given you a job to do, return to it and complete it for He is watching and waiting to glory in your faithfulness. God will not fail to be there to keep and protect you, even unto death, during the process of fulfilling His Will for your life.

The True Christian Community has always lived as a counter-culture within their society. The True Christian Community today, known as the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant, live as a counter-culture not only within their society but also within what widely represents Christianity within their society; yet, let it never be mistaken that the face of Christianity within our society today is the True Current Spiritual Remnant, the Body of Christ, the Church – they are not.

 

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.