The Silent Remnant

“I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal”, Rom11:4

Would it have been sacrilege for Elijah to respond to the Lord: “I sure wish they would step up to the plate, Lord, I could sure use their help now!”  Perhaps he was thinking something along this line, having withstood the false prophets for so long by himself, but he hesitated to voice it. Finding others who Love the Truth and will Contend earnestly for it against the lies, is nearly impossible. A lot of people will agree with you that the Professing Religious System is Reprobate, but they remain silent and inactive when it comes to exposing the fallacies or pulling down the strongholds.

Prophets are Mavericks by nature. They work better alone. But when the chips are down everyone needs support. When you’re facing overwhelming odds it would be nice if the silent remnant wasn’t so silent. Truth is always an exclusive commodity among men and only the FEW shall yield and follow after it. However among those few you have some distinct groups in existence. Paul lamented in 2Cor11: 26, that among the many perils he faced preaching the True Gospel was the ‘False Brethren’ he constantly encountered along the way.

Many of these were also Preachers in their own right, who claimed an exclusive knowledge of the Truth. Yet (on further association with them) they were found to be on the Fringe of Sanity. Meaning they were (to some degree) Mentally unbalanced. This presented a huge problem with keeping the Unity and the teaching of Sound Doctrine. When someone is on the fringe anything is possible. They are generally manipulative controlling and very dubious. Even with Great discernment, it’s highly difficult to recognize these people in advance of them doing damage to the fellowship. Usually they will infiltrate the Brethren under the guise of Sound Doctrine, with a bent toward teaching.

THIS is Why it is so VERY Important to be fully equipped to Contend for the Truth. Not only must you be able to discern the evils of false teaching, you also MUST be so armed with the Spirit of God as to Disseminate truth from error. The Downfall of most Professing Christians today is their lack of ability to Rightly Divide the Word of God and focus in on the foundational issues of Repentance and Faith. They are easily lead down the path of error and go off on tangents that tend to Divide the Brethren. Thus the small remnant groups are alienated from one another and at odds on the teaching of Sound Doctrine.

Worst of all, JUST as the Scriptures warn, MANY will follow after these men, who having risen up from among yourselves, Draw them with deceptive teaching! (Acts20:30, 2Pet2:1-3) Then the blame game will begin. After a separation, the offended party will always attempt to place some kind of stigma on those who remain. This will involve false accusations, outright lies and the inference that YOU are the false brethren, not them! Consequently this cast a pale on the entire operation and outsiders will suspect foul play. It’s important to always Walk Worthy of the Lord, with a clear Conscience before God and man. Arguments and divisions bring ill repute on the Message, grieve the Spirit and disrupt the fellowship.

Keep in Mind, WE are NOT Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah or any other of the Prophets. We are Servants of the Lord, Disciples, NONE greater than another. YES, we are entrusted with Preaching the Word and Keeping it Sound. We are Commanded to Contend for the faith and opposes the forces of evil. It’s an awesome responsibility! As the Remnant in these Dark days of deception, we Must maintain some semblance of Unity and Strive together for the Truth. Anything that weakens us is another victory for the Devil. Our effectiveness is in all Speaking the Same thing and keeping the Message Pure.

Once exposed, these infiltrators will become your mortal enemy. There is NO CHANCE of reconciliation with them. With human pride involved, the hatred will be complete. They will not yield to the Word and forgive or show any humility or loving kindness to the brethren. They will write you off as a Reprobate and assign you to hell. Genuine Brethren can indeed have disagreements and even disputes over things, but the HUGE difference is they ALWAYS resolve their differences in LOVE! No blame, no bitterness, no casting dispersions. You forgive and forget, just as the Lord has done when you Repented of your sins.

One thing is guaranteed with these false brethren after they are exposed. They will NEVER Confront you again face to face. At heart they are cowards and they will never admit their wrong doings. If they had a heart for God their conscience wouldn’t allow them to remain vindictive. It’s a Sure Fire sign of Shipwrecked faith in a person who will not forgive someone their faults or miss-steps. Nothing defiles a person faster than the bitter root of un-forgiveness springing up in their hearts. This type of anger with a Brother is VERY serious if it is allowed to go unresolved. (Matt5:22-26)  The Lord is a Righteous Judge and expects His followers to make Right Judgments based on Truth! The Servant who refused to forgive his fellow Servant forfeited his standing with the Master and was cast into prison. (Matt18:22-35) All Prayer, Worship and Service will be in Vain for the person who falls prey to this sin.

Certainly the Lord made provision to deal with a sinning brother who refuses the admonishment of others and will not repent. (Matt18:15-17) He is to be treated as the sinner he is, least he defile the entire fellowship with his wrong doings. But this is AFTER every effort has been made in love to bring him back into the fold and give him an opportunity to repent. One Person CANNOT count him as reprobate and write him off as a castaway! (Js5:19-20) Following these guidelines will promote harmony and fear among the brethren because everyone is treated in the same manner with absolute fairness.

However with false brethren you become the enemy. These people are relentless and seldom give up. They are convinced Truth and Justice are on their side and feel absolutely no remorse for trying to destroy you. In their Mind you are the cause of everything and deserve the worst. They will even go to your own trusted brethren and attempt to persuade them you’re a phony! If that doesn’t upset the apple cart to their satisfaction they may even threaten you with some kind of legal action. Of course all of this severely hinders the progress of the Truth. When one of these unstable imposters is exposed the damage cannot be ignored. Not everyone is equal in discernment and may be seriously stumbled by the turmoil.

What sets these people off is difficult to determine. It could be an argument over words, a wrong answer, something miss-spoken, (in their mind) lack of attention or recognition. Remember a concealed Pride is at work here. Therefore conceit will usually be their downfall, although NO ONE will ever get them to admit it. Someone else is always at fault and THEY are Walking in the Spirit! In many ways they are motivated by Jealously (as well as Pride) They will look upon others in the group as competition. This also will cause great tension and arouse suspicions between the brethren.  Trying to keep the peace in these situations is a monumental task few are up to.

Many Still cling to the belief, according to Rom11:4, that there is indeed a Holy Remnant out there waiting in the wings to advance a godly agenda on mankind and defend the Faith. But WHAT are they Waiting for???! HOW bad does it have to get before they make themselves known? The ENTIRE World is under the Lie and getting worst by the minute. Petty differences have the Camps so divided and infiltrated with false brethren that effectiveness is almost nil. Every internal dispute weakens the message that much more!

 WHAT happened to ‘he who is greatest among you is SERVANT to all!’ ? Following in the footsteps of the Master DOES NOT mean usurping authority over others. Jesus Humbled Himself and forgave His enemies. YOU must do the same or forfeit your Salvation. Hatred is the same as Murder. (1Jh3:15) It’s God’s Department to inflict Judgment and Wrath, not yours. Don’t kid yourself that all is Right with God in your heart if you are holding a grievance toward a fellow Brother. Follow the Lord’s advice and AGREE quickly or find yourself facing the Judge!

 

We live in a time where MOST people who profess to be Christians have a seared conscience impervious to the Conviction of Truth. Their ears are tuned to Heaps of False Teachers who OWN the Platforms, airwaves, publishing houses and Bible Schools. MOST of the contention is in the form of ‘in house’ debates over Doctrines of men. NOT Pulling Down the Strongholds of Lies keeping the people in Bondage to Sin. Elijah had 7000 silent supporters, but he stood alone against the false prophet of Baal. Today it’s doubtful we have 700 not blinded by the Lie (totally or to some degree) and Most of them can’t agree with one another. FEW are Sound, Grounded, Steadfast and SANE! The bottom line is CAUTION. TEST the Spirits, Discern the error, RIGHTLY Divide the Word and HEED the Warning: DO NOT BE DECEIVED!