God is calling His Remnant out of the established church
Posted by appolus on July 30, 2009
Today we are witnessing an interesting phenomenon where many – God knows the
numbers – are leaving the relative structure and security of organized
churches, denominations and memberships, to follow hard after their God, to
a wilderness of sorts, a strange and unfamiliar place little understood by
establishment Christianity. Perhaps the Lord is calling His remnant to
Himself in simplicity and purity at the end of this age? Perhaps the
prophetic ministry from outside the walls has begun, or at the very least is
being perpetuated at this time? Perhaps a time of final testing for the
church and Israel is poised to begin? Whatever the ultimate reason, many are
coming out, and almost immediately they will need to adapt to this new and
strange environment where the Lord alone is all that they have.
“Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His
commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today,
lest-when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and
dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver
and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your
heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of
the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; who led you through that great
and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and
thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the
flinty rock; who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers
did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you
good in the end- then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my
hand have gained me this wealth.’ (Deut 8:11-17)
For students of the Bible, the concept of the wilderness should be most
familiar. Abraham left his homeland and family to venture forth into an
unknown land of promise. Moses left the palatial comforts of Egypt to dwell
among the rocks and wild beasts. The tribes of Israel wandered 40 years in
the wilderness prior to occupying the land of Canaan. Job lost everything
that He might glimpse the Eternal One at the edge of the valley of death.
David fled from Saul and spent years eluding him in the pathless wilderness.
Most, if not all of the Lord’s holy and faithful prophets abandoned all they
knew and loved to live alone with the Lord in His company and care. John the
Baptist conducted his prophetic ministry as one “crying in the wilderness”.
Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness forty days and forty
nights, tempted of the devil and ministered to by angels. The Apostle Paul
spent much of His life and ministry imprisoned, isolated, imperiled and
alone. And the woman of Revelations 12 is sheltered and nourished in the
wilderness immediately prior to our Lord’s return to this earth.
My friends, this wilderness theme runs all through the Scriptures, and
through the varied lives and experience of God’s children. It has always
been an essential concept to be grasped, yet I believe this may be even more
true today. It is vital that we understand what it teaches us about how our
Heavenly Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit bring us to true faithfulness
and blessing.
Now the concept of the wilderness as it affects others is one thing – yet
the actual experience of the wilderness as it impacts our own life and faith
is quite another. It is a very intimate matter you see, challenging
everything we think we know about God and the Christian life, the church and
community, the actual and the superficial. It is wrought with difficult
questions and seemingly few answers. It is typically invested with profound
emotion, loneliness and even confusion. And it is more of a valley than a
mountain-top, with again, seemingly little evidence that heaven is still
there, and that Our Lord is still caring for His sheep.
To understand the wilderness we must go deeper and further into the very
heart and mind of our Heavenly Father, as He loves and nurtures His
children. We must look beyond our teachers and books, for they – by and
large – don’t really understand it. We must divest ourselves of any fluffy
religious notions that really don’t get to the heart of a man or what really
happened in that garden. We must also resist the theological urge to
generalize and systematize, as God’s wilderness is as varied as His people,
and as unlimited as His vast, creative mind.
We are addressing this topic generally, in order that we might understand it
better. We are also more specifically hoping to edify and encourage those,
who like ourselves, find themselves outside and apart from the traditional
church organization, having left it behind in order to more perfectly hear
and follow the Lord.
The Exodus from the Organized Church
Today we are witnessing an interesting phenomenon where many – God knows the
numbers – are leaving the relative structure and security of organized
churches, denominations and memberships, to follow hard after their God, to
a wilderness of sorts, a strange and unfamiliar place little understood by
establishment Christianity. Perhaps the Lord is calling His remnant to
Himself in simplicity and purity at the end of this age? Perhaps the
prophetic ministry from outside the walls has begun, or at the very least is
being perpetuated at this time? Perhaps a time of final testing for the
church and Israel is poised to begin? Whatever the ultimate reason, many are
coming out, and almost immediately they will need to adapt to this new and
strange environment where the Lord alone is all that they have.
It is quite common to hear the following sentiments today from God’s people
–
“The glory of God has left my church.”
“Jesus is no longer at the center of our fellowship!”
“My church has aligned itself with the ways of man and the world.”
“My church functions more like a club, than an expression of the life of
Jesus Christ!”
“The Holy Spirit has gone out of the church.”
“The church is of the world and the world is in the church.”
Indeed, the world has infiltrated the church to such a degree, and
corruption has become so rampant and pervasive that it is practically
impossible to keep abreast of all of the apostasy and defilement within.
By much spiritual evidence and observation, the ‘church on the corner’ is
either dying or already dead. This is obvious and apparent to any with eyes
to see, to those with true spiritual insight. Only those with a vested and
carnal interest in perpetuating the corpse, and holding it up with strings
will deny this. True spiritual discernment speaks otherwise however. A.W.
Tozer and Leonard Ravenhill, for example, 20-40 years back can still be
heard on creaky recordings woefully proclaiming the life of God pouring out
of contemporary Christianity. Theirs were the prophetic forewarnings from
within, all decrying the forces marshaled against the historic church –
materialism, humanism, pragmatism, psychology, modern marketing, etc. Then,
such corruptive forces were pressing at the edges; today they are rooted
into the very fiber of institutional Christianity, across all lines,
divisions and denominations. Those who would weep the tears of our Lord are
indeed weeping, with great heaviness of spirit and heart.
“Come out of her my people!” is the message of the hour! Come out of her,
lest you share in her sins! But to where and to what – this is the question
of the hour? Quite often when the Lord draws us out of something and back to
Himself, we are led by way of the wilderness. It is this wilderness that
concerns us here, and by His grace we will endeavor to more completely
comprehend it.
What it is and Why
In this short piece we would like to touch on some key elements in this
wilderness experience, including what it is, and why our Lord, in His
infinite and loving wisdom might draw His children into such a condition.
Perhaps you reading this now are in what you might consider a wilderness,
alone with God, cut off in large measure from all you have ever trusted or
known. Nothing now seems to make sense, even your religion or relationship
with God. Everything appears dark and the way forward seems unfamiliar. Your
faith is challenged like never before. The ground beneath your feet is
shifting like loose sand. You turn to fellow saints for help and
encouragement, but they just don’t seem to understand. All they seem to have
is an argument or proof text trying to convince you that you are either in
sin or rebellion.
My brothers and sisters, we know that you are out there, and that you may be
at this moment feeling isolated and alone. It is our hope and prayer that
you will be encouraged and edified by the fact that you are not in any
manner abandoned by our Good Shepherd, and that you are still very much in
His capable and loving care. This wilderness you are in is not a denial of
Christ’s blessing on your life by any means, but living proof that He loves
you more than you can ever know. Indeed, the wilderness – however it is
applied to the servants of the Living God – is first and foremost God’s
idea. It is His wilderness. It is His way back to Himself. He needs to know
that there are no circumstances, nor people that will cause you to deny Him.
He needs to knows that He alone is your first love. He needs to know that,
stripped of all religion and corporate piety, and spiritual machination, you
will seek Him alone, for Himself and His glory. He needs to know that you
love Him for Him and not just His gifts, and all of the many things church
may have restored to you.
All of the biblical examples given above can provide us with valuable
insight into what the wilderness is, what it looks like (in general terms,
as we are also acutely aware that the wilderness experience is manifest
differently for each of us as God’s children) and what we can expect to find
there.
To begin, it is a new and strange place – a circumstance or condition that
is foreign to all we know. Consider Abraham and Moses leaving the
familiarity and security of their home and family and all they have ever
known to venture out into a new and strange land. For the most part they are
alone in the wilderness. They often don’t know exactly where they are being
led. There is little to no explanation. God Himself has called them out,
drawing them to Himself that they might follow Him in simple faith and
trust. He is their way, and they must look to Him in perfect confidence that
His guidance and provision will lead only to blessing
The Lord, in drawing us to Himself often brings us through the wilderness.
Here we learn not to trust in ourselves, but in Him alone. He draws us out
of wherever we are that we might learn to lean on Him for everything. He is
now our way, and our provision. It is a time of total and absolute
dependence on Him. He draws us away from all of the props and dependencies,
our friends and family, our everyday structures and support mechanisms, that
He might be the All that holds us up, and maintains our lives. We must learn
to trust God rather than circumstances or people. We must look for the bread
that comes from heaven and the water that comes from the rock. We must turn
our backs on all we know, even those we love, so that He might know that we
love him first and most, that He is enough if everything and everyone else
is stripped from us.
I have been considering something that A.W. Tozer once said in a sermon, and
it was this – “What if all we Christians had was God?”. Not His things, nor
blessings per say, but only Him. Not a hundred fired up preachers or
prophets telling us about Him, but only Him. Alone with Christ, and He
asking us “Do you love Me more than these?” as He did to Peter. “Am I enough
for you, or are there other things you desire?” My friends, this is
essentially what the wilderness is for – to provide our Lord with the answer
to this question.
[Have you ever pondered the idea that the modern church – with all of its
structure and activity and paraphernalia – is endeavoring to answer
questions that God has probably never even asked? Something to think about.]
All of my life I kept looking for Him in other things – people, groups,
movements, trends, systems, you name it. Yet in the end He has brought me to
Himself, quite part from anything else that may claim or represent Him. This
is the wonderful thing about the wilderness – it reduces everything down to
bare-boned, spirit-touching-flesh reality. It clears away all the haze and
noise that may be preventing you from seeing and hearing God.
If you have become a Christian, for example, to gain friends and community –
if this is what you seek primarily – then the wilderness will isolate you so
that He is your only friend and fellowship. Then our Lord will ask you
bluntly – Am I enough for you? Do you Love me more than these?
If Christianity and church membership is mostly about a healthy environment
for yourself and your kids, for activities and programs, then here again,
the wilderness will reveal this for the idol it is. The Lord must know, you
see. And we must know also, and many will admit that so much of what we do
as “church” today keeps us from coming into direct and personal contact with
essential things.
The wilderness is a wonderful instrument for stripping away all of our
dependencies on things and shadows isn’t it? It is about survival and
spiritual reality, life and death, hunger and thirst, breathing in and
breathing out. Is He your All, my brother? Does living for Him alone define
you my sister? We are religious by nature, but only His nature in us,
refined and perfected by His Holy Breath and Spirit will satisfy the burning
ache in your spirit. We must have Him, and know Him, and want Him, and trust
Him, before He will grant to us all of the many blessings pouring out of
Him.
Is the wilderness a pleasant place? Not really – not how the world measures
things anyway – for only here it seems do we come to recognize what we are
actually made of, that we are carnal and earthbound, that our faith is
largely theoretical, not tried and tested in the fiery furnace of
experience. Like earthbound Jacob, wrestling with the Lord, we come to the
end of ourselves that He might begin in us anew.
Yet we also come to see our God for what He is, in all of His Transcendent
Wisdom and Glory; in all of His Grace and Truth, and Love and Light. In
seeing Him as He truly is everything else is seen as it really is. Every
created thing, including ourselves, can be seen in its true light, the Light
of the Bright and Morning Star, the Daystar that scatters all darkness. As
there are so few distractions, everything in the wilderness is reduced to
the most basic of questions, like –
“Do you love Me more than those” and.
“Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge?”
My brethren, I am sorry if this seems so different from what you have been
taught to expect. Yet it is the truth and it is the Lord’s way. It is not
the church’s way, and so for the most part those affiliated with it will
spurn it, and judge it as illegitimate. Those who seek to save us from all
that such a wilderness will present, will obviously fight against it with
all they have. It represents no small threat to all organization and
mediated leadership; to the self-exalted priest class that has come to rule
so much of the body of Christ in our day.
Read Job’s account and affirm what some of us have already discovered in our
wilderness walk – that even God’s peace and presence is seemingly withdrawn,
causing us to question how much we really trust Him. Even when He withholds
the manifest evidence of His presence, when He appears to have turned His
back to us and stopped His ears, will we continue to bless Him and to love
Him? Despite an often prolonged and overwhelming sense of bewilderment,
discouragement, isolation and even guilt, will He remain our only Hope, our
Heavenly Father and Loving Shepherd? Will we hold fast to Him or let Him go?
Trust is often forged in darkness and silence, when our experience and
expectation of what this new life means appears to be in contradiction. My
friends – this reveals yet another aspect of God’s wilderness.
All of the so-called experts tell us how human beings innately require a
community; yet what happens when the Lord is our only community, when all we
have is Him, when even the ones we love abandon and forsake us? When all of
their words make us feel only guilt and even more bewilderment, when they
cannot seem to comprehend the legitimacy of what is happening to us. So much
easier to pray down God and all His angels to extricate us from our
isolation and hardship. And it is inconceivable to so many believers, not
knowing the Lord or His wilderness, that this very thing could be sanctioned
and even enabled by God Himself, out of His love and mercy for His beloved
children.
“I will build my church”, proclaimed the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet this is
apparently not good enough for the many man-size church-builders among us,
who seek to separate us from God with all their various methods and
mediators. By directing all of their resources at maintaining and
perpetuating their precious institutions, they fail to recognize that the
God they serve doesn’t care one bit for their institutions. He cares for His
children and will spare no effort – even resorting to the wilderness if
necessary – in building them up to perfection in His Beloved Son!
Hear this please, all those who have ears to hear. I believe the Lord may be
trying to get the attention of His people.
The Wilderness Part of God’s Larger Plan
We like to be busy don’t we? We almost have an inborn, driving need to
advance, to move forward, to do great things for the Lord. Results and
numbers and growth are the gilded idols of our day, and they have penetrated
the church of Jesus Christ.
My friends, if the Lord Himself was so concerned about tangible results and
numerical growth, then why did He choose to sideline the greatest evangelist
who ever lived? Why indeed did the Apostle Paul spend so much of his
ministry shipwrecked, on remote islands, and in prison when the entire world
awaited? Have you ever wondered about this? I have. Perhaps the Lord was
ministering unto Paul during this wilderness time? Perhaps He didn’t want
Paul to get too heady about all of the wonderful things (the results) God
was doing through Him? Perhaps our Lord was communicating intimately with
Paul some of the awesome concepts and revelations found today in His
epistles to the churches? Perhaps there were people and connections that
could only be cultivated there in the wilderness, off the beaten path, there
in the shadows?
My brethren – there really is so much the Lord does not allow us to see, in
terms of His larger plan, isn’t there? To our carnal nature, and to all that
we are as men and even Americans, this wilderness makes absolutely no sense
at all. We want to get into the game desperately, and yet the Lord wants us
on the sidelines, or maybe even outside the arena and cut off entirely from
all the action. He wants us to Himself. He wants to know if He is enough all
by Himself, independent of His gifts and blessings, and all of the noise and
trappings of religion and community.
But for how long, you say? Certainly not for years and years? My dear
brethren – it is up to Him entirely as our wise and loving Father. Consider
that David, running for his life from King Saul in the wilderness, could
have ended his isolation on more than one occasion. Yet he trusted in the
Lord, that at His appointed time, he would be restored to the fellowship of
Israel and his family. Keep this in mind when you are tempted to forsake the
wilderness on your own terms.
Consider Job’s friends who sought to persuade him to curse God and die.
Heaven is silent while the church is having a party down the block. What
will you do? You look for sense when nothing, not God, nor the situation
itself, makes any sense at all. Explanations are few, if at all. You can
either come to hate the wilderness and seek a way out, or you can trust He
who loves you enough to allow such things. His plan is so much larger and
wider and deeper than our loneliness and disillusionment. As God, He is
under no obligation to reveal all or even any aspect of it to us.
Is the devil in the wilderness? Likely He is. Yet the Lord and His angels
are there too, ministering to us, teaching us, tearing us down and binding
us up, comforting and communing with us, revealing His glory to us in quiet
revelation and intimate miracles. It is the place where a still small voice
can always be heard, where the grandest and god-sized things are reduced
down that we might grasp them and go with them. It is the barren and rugged
terrain of the prophet not the priest; where created things are laid naked
before the great “I Am”- that Awesome, Uncreated One who broods over all the
earth, seeking merely one who will prove faithful.
The Wilderness and His Remnant
My friends – I don’t pretend to see it all clearly yet, but I believe that
in these Last Days the remnant of the Lord (the few out of the many) will
commune with Him in the wilderness in preparation for His coming. Always
between the gardens is a wilderness, it seems, where saints have long
hungered and thirsted after God. Perhaps it is in the wilderness where the
Church and Israel are ultimately reconciled in the heart of God? The Book of
Revelation hints at this. Perhaps in these last tumultuous days, there is
spiritual and even physical protection to be found here for the Lord’s own?
Perhaps the true church of Jesus Christ has always been a wilderness people,
largely unreported, off the radar, disenfranchised, de-legitimized by
establishment and institutional Christianity? Quietly and faithfully and
simply, they go on serving the Lord in the back alleys of life, away from
the rush and clamor of church bells and choirs?
Is your faith rugged enough, my brother? Has it been tested by wind and
storm, my sister? Can you still follow Him without a scripted program, a
schedule, a holy day, a church bulletin? Can you worship Him without a music
director, without a big band and choir, without the predictable lyric of the
song sheet?
He is coming! And He will first come to His own. If this be true, and it is
– then where will they be found in these final hours of Adam’s reign? What
will be sustaining them as they wait patiently for Him – will it be the
bread from heaven and the water from the rock? Or will it be the delicacies
of Egypt – meat and wine that turns foul in their bellies? When all
mediators between them and God are removed, and He stands before them, will
they be able to recognize Him, and love Him, and hear Him? Will His sheep
follow Him at this time when their very lives will depend on it?
A Call To The Remnant 
cindyinsd said
What an encouraging post! Thanks for sharing this, Frank. Once again, you’ve found the things that were banging around in my head. I take this as a confirmation of some of the things God has been saying to me. It would be difficult not to see it that way, as they are so remarkably similar. It’s amazing how God often talks to His people individually, without contact between us, and yet the same themes emerge from diverse places. Cool!
appolus said
Hi Cindy, isn’t amazing that the Holy Spirit is putting these exact themes in the hearts of His people all over the world? I think this only means that we are to ready ourselves as Christians. Its time to really focus in on what’s important, staying close to Him and throwing off all vestages of the world from our hearts………….Frank
timbob said
Good morning Frank. There is so much in this post that I don’t know where to begin. One thing, however, is this overpowering desire to be close to the Lord Jesus. This single thing will cause us to shed ourselves of everything that’s not of God. The comfort zone of a fleshly church will not satisfy us. The ramblings of those who seek a kingdom in this world will actually “wear us out.” Everyone in our ambience; even the professors of our faith, will think that we are out of sorts; thereby giving new meaning to ” a peculiar people.”
And yet this is a sweet place. A place of fellowship with the Creator of all that is and where nothing else holds any weight. The Lord is calling us close to himself in these final moments. May we all let go of any residual beholdings to the physical world and embrace this place of refuge.
Blessings always in Jesus name.
timbob
“freespirit” « Grace County said
[…] GOD IS CALLING HIS REMNANT OUT OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH […]
appolus said
HI Timbob, your right, once we yield to this new place, it is a sweet place. Once we realize that God is taking us to a place of total dependence upon Him and that this is neccecary then we will begin to even rejoice. I think about Jesus being “driven,” into the desert. There He was tested and not found wanting. Now interestingly enough, that word driven or drove is the same word used to describe how Adam and Eve were ejected from the Garden. I wrote a piece on that one time. None of us go easily into this kind of desert………….Frank
Zec said
31 Once more a remnant of the house of Judah
will take root below and bear fruit above.
32 For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,
and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.
– Isaiah 37
appolus said
I would encourage readers to read Isaiah 51 when thinking about God’s remnant people of today………..Frank
That Which Remains « Grace County said
[…] into this post, a paragraph has been stuck in my head for about four days now. It’s found at Scottish Warriors site although it was written by W E Smith and it reads as […]
martha norman said
Hi Frank: what a word! a word that is so needed to day.It reminds me of, where God says in his word to let no man say he is taught of his neighbor, because i will be his teacher. I will put my words in his heart, and all will know me,from the least to the greatest. Another place i read where God says,”this is the day of the independent investigation of truth.That we need to read the book of our own selves. That after we have learned our truth no one can take it away.meaning to search things out between god and you alone.I believe that the spirit of search is entering into the hearts of many, today. That is why people are not satisfied. i enjoyed the way you explained the wilderness experience because i have been there for a long time. i believe now i am coming out of it. Thank you again.Loving Christ love, martha
appolus said
Praise God Martha that you are coming out of it. God alone determines the time and we must walk the path that unfolds before us for His Word says that the steps of a righteous man or woman is ordered of God. You are not alone sister. If you search my site, put in “Are you a lonely Christian?” Its by Tozer, I think that it will really speak to you…………….brother Frank
cindyinsd said
Hi, Martha
Wow–I so feel for you. Like Frank said, Thank God you are coming out. I was talking to God about this a couple of days ago and I felt like He was saying to me that my own wilderness experience had been necessary because it was the only way to get me turned around from mistaken thinking about Him–the kind of legalism/theology/philosophy/religion thing I had believed was the essence of following Him. He expressed it as pushing the “reset” button.
I think your first verse is: Joh 6:45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
Maybe your second is: Act 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
It’s a wild guess, but the third is possibly a combination of: Joh 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Joh 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
And: Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Yes, we do need to search the scriptures for ourselves and have that individual relationship with God. We also need one another to have that community relationship with Him and with each other. I’m not talking about sitting through a “church service,” but about actively sharing our whole lives with one another. Not always easy to find, but absolutely worth seeking out in prayer and in the brothers and sisters around us. God’s richest blessings.
Love, Cindy
martha norman said
Hi Frank: what a word! a word that is so needed to day. I started my wilderness experience in 2000, and it was just as you described it. I believe i am coming out of it,but still having challenges at this time. Thanks A Million,Martha
appolus said
Amen sister………….Frank
Dan Johns said
Martha….
Be Still and Know that I AM God.
Christine said
I have just come from Sermon Index website to your website. I am Chrismo. (Christine) It is funny how things happen, about 2 1/2 years ago I believe that the Holy Spirit started to speak to me & draw me back to Himself, I was on a mountain top experience for about 1 year, I am so glad that God did this for me, as I drew so close to Him. I was then diagnosed with lymphoma & went through chemo, bone marrow tests, CT scans & having my stem cells removed. I know that if I hadn’t had this time with the Lord it would have been alot harder. I finished this in January & have a treatment once every 3 months. My husband & I feel like we have been going through a wilderness experience for at least 18 months now, with many challenging things happening in our lives. Sometimes I feel like I can’t do it anymore, I’m sure it is God’s way of trying to teach me not to rely on myself but to reply on Him alone. I know that I love Him & He is my very all. I know that He is calling His people back to Himself & that He doesn’t want us to be satisfied with the way things were. Blessings
appolus said
Hi Chismo, thankyou for dropping by here. Illness is very often a way that the Lord takes us through a wilderness experience. I had my own expreience with this early on in my Christianity. You can check out the story by using the search box at the top right hand corner, put in “Anatomy of a Miracle.” The desert experience . the wilderness experience, is to teach us to depend completely on Him. Remember, it was right after the Holy Spirit came down as a Dove that Jesus was “driven,” into the desert where He taught us how to rely completely on God. In the wilderness we are stripped of everything that we rely on. Please read also “Surrounded by a wall of fire” God bless you and your husband Chrismo. We are all learning to walk in a peace that cannot be shaken by circumstances. To be “anxious for nothing,” has to be learned and the only way that we can learn is by walking through the fire. Yet in order to walk in a peace that surpasses all understanding there is no other way than the way of the wilderness…………………brother Frank
If the Train is Going the Wrong Direction, Get off and Head the Other Way « Journey into the Son said
[…] And Frank’s: God is Calling the Remnant out of the Established Church […]
Rachel said
OUTSTANDING POST!! We left the church system in 2004 as we heard the call out by God. And though it was tough at first b/c having grown up in the church it was an adjustment – but it has been beyond amazing. The intimacy with God is more than I every expected – b/c I never had it as I do now – and I still have so far to go. All what you said has been my thoughts and experience. My relationship with God is so grounded and real now because it is about Him and not the institution – it has changed my life.
Love your description of the wilderness and the significant role it plays in the scriptures. Also your insight about the numbers and it not being about the numbers – again powerful truth.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. I truly enjoyed it. And thank you Cindy for sharing it on your site – which is powerful as well. It is an important message and I’m thankful for the courage and boldness of both of you in speaking the truth.
Fellow wilderness dweller,
Rachel
Janna said
Just thought I’d put a different perspective into the mix. Please know that I agree about a lot of things you say regarding the state of the church today. Biblical illiteracy is everywhere and many churches appear to be more like country clubs than houses of worship. However, I do think that we are still called to be in the local church rather than on our own. Can you please show me where God calls out a remnant to leave the church? Remnants are left over after a “judgment”, not those who fled. Check out the context of the remnant in Jeremiah, for example. God didn’t tell that group to go to Egypt, in fact he told them the opposite.
To the contrary (opposite of leaving and being on our own) God says “Two are better than one” (Ecc 4:9-10) and chastises shepherds (leaders/oversears…most likely the priests) for not tending to their flocks in Ezekiel 34. Additionally there are so many references to leaders in the new testament and the purpose of spiritual gifts to edify the church. Why would we need leadership and “Iron sharpening iron” (Pr 27:17) if we can learn and survive out on our own.
Respectfully said, when put in the whole context of scripture, I’m still not sure about your “argument” aligns with God’s will and Word. That’s just my perspective.
appolus said
Hi Janna, I appreciate the perspective that you have brought. I would not say that it is really different since I agree with all of what you wrote 🙂 You say that remnants are left over after judgement, I agree entirely. Perhaps I see a judgement having already taken place which you may not see, is that possible? The greatest judgment of all is that the presence of the Lord has departed. On this site there are so many posts to put this particular post in context , here are a couple………… https://scottishwarriors.wordpress.com/2009/12/06/the-glory-of-gods-presence-has-departedbut-will-return/
https://scottishwarriors.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/the-glory-of-gods-presence-is-departing/
There are many more Anna. Also Anna, we may disagree on what constitutes a local church. IN the NT, each town and city had one church, not churches. Now they often gathered in different homes, but there is not a single example of “churches,’ plural in the whole NT in regard to towns or cities, only regions. Each city and town had one set of elders and deacons and so on. When a notable came to speak, they would gather together. And size was not an excuse, some cities and 200,000-300,000 peope and still only one local church. And one last point Anna, I would never urge people to be isolated, yet I can sympathize with those who , for whatever reason, find themsleves in this position. I guess it goes to the heart of what one believes the “local,” church is. Is it the Protestant model that came out of the Reformation? Is it the Catholic model? Would you have made the same argument prior to the Reformation? Should people have stayed within the Catholic church and not “come out from her.”? Thanks again for your comments Anna, I truly apreciate them………………Frank
P.M.R. said
Janna,
i totally agree with you. Jesus nowhere tells His believers to come out of the church..as Believers WE ARE the church and we cannot come out from ourselves…I also do not believe that the Holy Spirit has completely left a large amount of church congregations, as there are in most churches at least a few remnants of true Believers..and wherever there is a true Believer, the Holy Spirit is also present, because He dwells within us.
The Word of God clearly tells us not to forsake the fellowship of Believers…Yes, I agree that the Holy Spirit is our Main Teacher but i cannot find anywhere in God’s Word where He tells us that we are to go out on our own and separate ourselves from the leadership and fellowship of His people ( Pastors, Teachers of the Word, other believers )…unless He calls us out from a certain congregation for obvious reasons, as He has our family 2 years ago…However, I believe if we seek Him He will lead us into a new congregation where His word is upheld fully….without leadership and other believers to which we are accountable, many of us are prone to be lead astray, or may even end up in a cult….let’s not make His Word say something, He never intended.
appolus said
PMR writes…………
“The Word of God clearly tells us not to forsake the fellowship of Believers”
Amen to that. The title of the post clearly specifies ” established,’ church. This word signifies churches and organisations established by men. Nowhere in the Scriptures do we see a ” denominational,’ model, where believers disagree on doctrine so they seperate, build walls, and go their own ways. I suggest the book ” The pilgrim church,” by Broadbent. It traces the church down through the ages, starting with the Apostles. Talks about many different groups including the Waldenesians, Hussites, Anabaptists and Moravians and so on. And remember, it was their enemies that named them. The point would be, that God always has had His people, and they always gathered together and what brought them together was their love and whole-hearted devotion to Jesus and the Word of God. Almost all of them faced death, first from the Catholic church, and then later from the Reformation church…………….Frank
Janna Rust said
Hi PMR…I like what you said. We might be called to leave a certain congregation for a time, as I think I was, but God does lead us back in to a new place. We are better together (more econonmies of scale) and our intimacy with God can be increased by “iron sharpening iron” within the context of the local church as the Holy Spirit uses others to work on us and challenge us.
Frank, as for my definition of a “local church”, it follows the example of the New Testament church. Paul wrote letters to various “churches”, Revelation mentions various “churches”. This indicates a group of people in a specific area. Whether that is our modern structure or not, I don’t know, but I do interpret the Bible to say that being a “member” of the global church – each to his own – is not what the writer of Hebrew’s meant when he said to not forsake the fellowship of believers.
As for judgment on the church, I still don’t think we are seeing judgment on the church. What we are seeing in the church is a consequence of sin because the church isn’t making disciples as it told to do. Where in the new testament do we see judgment on the church. Israel, “yes”, as we see in the O.T., but I don’t see it in the N.T. unless I’m missing something.
appolus said
In re-reading this post I realized that I never answered Janna’s point about seeing judgement of the church in the NT. I think that the obvious Scriptures that come to mind is the first few chapters of Revelations. I might add 1Pe 4:17 ” For the time has come for the judgment to begin from the house of God. And if it first begins from us, what will be the end of those disobeying the gospel of God?” ………………bro Frank
sue said
…in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18….is about what fellowship can light have with darkness….and in verse 17 “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.” I left a large church because of the purpose driven life and several other mystic things being introduced to the church. It was a difficult thing to do, as there were many good people there….but so many are blind and in denial….a spirit of compromise was there. Since i left, the Lord has placed me in a church that teaches straight from the bible. The harvest is great….and it is in the church itself. We must stand on his promises….he is returning for us as his bride….and a bride is more excited each day as signs of her groom appear. Oh what joy and excitement to know the wedding celebration is so near.
I don’t see the church being judged so much as the Holy Spirit being quenched and bound by man and his programs. If the God’s Word is being compromised and new age emergent things are being brought into the church…He will not be there, amen.
nkechi owosekun said
I have been called out since 1989 April. I obeyed even as it took me time to understand. In the wilderness, God establishes a relationship with you, He shows you a lot of His mysteries experiencially. Information is rather deep and I dont intend to confuse you seeing that you dont even believe that God can call His chosen out of church building. Wilderness is where God interprets: “Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard neither has the mind conceived that which the Lord has prepared for them that love Him, to them who are called according to His purpose…” “When I shall come, will I still find faith?”, Jesus Christ asks.
Lee O D said
I am in the wilderness too. have been for 10 years and my husband for 30…God is going to call us all the prophetic and apostolic remnant to gather soon and rebuild the tabernacle of david.
ljvdbroek@hotmail.com
Heather said
Greetings all!
I know Janna’s comment is rather old, but I had to say something. A wilderness experience is usually one of education or re-education concerning the knowledge of who God is, and how to follow his narrow way. It is a trial and refining by fire of sorts, and it reveals who the righteous remnant is through that process. The wheat is separated from the chaff, the dross is burned from the precious metal, the sheep from the goats, etc. We see this in Job, Abraham and Sarah, Jacob, Joseph, the children of Israel, David, the exiles in Babylon, the returning remnant as they rebuilt the temple and wall of Jerusalem, Jesus (who suffered and defeated temptation), the disciples as they wondered around with Jesus in the wilderness of Judea, and even the apostle Paul, who was in a sort of exile in Damascus for some 14 years. My point is that a wilderness experience is often necessary to burn away corruption, and false teachings, before one [or a remnant] can be reinstated into a fellowship of like minded believers.
The churches of Jesus Christ are both individual and corporate. We are each a church that comprise the whole body, or church of Christ. When a stone has become ill fitting within its place, it needs to be removed, scraped and then refitted. Man cannot do this refining work, only Christ can. When Jesus is done crafting, or re-honing a stone through trial, he will fit it in where it belongs. Jesus knows exactly what each of his stones require to become perfected, so if he calls someone out of a church for refining, then leave them alone and let the LORD do his work; don’t chastise them for leaving, or being removed, even if you feel they have “fallen away” or are “church hoppers.” When Jesus says they are ready after his refining work is done, then he will place them where he wants them to go. So those who are still in the master’s hand of refining, don’t chastise those who go to a congregation you feel is apostate, they may be on assignment from the Lord. Let me assure you, the good stone will be forced out by the bad stones, if they feel the fit isn’t right, you know what I mean?
While I don’t advocate forsaking the assembling of ourselves per se, I do caution against remaining in an apostate or dead church, as their illnesses are highly contagious and deadly. But then again, where two or more are gathered in his name, there he is also. Therefore we don’t need a congregation of more than three people if we want to “have” church. After all, the father is the head of his household, and the father is subject to Jesus as the head of the church. As part of the qualifications of being a deacon or bishop, a man had to rule his household well. If his own children were in rebellion, then how could he take care of the believers? Even so, Jesus reveals that 5 of the 7 churches in Revelation [started by the apostles] all had doctrinal, and spiritual problems that required repentance, or else! By being like the Bereans, and also by studying the types of churches in Revelation, we cannot help but grow in the knowledge of the truth. There is a saying that bears repeating: A wise man learns from his mistakes, but a genius learns from other’s mistakes. Let us be geniuses and learn from their mistakes. Let us all examine our selves, and not only see which church we go to, but which church we actually are. Remember, we are each individual churches, as well as make up the corporate church. For example, a person who is and of them-self a “Philadelphia” or “Smyrna” church, might be going to a Laodacian or Sardis church. Truly blessed are those who are a Philadelphian church who go to a Philadelphian church, you have reason to rejoice! But, if you are in a wilderness refining situation, then be patient and rejoice in that process, because when the time is right, you will be placed where you belong. Maybe to be a faithful witness to the other churches! Amen.
appolus said
Amen Heather………….bro Frank
April said
Heather said: “….a wilderness experience is often necessary to burn away corruption, and false teachings, before one [or a remnant] can be reinstated into a fellowship of like minded believers.”
May I suggest another example in Genesis, with Noah’s 7-day waiting periods, including the one that started as soon as the door of the ark was shut and the flood’s onset. The same delay pattern (“shut up”, “seven days” and “seven days more”) is found in Leviticus 13 and 14 where the priests shut up lepers for 7 days. Then another 7 days, then another, until inspection was finally passed. Even Noah needed several delays before God provided the dry land.
Duncan Pratt said
Jolly good Frank, one thing is for sure – the way to paradise is through the wilderness, and I advice all those that belongs, to imitate the actions of the remnant by; keeping the Ten commandments (Matthew 7:21), and by praying at all times.
I love and would like to utilise this quote in future
‘By much spiritual evidence and observation, the (church on the corner) is either dying or already dead. This is obvious and apparent to any with eyes to see, to those with true spiritual insight. Only those with a vested and carnal interest in perpetuating the corpse, and holding it up with strings will deny this‘.
Thanks for this note Frank and stay blessed, and remember always that salvation and the rapture have one thing in common -separation of powers.
appolus said
HI Duncan, I am sure you can quote it 🙂 Just give the authors name. ( I did not write this) Every now and again I include a piece that clearly witnesses with my spirit…………………….bro Frank
appolus said
Hi Janna, you did not address the points I made about the “established ,” church, man made institutions, as opposed to the fellowship of believers. Can I ask you a direct question? If you had been around 500 years ago, would you have stayed within the Catholic church, or would you have joined the reformers?
As for churches, just for the benefit of the readers, there is not one single example of the word “churches,” plural in the New Testement in regard to town or city, only in regard to region. In every town or city there was one church, one group of elders and even in those days they had cities of several hundred thousand people. I make this point only to point out that there was no “denominationalism,’ in the New Testement………..brother Frank
Janna Rust said
Frank, I think I did address your “established” church issue. There is obviously some form of organizational structure because Paul said in Ephesians that various offices were given to the churches to equip the saints, etc. Using common sense, if everyone was scattered globally, shepherding, equipping, etc. wouldn’t be very effective.
As for the reformers, I might have joined them…but still, they became organized to accomplish their mission. That’s my point.
Regarding “churches”, I didn’t look up the plural word in the concordance. Again, I’m using common sense. If you have “to the church at ______, _______, and ______” in various places in scripture, you have the plural…churches. Churches do exist. Maybe not in the same exact form as today, but similarly. Just a guess. I wasn’t around 2000 years ago.
In closing, I do appreciate this honest discussion. I’m keeping an open mind, within the context of the whole counsel of God and the whole theme of God’s word. I a
appolus said
Hi Janna, I appreciate the fact that you are keeping an open mind on this subject. Its a big subject and well worth the research. If I can draw the lense back, it may be of some use. There are fundamentally two points of view in regard to the present state of the ‘church.” One is, and we have found this all over the world, that the established church in the West is in deep trouble, is almost spiritually bankrupt, and looks just like the world, because of compromise and so on. Hence the divorce stats within the church being the same as the world, or in some case worse and so on. Some see the disaster and are crying out to God, some see no disaster and are going along as usual.
Now for clarification, just because a group of believers gather, but are not part of the establishment, does not mean they are not organized. Being organized and being the “established,” church have no bearing on each other. When the reformation came, Luther was faced with a de scion, whether to establish a ” believers,” church or a “State,” church. He eventually chose the latter. (A good read on this is “The Cost of Discipleship,” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, himself a Lutheran.)
The state church was run along similar principles to the Catholic church, not Biblical principals. At the same time there were many groups who rejected this, Moravian and Anabaptists to name but a few (they were named by their opponents) and they were hunted down and killed by both sides.
Now the larger point being, what is man made will eventually crumble and fall. Only what the Lord establishes remains. Many today see the established church, what might more commonly be known as the Evangelical church, crumbling and dying. This is not to be confused with the true church which of course the gates of hell cannot prevail against. So, will there be another reformation? Will God move in the visible church? Will there be a revival of Gods people prior to His returning? I believe that there will be, at the very same time as there is a great falling away. God always has His remnant people who do not compromise with the world. If you get a chance, please read the book “The pilgrim church,” by Broadbent. He traces the path of the church (not the Catholic church who hunted these others down mercilessly) from the time of the Apostles. Another good book would be ‘Foxes Book of Martyrs.”
Janna, I am concerned with the statement that you may have stayed within the Catholic church. We would just have to disagree strongly on that.
As for using common sense rather than your concordance, I would go with the concordance 🙂 You will find not a single example of the plural word “churches,” in regard to town or city, only in regard to region. In each town and city in the New Testament, there was only one church, one set of elders. If a problem arose it had to be worked through, the answer was never to simply separate and form one’s own church…………brother Frank
Janna Rust said
But Frank, are you keeping an open mind? Just curious. It doesn’t seem so. I am sincerely asking questions and I’m coming from a strong biblical knowledge base as well. Thanks for your perspective on church history. I have read “Foxes” and to further make sure I wasn’t misunderstood, I said in my original comment that I would have joined the reformers, which is opposite of what you though I said above.
Respectfully,
Janna
josi said
excuse me, i don’t mean to be rude, or harsh but we are discussing Christ’ church, not OURS…one would have to be blind as a bat to not see the blatant heresy and apostasy in the current movement of the modern day church and you dare to mince words the way you are doing here, the profile of all who are in denial of this, by talking about how to defend her or excuse her actions rather then correcting her and admitting her wrongfulness. that is the story and experiences i’ve had when calling out truth to most bro’s and sis’ you are cast out and rejected.. some, well most rather, don’t want correction nor do they welcome it. the many things i’ve seen and witnessed from within the body of Christ is appalling, a sham, hoax, man-made at worst and at best mixing truth with lies… entrapment, heavy yokes, bondage and enslavement’s by man-made ministers out for personal gain. have you grown so blind to this that you cannot see it my dear sister? i have attended every denomination there is and they are all functioning under the guise of God Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ but what they are doing is mocking him…i cringe…I’ve seen holy laughter, slain in the spirit, ministers out right lying and promising blessing if believers will give but the only ones benefiting are these evildoers who live lavishly off the backs of their congregants…I say, respectfully, it seems you want to just argue and win this argument and dismiss the truth for whatever reasons you are use to having…and not be told you might be wrong. The evidence is clear, the odds are not weighing in your favor…i pray you become refined and enlightened and humbled by our Lord. I’m agitated that you keep on like you do and cannot be open to what Frank and others is trying to teach you…a pattern the church has been so good at teaching. Janna Rust please, with all do respect, try to have and pray for a teachable spirit.
appolus said
Hi Janna, with respect, if you look at your reply you said that you “might,” have joined the reformers. Hardly a direct answer to a direct question 🙂 Okay, so what I am hearing you say now is that you would have joined the reformers? Good. That was exactly what I was trying to get at. And so it comes back to my point about the perception one has about the state of the present “established,” church. 500 years ago people of God left the Catholic church because of the state of the Church, highlighted by Luther, a parchment and nail. If one considers the modern day church to be in a a similiar situation, then a similiar exodus is to be expected at some point, dont you think? Now, if you do not percieve that the modern day church, denominations across the board, are in a bad state, then I could see the objections……….brother Frank
Lee O D said
People are called out of the organized Church system because that’s where they can choose to be purged by God of all man made teachings and doctrines…He does this so those remnant can be taught purely by God…Its a level of maturity that the bride must reach……Its goal is so those called out that receive the fire, and correction can then form the foundations to be the tabernacle of david in the last move awakening….I am in the wilderness too. have been for 10 years and my husband for 30…God is going to call us all the prophetic and apostolic remnant to gather soon and rebuild the tabernacle of david.
ljvdbroek@hotmail.com
W.E. Smith said
Dear friends, the principle of the remnant (something taken out and remaining of after a time of testing and proving, or something going first – both meaning are implied in a “remnant” or select portion) is seen throughout the Scriptures (a word study will convey just how prevalent this is, both historically and prophetically, and yet remaining). The first is with Eve (representing the Bride of Christ), taken out of the body of the man –
“So we see that the bride was prefigured there in the beginning in Genesis, in Eve, in the woman taken out of the man, the “isha,” long before Israel or the church. The bride was forever in view in terms of the Father’s plans for His beloved Son. The church is the spiritual body of the last Adam, the Christ, but it is the bride and the bride alone that will reign with Him in His soon-coming and age-lasting Kingdom. She is the one joined together with the Son of Man by the Father (Matt. 19:6), of which no man can separate. She alone seeks first His Kingdom and follows the King. She alone is enraptured of the King and will thereby be raptured first, prior to the beginning of the end of this age, which is nothing more or less than the woman taken out of the body and presented to the man. That, dear saints, is all that the rapture represents. She has come to Him (Matt. 11:28), and she remains, not turning back, not divided in her love, not placing other things in that preeminent place of her heart. She alone has lost her life in Him and found it again joined to His person as one spiritual body. She alone has entered through the narrow gate which leads to age-lasting life (Matt. 7:13-14). And she alone has forsaken this present world and all of its pleasures, all of its claims and rewards, for the heavenly reward, for the riches to come, for the hidden treasures.”
We also see the remnant or select portion in the harvest season and celebrations of Israel, specifically in the concept of the first fruits (that wichh ripens first). To bear this our I will insert a short writing by D.M Panton –
In dealing with the harvest ingatherings of souls unto God’s holy presence, before, after, and at the end of the great tribulation, we do well to keep before us the typical parallel of the natural harvests in Israel and the use which the Lord made of them. Each annual harvest season was celebrated in three ways –
First, “the first of the first-fruits” (Ex. 23: 19), ingathering, consisting of a bunch of ripe grain-forms tied in a bunch, and waved as a “hallel” before the Lord. That is a lovely type of our Lord’s resurrection, waved as the first begotten “[out] from the dead,” (Mark 9: 10) and waved too, on the anniversary day of this typical event.
Then fifty days later (Lev. 23: 15, 16), there was a second harvest ingathering, also called the “first fruits,” when sufficient grain was ripe to gather, mill, sift, and bake with leaven into two loaves. These loaves, like the wave sheaf, were also “waved” before the Lord, as a hallel of thanksgiving for coming harvest. And such is the type of the first fruits of the Spirit known as “the bride” or the “church of the firstborn” (Heb. 12: 23) who will be translated [or rapt] into heaven before the tribulation begins; these are those who are described as being arrayed in “fine linen, bright and pure: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of saints” (Rev. 19: 8), and who will “prevail to escape all these things [i.e., all the tribulation events] that shall come to pass,” (Luke 21: 36).
[Note: The difficulties which caused “questioning” amongst Peter, James and John, after seeing the “vision” (Matt. 17: 9) on top of the Mount, are the same difficulties which confront and cause questioning amongst disciples of Christ today: they never heard beforehand any teaching of a select resurrection: “Out from the dead.”]
At the end of the great tribulation, when Christ descends from heaven to establish His millennial kingdom, He will also raise up the other loaf from amongst the dead in Hades who will have been judged by Him [before death] to “attain” – that is, as defined: “to gain by effort” – “unto the resurrection [out] from the dead” (Phil. 3: 11 cf. Heb. 11: 35), and who have “fallen asleep in Jesus,” together with those “who are left unto the coming of the Lord,” (1Thess. 4: 15).
Both loaves will be mixed and international in make up. There will be leaven in them on the presentation day, and yet acceptable to our Lord as “worthy” for reigning with Him in “the kingdom of Christ and of God,” (Eph. 5: 5).
Finally, there was a typical harvest in Israel, when the total harvest was ripe, and the vintage complete. This was celebrated in “the feast of tabernacles”, and was one of the longest and happiest festivals of Israel, and rightly so.* Its counterpart will take place, when the international multitude which no man can number, will be harvested from this earth and “Hades” and gathered before “a great white throne” (Rev. 20: 11, 13) – the throne of God – whose names, it is inferred, will be found written in “the book of life” (Rev 20: 15).
[ Note. The feast of tabernacles is also typical of the thousand year reign of Christ and His saints, (Rev. 20: 4-6).]
Owing to the absence of knowledge concerning the time period of tribulation prophecy, the disbelief today amongst Christians concerning the millennium, a lack of teaching about the intermediate state and place of the dead, and false teaching concerning the time of the “first resurrection;” Christians today cannot see or comprehend many of the conditional promises of God which He has addressed to His redeemed people; and the severe warnings of future punishment and loss for disobedient and “wicked” servants are conveniently and mistakenly passed on to the unregenerate, false professors, or to Israel.
For instance, before the tribulation there are saints, enraptured into the presence of Christ, (Rev. 3: 10). Then, at the end of the tribulation, there are a multitude of blood-washed souls and martyrs caught up to stand before the throne of God, (Rev. 6: 11; 20: 4). There is also a more limited company of redeemed ones named in Rev. 14: 1-5. This is followed by “the harvest of the earth”, which The Son of Man reaps in chapter 14: 14. And yet, again, in Rev. 15: 2 there is a special martyr group, “that came victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name.”
Finally, – [a thousand years beyond all these separate groups of glorified saints, there is yet another great ingathering of un-named saints, who lost “the prize” (Phil. 3:14) but received by faith “the free gift of God” (Rom. 6: 23), and who enter “a new heaven and a new earth,” (Rev. 21: 1).] – there are unripe ones; those sad redeemed souls who have disobeyed the precepts of Christ, resisted the urge of the Holy Spirit; whose will has not bent before Him. To such we would lovingly recall the words of our dear Redeemer in Rev. 3: 18, 19:
And again:
Open the door of your heart widely to Him as He knocks once again, and asks to be admitted to the throne of your being, (Rev. 3: 3, 20). Only as He is sovereign Lord can we find grace to “prevail to escape”. The darkness thickens, the fire increases, the wickedness grows, the tares mature; BUT THE GRAIN MUST RIPEN ALSO: through rain and sun, storm and heat, to glorious harvest, increase and fullness on every hand, to His glory at His appearing and also before the “great white throne”, (Rev. 20: 11).
[Note: By the word “saints” (1 Cor. 1: 2) here, I am describing sinners saved by grace of God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore all works after regeneration, whether good or evil, have no bearing on what all the regenerate receive as a “free gift” (Rom. 6: 23). Reformed theology teaches the contrary – that good works must accompany regeneration to show genuine discipleship! Such was not the case at Corinth where “saints” are described as “carnal” and “babes in Christ” fit for feeding only “with milk, not with meat; for ye were not able to bear it: nay, not even are ye able; for ye are yet carnal,” (1 Cor. 3: 1, 2). These “saints” were living an immoral lifestyle: “It is actually reported that there is fornication among YOU . . .” (1 Cor. 5: 1). “Dare any of YOU . . .” (6: 1). “Or know YE not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?” (6: 9) etc. etc. It is a shocking to see so many “saints” of God who believe and teach the contrary!]
[Note. This message is based on the writings of D. M. Panton. All scripture quotations are from the Revised Version.]
Complimentary Messages by Lin Mize – The Coming Rapture and The Great Delusion
Lee O D said
That group indeed shall be spiritually caught up in the throne room of God but that group will also be the ones martyred, and the door where Christ meets us is death…..The reason God destroys Babylon is because they got drunk on the blood of the holy apostles and prophets…(the true bride)…the ones that are calling the spectators to come to the wedding….
pete said
Oh my a dreadfull burdem has been lifted. I have been feeling out of it for some time now, unable to settle into church as it is. Tomorrow I will venture deeper into the desert than ever before, this time without water.
thanks, peter
David said
A Prophetic Word for America – a call to the remnant
This message was delivered in October 2004. It is based on a prophetic word given to Pastor John Mulinde of Uganda, Africa in 1996 for the United States of America.
Video:
pete said
Wow, I watched and heard, there is a truth here that relates to the UK as well. I heard a message delivered to a the Church a few years ago, “the Church sits on the throne of Damocles”.
thanks
Cheryl said
Hi Frank,
Just stumbled across your post today and look it is October 27, 2010 and every thing you said was my answer to my prayer this morning. My husband and I have been called out of the Institutionalize Church since 2006. It has been and still is a wilderness journey but the heart of your post brought me to clearly see why God has guided us in this direction.
I will say it can be a very lonely place to be but oh how much we have learned in our private and personal time with the Lord. Thank you for sharing such an awesome description of God’s called out Remnant
appolus said
HI Cheryl , you can find more posts along this line of the site, here is one post that has several links to similiar posts https://scottishwarriors.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/the-remnants-reformation/ brother Frank
Cheryl said
Thank you Frank, The links and topics are going to be such a blessing to my husband and me. I sometimes think I’ve missed something in not having communication with like minded people who can relate to being called out. My prayer is always asking God to help me and guide me and assure that we have done the right thing to come out of the church system.
I was very active in the church system and these years have been very different when most of the Christian friends and even family had turned away from us. In prayer I always ask the Lord to give me eyes to see other as He sees them…..to have ears to hear and know his still voice when I need an answer…to have the mind of Christ to think on things that would please Him….and to love others as He would.
Recently I have devoted any free time in the day or evening to seek Him and not be in tuned to radio, television, news…just seek God as the Holy Spirit directs. Sometimes it is reading and studying my bible, other times, I am searching other sites of ones that are out of the church system. Your site has so much for me to put things I have thought about and wanted to know more in depth in perspective. I want to really thank God for leading me to your site. May Glory and Honor be to our Lord Jesus Christ who saves us to the uttermost. Cheryl
appolus said
Hi Cheryl, if you get a chance, please listen to this message that was delivered last week at a revival conference. This is from one of my best friends. Its a powerful message to the church and to its remnant “A Desperate Hour Calls For A Radical Response by Brian Long”
http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=20654&commentView=itemComments
We are going to hold a series of meetings next month down in Oklahoma.
Jill said
It was such a great encouragement to come across this site! 8 years ago I felt the Lord calling me out of the established church. It was such a shock! I cannot deny that I have found it very very difficult at times. I live in a small town with an unbelieving (and therefore very difficult)husband and two uninterested teenagers (at the moment!). I have also almost no contact with my former christian family, as I feel they just don’t understand why I left. I miss them dearly as I belonged to a very loving fellowship, but obedience to God must come fist. I have had much adversity financially and many tantrums along the way – it is a mixture of a wonderful fellowship with God who is in this experience showing his heart for his lost children – and a very painful dying to self. In your article, you have answered so many of my doubts – did God really ask me to leave my fellowship? Had I been decieved? Is there anyone else in the same situation out there? I cannot say – like all of us – that I fully understand God’s purposes in all of this – but I have found great comfort in reading this site. It would be good to share with others in the UK. Can anyone help me there? God bless.
appolus said
Hi Jill, good to hear from you. I am glad that you were encouraged. I am also involved in a site called sermonindex. You can find it at http://www.sermonindex.net. There are many Brits on that site. Check out the forum and put a request out there and see what comes back……..brother Frank
Lawrence said
Hi Frank.
That was an excellent word about the wilderness. I have spent the past 15 years there, yet during that time to the outside christian world they may not have noticed as I was involved in many successful ministries. God also unquestionably used me over many of those years to minister into the lives of others in the power of his Holy spirit. Yet personally in all that for me the heavens have been as brass. I now find myself away from all the family and friends I once had with all lifes comforts, to be in a strange foreign land. How long do you think a wilderness can last? I have walked with God and experienced his love and beauty in incredible measure, and I long for that again.
appolus said
Hi Lawrence. First of all, thanks for dropping by. As to the question of how long the wilderness experience can last, I really have no idea. What is encouraging about your reply was that you continue to serve God . I think of Psalm 57 where King David, writing from a cave, announces near the end of his psalm that “My heart is steadfast oh God, my heart is steadfast.” We see that even in the midst of darkness, David’s heart is steadfast. And of course, when Saul comes into another cave, David does the right thing by not killing him. This is a good model for us. I also think of Moses in the desert, the wilderness, for forty years after running away from Egypt. He served as a shepherd, a very lowly job, after the heights of Egypt, and then he has an encounter with the living God. The desert experience is a place where we are stripped and tested and tempted. In the end, it all comes down to just you and God. Total dependence upon the Lord, which is what, I believe, we are going to need in these last days. I can sense that your soul, like the deer panting after the waterbrooks, longs after the Lord. When He returns to you in this fashion brother, your heart will be overwhelmed. Yet as always, outr highest statement of faith can and must be “Even if He kills me , yet will I trust Him.” I think Job got it correct. I also like what the three young Hebrew men said ……….. Dan 3:17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
Dan 3:18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
No matter what, these young men were bound and determined to follow their God. I also like waht David says near the end of Psalm 57 “I will awaken the dawn.” He begins to glorify God even while yet in the cave. God bless you brother………….brother Frank
Cindy Skillman said
Hi, Lawrence
Frank Viola said something that kind of jolted me about the wilderness time. In my own words, there is always a way out of the wilderness, but people aren’t always willing to pay the price. (Now his definition of the wilderness may be different from yours — he was talking about finding a group of brothers and sisters to worship with, not about having a sense of personally hearing from God, which he would, I think, call a dry spell.)
If you want to find like-spirit people with whom to worship and be built into the house of God, you may need to pack up your things and move somewhere. If that’s not too difficult for you, drop me a line at my website and I can get information for you as to where a group or groups you might be interested in visiting can be found.
Be blessed, brother!
appolus said
Hi Cindy, I think you have identified a valuable point. In any time there are seasons for Christians to walk through. And in those times sometimes we are in a wilderness of our own choosing, somehow we have cut ourselves off from God and only brokenness and a contrite heart will restore that. I think when Samuel confronted King David is a good example and David cries out in his psalm ” Create in me a clean heart oh God and renew a right spirit within me.” Restore unto me the joy of my Salvation,’ “Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.” And so undoubtedly David had lost the joy of His salvation and had lost his sense of God speaking to him through the Holy Spirit and had definately lost his joy.
Another kind of wilderness is the ” winter experience.” We know as Christians that there are seasons in our lives and we have to move through them. In fact most of our growth takes place in the winter seasons. We aslo know that the Holy Spirit ” drove,” Jesus into the desert for 40 days.
I think the last kind of wildernesss is the wilderness of the last days. A testing time for every genuine Christian, a time of preperation, preparing us for the times to come ( persecution I believe) I think that we should always gather together with like-minded believers. Now it is much harder to do that today, I believe, because so many churches are ” dead.” I hope Lawerance checks out the information that you can give him. God bless you sister………….brother Frank
Lawerence, we have a weekly call in prayer call. The info is on the banner of my site. You are more than welcome to join us.
Lawrence said
Hi Frank,
Thank you for your reply. Yes, it is true. The timeframe for the wilderness and the reasons for it will vary according to Gods purposes so it is difficult to offer advice without fully identifying the cause.
Thank you also Cindy but the wilderness I identify with cannot be filled by following man, as I have known and fellowshipped with the most Godly and humblest of men over the years, and none of this satisfied my soul.
I am sure Frank I identify with the third wilderness you describe as follows…..
“I think the last kind of wildernesss is the wilderness of the last days. A testing time for every genuine Christian, a time of preperation, preparing us for the times to come ( persecution I believe)”
I was reading Tozer’s writings on your site here, Are you a lonely Christian? It really should be about that for all of us I think. That nothing satisfies but walking in the moment by moment presence of God. Therefore we are set apart.
If there is a consolation in all this it would be that the preparation time is nearly completed because the last days are finally upon us.
PS. Frank, I could not access the Revival in China video?
Lee O D said
We will go through persecution as a remnant, but the anointing will be very great…..and we will run to the door of death right at the end as a myrtyr.
Jo said
Thanks. Im right at the edge of this wilderness experience that you so eloquently describe. I have begun to feel very out of place at my church and have been gradually pulling away. i would like to find other believers in Massachusetts who are walking through this as well.
Shalom.
appolus said
Hi Jo, may the Lord bless you as you walk through this part of your journey ………………………..bro Frank
James said
I want to come out of the Church sytem, but where does one begin?
appolus said
Hi James, I suppose it depends upon what system one belongs. If for instance, one belonged to The Catholic church, then the most important issue woould be if one has been born-again at all. I guess the best way of coming out of a dead system is to find alive people. Now, its not always very easy to find people who know Jesus with a passion, but the Lord has His people everywhere. Often times there is a desert experience where one learns to depend upon the Lord for all things and then it is safe to go forward. I think of the Lutheren Church in Germany in the 30s. When Hitler came along, those within the Lutheren church had to make a decision on whom they would follow. And out of that was born the Confessing church who did not see themselves as some kind of schism but as the true church. Its not the buildings or the institutions or the rulers of said institutions that make up the true Church, it is genuinly saved people that make up the true Church. They are the priests and they belong to a royal priesthood according to the Word of God. So, wherever genuine Christians gather, there is the church. It may only be two or three but we know that where two or three are gathered that Christ is in their midst. So, where does one begin? One listens to how the Lord is leading them and they follow the Lord wherever He leads them…………..bro Frank
Daisy said
Fellow travelers…..
James asked the question “where does one begin” when you feel it’s time to leave the building/organization. One begins by not fighting with God about it, and just retreating from the noise of many voices and pulling yourself into the prayer closet with Him.
God started calling me out in the early part of 1995. I was terrified to listen to that voice saying “Come out of her”. As long as I stayed in prayer, and study, and kept my meditations to myself, I was fine, and thought I would be okay. Then all it took was to go back to the building for one meeting, and the doubt would set in. “How can you leave ‘church’, this can’t be God”….but it was.
It took me a year and a half to finally stop being wishy washy. I liked “church”. No one had hurt my feelings there, I wasn’t rebelling, or disagreeing. I just knew something wasn’t right and I knew that Voice that kept saying “Come out of her”. I did come out completely, and finally, in December of 1996, and I haven’t been back since. God’s mercy on me brought me first one, then a couple more, fellow pilgrims on the journey. I wish I could say it looked like some kind of organized “thing”, but it just doesn’t. Some people need more “alone” time than others, but eventually, one or two more will show up for you. in years to come, the number will grow. I remember that my first few years were very isolated except for just a couple of people, and we had no internet to help find others. But remember that part of what has to be broken in us is the dependence on others to comfort our flesh, and this may require more isolation for some than for others.
In the spiritual realm, we must understand that the “woman” that gives birth to the remnant (Revelation 13) was like Sarah. She was “old” (in the sense of a long life, but barren), and finally her “days were accomplished”. Did you know that 40 Jubilees are 2,000 years? Did you know that “40 weeks” is the woman’s period of gestation? Did you know that just as 2,000 years from Adam to Abraham, and 2,000 years from Abraham to Yeshua, there will be 2,000 years from Yeshua to the birth of the Manchild, whom God will feed and protect and nurture out there. Those who started feeling the call around the 2,000 year mark (early to mid 90’s) were preceeded by a handful who started coming out a bit early, and they will be followed by many more as this little “body” of Christ emerges along the birth canal, out of the womb of the church. Christ “seeded” the church at His crucifixion, and the woman will have to carry His offspring for quite sometime before it is ready to be birthed. Birthing doesn’t come at the implantation, it takes a long time to carry a baby to term.
Just as in pregnancy, the mother (at least in a natural childbirth), does not determine when the child will “come out of her”. Only God knows. That “come out of her” that the remnant “Manchild” hears is their birthing in the wilderness out of the woman (church), and a time of testing, trying, tribulation and growing for the called out ones. (re-read the episode of Rachel’s birth of Benjamin, for a prophetic parallel in scripture…and remember, that “the son of the right hand” (Benjamin) is the ONLY FULL BROTHER of Joseph, who was a type and shadow of Christ. That manchild will be born on God’s timetable, not by the flesh of men.
I remember asking God why I had to leave. He showed me that not only do you have to get out of Egypt, but the wilderness is necessary to get the Egypt out of you. If I had stayed in that confusion of half truths and men’s doctrines and Babylonian voices, He would never be able to teach me the deep things that they cannot possibly bear or understand. The ones who truly desire God Himself will eventually hear the call, but those who have idols in their hearts that they value more will ignore or reject the call.
Do like Abraham….if you hear the call, then take only what He tells you to bring, and don’t worry about the direction distance, or destination. As a popular song says “Shut up and drive” (or walk,actually, lol). You won’t be sorry. It’s a precious time you will look back on with appreciation and respect for the One who called you to it.
appolus said
Amen sister Daisy, amen. There are so many parallels to my own story, one of the reasons that I have this site. I have met some excellent brothers and sisters along the way and even although they do not come from where I live, I keep in contact with them and we meet up sometimes. One such saint is a dear brother from Oklahoma. He was a pastor of a Baptist church, yet he was no hireling and he moved in the gifts of the Spirit. He was forced out eventually but started a small church in the heart of the town, many, paying a heavy price, joined him. He was having meetings in a barn, I went down for the first service, dear precius saints. Many of them have been in the Baptist church for generations but decided to seek the Lord with all of their hearts and ” come out of her.” I believe this little gathering is one of the first of the remnant churches, most are still in the desert. Yes dear sister, God will decide when this last great expression of Jesus will come forth and as this comes forth then so does persecution I believe. Yet, all those who seek to follow Jesus know that what is burned in the refiners fire is the flesh, nothing can touch the Spirit, therefore we become more of an expression of Jesus to the world as the ” flesh,” melts away. Is this not the heart of the saint? To want to be more like their Lord? To walk in the power of hell shaking love. To walk in the power of Calvary and the power of Stephen, the first martyr. That Spirit that dwelt in Stephen is the same Spirit that dwells in Gods remnant children. This is an article I wrote a couple of years ago…………..https://scottishwarriors.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/the-latter-rain-the-remnants-jouney-to-the-valley-of-acacias/
Lourens said
Hi Br Frank
Is this website still active? There seems to be no “contact” details on this website. I’m a 23 year old married man from South Africa. The topics on this website are spiritually very stimulating and moving. I would like to make contact with you. Do you have a email address or a skype account perhaps? It will be much appreciated.
Kind Regards,
Lourens Strydom
appolus said
Hi Lourens. Very much still active, usually at least four posts per month, just hit on the home button of this articel, top left hand or go to http://www.scottishwarriors.wordpress.com You can also me me personally at appolus@aol.com …………….bro Frank
Lee O D said
God is going to call us all the prophetic and apostolic remnant to gather soon and rebuild the tabernacle of david. you will get an anointing called the passion anointing that will cause you to find the others…it will attract you to them like a homing pigeon…Its so he can rebuild using refined stones….that have been tested by fire in the wilderness.
ljvdbroek@hotmail.com
CalledOut2 said
Lord, I thank you; I thank you Lord for leading me to this article! I have been trying to find information concerning this phenomenon for over a year. When I read this article I got up from my desk and danced with my heavenly Father and wept. I thanked Him for my wilderness experience because now I know it is for my good. Lord, I thank you for giving me my food at the proper time. If I had read this at the beginning of the wilderness, I might not have entered. God is Awesomely wise.
I heard the call in July 2010 when I was dismissed from a church staff position for taking a stand against unbiblical behavior (bullying and harassment) and it was not until March of 2011 that I separated myself from that church. Even though I felt God calling me out, I was perplexed because I had never heard of anyone being called out of a church? I called various people, pastors, and churches to help me understand why I felt as if I had “outgrown” this church. No one could help me. They said God had taken me to a new level and I should reevaluate operating in another ministry capacity. I guess I did – outside the church walls. I continued to attend but it felt like “death.” I grew extremely uncomfortable and felt as if I no longer fit. Just strange because I loved that church so much, now it was like a bad taste in my mouth. God was showing me the abominable things going on there, and I was systematically disconnected. Now I know why.
Afterward, I convinced myself that God was calling me out of the mega church to worship in a smaller church in my neighborhood. I tried to join other churches in close proximity to my home and every time I would visit a church, the Holy Spirit would expose the corruption and on one occasion, He nudged me so hard I had to literally “GET OUT.” Even though this was odd to me, I was convinced God, for some reason, was calling me out of the church.I did not want to be outside of God’s will, but it seemed His will was for me to be outside of the institutionalized church. Why, was a mystery, until now.
This is what I have realized. My relationship with God is tight now. I have learned more about God in the past year than I have in 40 years of “church,” and five years of studying the Bible formally. Just me, God, and His Word. He has revealed great and mighty things (Jer. 33:3). I am stronger, more confident, more discernment, peaceful, battle worn and scarred because the battle has been intense. I am convinced that God is all I need and He loves me dearly. He has been my provider, my protector, my healer, my mother, father, sister, brother, friend, my everything. And, He has connected me with like-minded warriors in unique ways so that I can fellowship and continue to prepare for the next thing He has for me. God has taken care of every detail of my life just as He did with the children of Israel as they traveled from Egypt. This is amazing, now I know why.
Jesus is coming back soon for a bride without a spot or a blemish and I believe He is getting His bride ready for that Great Day. Lord, I am so grateful!
Thank you for sharing this article.
appolus said
Praise the Lord brother, what a wonderful testimony. If you get a chance, please go to the home page of this site and read the many articles on this subject at the top of the page but if you do none of that, please listen to this sermon by Pastor Brian Long, my very dearest friend and brother in Christ. He delivered it last week at a conference we had about coming persecution and the remnant saints. https://scottishwarriors.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/coming-persecution-and-the-glory-of-god/ …………….bro Frank
CalledOut2 said
Thank you for the additional resources on this matter. I have listened to the suggested sermon and it reverberates what God has revealed to me, be ye also ready… for the time is at hand (Matthew 24.44; 1 Peter 4:7). Lord, have mercy on us as we speak truth in a troubled land. God’s peace to you…
Your sister in Christ.
Lee Glass said
Your post has blessed me as does this article this is really happening! More and more are coming out of the organized religious system (world) that Jesus was clearly speaking of. I myself just came out of the word of faith teachings and church under Kenneth Copeland Ministries and I have been deprogramming from all the false teaching! It really blesses me to know that I have heard the One True Voice…if anyone reads this please pray for my husband he is heavily indoctrinated in WOF. It is not easy because I had followed the man KC for 21 years…but now I am a follower of Jesus! But I am very much alone in this. I am surrounded by WOF peeps! and they are all claiming me back into their church…not happening! they can name and claim all they want it just aint gonna happen! This truly is a wilderness experience!
appolus said
God bless you sister. You will find in this wilderness that the Lord is all that you need. Saints, please be praying for this dear sister and her husband that he would see the deception that he is under. I think of the old song ” if none go with me, still I will follow.” Sister, you are not alone, there are saints all over this country and around the world that the Lord has brought out of religious systems. Sister, if you click on ” home,” at the top left hand of this page, it will take you to the homepage of this site where, at the top, you will find multiple links for articles related to people coming out. Here is an example…………. https://acalltotheremnant.com/2009/06/17/the-latter-rain-the-remnants-jouney-to-the-valley-of-acacias/
Not sure where you live but we do have a gathering of like-minded saints coming up in July in Oklahoma. Details can be found here………
https://acalltotheremnant.com/2013/06/15/remnant-meetings-coming-up-2/ …………….. bro Frank
Lee Glass said
Thank you so much for your response…I really appreciate this and need to hear the testimonies of others. Since I have been making it clear that I can no longer sit under false doctrines of WOF…I have come under heavy attack from those who once were kind and loving and right in my own home too…and that is ok I have witnessed this many times. I feel very much alone and so when I can see blogs like this one and see other testimonies it is really encouraging! I am so grateful. Thank You! Lee
Lee O D said
I am in the wilderness too. have been for 10 years and my husband for 30…God is going to call us all the prophetic and apostolic remnant to gather soon and rebuild the tabernacle of david.
ljvdbroek@hotmail.com
Kathleen Beerman said
Hi, my name is Kathleen, today is april 8th 2013, Your insights are my insights, I have been out of the churches past couple of years in a wilderness place to with Him, your thoughts are given as a comformation to me and great encouragement when I needed it most. thank you dear brother
appolus said
God bless you sister, praise the Lord that even in the desert He makes rivers…………………bro Frank
Peggy said
Thankyou for this article. I have been in and out of churches for a while. Me and my youngest child went to church in Kentucky for a while and I did get fed. My child who was 13 at the time was saved and baptized. I came back here to NY on the rez where most of my kids are. I prayed for Jesse and kept him the best I could in the midst of family strife and bad things he shouldnt be aroun. God took my Jesse home to heaven in Jan 2013. It really crushed me and I miss him so. Pray fo me that I can find sense in it all. I have always felt like I was in a wilderness.
appolus said
So terribly sorry to hear about your boy Peggy. It is an indescribable situation to lose a child. I lost a son a long time ago. I was asked by a sister in Christ to write a poem for her about losing her son, this young man was in his 20s. I include it below and you will be in my prayers………………..bro Frank
I held him safe within my womb
And kissed him in the birthing room
I held his hand in sickness too
And now I don’t know what to do
My son, my child, my flesh and bone
Has died and left me all alone
And in the night when no one sees
I cry and end up on my knees
I cry to God and ask Him why
My precious son he had to die
And when the morning light appears
That’s one more night I’ve spent in tears
And as the years they slip away
I learn to live just day by day
I turn to God who was so far
I look to where the answers are
I put my hand into His hand
He pulls me up and now I stand
I hear my Father say to me
“My Son He died upon a tree
I know the pain that mothers feel
When life turns black and robs and steals
And takes a portion of your heart
And tears your very soul apart”
Oh Lord I pray, please make me whole
Replace the joy that life has stole
This pain, this loss, is part of me
But still I’m longing to be free
I choose to walk out through the door
And melancholy reigns no more
I leave behind the shades of grey
To walk in light, to kneel and pray
” Come to me child, I’ve heard your cry
I saw your tears when your child died
Rest in me and find your peace
Replace your pain and find release”
Despite the fact we had to part
You still live on within my heart
There’ll never be a day go by
A tear wont fall from your mother’s eye
Lee O D said
I pray God will comfort you in your grief….God took one of my boys too…It was a sad time…..Im praying for you to get through your times of pain and hurt….Hug from a sister….Leanne
Dewitt said
Hi! I know this is sort of off-topic however I needed to
ask. Does managing a well-established website like yours require a large amount
of work? I am brand new to blogging but I do write in my diary daily.
I’d like to start a blog so I can easily share my personal experience and thoughts online. Please let me know if you have any kind of recommendations or tips for brand new aspiring bloggers. Thankyou!
appolus said
Hi Dewitt. To answer your question, no, not a large amount of work. The work typically is the writing, but if you are doing that already then the posting is the easy part. WordPress is very user friendly so it is just a matter of picking a style of blog and then posting 🙂 ………..bro Frank
Barbara said
I hope this does not seem like a strange question, but, do you believe God would call one out of a good church? By “good” I mean, a full-gospel church with a wonderful, godly pastor?
appolus said
Hi Barbara, I do not believe that God would pull anyone out of a ” good,” church. Now I know that word is highly subjective and that you will always find someone or people who are either church-hoppers or just critical. This is not what I talk about. If the world has invaded a church, if that church looks no different than the world, if perhaps a church is merely a religious social club, then yes, I believe that God would pull His child out of that……………..bro Frank
Lee O D said
If you are called by God to come out, its because he wants to teach you something that the church cant or hasn’t…..
rascus48 said
Hello all….strange how I just noticed that this was originally posted in 2009. Anyway for the longest time I had not been able to find a church where I was able to feel the Spirit or share in any type of fellowship with other believers….its just wasn’t there….even some of the Pastors would have no problem in telling of the trip they took on a vacation or whatever it happened to be, the congregations always seemed cliqued up and had nothing to share. And I myself was seeking fellowship…I’d been wandering in the wilderness, at times it was due to my own making and others just not feeling like I belonged anywhere. At any rate I finally found a church where I felt welcomed and the Pastor felt as though he had the Spirit…but after a month or so I noticed there was no fellowship and it was the top executives of the church were controlling the Pastor change this rule change that rule…it basically was like the previous churches I had attended only it took longer to come out….its now been two weeks since I’ve attended and I don’t feel as though I’ve lost….because I never really had anything there to begin…so now its back to the Lord and me and whatever fellowship I am able to glean from sites as this one or Marianne Lordi’s “Gods Promises Are Real”..So I just put all my trust in my Lord and do what I’am able to stay focused on His promises knowing that He will provide. I just thought…..2009 this was posted and here its now 2013….and it must be the Apostasy….God calling His people out from Babylon……what else might it be? I’ve spent many time going thru the Dark Nights Of The Soul, not understanding to begin with why…then finally when I realized why and what was happening…His light came thru and so I do believe that we are being refined for what lies ahead for us and He wants us to be ready….and It’s surely a blessing to have brothers and sisters to share with…..even though it may only be such as sites as this. Should anyone pass thru here who may be near where I’m at which is South Carolina….please feel free to contact me….would love the sharing of fellowship….and Frank I sure would have loved making it to OK…..and thank you for the invite even though it was not to be.
In His Love …..Bro Frank
Lisa said
I am not sure what all God’s plan is by calling us out organized religion but I know in my heart that it is his will in my life right now. It is not so hard really because the main part of my walk with God is still there. That is the alone time I spend with him. All the ministry work and things that I was blessed to be able do was really just gravy. The real meat of my relationship with God is the alone time I get to spend in his word and the fellowship with the Holy Spirit. I don’t know what the future holds but the peace God has given me during this wilderness experience is awesome!!!! Everyday I get to know Jesus better than the day before. He is helping me to grow and mature in him in ways that I could never have dreamed of. I love Jesus Christ my God and my King.
appolus said
Amen………..bro Frank
Lee O D said
I am in the wilderness too. have been for 10 years and my husband for 30…God is going to call us all the prophetic and apostolic remnant to gather soon and rebuild the tabernacle of david. the wilderness was to purge you of the old and to test you and refine you for the last outpouring…He can only trust a few to contain his new wine…its those that have matured and have been refined.
ljvdbroek@hotmail.com
Zee Kallah said
I thank God that I found your site.
I KNOW that God has called me out of an apostate church —- the church of today. The truth of the word of God is NOT taught in the church.
I have researched and I have studied and I know that my God is not worse than Hitler. Bible does not teach an eternal hell. How can I be in a church that blackens the name of my Savior! I did find Tentmaker site which has supplied me with many scriptures to know that I am right that the good shepherd will not lose ONE sheep.
There are other scriptural reasons why I cannot be in the church and why they don’t want me. I THINK. God said, “Come let us reason together.” but one of the first laws of the church is “open up your mind and let us pump it full of what we believe.”
“Don’t think.”
I am very busy out here in the desert. I am doing his work using the gifts of mercy he has given me to be a part of Care2 petitions. We are not separated by religion. We are trying to stop what suffering we can stop by speaking up. We do “What doth the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God.” We do that though some of us are
atheists.
We feed the hungry, provide water for the thirsty and come to the rescue of those, both people and animals of HIS creation, to do what we can to ease their suffering. We do Matthew 25.
The church I was in was all eager for me to devote most of my time to it’s work. When the LORD called me to come out of the church and to do the mercy work he has called me to do……
well. That was the end of that.
I choose to obey God and not the apostate church.
He is all I need. Yet he has given me this work to do side by side with atheists and followers of other religions. He provides opportunity to testify to my Care2 friends about the goodness of Creator.
I am single and 70 so I have much time to spend just talking with him and listening to his teachings. He knows that all I really want is HIM. He takes amazing care of me in every way. I am healthy. If something goes wrong with my body, he fixes it. He provides more than I need. I am never alone.
I am grateful.
stop snoring device said
Hi! I’ve been reading your web site for a long time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Lubbock Tx! Just wanted to say keep up the good job!
appolus said
Good to hear from sister. I am glad you plucked up the courage to say hi. God bless you sis………..bro Frank
Pieter said
Forsaken by Christian relatives and even close family, persecuted by the Church and then Muslims and Hindus cared for us when we could not even help ourselves. We understand the shock, frustration, anger, disappointment, deep distrust of anything resembling a pastor or a church – yet we have seen Jesus in an entirely new way as a result. We were wounded almost fatally but are recovering.
It is a sin to attend church fraternities other than the church of Acts. There is a curse on it and the 38,000+ denominations that divide the true body of Christ, or rather, alienate believers from His true church, should go. But no, it will remain to persecute the true saints.
A dragon’s carcass, in purple harlot’s clothing, blocks the gates of heaven. The maggots feeding frenzy inside is so hot that they luckily don’t notice the weary persecuted Christians sneaking in between the dragon’s tail and the pillar posts. Such is the plight of the saint who ventures out on his own, to follow the narrow, steep, slippery path that runs along cliff edges and that has rocks falling from above.
Yet he who perseveres to the end shall be saved!
As a veteran, varnish removed during a long desert trek, pardon my frank post. as this is what I have seen along the way.
A destination in a wilderness awaits to be prepared for the arrival of displaced saints. We need your support in any way imaginable, to start doing this. Pray about it and, if Jesus advises you to do so, contact me so that we can join hands in this.
Tim Shey said
Excellent post.
“Locusts and Wild Honey”
“Shiloh”
Sissy said
Your post says everything in my mind and heart, and what I have not been able to adequately express to others. After awhile, I simply stopped trying. For the most part, I understand the reactions—unless you have been brought to this place (truly, who volunteers?) it is very difficult or impossible for others to understand—much less accept. It is the absolute antithesis of the “average” experience.
appolus said
You are right Sissy, no one volunteers. It is God Himself who put a holy dissatisfaction in the hearts of His remnant saints. God bless you sister…………bro Frank
Patty said
Thank you so much for this, and God bless you.
God is calling His Remnant out of the established church « Living, Loving & Making A Difference said
[…] God is calling His Remnant out of the established church. […]
Ava Anderson-Kemper said
Following the Lamb
(Verse 1)
I have no special talents
No gold or prosperity
I hold no unbroken records
Or am seen on the t.v.
There’s nothing of note about me
To cause the blind to see.
But to the Lamb who loves me
I have quality.
(Verse 2)
I have His Word to guide me
To lead and show the way
I have the means to converse
It is to meditate and pray .
I have the weapons of my warfare
Demonic attempts I slay.
The Lamb is my Redeemer
I’ll follow Him every day.
(Chorus)
I follow the Lamb who leads me
Through night and darkest day
I’m high His banner lifting
No longer in sin’s death sway.
‘Til the Lamb no longer meekly
Shepherds His dutiful fold
But roars in like a Lion
From those streets of gold.
(Verse 3)
His army He’ll be leading
To bind that liar of old
His judgment swift and needing
No excuse be told
He’s rewarding those beside Him
Whose hearts didn’t grow cold
His defense I am pleading
That’s why I am so bold.
(Chorus)
Ava Anderson-Kemper
8/21/2012
appolus said
Well done Ava, very nice. God bless you…….bro Frank
appolus said
Amen!!!
Locusts and Wild Honey | The Road said
[…] Mark 1: 6: “And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey.” John the Baptist’s life was/is a powerful sermon. His life was separate from the world. There is a reason why he was clothed in camel’s hair and ate locusts and wild honey. The Temple in Jerusalem was corrupted by the Pharisees. They were into the letter of the law and not into the Spirit of God. The Pharisees were into self-righteousness and not into God-righteousness. They were a brood of vipers that dragged people into hell with them. They loved power and wealth and were conformed to the world. The Pharisees loved to wear long robes and to be treated like royalty. They probably lived in fine houses and probably had servants at their disposal. But the Pharisees were white-washed walls and dead men’s bones. They had an external show of religion, but had no internal or spiritual life. John the Baptist had very few possessions—and by the looks of things—did not eat very well, but he was full of the Holy Ghost. He was the first one to say, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” When other people first saw Jesus, they would say, “He is a good teacher” or “He gives us loaves and fishes” or “He is a man of miracles and heals the sick and the lame.” These were all true—Jesus did do these things—but they were secondary to the true purpose of Jesus: to die on the Cross for the sin of the world. It is the shed Blood of Jesus that cleanses us from sin. Because John the Baptist was separate from the world, and did not indulge in a fake religious lifestyle, he could see clearly (sin causes spiritual blindness) what the Lord’s will was for Jesus’ life. His eating of locusts and wild honey was a powerful testimony against the satanic phariseeism of the day. I would rather eat locusts and wild honey, camp out on the other side of the Jordan River and live in the Presence of God, than eat well, live fashionably and rub shoulders with the Pharisees. I believe that Jesus had an idea of who He was and what He was supposed to do before he met John the Baptist, but when He finally met John at the Jordan River, it was confirmation when he heard John’s words. Now Jesus knew for a fact that he would eventually die on the Cross because He was the Lamb of God (the sacrificial offering from God for the world). “In the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established.” John the Baptist lived on the other side of the Jordan River. Elijah the Tishbite came from the other side of the Jordan River. My life of hitchhiking is on the other side of the Jordan River. Christian Pharisees have infected too many churches. These churches are spiritually dead and are conformed to the world. “They had a form of godliness, but denied the power thereof: from such turn away.” At least I have never had to eat locusts and wild honey. Wearing a Rough Garment Outside the Camp Jackson, Wyoming Fire What should we learn from the life of John the Baptist? God is calling His Remnant out of the established church […]
peacelily70x7 said
Reblogged this on Peacelily70x7's Space and commented:
From top to bottom.. I could not have said it better!!!
ServingJesusHereMinistries said
I found your blog as I was researching being called out of Church.
God has just called me out of mine. I only shared the news with my fellow worship group members yesterday to tell them I won’t be coming back till further notice and as expected, it’s not understood. Your post just speaks about what I am going through right now. I feel alone, yet I know my Lord Jesus is here with me. I long for fellow Jesus followers whom He is calling to Himself to share with. So many things happening. I am constantly left speechless by my Father in Heaven. I follow God as and when He moves. It’s scary- exciting. I never knew anything about being called out of church till God called me out. I doynt know where to go from here yet but God always makes things more clear as we go along. So many things He has done! I am just speechless. Starting my blog a few weeks ago and a Youtube channel, which opened my eyes to my ministry, are some of the new promptings God has asked me to do.
appolus said
May the Lord bless you as you follow His lead and guidance. I am out of the country right now, in my homeland of Scotland, so I apologize for not responding sooner. ……..bro Frank
rksjames said
I have been scouring the net for 5 years looking for someone, anyone who was experiencing a walk with Jesus as I was experiencing it. There was certain knowledge that I absolutely could not be the only one whom God was working with in this manner.Then I found this site. First of all I want to thank you for being obedient to His call and posting this rather inconvenient and unpopular message it came at a time in which God is requiring me to step out in a way that frankly terrifies me. I was not called out of a church, instead God planted me right in the middle of a church plant but made sure that I always stood outside of the group. It was horrible as I faced the nuclear blast He leveled into every area of my life, I was reduced to ashes and I’m extremely grateful for that now. It was incomprehensible to me that I was not experiencing the “freedom” (meaning prosperity, influx of people, loving situations etc.) instead I faced a daily refining that kept me crying prostrate before Jesus and studying the Bible to figure out what “I” was doing wrong because I was continuously being told to pray this way, read the Bible this way, simply change my mind about life etc. I’m fairly certain you know all of the “you should’s”. All the while I was pushing into God for His direction which in many ways was completely at odds with what I heard on Sundays. When I was reborn I basically told God that I was down for anything He wanted to do with me, but there was no way I was going to spend my life sitting in a church pew, knitting and making casseroles. Nope if we were going to do this I wanted a full blown supernatural walk with the creator of the universe. Yes, I prayed this in ignorance of all the nuances of this sort of walk. It took Him 5 years to rebuild me and there is further ground to cover. I frankly consider myself a walking billboard for the miracle of what Jesus can and will do if you submit. Through this whole process He commanded that I write about the journey, so I did that and faced the humiliation of being laid bare before the world and most terrible my fellow saints. It was facing the condemnation and criticism that I learned how God will use things meant to hurt us to bring us closer to Him. I think the singular most amazing aspect of my walk is that because I was deemed unworthy, figuratively, by the “church” there was no place for me to go than to Jesus. Now, I never consider looking anywhere but to my Father for all that I need. Being called out by God is an amazing, scary, ecstatic, sorrowful prospect. I wouldn’t consider trading one second of my experience as I am free. Because of my desert I can and will be speaking with a voice of authority that comes only by dancing through the fire, with our Lord. There is so much more to write but hopefully I’ve conveyed enough information so that you truly understand what a blessing this post and your site have been for me. It is just great to know that as He leads me into this next phase there are others out there marching right along side me. “He whom the Son sets free is free indeed”. Thank you my fellow freedom walkers!!!
appolus said
Hi Robin, my fellow freedom walker 🙂 What a tremendous testimony. I say amen to every word. God certainly takes His people outside of the camp and from that wilderness He imparts a message. I think of John the Baptist coming out of the desert crying ” Behold the Lamb of God.” The wilderness prepares us and refines us and strips us until we are left wholly dependent on a Holy God. Jesus Himself was prepared in the desert and the enemy came very boldly to Him, the accuser. Yet by the word of God and His ministering angels Jesus walked through this desert. Thank you again sister and I hope this site continues to be a blessing and an encouragement to you and to others……………..bro Frank
April said
My new favorite blog. Thank you for this encouraging, yet hard to find message and also the comments. I was clapping and cheering in between sobs of joy. My favorite verse since departing out is Jeremiah 30:17: “For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.” I remember many years ago when church traditions first began to disturb me. I was in a Good Friday service and wondered, Where is this in the Bible? I then remembered Nadab and Abihu’s strange fire before the Lord. It took more strange fire to get me out for good, but that was the night I started waking up.
rksjames said
Hello Frank,
It’s me Rksjames (Robin) again. Wow, it’s been four years since I wrote that post and my amazement at God’s refining continues. I have spent quite a bit of time on your site but haven’t commented, not for any particular reason. This site has continued to be an encouragement to me especially since the journey has been a singular experience. During the past four years God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit have broken any chains that held me, healed my heart and allowed me to develop a faith that does not waver. All of this was accomplished because my focus did not deviate from wanting to get closer to God and the isolation.
I’ve seen commentary that takes issue with not meeting collectively, and I have a few opinions on that but will not expound. Instead, I think Matthew 18:20 makes clear that crowds aren’t necessary for communing with another Christian and more importantly God. Another thing God has used this desert for is to allow me to serve people individually in ways that cannot be achieved in groups. One on one interactions can go beyond a cursory engagement with someone’s life. Additionally, dedicating yourself to the individual God has placed in your life allows the Holy Spirit to flow through the whole process. I have been taught many lessons via studying the Bible for someone else. A huge benefit of this is that I get a front row seat as I watch God work with another person, it is such a beautiful thing to witness and humbles me time and again.
Right now God is preparing to bring his plan for me to a new place, I do not precisely know what that is but here are some things I do know. He has insisted that I write a book about my journey, I thought he would let go of this one, but nope, as a matter of fact, he will not allow me to move forward until I finish. I’ve written this book three times, and now I understand what God wants me to say the title will be “Finding God Through Divorce.” I also have gone back to school and will have my degree in Psychology this winter God has a plan for this as well. Frankly, I am surprised by all of this because none of it is what I would have planned even though it is clear that God is merely directing me so that the abilities he gave me can be put to good use.
Another thing about being called out of a church is that I follow one voice: God’s. What Jesus has done is nothing short of amazing. He taught me how to follow, listen intently for his direction, always check with him on any action I consider, love – especially those who are the hardest, go beyond my abilities as his grace carries me, with Jesus there is nothing I cannot face, he will give me the wisdom I need when I need it, his opinion of me is the only one that matters, others take priority over my wants, God loves to hear me laugh, I can live without a lot of things but not my connection to God, God is in charge of my life and freedom comes from complete surrender to Jesus.
This is just a bit of what has been going on. Thank you again for being faithful to your charge and keeping that light lit, it helps me know there are others out here in the darkness with me shining brightly!
Jim Carella said
Although this was written almost 6 years ago, I have just discovered it today and found words to put to what my family and I are experiencing in this season. We really have been called out of the organized church…at least in our geographical area. Tired of trusting in man than God. We’re returning to our first love more and more. Many do not understand why we’re doing what we’re doing, and only we know that our priority is to be right with God first…and not man. My wife and I are hungry for more of Him…and we dare not settle for less. God bless you for taking the time to write about the wilderness. I can attest that many times I doubt myself and my decision but then I’m reminded that we aren’t going to settle for anything less than true faith in Him. Amen. God bless you and your ministry.
appolus said
God bless you and your family Jim as you guys panteth for the waterbrooks. Can a father do anything better than to lead his family to living waters? I am reminded that when the Lord knocks on the doors of our hearts and calls us to return to our first love, then, according to Rev 4, a door is opened in heaven and one finds oneself before the throne of our heavenly Father. In His presence there is fulness of joy, He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him………………bro Frank
charmaine said
Thanks for sharing about the wilderness – I left the church about 8 years ago- since then my life fell apart – and in the beginning of 2015 the Father slowly started to deal with me about being in the wilderness – what a blessing to read this encouraging word- greetings from south africa
appolus said
Greetings Charmaine, good to hear from a sister in South America and may the Lord bless you on your journey through the wilderness. It is a vital part of learning dependency upon God………………….bro Frank
josi said
since coming out or her, I’ve never been so encouraged as I am after reading this letter…I’ve been in the wilderness for a long while and now will be concentrating on embracing God like never before…thank you for this amazingly powerful article and for inspiring me to seek him with my whole heart.
appolus said
God bless you Josi, seeking God with our whole hearts is written all throughout the Word………….bro Frank
Kris said
I just found this article and it spoke volumes! My husband and I have struggled with organized religion for many years. We have recently found the courage to go out into the ‘wilderness’ because we know beyond a doubt God has called us out of the mess called “church”…We were both in ministry…He was a Sunday school superintendant and I was the adult Sunday school teacher…life has been and will continue to be different in this new walk, but we both feel such a sense of relief…God truly is calling his people out of her and returning them to himself….It is a blessing to be in the remanant that has been called out!
Many Blessings to you and yours,
Kris
appolus said
Amen Kris and may the Lord bless you and your husband in your journey. The book ” The Fall of Christendom and the Separation of the Remnant,” may be of some help and a blessing to you. Just click on the image and it will take you to where you can get it. There is a another book called ” Finding Church,” which I believe would also bless you. For a more historical view you could read ” The Pilgrim Church.” As you read these books you will know that you are far from alone and that saints from all over the world have been called out of organized religion…………………….bro Frank
appolus said
Reblogged this on A Call To The Remnant and commented:
I thought I would bring this article back to the front of the site. It has been a blessing to so many, I pray that it blesses you…….bro Frank
Viviana said
Hello brother, this is a wonderful confirmation from God that I am where I am because he wants it this way.
Whith humbleness I tell you where Jesus has put me for a few years.
I live alone and surrounded by family that wants nothing to do with me, new age mentality, I have to have back surgery, been told 4 years ago and I don’t want to.
All my friends, I had many, for 1 reason or the other left me.
So I live in pain from my neck down to my feet, alone and ppl want nothing to do
with me.
But guess what? I love my Hevenly Father, my Lord Jesus and my adorable Holy Spirit more than ever!!!!
I have an intimate relationship, talk to my Lord and My Father all the time.
Read the Bible and some God inspiring messages, like your page, every day and the Holy Spirit, teaches me, shows me guids me, always.
He even gave me a short but powerful prayer to say when I feel the attack of the enemy in anyway, is my weapon in low moments.
“Blessed be the blood of our Lord Jesus” this is my sword!!!!
I don’t know what God has for me, if this is forever until he calls me home but I love him and my friendship and daily communion with him I wouldn’t change it for anything.
I don’t go to any church, my God, his Word and me we are the church.
Thank you again for this message.
God bless you and keep giving you the bread that you pass to us.
Viviana
appolus said
God bless you dear sister. I too have suffered chronic pain for over 20 years. I rarely share that but I want you to know that you are not alone. God is good and we shall praise Him no matter what………………bro Frank
Viviana said
Amen to that!!
I can have the opportunity to feel just a bit what our Lord had suffer for us.
Nothing compares to his pain but I can offer this one to him.
Also the pain and isolation from the world helps me to hear him, so clear and loving, just a whisper from God is worth any pain.
Viviana
Will said
You do not realise how blessed I am to have come across this amazing encouraging post.I Am in the wilderness pretty much since I got saved in 2014,God saved me from chronic heroin and drug addiction i am from cork ireland.I am on the most loneliest journey but now I know from reading this im not insane yeeeeeehaw 😀 every other Christian thinks I’m turning my back on God when I try explain to them God has taken me out of churches and even I was questioning myself and the enemy was having a field day with me.Up the holy remanant thank God for his love, every word in this article just hit the nail on the head.God bless you
appolus said
Amen Will, God bless you brother. I pray you will find some like minded brothers and sisters that you can fellowship with. If you go to the home page, I have seven years of articles that you can read through in archives that may encourage you in the Lord. David Legge from Belfast is a good teacher, you might want to check him out……Frank.
Robin said
Will I want to thank you so very much for this post as I to have felt completely alone during this journey as well. I have experienced everything you pointed out. I am so amazingly grateful to God for his protection and his grace which are the only things that have gotten me through each day. In reality the condemnation I have received from other Christians has served to push me closer to God and that makes me grateful to them for the depth of my relationship with Jesus. Keep pressing forward Will it is worth it!!
Lenny, Sherae Delk said
Powerful, Powerful, Powerful! So comforting in the last days! We praise Jesus for using you, brother in Christ!
appolus said
Praise Jesus indeed bro Lenny for His greatness…………….bro Frank
Jacqueline Goodspeed said
I know it’s important to know you have helped others. Thank you. God called me out but I had to know why. Thank you for confirmation. God bless you.
appolus said
Amen sister for your confirmation………….bro Frank
rksjames said
I would like to echo what she wrote (sorry can’t see her name on my phone app). This blog has allowed me to keep moving forward without embracing the lie of the enemy, which was I was crazy. Thank you , it is so good to know I am not alone.
appolus said
Amen guys, the Lord Himself called me to start this blog and enabled me so of course all the glory belongs to Him.
Sala said
The Lord Jesus is calling His people to Himself. check out at http://www.forerunnerfaith.com
Thank you
God is calling His Remnant out of the established Church – Frank McEleny | keskeny út – narrow way said
[…] https://acalltotheremnant.com/2009/07/30/god-is-calling-his-remnant-out-of-the-established-church/ […]
Jeff said
Hey frank, I’ve been seeing many types of the remnant coming out. When I read the first three chapters of revelation I noticed that Jesus addresses all 7 churches saying “to him that overcometh” I believe the church is redeemed but the context of these overcomers are those who rule with christ. After the thousand years the church will be raised with the unbelievers. The first ressurection is reserved for the overcomers.
appolus said
Hi Jeff, I believe that the context of the overcomers are those who persevere, remain faithful till the end…………bro Frank
Jeff said
When king saul was coranated to be king by the prophet Samuel it was at pentacost. 1 Samuel 12;17 is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call unto the Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king.
The wheat harvest is pentacost. Saul was a temporary king for he was a benjamite and we know the the scepter would not depart from judah. David was the first Judahite king. Saul is a type of the church age. Pentacost is where we receive the earnest of the inheritance. Pentacost is probation period and is not the inheritance but rather the earnest of that inheritance. Tabernacles is a feast that has not been historically fulfilled. This great feast of tabernacles is where the overcomer receives that which is hoped for, the redemption of the body. Passover and pentacost which are spring feast were historically fulfilled in the first coming of Jesus. These spring feast are the inaugural work of our redemption. The fall feast of tabernacles lead up to the second coming. Tabernacles is the consumation of our redemption. It is at tabernacles that the overcomer receives new bodies, the church must wait until after the 1000 year reign. The 1000 years is the tabernacle age of the overcomer.
Jeff said
I have heard of others who talk about leaving the establishment only to join these other establishments such as ihop, and the nar. If we claim to be the remnant that’s coming out let’s not hypocritical about it. If we join another man’s establishment we become guilty of the very thing we accuse the church of. The bible tells us a remnant shall return. I take this to mean unto the Lord not man’s establishments….. bro Jeff
Ezekiel said
Check out the book The Harlot Church System written back in the late 1990’s by Charles Newbold. This man has been saying this for a few decades now. It will be interesting to see the “church” disband from their golden calves and finally join what God has had planned along. Will men willing lay down their own ministries and ways of doing things to truly let God’s people go to Jesus? We will see because this message has already been brought to the ministries you tagged in your article here like IHOP, Morningstar and Bethel and they have actually spoken against it. However, it is coming whether they like it or not because God wins in the end.
Click to access TheHarlotChurchSystem.pdf
appolus said
Ezekiel, I was not aware that any ministry had spoken against this article. Can you post a link to any article that speaks against this article? IHOP and Bethel are part of the church system and would obviously be against any voice that speaks against the system. They do not realize that it is the system itself that the Lord is dismantling. His Remnant children are being separated and finding their identity only in Jesus. I live only 20 minutes from IHOP and went to their gatherings for almost a year, observing. I heard many fine sermons, but their system is suffocating and the people who attend their gatherings are obsessed with “IHOP.” They are in real danger of becoming a cult given the right set of circumstances…………………bro Frank
ezekiel said
Hi Frank, I had meant that there have been many people who have gone to ihop, bethel and morningstar and have brought this same word to them about laying down there idols in order to come into a real understanding of what God is doing which as you and I know will not come through the systems and programs of man. I did not mean they spoke against your article specifically but I know for a fact they have rejected those who have come speaking a similar word to them.
ezekiel said
And I agree with you totally about ihop as well as what has come to be known as the church in general.God is going to judge its systems just like he is doing in the political systems of man right now. First in the natural then in the spiritual. God is revealing and giving more understanding of His plan from His Word than ever before to those who have been given ears to hear it by grace.
Ezekiel said
You can find, The Harlot Church System by Charles Newbold online for free if you follow this link…
Click to access TheHarlotChurchSystem.pdf
This book was published in the late 1990’s and there have been many who have brought the Word of coming out from the systems of man into the leadership of Jesus alone under the direction of the Holy Spirit. 1 John 2:27
This Word has been brought to IHOP, Morning Star and Bethel already and the leaders are not willing to disband from doing their own thing in exchange for the plan God has already made known. It will be interesting to see if they will finally destroy their golden calves. Regardless, God wins in the end and those He will receive the Firstfruits of the Firstfruit despite man’s unwillingness to let them go.
Lisa said
God bless you all! I have been in the wilderness for what feels like a really long time, but I have to remember that it is nothing compared to eternity. Praise God for drawing us all to an intimate relationship with Jesus where we can learn from Him and Him alone! I have tried telling this to other people, and they don’t want to hear it really. I feel like a total outcast from former friends and even family members. Jesus told us to count the cost, but He is worth every bit of pain and struggle in this short life here on earth. Keep fighting the good fight of faith and endure to the end! If anyone would like to talk more, please feel free to email me at lisaluvsjesus84@gmail.com. May the grace and peace of our Lord abound in all of your hearts as you grow in the knowledge of Him!
1blogaboutme said
Thankyou. God called me away. He spoke audibly. Ezekiel 34
Jeffrey cenac said
HI frank, I believe there is much scripture in the law and the prophets concerning the difference between the church in general and the overcomers.Time and space would fail me to write concerning the harvest, feast, covenants not to mention types such as king Saul the benjamite and david the judahite king.
When reading ezekiel ch.44 you will find that ezekiel is refering to a future priesthood by using old testament terminology. He speaks of the priesthood of the levites and distinguishes two groups, the levites who were to minister in the outercourt and zadok who would come to minister before God in the most Holy place. We know there will be no levite ministry in the future seeing that priesthood was under an old covenant. The prophet is speaking of and making a distinction of two classes of priest in the future under the new covenant, one being the church in general and the other being the overcomers. The church in general is saved but will not be resurrected until after the millinial reign, this is why the lambs book of life is searched after the 1000 years. The overcomers are spoken of by Jesus in the first three chapters of revelation. You will see that those who are overcomes are promised such things as a rod of iron to rule, to sit with Jesus in his throne ect… the church is who Jesus is addressing in these chapters concerning the overcomer. There is definetly a distinction between the church and overcomer in these chapters. The church belongs to Jesus. He is not addressing denominations here , he is addressing the blood bought saints. He is also speaking to those who would be overcomers and rule with him. It’s a matter of rulership in these chapters not merely salvation. By reading the laws of a bond servant you will notice that those that were redeemed had a choice to go free or stay with their master. Paul called himself a bond servant. A bond servant is one committed to a high calling which Paul said he saught after. I would like to add that there are three harvest related to the three annual feast. Barley which was passover, wheat which is pentacost, and grapes which was tabernacles. Seeing that there are three harvest concerning three classes of God’s creation and only two resurrections this leaves us with one harvest at the first resurrection and the other two at the second. The barley harvest was waved the same day Jesus arose. This barley represents the overcome also typified by the dream of the median who saw barley loaf rolling into their camp (300). Then we also see Gideon threshing( wheat )t at the( wine )press. These two harvest are dealt with together. Those who knew to do good but didn’t were to be beat with many stripes. They will not receive the same reward as the wicked but will receive their reward (with) the wicked, God then will bring the wheat into his barns, then the grapes of the unbeliever will be troddin. That’s how you harvest grapes. God will have wine at his table as well, gods not a bumper crop farmer. Paul said that everyman will be raised in his order ( Three harvest and only two resurrections).
On Jun 24, 2017 7:13 PM, “A Call To The Remnant” wrote:
> 1blogaboutme commented: “Thankyou. God called me away. He spoke audibly. > Ezekiel 34” >
Jason said
Wow did this ever speak to me and what is going on in my life right now. God has at least given me a few people to fellowship with. I’m presently at the stage where my family is turning against me. Today it seemed like God abandon me for a large chunk of time and just let the devil attack me to get me to turn on my wife as well. Thanks for this wonderful article! It is becoming rediculous how these amazing articles keep showing up after big tests. Just when I think I have no clue at all as to where I am going or what is going on something clearly speaks to me saying: “yes you actually are going the right way”. Thanks so much!
appolus said
God bless you Jason…………..bro Frank
Jeffrey cenac said
Why are the most recent comments at the end of the comment list?
On Aug 11, 2017 7:26 AM, “A Call To The Remnant” wrote:
> appolus commented: “God bless you Jason…………..bro Frank” >
appolus said
Not sure I understand the question Jeffrey, why would the most recent comments not be at the end of the coment list? ………..bro Frank
God is calling His Remnant out of the established church « A Call To The Remnant said
[…] appolus on God is calling His Remnant out… […]
J. P. Kulka said
Years of experience in the wilderness – coming out of the putrid flesh pots of the organized church – had left me bewildered. Your writing put accurate and precious words to thoughts and sentiments I could not formulate. He is seeking worshippers in Spirit and truth. Deuteronomy 8 covers the “why” of the wilderness ….that He can test our hearts and purify & prove them…..amazing how He’s doing this Ll over the country. This coming out of the man made system began about 7 years ago for me. I’ve been called a back to a church that preaches more truth than I’ve seen lately, in order to exhort them to discard the chaff, to break up the fallow ground
..
Becky Johnson said
Frank, what an unebelievable thing…you first posted this in 2009, and now 8 years later – wow! I have just found this and am copying and pasting and printing. He is our source and our sustenance! To-day and forevermore!
Becky Johnson said
Also, for anyone who may be interested, Peter Whyte has written 2 books I know of and have read: Come Out of Her My People, which is available free online at: https://www.truthforfree.com/downloads/books/
As well as The King and His Kingdom, I devoured this book.
The Lord’s Wilderness Expanded, Conclusion | A New & Living Way said
[…] HERE is the link to W.E. Smith’s The Lord’s Wilderness. […]
Katie said
What a word in due season. I am 56 years old and have been in the wilderness for what feels like most of my life from family and church, never feeling understood or like I belong anywhere. The last twenty-five years has been an unbelievable wilderness that I could never imagine in my wildest dreams. Lately, it has been very, very tough to the point of doubting myself and to some extent feeling scared for my sanity. However, God keeps pulling at me and gently reassuring me He is there.
I have lost much in my life, i.e.; everyone I’ve loved has turned their back on me because of the lies of my father who stole my house and all my money for his own gain. I have left my home town to get away from lie after lie from my family of origin to save their own face. I have been their scapegoat for all their dirty deeds. I wasn’t even informed of my own mother’s death. My son lost his mind to mental illness because of it all as they tried to manipulate and control him against me, and I have watched him die a thousand deaths.
Lately, I feel like I have come to the end of what I can endure, so went searching for some solace on line. God brought me to your website. And praise the Lord that He did. Your words have restored my soul today and have given me the strength to pick myself up with renewed faith to carry on.
Blessings to you my brother. Amen
appolus said
Amen sister, may the Lord be with you as the dawn begins to break in your life. The darkness can seem like a lifetime and that it will never end, but the Lord said He would never leave us nor forsake us. It is hanging onto that promise, for weeks, months and years despite what the evidence might suggest, that is our redemption…………………bro Frank
Katie said
“May the Lord be with you as the dawn begins to break in your life.” Thank you for your kinds words Brother Frank. I claim that in the name of Jesus.
Kim Heistuman said
What a blessing this article has been to me, dear friend- thank you for taking the time to share. God is good, and so faithful. The Lord began his calling on my life 33 years ago, and what a journey it has been! He has continued to grow me up spiritually, leading me and my husband of 30 years from place to place. He has used so many people and pastors, alive and dead, to grow and mature us- I’m so thankful. But these last few years have been the toughest as God has not allowed my husband or children to walk with me thru this lonely place, as He has not opened their eyes nor their ears yet. Six months ago, my heart was so heavy, my body unable to lift the dryer to fix my hair one Sunday morning. I’d had enough- my own disobedience was killing me. I left that church which my family, whom I love and serve daily, still attends. In this wilderness, and over the last year really, God has poured out His love, wisdom, faith, strength and hope in ways he never has. He has comforted me like never before, and has met me right here. I am so encouraged to know there are others out there-like you said- that the Lord is calling out to serve Him in spirit and in truth; the truth truly sets us free. Being out of the institution has actually enabled me to not only study more, but freed me up to share my concerns, according to scripture, with my professing brothers and sisters without feeling the threat of pastors or their informants. All praise and glory and power be to our father thru Jesus our savior! God bless you!! And please contact me if you wish or have any questions.
appolus said
I am glad that you were blessed by this article and hopefully you will be blessed by the site. I am not sure if you have read the book “Finding Church,” or “The Pilgrim Church,” or even my own book “The Fall of Christendom and the separation of the Remnant,” but I know they will bless you…………………bro Frank
ACountryBoy said
Hi Kim, I am going through exactly what you have described. My wife attends church alone and keeps asking when I will start going with her. Yet, I have learned so much in my own study time alone with God than I see her gaining by attending this institution which is run more like a business and where members are just passive laity. All the years I have been to different churches, I never really knew God or His word. The pastor was the head of the church and called the shots. I have to admit I was miserable but went out of a sense of duty. Now I am unlearning all these false teachings.
ACountryBoy said
I left denominational churches several years ago when the Lord called me into the wilderness. I know He is doing a new thing. Just what, He hasn’t revealed. But in the interim, I have been learning more by studying the scriptures and listening only to those few who rightly divide the word of Truth, then I have have learned in 30 plus years of attending church. My wife attends a Baptist church and I have noticed that she almost never shares the sermon with me unless I ask. I can’t help what wonder what growth she is even experiencing. I think she mostly goes to talk to everyone and it seems also out of a sense of duty. I truly believe God is calling people out of the established church. Whenever I mention this to folks who say they are christians, I get admonished and accused of disobeying Hebrews 10:25 about not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.
Hayley McDonald said
Deep but yet again my spirit is drawn to it as I am moved away from the church trusting in the lord
Dan Johns said
Through the teaching of A.W.TOZER I have come into the Revelation of the truth of this message….
Around 10 years ago the Holy Spirit said this to me…
” THE GREAT FALLING AWAY…. WILL NOT… BE ABOUT THE PEOPLE LEAVING THE INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH….
” THE GREAT FALLING AWAY…WILL BE….ABOUT THE CHURCH LEAVING THE PEOPLE . ”
I am seeing this being fulfilled in real time.
Amazing…Thank You Father. Son, and Holy Spirit.
appolus said
Amen brother……..bro Frank
Anonymous said
Hi i was just reading this and it brought me to tears knowing now that there are other people others hearing God’s voice Praise God! Im widow i lost my husband almost 8yrs. Ago from brain cancer he was 50 yrs. Old . I started attending 2 different churches thinking it was my imagination but i found out how many people in the churches oppress others especially homeless & widow’s and others and the worse is that others just watch the show will this continues inside the churches these many individuals are harming their neighbors but make excuses to continue doing Sin. I know cause it happened to me after my husband died. While i was attending one of the churches And i was being targeted by many inside the church judged &accused out of jealous, envy, and hate meanwhile God tok me to the verse in Revelation Come out of her my people. Im so glad i read this today May 2 ,2022. This has helped me to know that others understand what im going through cause it seems like people i know dont understand or should i say they dont hear God’s voice. Please pray for me cause ive been going through so much constantly minor and major spiritual attacks. I pray and read my Bible and worship God as much as i can in the midst of things happening. Also my wh9le family turned against me after my husband died and alsobmany others who knew my husband and me . Ive feeling like im in the wilderness constantly and my health is not doing better either ,feeling so alone and like no one cares But in the midst i keep crying out to God and he hepls me every time even though is so hard most everyday. Thank you Lord!!. God 🙌 thank you for sharing this .
appolus said
God bless you sister. You are right, there are millions of saints all around the world who have come out of her. So sorry to hear about your troubles and losing your husband. I am glad that you have a heavenly Father who loves you and the Lord Jesus who shall never leave you nor forsake you……bro Frank.
Susie said
Hi i had bookmark this while back . I read the whole thing and is so true that God is calling his children sincere ones out of the churches . There is so much corruption inside the churches that it seems like is worst than outside the churches . Many who claim to be Christians are abusing their positions plus they are slaughtering and devouring the sheep inside the churches and their excuse to continue in it is the church is not perfect. I left the church entirely cause i was done with their nonsense with sin. There is alot of hate , jealousy and envy on top of being judgemental, legalism, and others .i left the church completely cause of all the corruption but also cause God showed me and called me to come out or i would share with them God’s punishment. Im a widow now for 8yrs and when i started to attend church after my husbands death many people were attacking with words. Many banded together but i was not afraid of them because i have and had God in my life so i stood my ground which this made them extremely angry and hateful towards me. Im sharing this so people know that there are the remnant out there going through the wilderness alone . My immediate family also turned against me right after my late husband died from brain aggressive brain cancer. They prey or target those who are truly following Jesus.I have learned many things on my “Prayer closet with God personal and intimate time” First all that God loves me and also that God has help me draw near more and more each day through my great lose ,pain,the deep wound of my late husband and so many other things i continue to constantly go through majorly and subtle things. I Have learned so much from our Heavenly Father His truth and grown so much through his Son Jesus. I leave you with this “We are not alone in the wilderness “! God is with us even if it feels like we are dying inside over and over again God is preparing us to what is yet to come . Dont give up hope! God bless you all who are going through the wilderness in Jesus Name 🙏. In Bookof Revelation talks about God destroying the churches also in Ezekiel Matthew ,etc. We need to be prepared through Jesus only ! Its been a difficult ,horrible, and long journey but it is so worth it . God bless you all! I continue to pray for all of you. All the Glory and honor to our Heavenly Father in Heaven thank you Lord for everything! Please also pray for me cause ive been going through many health iisues and diagnosed with several things but all these things dont stop me .Like i told one of the so claiming PASTOR’S in 2016 “you may see me struggling constantly But i never give up Because of Jesus and only through Jesus Amen 🙏 Philippines 4:13
Anonymous said
Also people in the churches dont like Sin being Exposed or the one Reproving or correcting or rebuking when indeed they are parading in Sin like it saids in Isaiah also Exposing Sin Ephesians 5:11 God 🙌
Anonymous said
I forgot to mention that all these evil and wicked people claiming to be christians do all of us a big favor Cause thats when God Himself blessing us and helps us through the wilderness when we continue to go to God. There are so many hypocrites in the churches now a days . They claim to love ,compassion and other things but is really in reality and in truth cause it happened to me and so many others out there is more and more like “A Party houses” . Some of these churches are in the city of Anaheim Calif . One of them is Open Door Calvery Chapel and the other is New Wine off Brookhurst st.Anaheim Calif . We also need to “Expose these churches ” Ephesians 5:11 God tells us so . By keeping quiet is not making it go away and think about it that is why So so many are not a target if they were really truly turning from wickedness!