A Call To The Remnant

THE CHURCH ON THE NARROW PATH (PART 1)

The Remnant church is, at it’s core and most fundamentally, God’s witness here on earth. Truly we have been called first and foremost to be a witness. Now most saints know that this word in its Greek form translates to martyr. Does that mean that every saint, every witness since the beginning of the church has been called to martyrdom? Certainly not. Yet let us not forget brothers and sisters that in every century God’s people here on earth have been persecuted and martyred for their faith. The danger for us saints in the Western world in the last 100 years has been that we have not been so-called. Other saints around the world cannot say that, whether that is Africa or Asia or China or the Middle East, they have continued to be persecuted and martyred for their faith. For most of Europe and North America, this has not been the case with some noticeable exceptions during periods of war and so on. Now, one would imagine that living in an atmosphere where one is allowed to worship freely without any state or religious interference that Christendom would thrive, yet, if we look at the state of Europe and North America we see something that at best, is a shallow faith.

In the case of Europe we definitely see a post Christian society. In North America what is predominant is a cultural Christianity, a cross-less Christianity and a Christ-less Christianity and some cross-pollination or in many cases a hybrid of the all of these. Cultural Christianity would be a Christianity that is simply shaped to suit our culture. In this kind of Christianity Jesus would rarely be mentioned and God would be seen as some kind of Santa Claus. A cross-less Christianity would cover movements like the prosperity gospel, name it and claim it groups, Word of faith believers and health and wealth believers. Or again, a hybrid of all three. A Christ less Christianity would cover dead denominations for whom the Word of God has ceased to be authoritative even in pretense and where all things are acceptable, this would include things like gay marriage and gay ministers, abortion, divorce and so on.

A PICTURE OF A TRUE SAINT

Now what does the genuine saint look like, what does the true witness look like? Consider this passage from the book ” The Pilgrim Church.”They have drunk of the water that flows from the Sanctuary of God, from the Well of Life, and from this have obtained a heart that cannot be comprehended by human mind or understanding. They have found that God helped them to bear the cross and they have overcome the bitterness of death. The fire of God burned in them. Their tabernacle was not here on the earth but was pitched in Eternity, and they had foundation and certainty for their faith. Their faith blossomed as a lily, their faithfulness as a rose, their piety and uprightness as flowers of God’s planting.

The Angel of the Lord had swung his spear before them , so that the helmet of salvation, the golden shield of David, could not be wrested from them. They have heard the horn blown in Sion and have understood it and on that account they have cast down all pain and martyrdom and not feared. Their Holy temper counted the things valued by the world as a shadow, knowing greater things. They were trained by God, so that they knew nothing, sought nothing, willed nothing, loved nothing, but the eternal heavenly Good only. Therefore they had more patience in their sufferings than their enemies in inflicting them.” (The Pilgrim Church)

The Remnant man or woman carries their cross. Carrying a cross is a lonely business. Its their very loneliness that compels them to seek an even closer walk with the Lord. The trials of the cross, the narrowness of the path, the desert and wilderness that often stretches out before them, a lack of fitting in, no acknowledgement of anything that you do, what you do you do in secret, you only seek to see the Lord high and lifted up. You often despair at your own walk even although people tell you what a man or woman of God you are, you hear that and it makes you cringe because you know how far you fall short of a God that you have seen high and lifted up. You continually seek Him, you live for the next encounter with Him. You know that it is only a moment but there will come a time when it will be an eternity. You long for everyone to radically encounter the Living God for themselves. You hear people say that they would like your anointing and you wonder. You wonder if they could walk through the refining fires of the living God. Would they really want their whole lives dismantled piece by piece? Would they like the bread of adversity and the waters of afflictions to be their teachers? God’s Remnant people walk this path.