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Posted by appolus on July 20, 2026
Christ Has No Vicar on Earth
The tragedy of our generation is not that the world has become worldly. The world has always been worldly. The tragedy is that multitudes of Christians have become dependent upon religious institutions to mediate to them what Christ Himself died to give them directly. ๐๐ก๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ง, ๐ฒ๐๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐๐๐ค ๐ญ๐จ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not shed His blood in order to create another priestly class standing between Himself and His people. He died that every believer might enter boldly into the Holiest. Every saint has access to the throne. Every believer may eat of the hidden manna. Every child of God may hear the voice of the Shepherd. Yet modern Christianity has largely produced spectators rather than priests.
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In many places, the simplicity of Christ has been exchanged for religious machinery. The gathering of the saints has become a production. Participation has become observation.๐๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฐ. The Headship of Christ has often been replaced by the practical headship of men.
๐๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ. One man ministers while the rest observe. One man hears from God while the rest wait for instructions. This was never the pattern of the New Testament. When every member supplies, the Body grows. When only a few function, the Body becomes crippled. The greatest enemy of the royal priesthood is not persecution. It is passivity.
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Many sacred cows have been protected for so long that men assume they must be biblical. They are not. The clergy and laity system is one of the greatest tragedies in church history. A professional class of ministers has arisen, and the t๐ก๐ ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐ก๐๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ง๐๐.The average Christian has been taught that ministry belongs to the experts. The New Testament knows nothing of this.
The early believers gathered under the direct government of the Holy Spirit. Every brother and sister had access to Christ. “Whenever you come together, each of you has…” (1 Cor. 14:26). Not one. Each. The gathering belonged to Christ and to His Body.
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This is not a call to isolation. It is not a call to bitterness. It is not a call to division. It is a call to liberty.
There comes a moment when every believer must decide whether Christ Himself is enough. Can He teach you? Can He lead you? Can He speak to you? Can He sustain you outside of religious systems? The remnant throughout history has always answered, “Yes.”
There are always the few. The few who leave the camp in order to find His presence. The few who would rather meet in a home, a field, a forest, or a prison cell than remain where Christ no longer has the preeminence. They leave, not because they despise the Church, but because they love her too much to watch her remain in bondage.
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God has often called His people into the wilderness. Israel. David. Elijah. John the Baptist. The early believers. Again and again, God separates His people from dependence upon men in order that they might learn dependence upon Himself.
The remnant are often misunderstood. They are accused of rebellion, pride, and division. Yet history bears witness that renewal almost always begins outside the camp.
The Lord still says, “Come to Me.” Not to a movement. Not to a denomination. Not to a personality. To Me.
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I believe with all of my heart that a people are being prepared in these last days. A people who know their God. A people who have learned to hear His voice. A people who function under His direct Headship. A people among whom every gift can flourish.
A people who understand that the Church is not a building, an institution, or a denomination. The Church is Christ in His people.
The coming days may strip away many things. Buildings may be lost. Organizations may fail. Institutions may crumble. Yet the true Church cannot be destroyed. She can meet anywhere. She needs no cathedral. She needs no machinery. She needs only Christ.
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The question before every believer is this: Has Christ truly set us free? Or have we merely exchanged one religious system for another?
The remnant must recover what has been lost: the priesthood of all believers, the direct Headship of Christ, the liberty of the Spirit, the functioning of every member, and the simplicity that is in Christ.
The hour is late. The systems of men are shaking. The Lord is calling His people back to their spiritual roots. And there are always the few who hear His voice.
“Let us go forth therefore unto Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” (Hebrews 13:13)
The call of this hour is not to another movement, another celebrity, another denomination, or another institution. It is a call back to Christ Himself. The remnant must once again become a kingdom of priests and a habitation of God in the Spirit.
A Call To The Remnant 
cajdunlap said
Thank you, brother, for this lucid and pertinent message!
Since Christ is the only mediator between us and the Father, and aside from the bare fact of centuries of this tradition of the “laity” having specially trained “clergy” to stand as their mediators, it occurs to me that this whole setup continues because of the lack of faith believers have in hearing God for themselves, and because it’s inconvenient to spend the time and effort necessary to pursue God until one finds Him.
The story of Moses consecrating the people to stand at the foot of Mount Sinai and hear God for themselves comes to mind, and how, when they did hear Him, they were afraid and begged him to hear God for them. They weren’t with God in heart, and they weren’t holy like Him, and they demonstrated repeatedly by their grumbling that they really didn’t want to, either.
Many people in churches are too busy living in the world to want to bother themselves with diligently seeking God. So they hire a pastor to do it for them, vetting him and paying him a good salary to ensure they get the very best of God that money can buy. Hmm, seems an awful lot like the hireling of John 10.
Well, anyway, many people want just enough of God to keep Him happy (hopefully), and the tithe they pay should be plenty to cover that. Box checked, next item. Reminds me of the poem, “Give Me 3 Dollars’ Worth of God,” which implies that we wouldn’t want TOO much of Him, lest we feel convicted and no longer comforted.
What are they afraid of? Losing their place in the world? Losing their life for Him? Is it because they feel condemned and unclean that they want the pastor to hear God for them?
The heart of the matter in many cases is that, as in John 5, they are offended by Jesus and have already left Him in their hearts, but they don’t want to leave the benefits He offers behind. So they go to church and do their time, maybe several times per week, pay their tithe, and maybe even have daily “devotions” (to try to make up for their lack of devotion).
I understand the remnant wanting to find fellowship somehow, even attending church services to have maximum effect on whoever they can for the Kingdom (as I do), helping them to come into the true fold and grow up into Christ, the beloved Son in whom the Father was well-pleased.
What many believers don’t understand, and I didn’t either (though I was outside the churches for decades as a believer), is that unless we pursue God wholeheartedly for Himself and no other purpose, believing that He exists as He says He does and seeking the benevolent love that only He can fill our hearts with, we will never have the keys to pleasing Him (faith and love). Why? Because only He can supply those to our hearts. Only His Spirit (not us and not our pastor, either) can do the necessary work in us.
Thanks again for this message, Brother Frank.
appolus said
Brother, this is exactly right. Moses immediately comes to mind, for he stood as a mediator between God and man. Yet now there is only one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5). Over many centuries, men have slowly been lulled into becoming spectators rather than participants in the life of God. But though cultures change and generations pass, the fundamental problems remain the same, and so does the answer: the Word of God never changes.
The Word of God is like a map leading to hidden treasure. You cannot alter the location of the treasure, for God Himself is the treasure. “I am your exceeding great reward” (Gen. 15:1). Those who diligently seek Him are rewarded, for “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). There is a holy diligence required in pursuing the Lord, a pressing on, a seeking, a hungering that refuses to settle for mere outward religion.
The tragedy of our age is that many have accepted where they presently are in the Lord and aspire no further. Yet to go deeper into God requires that we take up our cross daily and follow Him. It requires death to self, the mortifying of the deeds of the flesh, and a willing entrance into the consuming fires of sanctification. These things are not optional extras; they are part of the pathway into deeper communion with Christ.
We cannot honestly pray, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God,” while remaining content with spiritual complacency. A heart that truly longs for the deeper things of God will inevitably find the things of this world losing their grip. The more we behold His beauty, the more earthly things begin to fade. If we desire to go deeper into the Lord, then necessarily the world must decrease, and Christ must become our all in all.
cajdunlap said
Here is the satirical poem, written in 1917 by Wilbur Rees:
Three Dollars Worth of God
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine.
I donโt want enough of God to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant.
I want ecstasy, not transformation.
I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth.
I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.
โI would like to buy $3 worth of God, please. โ Wilbur Rees