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[ ADMIN NOTE: There are some highly pointed political references in the quote in this comment. I deleted one paragraph, with an explanation inserted. The rest I have left in place, but I need to make it CRYSTAL clear that doing so does not imply an endoresement of Mr. Baldwin’s ministry or many of his beliefs. His main point in this quote fits the overall topic of this post, so I left it mostly untouched. In general, however, this is NOT a place for political partisanship. Therefore, I deleted the link to his ministry’s online site. The subject’s ministry can be found through a simple Google search of his name. Ray] I thought this quote from Chuck Baldwin fits in here. I wish more of our church leaders would speak out like this.
Quote:“Let’s settle one thing first: God has never used a majority to achieve anything substantive or revolutionary. It has always been a tireless, committed, and courageous remnant that He has used to accomplish things considered noteworthy and lasting. Any dead fish can swim downstream!
Christ used a handful of apostles to turn the world upside down. In Jewish history, it was Gideon’s 300, David’s 300, Nehemiah’s remnant, and small bands of men here and there that God used to defeat mighty enemies and raise the banner of victory. In our own history, the men who fought against the powerful British army never comprised a number larger than 3% of the whole. The brave men whom we refer to as America’s Founding Fathers numbered less than 200. In fact, in most instances (if not all), the majority has either contributed little to the cause of liberty or has even been tools of opposition and hindrance to the principles of liberty. It has always been a relatively small number of people who have turned the tide of history.
And while we are at it, let’s define exactly what is a “remnant.” A remnant primarily connotes pieces of cloth that have been cut off from a garment and thrown away. When we talk about a remnant, we are talking about those who are regarded as leftovers, cast offs, rejects, discards, etc. They are the ones who don’t fit in with the mainstream. And they certainly do not fit in with these mainstream non-profit government corporations called churches. That is for sure!
Jewish, church, and American history are all redundant with examples of how it was the remnant misfits of society that changed the world. I ask you, how “mainstream” was Abraham? How mainstream was Noah? What about Moses? What about Isaiah? Jeremiah? Ezekiel? I wonder how many executives of the Chamber of Commerce in Jerusalem would have used John the Baptist as a poster child for their welcome centers? The Apostle Paul? He spent about as many days in jail as he did out of jail. America’s founders were called “traitors,” “renegades,” “rabble,” “peasants,” etc. Had Great Britain defeated the American colonies during our War for Independence, history books today would refer to George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Sam Adams in terms more despairingly than they depict Jesse James, John Dillinger, or Bonnie and Clyde.
There’s something else that one usually finds with a remnant: God moved them before a time of intense judgment and cataclysm. The early church was persecuted everywhere they went. They wandered from place to place bearing the scorn and reproach of mainstream society.
This country we call The United States of America is the product of a remnant’s insatiable search for a land of liberty. Before the people we call Pilgrims ever crossed the Atlantic Ocean in that little ship, The Mayflower, they had wandered from country to country within Europe looking for that “City on a Hill.” Finally, after running out of options in Europe, they dared to risk their lives crossing a vast ocean in their quest to find liberty. Then, once here, they still journeyed throughout the territories, that eventually became colonies then states, searching for freedom.
Roger Williams and his fellow Baptists were responsible for founding the State of Rhode Island after being persecuted and driven out of Massachusetts for his unorthodox (to them) beliefs. The Baptist preacher John Leland was the man responsible for the First Amendment being added to the US Constitution after witnessing the persecution, beatings, and imprisonments of many of his preacher-brethren for their “politically incorrect” preaching.
I challenge any pastor today to locate and preach any of the political sermons of Colonial preachers such as Elisha Williams, Charles Chauncy, Isaac Bakus, Samuel Sherwood, Jacob Cushing, Samuel Langdon, Enos Hitchcock, or Tunis Wortman. I dare say that should one deliver such an address to his flock, half of the congregation would take their church “letter” down the street, and the other half would demand the poor pastor’s resignation!
Let’s face it: mainstream churches, mainstream pastors, mainstream Churchianity, mainstream orthodoxy, mainstream ANYTHING has never done diddlysquat to promote and defend genuine truth and liberty. It has always been left to the remnant to do those things.
It was more than interesting to me when I came across Ezekiel’s prophecy in my reading the other day. Under divine inspiration, the prophet Ezekiel said to King Zedekiah and the people of Judah regarding the coming captivity, “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house. Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house.” (Ezekiel 12:2,3 KJV)
[Call for people to support his ministry deleted by admin.]
It wasn’t long after Ezekiel uttered these words–and did what God told him to do: prepared his stuff and removed–and the rebellious nation suffered the certain judgment of Babylonian captivity.
Is the remnant’s removing a precursor to God’s judgment falling upon America? It might be. One thing is certain: America’s political, spiritual, and financial leaders are, for the most part, “a rebellious house.” They have rebelled against truth, against honor, against integrity, against character, and, yes, even against the principles and oracles of Natural Law and constitutional government. And another thing is also certain: God will not be mocked forever! If God would judge the rebelliousness of the Old Testament house of Israel, a people called “the apple of his eye,” if He would judge the house of Herod, He is duty-bound to judge the rebelliousness within that House called White–along with these apostate church houses! And while He’s at it, I doubt that He will spare the thieves, thugs, and criminals in the houses of Congress, the CFR, the Bilderbergers, and the Federal Reserve.
Not all the remnant moved out of Jerusalem or Judea, of course. Not all of them made it out of Germany, Russia, or China. And not all of them escaped the tyranny of Europe, either. But enough of them removed to the mountains and valleys of liberty that God was able to use them to forge a “new birth” of freedom for their posterity.
I submit that the remnant is now moving! The “removing” has begun! If this is true, can judgment be far behind?”
Quote:The implication (to say it as softly as I can) is that the LDS Church does not have a monopoly on those things – that we have to SEEK AFTER some things to find them.
My husband was teaching a SS lesson and brought up a Near Death Experience he had recently read. Everyone had a shocked look on their face like he had just crossed the line into apostasy. After the lesson, an older gentleman came to him and said, “I know those NDE’s are not true.” My husband asked, “How’s that?” He replied, “If they were true, they would all have joined the church.”
There is more than one way to get to heaven, but sadly most LDS don’t realize it.
Thanks to all. I feel very welcomed. Ray, I enjoyed your blog post, and that makes sense to me. I just tend to want all the answers now, but know that never works out well. I guess I didn’t know where to start, but now feel at least hopeful it will be made known to me. I do feel it is sufficient to know my Savior loves me and leads me, and that is enough for now. I would like to build upon that foundation and see where it leads. Thanks again to all of you. I’m new here as well, and will enter my story soon. About the mission…I feel if you have a true desire to help people come to Christ…not just to the church, it is worth it. I served a difficult mission, and what I learned most was to love the people..not see them as potential members(our mission was very numbers oriented) but just love them as Christ would love them. Forget the other things they will push you to do, if you serve with love in your heart, you will have served faithfully.
