notes on the dividing of america: god’s winnowing, free will, and the right choices in the age of hypocrisy – part iii
- The Great Sifting
- The Great Apostasy
- THE GRATEFUL REMNANT
SCRIPTURE. “Gather together to Me My saints [those who have found grace in My sight], those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice … But to the wicked, God says: ‘What right have you to recite My statutes or take My covenant or pledge on your lips, seeing that you hate instruction and correction and cast My words behind you [discarding them]? When you see a thief, you associate with him, and you have taken part with adulterers.” – ASAPH, PSALM 50:5, 16, AMPC
REMNANT. “Residue; that which is left after the separation, removal or destruction of a part. The ‘Remnant’ that are left of the captivity (Nehemiah 1:3). That which remains after a part is done, performed, told or passed.” – NOAH WEBSTER, 1828; edited
QUOTATIONS
‘Don Juan,’ 1818-24, Canto III, Stanza 86; edited
“God calls a simple shepherd boy named David who had faith and will raise up those He wills especially to shame the wise and capable. God desires a Remnant of Saints who will do His bidding and work no matter the cost.” – GOSPEL FELLOWSHIP, ‘Principles for the Gathering of Believers Under the Headship of Jesus Christ,’ 2011; edited
“I am going to show you great and mighty things which no one has ever seen before … I am going to take you places where no one has ever been. I am going to take you to heights where no one has ever reached. If you will only come to me with all your heart, I will do a mighty work in you, which no man can undo but yourself.” – M.J. CHRISMAN, ‘The Remnant: The Legend of the Seer,’ 2011, cf, Jeremiah 33:3; edited
- FIRST THOUGHTS
Whenever I think of the Biblical Concept of The Remnant, I go immediately to J.R.R. TOLKIEN’S ‘Lord of the Rings’ (1937-1949), and here’s why, and why I resonated to it so powerfully a year before I met Christ in 1979.
I reveled in its raw but always Loving Courage. I understood even before I became a follower of the Messiah the idea of stunning Sacrifice and resolute Fealty, even unto death. This was beautifully depicted through deep bond between Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee. And that Real Life is fraught with much evil and many dangers, to be not only endured, but bravely challenged at great risk to our own lives.
Here is a most precious exchange between Frodo and Sam on their wearying and perilous Quest for the destruction of the Ring, in order to save Middle Earth.
“‘I don’t like anything here at all.’ said Frodo, ‘step or stone, breath or bone. Earth, air and water all seem accursed. But so our path is laid.’ ‘Yes, that’s so,’ said Sam, ‘And we shouldn’t be here at all, if we’d known more about it before we started. But I suppose it’s often that way. The brave things in the Old Tales and Songs, Mr. Frodo, ‘Adventures,’ as I used to call them.’”
THE SENSE OF ADVENTURE. Beloved, if you do not possess that thirst for a Great Quest, an ‘Adventure’ as it were, and its making of a Great Story that you can hand down to your children and your children’s children, I tell you true:
The Christian Life is not for you. Oh my, no!
- NOAH WEBSTER. “Hazard; risk; chance; that of which one has no direction; as, at all adventures, that is, at all hazards. An enterprize of dangers; a bold undertaking, in which hazards are to be encountered, and the issue is staked upon unforeseen events. To risk, to put in the power of unforeseen events; as, to adventure one’s life. To dare; to try the chance; as, to adventure on ‘the tempestuous sea of liberty.’” – ‘American Dictionary of the English Language,’ 1828; edited
- WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. “This Story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remember’d; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.” – From ‘Henry V,’ 1599, Act IV, Scene III
So it has become with me, beloved, after seventy years on this old earth. Without too much grandiosity here, I fancy myself more akin to Gandalf the Gray than some dissolute retiree wasting away in some dusty corner room, steadied by His Wisdom and Great Purpose, to ride off into a few Last Adventures, before I take my leave to go Home.
And so too it must be for those Elect, self-assigned to ‘The Remnant’ in these Last Days, beloved. Adventurers for Christ and Kingdom, by His leave. While we still can, beloved; while we still can. -cf. John 9:4
- HISTORY OF THE REMNANT
I defer here to an eminent Bible scholar whose wisdom far outweighs mine in his sense of both Biblical History and the American Moment that has been plundered and buried in the last five years under ‘Another Residue.’ This is the filthy Leaven belonging to the very spirit of Antichrist, issuing like a rancid stream from Donald John Trump.
And the multitude of Churches aligned with him.
DR. H.T. SPENCE. Dr. Hubert Talmadge Spence is both president of the Foundations Schools and Pastor of the Foundations Bible Collegiate Church, Dunn, North Carolina. A prolific author and scholar, he renders a superb SHORT HISTORY of the Concept of the Remnant from which we can learn much.
From his essay, “The Biblical Perspective of the Remnant in Times of the Apostasy,” ‘Straightway Online,’ Volume 40, No. 1, January-March, 2021; edited. Quoted at considerable length for our files and future reference.
“Although the concept of the Remnant was used earlier in the Bible [in the OLD TESTAMENT], the Prophet Isaiah developed it in detail. He stands mid-ground in history between Moses and the Coming of Messiah. In the very first chapter of his writing, Isaiah saw the Remnant as ‘very small’; it was because of this very small Remnant that Jerusalem had not been destroyed by God as Sodom and Gomorrah had. As the Book unfolds in the early part, Isaiah saw the Remnant as the small group of Israelites who would survive the invasion of the Assyrian army under Tiglath-Pileser III. This Remnant is promised salvation, in that those who compose the Remnant will one day be brought back to the Promised Land by the Lord …
Most of the time, the Remnant concept is disguised by the way the words are translated into English. In the Old Testament, ‘Remnant’ is translated by six Hebrew root words, each of which has the underlying meaning of ‘what is left’ or ‘what remains’; ‘survivors,’ ‘escapees,’ or ‘the rest.’ The one Greek root used in the New Testament and in the Septuagint has the same meaning. The concept of a Remnant represented that part of the nation that was ‘Faithful in Living’ before God even though most people rejected the ways of God.
A most important fact to be understood about the Remnant is that its existence is said to be due to God Himself. Isaiah 1:9 states that the Lord left unto Jerusalem ‘a very small remnant.’ Zephaniah 3:12-13 further declares the following:
‘I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.’
The Remnant, then, are the ‘True People of God,’ amidst the ‘professing’ people of God. This concept we also find in the New Testament: ‘the remnant according to the election of grace’ as Paul dealt with the Remnant of Israel at the end (Romans 11:5) …
In the NEW TESTAMENT, it is evident that the Gospel is only accepted by a Remnant of people. When Christ came into the world only a Remnant was looking for Him; only a few came to an acknowledgment of Him. Throughout His ministry only a Remnant truly trusted in Him. At the time of His Ascension only 120 were found in the Upper Room. As the Gospel spread throughout the inhabited world in the time of the New Testament, it was evident that TWO CHURCHES were forming: a’ True Church’ (Wheat, with its head being Jesus Christ), and a ‘False Church’ (Tares, with its head being Satan). Of the soil upon which the Gospel fell, only twenty-five percent was good soil; and even of that soil only one-third received one hundredfold [8.25%].
As the New Testament continued to be written, it was evident that a False Gospel was rising within the ranks of the Church, a False Faith, a False Teaching of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Rising up within the visible Church was an Apostasy, a Defection, a Falling Away from the Truth of Christ. The Apostle Paul would first declare to Timothy that ‘Some . . . have turned aside” (1 Tim. 1:6); ‘Some . . . have made shipwreck’ (1:19); ‘Some are already turned aside after Satan’ (5:15); ‘Some … have erred from the faith’ (been led astray; 6:10); and ‘Some professing have erred concerning the faith’ (6:21). But in the second epistle to Timothy the ‘Some’ has become ‘All.’ ‘All they which are in Asia be turned away from me’ (2 Tim. 1:15). ‘At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me’ (2 Tim. 4:16). A Crisis Point was coming into the ‘Institutional Church’ at the end of the First Century and Church history will prove the wholesale Falling Away in the Public Church in contrast to the continuing Biblical Remnant.
Peter and Jude warn God’s people of the Apostasy and defectors taking over the Church during their times. Paul warned the Ephesian elders of this Falling Away at the Ephesus Church (Acts 20); by Revelation 2, they had left their first love. Christ warned in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24) that ‘Many’ false prophets shall rise (v. 11); Many shall be deceived (vv. 5, 11); the love of many shall wax cold (v. 12). But he that shall ‘endure unto the end,’ the same shall be saved (v. 13). Yes, many are Called, but few will be Chosen. As the Old Testament declared that only a Remnant of the Jewish Nation would come through, so the New Testament indicates that only a Remnant of the visible Church would come through; all else would be Lost.
In the final Book of the Revelation, the Greek adjective the ‘rest’ or ‘the Remnant’ is used eight times. That which ‘remains,’ ‘a few names’ in Sardis (3:2, 4) is part of that Faithful, that Remnant. Each of the Letters to the Seven Churches in Revelation 2 and 3 contains a special message to the Remnant of each of those churches—the ‘True Ones’ who had the ear to hear. They are viewed as Overcomers. Each of these groups is given a special challenge appropriate to its circumstances and its generation …
From even a brief study of the Bible, it seems that in any Age the number of True Believers among either religious Jews of the Old Testament or professing Christians of the New Testament is always ‘very small.’”
DK’S TAKE. Whether in the days of the Early Church, or in these Last Days, the ‘Principle of the Remnant’ remains the same. But never forget, Jesus said in these Last Times, the things that the Early Church faced will be multiplied exponentially, as Birth Pangs explode into God’s Wrath at some point in the near future.
So let us trim the sails, throw off any excess baggage, blow out all the bilge, shore up any known weaknesses in our character simply by sincere Confession and Trust of the Holy Spirit to do the necessary surgery. He is very good at it.
The Key to victory here is ‘Total Submission’ to the Will of God!
- WHO ‘GETS TO GO’?
The Question of the Age quickly becomes: What are the required Characteristics of the members of The True Church? This is what every single American Pastor needs to be teaching in preparation for The Parousia.
But they are not, beloved. They are overwhelmingly not teaching this.
THE NARROW ROAD. To cut to the chase on my ‘Theology of the Remnant,’ we start right here, in the perfect Words of the Messiah.
“Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to destruction, and many are those who are entering through it. But the gate is narrow (contracted by pressure) and the way is straitened and
compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it.” – MATTHEW 7:13-14, AMPC
- THE STRAIT GATE. Taken from the Greek word, ‘Stenos’ [στενός], translated as: “Properly, narrow; (figuratively) the closely-defined ‘Path’ God ordains to travel on to gain His approval; narrow or strait from obstacles standing close to it [that must be overcome]; close, intimate; strict, rigorous; difficult, distressful; straight, not crooked; of little breadth; not wide or broad; having little distance from side to side; near; barely sufficient to avoid evil.”
- JOSEPH BENSON. “‘Enter ye in at the strait gate’ — The Gate of True Conversion: Of self-denial, mortification, and universal holiness; the Gate in at which few, comparatively speaking, are inclined to enter. ‘How strait,’ says Erasmus, in his paraphrase on the place, ‘is the Gate, how narrow the way that leadeth to life! In the way, nothing is to be found that flatters the flesh, but many things opposite to it, poverty, fasting, watching, injuries, chastity, sobriety. And as for the Gate, it receives none that are swollen with the glory of this life; none that are elated and lengthened out with pride; none that are distended with luxury; it does not admit those that are laden with the fardels of riches, nor those that drag along with them the other implements of the World. None can pass through it but naked men, who are stripped of all worldly lusts, and who, having, as it were, put off their bodies, are emaciated into spirits, which is the reason that it is sought after by so few.’” ‘Notes on the New Testament,’ 5 vols., 1811-1818; edited
THE PHILADELPHIANS. My best assessment of what the Remnant Church looks and acts like is found in Christ’s Words to the Church at Philadelphia. Though I have taught this once before many months ago, it fits here like glove on hand, for the purposes of our present discussion.
This is what Jesus Christ said of this Faithful Body of Believers.
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens:I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” – REVELATION 3:7-13, NKJV
I love the general description of this Church from the EDITORS of ‘Bible Ask’ in their excellent essay, “What Were the Characteristics of the Church of Philadelphia?” Retrieved on July 19, 2021; edited.
“The Church at ancient Philadelphia was not large and it didn’t have great influence. However, it was pure, holy and faithful to God’s Word. The members of the Church of Philadelphia devoted themselves to the study of Scriptures, especially the Prophecies of Daniel and of the Revelation. In addition, the members experienced personal victory over sin. Thus, the Church was faithful and pure before God.”
DK’S BREAKDOWN. To finish our discussion of these noble, faithful and courageous believers, let me point out their THREE MAJOR VIRTUES, directly from the Text.
- A LITTLE STRENGTH. The key term here is, ‘Dunamis’ [δύναμις], translated thus: “Miraculous power, might, strength; physical power, force, might, ability, efficacy, energy; [able to perform] powerful deeds, showing (physical) power, marvelous works.” This group had been fully filled (some would say, ‘baptized’ – cf. Acts 1:8) in the full measure of the Holy Spirit’s supernatural power. I should add that for these Last Days, such a filling is absolutely vital. Ask Him to fill you! – cf. Matthew 7:9
- KEPT HIS WORD. The label attached to the Puritans of America’s Colonial Era was, ‘Scripturists’ – that is, they were fervent scholars of the Word, and however imperfectly, they lived by their grasp of the Canon. They therefore ‘Kept’ Christ’s Word, from the Greek, ‘Téreó’ [τηρέω], or: “To watch over, guard, closely observe; help firmly to.” That is, they considered His Word as a sacred treasure to be ‘kept’ and honored at any price – including their own lives, if necessary. Faithful unto life, or death, as the Lord required.
- NOT DENIED HIS NAME. Now then we get down to the bare bones of today’s massive Apostasy precisely here: The widespread Denial of the True Christ, and all that He demands of us as followers in an Age of Hypocrisy. The key Greek term here is, ‘Arneomai’ [ἀρνέομαι]: “To deny, say no; repudiate (a person, or belief); hence, contradict, refuse to affirm or to confess (identify with); disown.” Hardly needs a commentary, does it, beloved? It is what one commentary labeled, ‘The ultimate lie,’ in ‘Rejecting’ the Christ they claimed to follow and obey. Most conservative theologians observe that without passionate repentance, there is no remedy for such treachery. Selah.
IN SUM. To be fully prepared for our Last Mission on earth and the subsequent Rapture of the True Remnant Church, we must be ‘Marked’ by these Three Divine Attributes. Without them, we shall likely be swept away at the Flood of Darkness that is coming.
- THE TEACHING
SCRIPTURE. “Gather together to Me My saints [those who have found grace in My sight], those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice … But to the wicked, God says: ‘What right have you to recite My statutes or take My covenant or pledge on your lips, seeing that you hate instruction and correction and cast My words behind you [discarding them]? When you see a thief, you associate with him, and you have taken part with adulterers.” – PSALM 50:5, 16, AMPC
The most glorious part of this passage is found in the first few words from the lead: “Gather together to Me My saints.” This sets the stage for our final excursion into the mind and heart of the Father and the Son concerning the preciousness of The Remnant Church to the Godhead.
THE GATHERING. Its Hebrew definition is frankly filled with God’s Promise of Protection. It is derived from, ‘Asaph’ [אָסַף], or: “To remove [from the fray]; to take away, withdraw to an assembly (for war); to be brought home (for protection); a period of God’s punishment in a time of harvest; to bring together; to collect a number of separate things into one place or into one aggregate body; to get in harvest; to reap or cut and bring into barns or stores; pluck; to collect by cropping, picking or plucking.”
THE SIFTING. One cannot miss the consistent Theme of Separation even here, as the first part of the passage is a Promise to the Remnant Church, while the second, to the ‘Wicked,’ Apostate church. From the Hebrew, ‘Rasha’ [רָשְׁע], or: “Criminal, evil men; those found guilty, deserving of punishment, demonstrating hostility to God [and His true followers]; like Pharaoh, they oppress; fully apostate; connotes agitation, confusion, turbulence; implicates the violation of the rights of others; twisters of justice, bent on insurrection.”
So it is that the King of kings continues His ‘Final Gathering’ of His True Saints, while at the same time plucking them out from among the many wicked tares who are ‘left behind’ to suffer the fire and ravages of the Last Days of the earth, and later, the white-hot flames of Hell itself.
THE COMMENTARY. “‘Gather My saints together unto me’ – This is an address to the messengers employed for assembling those who are to be judged. Similar language is used by the Saviour in Matthew 24:31 : ‘And He (the Son of Man) shall send hIis angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.’ The idea is, that God will bring them, or assemble them together. All this is language derived from the notion of a Universal Judgment, ‘as if’ the scattered people of God were thus gathered together by special messengers sent out for this purpose. The word ‘saints’ here refers to those who are TRULY His people. The Object – the Purpose – of the Judgment is to assemble in heaven those who are sincerely His friends; or, as the Saviour expresses it Matthew 24:31, his [truly] ‘elect.’ Yet in order to this, or in order to determine who ‘are’ His True People, there will be a larger gathering – an Assembling of all the dwellers on the earth … [Thus] the Purpose of the Judgment now is, to Determine whether this was sincere, and whether they have been faithful to their vows.” – ALBERT BARNES, ‘Notes on the Old and New Testaments,’ 1884; edited
When I was rooming in the 1960s in Belmont Shore (Long Beach) with, if you can believe it, a West Point graduate named Preston Miller III, we had a saying we’d repeat often, in mangled Spanish: “¡Este es todo el juego de pelota!”
Translation, in then Lt. Miller’s deep south accent: “This is the whole ball game.”
And he would be correct, as applied to this Final Gathering and Separation. This is it, and it has already begun, beloved. Wheat vs. Tares. The Righteous vs. the Unrighteous. True Saints vs. Professed Believers. Those destined for Christ, Heaven and Eternity, vs. those destined for The Flame and Eternal Punishment.
“¡Este es todo el juego de pelota!” Reflexione sobre esto con oración. [Look it up]
- LAST THOUGHTS
All that I needed to say about The Remnant Church as been said in this comparatively short space. So I am cutting to the chase to close out our discussion of this major issue.
To Wit:
“REMNANTmeans that which remains of an original body or substance. In reference to God’s people, it means those who are Faithful to His Original Truth despite Apostasy and opposition. It’s in the Bible, Isaiah 1:9. ‘Except the Lord of hosts had left us a very small remnant, we should have been like as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.’ Among people professing religious faith, the Remnant is a relatively small minority. It’s in the Bible, Romans 9:27. ‘Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.’” – EDITORS, ‘Bible Info,’ ret. July 20, 2021; edited
CODA. I simply could not have possibly said it better than the One who calls us to ‘Be Ye Separate!’ Except perhaps to conclude with the Words of His faithful servant, Paul the Apostle, to the sometimes-unruly Church at Corinth.
This Royal Command is diamond sharp in its impeccable clarity and precision. Mind it well, beloved.
“‘SO, COME OUT from among [unbelievers], and separate (sever) yourselves from them, says the Lord, and touch not [any] unclean thing; then I will receive you kindly and treat you with favor, and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.” – 2 CORINTHIANS 6:17, AMPC
Ever your servant, DK
PRÉCIS ON THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL: ELECTION 2024 & THE ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGNTY OF ALMIGHTY GOD
PRÉCIS ON THE PRAYER OF CONSECRATION FOR THE LAST DAYS OF THE AMERICAN ORDER
