Remnant Pilgrimage

If you follow God, how far will His leading take you?

The remnant concept has never been unfamiliar to me. I grew up with it in a solidly Lutheran home. Rather often my mother quoted Luke 18:8: "Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Another text I heard was Matthew 7:13 and 14: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

Belonging to the majority was not to be considered important. In fact, I was innately suspicious of it because of the language of Scripture—"apostasy" would come, "separateness" from the world was necessary, "forsaking all" (sometimes even loved ones and kindred) was imperative for discipleship, accepting truth could well mean standing alone (like Daniel), Satan would wage war against the remnant.

As an American, I felt freedom of religion was guaranteed, and living out my faith in my hometown amongst good friends and trusted neighbors as a young adult was relatively easy. But consciousness of the remnant has stared me in the face with immovable persistence throughout my life. The first real test came when I accepted the Sabbath truth and no longer enjoyed the security of the "majority".

A Crisis of Conscience

My husband and I had been members of one of the smaller conservative Lutheran communions, the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church. Attending a huge World Council of Churches rally with 30,000 other Christians in Chicago’s Soldier Field in 1954 was a thrill, to be sure, but it wasn't until later that I began to detect the compromises that gradually eroded the standards handed down by my parents. I recall the shock I experienced when attending a certain out-of-town church-related committee meeting after our church body had merged with a larger, more liberal body. Lunching in the hotel’s restaurant, I saw one of our much-respected top leaders sipping beer with his meal—a "first." After all, apparently it was now all right to drink.

That year's Vacation Bible School materials arrived, and I studied them in preparation for teaching a class of youngsters in our congregation. Sorrowfully I announced to my husband (the pastor) that I could not teach the course, since it was based entirely on evolutionary theory. The name of Christ was almost non-existent in the lessons. We cancelled VBS that particular summer. It appeared that the familiar Biblical six-day creation story had been exiled, and it troubled me.

The eroding, amalgamating trend has continued through the years. My present position in our university library at Andrews has given me a unique vantage point from which to observe in print what is happening in the ecclesiastical world at large. The contrast makes the remnant concept increasingly more credible and precious to me, reinforcing it in a way I never could have imagined possible.

The Weight of the Remnant

Furthermore, when viewed correctly, it brings humility more than anything else. The weight of responsibility one assumes when becoming a member of the remnant precludes any arrogance or pride.

When taken seriously, joining the remnant is never easy. True discipleship is always costly. Who values anything if it comes too cheaply? Many have paid dearly for accepting the remnant message, some with their lives.

I was deeply rooted in my past as a Lutheran. My parents were born in Finland, a Lutheran country. I was totally involved in my husband’s ministry in the Lutheran church, and my brother was a Lutheran pastor. To give up all of this was not easy. The great controversy sprang to life in my world; the heat was on. Although the wounds have healed, some emotional scars remain. I never could have relinquished that which had held such great meaning for me, if I had not been convinced of the remnant idea inherent in the Three Angels' Messages of Revelation 14. When one faces truth, there is a choice to be made—a choice that may well bring trauma, but involves one’s very destiny.

The positive side is that it has since been a great thrill to belong to a movement that encircles the globe—people from almost every nation, tribe, and tongue; to experience the sense of oneness and community while studying the same Sabbath School lesson week by week with every other member of the "Advent family" worldwide; and to work and worship at an institution where students from so many different cultures share a "like precious faith"—a preview of heaven. In Adventist circles I have once again almost basked in a "majority" feeling. These people, along with the many honest-hearted still in Babylon, constitute the body of Christ, the true ecumenical movement.

Though some who call themselves remnant might wish to re-write the remnant’s "constitution and bylaws" to accommodate a more worldly lifestyle, sooner or later everyone must accept or reject God’s version as written. There will be no middle ground; only wheat and tares, wise or foolish virgins.

The Illusion of Unity

The popular ecumenical movement has not abated. On the contrary, it is accelerating at breathtaking speed, seeking to unite not only Christians, but virtually everyone, including Jews, Muslims, and even Communists—all in the name of brotherhood and unity based on compromise. Denominations, both liturgical and non-liturgical, hold merger talks and increasingly participate in pulpit and altar fellowship. The Pope has meetings with representatives of all these groups.

Years ago when a Lutheran man I know married a Catholic woman, it upset both families. The same couple now freely attends both churches interchangeably, the stigma no longer felt, the differences seemingly dissolved. Something has happened to those churches.

One of the main Christian periodicals states that charismatics and Catholics are "becoming key elements" in the movement to evangelize the world by the year 2000. More recently, Catholic bishops in the Vatican (headed by an American tongues-speaking charismatic priest) are working on a multi-million dollar project to have the Pope speak via satellite to every living human being on earth by Christmas of the year 2000. Just this January a very prominent Baptist minister and politician, along with a delegation of Catholic bishops, met with Fidel Castro in Cuba in a "new climate of trust." Castro is quoted to have said that the Bible has revolutionary value, and that Christian revolutionaries can be Communists at the same time.

Do not these few samples from among many more I see at the library and elsewhere indicate clearly that prophecy is being fulfilled?—All nations and all churches appear to be drinking the wine of Babylon’s fornication [1], and the whole world is wondering after the beast [2]. What other possible interpretation to these prophetic texts could there be?

Christ prayed for unity [3], but the unity He prayed for was never based on such compromise of Scriptural truth. The true heirs of the kingdom must be "legal"—no imposters can inherit the kingdom God has in store. The remnant concept throughout Scripture always implies survivors, the loyal and faithful few left after the many have apostatized. This seems so obviously contradictory to the concept and methodology of the popular ecumenical movement, and is the main reason why it would be impossible for me to go back and join. God has always seen to it that there are the minority who escape, the ones spared, chosen and preserved down through the ages and right to the time of His second appearing.

Qualifications of the Final Remnant

If there is indeed such a thing as God’s eternal truth, then can we not know it? God would not leave us in doubt. In crisis times, how can anyone take an uncompromising stand on truth if he does not know the truth? There must be a basis, an authority on which to place one’s entire weight, one’s very life! Satan hates the true remnant and wages war on its adherents. The tumult rages, sometimes with subtlety and cunning, but more often blatantly. Who doesn’t have wounds and scars from the enemy’s assaults?

One day soon God will settle the account for good. His wrath will be poured unmixed into the cup of His anger [4]. Should not our pulpits ring with this warning note? Yet God in His mercy has graciously provided a clear way of escape—the way of an unshakeable faith in every word that proceeds out of His mouth, driven home to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and put into practice as though our lives and destiny depended on it. They do!

Even as the faithful remnant has had its place and role throughout history, the last book of the Bible clearly stipulates what the qualifications of the final remnant will be. They will "keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus" [5]—total commitment and surrender to His plan of salvation by grace through faith, and implicit obedience to His commandments, all ten of them as written.

What a combination! It makes sense. It makes sense to me when I watch the churches, including the one I left, compromise and confederate.

We will need to pray God for the courage of Daniel, the fearless witnessing power of Elijah, and the selflessness of John the Baptist as we face earth’s final days and seek to proclaim the final warning message. This is no time to water it down, but let the trumpet blasts be loud and clear, with God-given power and urgent clarity. Only as we cling to Him and His Word are we safe, saved for eternity.

God's Pathfinders

There are many yet in Babylon who have not bowed the knee and are perplexed as to what is going on. I received a letter from a 70-year old woman in one of the mainline churches of my hometown who said, "Shirley, in my heart I believe like you do." There are many more out there who could say the same thing, and there will be still more when the real issues become more evident. So there is a "plus side" to the confederating and compromising.

The people that comprise it will be an elite group, God’s special front-line, cutting-edge troops who are consumed with passion for Christ’s second advent. What will be their spiritual condition? Presently they are in the process of a rigorous training program. Under the personal, watchful supervision of their Commander they are learning to endure hardness and discipline.

They are learning through suffering and relinquishment what it means to be stripped completely of all props and weapons of human devising; they are being allowed to experience first hand the folly of hewing out and trusting in broken cisterns that can hold no water [7]; they may be rejected indeed by men, but are chosen by God and precious [8].

They are dead to self, sin, and Satan’s smooth sophistries, and give total allegiance and obedience to their Commander. In short, they are recipients of the Holy Spirit, which empowers them to live the genuine life of primitive godliness.

This remnant, preparing for earth’s final conflict, frequent the prayer closet often in tears, afflicting their own souls and interceding for those not ready or caring. They are learning from practice and sheer necessity to sip honey out of the Rock; being taught how to drink living water out of secret, hidden springs, not dependent on what any particular preacher or teacher might dole out. They will henceforth be God’s pathfinders, God’s friends, "in" on His revealed plan and purposes—fulfilling the highest role in the universe: messengers of the last saving call to be given to the world.

My chief concern is to be a part of that privileged, distinctive group of people, no matter what the price; to be instrumental in sharing the remnant message with as many as possible while there is yet time; and one day to join that vast throng around the throne, singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. To Him be the glory!