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A Bride Prepared
Christ’s Expectation for His Bride
At the time
that we should see peace, harmony, and unity among the brethren – look
at what we find within God’s Church. We see major contentions in the
ministry; we see ministers closing their eyes to wrong dating practices;
we see unlawful marriages of members; and we can hardly find any
movement toward reconciliation of the various church groups to one
another. This evil conduct is transparent to God and it is clearly not
loving God’s instructions, nor acting on them. “Take fast hold of
instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.
Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil
men.” (Proverbs 4:13-14)
We are fast
running out of time that the Bride will need in order to become pleasing
in God’s sight. The day will soon come when it will be too late to
accomplish anything more than a death-bed repentance – and that is not
God’s will. His will is that we are blameless in His sight at all
times. “[God] shall also establish you unto the end, that ye may
be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1
Corinthians 1:8)
In the same
way that our nation’s elected officials simply stand by while our
Constitutional rights are trampled underfoot – our long-time church
leaders simply stood by and did nothing while a false apostle supplanted
Church doctrine with heresy – introducing terrible apostasy to God’s
people. What should the evangelists and leading pastors have done?
They should have had the courage to stand for the Truth and protect the
flock – but they had fallen into a trap – a trap of their own making.
They should have previously learned to cope with errant ministers in the
same way that they dealt with wayward members – but all too often, they
turned a blind eye – they gave a pass to the excesses of some
ministers. The result is that the evangelists and leading pastors are
complicit in the scattering of the brethren. Christ’s expectations
are higher than that.
The
evangelists and leading pastors should have pulled together in defense
of our faith. They should have descended on the office of the impostor
and barred the door – putting him out on the street. There were ample
grounds for banishment – for starters, he was an admitted Sabbath
breaker! None had the courage to take a stand to disfellowship that
despicable heretic. Let us pray that those ministers, who were
negligent in protecting the Church brethren and defending true doctrine,
repent of their shortcomings so that an error such as this does not
occur again. The ministers who have continued in this vein are not
prepared to teach in the world tomorrow.
What Does the Lord Require of His Bride?
That is our
sad history. What about today? The tests and trials of God’s people
are not over. Now the Church is weak and scattered. This is a time of
final testing. What would Christ have us do? What does the Lord
require of His Bride? That is the question we must answer correctly.
Jesus Christ is doing His part. Thank God for His infinite wisdom in
dealing with each of His called out children on an individual basis. Our
relationship with God the Father, putting on the faith of Jesus Christ,
and our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ must be our ultimate
priority. Our Spirit-driven relationship with God is the very
basis for our serving the brethren. It is in serving that
we prepare to be the Bride.
Chapter 11: Always a Bridesmaid, Never the Bride |
