Not only does the Lord command His true saints to spiritually segregate themselves from the unchurched world, He also commands that they separate themselves from those in His church who do not obey Him. The Apostle Peter wrote to true believers about this situation in the second chapter of His second epistle when he warned about false prophets, false teachers and false Christians (vss 1-3) in the church, describing them (vss 9-22) as evil servants of Satan whom He compares to a dog that, having been healed, returns to its vomit and a sow, having been washed, returning to the mire (vs 22). It would have been better for them not to have known the way of God than to have known it and rejected it (vs. 21). Two of the truths brought out in this chapter are 1) one cannot return to a place or condition in which one has never been and 2) the fallen church members have been influenced by other people from whom they should have departed.

One rotten apple spoils the whole lot. Notice that the good does not change the bad, but visa versa. In the spiritual realm, the Very Elect must remain separate from all others. If the evil persons refuse to turn from their evil ways a physical separation must take place. As Peter said, judgment is ongoing in the church, and only the righteous will be saved, and they just barely (1 Pet. 4:17,18). The Apostle Paul told the Corinthian Church to put an adulterer out of the church. The Scriptures tell us that this rule is still in effect. God knew that not all who call themselves by His name would be His people. He voiced this through Paul in Romans 9:6 where He tells the Israelites that “not all that are of (biological) Israel are (spiritual) Israel. The Scriptures drive home the Truth that only sanctified, obedient and faithful saints are spiritual Israel–God’s true church, His Little Flock, His remnant, His Very Elect. He warns in Matthew 7:13,14 that few church people will follow Him through His strait gate and along His narrow path leading to eternal life. The parable of the ten virgins tells us that not all that glitters is gold. See All That Glitters.

Those few who are in God’s true church are recognized by Satan’s church people, but in a negative way. Jesus warned that this would be the case. He made clear the fact that the churched world, moreso than the unchurched world, would hate, despise and reject those who believed and obeyed Him. His martyrdom, along with those of the apostles and many of their followers, prove the truth of His Words. Just as God-haters rejected Jesus and those who followed Him in those days, church people do the same to His people today.

The Lord tells us that church people reject His true saints because they are different, which is a natural, fleshly reaction to anyone not like oneself. In Titus 2:14 and 1 Peter 2:9 God uses the word “peculiar” to describe His true saints. He also calls them a “nation of priests,” a “holy nation,” a “royal priesthood.” “Light” is another word He uses to characterize the Very Elect. The world, including the church world, lives in darkness. Light exposes what takes place in darkness. The worldly church hates it when a light-bearer shows them what God said in His Holy Bible. By rejecting God’s message, she rejects Him, His Son and the messenger They send.

From Genesis to Revelation the Lord tells us that in order to spend eternity with Him in paradise one must flee from evil, resist it and abstain from even the appearance of it. In other words, they must overcome Satan. Only those who do so will sit with Him on His throne in the Kingdom of God (Rev. 3:21). L.J.