In the natural world the practice of quarantining people infected with communicable diseases has saved millions of lives in the past and continues to do so today.  This is not a new idea.  In Bible times those who were infectious were made to remain “outside the camp” as long as they were a danger to others.  In modern times people with leprosy were placed in isolated communes.  There was a leper colony in Louisiana at one time.  It is understood that when we quarantine one group of people we do so in order to not infect others.  However, in doing so we are also quarantining the unaffected.  It does not matter which group approached the other, the effect is the same.  Both parties were in fact being quarantined.  Which brings us to the subject of this posting: THE QUARANTINING OF GOD’S TRUE SAINTS.

A type of this quarantining took place when Moses led the children of Israel to the Jordan River in anticipation of crossing over it into the Promised Land that God and given to the descendants of Abraham because of his obedience.  Instead of going in as God commanded, they sent out spies to see what lay ahead of them.  The spies returned with the news that giants inhabited the Promised Land.  The people refused to obey God and enter the land.  As a result God forced them to wander in the desert of Sinai for 40 years while killing off the generation of doubters–every one over the age of 20.  During those 40 years Moses and other true believers taught the younger generation the Truth of God so that when it was time to cross over the river, they were ready.  When it came time to claim their reward for obedience, the false believers had been separated from the true believers and were not a burden to them.

In the case of physical diseases, it only takes a tiny bit of the disease to infect another person.  If the problem is not immediately dealt with the disease will spread exponentially, thereby infecting many other people, especially if the infected do not know they are infected.  The same is true in the spiritual realm where the disease is known as “leaven.”  In the illustration mentioned above, the report from the spies was a type of leaven which caused a generation of recently freed Israelites to fail to enter the land God had promised them.  Read the series on the effects of leaven, using that word as the key.

Spiritual isolation of those who are spiritually sick (sinners) is even vitally important because life in this age and life in the age to come are both involved.  However, the process of isolating those who are infected is virtually impossible BECAUSE THEY DO NOT KNOW THEY ARE INFECTED.  In the physical realm such people are known as disease “carriers.”  In the past such carriers have unknowingly spread such deadly diseases as Eboli, Influenza and sexual diseases such as AIDS and syphilis.  People have unknowingly carried such diseases from one nation to another, infecting many people along the way.  Entire segments of mankind have been eradicated as a result of this process.  The bubonic plague killed almost 1/3 of the world’s population in the fourteenth century.

The “carrier” phenomenon works the same way in the spiritual realm.  Generations of well-meaning but leaven-ladened believers have lived and died as carriers of deadly leaven supplied by their arch enemy–Satan.  In the past his religious beliefs and customs have been spread throughout the world through the efforts of missionaries.  In modern times the spreading process has been greatly advanced by the use of radio, television and the internet.  The printing press and movies also greatly exacerbate the spreading of false information.  The major problem lies in the fact that the carriers of so-called “Christianity” do not know that they are being used by the enemy of the One they believe they are serving–the Biblical God.

Even when shown the Biblical evidence of their deadly errors the spiritually infirm reject the proof and refuse to consider the possibility that they are in fact carriers of Satan’s soul-destroying “truths.”  It is for this reason that those who are not infected must SPIRITUALLY ISOLATE THEMSELVES from false Christians in order to maintain their healthy spiritual condition.

The apostle Paul speaks to this necessary action on the part of God’s saints in Second Corinthians 6:14-7:1 where he states that those who are free of church leaven must remain free by having ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THOSE WHO ARE INFECTED WITH CHURCH DOCTRINE.  Some of these doctrines are listed on the Introduction page of this website.  In terms of quarantining and isolation themselves from the Institutional Church, the Lord’s people are commanded to “COME OUT OF HER AND BE SEPARATE FROM HER; DO NOT SO MUCH AS TOUCH HER.”  Then, and only then God says, He will be their God and they will be His people.  Read the series on Touching using that word as the key.  Recall that Eve said that God had told her not to even touch the forbidden fruit.  In other words, she and Adam were to stay as far from it as possible–to quarantine themselves from the tree.  The same holds true concerning the Very Elect’s spiritual relationship with workers of iniquity, known as “the church.”  We are not to worship with them or in any way join them in a religious sense so as to be seen as agreeing with them.  The Lord tells us not to allow them into our homes when spiritual matters are to be discussed for we would then be entering into their sins (2 Jn. 1:10,11).

However, we cannot avoid physical contact with them on many occasions.  I know of no stores that limit their patrons to true saints.  According to the Lord, they would not be in business for long.  We must work, shop, recreate, etc. with them.  Then there are those of us whose family members reject God’s Truth–the very Truth by which we live.  For most of us buying another house is not an option.  So we continue to love them while remaining at a spiritual distance.  Paul said that in order to totally avoid the spiritually diseased the saint would have to leave this world (1 Cor. 5:9-11).  Though we associate with them socially, we must keep our distance on the spiritual level.  THUS SAYS THE LORD.

“But how can we win them to Christ if we do not associate with them face-to-face on spiritual matters?” is the normal response.  God says that we are to be like a city on a hill whose light (Truth) shines forth in the way we live our lives.  Those who like what they see and want to be part of it will “come to our light.”  Such people will “come to our light which enlightens all who are in the HOUSE” (Mat. 5:14-16).  Notice that light seekers must come to our house.  It is only those who enter “the (our) house” who will partake of our “light.”  As Jesus warns in Matthew 7:13,14, only a few will like what they see (our light) because it is not “what I’ve always been taught by everyone I know.”  And “everyone knows” that the majority is always right.  At one time everyone on earth “knew” that the earth was flat.  Everyone was wrong.  During the flat-earth days, anyone who said that the obviously flat earth was round was considered a heretic and subject to the death penalty.

False doctrine, which includes the vast majority of church “truths,” is like a communicable virus that actively attacks everyone with whom it comes into contact.  It is always on the attack.  The Bible teaches that, if not confronted and eradicated, sin spreads swiftly.  Read Galatians 5:9 and First Corinthians 15:33.  Sin must be dealt with quickly and radically in order to prevent further contagion.  Paul used a well-known, public example of sin to illustrate the need for spiritual quarantine in First Corinthians 5:1-6.  As the church elder statesman, he acted swiftly and put the infected man out of the church.  His action motivated the sinner to sincerely repent (2 Cor. 2:4-10).  When was the last time you heard of a sinner being put out of a church?  Probably never.  If that law was applied today, the churches would soon empty out.

Throughout his epistles, Paul repeatedly commanded that those infected with wrong beliefs be isolated (put out of the church) (Rom. 16:17,18; 1 Cor. 5:11; 2 Thes.  3:6,14).  A spiritual quarantine serves two functions.  It teaches the guilty party a lesson while preventing the rest of the congregation from being influenced by his spiritual leaven.

The world has not put two and two together when it comes to using the brain which man has been given.  If isolation of the physically infected saves untold lives, would not the same principle apply to isolating the spiritually infected?  The problem is that the world’s spiritually infected (iniquitous) people believe that those who know, believe and obey the Bible are the infected ones.  In today’s world it is the infected who quarantine the uninfected.  Because of this the infected have very little chance of being cured of their infirmity.  I have found this to be the case 99.99% of the time.  Each group actively maintains its spiritual distance from the other.  Only when someone in one group “backslides” is there spiritual intercourse that allows the transfer of beliefs and practices to take place.  In all the years I have been putting forth God’s Truth I personally am aware of only four cases in which the diseased recognized his/her condition and came into God’s camp.   L.J.