Conclusions

And so I was taught that the church is more than the people. The truly saved are part of the church, yet they may be under a foreign government, an alien influence, which makes merchandise of them and would take that which God hath done and appropriate it for the glory of a work of men. That is what was attempted when I started out as a young minister at the age of fourteen. When the praise of men and the influence of men failed to bind me to them, they were disgruntled and offended. The liberty I was voluntarily given by those people who did not have a heart to go all the way with the Lord was vastly different from the true liberty I experienced among other saints. “A man’s gift maketh room for him.”* (Proverbs 18:16) Yea, “deep calleth unto deep.”* (Psalms 42:7) “We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.”* (2 Corinthians 4:13)

If we believe God, and humbly obey Him and follow Him, He will bring us out into a rich place. We will find ourselves in unity with the whole family of God who are in unity with Him, even those up in heaven and those on the earth. It is worth the waiting for God’s way. Oh, do not settle for anything less!

God brought my wife out as she was true to Him. God had prepared a family for us to be with who had also followed God at great cost. He brought them out of something else. God has gradually brought us in contact with others who want to walk with Him all the way. I have little doubt that the brethren who were such a blessing to me in my youth would feel quite comfortable in our services with the teaching that is there and how we all live. And I feel the same about the saints of the morning light church. And, most of all, I feel that Jesus is pleased with us.

We had to leave a number behind in the movement from which we fled to please God. Many were very sincere in questioning our actions, and we were mostly quite condemned. We told them that they had been infiltrated, that the spiritually-minded were outnumbered, that policy and fleshly wisdom were making decisions. We poured out our hearts, but they could not receive it. “How could all the ministers be wrong?” they declared. They had nothing against our lives except that we had left them. One day, after another bruising confrontation with some of these misguided ones, I was walking along, feeling rather sad, and suddenly the words of the following song were inspired to my heart.

“We will enter no door that is opened by men
Who promise a home for the soul;
For in Christ we abide in the church that will stand
While ages eternally roll.

“I’m at home, blessed home,
I am safe in the bosom Divine;
Oh, the home of the soul,
Thy heaven of glory is mine.”*

I am a member of the church of God built by Jesus and personally governed by Him. He puts each member in and removes each one that is taken away. It is located both in heaven and on earth, but its membership roll is the Book of Life, and that list is in heaven. In this great sheepfold of God, I am just one of the sheep. And I am a very happy sheep and not minded to go into any other fold.

“The Bible is our rule of faith, and Christ alone is Lord,
All we are equal in His sight when we obey His word;
No earthly master do we know, to man-rule will not bow,
But to each other and to God eternal trueness vow.

“The day of sects and creeds for us forevermore is past,
Our brotherhood are all the saints upon the world so vast;
We reach our hands in fellowship to every blood-washed one,
While love entwines about each heart in which God’s will is done.

“Oh, blessed truth that broke our bands! In it we now rejoice,
While in the holy church of God we hear our Savior’s voice;
And gladly to His blessed will submissive we shall be,
And from the yokes of Babel’s lords from henceforth we are free.”*