Page 23 - The Remnant Bride

Today this happens all too often. Unfortunately, our current Christian religious system

is constructed in such a way that the minister and the Bride are thrust into a detrimental
symbiotic relationship with each other. It is not uncommon to hear of ministers having

affairs with members of the bodies they are called to minister unto. Yet, these outward and
visible trespasses are merely the tip of the iceberg. For every minister that commits adultery

with a member of the body, there are a thousand more who have emotional and soul ties
between themselves and those they minister to that are immoral and which are considered

as adulterous in God’s sight.
In the last 2000 years the body of Christ and her ministers have deviated from the

callings placed upon them. Peter proclaimed to the body of Christ, “But you are a chosen
race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may

proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light” (I Peter 2:9). Somehow, we have changed this to mean that the ministers are a royal

priesthood, and the body is a sub-class we call laity. The ministers “proclaim the
excellencies”” of God, and the body listens to them do it week by week.

This was not God’s purpose at all. God did not establish a laity in the body of Christ,

nor did He establish a cadre of ministers who are superior to the rest of the body. The
ministers are servants. They are to bring the body to the fulness of the stature of Christ.
History clearly shows how we arrived where we are at now. Satan was the architect of the

deception and the fleshliness of man was the motivating force that caused the church to

adopt current forms. The error of the clergy/laity division was established largely due to two
forces that both arise out of the flesh. There are some men who are driven by a desire to
hold positions of honor and preeminence, and there are others who have found the

requirements of discipleship too demanding and who have sought a way to lessen the

demands upon themselves.
The first group finds their flesh gratified though the false classification of clergy, and
the latter finds theirs fulfilled in the equally false and less rigorous classification of laity.

The two have formed a symbiotic relationship that fulfills the fleshly desires of both groups.
This arrangement works so well that it has remained in place for centuries and has

withstood such threats to it as The Reformation and an assortment of revivals. This
arrangement, however, is not according to God’s design. It keeps the Bride in a state of
perpetual immaturity to the dissatisfaction of Christ.