Just who are the Second Class Citizens in the Kingdom?
Doctrine-focused Christians and Spirit-focused Christians, usually in checkmate deadlock, can and should indeed work together, for each have their place and each need each other.
by Lynn Ridenhour
Oct. 15, 2001
About ten months ago the Lord laid it on my heart to
bring together Bible-believing Christians with Book of Mormon Christians. We
actually launched our ministry four months ago. We’ve had four Celebration
Gatherings up at the Mansion House, a beautifully restored old mansion built
when the Saints were here in Independence back in 1827. An absolutely lovely
place to meet.
It’s been fun to watch the Lord at work.
One of our missions is to demonstrate to the world that unity is possible.
That our commonality far outweighs all our differences. That Book of Mormon
& Bible-believing Christians can indeed meet together in unity. That LDS
and RLDS and Temple Lot and Elijah Messenger and Culterite and Strangite and
Restoration Branch Restoration believers can come together. To demonstrate
that unity is not conformity but neither is differences necessarily
division.
Personally I think we’re succeeding. Of course, success is sometimes
measured inch by inch in the Spirit world. But I must admit, these past four
months I’ve witnessed acts of love that have tugged at my heart like a tug
boat. I have watched RLDS and Restoration Branch believers sit side by side
and worship their Lord. I have witnessed Book of Mormon Christians embrace a
Pentecostal minister. I have prayed together in a circle with the main apostle
of the Temple Lot Church, an LDS elder, a Restoration Branch High Priest, an
RLDS elder, and an Elijah Messenger pastor—as we each held hands, lifting
our voices together, asking the Lord to pour out his Spirit of love here in
Zion.
Here is the great news: We’re no longer sure just who the second class
citizens in the kingdom are any more. And believe me--that’s progress!
I’m aware—such a statement requires clarification.
Christianity is Doctrine and hearing the Voice of the Lord
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately visiting churches, driving around
town, walking in unannounced on pastors, and letting them know what we’re
doing—that we’re meeting once a month up at the Mansion House. I typically
introduce myself, sit down, and then the pastor and I begin talking. I’ve
visited lots of RLDS and Restoration Branch Churches; probably more than
Protestant churches.
And I’ve noticed something.
I’ve noticed that Christianity is primarily doctrine to RLDS and
Restoration Branch pastors, as well as most conservative Protestant pastors.
I’ve also noticed that Christianity is primarily hearing the voice of the
Lord to Pentecostal and Charismatic pastors. Here’s the rub: generally
speaking, the Pentecostal/Charismatic pastors think the RLDS &
fundamentalist Protestant pastors are second class citizens in the kingdom,
for they don’t hear the voice of the Lord. The RLDS & fundamentalist
Protestant pastors, on the other hand, think the Pentecostal/Charismatic
pastors are second class citizens in the kingdom, for they aren’t grounded
in doctrine.
Dilemma: Checkmate.
Church, there comes a time when we must stop yelling at one another and
start learning from one another.
Rick Joyner makes an excellent point. Even under the old covenant of the
law, with its hundreds of burdensome commandments, each person was required
both to know and obey "the voice of the Lord." Something both camps
could learn from the other.
"…And He said, ‘If you will give earnest heed to the voice
of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and
give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of
the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am
your healer.’" (Ex.15:26, emphasis mine)
The Lord’s people—even under the old covenant--were to know the voice
of the Lord AND to know His commandments. Four thousand years later things
haven’t changed.
I especially like this verse:
"…And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying ‘Go up and
possess the land I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the command of
the LORD your God; you neither believed Him nor listened to His voice."
(Deut.9:23, emphasis mine)
It’s clear. We must believe His commandments AND listen to His voice.
Again, I like the way Joyner puts it:
Here we see that the first generation perished in the wilderness because
they did not believe the Lord or listen to His voice. The written Word,
even with all the commandments of the old covenant, was never meant to take
the place of hearing
God’s voice. We often attribute the many apostasies of biblical Israel with
their inability to keep His commandments, but these Scriptures show us it
could be blamed just as easily on their not listening to His voice.
As Jesus told the Sadducees, "You do err, not knowing the scriptures nor
the power of God" (Matt.22:29 KJV). Many who know the Scriptures
but do not know the power of God complain that they are considered
second-class citizens in the kingdom by Charismatics and Pentecostals who
claim to know the power. This charge is justified. However, it is just as true
that those who may know the Scriptures, but not the power, consider the
Charismatics and Pentecostals second-class citizens in the kingdom because
they tend to have less biblical or academic knowledge. The fact is, both are
true, and both sides need to repent of their spiritual pride and learn from
each other.
If fundamentalists have come to understand the Scriptures, it has only been
by the grace of God. If Charismatics have come to know something of the power
of God, it has only been by the grace of God. In either case we have nothing
to boast about—all that we receive is by grace. Few have come to a depth of
biblical knowledge without stumbling because they became puffed up by that
knowledge. And few have come to know God’s power without stumbling because
of pride. Even so, we need much more knowledge and much more power than we now
have if we are to follow the Lord fully. Our quest is to attain both without
the pride that will cause us to fall from grace. --A Prophetic Vision
for the 21st Century, p.82
So true.
I said I was encouraged. I am. Perhaps it’s my imagination, but I don’t
think so. I see both sides beginning to reach out to the other, not to convert
the other but to receive from the other. I’ve said it for years: the
Charismatics desperately need the Restoration gospel for the proper endtime
vision and the Saints desperately need the Charismatics to have the power to
accomplish their endtime vision.
When you get down to it—there are no second-class citizens in the
kingdom. Church, we must possess that delicate balance of standing on His
biblical promises while knowing the voice of the Lord.
"…Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My
covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the
peoples…" --Ex.19:5
And who doesn’t want to be His own.
