Even though the majority agree the majority could be wrong,
that's not the feeling in the heart of most. As soon as we hear
everyone thinks such and such, we begin to feel we may be wrong, if we
oppose the popular view. We tend to fall prey to the philosophy, "The
majority can't be wrong." Without realizing, our belief system's
frequently altered by the majority. Gallop Polls wouldn't be so
popular, if this wasn't the case.
If the majority opinion does alter our view, so what? On a
national level, we see an answer in issues such as abortion and illicit
relationships. Immorality runs rampant. Though national morality is
important, I want to focus on the impact on the church. A looseness of
conviction, is like being tossed about on the waves of the sea (James
1:5,6).
I. BIBLICAL EXAMPLES
Let's look at biblical examples of minorities:
A. NOAH VS. WORLD
(Genesis 6:5-13,17,18; 17:1)
The whole story of Noah is one of standing alone. Noah
could have wondered if the problem was with him, not everyone else. He
was the only one who saw everyone else as wicked. His reasoning wasn't
faulty, and the time came when God vindicated his lone stand for
righteousness.
B. MOSES VS. CONGREGATION
(Numbers 16:1-50)
There are many examples in Moses' life. Standing alone was
almost his life story. Looking at just two examples here:
Moses was a leader who gave direct orders from God. There
are always those who don't like God's ways, but few will criticize God
to His face. How do such handle this? Easy, they criticize God's
appointed leaders. Enter Dathan, Abiram and Korah. This story isn't in
Egypt with God's people versus the world. This is God's people versus
the lone figure of Moses, and the few faithful with him. I don't know
if you're like me, but when I read of Israel's Exodus, I can't but
think, "How stupid could they be? They witness many miracles, yet never
have faith or learn their lesson." The picture in this account, isn't
far removed from present day church life.
Following the incident with Dathan, Abiram and Korah, the
whole congregation rose up against Moses and Aaron (Numbers 16:41,42).
They still blamed them. They must have thought Moses had some magic
allotment he could use according to his own whim. Maybe they even
thought he had a controlling spirit. The whole congregation condemned
God's "minority" faithful servants. They thought, "Who does he think he
is, so sure of himself, as if he was the possessor of all truth and
power!" Such is still going on in the church.
C. SAMUEL VS. ISRAEL
(1 Samuel 8:1-10,19-22; 10:17-19; 12:1-19)
We find an excellent example with the prophet Samuel. He
was a Judge in Israel. The time came when Israel wanted to be like the
majority of the world with their own king. Samuel warned them this was
an evil desire, but he stood alone. The overwhelming majority of God's
people were sure Samuel was wrong, until God backed Samuel up.
D. DAVID VS. ABSALOM &
ISRAEL
(2 Samuel 15:7-12)
King David was rejected by the majority of Israel over a
conniving son, who knew the politically correct way to bamboozle (2
Samuel 15:1-6). We see the majority of God's people hoodwinked into the
wrong direction. Out of the examples we've considered, I hope you begin
to see it's very common for the godly to be standing with few or even
alone. It appears to me that on earth, the majority is wrong the
majority of the time.
E. JEREMIAH VS. JUDAH
(Jeremiah)
The book of Jeremiah is the story of one godly man against
the majority of God's people. A few did hearken to Jeremiah, but very
few. He was accused of treason and malicious planning at every turn.
Even after the captivity of Judah, the remnant acted as if they had
learned their lesson and inquired of Jeremiah, but immediately hardened
their hearts (Jeremiah 42:1-6;43:1-4).
F. JESUS VS. ISRAEL
(John 6:60-66; Isaiah 53)
In the New Testament, we see the Messiah Himself fell into
the class of a loner. Israel rejected their Messiah, that's why they
crucified Him. Even the majority of Jesus' disciples forsook Him.
G. PAUL
(2 Timothy 4:16-18)
The Apostle Paul was forsaken by all, as he wrote to young
Timothy. Sure, Paul had a faithful Timothy to write to, but he was
alone almost exclusively.
H. REVELATION LETTER TO
SARDIS
(Revelations 3:4)
We find in one of the letters of Jesus, to the seven
churches in Revelation, this interesting note: In a local church, the
majority was walking in iniquity. Only a few stood in the approved way.
We begin to see the majority going bad, as status quo.
I. MARTIN LUTHER
Beyond the pages of the Bible, we find more examples in the
pages of history. They're easy to pick out, it's contemporary people
whom we reject because it directly implicates us.
Martin Luther stood alone as he nailed his 95 Thesis on the
church door. Later, he had followers, but he had to forge against the
tide.
J. JOHN BUNYAN
He spent years in prison for preaching in direct opposition
to orders from the Church of England. While in prison, he wrote
Pilgrim's Progress, now appreciated by most Christians.
K. PILGRIMS
The beginning of American history blazes out with Pilgrims
coming to America, as a minority, who fled persecution in their
homeland.
L. SECULAR
I want to include secular advances because of how typical
the close minded majority is through history. We have Christopher
Columbus who was radical for daring to think the world was round. We
find the Wright Brothers being crazy enough to think human flight
possible. Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steam powered boat was
thought crazy. He was openly ridiculed like the others. When he made
his steam powered boat, there were plenty on hand to taunt and laugh at
him. They said it would never work, but surprise, surprise, it did!
Then, I'm sure, the crowd slapped him on the back saying, "We knew you
could do it all the time". Copernicus was considered a heretic by the
Catholic Church for his crazy scientific postulations, which later
proved to be accurate.
M. NOW
As we look about us, it becomes clear the majority of
churches are fleeing the truth in a hurry to compromise with the world.
Major denominations keep liberalizing as they accept things like
homosexuality and women preachers, and reject things like the Bible as
the bedrock book of the faith.
II. DANGERS OF THIS PHILOSOPHY
From the examples, we've seen many dangers of this
philosophy. Now I want to itemize and examine a few:
A. UNEQUALLY YOKED
(2 Corinthians 6:14-18)
Being unequally yoked with non-Christians is the natural
result of an accepting philosophy. You find yourself unable to reject
so many sincere people, accepting them as fellow brothers and sisters.
I've seen individuals welcome whoever calls themself "Christian", as
long as they give a stirring testimony. They appear devout and read
their Bibles, but if you're a little more discriminating, you might
find they don't even worship the same God. I've seen Charismatic
assemblies that don't even believe in the triune God. I've seen others
who say Jesus was the archangel Michael, before He came as a man. True
Christians fellowship with these, thinking so many sincere and loving
people can't be wrong enough to be rejected.
B. DO NOT DEAL WITH SIN
(Matthew 18:15-17; Romans 16:17; 1 Corinthians 5; 2 Thessalonians
3:6,14,15, just for a start)
This follows hard on the heels of unequally yoked. Church
folk who won't forsake some particular sin are quite often gentle,
friendly, sincere people. This adds to the deceptiveness. The "MCBW"ers
(The Majority Can't Be Wrongers) find it hard to cut these people off.
For an extreme example, there are homosexual churches. They
boast they're Bible reading, praying, loving communities of Christians.
If we look superficially, we fail to stand on God's Word. We waver with
a multitude who insist the sin isn't really sin. To accept their
decision, we fail to deal with sin as Christ taught us.
C. PARTAKERS OF EVIL
(2 Jn. 9-11)
John gives another strong word in the issue of doctrinal
purity regarding who Christ is. He accredited that welcoming or
blessing is tantamount to actually doing the evil itself. John was very
exclusive.
D. TRUST FEELINGS INSTEAD
OF THE WORD
(Hebrews 11)
To trust feelings instead of the Word, is to abandon faith.
Faith is trusting what God has told us in His word, despite feelings.
This becomes a primary danger for "MCBW"ers. To take the philosophy of
trusting feelings, you have to quit looking diligently at God's Word.
Wherever you meet conflict with the majority, you must reject the
biblical conclusions, to harmonize an acceptance of the
conflicting majority. You must shift your biblical convictions, which
very few might share, for human reasoning. The majority will always
provide some kind of reasoning to ease consciences.
E. ONE-WORLD CHURCH
PHILOSOPHY
(2 Timothy 4:2,3; 2 Peter 2:1-3; 1 John 5:19; Revelation 13:11-15; ch.
17, and many others)
Almost needless to say, the "MCBW" philosophy is the
groundwork for the One-World Church. We're taught we can't be
hardheaded, thinking we know everything, while the rest of earth's
inhabitants are wrong. "Be bendable and pliable", we're told. We see
this refashioned for evangelicals in associations. We keep our own
ideas, and accept everyone else who will at least agree on a few
fundamentals. With this philosophy, we destroy the true ground of
Christian fellowship, and are barred from dealing with a host of sins.
We agree to a fellowship on certain grounds of compromised truth, to
maintain peace. The greatest crime becomes the sin of "intolerance".
Since the majority is supposed to be right, if you stir up a ruckus and
cut fellowship, you're out of line, you're the real sinner.
F. UNITY AT WHAT COST?
It boils down to a decision. At what level do we say,
"Enough!"? If we fall on human reasoning, that level will always slide
downhill. If we commit ourselves to God's Word (See tract entitled,
"Interpretation"), we can't help but find ourselves alone or with the
minority.
Consider this example in the area of entertainment: I spoke
with a minister who used to avoid entertainment that used obscenity at
all. He told me now he allows some, but not much. I also read of a
youth who proudly proclaimed, "three curse words on a program were the
limit, after that, it went off". On what biblical basis was the limit
of "three" or "a few" determined? Human reasoning has no bedrock of
right and wrong. The principal is "How does it feel today?". We have to
get regrounded on the Word in its entirety.
III. SCRIPTURES DIRECTLY ADDRESSING THIS ISSUE
We've considered some scripture on this issue in a round
about way. Now look at some that directly address it:
A. Though hand join in hand 21 Though hand join in
hand, the wicked shall not be
unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.
Proverbs 11:21
5
Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the
LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.
Proverbs 16:5
Real blatant verses. Hand joining hand
is the stronghold of
that sincere majority. God shows, in these proverbs, this is something
men do in opposition to Him. He points out, though the majority may
unite in a wrong thing, they won't escape the consequences.
B. Let God be true 4a God forbid: yea, let
God be true, but every man a liar;
Romans 3:4a
This verse indicates we should be diligent to find the
truth in God's Word. Though all men may agree to a falsity, it doesn't
change things. God's Word is the only reliable source of information we
can count on to give us truthful direction.
C. Way which seemeth right 12 There is a way which
seemeth right unto a man, but the
end thereof are the ways of death.
Proverbs 14:12
This verse shouts that human reasoning leads astray.
Trusting appearances instead of God's Word is lethal.
D. When I return, shall I
find faith 8 I tell you that he will
avenge them speedily.
Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the
earth?
Luke 18:8
We shout, "Yes Lord, I'm right here!" We can imagine few
believers, but not so few Jesus could pose such a question. His
question should awaken us to the reality of how destructive these last
days are upon the faith. This also should awaken us to the danger of
adopting an "MCBW" philosophy. This majority will be wrong and
faithless when Christ returns, I believe we're in these last days.
IV. SIGNS OF THE TIMES
We know, in the last days, there will be a great falling
away as told in 2 Thessalonians:
3 Let no man deceive you
by any means: for that day shall
not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin
be revealed, the son of perdition;
2 Thessalonians
2:3
Stop and think: If we're in the last
days, and the great
falling away and faithlessness of Christ's query are almost upon us,
what would you expect to see?
*You would witness a compromised majority of Christians.
*You would witness a mixing of the remaining believers
with unbelievers (unequal yoking).
*You would witness the decline of facing up to and dealing
with sin amongst Christians.
*You would witness Christians not being firm on who to
accept as Christians.
*You would witness a "feeling" dependent people, instead
of a Word dependent people.
*You would witness the rise of a "sin of intolerance"
philosophy, and the push for acceptance of all churches.
In short, you would see exactly what you see around today.
If nothing else, shouldn't this scare us away from the "MCBW"
philosophy?
Elijah, the prophet of God, felt alone because he couldn't
see other servants of God. Even though he felt alone, God said there
were others:
4 But what saith the
answer of God unto him? I have
reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to
the image of Baal.
Romans 11:4
We may often feel this way ourselves.
People who surround
themselves with others or teachers of a certain type, feel everyone
else is like them. Those who watch some 'so-called' Christian channels,
may come to think that's how the rest of Christianity is. They watch
one preacher confirm the previous preacher, and come to think this is
the way the stronghold of Christianity is. They don't consider the line
up is hand picked by the station to have preachers that allow for their
philosophy. The preachers, who stand against that kind of teaching,
aren't given air space on that station. For the non-discerning viewer,
such consistency leads them astray (Matthew 7:15; Colossians 2:8; 2
Peter 3:17; 1 John 4:1-3).
Some are concerned when they see a biblical principal
almost everyone else refuses. It makes them feel queasy, and reject it
on this philosophy alone. Those who accept this "MCBW" philosophy can't
be reading their Bibles with faith and attentively from cover to cover.
The Old Testament is filled with so many examples, you couldn't miss
the point, if you read it.
So, what demands does the rejection of this "MCBW"
philosophy make of us? It calls for us to forsake feelings and human
reasoning. It calls for us to commit ourselves to knowing and following
the whole Word of God. I've done all I can, the rest is up to you.
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Free to Copy under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND3.0 License by Darrell Farkas
All quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible
Free to Copy under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND3.0 License by Darrell Farkas