The Seven Church Harvest #3-Part 1

PENTECOST – 2000

“The Seven Church Harvest” #3 - Pergamos (1)

Fred R. Coulter – May 13, 2000

Well today is number three in the overview of the Seven Church Harvest of Revelation 2 and 3. And the reason I’m calling it the Seven Church Harvest is because for Pentecost there are seven weeks plus the 50th day. And we’ll also cover the 50th day too because there is even a harvest on that day, and that is the harvest outside of the Church age. Right now we’re living in the Church age and Revelation 2 and 3 contains #1 the seven churches which were there, literal seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3. It contains a prophetic history of God’s Church down through history and it also shows the attitude of any individual Christian or individual congregations of Christians at any one time as you go down through history. There is also the possibility # 3, that at the end we also have as God views things by attitude and works and things like this, that there will be seven churches at the end. So it’s very interesting how you have the parallel there. The Church began on Pentecost. You have seven churches down through history. And then that all leads up to the return of Jesus Christ.

And so this time we’re going to begin with the church at Pergamos. Now last time we ended up with the church at Smyrna. Now here the church at Pergamos things really get into a very difficult way with the Church. Let’s pick it up here Revelation 2:12. “And to the angel of the church in Pergamos…” Now as I mentioned, angel can mean messenger. Because I cannot picture an angel having the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, nor can I picture an angel of God eating things sacrificed to idols. So this has to mean the messenger. “And to the [messenger] angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith He which hath the sharp sword with two edges” (Rev. 2:12). Now we’ll come back an analyze each one of these things as we go along.

“I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is [and that’s the same word for throne]: and thou holdest fast My name, and have not denied My faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you , where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it” (vs. 13-17).

Now let’s go back and let’s begin analyzing these things here a bit. First of all the church in Pergamos had a pagan history going way back, reaching clear back into the time of the Babylonian mystery religious system. And Alexander Hyslop in the book “The Two Babylons”, has this to say concerning the church in Pergamos. Because in Pergamos there was the sovereign pontiff of the pagan religion. And we are going to see that the king of Pergamos willed everything in Pergamos, that means everything concerning the religious rites, as well as the land, the city, and the whole thing, to the Roman Empire. Now I’m going to read to you beginning on page 240.

“Still the sovereign pontiff of Rome, even after the Etruscan idolatry was absorbed into the Roman system, was only an offshoot from the grand original Babylonian system. He was a devoted worshipper of the Babylonian god; but he was not the legitimate representative of that God. The true legitimate Babylonian Pontiff had his seat beyond the bounds of the Roman empire. That seat, after the death of Belshazzar, and the expulsion of the Chaldean priesthood from Babylon by the Medo-Persian kings, was at Pergamos, where afterwards was one of the seven churches of Asia. There, in consequence, for many centuries was “Satan’s seat” (Rev. ii. 13).” That is the seat of religious authority. “There, under favour of the deified kings of Pergamos, was his favourite abode, there was the worship of AEsculapius, under the form of the serpent, celebrated with frantic orgies and excesses, that elsewhere were kept under some measure of restraint. At first, the Roman Pontiff had no immediate connection with Pergamos and the hierarchy there…” So we’re also going to see that the hierarchy is involved here. “…Yet, in course of time, the Pontificate of Rome and the Pontificate of Pergamos came to be identified. Pergamos itself became part and parcel of the Roman empire, when Attalus III., the last of its kings, at his death, left by will all his dominions to the Roman people, B.C. 133. For some time after the kingdom of Pergamos was merged in the Roman dominions, there was no one who could set himself openly and advisedly to lay claim to all the dignity inherent in the old title of the kings of Pergamos. The original powers even of the Roman Pontiffs seem to have been by that time abridged, but when Julius Caesar, who had previously been elected Pontifex Maximus, became also, as Emperor, the supreme civil ruler of the Romans, then, as head of the Roman state, and head of the Roman religion, all the powers and functions of the true legitimate Babylonian Pontiff were supremely vested in him,…” (pgs. 240-241, The Two Babylons)

Now that’s important because the shift coming over, as we will see, the ones who were the true Christians in Pergamos undoubtedly left and what remained was the beginning of the Catholic church. And so this shows how the whole thing transited from one to the other.

“Then he seems to have laid claim to the divine dignity of Attalus, as well as the kingdom that Attalus had bequeathed to the Romans, as centering in himself;…” (pg. 241). So this shows then how Pergamos came to be identified with Rome. And there are some very important things concerning that.

Now, so Pergamos was the throne of Satan the devil. Now notice verse 12, what Christ says here. “…These things saith He which hath the sharp sword with two edges;…” Now that is the word of God. Sharp sword with two edges. So He’s going to fight against them with His word.

Let’s go to Hebrews 4, and we find that God’s word is likened unto a sharp two-edged sword. Now this is what we were talking about because all of God’s word proceeds from God, for out of the mouth of God, and so Christ is saying here that with the sharp sword that is coming out of His mouth that He is going to judge them by His word. And He’s going to come after them according to His power.

Verse 12, “For the word of God is quick [and that means living], and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner [or that is a judge] of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:12-13). And laid open means to be laid bare. In other words there is nothing, nothing whatsoever that God does not see or know or understand. So those people who think that they can fool God or somehow do things that God says you shouldn’t do, all they’re doing is stacking up the two-edged sword against themselves and God’s judgment will come upon them. The only thing is that a lot of people do not understand is that God will let wickedness prosper for a while to give them a space of repentance whether they will turn back to God or not. So here, God is forewarning them right at the beginning in Pergamos, that He is going to judge them with His sharp two-edged sword.

Now, we have the same thing when we come back here to the Revelation 19. We find that when Christ returns He is going to use His sharp sword again, not only His power of plagues as He has, but He’s also going to use the sword with which He’s going to smite the nations.

Now let’s pick it up here in Revelation 19:11, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself” (Rev. 19:11-12). Now you see how the eyes of the flame of fire tie right back into what we read there in the first chapter. So what we find in the book of Revelation where Christ said He’s the beginning an the ending, the first and the last, we find many of these things going back and forth in the book of Revelation and tying it all together.

Now what we need to understand is that the book of Revelation is such that you have a good grasp of the rest of the Bible in order to begin to put all the things in Revelation together and to understand what’s going on.

Another thing too, if you would do a study, go through and write the Ten Commandments as you go through, and then study the book of Revelation and see how many of these Ten Commandments are contained in there. Now we know that the Church of God keeps the Sabbath so it doesn’t have to relate to the Sabbath directly there, but it says in keeping the commandments, and here are those who have the faith of Jesus Christ and keep His commandments.

Verse 13, “And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron:…” Now notice how that goes right back to several things there even in chapter 2 where it talks about Thyatira ruling with a rod of iron. “…And He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (vs. 13-16). And we’re going to see that’s why God has to come and fight against those in Pergamos. Because then we will see not only do they have a hierarchy but then they change the nature of the worship of God and the commandments of God, which then we will see are the deeds of the Nicolaitans. And those deeds relate right down into today’s religion of Catholicism and Protestantism, and all into all of the pagan religions, as we will see.

Ok, let’s come back here to Revelation 2 again, and let’s continue on with Pergamos and all the things that are there. But you see, it’s just like anything else. When you live in a society that is so wrapped up in evil, and in this case where Satan’s seat is. And what is the old saying? “When in Rome do as the Romans do.” And so you become affected by it. You see the pagan religion there with all of it’s hierarchy, all of the organization that’s going on. And I remember watching a television program about so called St. Ignatius and how he helped organize things leading up to the Catholic church. And the thing that he did more than anything else was, he got all of the churches out of the homes, cause that’s where they were meeting – in homes. And got them into an organized hierarchy. And so this is very similar to what we’re confronted with here.

Now notice He says, “I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast My name, and hast not denied My faith…” Now that was for only a while. And this is the only good thing that Christ has to say about the church at Pergamos. And that was only temporary, you see. “…Even in those days wherein Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth” (Rev. 2:13). Not only is his seat there but that’s where he dwells. Antipas can also be equated to anti-pope, or against the pope. Now you see how that ties in with the supreme pontiff in Pergamos as Alexander Hislop brought out in the book, “The Two Babylons”.

Let’s talk about the things concerning Balaam now. Balaam becomes very important because Balaams philosophy was bring them all together in the same worship. And if you can do that then you can bring God’s curse upon them because I cannot curse, myself. Remember the whole account of Balaam. He could not curse. So what he did, he told Balac that if you seduce them with the women and idolatry then God will have to judge them. And we’ll see sure enough that’s what God had to do. And it was quite a thing that was done.

“But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication” (vs. 14).

Now let’s go back and see that. Let’s go back to Numbers 25. If you want to read the whole account of Balaam you can do that. Numbers 22 through 24. We won’t spend the time there. So we’re going to Numbers 25 to see the result of that counsel. Now this has quite a few implications because it also has to do with combining the religious practices… And remember what God said…

Here, hold your place in Numbers 25 and let’s go to Deuteronomy 12 for just a minute here. This becomes profoundly important because He already told them this several times. Let’s pick it up here in verse 28. “Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.” We’re also going to see that the doctrine of the Nicolaitans impacts upon this as well. “When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them…” And that’s what they were doing right there coming in ready to take over the land and the children of Moab were right there. “Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did the nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise” (Deut 12:28-30). And so what we’re dealing with, with the doctrine of Balaam is ecumenism of bringing all religions together.

“Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which He hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it” (vs. 31-32). So Balaam instructed Balac, “Now look, you get your religious leaders up here, and you get the women up here, and you will be able to seduce Israel. I can’t curse them but God will have to punish them, which will be better than my curse.” So let’s read it, and let’s see what happened.

Numbers 25:1, “ And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods:…” Now how important is it not to get involved with other religions? Very important. “…And the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor:…” So there you go right into Baal worship. So Baalism is the same as Baal worship though the names don’t mean the same thing. Baal-peor because it was at Peor that this took place. And Baal is the, you know, Nimrod, the sun god, so forth. “…And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel” (Nu. 25:1-3). Now was the anger of the LORD kindled against Pergamos? Yes, He warned them didn’t He?

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun…” In other words, in executing them go ahead and cut off their heads and hang them up. “…that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-peor” (vs. 4-5). Now this ought to tell us that God does not want Sunday worship. And I have some tremendous information in this book I’ll tell you about a little bit later on that has an awful lot to do with Sunday worship, and how that came into the Church.

“And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel…”, right there even while the correction was going on. I mean you talk about gall and audacity. ‘…Who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly.” Probably caught them right in the act and just did them in. “So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand” (vs. 6-9).

Now I want you to notice the parallel between Phinehas here in Numbers 25, and Antipas back there in Revelation 2. Antipas was a man who stood for the word of God. Stood for the faith of Christ. Resisted all of this ecumenising of bringing religions together. Kept the faith of Christ, but he was slain for it. Now here the parallel ends, because Phinehas was given a perpetual blessing, however it makes you wonder…could it be that Antipas was one of the descendants of Phinehas.

Notice this, let’s read it. “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned away My wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for My sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in My jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him My covenant of peace” (vs. 10-12).

Now if you haven’t got the series “The Covenants of God In The Bible”, be sure and write for it because that is quite a series going through all the covenants in the Bible. There is more than just what is called the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Here we find a special covenant given to Phinehas, the son of Eleazar.

“And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood…”, meaning that he will always have someone standing before God to serve God. “…because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel. Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites. And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian” (vs. 13-15).

So just like happens always, the way that you come in to seduce a nation is you get the leaders together and then it filters down to the people. That’s the way it always has been. That’s the way it even is going today. That’s why all these nations get together, make these agreements, have the trade agreements and so forth.

Now let’s come over here to Micah 6, there’s another reference to it. And while we’re turning to Micah, suffice to say that when the children of Israel did conquer the land, they did go into Moab and they took and killed Balaam, and they killed all the males, even the young ones. Moses was angry at them because they didn’t slay all of them, so he let them have a concession of having the small young girls who had never known a man, that they could keep them as handmaids. That was it. But it’s very interesting here in Micah 6 we find that Balaam the son of Beor is also mentioned in relationship to coming before God. Let’s go back here to Micah 5:11 so we get the story flow here, and so how that relates to Balaam the son of Beor.

Verse 11, “And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds.” Now I want you to know how closely that this follows even the prophecy in Revelation 2 where God said He was going to come against them with a sharp two-edged sword, and that he would fight against them. So here’s a lesson concerning the children of Israel in the same thing.

“And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers: thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities. And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard” (vs. 12-15).

Now chapter 6 and verse 1, “Hear ye not what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD’S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with His people, and He will plead with Israel.” And what is that controversy? That controversy is related to Balaam the son of Beor. “O My people, what have I done unto thee?” We’ll see how this parallels also the church of Pergamos. What did God do to you? See. “And wherein have I wearied thee? testify against Me. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I send before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; thay ye may know the righteousness of the LORD”(Micah 6:1-5). In otherwords all these things at the end of chapter 5 relate to what Balaam counseled Balac to do in order to seduce the children of Israel.

Now verse 6, “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God?” Now you see we’re going to learn that the doctrine of the Nicolaitans coupled with Balaam, and eating things sacrificed to idols is a religious doctrine on how to approach God. So this fits in just tremendously with it. How do you come before God? “…Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” All of those revert back to the pagan practices. “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (vs. 6-8).

Now let’s come back to Revelation 2. So we find here that they committed fornication. But this not only was that, he counseled them to eat things sacrificed to idols. Now eating things sacrificed to idols in today’s terminology has been shifted over from animal sacrifice to the Eucharist. So what we really have here, we have the beginning of the Eucharist. Because all of these things tie in and go back to Babylon the Great.

Now remember Revelation 17, the woman, mother of harlots, mystery Babylon. She has in her hand a golden censor, cup and everyone is drinking out of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. So you see this ties right in with it. And what is one of the first things that they began doing… Now let’s stop and think how we saw the Church of God change, that is i.e. the Worldwide Church of God. First of all they changed the nature of God. Then they began bringing in Easter, downgrading the Passover. And then they began bringing in having communion, which is the first step away from Passover going toward the Eucharist. And then they said, “Well why don’t we celebrate it quarterly like the Seventh Day Adventists do.” So they got that in. And then they said, “Well, why don’t we do it weekly like the Protestants do? The final step is, “Why don’t we have the Eucharist like the Catholics do?” Because that’s where it’s all going to end up and then you are truly eating something sacrificed to an idol because the Eucharist little wafers are contained where? They’re contained in a little box on the altar that is called the tabernacle. And the wafers are called the host. And above it is a statue of Mary. And all of their prayers have to do with idolatry. And even this little wafer is idolatry. Then the final thing with the Eucharist is this. You have what is called transubstantiation , which means that the priest who asks the blessing on the wafer, which is round symbolizing the sun god, he has the power to command God to come down and put His presence directly into the bread so that the bread, when the participants eat it, is called the actual body and blood of Christ. So that’s what this is leading to. So if they’re things sacrificed to idols, we find that over in Thyatira too, how this thing has developed then even more.

Now then we come down here to verse 15. So remember the fornication is not just physical fornication alone, but it is spiritual fornication. And wherever you have the Roman Gnostic system, as we will see as brought out in this book by Alan Knight, wherever we have that we also have the sin of literal fornication. Now just stop and think about it. Forty percent of the Catholic priests have AIDS – HIV. Now they didn’t get it drinking coffee at a coffeehouse. Enough said.

Now let’s look at the Nicolaitans. There are two things we need to understand. Number one, there is the hierarchy. Number two, they’re corrupting the truth. Let’s first of all look at where Jesus warned the disciples about the corruption of the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees. Let’s come back to Matthew 16.

A comment was made that the wafer has stamped in it IHS, which Catholics claim is for “in His service”. Now that is exoteric knowledge so everyone will think well it’s a good thing. But those initials really go back to Nimrod and Horus and Semiramis. Isis, Horus, and Semiramis. You see that’s where it goes back to. So you see God will let them bring their blatant paganism right out into the open. Yes, a comment was made that IHS is on every Catholic grave too. Amazing isn’t it?

Now let’s come to Matthew 16:6. “Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” Now what had the Jews done, all of them? Well they made traditions after traditions, after traditions and substituted their traditions, rejecting the word of God so that they would follow those. So we have a very good lesson here when we come back to the Nicolaitans and how they corrupt the word of God. Because we will see there were other forces involved which also came from Judaism, and we also saw came from Simon Magusism, that came together to form the doctrines of the Nicolaitans. And you’re going to be absolutely amazed what that is.

“And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus perceived, He said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many basket ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees” (vs. 7-12). So that is their teaching.

Now you see what we are dealing with. We are dealing with the Jewish religion at that time, which also had brought in many, many, many of the pagan concepts into what they were doing. Even in the sacrifices at the temple that they were performing. And so there’s a great lesson for us here. And when you go back and you understand what has happened, which we’ll bring out in just a little bit, it’s really quite a thing.

Now let’s look at the other one and then we’ll come back to the first one. Let’s look first of all, since we’re here in Matthew let’s come to Matthew 20. And the first thing the Nicolaitans are noted for is hierarchy. Now let’s look first of all… Go ahead and take a little article we have here, “The Nicolaitans” by J.H. Allen. Now he’s the one who was the author of Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright. And that’s the one that Herbert Armstrong followed for writing his book United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy.

Now, you can have this. We won’t refer to it very much in the sermon but you can have it so you can read. There will be a couple things that we will cover here a little bit later. But first of all let’s understand that Nicolas means, “to conquer”, or “the conqueror”. Laos means, “people”. Hence you get the word Nicolaitans, which means “the conquering or the overlording of the laity”. In other words, one of the sins of the Nicolaitans, one of their deeds is making a great separation between the ministry and the brethren. So the establishing of the hierarchy. Now on page three let’s just read one paragraph, which is the third one from the bottom. See how this came into the Catholic church and the Catholic church starts right out in “My Catholic Faith”, which is that the Roman Catholic church with it’s hierarchy is the ONLY church of God on earth. And that outside of the hierarchy you have no salvation.

Now here, the third paragraph from the bottom on page 3 of the article “The Nicolaitans”, it’s quoting from the Century Dictionary. “If anyone shall say that there is not in the Catholic Church a hierarchy established by the divine ordination, consisting of bishops, presbyters and ministers, let him be anathema, Council of Trent (trans) XXII6.” Now then the Council of Trent was specifically set up for the counter reformation against the Protestants.

Now let’s come here to Matthew 20 and let’s see how that is directly against what Jesus said. That’s why in the things that we do, if you’ve heard me say over and over again, which I will say again. We will not have a hierarchy in the Christian Biblical Church of God. We will have elders and overseers. We will have teachers and helps but we will not have a hierarchy. Because the brethren are not to be cut off from the elders, the ministers. They are not to be lorded over by them, and Christ made this very plain to the ones who became the apostles. So if there were anyone who… And remember, remember the church at Ephesus hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans, so they knew to fight against the hierarchy. And as we’ll see a little bit later on, the doctrine of corrupting the word of God.

Now, Matthew 20:25, “But Jesus called them…”, that’s after they had the dispute about the mother of John and James asking for the right and left hand beside Christ. Of course it made all the rest of them angry, so Christ had to settle an argument among the apostles. And He said, “…Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles [now princes just means rulers] exercise dominion over them…” Now to exercise dominion, that comes from the Greek word katakurieuo, which means to exercise dominion downward. That’s why it says “over them”. “…And they that are great exercise authority upon them.” Now authority comes from the Greek katexousiazo. And authority, that is authority downward.

Now the “princes” are the civil rulers. The “great ones” are the religious rulers. Did we not read that last time about Simon Magus? Was he not a religious ruler? Hold your place here. Let’s go back and just review that for a minute, because this becomes very important because this will help lead in to the other doctrines of the Nicolaitans and we will see that the very doctrines of the Nicolaitans and the teachings that came from the Gnostics exist today. And that this is part of what we have been fighting when we have been seeing the deterioration of the Church of God.

Acts 8:9, “But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery…” Now did we not read how God condemned that back in Micah 5. Witchcraft and sorcery, and things sacrificed to idols, and Baal worship. “…And bewitched the people…” In other words he had them hypnotized, mass hypnotism, deceived the people. “…Of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one.” Now notice this came out from him. That’s very important because we’re going to see that the Nicolaitans talk about the doctrines of sanctity within and how that connects with angels and how that connects with the problems that entered into the New Testament Church.

“To whom they all gave heed…” Why did they give heed? Because he exercised katexousiazo, authority downward. In other words let’s look at it this way. Since he gave himself out as some great one, was he not above all the people? Yes. If they all gave heed to him, was he not over them and lording it down upon them with these means? No doubt about it. “To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.” Now that’s quite a title. That is quite a title. “And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries” (Act. 8:9-11).

Now let’s come back to Matthew 20. Now you know why Peter so roundly rebuked him. Now Matthew 20:26, Christ said, “But it shall not be so among you…” I wonder how many years those scriptures were avoided. (Laughter) “…But whosoever will be great among you, let him be your [servant] minister…” That’s what minister means – a servant.