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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.
Now let’s finish this section off concerning not to lord it over the flock.
Let’s come here to 1 Peter 5. I know we’ve covered this somewhat in
the past. I think we did when we covered with Simon Magus but let’s go
ahead and read it into the record so we have it all here together.
Now 1 Peter 5:1, “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an
elder…” Now this helps us understand that even though Peter was an
apostle, he considered himself an elder. “…And a witness of the
sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be
revealed.” Because he went James and John to the mount of
transfiguration and saw Jesus in His glorified form.
Verse 2, “Feed the flock of God…” That’s what it’s to be. It’s
not to be an office over. It is not to be one of glory, self-serving,
dictatorial things at all. “Feed the flock of God which is among you,
taking the oversight…” Now there is a difference between oversight and
overlording. Oversight is that you oversee that everything is done
properly and in order. Overlord is you make everyone come under you
and force them to do your will. There’s a vast difference.
“…Taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not
for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock” (vs. 2-3).
And so the thing that anyone who is an elder has to remember: All the
brethren belong to God. They are the flock of God. They are His.
And as stewards we are to take care of the flock of God as we take care of
another persons property. That’s what a steward is. It is also
called in today’s language a fiduciary relationship. Which means that
you look out for the best interests of the one that you are working for,
such as in the case of a real estate broker in helping someone buy or sell a
house. You have a fiduciary relationship with that person that you
have to give the utmost of honesty, integrity, service, knowledge,
disclosure and everything like that.
So likewise it is with the elders and those who oversee, it is a fiduciary
responsibility because you are responsible for those whom God has called.
Because no man calls anyone else to Christ. Christ along can call.
Now men have to make the word of God available through preaching or writing
or as we have here in this case, cassette or video or whatever means.
And like we have now with the video site.
Now notice the exaltation for those who then are the elders, comes at the
resurrection, verse 4. “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall
receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” So we’re not to look
for rewards in this life. Status, power, and especially getting into
the things concerning politics and super-exaltation and things like this.
No. No way. So that’s part of the doctrine of the Nicolaitans
contained right in the name. The name names them for what they are –
lords over the laity.
Now let’s look at some other things concerning the deeds of the
Nicolaitans. It doesn’t say the deed but the deeds. And this is
going to be very interesting because most of this will be for all of us new
material.
Now when I was on my trip during the Feast of Unleavened Bread in Dayton,
someone gave me this book, “Primitive Christianity in Crisis” by Alan Knight. And I put
it away and I didn’t start reading it till I started on the plane trip
coming back from Phoenix. Now Alan Knight lives in Antioch,
California, which is just north of us here. So when I was about half
way through reading the book I wrote him a letter and told him and sent him
a Passover book, and “Lord What Should I Do”, and “The Seven General
Epistles” book, and told him that I thought his book was really quite good.
Since I couldn’t get his phone number I gave him mine, and he called me.
And I talked to him the other day on the phone, and I think we can do quite
a bit with some of the things that he has here. Now he used to be in
WCG and Ambassador College and he left Ambassador College after 2 years,
1960. And he left Worldwide in 1970. But he has written this
book which is really quite good, “Primitive Christianity in Crisis”.
Now primitive Christianity means this: it is the pure Christianity as
Christ and the apostles taught it. This book shows what happened to
it. “The ‘Mystery of Lawlessness’, Prophecies: Nicolaitan
Christianity for Our Time.” Now he’s got some other writings that he’s
going to do. Let me just summarize the first part of it which is
called Hellenism. Now Hellenism is the Greek religions, all of them.
And there was a great religious reformation that took place, which moved
away from animal sacrifices to the religion of the immortality of the soul,
and the inner strength, and the worshipping of gods, and the worshipping of
angels. And one of the things that came out of that were the
mystery cults and they had a new spirituality, which then was concentrating
from within. And this goes back and comes from the philosophy of
Pythagoras and Orpheus, and it was the spiritual development of the inner
spirit with the immortality of the human soul and its repeated incarnation
in the human body.
Now at the same time that this was taking place there was also in the East,
in Asia… And this is in the 500 and 600’s B.C., which ties into the
time that the children of Israel were in captivity in Babylon. And in
history this time is called an Axial Period. And Axial means a
profound historical development that took place universally across the whole
face of civilization. Not only did this religious reformation take
place in Greece, which then spread to all of the Mediterranean area, because
that was all conquered later by Alexander the Great. But also in the 5th and 6th century B.C. it went eastward too and developed into the
religion of Hinduism and Buddhism and that is the same thing that we have
today in Hinduism and Buddhism with reincarnation and karma, and the spirits
and all of this sort of thing. So it’s really quite a thing, how this
also was centered around the stars, and then the planets. And the
planets were originally called the wandering stars.
Then he brings in Greek philosophy, and so forth, and brings about the
historical development of the new Hellenistic religion. Now this
becomes very important, especially when I get into the series concerning
Hebrews because Hebrews was written to the Hellenistic Christians. And
Hellenism, though it is paganism, did not come out of paganism but it came
out of pagan Judaism. This also affected the Jews.
Now let me come here to page 41. Now I’ll give you the address here
before I get off this tape here. I’ll give the address where you can
write for it. Now page 41.
Gnostic Christianity in History
“What does all this have to do with Christianity? It has everything
to do with it because a large part of the Christian movement in the first
century combined Hellenistic [that is Greek philosophies] religion with New
Testament Christianity to create a hybrid called Gnostic Christianity” (pg.
41). And that’s what all the forces are dealing with when we read in
the epistles of the apostle Paul.
It should be obvious from the start that Gnostic Christianity in general is
merely another manifestation of the reformation of Greek religion that began
with Orphism and Pythagoreanism.” “For Gnostics the world is altogether
evil, and so its creator Yahweh and his religion must be absolutely evil as
well” (pg. 42). Now this becomes important because the same philosophy comes
down today of rejecting the Old Testament and the laws and commandments of
God and is in fact the very heart and core of what I’m teaching against
concerning refuting Sunday-keeping, and out of the book that I’m doing by
Tarbor.
Now continuing on page 42. “The Gnostics, however, were Christians.
They came into existence in the first century of the Christian era, almost
immediately after the death and resurrection of Christ and the founding of
the church. The teachings of the Bible about evil, the emphasis on
evil as the great problem of mankind, had to be incorporated into the mix.”
“However, in the Gnostic mainstream, Hebrew religion generally was viewed
as totally evil.” That’s the whole Old Testament.
Sabbath-keeping, holy day keeping, and so forth. “Gnostics saw
themselves as a reformation, not of Judaism but of the New Testament Church,
the so called Primitive or ‘Jewish’ Christianity that prevailed for a time
after the founding of the church in the 30s A.D.” (pg. 43).
“By a process…” Now here it talks about how they believe. “The
basic reinterpretation of biblical religion under Gnosticism is as follows:
The world was not created by the highest deity, the Father…” Now this
will begin to ring a lot of bells as we go through. How many times are
we told that Christ was God? You can just start out with the first
three verses of Gospel of John. “In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
“…The world was not created by the highest deity, the Father…” So
they believed in the Father. “…But by an emanation from the Father.
This is the demiurge, generally equated with Yahweh, the God of the Old
Testament. He is an inferior, deluded and often evil being. His
claims to be the supreme God are a wicked delusion, and man must by all
means reject him and his religion. For Gnostics, the Old Covenant and
the Old Covenant God have to be evil” (pg. 44). Because they viewed
everything materialistically evil. Now this is a little more radical
than what it’s developed into. Since it’s developed and it’s come
along and evolved where they dropped some of the radicalism of it, this kind
of thing of being against materialism is the very foundation for the
monastic societies, where you deprive yourself of all physical things.
Swear a poverty vow, and so forth. Which, by the way, those of
Buddhism do. Many in Hinduism do. So you see it’s with us
today.
“If the material world is evil then its creator equally must be evil.
The religion of the Old Covenant is a false religion based on materialistic
animal sacrifice. It deceives man into seeking spirituality in the
material world, keeping him in bondage to this world” (pg. 44). So now
along comes Christianity and ha-ha. Now we have something that agrees
with us. The end of animal sacrifices.
“By a process of emanations or a fall from a higher state, spirit has
become trapped in the material world. The true Father has sent Christ
to rescue the spark of spirit that exists in some men, to reveal the
knowledge (gnosis)…” And today the inheritors of gnosis are the
Masons. To reveal the gnosis, or the knowledge. Now you see, we
are to grow in what? Grace and knowledge. See. You’re
going to see how all this fits in. It is so clever. It is
absolutely just unreal. That’s why it’s called the mystery of
iniquity, or lawlessness. “…The knowledge (gnosis) that will
rescue these souls from the God of the Old Testament and his material
creation, and enable them to enter heaven” (pg. 44). So that’s how going to
heaven entered into the so-called Christian church.
“So Gnosticism viewed the religion of the New Covenant as a spiritual
teaching that liberates man from material existence” (pg. 44). Because
what are we to do? We are to not give into the desires of lust of the
flesh, correct? Now, when we get done with this, and I’ll bring a full
sermon on it, what is the mystery of iniquity, or the mystery of
lawlessness? You’re going to be surprised.
“It [Gnosticism] is a religion focusing on the heavens, and the inner life
of the soul, the divine spark which is from the heavens and which takes us
back there after death” (pg. 44). Mormonism today. In Mormonism
you were once a spirit in heaven. And Adam and Eve had to sin so they
could bring forth children, so that these spirits in heaven could come down
and possess a human body so then they could be perfected and go back to
heaven. That’s Mormonism today. Mormonism is pure Gnosticism.
“Some Gnostics especially relied on the writings of Paul, because of his
common emphasis on the superiority of the New Testament. However,
Gnosticism also relied heavily on the theory of progressive revelation,
claiming special, private revelations to support their reinterpretation of
New Testament Christianity. Many Gnostic texts claim a special
revelation from Christ after the resurrection, which supercedes New
Testament scripture” (pg. 44). Now what are those called in the
Catholic church today? Traditions. This is something.
It talks about then a little bit here concerning Simon Magus. Let’s
go to page 51.
Second Century and Later Gnostic Sects
“The Nicolaitans had disappeared by 200 A.D.…” That is the radical
Nicolaitans. “…And the Simonians by 250 A.D.…” That is the ones
who followed Simon Magus. Now why did they disappear? Because
through the evolution of moderacy then they were moderated and evolved into
another form. “In any event many more Gnostic sects appeared in their
place to carry on the tradition. As time progressed, Gnosticism
flourished in many new forms as it continued to mix and match ideas from the
broad range of Hellenistic religion and New Testament Christianity.”
“The Gnostic teacher Carpocrates founded his movement in Alexandria, Egypt,
in the mid-100’s. He taught that the world was created by inferior
angels. Jesus was an extraordinary man with a pure soul, but not
divine. Carpocrates taught a libertine Christian ethic and antinomian
[which the Greek word is anomian, which means “against law”]
theology. To become free from the evil creator God, one must
aggressively insult the God of the Old Testament by flagrantly violating His
law. According to Carpocrates, there is no fixed standard of morality.
It is, after all, he claimed, only a matter of opinion, as witnessed by the
multitude of opinions on the subject found throughout the world.” Now
isn’t that exactly what we have in the ecumenical movement today? Your
religion is only a matter of opinion, as they view it.
Now here’s a quote from Irenaeus, Against Heresies. “We
are saved, indeed, by means of faith and love; but all other things, while
in their nature indifferent, are reckoned by the opinion of men some good
and some evil, but there is noting evil by nature” (pg. 52).
“Once again, this does not mean they totally abandoned morality.” And this
is the key. The mystery of lawlessness does not get rid of moral
values. But it substitutes it’s own standards. “The argument was that
nothing is intrinsically good or evil but depends on the situation and
especially its relation to the issue of materialism. By breaking
free from Jewish religion you will enable your mind to reorient itself
towards the inner soul and its connection with the heavens and the
spirituality that comes from above” (pg. 53).
Now before I read the next section let’s go to 1 John 4 please. This
is a direct teaching against the Nicolaitan Gnostics who were bringing it
into the Church then. Verse 1, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are
gone out into the world.” Now this tells us something very important.
Wherever you have false prophets you have demonism, called false spirits.
Now one thing that we have failed to understand is… You go back and
you read the gospel sections, how many times did Jesus come into a synagogue
and the demons were the ones who recognized Him? But why would the
demons be in the synagogue? Because they want to be brought back to
God somehow. So many of these teachings of Gnosticism and going to
heaven are demonic spirits contriving a way to reconstruct Christianity so
that they, through this person, can go back to heaven. Now that may
sound a little weird but that’s exactly what has happened. So you have
the false prophets, you have the false spirits.
Now verse 2, “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that [is
confessing] confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:”
Now that’s very important. And I spent quite a section in the Passover
book, chapter 26, explaining about the nature of God / the nature of man,
and the kind of flesh that Jesus took upon Himself. So anyone who
claims that He did not come in the flesh with the same flesh that we have,
that God indeed did do that, see. Anyone who does not claim that is of
the anti-christ.
Now the Gnostics said the world is evil, all physical things are evil, so
therefore flesh is evil. Since flesh is evil God would not come in the
flesh. It’s impossible for God to come in the flesh because God would
not do that. So this is what he’s talking about here.
Now today it’s modified a little bit in Gnostic Catholicism, or Catholic
Nicolaitanism, which is this: they believe that Jesus came in the flesh.
However what have they done? They have said that we go to heaven.
Now let’s finish this off here. “And every spirit that confesseth not
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God:…” If it’s not of
God, who is it from? Satan the devil, cause you only have the spirits,
which are angels from God, or the spirits which are angels from Satan the
devil. And he has his angels because Revelation 12 says that Satan
fought, and his angels fought. So he has angels. Notice, “…And
this is that spirit of anti-christ…” So Nicolaitanism is anti-christism. But what does
it do? It uses the name of Christ. “…Whereof ye have heard that
it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (vs. 3).
Now let’s come down here to verse 5. “They are of the world:
therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are
of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not
us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error [or
deception].”
Now, let me read this concerning the nature of Christ. “As we know,
they almost universally call themselves Christians [that is the Gnostics who
had gnosis]. Furthermore, there was no single body of Gnostic
doctrine, nor even a harmonious community of Gnostic Christianity.
They regurlarly condemned and fought among themselves, at the same time
denouncing their external enemies - Hellenistic mystery cults, Hellenistic
philosophy, and Hellenistic Roman Christianity.”
“The New Testament sometimes refers to them by one of their most common
doctrines. This is the docetic teaching that Jesus and the Christ are
not the same person. Most but not all Gnostics believed that Christ
was a spiritual being who entered into the man Jesus but withdrew just
before the crucifixion and it was only Jesus [the man] who died on the
cross. This is a natural product of Gnosticism’s extreme
interpretation of Hellenistic cosmology. If God is perfect and matter
is evil, then it is philosophically impossible that God could mix with
matter.” (pg.77)
What was the first thing that good old Stavrinides did? Remember
that? Changed the nature of God. And what did he say? God
is an emanation. Meaning, God is in everything that is created.
So you had Hellenistic Christianity come in, and who was Stavrinides?
He was half-Greek, and half-Turkish. Meaning he was an Esauite.
Ok, does that blow your mind or not?
Let’s come to 2 Thessalonians 2 here for just a minute and let’s see
something concerning this mystery of iniquity. This tells us that the
mystery of iniquity will, which was working then and we’re reading about it
here now, would continue and come down clear to our time. Paul says,
verse 7, “For the mystery of iniquity…”, and iniquity here is anomia where you get antinomeanism. That’s kind of a difficult word to say so
I’ll just call it anomia, which is the literal Greek word, meaning
“lawlessness”.
Now hold your place here and come to Matthew 7. Now we’re going to
read another scripture. Jesus gave a prophecy that this very thing
would happen. The very thing that I’m telling you about right now,
that I’m reading out of this book by Alan Knight, Primitive Christianity
in Crisis. Remember the Gnostics were Christians, so called.
The Nicolaitans were Christians, so called. They are called the
mystery of iniquity or lawlessness, but they have a form of morality, which
sounds very Biblical and as a matter of fact many times they even use some
of the Biblical commandments because they accept them.
But notice what Christ said here. And this is concerning false
prophets leading down to verse 21. “Not every one that saith unto Me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that [is
practicing] doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.” What was
the will of the Father concerning the Sabbath and holy days? Keep
them. All the will of God. You shall not add to, you shall not
take from. Meaning you shall not mix together, which is what they
did.
Now notice verse 22, “Many…” Now who are the many? Let’s read
that, verse 13, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the
gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many
there be which go in thereat:” That’s a majority of people.
That’s the majority of those who consider themselves Christian in this
world. Hence it also includes all of the other religions of the world
because they come from the same root: Babylon> Greece- Hellenistic
Christianity; Babylon> Buddhism- Hinduism- Shintoism- Animism, and the whole
thing all come out of Babylon.
Ok now back down to verse 22, “Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils?
and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you:…” And they claim to be Gnostics, knowing
I never knew you. “… Depart from Me, ye that work [anomia -
lawlessness] iniquity.” Now you know the scripture which says, “And
hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. Anyone
who says I know Him [gnosis] and keeps not His commandments is a
liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3-4, paraphrased).
Now with that background let’s continue on out of the book here, by Alan
Knight. I’m going to read from pages 106-107. The author Alan
Knight says, “I think it appropriate to mention here a common fault in the
world of Primitive Christianity.” Now that is the true Churches of
God. “Many tend to fixate on pagan customs and symbols in criticizing
Nicolaitan Christianity.” That is the idolatry of the Catholics, the
idolatry of the Protestants, and so forth, and they have their own.
“This is a valid issue, but the Bible demonstrates repeatedly that God is
displease by mixing his worship with pagan practices. But the Easter
bunny, and Santa Claus and Christmas trees really are not the core issue.”
In that he’s correct. That’s a periphery. That’s a start to
begin stripping it away from them. “Mixing pagan practices with the
worship of the true God, in an atmosphere of anything goes as long as you
paint it Christian, is only one example of the spirit of lawlessness.
The real, core issue is the underlying theological, de facto licensing of disobedience in general, the wave of sin and human misery that
comes from it in the form of war, divorce, the entire gamut and daily grind
of strife and emotional dysfunction that afflict mankind, and, most
important, the disrespect for God himself and his creation-centered
institutions that cuts man off from the true God of the universe.”
That’s the lawlessness we have today. Look at how the United States
is today as a result of Protestantism and Catholicism and bringing in a
gnosis that “I am good enough on myself that I, me, myself alone will
determine what is right.” Look at what we have, all done in the name
of Christ.
“After lawlessness comes docetism [which is that Christ descended into the
body of a man],… asceticism [which then leads to the monasteries and
depriving of the flesh]…” “We see that Gnostic Christians commonly
infiltrate the true church.” Does that ring a bell? Yes.
“This includes antinomian preachers operating inside the primitive church.
Antinomian Christians are depicted as hounding and slandering God’s people
with their false claims to be more spiritually advanced and the only true
Christians accepted by God.” Which is precisely what they say today
concerning Sabbath. Exactly the same thing.
Now here on page 117, I think is really a profound one. He goes
through showing the forms of spirituality, and going through the different
religions. Now this is a direct going after ecumenism.
“Does that mean all religions are a valid approach to God?” Now this
is currently what is done in ecumenism. So Nicolaitanism is also
ecumenism, isn’t it? Even the Catholics are now saying that there are
many roads to God. Some are in Hinduism, some are in Buddhism, some
are in Protestantism, and so forth, but we’re all going to heaven. And
even the Jews believe that. I saw a Rabbi on Larry King Live say,
“Well, yes we’re all going to heaven.” (Laughter) That’s that
fierce looking Rabbi with the black beard and the deep-set eyes. Ok.
He {Alan King} says, “I think not.” Now here’s something profound
that he wrote. “The religions of the world essentially are embodiments
of natural human spirituality…” And I will add to it: coupled with
demonic spirituality. Because wherever false prophets are there are
false spirits. “…All shaped by historical and cultural processes into
unique individual forms, incorporating much truth along with a large
assortment of error. As sponsors of natural human spirituality they
frequently guide their followers into genuinely godly conduct. They
often do a great deal of good.” That is why it is the spirit of
lawlessness, and why God hates it.
“The theological foundation of Gnostic libertinism is strikingly analogous
to what survives in modern Nicolaitan Christianity. This is the
teaching that moral conduct and law in general are commonly divorced from
salvation. Even intentional sin will not disqualify your salvation as
long as you maintain your inner spiritual relationship with God” (pg. 128).
Which then is this: Once you have been saved you are always saved
regardless of your conduct. And that’s what the Baptists teach.
They have Nicolaitanism. Yes and that’s what Worldwide is teaching
now.
There was a woman one time, where she said she was trying to explain some
things to her Baptist friend. And she said, “No, regardless of what I
do I’m saved. When the Rapture comes I’ll be raptured on.” She
looked her right in the eye and said, “You mean if you are right in the
middle of committing the act of adultery, that you would be raptured?”
She said, “Yes.”
“This is perfectly legitimate, they believe, if it is interpreted as
protecting man from materialistic passions that tie him to the world, and as
long as it is not associated with the deception of the Old Testament and
Judaism.” That is you can do whatever you want. “Thus Gnostics
could rail against the Old Testament and the evil creator God Yahweh, and
proclaim liberation from Hebrew law, and then turn right around and
substitute their own rules for human conduct that sometimes was quite
similar or even more strict than the laws of the Bible” (pg. 128).
A comment was made for the Jews. Read the code of Jewish law.
That is more strict. I mean you talk about strict. What it is,
it’s the type where they have so many laws they don’t want you to think.
You are bound up by those laws. Now this gets into a little bit of
Colossians 2, which we’ll cover a little later.
“Individual ascetic practices varied widely. Marriage commonly was
forbidden [1 Timothy 4], also wine and eating of meat [1 Timothy 4].
Water usually was substituted for wine in celebrating the Lord’s supper”
(pg. 128). That’s exactly what the Mormons do today. Precisely.
Mormonism is the most Gnostic religion today as far as getting right back to
the believing in angels and so forth. That’s what they say, when
you’re saved you become like an angel.
Now on page 129, “Some [Gnostics] promoted systems of magical charms to
overcome the evil angels who blocked the soul from ascending through the
planetary spheres after death.” That is to reach heaven. “Others
provided secret passwords to accomplish the same goal.” Masons.
Secret handshakes. And when the Mormons are married in the temple they
are given a secret temple name. “Some sects taught that Christian
converts obtained various forms of power that rendered them invisible to the
evil angels. Valentinian Gnostics believed their sacraments provided
them with a spiritual body of light that made them invisible to the demons.
They believed that participation in the eucharist clothed them with the
spiritual body of Christ, and this was the guarantee that they were
spiritual and would be saved.” Which comes right down into the
Catholic doctrine of taking the eucharist today. That the only way to
be saved is through the eucharist.
I’m happy that he wrote this book. I don’t remember who gave it to
me, but anyway you can get it by writing to:
ARC Research
1917 Mount Hamilton Drive
Antioch, California 94509
The price is $15 with shipping.
Now we’ll have to end it here but we’ll continue with this because this is
very important because when we get into the section concerning Thyatira,
that it’s developed even more. But suffice to say that Gnosticism and
Nicolaitanism is alive and well in this world. And we are going to see
that one of the things that the Gnostics did was that they said, because the
Sabbath was given of the God of the Old Testament, therefore they have a new
revelation that they now keep the eighth day instead of the seventh.
And the eighth day is the first day of the week. And so that came in
early, early on.
Now then you tie that into the one I did on Sabbath-keeping #8, and where I
bring out in Hebrews 4 about Sabbath-keeping. That’s why it’s so
important to understand that Hebrews was written to Hellenistic Christians
who were what? They were being infiltrated with the Gnostics,
infiltrated with this thing, Sunday-keeping and so forth, and having a
totally wrong perspective concerning the Old Covenant and the animal
sacrifices and the New Covenant in Christ sacrifice. So this is really
dynamite stuff and ties it all together. I know it’s a little
laborious to read some of these things but there is so much that it’s
absolutely incredible. Well I’ll quit here.
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