Categories
Bible Teaching

Mysteries That Reveal the End of the Age – G. T. Haywood

Mysteries That Reveal the End of the Age[1]

Bishop G. T. Haywood[2]

In the third chapter of Revelations, it is said: “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know they works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Verses 14 to 16. We are living in this day now, when men need to be anointed with eye-salve. It is the last period of the Church. From Adam to Christ 4,000 years rolled away into eternity; then from Christ’s time to the pouring out of His Spirit in seven-fold measure, that is, the fulness of the Spirit poured out to go through the entire Gospel age, and on through the same, almost 2,000 years have flown by, and we are found in the end of the age.

The Career of the Church

Garfield Thomas Haywood

The first period of the Church following the day of Pentecost was the Ephesian days; then followed the Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea periods in turn. There are seven of them. The seven branched candlestick which is shown in the first chapter of Revelation, refers to the seven-fold dispensation of the one church on earth throughout the gospel age.

Jesus, moreover, spake seven parables in the 13th chapter of Matthew, which are, in order, the parable of the sower, the wheat and tares; the grain of mustard seed; the leaven; the treasure hid in a field; the pearl of great price, and lastly, that of the net cast into the sea.

The same Jesus that spoke on the Isle of Patmos to seven churches is the same one who spake the seven parables in the days of His flesh, when in human form. When He spake the seven messages to the Church, He was in glorified form. And so when He spake the parables, he referred to the career of the Church on earth; and when He spoke of the seven candlesticks, He referred to the Seven periods of the Church in its spiritual relationship.

Truly the Word of God is like the bread with which Jesus fed the multitude: the more your break it the more there is to it. You can never exhaust the word of God. It is not possible to get to the place where you can truly say, “l am familiar with the whole Word,” for the true Word is God himself.

And so we find the parable of the sower compares with the Ephesian age; and the parable of the wheat and the tares corresponds to the Smyrnian age; the parable of the mustard seed to the Pergamite time; the parable of the leavened meal to the Thyatiran dispensation; the hid treasure compares to the Sardian period; the costly pearl to the Philadelphian age; and lastly the dragnet parable to the Laodicean, or lukewarm age, in which we are living. People neither call themselves saints nor sinners. You ask them if they are saints and they will say, “Why, no; that is foolishness.” They don’t feel a bit condemned about dancing, stealing and telling lies, playing cards, poker, chewing and smoking. But any man upon whom God has really put His seal, feels sorry at the least thing done contrary to God’s word. Let us take Ephesians 1:16, 17; and read, “Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.” That is, to know God, comes by revelation. It is not what you can study, neither what I can explain to you, but is what God can impress upon your heart by His Spirit.

“The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.”-Eph. 1:18. Now I cannot tell to save my life just what He has got in us. He has not made a bad bargain when He bought us! I used to think the rag man was the most foolish man, but I found later he could make more money out of those things than I could with my hard labor. Say, we were such a ragged pack of old bones; but God bought us with His own precious blood! There is something rich in glory about this purchasing our unworthy selves by the Lord. God could not be fooled. He knew His business. God says, “Why they are going to praise Me!” (And I am beginning it now!)

God desires that our eyes be anointed in these last days but it takes God to anoint our eyes. He is going to show us something, even beautiful things to come. I wish to give you the likeness of the parable of the Sower with the Church of Ephesus; and each of the other parables with each of the other Churches in turn. The word “Ephesus” refers to the “moon” and has the sense of the “beginning of the season.” So it was in the beginning of the season of the Gospel, that the Sower went forth to sow the word of God. The parable of the wheat and tares corresponds with the Church of Smyrna. There was a mixture of tares and wheat. So we find in Smyrna, “I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.”-Rev. 2:9. The wheat and the tares in the field are hypocrites mingling with the saints in the Church through tradition. Then we have the mustard seed, which when grown, became the greatest among herbs and becomes a tree, insomuch that the birds of the air came and lodged in the branches thereof. And to correspond with this, in the church of Pergamos Satan gained a seat; for God said: “I know where Satan’s seat is.”–Rev. 2:13.

Then we have a woman mentioned in both the parables of the leaven and the corresponding church in Thyatira. This woman taught them to commit fornication, which God calls the worshipping of more than one God.–Ex. 34:15, 16. Did not He accuse Israel of harlotry because she went after Baal? And that church of Thyatira taught them to worship three gods by hiding the doctrine in three persons in the Godhead, and leavened the whole religious world.

Next there is the hidden treasure parable. You read the parable and the letter to the Church of Sardis, and you have an exact picture of the life of the people of the Reformation. They did not have the “life” for they only had a name as being alive, but were dead.–Rev. 3:1. But Luther did have faith, though he gave them no life. That hid treasure was “faith.” He sold out all his future prospects with Catholicism so he could get this treasure. The world is the field.

The Philadelphian age of the church is the great age of holiness which began to be preached all over the world. A pearl is a gem which you might term as “brought about by the death of another.” For an oyster has to die to bring forth a pearl. It is a type of oneness and unity. Christ had to die to bring forth the Church, that true “Pearl.” Holiness truth is a wonderful pearl!

And God said, “Don’t cast your pearl before swine.” The parable of the Pearl and the Philadelphian period of the church are one and the same.

And the Church of the Laodiceans is the last church period; and the dragnet parable is the last parable, showing we are living in the lukewarm age of the church, in the end of the age, when God is dragging the gospel dragnet throughout the world. I believe that net is water baptism in Jesus’ name which has come forth “in the end of the Gospel Age.” The pen-photo of the nominal Church today is graphically portrayed in the letter to the Church of Laodicea. And it is at this same time that the net is being cast into the water in Jesus’ name. When one man came to me with the argument that some were going beck on the baptism in Jesus’ name, I went to the Lord and the Lord said, “Look at the parable.” I read it again and it says, He “cast the bad away.”-Matt. 13:48. Thank God that them who come unto Him with a good and honest heart He will in no wise case out.

One of the things we really need to know, is something on the dispensations. Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled. Repent and believe the Gospel.” And I say to you, the time is fulfilled. Repent and believe ye the Gospel! The coming of the Lord is at hand. Let thy kingdom come!

[1] SOURCE: https://www.apostolic.edu/mysteries-that-reveal-the-end-of-the-age-by-bishop-g-t-haywood/. Accessed: 12/09/2022. THE ABOVE MATERIAL WAS TAKEN FROM EARNEST CONTENDERS FOR THE FAITH BY ELDER JAMES L. TYSON AND PUBLISHED BY PENTECOSTAL PUBLICATIONS, 1982, PAGES 7-11. THIS MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY BE USED FOR STUDY & RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.

[2] BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Bishop Garfield Thomas Haywood was born July 15, 1880, in Greencastle, Indiana. His parents were Ben and Penn Ann Haywood. In 1883 he and his family moved to Indianapolis where he would reside the remainder of his life. Bishop Haywood never finished high school, but was nonetheless a great scholar, artist, composer of songs, and author, which became evident in his later life. On February 11, 1902, he married Ida Howard of Owensboro, Kentucky. To this union was born one daughter, Fannie Haywood (Ellis). Bishop Haywood received the Holy Ghost in February of 1908. He assumed the pastorate of a disorganized group of 13 people in 1909, and built it into one of the most outstanding churches of the generation. Christ Temple of Indianapolis, Indiana, still stands as a monument to the feats done under the leadership of this warrior of the Gospel. Bishop Haywood, from about 1910-1914, was a viable force in the Assemblies of God. He came under conviction of the “Jesus Name” baptism in 1915 and from that time established himself as a proponent of the deity of Christ. He rose through the ranks of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, serving as general presbyter, and finally as its first Presiding Bishop. He held that office for six years until his untimely death. Bishop Haywood left this earthly abode at 10:40 AM Sunday morning, April 12, 1931, at the age of 51.

Categories
Consider this...

The Hidden Line – Joseph A. Alexander

The Hidden Line (The Destiny of Men)

By: Joseph Addison Alexander (1809-1860)

There is a time, we know not when,

A point we know not where,

That marks the destiny of men

To glory or despair.

There is a line by us unseen,

That crosses every path;

The hidden boundary between

God’s patience and his wrath.

To pass that limit is to die–

To die as if by stealth;

It does not quench the beaming eye

Or pale the glow of health.

The conscience may be still at ease,

The spirit lithe and gay;

That which pleases still may please,

And care be thrust away

But on that forehead God has set,

Indelibly a mark

Unseen by men, for men as yet

Are blind and in the dark

And yet doomed man’s path below

May bloom as Eden bloomed;

He did not, does not, will not know,

Or feel that he is doomed

He knows, he feels that all is well,

And every fear is calmed;

He lives, he dies, he wakes in hell,

Not only doomed, but damned.

Oh, where is this mysterious bourn

By which our path is crossed;

Beyond which God himself hath sworn,

That he who goes is lost.

How far may we go on in sin?

How long will God forbear?

Where does hope end, and where begin

The confines of despair?

An answer from the skies is sent,

“Ye that from God depart,

While it is called today, repent,

And harden not your heart.”

Categories
Bible Preaching

A Gospel Message of Hope – G. T. Haywood

A Gospel Message of Hope[1]
Bishop G. T. Haywood[2]
(April, 1922)

We wish to call your attention to the third chapter of Romans, beginning at verse 1, “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.” That is, the first opportunity to know God. The law of the Ten Commandments was given to them. God had committed unto their trust the oracles of God, and gave them that they might bring the light of God to the world. And although they failed their God, yet His purpose went forward. Even though some did not believe, “shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” Man’s unbelief does not change God’s word, nor stop Him from working out His purpose.

The word of God is true whether the people believe it or not. God will bring Salvation near. It makes no difference what you say, or what I may say, because, “God hath said.” Our God can work while we are sleeping. And when we are folded away like a garment in our graves, God will still be working. If one man, or one people, fails God, He will take up another and move on. God brought Israel out and made them a great people through a man who was only a shepherd of the plains of Midian and not a warrior, but could speak words of wisdom by the spirit of God. Words, which, even to this day, have astonished the world. God sent His Word from heaven unto this people, and walked in the midst of them with mighty signs and wonders showing His mighty arm. And yet they failed God through their unbelief.

The Lord had no people He could trust. So He declared He would “take a people who are not a people and make them a people of God.” He did this to prove that He does not have to depend on any nation or individual. God Himself never failed, and could not fail. Even the prophets He ordained became weak at points along the line and were filled with fear, or took honor to themselves. “The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment” (Isa. 28:7). 

What if man does not believe the Gospel as it is laid, down in the Book? The Gospel is true regardless of his unbelief. I believe in the Blood of JESUS CHRIST, and that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. But the question is: how shall I get the remission? One may say, “I will just believe,” but to “believe” means more than to just say, “I believe.” Matt. 26:28 says, “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

If any people start out with the power of God in their midst and become full of pride and lose their spirituality, God will put them aside and take up another. And if the latter fails, He will set them aside and take up still another. I am satisfied that God does not depend upon any of us to carry His work through, but we are compelled to depend upon Him for without Him we can do nothing.

“For this is My blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Jesus was the greatest preacher the world has ever known, and turned the preaching of the Gospel over to Peter as if to say, “You are next, Peter. You shall begin where I leave off.” Then that preacher in Acts 2:38 said, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” That is the way the Holy Spirit gave it out on the day of Pentecost. In those days the people were always baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins that they might receive the Holy Spirit, which was God’s witness to their faith.  

What is the Holy Ghost? He is a witness to your having received remission of sins. That is what the Apostle said: “There are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one” (1 Jn. 5:8).  He did not say one was any greater than the other. All three of them are required to make one witness. Many people look at water alone, but the proper thing to do is to see the name in which it is administered. Take away the blood, and you have nothing but faith. Take away the water and you make Jesus a liar. The Bible, in the first epistle of John, tells us plainly, “This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth” (1 Jn. 5:6). I do take notice of this much, there was so much authority in the command of JESUS to baptize, that nearly all the churches (with a few exceptions) try in some way to administer it, if it only be the dipping of the finger in the water. But if it is worth doing at all, it is worth doing rightly. However, a man’s failure to believe and obey does not change the Word of God. You can scarcely join a church in the city without some mode of baptism. There are about as many ways as there are human minds, and all for the lack of following the mind of the Spirit.

The reason some people do not live holy is because they have not been taught it and have been brought up wrongly. But you start a man or woman believing the Word of God and you can bring them out on the Word. Our experiences are so varied that it does not pay to attempt to tell others about it, for they will try to get our experience instead of what is written in the Book. I do not want anybody to be able to rise and say the Word of God is not true. There has always been somebody filled with the Spirit, ever since the day of Pentecost. God has never left Himself without witness. No doubt some did not know just what they had. Luther had it. Wesley, Finney and Fox had it; and they had a hard, severe trial in their days.

We want God to be justified. We have not a thing to boast of this day. There is false holiness and true holiness. The true, is the Holy Ghost in you; and the false, is human efforts without God; self-righteousness. If we acknowledge our own failures God will give us His power to overcome day by day. God does not get behind a man with a whip and drive him to heaven, but He fixes it up so you will follow Him because you love Him.

Who is it that never did sin? Paul shows the whole human family had sinned, and if all sinned, all were condemned. But God had mercy. We could not help but sin. We were born that way. But God said, “You must be born again.” And no newborn child walks perfectly at once. First they crawl, then they totter and fall, but they do not keep falling. By this I mean, when a man or woman is filled with the Holy Ghost and starts out to walk with Jesus Christ, they may stumble and fall at first, but don’t get discouraged. If the devil tries to trip you up God will help you. He is able to keep you from falling, says Jude. I am talking about those who have it in their hearts to live for Christ. Do not let any failure daunt your courage. You know God is able to carry you through. Many have found it to be so.

If God brings judgment upon a sinner for his wrongdoing, some will charge Him with injustice. But how can God then judge the world? God said He would give us a light for our path, and put His angels around us, and give us a pattern in Jesus, and place His Spirit within us. Brother, I would be ashamed to tell God I could not live right with all that help! Then folks will try to tell you, “You can’t make it, Brother!” So we are going to commend the righteousness of God, by acknowledging: “O Lord, we are all failures?”  

It is the grace of God that is able to sustain and uphold any man or woman who desires to be kept by the Power of God. There are people who desire to boast of themselves and never have had a change of heart. And some even go so far as to say, “I am all right. I am good enough. I don’t need that Holy Ghost.” I don’t care if you did not steal, drink, or commit adultery: it is in your heart anyhow! Everybody needs the power of God. Good works never did save anybody. It takes the “power of God unto salvation” (Ro. 1:16). I am not telling a moral man to get worse in order to get saved. No! I am telling him there is no condition so bad but that God has grace to save us from it. 

You cannot make men righteous by legislation for “ye must be born again.” God says to the church, “preach the word,” and makes a fertile spot in the terrible desert of sin, that men may see the water of life along the side of the road. No law can make you live right. God Almighty tried it Himself with the children of Israel, and the Word says, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Ro. 8:3). Did you know that when a man becomes saved he will keep the spirit of the law? There is no law against attending to your own business, paying all your debts, and no law against praying.  Do right, and bless God, and pray without ceasing. No law is against doing that which is just and good (Gal. 5:22-23). 

Many homes have been torn asunder. Sorrow and mourning drapes the human heart because of sin. I dislike hearing some people talk because of their disgraceful utterances. But let God get into their hearts and then note the change. Everybody without Christ is guilty. Had God Almighty demanded justice, every living person would have been dead, and brought before the judgment bar to give an account of their misspent lives. The only thing that is going to save a man is the power of God. I am talking about genuine salvation, too! You can go any place and hear everything else but the Gospel of salvation. But men shall be saved. That is our whole service: to save men. The church is ordained for that purpose. 

God sums up the whole human family and declares that it is full of “wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores” (Is. 1:6). To tell a man he should not steal, or covet, or commit adultery is not enough. Tell him how to get saved so he will not do those things. The power of God can save anybody that will believe. The god of carnality has certainly got some folks fast, but, 0, I am so glad I am saved! Saved by the power of God! It is wonderful to be God’s free man, delivered from the power of the pride of life, the lust of the eyes, and the lust of the flesh. It does not make any difference whether a man is old or young, rich or poor, black or white, or brown, just so he believes. If you have never been to school to learn a letter, you can believe. I am satisfied that you do not have to have eyes to believe. You do not have to be able to speak to believe. You may have both hands cut off, but still you can believe. If you cannot hear, somebody will write, or make signs and you can believe. You do not have to weigh so many hundred pounds or write letters, or understand the Bible to get saved. All God said was to believe. Why? Jesus paid it all! The people that are saved today are people that believed the Gospel. And you do not believe God if you do not obey Him! I will prove it to you, too. “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works” (James 2:18).  I will show you my faith (without saying a word) by my works! It is not merely saying, “I believe” it is proving your belief. If you actually believe then you know what Jesus was talking about when He said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” and prove it by your actions (Mk. 16:16). Jesus declared, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:3). If you do not obey, then you do not believe. 

God has fixed the matter so you need make no mistake about it, either. Too many jump over the fifth verse of the third chapter of John’s Gospel: “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Moreover, Jesus stated emphatically that He “testified of that which He had seen; and spake that which He did know” (John 3:11), and this is what He spoke: “I know that if a man be not born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.” If you have never been baptized in the name of JESUS CHRIST, you have never been immersed properly. This is the only name under heaven given among men whereby they must be saved. If you repent deeply enough in your heart, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, I will guarantee that you shall receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost as you come up out of the water.[3] If people do not believe God’s Word they never get His best. Even if you do not understand, you must believe, before you can see the Glory of God.[4]


[1] SOURCE: http://www.greateremmanuelchurch.com/drsmith/haywood.htm. Accessed: 5/3/2012. (Link no longer works).

[2] Elder G. T. Haywood at the Apostolic Faith Assembly, Indianapolis, Ind., delivered this sermon during a Sunday morning service in April, 1922.

[3] At the end of this sermon seven persons accepted the word, came forward immediately for baptism. Four of them received the Holy Ghost while coming out of the water, and another soon after changing clothes.

[4] Edited by Stephen E. Kuntzman. 5/3/2012.

Categories
Bible Preaching

The Night Before the End – Norman L. Wagner

Bishop Norman L. Wagner (Pentecostal Assemblies of the World) preaching “The Night Before the End” in 1987 to the Because of the Times conference in Alexandria, Louisiana, and introduced by Nathaniel A. Urshan, who was the General Superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church International at that time.

Categories
church history

Pamphlets from Oneness Pentecostal Writers (Part 7)

This seventh installment on the topic of Pamphlets from Oneness Pentecostal Writers covers this gem.

Title: Water Baptism

Author: n/a

Publisher: n/a

Year: n.d.

Description: about water baptism in Jesus’ name and how it was historically changed by the Roman Catholic Church 300 years after Christ ascended to Heaven to accomodate the heresy of the trinity. 

Page 1: 

Page 2: 

Page 3: 

Page 4:

Categories
Bible Preaching

How To Receive the Holy Ghost – Billy Cole

Categories
Bible Preaching

Justified By Faith -J. T. Pugh

This journey we’re on is a faith walk, not a works walk. I know that our faith will produce obedience to God’s  Word, but to say that my salvation will be the result of my own goodness is a lie, or that my guilt can be assuaged by good deeds. No, It is only by the redemption of Jesus Christ (He paid the price for my sin, my guilt, my salvation) and my faith in Him that I can live free from the pangs of guilt. 

Hear J. T. Pugh preaching about the subject of being Justified By Faith: 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qrfdpi3j0wd4d7p/%20Justified%20By%20Faith.mp3?dl=0

Categories
Consider this...

Down from His Glory / William E. Booth-Clibborn

William Booth-Clibborn wrote these powerful lyrics in 1921 and set the tune to O Sole Mio (written by Edwardo Di Capua). 

This is one of my favorite songs with regard to the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ:

Down from His Glory

William E. Booth-Clibborn (1893-1969)

[E major]

Verse 1:

Down from His glory, Ever living story, My God and Savior came,  And Jesus was His name.

Born in a manger, To His own a stranger, A Man of sorrows, tears and agony.

Chorus:

O how I love Him! How I adore Him! My breath, my sunshine, my all in all!

The great Creator became my Savior, And all God’s fulness dwelleth in Him.

Verse 2:

What condescension, Bringing us redemption; That in the dead of night, Not one faint hope in sight,

God, gracious, tender, Laid aside His splendor, Stooping to woo, to win, to save my soul.

Verse 3:

Without reluctance, Flesh and blood His substance He took the form of man, Revealed the hidden plan.

O glorious myst’ry, Sacrifice of Calv’ry, And now I know Thou art the great “I AM.”

Categories
Bible Preaching

Pergamos, Christ and You

Much of the following sermon was influenced by the work of Dustin Abbot’s book Revelation Unveiled and F. J. Ellis’ curriculum for Purpose Institute course on The Book of Revelation. So, please allow this disclaimer to serve as my citation for anything I failed to properly cite in the body of the text. Be well & maranatha! 

Text: 

“For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2).

The book of Revelation is probably one of the most misunderstood and discussed books in the Bible. 

Many, including myself, often read its pages attempting to figure out answers to questions we describe as the end times, or eschatology (the study of the end times).

In those pages, written by the apostle John – John the beloved – students of the Word of God try to figure out future events coming to this world. 

My interest today is not about when, where or how the catching away of the Church will take place.

Nor am I going to discuss seals, vials, elders, or the four beasts sitting around the throne.

I’m not even interested in who the beast, false prophet, or antichrist are, and if they are alive right now.

I know that rockets continue to  drop all over Jerusalem and Israel even while I am in this podium, and that many are discussing the coming of the Lord for that very reason, but that is not why I have lifted this text to our attention today. 

You see, according to Dustin Abbot (in his book Revelation Unveiled), the Book of Revelation is primarily written to reveal Jesus to us. It is a disclosure of the everlasting Truth of who Jesus Christ is yesterday, today, and forever. And along with this is the unveiling of the Church in its relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.

“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:” (Rev. 1:1).

It is a “Jesus” book, and in its pages we see Jesus Christ as:

1. Alpha and Omega – the Almighty.

2. One in the midst of the seven candlesticks.

3. One holding the seven stars of the seven churches.

4. The only One worthy to sit on the throne.

5. The Lion of the tribe of Judah.

6. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 

7. The King on a white horse.

8. The Judge of all. 

It is also a book written to the church about the past, present, and future.

It is specifically addressed to seven churches: “What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.”

Seven Churches of Asia:

1. Ephesus

2. Smyrna

3. Pergamos

4. Thyatira  

5. Sardis 

6. Philadelphia

7. Laodicea

Some believe that these seven churches are symbolic of various ages that the Church will have gone through from Acts until today (source: Purpose Institute’s notes on the Book of Revelation, lesson 1):

Church/Meaning of Name/Time Period:

Ephesus/Desirable/100-200 A.D.

Smyrna/Myrrh/200-300 A.D.

Pergamos/Marriage or Elevation/300-500 A.D.

Thyatira/Continual Sacrifice/500-1500 A.D.

Sardis/Remnant/1500-1900 A.D.

Philadelphia-Brotherly Love/1900-Rapture

Laodicea/People Rule/Present-Rapture

I also think it is referring to conditions evident in churches right now, spiritual conditions that exist in local assemblies and even in the lives of its individual members.

With that in mind, it is this third church I am interested in today: Pergamos.

PERGAMOS

Revelation 2:12-17  

(12)  And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

Pergamos literally means “married with the world.”

It refers to a condition and time when satan changed tactics to attack the Church.

We all want to be accepted. So, satan stopped persecuting the church and began popularizing it. The church became the “in thing” to join. And so it became fashionable. But while fashionable it was impure. Those joining didn’t leave their sinful practices and those already in it became influenced by the world.

This led to a condition where the Church would become unfaithful to Christ and married to the world.

Jesus is stating here that He is coming with a two-edged to divide the true Church from the false church that is full of compromise and polluted works.

(13)  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, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. 

Even as popular culture tried to pervert, popularize, and convolute the name of Jesus, the Church held on to the truth of the mighty God in Christ. They still understood:

*Neither is there salvation in any other…

*In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily…

*Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name…

God has always had a True Church that has held onto His name.

Somewhere and somehow Truth has always been preserved.

Even when satan changes tactics, God is always steps ahead preserving and protecting the Church.

You see, Truth doesn’t need protecting. Truth is true whether all believe it, or none do.

It was Adrian Rodgers who said,

It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills. Let me tell you something, friend, it is not love and it is not friendship if we fail to declare the whole counsel of God. It is better to be hated for telling the truth, than to be loved for telling a lie. It is impossible to find anyone in the Bible who was a power for God who did not have enemies and was not hated. It’s better to stand alone with the truth, than to be wrong with a multitude. It is better to ultimately succeed with the truth than to temporarily succeed with a lie. There is only one Gospel and Paul said, “If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

-Adrian Rodgers, National Religious Broadcasters Convention in 1996

Pergamos had martyrs who’d died for Truth – Antipas (thought to be the pastor).

(14)  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.

It was Balaam who couldn’t curse the Hebrews. So, he encouraged Balac to have his pagan people intermarry with the Hebrews.

Thus, the Hebrews brought a curse on themselves when their gentile wives brought false gods, heathen practices, and compromise into their homes.

The devil wants you to bring a curse on yourself by allowing a marriage of the holy with the profane in your life.

(15)  So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.  

The doctrine (deeds) of the Nicolaitans: corrupted Paul’s teaching concerning grace, and made it a license to sin.

They were sensual and unrepentant.

They turned the grace of God into lasciviousness.

Paul wrote in response to them: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1-2).

2 Corinthians 6:17, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”

(16)  Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

REPENT – Jesus here gives to John the very first word of the Gospel that He shared in the beginning – REPENT.

It is the only solution for your sin.

It is better to fall in humble repentance now than to be broken by God’s judgment.

Psalms 103:8-11, “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.  He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.  He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.  For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.”

(17)  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.

Hidden manna = Divine provision both natural and spiritual.

The Bread of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ, is our sustenance.

White stone = a sign of purity and innocence.

Even in this wicked age of compromise God can keep you pure and declare you innocent.

Name recorded in stone = worthy of eternal life

God would not condemn the True Church to Hell because of the failures of their generation.

“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:11-12). 

SOURCES:

Dustin Abbott. Revelation Unveiled.

F. J. Ellis. The Book of Revelation. Purpose Institute.

Categories
Consider this...

George Washington Carver’s Eight Cardinal Virtues

101 years ago today, George Washington Carver wrote a list of Eight Cardinal Virtues (from a letter to the senior class he taught, dated Jan. 9, 1922):

  1. Be clean both inside and out.
  2. Neither look up to the rich nor down on the poor.
  3. Lose, if need be, without squealing.
  4. Win without bragging.
  5. Always be considerate of women, children, and older people.
  6. Be too brave to lie.
  7. Be too generous to cheat.
  8. Take your share of the world and let others take theirs.