“And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, ‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword:’ “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith [your faith in Me] even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which things I hate.” Revelation 2:12-15.
The above has been included to maintain context, this post will cover the rest of the letter to Pergamos, Revelation 2:16-17.
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12.
The Scriptures are living and powerful and they are capable of shining a blinding light into the darkest recesses of the soul and examining the most hidden motivations of the heart. This is why the word of God is essential to reasoning with the lost, because it can speak to them where they are.
You lose this when you abandon Scripture and mix Christianity with the world’s ideas on how to reach the lost or how the church should be run. Because when you accept worldly ideas as equal to Biblical principles, the word of God is always diluted to nearly nothing or done away with altogether, always.
Let us examine the historical aspect of Pergamos, a period which extended from 312 to 590 A.D. It began in this manner.
After the death of Roman Emperor Diocletian and the death of his successor Galerius in 311, Constantine contended with Maxentius for the throne.
The night before the battle at Milvian Bridge on October 28, 312 A.D. Constantine had a vision of a cross and the words, “by this sign conquer”. At this he promised to become a Christian if he won the battle.
Having won the battle and ascending to the throne of the Roman Empire he not only proclaimed himself a Christian but he did the unthinkable, he made Christianity the state religion and married church and state.
The persecutions were now not only officially over, but the church was enjoying a new freedom, the downside was that the church now began prostituting itself to the world.
Just as Balaam the prophet (see “Jude, Part 1” posted 3-23-22) had caused the Israelites to sin by getting Moabite and Midianite women to seduce the Israelites, have sex with them, and introduce them to idolatrous practices.
These same methods were again used by Satan to pervert the church by having ungodly men worm their way into the church leadership and bring in pagan practices to make the church more acceptable to its pagan members.
Have you heard words similar to that before, “we just want to change a few things to make things more acceptable to everyone no matter what their beliefs.”
Some of these changes are as follows:
Worship of saints and angels 375 A.D.
Worship of Mary began 431 A.D.
Priests begin dressing differently from laymen 500 A.D.
Purgatory introduced as doctrine 593 A.D.
These and more traditions are pagan in origin and without question not Biblical.
There is a saying:
“Once the camel gets his nose in the door of the tent, soon the whole camel is inside.”
This should be written over the door of every church on earth because there is no truer statement, as we are beginning to see.
The Nicolaitans are again mentioned, while the church at Ephesus was commended for their hatred of the deeds of the Nicolaitans, Pergamos is seen as not resisting this pernicious doctrine.
While little is known of the Nicolaitans it is pretty easy to guess what their offense was, for the name means, “conquerors of the laity”.
That coupled with the fact that the division between clergy and laity (common man) was instituted about this time, thus beginning the ponderous church machine which is designed to dull the senses.
The hierarchy of Pope, cardinal, bishop, most reverent, father, priest, and other nabobs was also instituted to lead the ignorant masses in whatever way seemed best, all the while keeping them ignorant.
And what is the will of Christ?
“And He Himself [Christ] gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ – from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:11-16.
Christ wants the entire body to function, not to spend their time looking up to some man. If the church had remained focused on Christ and maintained their course, the world would be an entirely different place today.
“Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.” Revelation 2:16.
It is interesting that the Lord says that He, “will fight against them”. You see the Lord is not against those who overcome, though they were poor stewards of the church; he was against the ungodly ones in it who would destroy the church.
By the way, have you noticed that when an unprincipled man gets in a position of authority he soon surrounds himself with other unprincipled men, be they friends or co-workers?
This is how the church was hijacked, a man is brought into leadership because he was baptized, or used a bunch of God words, yet there was no real conversion.
In time he has enough seniority to bring in some other ungodly person who was baptized or said Jesus things.
Over a very long period the votes of the ungodly outweigh those of the true Christians, or the Christians themselves may not be alert enough to recognize error, Satan wins.
I ran across a prayer spoken in church by Adolph Hitler once. It was amazing, you had to look closely to see it was counterfeit, he was, after all, praying to himself.
Below is a quote from Hitler’s Mein Kampf to give you an idea of just how devious godless men can be.
“The folkish-minded man, in particular, has the sacred duty, each in his own denomination, of making people stop just talking superficially of God’s will, and actually fulfill God’s will, and not let God’s word be desecrated. For God’s will gave men their form, their essence and their abilities. Anyone who destroys His work is declaring war on the Lord’s creation, the divine will.” “Mein Kampf” vol. 2, chapter 10. Adolph Hitler, atheist, secularist.
Hitler’s interpretation of the “divine will” was for the Arian race to exterminate all of the Jews and dominate all of the other inferior races for a thousand years (forever). His actions proved that without a doubt.
Jesus said, “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” Matthew 7:20. It is important that every man and woman not only listen to what people say, but to watch and see if their actions confirm their words.
“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.” 2 Corinthians 11:13-14.
In time the barbarians (Germanic tribes) to the north began to break through the borders of the Roman Empire, Rome itself was soon sacked and shortly thereafter the Roman Empire fell apart. Bear in mind she was never conquered, just fell apart, this is significant to prophecy.
Obviously one paragraph does not tell all of how it happened and it is interesting so you might want to look up the fall of the Roman Empire. This vacuum was filled with a thousand years of darkness better known as the dark ages.
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” Revelation 2:17.
Manna being the food that God fed the children of Israel in the wilderness is a good symbol for feeding on the word of God. Each person was responsible for gathering the manna for himself or for his family, so too you are responsible for your own spiritual well-being by feeding on Scripture daily.
“Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread [manna] from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’” John 6:32-33.
The white stone is possibly a reference to the white stone given to the defendant in a court case when they are found innocent. They will be declared innocent and their name will be written thereon forever.
It should be remarked that this time period was not a complete waste for the body of Christ for many important things were accomplished.
The formation of the canon of Scripture was complete by the Council of Carthage in 397 A.D.
The Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. condemned the heresy of Arius who maintained that Christ was a created being. Jesus Christ is eternal and co-equal with God the Father as is clearly taught in Scripture.
During a dialogue with the Jews Jesus made the following statement.
“I and My Father are one [one essence]. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, ‘Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?’ The Jews answered Him, saying, ‘For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.’” John 10:30-33.
Arius’ teaching waxed and waned in popularity until finally put to rest at the First Council of Constantinople in 381.
Constantine also ordered the bishop of Rome, Eusebius to organize the drafting of fifty copies of the Bible for use in churches.
“Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” Jude 3b.
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 2:17a.
Revelation 2:16-17 taken from godisrevealed.com updated on 9-29-16, reposted on 4-26-22.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.