Volume 2003/5
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(From radio broadcast of Bro. Julius Adewumi)
Revelation
chapter 2 (contd)
Rev.2:12 “And to the angel of the church
in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two
edges.”
The Lord introduced himself as He that has a sword
with two edges. This indicates he was
going to judge the troublemakers in the church. The sword can cut in and also cut out.
“I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even
where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name and has not denied
my faith …. But I have a few things against thee.”
Watch what the Lord has against this church: “Thou hast there them that hold the
doctrine of Balaam.”
In the
previous broadcast we have pointed out what the doctrine meant. Balaam was the
prophet, in the days of Moses, who was hired by King Balac of Moab to come and
curse the children of Israel.
Balaam was expected to be a prophet of God in the
Gentile country of Moab. He asked God
and God said he should not go. But
Balaam wanted the honor and glory promised to him by the king of Moab; he went
and the angel of the Lord stood in his way, and made Balaam’s donkey talk. In the end he was not able to curse the
Israelites, however he must have taught the king of Moab how to make the
Israelites offend by committing fornication so that God could be angry with
them.
The doctrine of Balaam is the doctrine of pleasing
the worldly rulers. Seeking recognition
from the highly placed men. Many
pastors are in this snare.
They have to
modify their sermons and make it appealing to the world rulers so they can come
in to the church so that they can get more money or they can get recognition. “Love
not the world neither the things that are in the world; if any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him”. And he that will be a friend
of the world is enemy of God. So, this doctrine of Balaam was being introduced
in the congregation in that generation, trying to make the rulers accept
Christianity. It started as a doctrine. False brethren that came in wanted to
be recognized and wanted to please the rich and the mighty. But that is not how
God does his works. God wants those rich and mighty to come the same way. They
have to come to Christ the same way you and I came to Christ, that is, they
have to come humbly as ordinary people. In
the book of Leviticus, when Moses was giving them the law on what to sacrifice,
there was a sin offering that they should make for the ruler of their land
(Lev.4:3), the type of sacrifice that they should offer for the priests and the
high priest (Lev.4: 13,14, 22,23), and a special type of sacrifice for the
congregation, and a special sacrifice for the common people (Lev.4: 27,32). The
common people were to bring a lamb, but when Jesus Christ came, he didn’t come
as an ox or as a bullock with horns, he
came as a lamb, which means he only came for the common people. This covers
everybody. It means the king has to come down off his throne and be a common
person to accept Jesus Christ. It means the high priest, the priests of the
earth, and the princes have to come off their thrones and come to God as common
people to partake of the sacrifice of the lamb of God; the same goes for the
rich and the mighty they have to come as
common people to partake of the lamb because the lamb is what is
sacrificed for all mankind. Everybody, as a common person, must bring a lamb to
God for a sin offering. That is exactly
why every rich and mighty has to come the same way you and I come to Christ in
humility. So we don’t have to tune down the gospel, we don’t have to change or
modify the sermon to make them come in; if they would not come in, let them
stay where they are but the word has to fall where it may, and the soul that
sinneth shall die.
Balaam
wanted to please the rich and the mighty, the kings and the highly placed
people so that he can be recognized and placed in high honor. He liked the
honor, the praise of the king. So, looking for rewards from men is the doctrine
of Balaam.
Verse
15: “ So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which
thing I hate.” What is the doctrine
of the Nicolaitans? That was a doctrine also that started taking root in those
days, of those who wanted to subdue all the believers. Conquer the laity is
what it means. They wanted to conquer
the population so that only the elders can talk and if you have a doctrine, a
sermon, a prophecy or a dream that you think God gave to you, they want you to
bring it to the elders or to the rulers of the church. First pass your doctrine or dream through
them to review it, and if they don’t like it, that will be the end of it. You are not allowed to tell the
congregation. That is a doctrine that
started in that generation and God was warning them that it will stifle the
Holy Ghost because the scripture says “where the Spirit of God is, there is liberty”.
Now by the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, they don’t allow the liberty for
anybody to just stand up and be able to prophesy in the congregation. Think of
what the devil can do once the devil can get some elders under himself. By this, the devil would begin to control
the church. That was the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.
Verse
15: “repent or else I will come to thee quickly and will fight against them
with the sword of my mouth. God was
ready to fight against those men that have come into the church and are trying
to subdue the believers under the world authority or under one person. That was, how the papacy rose up. That was
the end result of all these doctrines - the Roman Catholic papacy. The papacy now, in that organization,
makes the rules in their church, and what the papacy says is what goes. The
Holy Ghost cannot talk through anybody, anyone in their church. You can see why
the Holy Ghost left that congregation and started the reformation. After the
reformation, they also wanted to be like the papacy and make a ruler, archbishop
or the archdiocese somewhere that would be controlling the organization. God
has to withdraw also from all those daughters of Catholicism that formed the
same type of organization around one man. That is the same doctrine of the
Nicolaitans.
Human beings like to control things.
Whenever you like to control things and not let God control it, you are going
to actually be stifling the Holy Ghost, because the Holy Ghost wants to
control, He wants to be in charge.
Now
let’s see the promise that God gave to this congregation, to this generation of
believers. “He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit sayeth 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”.
Now
let’s go on to the church of Thyatira. “And unto the angel of Thyatira
write: these things sayeth the Son of God…”
Now
the Lord introduced Himself as the Son of God here for a purpose also.
“…
Who has His eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet are like fine
brass; I know thy works…”
When
he introduced Himself as the Son of God here it has a purpose. He was going to give a promise to this
generation of believers. They that overcome will be elevated to positions like
Sons of God also. They are coming to the fullness of the stature of Christ,
that is the promise in this generation.
“…
I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and
thy works, and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few
things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which calleth
herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication
and to eat things sacrificed unto idols and I gave her space to repent of her
fornication and she repented not”.
Let’s
stop right there and discuss this woman Jezebel. The Lord Jesus Christ used the name Jezebel, and you see what He
said this woman was doing. He said she calleth herself a prophetess and was
teaching and seducing the servants of God to commit fornication. Now, compare
that with what we read in the earlier church age, the Pergamos church age,
where He said Balaam taught Balak to make the children of Israel eat something
that is sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication. It started as a
doctrine in that generation, to the church in Pergamos. A bad idea will always start as a doctrine
because the devil will come in through one person, or two or three people in a
congregation and like the word of God said, “a little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump”
What
the devil does also is to introduce his own men like true believers into the
midst of the believers. He started from
the church in Pergamos, in that age of Pergamos and after they have come in,
they started taking over the congregation, taking over the leadership. They
started the doctrine: “God did not say we shouldn’t do this;” “God said we
should try to bring them in, bring all these rulers in. If you can bring in the
king, if you can make the rulers, the senators to accept the gospel, just think
of what you can do: they are the people with money” - now they are looking for
the money, they are going after their money, and they are afraid of being
persecuted by them also. Very soon they
tune down the gospel. It is going on right now even in this generation where
many preachers are trying to say we can win the world, win all these teenagers
by changing the style of how we preach the gospel to them. They wanted to tune
down, give them the gospel music that they like, to bring them in. The worldly
type of music with some words of Jesus in it to bring them in. But if you begin
to change the message just to satisfy the public, you have already lost the
power of the word. And that was what was going on, it started with a doctrine
and God said He hated it but in the end, that doctrine became a church of its
own. They started with the doctrine of Balaam, and the Nicolaitans, and by the
next generation of the church, it had become a church of its own where they are
now the ones controlling everything and those who don’t agree with them have to
leave the congregation, leave the church and they become the minority church,
while they are the church with the power of the government. Why? because they have
already gotten the emperors and the rulers and the chief justices to be part of
them and it happened in the days of the Roman Empire. Very soon, one emperor
was converted and the whole of Rome was made a Christian city or what we call a
church city and all their idols they whitewashed and gave them names like
Peter, or Paul. Those were former idols! They gave them new names and those who
kicked against it were being arrested and persecuted. By the time of the age of
Thyatira, there was now a church of Jezebel, God calls it Jezebel. Jezebel was
a queen in the book of Kings. Jezebel was the wife of king Ahab of Israel, but
Jezebel introduced into Israel the worst kind of religion – Baal worship.
Jezebel had so much power because she was the queen of the land, that she could
kill anyone she wanted to kill and subdue anyone she wanted to subdue and all
the true worshippers had to go underground. All the prophets were in hiding,
because they ran away from Jezebel. That was in the days of Elijah the prophet.
You can read about all of those in the book of Kings. (1Kg. 18:19)
God symbolized this new church that has
been formed through this doctrine of Balaam as Jezebel. They were now ruling
the whole church and they said they are the church, but they have gotten the
emperors and the senators to be part of them.
They have the power of the government and they changed some things to
suit the emperors. They changed their doctrine to suit everybody. They changed
their doctrine to suit the idol worshippers that are big men in the city. Because how can you make them come in, by
changing your own doctrine, they would come in as long as it is palatable to
them. That was how Roman Catholicism
was formed in Rome, and the true worshippers escaped and hid to form the underground
churches. And God said to these underground churches “don’t allow this Jezebel
church to continue to pollute you because some more doctrine are still coming
in to avoid persecution. God said “thou sufferest that woman Jezebel that
calleth herself a prophetess…” that is they said they are the church, “teaching
and seducing my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed
unto idols”.
“I gave her space to repent of her
fornication and she repented not”, which means God gave them time if they
will get out of those false doctrine.
They
couldn’t because they have got the government tied up with them and they were
now the government, and in verse 22, the Lord said “behold I will cast her
into a bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation except
they repent of their deeds”.
God
said He would cast them into great tribulation and at the end of the world
there would be a great tribulation. The book of revelations chapters 17 and 18
of the woman called Babylon, mother of harlots, pointed out more about this.
The angel interpreted it to apostle John that the woman that sited upon the
beast was a city that was ruling over the world then; and that was in the time
of the Roman Empire. God has said in
chapter 2 here that “I will cast her into great tribulation”. Not just the city, but the whole
organization that is set up around that city – Roman Catholicism. He that hath an ear let him hear. That’s
what the Lord will say right now. He said, “except they repent of their deeds
and I will kill her children with death”. What does that mean? I will kill
her children with death: anyone that is joined to them is going to hell and
lake of fire; you better come out of her and seek the true gospel. Seek the
true gospel my friend. Come out of that false vine because they look like they
are a church, but they are a false vine, and seek the true gospel. Here He
says: “I will kill her children with death and all the churches will know
that I am He who searcheth the reins and hearts and I will give unto everyone
of you according to your works.”
Now
you see the Lord Jesus Christ is going to judge every man’s works according to
your work on earth. He is going to reward you.
Verse
24: “unto you I say and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this
doctrine and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak, I will
put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I
come. And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I
give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. As the
vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my
father”.
Now I said the Lord Jesus Christ introduced himself
to this church age as the Son of God.
At the end of the speech he was giving them a promise that “as I
received of my father to rule over the nations, I am going to give to the
overcomers of this Thyatira age to rule over the nations with me”. They that overcome in this generation are
going to be rulers. Think about
it. Do you want to rule with
Christ? You have to overcome all those
falsehood that have entered the church-world.
How come the promise to this church age is strong? Look at it:
by the time a body or an organization have joined themselves to the
power of the government of the world – lusting after the power to rule, the
overcomers deserve the true power to rule over those that usurp the power. The overcomers deserve the power to rule over
the nations of the world that oppressed them.
That is a good promise. “As I
received of my father”. When the Lord
Jesus came, if he wanted the rulers in Israel to accept him, all he needed to
do was to preach what will appeal to the rulers, and the chief priests. Then there would have been no
crucifixion. He did not do his work
that way. The preaching of the gospel
cannot be done differently my friend.
You cannot please the world with the gospel of salvation. Preach the word and let it fall where it
may. You may be persecuted. Christ said, “if they had hated me, they
will hate you also.” Don’t attempt to
preach it in a way to avoid being hated, unless you are not serving
Christ. But don’t be afraid, because
you are going to rule the world. The
dead in Christ will be resurrected to rule the world in the millennium reign of
Christ. Think about it, and stop
dancing to the tune of the governmental powers. Let anyone that will come to Christ come as ordinary person to be
saved.
“And I will give him the morning star”. That is a promise. “He that hath an ear let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the churches.”
Come
out of Jezebel, if you are in that type of false vine, and accept Jesus Christ
as your Lord and Savior, because He is the only savior, and ask him to open
your eyes. There are many doctrines
in Roman Catholicism that if you search the bible yourself, you will begin to
question those traditions. That was how
Martin Luther started the reformation:
The just shall live by faith.
Many other congregations have done similar things trying to please the
men of the world. But God moves
on. The Lord said “thou shalt know
the truth and the truth shall make you free.”
I pray
that the Lord will open your eyes to see wherever you may have erred and make
corrections and come back to the way, straight and narrow, that leadeth to
life.
God bless you.
Bro.
Julius Adewumi
Gospel
Distribution Ministry
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Internet homepage:
Email: webmaster@gospeldistribution.org
Radio-Log:
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Time: 5PM GMT for 30 minutes. Every Saturday. (6PM in Nigeria).
Sorry we have to withdraw
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I want to thank those that have been sending
offering to this ministry. Your investment
and mine send the literature to believers and send the word on radio. That is one sure way we can send our money
ahead of us to heaven. The Lord said:
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth
nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For
where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Mat. 6:
19-21). "For we brought nothing
into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out." (1Tim. 6: 7).
