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14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write;
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of
the creation of God; 15 I know thy works, that thou art
neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art
lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich,
and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou
art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold
tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou
mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not
appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door, and
knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and
will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:14-20)
In the first three chapters of the
Book of Revelation – 1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to
shew 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) – our Lord addresses the seven churches prophetically. The last
church counselled and rebuked by Christ is the Church of Laodicea – the church
that can be most readily identified with the Church of our time. The reference
does not have uniform application to all churches, for some remain dedicated to
the Gospel of Christ and wear rags for body, but white woolen robes for spirit.
Such churches exist in isolation to the mainline churches which have come to
glory in wealth, size, and prestige over the things of God. There are still
churches in the world whose adherents will willingly suffer martyrdom before
renouncing their Lord. I call to the bar those witnesses of the Coptic Church
who were stopped by pagan Moslems and ordered to convert to Islam. Even their
children refused to do so and were slaughtered. Yet, our lukewarm Christians of
the mainline churches often simply miss church in order to sleep late.
We do not like our bath water cold, or
hot. We like it comfortable for our bodies. In fact, everything we do is geared
toward a perfect comfort for our flesh. How sad! But Christ does not make
reference to our physical comforts in His castigation of the Laodicean church
but rather to the lukewarmness of our spirits.
What is meant by I would thou wert cold or hot? Most of us prefer our coffee,
milk, or tea to be either cold or hot – not lukewarm. We do not like lukewarm
water as a quench for our thirst. God would prefer a heart made of ice, or
melted with fervent heat of love, to a heart that is indifferent to love and
truth and is neither cold in ignorance, or hot in faith. Love is not a learned
emotion. It is a gift of God that cannot be taught in the dens of education of
America today.
The following verse is a perfect
description of the lukewarm church: 21 And Elijah came unto all
the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God,
follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered
him not a word.
(1 Kings 18:21) The people to whom Elijah addressed these words
professed an off-hand belief in God, but when Elijah put the challenge of hard
choice to them, “they answered not a word” just
as the mainline churches of our day remain stone silent on abortion and
homosexuality – in fact, some advocate the practice of these wicked sins. There
is no deliberation necessary in deciding what is right. God has given us the
Holy Scriptures as a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm
119:105) In pronouncing homosexuality and abortion as abject sins, we use not
OUR judgment, but simply pronounce GOD’s judgment clearly given on the matter.
So then because thou art lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. When we taste
of a menu item that is intended to be served hot, we spew it out if it is
lukewarm. There will be a high percentage of lukewarm Christians who will hear
the awful judgment of the Lord on the Day of Judgment: I never knew you: depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. (Matt 7:23) Imagine the grave disappointment on the faces of these
self-satisfied false ministers and professors. They believe that their
distinguished professions, churches, and godless homes have exalted them above
the common variety of do-gooders. Here are the words that precede the above
indictment: 21 Not every one that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth
the will of my Father which is in heaven. 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? (Matt 7:21-22) These posers will join the ranks of the self-righteous Pharisees
whom our Lord condemn in the most serious of terms (generation of vipers!).
With the exception of the worldly
poor, yet heavenly rich, Church of Smyrna, I believe those seven churches are
prophesied in Book of Isaiah: “And in that day SEVEN WOMEN shall take hold of ONE MAN, saying, We will EAT OUR OWN BREAD, and WEAR OUR OWN APPAREL:
only LET US BE CALLED BY
THY NAME, to TAKE
AWAY OUR REPROACH.” Isaiah 4:1 (KJV) Can’t you see the marks of
similarity here concerning the modern church? There are, like those of
Revelations, seven churches. They all seven have pretentions for the same ONE
MAN – Jesus Christ. Yet, they do not wish to be fed with the BREAD OF HEAVEN,
but they prefer their own bread of lusts. They do not desire the Prodigal’s
Robe of Righteousness, but the filthy rags of their night-life pursuits. And
they desire to be CALLED BY HIS NAME – Christian – in order to gain the respect
and distinction in social and business circles.
Now God made one man for one woman,
and it is so with the Church as well. He is One Man for His Bride the Church. I
hope we will all become more like the Church of Smyrna than the Church of the
World (six churches).
Remember the parable of the Mustard
Seed in Matthew 13:31 – The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard
seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least
of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and
becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches
thereof. This is a perfect description of a Church that has overgrown its
spiritual mandate! It is not natural for a mustard plant to grow into a tree.
Its branches are fibrous and stalk-like and not of sturdy wood. It does not
NATURALLY become a tree. It is UNNATURAL! It grows so large that “the birds
of the air come and lodge in its branches.” Who are these “birds of the
air?” What do birds in a fruit tree do but destroy the fruit! I believe our
Lord defined those in this same chapter. He is always consistent in His
descriptive adjectives and nouns, so I believe He will have used the same
metaphors in a consistent manner. In the parable of the sower, Christ says: And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls
came and devoured them up. (Matt 13:4) Who are these fowl? Jesus
tells us later in succeeding explanation of this parable. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not,
then cometh the wicked one, and
catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed
by the way side. (Matt 13:19) Christ is comparing those fowl who devoured the seed to demons
and devils. When the Church attracts great wealth and prestige, you can be sure
that the wicked men of no principle will come into that Church and lodge in its
branches. I am surer of this than of any other truth expressed today.
You may be thinking that surely God
will protect His Church from such infiltrators. Yes, He will, but many posing
as Churches of God are not so, but are “synagogues of Satan” as referred in Archbishop
Cranmer’s quote: “If there were any word of God beside the Scripture, we
could never be certain of God's Word; and if we be uncertain of God's Word, the
devil might bring in among us a new word, a new doctrine, a new faith, a new
church, a new god, yea himself to be a god. If the Church and the Christian
faith did not stay itself upon the Word of God certain, as upon a sure and
strong foundation, no man could know whether he had a right faith, and whether
he were in the true Church of Christ, or a synagogue of Satan." We
have arrived at the time referenced by Cranmer – a time when the church is
flooded with a new word in the proliferation of spurious Bible versions such as
the NIV, ESV, NASB, and others. Let us become the Bible-believing Church of
Smyrna: 8 And unto the angel of the church
in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and
is alive; 9 I know thy works, and
tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they
are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. 10 Fear none of those things
which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of
you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days:
be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. 11 He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be
hurt of the second death. (Rev 2:8-11)
By the way! Did you notice where
Christ is standing vis a vis the modern Churches? He is not INSIDE, but OUTSIDE!
Behold, I stand
at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will
come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Wake Up America!
