THE TARES ARE SOWN

Now as I have stated already, I know the seven parables of the 13th chapter of Matthew, the letters to these seven churches, and the seven church ages, all go together. But when I began to look at the words of the Lord to the church at Smyrna, knowing that the 2nd parable of Matthew 13, speaks of how the tares were sown among the good seed, I looked at the letter for quite some time, and then I saw that they had tares among them, but what He did say was, "I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan." He did place that nugget there, and it says a lot, if you know what else has already been said to explain it. Now let us realize, this was a local church, a specific congregation of people. But it was to portray a condition that would exist in a certain age, and that age would be the one that Jesus portrayed by the parable in Matthew 13:24-30, the age in which tares got into the assembly of believers. (It will all clear up to you when I read some of these excerpts from church history). That church at Smyrna stands out though, because of their faith, and loyalty to God. Polycarp, who was a student of the apostle John, was the bishop of the church at Smyrna. He was a man that truly loved God, and that led the church to lay up treasures in heaven. But Satan was at work, and we learn from verse 9, that his presence was felt among them. As we look at the 2nd church age, which the church at Smyrna portrays, we find that Irenaeus was the star messenger to that age, and we read here in the history of the church, how he challenged the heretics in that 2nd age. Therefore even though we do not see anything specifically mentioned in the letter to Smyrna about that tare spirit, (heretics) we must realize that it had to be present, and that it had to be contained in that one little statement the Lord made about the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. You see, if you did not know anything else, you could never get that, out of such a mere mention of something. But I do praise the Lord for the way He leads and allows us to see certain things that are hid from the wise and the prudent, (the theological giants of religion). We saw from the letter to Ephesus, that Satan was trying to destroy Ephesus by getting the ministry and the laity at odds with each other, in other words, by getting attention focused upon rank and racial identity, bring friction into the church that would eat like a cancer to the deterioration of the body. But Ephesus was too wise to be trapped by such tactics; they sent those trouble makers on their way. We do know, from reading Acts 19, that the first believers at Ephesus were 12 Jewish men that were taken right out of the synagogue. They were Jewish men that had been baptized unto repentance, according to John's preaching, but Paul took them, and expounded the gospel to them, baptized them in the name of Jesus Christ, and therefore, they became the first, or the beginning of the church of Ephesus. What I want to impress upon you now, is this, There were Jews in all those cities where these 7 churches were located, and I believe Jews were among the first to make up the ranks of converted Christians that followed the teaching of the apostles of Christ. This gave the Jewish people in those congregations a certain image of recognition by those Gentiles who were converted later, and also, at the same time opened a little crack in the door for Satan to try to get his foot in. Naturally it was made known that it was the Jews who had preserved through time the sacred writings, and the knowledge and revelation of the one true God. This, to me, says that the Gentiles of that hour (in the first age) had a certain reverence for a Jew that had been converted to Christianity. Did not Paul remind them of how blindness in part had been passed upon the Jews, in order that the Gentiles might be brought in, and made partakers of the gospel? I believe that is why these churches that were at the time of 96 A.D., made up mostly of Gentile believers, always tried to give place for the testimony of Jewish individuals that passed their way, claiming to be Christians. No doubt, those who truly were Jews converted to Christianity, were a great blessing and encouragement to the other believers, but that also opened up a way for Satan to slip in a make believer now and then. They would come by, claiming to be Jews, and many of them even claiming to be apostles, but those saints of Ephesus that had been taught so well by the apostle Paul, would not be taken in by them. They would discover their deception, and put them to flight. Therefore as we realize that what the devil tried to do in the church at Ephesus, is what he was trying to do throughout all of Christianity during that first church age, and then we look to the church at Smyrna which represents conditions present in the second age, it lets us see that he just kept on using those same tactics until he finally succeeded in getting tares (make believers) sown among the believers. By using that identity as a Jewish believer, or even as an apostle from Jerusalem, they could gain recognition in those assemblies, and that would give them an opportunity to slip in some of their own ideas. The Lord said those fellows were the synagogue of Satan. In other words, these make believers were Satan's house of worship. I was reading some of what Iranaeus wrote about those fellows, and I noticed one statement in particular. He said, A naked lie is too easy to recognize as such. He was speaking of those fellows that traveled around from place to place spreading their false doctrines. Now I have heard many things from such characters as this, that I though was just about as ridiculous as anything that could ever be taught by someone claiming to be called of God to minister His word, but some of the things that were taught during the 2nd age topped them all. As they hacked away at the Godhead, they had about 6 or 7 steps involved in God condescending to the human role, in which He was called Jesus the Christ. No wonder the devil was able to do what he did in the third century. As long as that first generation of saints were alive, they could spot those phonies, but as they passed off the scene, and their children, and their children's children were left to attend to the affairs of the church, Satan's ministers were able to pull the wool over their eyes, so to speak, for they did not have the pure revelation that those 1st century disciples had. Satan just used the same persistence in sowing his tares, that Jesus taught His disciples to use in prayer. He just kept on until he got what he wanted, tares running the affairs of the church. Not just one local body, but universally, and your denominational systems are still that way today.

AN AGE OF MARTYRDOM FOLLOWED

Now let us read verse 10, (Revelation 2) of the letter to Smyrna. Remember as we read this, that this was written to just one local church, there in Asia. He is warning them of something that was going to happen to them, and that same condition would also exist in the universal body of believers in the 2nd century, but as far as they knew, it was just them, there at Smyrna. Let us notice what the Lord said to them. "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." This truly did happen. Right there in that church in Smyrna, men were arrested, and taken to the arenas where they were usually fed to the lions to satisfy the blood thirsty cravings of those pagans who lived just to watch that sort of thing. Polycarp was the 12th martyr from that church there at Smyrna. He was the bishop of that assembly as time passed from the 1st age to the 2nd. Tares were in the churches by then, and universal Christendom was beginning to feel the effects of Satan's plan to overthrow the true gospel, and substitute it with his own perverted version. But first, he would have to get rid of the rest of those true saints who still held a true revelation of the apostolic gospel. That is what martyrdom was all about. True saints from that hour and onward, were subjected to wicked trials, and much tribulation. So from that church right there at Smyrna, Polycarp was the 12th martyr who gladly accepted death rather than denounce the Lord Jesus Christ. In the letter to that church, Jesus had said, Do not fear those things which thou shalt suffer. Some of you will be cast into prison, be tried, and have much tribulation, but be faithful even unto death, and I will give the a crown of life. Brother, that is exactly what they did, for as I read these various accounts from church history, I see where they actually welcomed martyrdom. They counted it a privilege to die for the sake of their faith in Jesus Christ. I want to read some of this in your hearing, so that you may better understand why that 2nd age was symbolized by a red horse rider in the seven seals. Blood flowed from the veins of those saints of God in the 2nd age as they stepped into those arenas just like a beast of sacrifice, which was symbolized in Revelation 4:7. John saw in the midst of the throne in heaven 4 beasts, and the 2nd one had the appearance of a calf, and we know that this actually symbolized the spirit of those believers who would actually welcome martyrdom when it came to them. God gave them grace to sacrifice their own lives in that bloody age of martyrdom, that began when Satan got the stage set. Of course we realize that Christians were martyred even from the very beginning of the New Testament church, but not with the widespread sweep that started in the 2nd century.

THE SMYRNA CHURCH WRITES

I am going to read some of the letter written by the church at Smyrna, describing the death of Polycarp their faithful bishop. He has been arrested, and is standing before the forum where he is confronted with an order to worship Caesar, and renounce his faith in Christ. He replied, No, I will worship the Lord Jesus Christ. But listen to this. As Polycarp was entering into the stadium, there came to him a voice from heaven saying, "Be strong, and show thyself a man, Oh Polycarp." No one saw who it was that spoke to him; but those of our brethren who were present, heard the voice. (I wonder how the people there in that stadium felt?) Then as he was brought forward, the tumult became great, for they had heard that Polycarp was taken. As he came near, the Proconsul asked if he were Polycarp, and upon confessing that he was, the Proconsul sought to persuade him to denounce Christ saying, Have respect to thy old age, and other similar things according to their custom. Such as, Swear by the fortune of Caesar, or, Repent and say, Away with the atheists. Polycarp, gazing with a stern countenance upon all the multitude of wicked heathen then in the stadium, and waving his hands toward them, and groaning, looked up toward heaven and said, Away with the atheists. But he said it with a different motive. Then the Proconsul urging him said, Swear by Caesar and I will set you at liberty. Reproach Christ! Polycarp declared. Eighty and six years have I served him, and he never did me any injury. How then can I blaspheme my King, and my Savior? I will stop reading right there, and just insert a point or two. Naturally he was condemned to death, after that statement, but just a few days before he was arrested, he had a dream which he told to other brethren. In the dream, he had seen the pillow he was sleeping on, set on fire, so he had told these brethren, the next day, I know how I will go; they will burn me. They usually fed them to the lions in the area, but by the time his sentence was passed upon him, it was late in the day. The lions had already been put away, so that opened the way for his dream to be fulfilled. One of the lower officials said, Bring in the lions. But the man in charge said, The evening events are over, and the lions are already back in their cages. That necessitated his destruction by fire, so when Polycarp became aware of it, he prayed, and welcomed the fire. At the conclusion of his prayer, the men came with the fire, and Brother! Here is a beautiful testimony of a man endowed with the grace of God. Let me read it to you. As the flame breathed forth with great fury, we to whom it was given to witness it, beheld a great miracle, and have been preserved alive, that we might be able to report to other what took place there. The fire shaping itself into the form of an arch, like the sail of a ship when filled with the wind, encompassed as by a circle the body of the martyr, and he appeared within, not like flesh which is burnt, but as bread which is baked, or as gold and silver glowing in a furnace. Morever we perceived such a sweet odor coming from the pike, as if frankincense or some other precious spices had been smoking there. (Saints, these are the things the Lord used to speak to that bunch of heathen in those days.) At length, when those wicked men perceived his body could not be consumed by the flames, they commanded that an executioner go forth and pierce him through with a dagger. Upon doing this, there came forth a dove, (symbol of the Holy Ghost) and a great quantity of blood, (which actually gushed out in such a way that it extinguished the flames, I read in another place) and all the people wondered, that there should be such a difference between the unbelievers and the elect, of whom this most admirable Polycarp was one. Having in our times, been an apostolic prophet and teacher, and bishop of the church which is in Smyrna, every word that came forth from his mouth, either has been already, or shall yet be accomplished. This is the blessed account of Polycarp, which was the 12th that was martyred in Smyrna. Now brothers and sisters, those twelve were actually the patriarchs of the faith that had pastored the church there. They had all been martyred, and Polycarp was the twelfth one.

WHAT HISTORY REVEALS

From Polycarp's hour, as the second age really came into full focus, this same thing began to be a universal picture. Satan still continued to pervert Christianity from within, and at the same time, from without, tried to completely destroy every individual soul that held onto a true revelation of any sort. That is exactly why the 2nd beast (the calf) corresponds to the 2nd horse rider, (red) for the blood of the saints spilled upon the ground, as they faced martyrdom for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But one thing is obvious to anyone who read these various historical records, God gave them grace to die with dignity. They would walk into those arenas with their heads held high, and with victory in their souls, being thankful that they were counted worthy to share in the sufferings of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Naturally we have to go to other sources for much of this information, for it just simply is not written in the pages of the Bible. That is why I'm so thankful that many of these historical writings have been preserved through the years of time. Otherwise there would be many questions in our minds left unexplained. Much of what we know about Christianity and its adversaries passing from that first century into the second, and also from the first church age and on into the second age was written by Irenaeus the messenger to the 2nd age. He was born near Smyrna around 130 AD., and was taught by Polycarp who was a disciple of the apostle John. It was from the writings of Irenaeus that I read that about Jesus being the 6th stage of God's condescension to human form. He was telling about how schools of Christian learning were springing up in that 2nd century, and some of the things they taught about the Godhead. Anyhow that was the first I had ever heard, or read of God being as many as 6 or 7. It is hard enough in our day, to deal with these who believe Him to be 2 or 3, so I do not envy those saints of God who had to deal with such a wild spirit as that. Of course we realize that it all comes from that same spirit of perversion, but you do wonder just how anything could get so far off course, so soon after the original apostles passed from the scene. Naturally as I read some of those things, my mind went to the parable of Jesus, in Matthew 13:24-30, where he said, "But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way." John was dead, Paul was dead, Peter was dead, James was dead. Those old guards of the true faith were asleep in Jesus, and the enemy of God sowed his tare seed (make-believers) among the wheat, (true believers) and went his merry way. Irenaeus wrote many epistles refuting those Antichrist teachings that were springing up throughout universal Christendom and I was reading also, how he sent certain men from Smyrna all the way into France evangelizing, but Satan was on the rampage. He had already enlarged his field of tares, and true Christians were being butchered like hogs in a slaughterhouse. Some were fed to the lions, and others were burned at the stake, as the devil tried his level best to completely destroy every trace of genuine Christianity, but God always preserved seed alive even in the darkest hour of Christianity, to shoot forth on this side of the Dark Ages. Let me say this also, No matter what anyone may think when they read those words written to the church at Smyrna, that particular church had a far reaching influence upon universal Christianity, and it was because of men like Polycarp and Irenaeus that would not shun their calling of God to stand for the truth.

SATURDAY WORSHIP OF SUNDAY WORSHIP

I believe we have said about enough concerning the church at Smyrna, so let me take a few minutes to deal with another point that I believe needs some clarification in the minds of many believers. Seventh Day Adventist people are always accusing us of worshiping on the wrong day of the week, and that has caused a lot of people to ask, Bro. Jackson, just where in the scripture, does it state that we should worship on Sunday instead of Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath? Those who teach Saturday worship have what they consider two strong points of argument. First they point out that Paul went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, to preach to the Jews, and of course that would be on Saturday. But let me remind you that Paul himself said the gospel was first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles. Therefore in every city where he went, Paul always went to the Jewish synagogue where he would present the gospel to the Jewish element before going to the Gentiles. Now Brothers and Sisters, think seriously. If you wanted to speak to Jews that had gathered to worship, what day would you choose to go into their synagogue when they would all be gathered together? You say, Saturday, and that is exactly why Paul went on Saturday; that was the only thing that made any sense. Secondly, those who teach Saturday worship are quick to point out, that it was the Catholic church that made Sunday worship compulsory, and from the standpoint of history, that is exactly right; the Catholic church did do that. But now let us go into the Bible and see what is written there. First I will direct your attention to 1st Corinthians 16:1-2, where Paul is instructing that assembly concerning the collection for the poor saints as Jerusalem. He says, (1) "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. (2) Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings (collections) when I come." Now I ask you seriously, Why would they come together for worship on Saturday, and then come back again on Sunday the first day of the week, just to take up a collection? Do you see how foolish that would be? Common sense tells us they took up the collection when they came together for worship upon the first day of the week (Sunday). Would you not say so? The Christians worship day had nothing whatsoever to do with Paul's practice of going to the Jewish synagogue on their day of worship, to speak to them. His heart was heavy for his Jewish brethren in the natural. He never ceased to be concerned for them. But let us look at another scripture now, and then I will read you something from church history. Acts 20; beginning with verse 7, is what I want to read at this time. (7) "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. (This might also serve to take the time limit off of how long we are allowed to preach.) (8) And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. (They were in a building, a place of worship.) (9) And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead." I read all three verses there, just so you could see that the disciples were meeting for worship, in a building, upon the first day of the week, in the early age of Christianity. It was not a practice that was started by the Catholic church; they just merely adopted it, and made it law. But to add to what we have seen in the scriptures, let me read you what Justin the martyr, of the 2nd century wrote concerning the day Christians worship. "But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world. (Referring to the first chapter of Genesis) and Jesus Christ our Savior, on the same day, rose from the dead. For he was crucified on the day before Saturn (Saturday) the Jewish Sabbath, and on the day after that of Saturn, having appeared to His apostles and disciples. He taught them these things which we have submitted to you also, for your consideration." Justin the martyr, wrote those words in the 2nd century, but I believe it is reasonable to conclude, especially since we have actual scripture to back us up, that worshiping on Sunday was a practice carried over from the 1st century when the first apostles were still alive. In other words, they had a revelation concerning the day of worship, just like Abel did, concerning an acceptable sacrifice unto the Lord God. Therefore let me say this to you, When we have so much to base our worship practice upon, we should not be at the mercy of unrevealed people who just want to argue. I would never hold these history accounts above the scriptures, but when they agree with what I see in the scriptures, I just have to thank God for a little more confirmation.

PERGAMOS

Coming to the letter written to the church at Pergamos, we will soon realize that the conditions in their midst even in 96 A.D., typed the conditions of an evil age that would follow. What was going on in that particular church was just a very small sample of what would take place in the age it represented, for its acts and deeds would be multiplied over and over again and again. There are many disputes and contradictions, as men try to establish exact dates when the church actually passed from one age to the other. That is because of the many overlapping conditions that makes it next to impossible just to say, This age ends here, and this one starts here. According to one of the Antinicean books, the dates attributed to that 3rd church age was from 316 just before the Nicean Council was held, all the way to 606 A.D., the council was held at Nicea. All sorts of ideas about the Godhead were being taught even in the 2nd century, but as conditions among the believers really began to reach a critical point, a priest by the name of Arius began to teach his version of the Godhead, and it caused such a stir, the emperor Constantine took it upon himself to call for a council meeting to get this question settled once and for all. By this time the trinity version of the Godhead was widely accepted, but not by Arius. He combated the trinity teaching with a version of oneness that was just as bad, or even worse, for he denied the deity of Christ Jesus altogether, saying that He was just another creature made out of nothing, like all the rest of us. He did not say much about the Holy Spirit, except to deny that He was God, but his doctrine became known as Arianism, and it caused such a fuss among the ranks of what was called the church, the emperor Constantine felt that is should be straightened out by a council of bishops. Of course they adopted the trinity version of the Godhead teaching, as opposed to Arianism, for that is what was taught right on through the Dark Ages and down through the years of Reformation, and even today, it is still a strong spirit that forces a trinity version of the godhead upon people. But we do have to thank God for preserving the truth through all of that, and for allowing us to be partakers of that truth here at the end time. Catholicism, as a religious organization, did not come into being until around 500 A.D., but that old spirit was on the scene long before then. The church in that 3rd age, no longer appeared as she did in that 1st age, for the tares were in control. The messenger of God to that age, history reveals, was a man by the name of St. Martin. He was a soldier in his younger days, more or less as a career, but inwardly, he had a compassion for the plight and needs of others. Therefore as a result of the feelings of his heart, the Lord came to him, and really gave him an experience of salvation, lifting him up out of a life of sin, and making him a soldier of the cross. He became a gallant defender of the faith in his hour, and it is known that his message reached all the way into the regions of Europe. But their battle for truth was basically the same as it is in our day and hour. It is still the Spirit of truth combating that spirit of Antichrist, as it has been ever since that first church age began to be infiltrated there toward the end of the age.

SHARP SWORD WITH TWO EDGES

Let us read what the Lord instructed John to write to the church at Pergamos, the church of that 1st age, that had conditions in it that would parallel the general spiritual condition of the universal church in the 3rd church age. In Revelation 2:13, we begin reading these words. "And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith He which hath the sharp sword with two edges." Have you been paying attention to the various ways the Lord identified Himself to these seven churches? To the church of Ephesus He identified Himself as He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. To the church at Smyrna He was identified as The First and The Last, which was dead, and is alive. But to the church in Pergamos, He which hath the sharp sword with two edges. Naturally the sharp sword with two edges is the word of God, and in that hour, the word of God was being contested by something that required warfare in the spirit. Therefore it seems that the Lord portrayed Himself to each church in a symbolic way to actually express something of the spiritual condition among them. In this case they had a condition existing, that definitely required the use of that sharp two edged sword, that could cut from either direction. Notice the next statement. He said the same thing to the others also. "I know thy works." As we said before, that has to pertain to their true works of faith, not only as individuals, but also as a unit of believers. "I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is." That of course is having reference to the city of Pergamos itself. The Lord saw it as a city given over to idolatry, witchcraft, devil worship, worshipers of fire, and to immorality in general, and there was the church right in the midst of all of that, just like Lot down in Sodom. Read it carefully, for the Lord is not saying that the seat of Satan is in the church. It is the city itself that is the seat of Satan. The Lord could see that Satan literally controlled that city, yet here was a church of the living God, trying to uphold truth and moral standards in the midst of all that. He went ahead saying, "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." I imagine Pergamos was a city sort of like certain cities in California in our day. California has become a state so taken over by demonic spirits, that almost anything that one could think of in their mind, is going on there. It has, through the years, been a state where people would go to get rich, and the devil has taken it over. When we see pictures, and hear of some of the things that take place in that state, we wonder how such a place could possibly escape the wrath of God, but then we just have to realize that their cup of wrath is not full yet, but one day it will be, for I believe the prophecy, which declared that a great earthquake would hit her, and that parts of her slide into the ocean. Why? Because she has become a sanctuary for every kind of evil spirit of the devil. Homosexuals and prostitutes are in high places in that state, and even in the so-called church. Prostitutes form their unions, and use church buildings to hold their conventions.

THINGS GOD HATES

Brother and sisters: I am not necessarily picking on California alone, but she has been in the forefront with these conditions and since I cannot show you the city of Pergamos, I have to use illustrations so that you can understand just what Pergamos was like. You can better understand why the Lord would say, I know that you are dwelling where Satan's seat is. Their environment did not give them any license to do wrong, but it sure did make it hard for them to stay out of trouble, for Satan was consistently trying to destroy them. One thing in particular strikes you as strange. Here was the Lord acknowledging that they held fast to His name in this particular church, and in the very age that was typed by this church, the name of Jesus became a contested issue. His deity was contested, and also whether He was a true Son of God, or just an adopted son. Nevertheless the fact that Jesus was even mentioned, that they had held fast to His name, lets us know that Satan had been doing something in the church, trying to abolish His name from among them. Actually when you read 1st John 4:1-3, you will notice that as early as 90 A.D., the name of Jesus was already under attack, and John said that it was from false prophets who had gone out into the world, being motivated by the spirit of Antichrist. Then as we have already mentioned, in that 2nd age, Christian schools were set up, and that just naturally opened a door for these false teachers who loved to get hold of young minds and pollute them. They could not accomplish anything with saints who had a genuine revelation in their bosom, but if they could get hold of their children, and feed their perverted junk into their young minds, you can easily see how tares eventually got into the church, into places of leadership. You have the same situation even today, as in every age; where children grow up in the church, take part in everything that goes on, do everything that their parents do, but many of them never have a true experience of salvation. Naturally when the older ones pass off the scene and these are left to take their places of leadership, without the Holy Ghost in them to take the lead, they have to depend upon their natural mind, in whatever function they may have in the church. Therefore if they have been taught a perverted version of the gospel, some of it is bound to come out and mix in with the truth that may still be present, but over a period of so many generations, you can just imagine what could happen, and it did happen. Satan got into the church. No, it was not the revelated believers that became heretics; it was those who were void of the Spirit of God in their lives. You can look back to Jacob and Esau, for an example of how one set of parents could produce children that God would either love or hate. Some people argue that God loves every individual, regardless of whether they are a Christian or not, and I will readily agree that God loved you before you ever became a Christian, or you would not be one, but if we are going to believe the word of God, (the Bible) then we will have to agree that there are some ungodly individuals in the world, that God hates. What I want to impress upon you though, is this. These false prophets (tares) did not attack the way Christians dress, nor whether they walked uprightly in all the Christian virtues or not; the first thing they started hacking away at, was the revelation of the Godhead. If they can destroy that, everything else is a breeze for them. Now they can never rob a person of a true revelation that has already got past the mind, and into the spirit, but it is a known fact, that whatever you hold only in your mind, can be taken away from you, no matter how true it may be. That is the reason some people are always changing their doctrine; what they have been following was only in their mind. As time passed out of the 2nd age, and into the 3rd, those men of true faith began to take on a militant attitude in their defense of the gospel. That is why Jesus identifies Himself to the church at Pergamos, as He which hath the sharp sword with two edges, Now let us realize that when the Lord speaks of the church, He is speaking of only the true believers, and not necessarily everyone who sits in the assembly. That is why after commending the believers for holding fast to His name, and for not denying the true faith, He could turn right around and say, "But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block 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."

DOCTRINE OF BALAAM

As we said earlier, This church had only been in existence about 40 years at the time of this letter, and they already had these two conditions among them, that actually did not hit universal Christendom until the 3rd age. It just goes to show, that some congregations are easier for tares to slip into than others. It also confirms something that other studies have revealed. That is this. Forty years of time is just about what it takes, or we will say, is all the time that is needed for any group of people to reach a peak, or point where they will either go on with great determination, or start to deteriorate. The devilish city where they were located had a lot to do with their standards of morality, for Satan was continually bombarding them with every kind of perversion that could be imagined. Sooner or later, that sort of thing will bear an influence on a congregation. The Lord said, You have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam. That means that there were people in that congregation that actually believed and upheld this doctrine of Balaam, and you really have to go back to the book of Numbers to find out what that false prophet taught. He was sent out by Balak, to prophesy against Israel, because Balak did not want the children of Israel to come through that part of the land on their way from Egypt to the promised land. For fear of what might happen if they did come that way, he hired Balaam, a false prophet, to go out and curse Israel for a sum of money. (That reminds me of a lot of these preachers in our day.) Balaam agreed to go, but he told old Balak that he would only say what the Lord put in his mouth. Therefore as it turned out, every time he opened his mouth to curse them, he would pronounce a blessing upon them. Finally he told Balak that no man could curse them, but he had some psychology that would no doubt work. Balaam himself did not stay around to carry it out, but he told Balak what to do. He knew the holy standards that God had set among His chosen people, and he also knew that somewhere these people had a weakness in them, because of where they came from, Egypt. Therefore he told Balak, Get your young people to go out and entice the children of Israel to come over and worship Baal with them. It was all done under the pretext of just having some fellowship together; you see the same thing today. Their whole religious program constituted a feast, probably an elaborate meal, much festivity, the worshiping of a deity which incorporated the decking of an altar with flowers and feasting around a sacrificial ceremony. Then came the drinking and immoral acts of sex. The children of Israel were enticed into all of this, and God let them go for a while, but then the anger of God struck the camp of Israel. You can go to the book of Numbers and read how one man came in and found two people in the act of sex, and thrust them both through with a dagger to bring an end to the whole rotten mess. Therefore the doctrine of Balaam was his revelation, his psychology. For he knew how he could bring God's displeasure upon the people of Israel instead of a blessing. So this practice in the church at Pergamos was not something new that the devil had cooked up, it was a carryover from centuries past. Gentiles, before receiving the gospel, had always lived like that. This is why the brethren at Jerusalem gave Paul such a set of instructions concerning Gentiles that had received the gospel. In Acts 15:19 & 20 we read it. "Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollution of idols and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood." Some of the brethren felt that Gentile believers should be circumcised, and commanded to keep the law of Moses, but Peter reminded them that God does not require such a yoke to be placed around the necks of Gentile believers, and reminds them of the fact that even Jews who had been raised to keep the law, could not bear such a yoke. Therefore they all finally agreed upon these very important basic instructions. Keep away from fornication, abstain from idol worship, do not eat meat that has been strangled to death, and do not drink blood. These were all things that were very common to pagans, and that is exactly what Gentiles were, before they were converted to Christianity.

FORBIDDEN DIET

A lot of people will ask, What about these scriptures that speak of abstaining from eating meat offered to idols, and from things that have been strangled? First of all, meat that was sacrificed unto idols, was sacrificed to that deity to atone for something in their life. In other words, they offered the life of whatever it was, in an effort to appease that deity, and the other thing is, such meat usually has not been bled; the blood is congealed within. So that takes us back to Genesis 9:3-4. After the flood, God changed the diet of the survivors to include meat, saying to them. (3) Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. (4) But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." God established this law against them eating meat with the blood still in it, and that also meant that drinking blood was forbidden, but, especially in the day of Christ and the apostles, Gentiles were doing just exactly the opposite of that. Kosher meat (Jewish) even yet today, especially in Israel, is meat that the Jewish Rabbi has presided over the preparation to make sure it is bled out properly. They make sure the jugular vein of that animal is cut so that all the blood is pumped out, and then it is hung so that it will completely bleed out. On the other side of the picture, heathen Gentiles developed a taste for blood, and took great pains to preserve it, when they killed an animal. Even recently, I saw a program on television of a tribe over in Africa, and one of the things they showed, was how they would go out, in the morning, and pierce a vein in the neck of a calf, and catch the blood in a cup. Then they would go and mix that with warm milk and drink it for breakfast, just like you might, tea or coffee. That is completely against the law of God, and so in any other form of deliberately drinking blood, or eating it in some other fashion. When those Gentile pagans would beat an animal to death, and never bleed it, but rather, let the blood remain in the animal and eat it that way, they were going contrary to a law God made before there ever was a Jewish people. That was for the whole human race. Then someone else said, What about this meat you buy in the store, that still has blood seeping out of it? That little bit of red you see in meat like that, has nothing at all to do with the heathen practices that the early apostles were concerned about. It is not that you will become contaminated by thing like that, it is simply a situation where those that deliberately do those things that cross over God's laws, bring a curse upon themselves. You check back through the historical records of time, and you will discover that any tribe of people that has ever lived like that, has had to suffer for it, and will yet suffer for it. Of course we do not know just how far those people there in Pergamos were going, along those lines, but one thing is sure, the Lord said they had some folks in the church that held the doctrine of Balaam, and He wasn't at all pleased with the true saints for allowing such a thing in their midst. God would withhold His blessings from such an assembly; you can be sure of that. Now that wasn't all that the Lord had against that church, for He went ahead to say, "You also have some there, which hold the doctrine of Nicolaitans, which thing I hate." Not only did they have people in their congregation that believed it was alright to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to practice this free love thing, which is fornication, they also had some that held the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.

FALSE DOCTRINE AND CONFUSION

The church at Ephesus had been exposed to that Nicolaitan spirit, and they hated it, and refused to give it any place, yet here is another church, founded on the teachings of the same man they were, and they have these conditions in their assembly. In other words, what was just deeds that were hated, in the Ephesus church, is an actual doctrine of some of those of Pergamos. They were already returning to their former way of life, eating meat offered to idols, and to fornication, so naturally this Nicolaitan spirit fit the occasion perfectly. Any church that is not led by the Holy Ghost, is a church where there is always confusion, and where there is confusion, there is always a variety of doctrines being taught. That part is like the chicken and the egg; it takes a revelation to know which one was first. It does fulfill an old proverb about the dog returning to its vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire, though, for they were returning back to the very way of life that the gospel supposedly delivered them from. No doubt this Nicolaitan spirit was trying to set up some kind of a priestly rule in the church, to deal with situations from a natural standpoint, before the Spirit of God could speak out to give direction. Some were probably saying, What the church needs is one bishop with the authority to settle disputes, and issue decrees for all the rest to be guided by. Of course that would leave the Holy Spirit out of the picture, and set such a difference between the ministry and the laity, that eventually, it would lead to human rulership in the church, rather than spiritual leadership. Can you see why God would hate such a spirit? The Bible says He is a jealous God. He wants to lead His people. He did not want their worship services to be cut and dried, with everything preplanned, and printed up in a bulletin. In a Holy Ghost led service, you never know what is going to take place next, nor what time the service will end. But this Nicolaitan spirit will plan the whole service right down to the minutest detail, so that even to say amen, would be out of order. Can you even imagine that the apostle Paul, or John Wesley would have conducted services like that? Some of their services lasted all night, and they were not planned ahead of time, to be like that either.

ROMAN EMPEROR - CHURCH LEADER

Brothers and sisters, it is easy for us to see how a condition like this could have gotten into the church universal, in the 3rd church age, which is placed between the years 316 A.D. and 606 A.D., but what is strange, is that such a spirit could get into a local church within 40 years of its founding, to the extent that it could establish doctrine. No wonder John could write the little epistle on 90 A.D., saying, There are many Antichrists already. He could see what was happening in some of those churches already. In other words, Satan sowed seed in the latter part of that 1st age, that really began to produce a crop over in the 3rd age, some 240, or 250 years later. It was the Roman emperor Constantine, that actually opened the way for that Nicolaitan spirit to rule the church. In the year 312, on the eve of a great battle, he was supposed to have had a dream or vision, in which he saw a fiery cross in the heavens beneath which was written, "By this sign thou shalt conquer." He interpreted that to mean, that the God of the Christians was speaking to him. In other words, If you will accept this faith, you will be victorious. He had painted the Christian emblem on the shields of his army, and into battle they went, and came out victorious. That did it for him. He granted freedom of religion in the Empire, (made a decree that added Christianity to a long list of other religions) and established Sunday as a day of worship. In the oncoming years, he took a great interest in Christianity, and that is what led up to the Nicene council. He decided that the Christian bishops should be called together, to settle this Arian controversy over the Godhead, and to formulate Christian doctrine. This actually brought about a calm, took the pressure off of the Christians that had been laboring under persecution, and truly brought about a condition that corresponded exactly to the 3rd parable of Matthew 13. The parable speaks of time when the kingdom of heaven would be like a tree, whereby the birds of the air would come and lodge in its branches. That is exactly what happened, for these was a mass conversion of pagans, that began to swell the rank of Christendom from the very moment Constantine made his decree. Naturally as more and more pagans joined the ranks of Christians, doctrinal disputes became more and more intensified, so in the year 325 A.D., Constantine summoned the Christian bishops to meet in Nicea, for the purpose of settling these doctrinal disputes, and adopting a universal doctrine for the Christian church to follow. Naturally there were a few faithful pastors in that 3rd age, who would not even consider baptizing any other way, than in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, but they were out-numbered, so they stayed at home, and let the others go do what they were destined to do. The trinity doctrine of the Godhead was adopted, and that sanctioned using the titles Father, Son, and Holy Ghost of Matthew 28:19, in baptism, instead of the name of the one to whom those titles belonged, (Jesus Christ) for the remission of the sins of the flesh. I will just have to say this, no matter what some may think, Any bishop that attended that council, sat there and allowed a Roman Emperor to dictate church doctrine to them, would have to have been a tare. But that just goes to show how strong that tare force was by then. In other words, Satan got his council meeting, Satan got his church doctrine established, and that led right on into Millennial rule of darkness. Praise God, I am glad Satan's Millennial rule is already past, and that the glorious Millennial rule of Jesus with His saints is close at hand. We will not set dates as some have, but all the signs point to His soon return. Hallelujah! Bride! Look up! The day of your redemption is closer than you may think.

SATAN JOINED THE CHURCH

We have not said much about St. Martin, the man most commonly accepted to have been the messenger of God to that 3rd age, but history reveals that he was a most gallant soldier of the cross of Christ. His ministry was filled with many outstanding miracles of various sorts, but it is recorded that he was a humble man. Even such a man though, was not afraid to stand up in the face of his enemies and oppose their evil ways. Of all the men who stood for God in that hour, his ministry seemed to be vindicated in such a way that he stood out above the others, as the messenger to the age. Even his conversion was unique. It is recorded in history that the Lord Jesus appeared to him in a vision one night, wrapped in half of Martin's robe, that he had cut in half and shared with a poor beggar by the roadside the day before. That vision is what was supposed to have turned him to Christ. He was born right about the time that Constantine included Christianity as one of the acceptable religions that the Roman Empire would recognize. Some might think that persecution of Christians stopped when Christianity became accepted by the Roman Emperor, but you have to remember, that the devil was not converted. He joined the church to defeat true Christianity, not to defend the apostolic doctrine it held. Every tare is an agent of Satan, set in the body of Christ, to do that body exactly what a cancer does to the physical body, just eat away a little at a time. They started gnawing on the Godhead and the name of Jesus Christ in water baptism, and went right on through every major doctrine of the Bible. Those men of God like Polycarp, Irenaeus, St. Martin, and many, many more, fought that spirit of heresy with all their might, but Satan always has the majority. The ranks of the wicked have always outnumbered the ranks of the righteous, but God allowed it to be like that. For when God gets ready to move, He takes the minority and puts to flight the majority, just like He did with Gideon.

THUS SAITH THE POPE

Before dealing with the last verses of this letter to Pergamos, let me say this, These 7 literal churches did not have every condition present in them, that was actually present in the particular age they typed; however they did have conditions that revealed the presence of the spirit that would dominate that age to came later. The seven parables of Matthew 13, show the gradual breakdown of the universal kingdom of God through Satan's deceptive devices, taking it right on through the Dark Ages, and down through the Reformation to the very day we are living in. No wonder it took a prophet messenger, in this age, to get all of Satan's mess sorted out from among the true doctrine of the Bible. That in no way is to say that he got rid of it, but he did sort it out, and identify it, even to the highest religious order of the world. True saints once again have a true standard to follow. Where did the breakdown of the true revelation start? These 7 letters, along with some words spoken by Paul, John, and others, let us know that even in the first age, that Antichrist spirit was already working, but did not make much impact until the 2nd age. The 2nd age was marked with mass martyrdoms, while the 3rd age was given more to two doctrines, the doctrine of Balaam, and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, both of which God Hates. There will still persecution of true believers, and martyrdom in the 3rd age, but not like it was in the 2nd age. After men like Constantine added their influence to the Christian church, the main body that was still called, the church, was ruled more by pagan practices than Christianity. The Antichrist spirit had finally succeeded in causing people to turn back to their old pagan practices. Immorality was in the church, and a spirit that put too much difference between the ministry and the laity. These things were identified in the 7 literal churches of Asia in the 1st age, and they, then became universal conditions in the various ages of time their particular condition typed. As we said earlier, What was just deeds in Smyrna, was doctrine in Pergamos. Saints, I am sure you realize that not everyone was guilty of these things; for God has always had a few true saints in every age, but these were prevailing conditions of the particular ages of time they pertained to. What we see here in the Pergamos church itself, is that they did not reject these doctrines of the devil, like the church at Ephesus did. Therefore anywhere you find a certain doctrine taught, you will always find some people following that doctrine in daily life, and therefore it is reasonable to expect that doctrines split church bodies, and so on. It was Satan's goal to split the body of disciples, and separate the clergy from the laity, projecting the clergy into a priesthood. When that was accomplished, the priesthood would have sovereign authority over the laity, and that would completely eliminate the gifts of the Spirit of God, and there would be no more Holy Ghost led services. As this condition began to be expressed in that 3rd age, it started out more or less as a competitive rat race among the major Christian centers, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and Rome. Each bishop, just like in denominations today, trying to outdo the others, Each one trying to get the most in Sunday School, trying to get the largest congregation, or the largest offering, and all such like. All of this was Satan's way of eventually elevating a man somewhere, who could be lord of the whole kingdom of God. Somewhere around 500 A.D., he finally succeeded; the bishop of Rome became the one, and eventually became recognized as pope, (papa) a man who would have the last word on anything pertaining to Christianity. That all took place in the 3rd church AGE, in the years between 312 & 606 A.D., so the admonition of the Lord in Revelation 2:16, was both to the literal church in Pergamos and to the church age that corresponded to it.

REPENT, OR ELSE

Notice what the Lord says here in this verse, "Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them (Who? All who hold to these adverse doctrines and practices.) With the sword of my mouth." Alright, so the Lord has warned them, Repent, or face the consequences. He said, "I will fight against thee, with the sword of my mouth." As we said before, That sharp two edged sword, is the word of God, that can cut from either direction. What did He mean? How would He do that? Who would he fight against? Not the drunks, nor the gamblers, nor the thieves, nor any other of such as these, out in the world. He was ready to draw His sword, and fight against His enemies, right in the church. They were planted there by Satan. Now that did not mean that the whole congregation was made up of tares, nor did it mean that the Lord was going to cut all the tares loose from the true people of God, for that would be contrary to the 2nd parable of Matthew 13, which says that they are to grow together until harvest time. But the Lord did anoint some saints to engage in verbal combat with those religious leaders and philosophers, that had raised up within the ranks of Christendom, in that 3rd age. St. Martin was a mighty warrior with that sharp two edged sword he carried, and as we have already stated, he is commonly accepted as the star messenger to the 3rd age. But do not forget, there were others, both before and after the star messenger came on the scene, that also defended the true revelation of the word of God. Why did they fight so hard for the truth? What was their promise? We will see that, when we finish reading the letter.

HIDDEN MANNA - OUR DAILY DIET

Let us finish reading, here in verse 17, "He that had 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." Now we know that the children of Israel were fed manna 40 years in the wilderness, on their journey from Egypt to the promised land. They ate manna in the morning, and quail in the evening, for 40 years. They had no potatoes; they had no carrots, no tomatoes, green beans, nor corn on the cob, but they did have all they needed to keep them alive and healthy. Is this the kind of hidden manna that the Lord was referring to? No. But that manna that came down from heaven fresh every morning, was a type of the hidden manna Jesus was speaking of here. In the 5th chapter of John's gospel, did not Jesus say, "I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: If any man eat of this bread, he shall life for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world?" Did he not say that? Was He talking about cannibalism? Those Jews thought He was. No! He was speaking of those who would feast upon His word, and drink of His Spirit, and that is exactly what this hidden manna in Revelation 2:17 is. This hidden manna is not something they are going to get when they die; it is something for us to feast upon daily, the revelation of His blessed word. It is that truth that comes from above, by the anointing and unction of the Spirit of revelation. Satan does not like it, but true saints of God will die to preserve that privilege. The sword was necessary in that 3rd age, to preserve their food supply. Have you ever wondered how Shem preserved his father's revelation, and the other two boys that were on the same boat with them, lost it? Shem's descendants preserved a one God revelation, while Japeth's descendants became converted to Christianity and those philosophers among them, became tools in the hands of Satan, to attack the true doctrine, and shut off the food supply from the heavenly storehouse. Many of those true saints gave their lives in martyrdom in their efforts to keep that supply line open, and to some, it looks like they failed. But I will have you know, God has always preserved seed, in every generation. Therefore the over-comers of every age, received hidden manna while they were still alive, and secured the promise of a white stone, with their new name written in it, that no man could read, except he to whom it was given. That, my friends, is your reward after death, but the hidden manna is our necessary food supply for our remaining days in this life. The white stone is symbolic of life in immortality. So let us feast upon the hidden manna, and thank God daily for it. Let us remember also, that the race is not yet over. There will yet be other saints who will have to die a martyr's death. You can be assured of one thing though, God will never require anything of you, without first granting you grace sufficient for it, whatever it is. If you could just read what is written in history about some of those early martyrs, you would realize they had something other than just their own human strength. Besides that, many of them even had a glow of light around them, as they faced the lions, or the fires of martyrdom. Most of us have coasted through life without any real persecution, but we have no right to expect it to be like that all the way, for there has been a great price, and Satan is still trying to destroy it. continued next issue