"The Seven Church Harvest" #5

We've come in our overview of the seven churches of Rev. 2 & 3 to the Church at Thyatira. The seven churches in Asia represent:

• the churches that were then
• a prophetic history of the Church of God down through time
• the attitudes that anyone in any Church of God, let's put it this way, in any congregation of God down through history could have at any time

If the pattern follows that we have in the book of Revelation, that you have seven seals, out of which comes seven trumpet plagues, out of which come seven last plagues, then we have

• the seven original churches, the seven down through history, and could it be at the end-time we are also going to have seven churches as God views the churches

Maybe not as clearly defined as the original seven, but nevertheless I think it's profound that these things are happening today, right now today. Let's read the message to the message to the Church at Thyatira.

Revelation 2:18: "And to the angel of the Church in Thyatira write…" As I mentioned this probably means 'messenger' because I cannot conceive of an angel in good standing with God that would get into the depths of Satan. And the Greek there is 'angelos,' which is used for messenger as well as angel.

"…'These things says the Son of God, He Who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like fine brass'" (v 18). He's saying that He sees and He knows, and is penetrating as fire, and His feet like fine brass. Fine brass can have an illusion to judgment. 

Verse 19: "I know your works… [they have works] …and love, and service, and faith, and your endurance, and your works; and the last are more than the first." {note DVD: Israel of the Alps that shows what happened to the Waldensians} I think it fits very, very nicely, and I think it's very profound that they connect themselves with Thyatira. Because they also had a woman prophetess called Ellen G. White.

Verse 20: "But I have a few things against you, because you allow the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants into committing fornication…"

When we drop back here to Pergamos we find, v 14: "…to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication." Here in Thyatira it's reversed. They commit the spiritual fornication first and then they eat the things sacrificed to an idol. I believe eating things sacrificed to an idol has nothing to do with meat, but has to do with the introduction of the Eucharist.

Christ says, v 21: "And I gave her time to repent…" God always does that. He always gives space for repentance. Whenever there is sin, if people prosper and sin for a while they need to be careful and not mistake that as approval. If it's sin it's sin even if you prosper in the sin, because there is pleasure in sin for a season. Don't mistake that as God's approval. Maybe He's just giving you space to repent. I think that the space for repentance for a lot of people who have been in the Church of God is probably right now getting smaller and smaller, and the judgment is going to come. Just like it did here. 

"…And I gave her time to repent of her fornication, but she did not repent. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their works. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches…" (vs 21-23). Now right in the middle of the seven churches, this is it. All the churches

"…shall know that I am He Who searches the reins and hearts…" (v 23). God is showing that there is individual judgment upon all of us.

"…and I will give to each of you according to your works. But to you I say, and to the rest who are in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, and who have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will not cast upon you any other burden, but hold fast what you have until I come" (vs 23-25). Then He gives the admonition to overcome.

Now let's go to Revelation 17, and this is the fornication that is coming upon the whole world. I'm going to give a sermon concerning the beast, and the United Nations. They are coming together to lay the ground work to have world government, taxation upon international things so that they will have a separate income, and how then they can devise a way to get rid of sovereignty for all the nations. And the Catholic Church is right smack in the middle of it. {Note: several sermons can be found on The Beast at cbcg,org}

When I say the Catholic Church, I am meaning all of the religions of the world, because they're all coming home to Rome because that is Babylon the Great. But I think the commentaries in the 19th century and the first part of the 20th century—and obviously going back before that—could not conceive of a world dictator.

Like the Seventh Day Adventists, they said the beast of Rev. 13, both of them represent the Catholic Church, because the Catholic Church in the ages before—like at the time of the Reformation with the Protestant churches coming out—ran the government. The church ran the government! They told the kings what to do. They could not conceive of a time when there would be a civil government that would be a dictator over the whole world. Rev. 17 tells us that the one who is going to do the directing will be the woman. We'll see this is the same system referring to Jezebel.

Revelation 17:1: "And one of the seven angels who had the seven vials came and spoke with me, saying to me, 'Come here; I will show you the judgment of the great whore who sits upon many waters… [you know that means nations, kindreds, tongues, and so forth] … with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication'" (vs 1-2)—and we're all made drunk with it. Part of that is the whole educational system; part is the religious system, and it's all being combined together now. I don't think that any of us have had a clue as to how involved the Catholic Church has been with the United Nations.

How many have heard of Robert Muller? He received a special crucifix of pure gold from the pope when he came to the United Nations to speak, because Muller is a New Age Catholic. This book-- The New World Religion by Gary Kah—details a lot of it.

Verse 3: "Then he carried me away in the spirit to a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, full of names of blasphemy. And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and was adorned with gold and pearls and precious stones; and she had a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominations and the filthiness of her fornication; and across her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" (vs 3-5). {note sermon series: The Mystery of Lawlessness}

Alan Knight does a wonderful job describing it in his book: Primitive Christianity in Crisis. By the way, he came last Sabbath. He lives just about 30 minutes away from where we meet in Fairfield. I thought he did a good job in describing the mystery of lawlessness, and also the depths of Satan, and we're going to see that the depths of Satan gets down into actual Satan worship. So you see how far those in the Church of God can go in their apostasy away from God.

Jezebel and Mystery Babylon the Great are the same system under different names. So, the message to the Church in Thyatira is labeling very clearly that they are having the same problems that the children of Israel did with Jezebel. What did the Apostle Paul write concerning women? I do not allow a woman to teach, and have authority over a man!

Here we have this great sin, not only of a woman teaching, but bringing false doctrines. Remember the occasion of Josiah? When they found the Law in the temple? There was no one to tell them the Truth except Huldah the prophetess over in the wardrobe area of the temple! They went and talked to her and she gave a message from God. Women can give messages from God provided that they know the Truth. But she didn't do it publicly; she did it privately. That's not to put women down and say they're of no account. That's just to say that women are not to be preachers and prophetesses publicly in the way that Jezebel was here.

1-Kings 15:25: "And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah and reigned over Israel two years. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin" (vs 25-26).

What happened when Jeroboam set up the golden calves? What did he institute? He instituted state religion, and he made himself a high priest and offered on the altar! What do the two calves represent? Sun-worship! Between the horns of the calf were the sun-disk. So, you have sun-worship!

2-Kings 16:25: "And Omri did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all who were before him, for he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities. And the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might that he showed, are they not written in the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Omri slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. And Ahab his son reigned in his place. And in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel. And Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all who were before him. And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat…" (vs 25-31).

Now notice the comparison here. We need to get the severity of the sin of marrying Jezebel, "…he also took Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, for a wife. And he went and served Baal, and worshiped him" (v 31).

What we need to understand is that Israel did not go into captivity because of Sabbath-keeping. Israel did not go into captivity because of Holy Day-keeping. They went into captivity because they served Baal and Ashtoreth, which is the same system that we call Catholicism today! Catholicism has been Christianized by putting Christian-sounding names on all of the pagan abominations. That's why it's called the mystery of iniquity.

Verse 32: "And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a wooden image. And Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him" (vs 32-33).

This is telling us how bad, evil and miserable that this was. So then, we have our first introduction of Elijah. What does he do? He goes and tells Ahab that there's going to be famine.

So many people want to be Elijah it's incredible. I told you about the psychologist in Israel. He works for the government and his job is to handle all the 'religious kooks' that come, and there are a lot of Jews who are religious kooks. They think they are reincarnations of David, Jeremiah, and especially Elijah.

There was a time when a man came in and said he was Elijah. And, of course, he had to keep him from doing trouble and try and talk him out of it and get him to go home and be calm. The next day another man came in and said he was Elijah. So, the third day he decided to do this. He had them both to breakfast and didn't tell one or the other that they were coming. They sat down to breakfast and he said, 'Elijah I'd like you to meet Elijah.'

That's a big mistake that a lot of people do. They look in the Bible to try and find some spectacular position for them to fulfill, like Elijah or Ezekiel. If anyone wants to find themselves in the Bible as to who they are, you go to one place: All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and start there. Anything else beyond that is nothing more than just vanity and self-serving.

What happens in all of those cases is that in their vanity, their mind and their ideas become their idols. Now, you think about that! Every thought that exalts itself above the Word of God, which people follow, use, worship, adore and promulgate is idolatry. I don't think many people have understood that.

• Did we have that in our Church of God experience? Yes!

We had Elijah, Ezekiel, and the 'only apostle on earth.' All of those became idols!

• Did people worship the man? Yes!
• Do they still do it today? Yes!

We need to understand that.

If you want to be Elijah, please go find yourself a widow woman with a boy, and go quietly minister to her and her son for 3-1/2 years, and eat flour and oil. Make sure that you have the powers so that God will make the flour and the oil last out of the barrel and out of the cruse for 3-1/2 years. Then come and tell us you're Elijah and we'll believe you.

1-Kings 18:1: "And it came to pass after many days the Word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying, 'Go, show yourself to Ahab. And I will send rain upon the earth.' Then Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. And there was a great famine in Samaria. And Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the house. (And Obadiah feared the LORD greatly; for it came to pass when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)" (vs 1-4).

The long and the short of it is, Obadiah went and told Ahab that Elijah's coming and he has a message for you. So he did.

Verse 17:  "And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, 'Are you he that troubles Israel?'" Isn't this always the way? The same thing Satan always does. He attacks the messenger—right? Can't refute the message. This is called today in the White House 'spin control.'

Verse 18: "And he answered, 'I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father's house have in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and you have followed Baalim. Now, therefore, send and gather to me all Israel to Mount Carmel, and four hundred and fifty of the prophets of Baal, and four hundred of the prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table.' Then Ahab sent to all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together to Mount Carmel" (vs 18-20).

Here's the message that then we can apply to the Church at Thyatira, v 21: "And Elijah came to all the people and said, 'How long will you vacillate between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, then follow him.' And the people did not answer him a word."

Let's analyze this statement for a minute. What happened to these people with their Baal worship? They got dumbed-down—didn't they? Yes! When you, in your mind, get so dumbed-down from the Truth that the true God is only an opinion in your mind and not an absolute firm belief by faith, you're in trouble!

That's what's happened to the Churches of God. They have gotten dumbed-down so much that doctrine becomes an opinion. Then you do 'presto-chango' and you put in the NIV Bible and VOILA! you've got Satan's corrupted bible to help foist off his doctrine. All we're doing in these things are repeating the same the thing that the children of Israel went through.

God is using this in Rev. 2 to tell us what was the doctrine that they had in the Church at Thyatira. They had the doctrine of Baalim and Ashtoreth under a 'christianized form.' That's what they were up against in Thyatira.

Along with Baal-worship comes Sunday-worship, Christmas, Easter and New Years. A man called Dave Meyers has done a good job in exposing the occultism of all the holidays of this world. I'm sure that he's got some excellent information concerning that. Every one of the holidays of this world has an exoteric meaning, meaning that this is for the general public to consume. Then it has an esoteric or inner meaning, which means the true meaning of this is the worship of Satan. It's exactly the same thing that we have in the Church at Thyatira.

When these men come into our midst it's always true: the agents of Satan the devil infiltrate the true Church! Have you ever heard of a true minister trying to infiltrate the Catholic Church? I mean, think of it! Or infiltrate a Protestant church? No! But they always infiltrate the true Church! That's why we have to always be on our guard.

Now then, you know the rest of the story. God showed who was God with the offering and the sacrifice by Elijah. The prophets of Baal did their thing; they stood up and down and yelled and screamed and flagellated themselves and blood dripping on the ground, and all of that trying to bring about an answer from Baal. Of course, Elijah mocked them and really brought out the Truth and God showed them. His prayer was a very short prayer.

Verse 37: "Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their heart back again." It's not long prayers; it's believing effectual prayers that's important.

Isaiah 5—this is exactly what happened when Jezebel came in. They take the Word of God and they change it.

When I got into the motel I wanted to check on the news and see what was happening. After the news was over they had a Catholic Mass, and I watched this. It was something! I haven't watched one in a long time. Here's the priest and he's going through his thing, you know. 'Da-da-da-da; a-a-a-amen.'

You could see all of the Gnostic and Nicolaitan teaching, and more particularly—when you get this book and read it by Alan Knight you'll understand it—how they, with the Eucharist, lock the bread up in the little tabernacle, which is an idol. Then when they have a Mass they unlock it and take it out. In other words, Christ is the prisoner of the priest. God is the One Who has to answer to the commands of the priest to come into the bread with His literal presence.

The people out there know nothing. You talk about dumbed-down. They know nothing! It was really something to see that. How they just all are like lemmings; they all get up there and go 'gahh,' They have the bread stuck on their tongue and all that sort of thing while the priest merrily drinks the wine—which they do. I watched them; they did drink it! Then they play this music and, then since it was on television, they showed all the statues and idols and scenes of the heavens and clouds, and angels and nice music, and everybody all uplifted. Well, not knowing God this is very appealing, and they go out of there justified. That's exactly what happened with Jezebel. The end result is found here:

Isaiah 5:20: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil… [that's what they do with their idols] …who put darkness for light and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!" (vs 20-21)—to have these doctrines!

Verse 22: "Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine… [think of this as spiritual fornication, the spiritual wine] …and men of strength to mingle strong drink: Who justify the wicked for a bribe…" (vs 22-23). As long as you pay for an expensive Mass you can have all your sins forgiven. Or if you're the king of France—King Louis XIV[transcriber's correction]—and he really had a very sinful life and the pope sent a message through the cardinal saying, 'You can have all your sins absolved if you will do a good work for the pope.' And the king says, 'What's that?' And the pope says, 'Kill the Huguenots.' So, he did; hundreds of thousands!

Verse 24: "Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame burns up the chaff; their root shall be like rottenness, and their blossoms shall go up like dust because they have cast away the Law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the Word of the Holy One of Israel." That's the first thing that they do, and we have New Testament Gnostics today, which say that we don't need the Old Testament; same thing that infiltrated the early Church. They compromise with deceit. They blend things together.

Now let's look at a couple things that are very important. Let's understand something concerning the Word of God: How powerful is the Word of God? Heb. 4 says it's a sharp two-edged sword! How powerful is the Word of God? Does God mean what He says? Yes! We saw that it's living, that it's quick. But God commanded and things were created. So, we should not take any of the Word of God lightly. That's the very first thing that these prophets do.

Remember the Stavrinides event? What did he bring in? Greek philosophy! Hellenistic philosophy, straight from the cauldron of Satan the devil!

Paul tells us something very important. Always remember this in anyone bringing a 'secret agenda' or heresy:

• they change the nature of God and Christ
• they change the Passover

Those are their first two steps. Why are those the first two steps that they take?

• to get you away from the true God so you're worshiping a false god
• to get you out of covenant with Christ, which the Passover is the covenant

If you are in covenant with Christ and remain in covenant with Christ then you cannot be deceived.

That's how important the Passover is. That's why they go after these first two things. Same thing happened here in Corinth. The thing that people like to do, and what the Hellenist Greeks did was this: they claimed and they said—which Alan Knight documents in his book—that what happened was that God revealed, through the Hellenistic pagan religion, the things which were going to come with the New Testament.

When they heard these things they said, 'Wow! Now we've got people we can really convert,' because the Hellenistic religion did away with all animal sacrifices. It became an inner religion, a religion of the mind, and they had their sacraments. Valentinus, one of the first Christian Gnostics, said that if you took the sacraments of the Gnostics you would become invisible to demons and they would not bother you. That's almost akin to the Eucharist—isn't it? Not quite! Close to it!

Notice what Paul says, 1-Corinthians 10:20: "But that which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I do not wish you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons…" (vs 20-21). What did we see concerning the cup of mother Babylon. That is the cup representing all the doctrines, representing all the things of Satan the devil. That's the same cup as Jezebel. You cannot do it.

"…You cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and the table of demons. Now do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?" (vs 21-22). This all has to do with the Church at Thyatira.

Today with the ecumenical movement going on, 'religion' becomes an opinion and as long as it is a 'good' opinion. And a 'good' opinion means this: I accept you regardless of what your religion is if you accept me. That's why in any discussions with people concerning the Bible, never let them say, never let them get away with saying, 'That is your opinion.' You can answer back, 'No, it's not my opinion, it is the Word of God.' Even if they won't hear you at least it's going to be a witness to them. You know as I mentioned last night, now's the time we need to stand up for Christ. Stand up for the Truth.

Remember what God told Jeremiah? He said, 'Jeremiah, go to and fro in the streets of Jerusalem and see if there is one man that stands for the Truth. One man that will do what is right, and I will pardon the whole thing.' Couldn't find a single man! Let that not be in the Church of God today. Let it be that we stand for the Truth. When people ask us questions we give them the straight answer. Maybe they really want to know. If they don't want to know then at least it's a witness against them. And just like the thing that we had there with the man in Judaism. He was greatly offended when we told him the truth about Judaism and so forth, but now he has apologized and has seen where he's been wrong. That's taken a period of three years to do. So, you see also think in the long term with these things.

2-Corinthians 6:14. "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers…" This is directly against ecumenism. Brethren, if we don't have unity in Christ with the Spirit of God there will never be any unity at all. Do you understand that? Men coming together seeking to do 'good,' to bring groups back together and hopefully reconstitute Worldwide Church of God, or whatever, is never going to work. The reason it's not going to work is because they are not seeking Christ!

I have this printout from Like Minds, where the man was bragging and saying why they don't have a statement of beliefs. 'We don't want to be locked into it, because we may be wrong and then we'll have to explain why we change. Therefore, our group is very loving and warm. We have those who believe in a 15th Passover, those who believe in a 14th Passover. We even have those who attend a Baptist church and they're in our prayer group and they pray with us. We have those who believe in the Trinity, and those who don't. And those who eat unclean meats and those who don't. And we get along just fine.'

Well, let me tell you something. That mental attitude is their idol. Here's what Paul said. "…For what do righteousness and lawlessness have in common? And what fellowship does light have with darkness?" (v 14). Either there is the Truth of God and we follow it and keep it, or it is a matter of opinion.

Verse 15: "And what union does Christ have with Belial? Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever? And what agreement is there between a temple of God and idols? For you are a temple of the living God, exactly as God said: 'I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore, come out from the midst of them and be separate,' says the Lord…" (vs 15-17)—the opposite of ecumenism.

Didn't Elijah consider himself the only one? Then God had to console him and say, 'Well now, Elijah, don't be so depressed. You know, I have 7000 that haven't bowed the knee to Baal.' And Elijah didn't know a single one of them. It's the same way with us. There are people out there that we don't even know of that God is dealing with. God is not restricted to any organization. God is going to do what He is going to do.

Recently down in New Zealand, there was a woman that runs sort of a boarding house. She had one young man who was in college move out, so she put an ad in the paper for someone else to come in. A young man answered the ad, and he came from a church group in New Zealand that never heard of Worldwide Church of God, never heard of Church of God 7th Day, but they are a church group that keeps the Sabbath and the Holy days, and the 14th Passover. So, we don't need to get all lifted up and get all exclusive. God is going to do it. Hopefully we can be part of what God wants us to do for what He's going to do. But that was really something! The key is Christ in you, the hope of glory. That is the profound substance of God's way.

Verse 17: "'Therefore, come out from the midst of them and be separate,' says the Lord, 'and touch not the unclean…"—and we could add there: or believe the unclean thing. What is the unclean thing? False doctrine coming out of the cup of mother Babylon!

"'…and I will receive you; and I shall be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty" (vs 17-18). I tell you, that's something! We really need to understand that. Christ warned the Thyatirans about eating things sacrificed to idols, or idolatry.

(go to the next track)

Let's apply this to false doctrine, false interpretations of the Bible, misuse of the Word of God, as well as, to the literal idol that is made. Years ago when I was writing A Harmony of the Gospels, the man who encouraged me to write it, David Grady, called KABC in Los Angeles, the big super-power station there, and they had a 'religious' program on called Religion on the Line from nine to midnight. And he was able to get me on there for four Sundays in a row. I was there with a Jewish rabbi, and a Catholic priest. I could tell you several stories concerning that but I'll just relate one.

Every Sunday night someone calls in and asks the Catholic priest why they worship idols, and he says, 'We don't worship them, we just have it for a reminder. We just have it for veneration' and so forth. When he got done I said, 'Well, in the Ten Commandments…'—you know the Catholics removed the 2nd commandment; they shortened it—'…it says you shall not make any idols of anything, in heaven above…' and so forth. Well, needless to say, at midnight I got out of there quickly because the Catholic priest was a big 300-pound German called Duelmeier, and I got out of there as quickly as I could.

Idolatry starts in the mind! That's what's so important. The making of an idol is a manifestation of the imagination of the mind!

2-Corinthians 10:3: "For although we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the overthrowing of strongholds, casting down vain imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ…" (vs 3-5).

This is how you overcome. It starts right here. Everything starts right there in your mind! All:

• false doctrine
• idolatry
• lust
• fornication
• adultery
• thievery
• covetousness

—and everything else. So that's why in overcoming, if you can cast it down when it raises itself up then you can have success in it.

Ezekiel 14:1: "And some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me [Ezekiel]. And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts…'" (vs 1-3). That can be anything that is contrary to the Word of God.

"…and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I at all be inquired of by them?…. [notice what idols in your heart can do]: …Therefore, speak to them, and say to them, "Thus says the Lord GOD, 'Every man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him according to the multitude of his idols, so that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart because they have deserted Me for their idols—all of them" (vs 3-5). Notice how that fits in with the Church at Thyatira and sacrificing things unto idols.

Verse 6: "Therefore, say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Repent and turn yourselves from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations"'" (vs 6). It's the same message that God gave to the Church at Thyatira—isn't it? Almost identical!

When you talk about the house of Israel you are also spiritually talking about the Church of God. That's why it is so important that we really stick with the Word of God. That's so fundamentally important that we don't have ideas, and we don't have thoughts that we exalt above God

• whether of self
• whether of doctrine
• whether of other people

—whatever it may be because it can all become an idol. When it comes to its full bloom and manifestation, then it's going to be consequences that God is going to take care of. Isn't it almost the same thing?

Verse 7: "For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger who lives in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to a prophet to ask of him concerning Me; I the LORD will answer him Myself. And I will set My face against that man, and I will make him for a sign and for a proverb. And I will cut him off from the midst of My people; and you shall know that I am the LORD" (vs 7-8).

In reading this I want you to think about the church experiences that we have just recently gone through in these last few years. Has God done this? Has He answered them? Yes! Himself? Yes! And, in some cases, with death! God is not to be mocked. That's the whole message of Rev. 2 & 3.

Verse 9: "'And the prophet, if he is deceived, and he speaks a word, I the LORD have deceived that prophet. And I will stretch out My hand upon him and will destroy him from the midst of My people Israel. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity; the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeks unto him. So that the house of Israel may never again go astray from Me, nor be defiled again with all their transgressions, but that they may be My people, and I may be their God,' says the Lord GOD" (vs 9-11). That's almost identical to 2-Cor. 6—Isn't it? The wording is just a little different.

What happens when we do this? This also gives you a perfect prescription on how to have true Godly humility. Humility is not something you put on. Humility comes from knowing God. God is the most humble being in the universe—correct? Yes, He is!

• True humility is not something you work up.
• True humility is not something you put on.
• True humility comes from the Spirit of God from the Word of God

—because you understand the greatness of God.

Now let's look at what happens when idols are set up, and let's think of this of Thyatira and Jezebel (Rev. 2) as we read this.

Isaiah 40:18: "To whom then will you compare God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him? The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains. He who is too poor for that offering chooses a tree that will not rot…" (vs 18-20). That's what the Aborigines do in the jungles, they get a tree that won't rot. The American Indians make totem poles, etc.

"…he seeks for a skillful workman for himself to prepare a graven image that will not totter. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers; it is He who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in; Who brings the rulers to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth as vanity. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, then He shall blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away like stubble. 'To whom then will you compare Me, or who is My equal?' says the Holy One" (vs 20-25).

He's showing how foolish that idolatry is. Absolutely incredible!

Verse 26: "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold, who has created these things, who brings out their host by number? He calls them all by names by the greatness of His might, for He is strong in power; not one fails." That's quite a lesson in idolatry. There are several lessons here on idolatry.

Let's analyze a little bit more concerning the Church in Thyatira. Again I will mention the DVD Israel of the Alps, and you will see how the Catholic Church literally wore out the Waldensians: slaughtered them, killed them most unmercifully.

Revelation 2:20: "But I have a few things against you, because you allow the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess… [you have allowed her] …to teach and to seduce My servants into committing fornication and eating things sacrificed to idols."

Let me read to you some of the things that took place during the historical era of the Church of Thyatira. This covers from 600A.D. clear down to 1965. We have the elevating of the pope, kissing of the pope's foot, image worship, use of Holy water, canonization of dead saints. Pope John Paul II made 26 saints in Mexico. For what purpose? Politically! To overthrow the political party and the political system in Mexico, which since the revolution has not allowed the Catholics to control the political party. That's what it's all about.

{following dates are all A.D.}:

• 998—fasting on Fridays and during Lent
• 1079—celibacy of the priesthood

By the way, while I was up here in West Springfield I drove around to see of the sights and I saw what looked like a big church up on the hill. You go down here just a little ways and looks like a church. And I thought, 'I'll bet that's Catholic.' But it didn't look really like full-fledged Catholic Church, but it was up on the hill. So, I drove around up there and guess what it was? It was a nunnery! A Catholic brothel! Prayer beads!

• 1184—the inquisition
• 1190—sale of indulgences
• 1215—transubstantiation
• 1220—adoration of the host

They do worship it; they bow down before it. Can you imagine that you're so superstitious that you bow down before a crumb of bread? Amazing!

• 1229—Bible forbidden to laymen
• 1414—cup forbidden to people at communion
• 1439—doctrine of purgatory declared doctrine of seven sacraments affirmed
• 1508—Ave Maria approved
• 1534—the Jesuit order was founded

And the Jesuits are still doing their dirty work. How many have seen the full Jesuit oath?

• 1545—tradition granted equal authority with the Bible

And the Mormons do that, too. They say, 'We believe the Bible in so far as it's accurately translated. But they never show you where it's falsely translated. They bring out the Book of Mormon, and Mormonism is nothing more than Gnosticism.

• 1545—apocryphal books put in the Bible
• 1854—immaculate conception of Mary
• 1864—syllabus of errors proclaimed
• 1870—infallibility of the pope declared

And what happened shortly after that? Twenty-four years after that all the papal states were taken away from the pope by Garibaldi. God gave His punishment. He gave space for repentance.

• 1930—public schools condemned
• 1950—assumption of the Virgin Mary
• 1965—Mary proclaimed mother of the church

And as soon as the pope can do it, to make Mary the mediatrix, co-redemptrix with Christ; queen of heaven.

Verse 24: "But to you I say, and to the rest who are in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, and who have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will not cast upon you any other burden." Is it possible to go clear into the depths of Satan? Yes! All you have to do is read about King Manasseh in the Old Testament; he went into the depths of satanism.

Deuteronomy 18:9: "When you come to the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire…" (vs 9-10). This is becoming a novelty situation of mind over matter with those people who believe in helping to get into the depths of your being, and find your real self. Yes, Anthony Robbins, and many others.

"…or that uses divination…" (v 10)—to call up demons, or to have angel help. Today, one of the big movements is the angels within.

"…or an observer of times, or a fortuneteller, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or one who seeks oracles from the dead. For all that do these things are an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations, the LORD your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. For these nations whom you shall possess hearkened to observers of times and to diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so" (vs 10-14).

All of that leads into the depths of Satan. When you understand the truth of Masonry then you will understand that when they get to the highest degree it is open known worship of Satan the devil. And you cannot get any deeper into Satanism.

From: Primitive Christianity in Crisis by Alan Knight, pg 207—Thyatira and 'The Deep Things of Satan':

…we are seeking to unravel a mystery that unites multiple religious traditions encountered in previous chapters—the mystery cults, Gnostic Christianity and modern Hellenistic Christianity.

That's why Hebrews becomes a very fulcrum book in understanding this. And when you get this book and you get done with this book you will be able to understand that all Protestantism is Hellenistic Christianity. All Catholicism is Hellenistic Gnostic Christianity. And we can say it with profound assurance that that is so.

This is the story of Thyatira, the fourth of seven churches held up by the apostle John as examples of the problems New testament churches in general experienced over time. What is special about this church is its problem with antinomian… [that is lawless] …apostasy linked to false teachings described as 'the deep things of Satan.'…. [or the depths of Satan] …This is a theology described as being at the root of the tolerance of sin at Thyatira (Rev. 2:20-23)….

And there is a Chaldean connection. That's why I tied together beginning with Mystery Babylon the Great and Jezebel, and now we come full circle to the depths of Satan.

pg 208-209—The Chaldean Connection

The Chaldean Oracles are short fragments of text preserved in the writings of various Hellenistic authors. The fragments themselves are believed to go back to the Chaldean priesthood of ancient Babylonia, hence the name. It is in the Chaldean Oracles that we find numerous references to spiritual depth in relation to the highest God, the supreme Father. One of the terms we find is 'Paternal Depth.' This is the equivalent to the Depth of God the Father (or Satan, as John insisted it really was)….

Here is a quote from one of the Chaldean Oracles:

Such is the Mind which is energized before energy, while yet it had not gone forth, but abode in the Paternal Depth, and in the Adytum of God nourished silence.

So, whenever we get into these things of silence and meditation I think of Deepak Chopra.

This fragment describes the Depth of the Father as spirituality in its purest form….

Because the Gnostics would come in and say, 'Look, you Christians have just the fundamental things. We have a revelation, which was given to us after the resurrection of Christ. And now we have new understanding. And part of that new understanding you need to realize is that the Sabbath, which was created by the God of the Old Testament and those evil angels, is evil and you need to get rid of it and come to the new creation—the eighth day. Come and worship Jesus with us on Sunday.' That goes back to Clement, Origen, all of them.

pg 213: "First we are told that Christ, 'the Son,' came forth from the Depth itself…

Did not Paul say that you have received another Jesus? Gal. 1. becomes important for us in relationship to what was going on. When you understand that these Hellenistic Gnostic Christians, and they called themselves Christians, believe also in angel worship. Notice what Paul says here concerning the Gospel, and this was written in 52-53A.D. What did he write to the Thessalonians? He said, 'For the mystery of iniquity does already work' (2-Thess.).

Galatians 1:6: "I am astonished that you are so quickly being turned away from Him Who called you into the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which in reality is not another Gospel; but there are some who are troubling you and are desiring to pervert the Gospel of Christ" (vs 6-7). Not throw it away, pervert it and preach another Christ. Paul told the Corinthians in 2-Corinthians 11, that if somebody comes preaching another Christ and brings another spirit, you count it all as wonderful, new understanding. What was told when they were changing the doctrines? Wonderful, new understanding? NO!

Verse 8. "But if we… [which includes Paul, all the brethren and all the apostles] …or even an angel from heaven…" That becomes very important because Hellenistic Gnosticism and Hellenistic Christianity believed in angels. When we get into Col. 2 you will understand that even more. But this is why he mentions it here.

"…should preach a gospel to you that is contrary to what we have preached, LET HIM BE ACCURSED! As we have said before, I also now say again…" (vs 8-9). I can understand with the emphasis and the power with which Paul wrote, why this is so important. What is this?

• This is idolatry!
• Another thought!
• Another gospel!
• Another Christ!
• A perversion!

That's why he was so emphatic with this. And I tell you, if he is I'm going to be. If it offends some people, so be it. Maybe it will help them repent.

"…If anyone is preaching a gospel contrary to what you have received, LET HIM BE ACCURSED! Now then, am I striving to please men, or God? Or am I motivated to please men? For if I am yet pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ" (vs 9-10). That's the way it needs to be. I mean there is a demarcation point that is clear.

All right, now let me read this to you.

pg 112-213—What are the specific religious teachings attached to Paternal Depth Theology in Valentinian Christianity? It is found in one of the Valentinian texts from Nag Hammadi… [that's the Gnostic writings about Christ] …The Gospel of Truth. We will now be looking at a series of passages from this Gnostic Christian text that reveal the full range of religious beliefs involved in Paternal Depth.

First we are told that Christ, 'the Son', came forth from the Depth itself:

Here's the quote:

"…his Son…who came forth from the depth, he spoke about his secret things, knowing that the Father is a being without evil. For that very reason he brought him forth in order to speak about the place and his resting-place from which he had come forth…"

From which came the doctrine that exists today: that your rest is in Christ and He has done it all for you. That's coming out of the depths of satanism. Did Christ do everything for you? Does He keep the Sabbath for you? No! It's amazing!

 "…from which he came forth, and to glorify the pleroma… [the fullness] …the greatness of his name and the sweetness of the Father."

We learn several important things from this passage. First, notice the Depth is designated as the 'resting-place' of Christ. So now divine rest in Christ is added to the pleroma in being identified with the Depth….

In this passage also, Christ is depicted as having come to reveal the existence of the Depth and to speak about the 'secret things' because the Father is 'a being without evil.'

Then it gives another quote:

 "…nor did they think of him as small nor that his is harsh nor that he is wrathful, but (that) he is a being without evil, imperturbable, sweet…"

Versus the God of the Old Testament, Who's imperturbably evil because His has anger and He has hostility, and He brings correction. This is some stuff.

This is the typical Gnostic teaching that the true heavenly Father is pure love, nonjudgmental and without anger, in contrast to the harsh, punishing and demanding God of the Old Testament. Resting in the Depth of God is viewed as a beautiful state of communion with the all-loving Father, who offers access to the spiritual Depth freely, by his grace (the sweetness of the Father), not placing demands or requirements on his worshippers as Yahweh does.

Now let's talk a little bit about the 'pleroma.' Page 214, the Paternal Depths they are talking about here:

 "Therefore, all the emanations of the Father are pleromas…"

Remember when Stavrinides said God is everywhere.

• God does not have a body
• God does not have a head.
• God does not have eyes
• God does not have hands
• He doesn't need it because God is in everything.

What comes from God are 'emanations.' This is going right back to Hellenistic Paganism where then these emanations then are the energies coming from Satan. What the Church of God heard was the depths of Satan brought to them by Stavrinides who is a Greek philosopher. And by the way, he was also half Turkish, meaning he was an Esauite. Think on that one for a while!

"…and the root of all his emanations is in the one who made them all grow up in himself."

…According to the Valentinians, all enlightened Christians are pleromas in their own right, patterned after, connected to and nourished from the master pleroma or Depth of the Father, through Christ.

I tell you this is some stuff.

pg 216—…The word pleroma itself means 'fullness' in the sense of 'complete' and 'perfect.' Once you 'know' the Depth of God you have become spiritually perfect and spiritually complete. Your root is established in Christ. You have need of nothing. There is no need to strive for perfection by obedience to the law, nor anything external, for you are internally complete, possessing the Depth of God within yourself. Notice also that spiritual truth is revealed exclusively from within…

You determine what is right and wrong, not the Law of God.

Valentinian Paternal Depth theology contains many elements strikingly analogous to modern Protestant teaching, including self-sufficient grace, and drawing guidance exclusively from the Spirit… [the inner self] …rather than any external source such as codified law….

pg 221: "…once Valentinian Paternal Depth theology is translated into modern terminology you find essentially the same spiritualized lawlessness taught throughout Hellenistic Christianity today….

I call your attention: where did Paul warn twice of the unpardonable sin? Heb. 6 & 10, because those Hellenistic Christians were getting into the same thing that we see today in Protestantism. I mean this is profound stuff, brethren. This is amazing!

…It is the same radical grace alone theology, demanding rejection of written biblical law in favor of obedience to the Spirit, and promising a guaranteed salvation that cannot be revoked, regardless of one's conduct.

That's what Baptists today believe. A woman in the Church asked her Protestant friend one time, because the Baptist woman was talking about the rapture, that God was going to rapture them up, take them. The Church woman asked her, 'Let me ask you, since you don't have to keep any law, what if you were right in the middle of the act of committing adultery when the rapture came, would you be raptured?' Yes! Talk about a lawless theology.

Now this is out of the book here, The New World Religion by Gary Kah. Now if this book Primitive Christianity in Crisis is the right hand, this book The New World Religion, by Gary Kah is the left hand. He says concerning Cayce:

The New World Religion, by Gary Kah, pg 77:

…blended certain Christian ideas and terminology with the ancient religions of the occult." He tried to redefine Christ by turning Him into an occult figure who would fit all of the world's mystery religions—an impossible task. Summarizing Edgar's erroneous religious views, biographer Thomas Sugrue states.

The system of metaphysical thought which emerges from the readings of Edgar Cayce is a Christianized version of the mystery religions of ancient Egypt, Chaldea, Persia, India, and Greece.

And that's what the coming beast will be.

…It fits the figure of Christ into the tradition of one God for all people, and places Him in His proper place, at the apex of the philosophical structure; He is the capstone of the pyramid.

pg 97—talking about New Age thought in the churches:

Price's theology emphasizes man's supernatural "God-like" qualities…

Part of this whole humanistic New Age movement is to tap the inner powers within. You have greater powers than you know. This goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, brethren.

Price's theology emphasizes man's supernatural "God-like' qualities and presents the idea that man is quite capable of achieving heaven on earth—that is, if he allows the 'universal energy'…

As Alan Knight describes, from the Paternal Depth to emanate down.

…to direct his life. His philosophy is typical of New Age spiritual leaders. In his 1981 book, The Super Beings, he theorizes, "It has been said that behind all [science] fiction is a basis of fact."

Then he goes on to ponder about the things that were written:

What did the original creator of this comic strip and movie character have in mind when he fist conceived the idea?

That's the idea of Superman. And what is the most favorite movies of the kids to day? Superman! What is another movie? Star Wars! 'And let the force be with you.' You've all been propagandized.

Did he intuitively believe that man may someday evolve… [evolution is in it] …into a super-human creature with "out of this world" powers?

Why are they striving for cloning? Is it possible that they could genetically splice into a human being genes from a beast so that the beast who comes on the scene will be literally be a beast? Possible! They can now with gene splicing, grow human ears on the backs of mice. Enough said! He goes on to surmise:

Modern Science reports that the entire universe is made up of energy. The Illumined Ones…

They have the hierarchy and the principalities and all of that in there.

…tell us that this Energy is in reality the One Presence and Power of the universe—all Knowing, all-Loving, everywhere present, and that this pure Mind Energy is individualized in man, as man.

What do we have with the whole New Age religion? Back to the pure pagan Gnostic teachings, and it's being taught in the schools.

Now, just one more quote, pgs 116-117, by Barbara Marx Hubbard who is a Jew:

 "Born of a Jewish agnostic, affluent background in 1929, I received no spiritual training.' Her "seeking" let her down many paths until eventually she read The Phenomenon of Man by Teilhard Chardin."

Teilhard Chardin is a Catholic New Age priest. And he has had a lot of input into the United Nations through Robert Muller. You need to get this book and read it. I mean, it is something! She explains:

"It was an epiphany for me…. [a new birth] …There is a continuing, evolving pattern in the process of nature that leads to greater whole systems, higher consciousness and freedom…and it's going on NOW. It's unfinished. The world is evolving, not just the individual. Not only do I have unused growth potential…so does the world…so does our species…and so does the universe! Something new is coming. the magnetic attraction was right. I could trust my intuition."

That's why they try and get all people to think these things so there can be a 'quantum leap' in human evolution. Where all of a sudden we leap and we become super-men and super-women. What all that is doing is setting us up for demon occult control. This whole world is going to be controlled by it. I mean we are sitting right on the threshold of the greatest and biggest deception to hit this world. That's why first the Churches of God were taken down. That's why we cannot sit back and just let it continue to happen. Now she continues on with her revelations:

"The floodgates of my mind had opened [now she's demon possessed]. It saw as if an unseen hand…"

Have you heard that before? Brethren, that is a Masonic term, and when Herbert Armstrong preached it, which he was encouraged to do by Stanley R. Rader, and was known by Stanley R. Rader that that was a Masonic term to get him into the big-wigs of this world. Christ is not coming as an unseen hand. What Herbert Armstrong was preaching, and he didn't know it, was New Age satanic preaching leading the way to the coming of the beast. Now if there are some of you who are offended because you idolize Herbert Armstrong, then be offended. That is the truth.

"It was as if an unseen hand was activating the memory bank of my brain. I organized nothing. I "thought" of nothing. I simply recorded the stream of ideas….Sometimes a voice that called itself "Jesus" interpreted authoritatively….In other passages it seemed as though the voices were those of our elder brothers and sisters who have gone before…

That's called the hierarchy—the principalities and powers.

…I felt that 'I'…" 

Notice, 'I feel that I'—that's what this whole New Age thought is about is 'I.' That's why they teach little kids self-esteem.

"…–my normal walking, conscious personality, who has been a seeker—virtually co-created the text with a hierarchy of other, higher selves…Other sections seemed to come from a collective species consciousness."

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter

Scriptural References:

• Revelation 2:18-20, 14, 21-25
• Revelation 17:1-5
• 1 Kings 15:25-26
• 2 Kings 16:25-33
• 2 Kings 18:1-4, 17-21, 37
• Isaiah 5:20-24
• 1 Corinthians 10:20-22
• 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
• 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
• Ezekiel 14:1-11
• Isaiah 40:18-26
• Revelation 2:20-24
• Deuteronomy 18:9-14
• Galatians 1:6-10

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 13
• Hebrews 4
• Revelation 3
• 2 Thessalonians
• 2 Corinthians 11
• Colossians 2
• Hebrews 6; 10

Also referenced:

• DVD: Israel of the Alps (produced by the 7th Day Adventist Church
• Sermons Series: Mystery of Lawlessness
• Sermon Subject: Beast of Revelation (cbcg.org)
• Books:
• A Harmony of the Gospels by Fred R. Coulter
• Primitive Christianity in Crisis by Alan Knight
• The New World Religion by Gary Kah

FRC:cis
Transcribed 8/3/2000
Formatted/Corrected: bo—12/2013