We start another series today that has to do with the history of the Church. I called it PERSPECTIVES deliberately because it is looking at the history from the angle of showing the strengths and failures of the Church in history so that we can see and learn from them. We will also see these things in this end time church. This is the OUTLOOK in PERSPECTIVES– Giving you an overview or a panoramic view so that you can see and understand where and how the Church has failed to meet the standards of God.

Heaven may seem so far off, as the heart that doesn’t truly love God will think. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth soul after thee, O God. That’s the bridge across the valley of lukewarmness and self serving that characterises life in the Christian City.  The road to the city of God is rough but it is passable and many have gone through the wilderness to get there. The Lord wants you there; He said, it is the Father’s will to give you the kingdom (Lk. 12:32) and then began to tell us how to get there in the seven Letters he wrote to 7 Churches in Asia.

Only two people have written directly about the 7 Churches in Asia and the letters Jesus wrote to them. One was the man used mightily by God, William Marrion Branham, and the scholar, archaeologist, William Ramsey.

Then there was Ellen G White, who wrote the fantastic- very detailed book on church history called The Great Controversy. Her books helped me to see clearly how Church history shows that the happenings in each period matched the description given by Jesus on each city.

The church in the Biblical sense, is not a building of brick or stone, a pulpit or pews or the beautifully constructed edifices that delights the eyes but saddens the heart of the spiritually minded man that ventures inside. Rather, it is a congregation of believers of the like mind, gathering to worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth (2Tim. 2:22).

The Greek Word for church is “Ekklesia” which means “the called out ones”.  The true church, therefore, consists of people separated unto God as individuals. Its formation began after the ascension of Jesus Christ; and it was at Antioch that believers were first called Christians. These ones (the early Christians), immediately after the ascension of Christ exhibited a purity of faith (Christianity) which was manifested in their show of love towards one another and their total  and untainted devotion to the Lord as they witnessed for the Lord amidst hostile Jews and pagan Gentiles.

In most cases they were persecuted – rendered homeless and even killed; but they loved not their lives above their calling, and esteemed death and suffering for Christ a little price to pay for the work of redemption He accomplished for them on the Cross of Calvary.

These traits found in the early church are very laudable, and remain a goal for every believer throughout the history of the church.  That is why Jude wrote by the spirit of the Lord that we should earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints – what the early disciples knew and practised.

These are the ones that will be termed holy and without blemish. This is the church in the Air: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and shall we ever be with Lord”. (1Thess. 4:14-17).

THE 7 LETTERS

The history of the Church can never be fully documented in a single book.  It is too multi-dimensional and the data for it will not be adequate. Many facts have been lost in the sands of time, while many have been distorted.  For instance, the notion that Apostle Peter was the first Pope and that he is buried in Rome has no historical backing.  According to historians, it is a farce. Peter never visited Rome.  He died in Ephesus, and his remains are there.

But viewed from the eyes of Jesus – the letters in Revelation 2 and 3 – one can use historical materials to show how the rebukes and commendations for each church marked a particular period in history; and then go further to show how these rebukes and commendations overlap into the successive ages.  And how today they are present in the Church system to delude lukewarm Christians into a false worship of God – not in spirit and in truth. (2Tim.3 :5).

What to do to escape the judgment of the apostasy of the people in this church age and the rewards for overcoming this apostacy are then highlighted to show why the church in the Air is worth contending for.

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jud 1:3)  And he spoke well, because from the period towards the end of this apostolic age (as the period of the early church is known), laxity in the things of God set into the Church and the pure word of God became polluted with the doctrines of men, prompting the Lord to tell them to return to their first love (Rev. 2:4).

This evil trend was to continue till the Dark Ages when by the spirit of the Lord, the light of the word of God began to shine into the world again. The Lord raised up Martin Luther, who came forth with the cry (message), “The Just Shall Live By Faith”.

This was the first attack on the Church system men called Christianity; and it was followed in the latter years by the revelation and the preaching of sanctification, Holy Ghost baptism and the operation of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. And today as we witness the fulfillment of almost all the signs of the end, men of God should be preaching to inform Christendom the mistakes of the church since its inception so that the children of God at the end time can correct their ways – remove the spots and blemishes that have over the ages found their ways into the Church – and thus be considered worthy along with those who have died in the Lord to partake of the rapture, because Jesus is coming back only for a church without wrinkle or blemish (Eph. 5:25-27).

And the Lord in His own beautiful and perfect way, foreknowing this requirement for rapture has made these mistakes and short-comings of the church plain in the letters He wrote to seven Churches in Asia in Revelation 2 and 3. There were many local assemblies (churches) existing at the time the visions were being given to John; but Jesus specifically chose these particular churches because their congregations had problems which were typical of the Church problems that will be found through the ages. 

They also had the good qualities that would convey many lessons to the Church throughout its history.

The prophetic aspects of this letter were never understand clearly until much of the Church history had unfolded; and today, as we look back we can see striking similarities between the characteristics of each church in Revelation 2 and 3 and the various periods of church history, up to the present day.

All these have to be emphasized today because the warning Jesus gave at the end of the seventh letter was “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches” (Rev. 3:22). 

 In other words, all the evils and shortcomings of all the different church Ages are present in this end time (last) Church Age (Laodicea). That is why Jesus had no commendation for her in the letter to her; instead, He called her (the Church system today) lukewarm, going further to say if she does not change, He will spew them out of His mouth (reject her).

 This is the warning that has prompted the writing of this series. We are at the end of time, and the Lord will soon come to rapture those who have overcome the contradictions, mistakes, and the additions of men to the faith (Christianity)

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