NOTES ON THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF REVELATION: LESSONS FOR AMERICA’S SPIRITUAL CRISIS. – PART IV: THYATIRA

PART I: Ephesus – The Loveless Church

PART II: Smyrna – The Persecuted Church

PART III: Pergamos – The Compromising Church

PART IV: THYATIRA – THE CORRUPT CHURCH

PART V: Sardis – The Dead Church

PART VI: Philadelphia – The Faithful Church

PART VII: Laodicea – The Lukewarm Church

EPILOGUE: America’s Two Churches

SCRIPTURE.  “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first.

Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.

Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—”He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels”—as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” – REVELATION 2:18-29, NKJV

QUOTATIONS FROM THE INTELLECTUALS

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an Abyss, the Abyss will gaze back into you.” – FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, ‘Beyond Good and Evil,’ 1886; edited

“One of the saddest Lessons of History is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the Bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the Truth. The Bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a Charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” – CARL SAGAN, ‘The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark,’ 1997; edited

“‘To Sin by Silence,’ when we should Protest,
Makes cowards out of men. The Human Race
Has climbed on Protest. Had no voice been raised
Against injustice, ignorance, and lust,
The Inquisition yet would serve the Law,
And guillotines decide our least disputes.
The few who dare, must speak and speak again
To right the wrongs of many. Speech, thank God,
No vested power in this great day and land
Can gag or throttle.”  – ELLA WHEELER WILCOX, ‘Protest,’ 1914, once quoted by Abraham Lincoln; edited

DK NOTE: When the World is wiser and more virtuous than the people of God, we have reached, at the very least, ‘The Beginning of the End of History as we know it.’

CUDGEL. “A short thick stick of wood, such as may be used by the hand in beating. It differs strictly from a club, which is larger at one end than the other. It is shorter than a pole, and thicker than a rod.” – NOAH WEBSTER, ‘American Dictionary of the English Language,’ 1828

1. FIRST THOUGHTS

EVERY AGE in the entire History of the several thousand-year Reign of Mankind on the earth has seen its fair share of CORRUPTION. But I tell you the Truth, beloved, though my long life is but a speck midst that Grand Drama, I have never seen the likes of the last several years, beginning on JUNE 16, 2015.

This was the day when a very unique man descended a Golden Escalator to the basement of ‘The Tower’ named after himself, and said to the bank of cameras waiting for him:

“Wow. Woah. That is some group of people. Thousands!”

Journalist ADAM GABBETT notes, however, that it was ‘a lie.’ Indeed, there were only about a few dozen people gathered for this not yet fully appreciated New York Mega-Event. That is right: The very first word uttered by the next President of the United States was a LIE. – “Golden Escalator Ride,” ‘The Guardian,’ June 14, 2019

HARBINGER. “A forerunner; a precursor; that which precedes and gives notice of the expected arrival of something else.” – NOAH WEBSTER, ‘American Dictionary of the English Language,’ 1828

Anti-Corruption Law expert MATTHEW STEPHENSON, writing for the ‘Harvard Law Review’ on September 23, 2020 in a piece entitled, “A History of Corruption in the United States,” presents us with an equally stunning but corroborative observation.

“Perhaps the biggest takeaway here is just how flagrantly the Trump Administration, and President Trump and his family in particular, disregard Traditional Norms regarding the separation of public and private functions. Again, most of my scholarly work on Corruption has focused on other countries, mainly developing or transition countries, and it’s really striking and troubling how much the Trump Family, and Trump Administration, resembles these corrupt leaders we’ve seen in places like Thailand and the Philippines and South Africa.

Perhaps the biggest Takeaway for me—and this is hardly an original insight—is the extent to which the U.S. System has traditionally relied on informal norms, rather than Formal Laws and Regulations, to curb this kind of conduct. There has been, traditionally, a sense that certain things ‘just aren’t done,’ but Trump does them. And even where there are Laws designed to address some of these forms of Corruption or conflict of interest, those Laws have not proven terribly effective.”

While reflecting on these matters driving home the other day to take care of the pups, I heard something on the radio that prompted the thought: ‘The Church suffers from Biblical Illiteracy, because she has grown ‘Lazy’ and no longer aggressively studies the Words of God in earnest and depth.’

Which in turn led me to label this next section:

SPIRITUAL SLOTH. Catholic writer and former atheist BILL DUNN has an insightful take on the ‘Sin of Sloth’ – one of the classic Seven Deadly Sins (the others are: Pride, Anger, Lust, Greed, Envy, and Gluttony).

“I recently read an article that defined ‘Sloth‘ in Theological terms – and it turns out, Sloth as a sin does not mean physical laziness, but instead refers to ‘Spiritual Laziness.’ The Deadly Sin of Sloth is a lack of spiritual hunger. When people struggle with the sin of Spiritual Sloth, they become bored with God and all things of spiritual good. There is no real passion or desire to engage in prayer, read Scripture, or be involved in Church activities. Some people abandon all religious endeavors entirely. Others go through the motions: They recite rote prayers blandly; they skim through a few pages of the Bible without letting the words touch their hearts; they show up for Mass or Church services on a regular basis, but their minds are a million miles away.” – ‘Catholic 365,’ August 2, 2020; edited

To me, this is one of the primary reasons the American Congregations, both Protestant and Catholic, will pretty much be scammed by False Teachers and the doctrines of demons these days. They have come to rely on ‘Secondary Sources’ of Biblical authority, having relinquished their solemn duty to God to get to know Him and His Truth firsthand.

They are the Spiritually Lazy, The SL’s if you will. Dangerously, possibly existentially, lazy, easily suckered by any ‘gospel’ that sounds okay or makes them feel good about themselves.

With that in mind, we turn to the CORRUPT CHURCH AT THYATIRA, one that we see was willing to ‘Tolerate’ pretty much any doctrinal pronouncement that suited them. Not God mind you, but suited ‘them.’ And the Dire Consequences that follow such Spiritual Sloth.

1. BACKGROUND

The Historical Context of all these Churches is always revealing of the nature of Christ’s Message to each one. No less the case with Thyatira, that field archeologist and Biola University professor, DR. TITUS KENNEDY, summarizes with considerable detail and accuracy.

“Thyatira, an inland and former border city in Asia Minor, was originally established by the Lydians, then conquered and settled by the Seleucids, integrated into the Kingdom of Pergamum, and finally became part of the Roman Republic in 133 BC and one of the major cities of Roman Asia Province … The City apparently had an earlier name, but a legends is preserved that the name ‘Thyatira’ came about as a result of a combination of a sacrifice of a deer and its running, although scholars have speculated that it is originally Lydian … Thyatira is mentioned in Acts and Revelation as the hometown of Lydia, and later one of the main churches of Asia Minor (Acts 16:14; Revelation 2:18-29). Paul may have visited Thyatira and brought the Gospel there during his 3-year stint in Asia Province, most of which was spent in Ephesus (Acts 19:10, 20:31). Now located inside modern Akhisar, about 40 miles southeast of Pergamum and on the road to Sardis, this was the 4th destination of the 7 Letters of Revelation …

1st Century Thyatira was primarily a Pagan city, similar to others in the Roman Empire, but the Letter to the Church there contained a specific warning about a false, self-proclaimed Prophetess that John calls ‘Jezebel’ in an allusion to the evil, Pagan Phoenician Queen of ancient Israel associated with harlotry and witchcraft (Revelation 2:20; 1 Kings 16:31; 2 Kings 9:22). The ‘Deep things of Satan’ may be a reference to the practicing of Mystery Religions, which were considered ‘secret’ and only special initiates were allowed to learn and participate in the Rituals (Revelation 2:24). ‘Demeter,’ one of the main goddesses at Thyatira, was a central deity of the ancient Eleusinian Mysteries. Thyatira did have a community of Jews, and while many of the Jews may had ‘Syncretized’ to Paganism in a manner reminiscent of Israel during the time of Jezebel, it is more likely that the Letter to Thyatira uses the name ‘Jezebel’ as an illustration for the evil practices that the prophetess is teaching to members of the [Christian] Church.” – ‘Drive Thru History,’ December 28, 2018; edited

The late RAY STEDMAN adds what I think is rich contextual color to our understanding of this enigmatic Church, in his well-regarded Teachings, including this one on Thyatira.

“Notice that [Jesus] uses, for the first and only time in the Book of Revelation, the title the ‘Son of God.’ There are people who claim that Jesus never said that He was the Son of God, but here is one of several places in the New Testament where He makes that claim very clearly. This means, of course, that He is stressing His Deity. As the Son of God, He has ‘eyes like blazing fire,’ eyes that can pierce the facades, the disguises, the postures and pretensions of HIS PEOPLE, and get right to the heart of what they are doing. He has feet ‘like burnished bronze,’ which can trample sin under foot and severely punish that which is wrong, if need be. Both are needed in the Church at Thyatira. It is the ‘most corrupt’ of the Seven Churches that are presented here.” – “Thyatira: The Worldly Church,” November 26, 1989; edited, emphasis my own

DK’S TAKE. What I want to point out is that once again, we see the fervent focus upon the Seat of such Corruption are the ‘Doctrines of Demons’ here (cf. 1 Timothy 4:1), as with virtually all Warnings of the Messiah for the Last Days. This particular Church shall have possibly the most severe focus of all Seven on this crucial issue, due to the blasphemous evils of Jezebel, whose heart was described by Jesus Himself as, ‘The Depths of Satan’ (v. 2:24).

Now then, beloved: Has ‘Today’s’ American Church become so vile as to entertain such demonic teachings, or is that too far a hill to climb for us erudite believers in the greatest Nation on the earth?

Can anybody here say, “QAnon”?

1. THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE.  “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first.

Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.

Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—”He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels”—as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” – REVELATION 2:18-29, NKJV

As is our practice, we move directly to the KEY TERMS in this lengthiest of passages of all to the Seven Churches. The Reason for which was concisely stated by Mr. Stedman: This was the ‘most corrupt’ Church of all of them. Let’s find out why.

• THE SEDUCTIONS OF JEZEBEL. This Church dared to “allow” the doctrines of Satan himself into the Sanctuary of God – the Holy of Holies, if you will. The key word used here is, in the Greek, ‘Planaó’ [πλανάω]: “To cause to wander; to roam from the safety of Truth and Virtue; to go astray; to deceive or become deceived; delusion; stray from orthodoxy; error; properly, get off-course; to deviate from the correct path (circuit, course), be misled.” DK: It is, at very bottom: ‘Blaspheming the Godhead,’ and nothing less, the penalty for which is ‘sickness, tribulation and death.’ Without passionate, heartfelt Repentance, final destruction. Selah.

• SPIRITUAL ADULTERY. Mounting up God’s fierce condemnation of this Church is this ultimate treachery. From the Greek, ‘Moicheuó’ [μοιχεύω], or: “To commit a debauchery as with spiritual fornication; to become intimate with a paramour; to apostatize or become fully apostate; also, violation of the marriage bed; a crime, or a civil injury, which introduces, or may introduce, into a family, a spurious offspring; followed by the grant of an absolute divorce.” DK: Most significantly, this is aimed at Pastors: Allowing such filth into the House of God produces ‘illegitimate offspring,’ or in our case: Apostates, false believers, destined for Hellfire. And you shall be held to account for them. Selah.   

• THE DEPTHS OF SATAN. Now this unique characterization leaves the reader nearly speechless. The Greek helps us to understand, from the key term, ‘Bathos’ [βάθος], meaning: “Deep water; fullness, immensity; an extreme degree; profundities, deep-laid plans; [dark, sinister] mystery; extreme poverty [of one’s soul]; deepness; the distance or measure of a thing from the surface to the bottom; ‘The Abyss’; a Gulf of infinite profundity; abstruseness; obscurity.” DK: My severest of warnings here is that to dally with such dark things (such as witchcraft, idolatry, arcane conspiracies) is to approach the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel in relation to the Antichrist. – cf. Daniel 9:27, 11:31, 12:11; Matthew 24:15

WILLIAM MACDONALD. “‘Impure Doctrine’ had been tolerated in the Assembly with the result that Immorality and Idolatry were being practiced. The Church had permitted a self-styled ‘Prophetess named Jezebel’ to lead God’s servants into sin. Just as Jezebel in the OT had corrupted God’s people with fornication and idolatry, so this woman taught that Christians could engage in these practices without sinning … Because she refused to Repent, the Lord was going to give her a sick bed of tribulation in place of her bed of lust. Those who committed Adultery with her would be thrown into a bed of Great Tribulation and Death unless they forsook her and escaped from her deeds. Then all the Churches would know that ‘the Lord is watching’ and that He rewards according to man’s deeds … [But] There was a FAITHFUL REMMANT in Thyatira (the rest … as many as did not have this doctrine) which had not been initiated into the Secret Doctrines and Rites of Jezebel, otherwise known as ‘The Depths of Satan.’ No other burden of responsibility was placed on them than to ‘hold fast the Truth until Christ’s Coming.” – ‘Believer’s Bible Commentary,’ 1995, p. 2358; edited

I am laboring to bring home to every single Pastor and disciple of Jesus Christ the gravity, the temporal and even Eternal Consequences of this sort of Desecration of God’s Canon, which shall not be shared nor blended nor augmented in any substantial way, at price of one’s very Salvation. Selah.

Yeshua ben David means business, beloved. Perhaps as never before.

1. THE APPLICATION

Of all the possible sources of False Doctrines and Teachers that I have observed in my 40 years of following the Messiah, only one, beloved, qualifies as the very ‘Depths of Satan,’ that has shattered the former Unity of the American Church.

TRUMP CHRISTIANITY. I recently promised one of you in a side comment that I had been ordered by my Sovereign to ‘Bring a Cudgel!’ to this False Gospel and False Teacher once and for all. That I fully intend to do for the rest of the days left to me.

For Him, for Rescue of the wanderers, and for my own Integrity as a teacher.

I have reviewed a good number of Commentaries on this subject, but can find no better one that that offered by MICHAEL HORTON, J. Gresham Machan Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California, and the author of over 30 books, including ‘The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way’ (2011).

Taken from a superb analysis entitled, “The Cult of Christian Trumpism,” published in the online journal, ‘The Gospel Coalition,’ on December 16, 2020; edited. Quoted at length once more for its terrible relevance and importance to the American Version of the Church at Thyatira.

THE RALLY. “On Saturday, December 12, a bizarre Rally was held on the Washington Mall. Shofars were blown. A flyover from Marine One was cheered by shouts of praise to the Messiah (evidently distinguished from Jesus). My Pillow founder Mike Lindell shared prophetic visions of Donald Trump. Beth Moore sounded the alarm, and David French offered wise analysis. Rod Dreher, who just published a book decrying Left-wing totalitarianism, wrote that he ‘began to think that all of this is the Right-wing Christian version of Critical Race Theory, and various doctrines held by the woke Left’ …

WAKEUP CALL. For many of us, it’s easy to recognize the assimilation of Christian faith to cultural and political progressivism. But it’s time for all of us—finally—to take the log out of our own eye. ‘The Jericho March’ was a blip in the news cycle, but maybe it can be a Wakeup Call for Christ’s body.

What we’re witnessing on the national stage right now is Disgraceful. In fact, the only word for it is ‘Blasphemy’—the sacrilege not of secularists marching on Washington to take away religious freedom but of Evangelicals marching on Washington to perpetuate a cult. We might have ignored this as a spectacle, a performance by a handful of voices in opposition to the Constitutional system of our Republic. But I feel conscience-bound as a minister of the Word to warn against what can only be considered a ‘Heresy’—indeed, a Cult within a certain segment of Evangelicalism. It has arisen over many decades and will no doubt be around for many more to come …

I don’t know the demographic size of this movement, but it seems to represent the confluence of THREE TRENDS that have seethed independently until converging, especially in the neo-Pentecostal movement that traditionally has not been identified with evangelicalism per se. These three trends are (1) Christian Americanism, (2) End-times Conspiracy, and (3) the Prosperity Gospel.

1. CHRISTIAN AMERICANISM. Christian Americanism is the narrative that God specially called the United States into being as an extraordinary—verging on miraculous—Providence. Passages from the election of Israel in the Old Covenant are lifted out of context and applied to America

• END TIMES CONSPIRACY. [I replaced Dr. Horton’s biased summary here with a more accurate one from THOMAS LECAQUE, writing for ‘Bulwark,’ October 27, 2020, on “The QAnon Apocalypse”]. “As broad as QAnon is, the central Conspiracy focuses on the idea that the United States is being run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who are simultaneously running a global child sex-trafficking operation. For the QAnon adherents, President Trump takes on the role of their Messiah, and his prophet is a supposed high-ranking government official who posts pseudo-prophecy on 4chan and 8chan under the pen name, ‘Q.’”

• PROSPERITY GOSPEL. The common source of both [Norman Vincent] Peale’s Cult of Success and the Health-and-Wealth Gospel is the ‘Mind-Science Movement’ of the 19th century. To errors (1) and (2) above, these Neo-Pentecostals contributed a Hyper-experiential Spirituality based on speaking in tongues and routine claims of direct revelations from God. It’s a view well exhibited by ERIC METAXAS’ comment about the Jericho March founder’s vision: ‘When God gives you a vision, you don’t need to know anything else.’”

DK’S TAKE. While I hold to the majority of what Dr. Horton writes, his view of legitimate forms and expressions of Orthodox ‘Continualist’ Theology requires me to temper a few of his remarks. Clearly, the Charismatic-Neo-Pentecostal Movement has been the seedbed for much of the American Church’s current Heresies. The Dominionist Teachings of Trumper LANCE WALLNAU and others, for example, are effectively, ‘The Doctrines of Devils,’ in the view of almost all respectable Bible scholars.

But I judge the conservative reading of the Scriptures to generally affirm Pentecostal Theology.

Second, Horton’s fundamental argument is dead on: The Spirit-Filled Church has in the last 30 years or so, slowly jettisoned the necessary emphasis on ‘Sound Doctrine’ as the Apostle Paul prophesied(2 Timothy 4:3), in favor of ‘Experience.’ The Consequences are nothing less than horrendous, as we now see:

DK’S TAKE. ‘Abominations’ have been set fee inside the very Sanctuaries of God in Christ Jesus. As I have said it with increasing vehemence in past weeks: I tell you the Truth, beloved – He shall not have it any longer! You will see Chaos and Disintegration and Pestilence come to these so-called Houses of God, their Lampstands ripped from their stubborn hands, as the Lord gives cover and wisdom to His Remnant, the True Church, for the days ahead.

Test this, beloved, by the Word and by the Spirit of God.

• LAST THOUGHTS

CORRUPTION. “The act of corrupting, or state of being corrupt or putrid; the destruction of the natural form of bodies, by the separation of the component parts, or by disorganization, in the process of putrefaction …  Depravity; wickedness; perversion or deterioration of moral principles; loss of purity or integrity.” – NOAH WEBSTER, 1828

I have made no secret of the fact that I have come to loathe that major part of the American Church that has either: (1) Affirmed the politics and faith of Donald Trump by blasphemous, Public Proclamation; or (2) Affirmed the Politics and Faith of Donald Trump by its timid, cowardly Silence.

PLATO’S DICTUM: “To be sure I must; and therefore I may assume that your silence gives consent.” – c. 350 BC

It is inarguable at this point that Donald Trump is the unmistakably most corrupt President the United States has ever had – and that is saying something, since over 80% of the American Church still dares to ‘Affirm’ him in one of the two ways specified above.

THE ETHOS OF DONALD TRUMP. The investigatory organization known as Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) issued a major summary report on Donald Trump on January 15, 2021, entitled: ‘President Trump’s Legacy of Corruption: Four Years and 3700 Conflicts of Interest Later.’

Here is their Conclusion:

“Trump ran as the ‘Law and Order’ candidate who would ‘Drain the Swamp’ in Washington, D.C. Instead he did the opposite, using his power as the President to boost his own profits through frequent visits to his hotels and golf courses, relentless promotion of his properties, and countless other interactions between the Trump Organization and the government. By keeping these properties, Trump provided corporate lobbyists, foreign actors, special interests and anyone else seeking political clout a way to gain access to his administration. Trump opened the presidency up for business, and for four years, influence was for sale.

Since Trump’s inauguration, CREW researchers meticulously tracked these conflicts of interest resulting from interactions between the Trump Organization and the government, or those trying to influence it. CREW’s tracking is rigorous but by no means comprehensive. There are likely hundreds, perhaps even thousands more conflicts that we have no way of knowing about. Four years and more than 3,700 conflicts of interest later, there is absolutely no doubt that Trump tried at every turn to use the presidency to benefit his bottom line.”

THE ETHOS OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH. Now then, do I really need to connect the dots here, beloved? Poll after poll since his election in has shown consistent Church Support for this wickedest of men, with the statistic, again, holding steady from between 78-83% over the last four years.

The Point: Four fifths of God’s Houses are in Unholy Alliance with the most Corrupt President in memory, if not history!

For whatever reasons they have offered as justification in those more than four years, America and the entire World must conclude: America and her Christians are of the same ‘Corrupt Tree’ from which Mr. Trump has grown. Therefore Donald Trump, by implication, ‘epitomizes’ American Christianity.

Selah.

THE SEVERITY OF JESUS. A fiery Warning comes to mind here, beloved. Listen to the Voice of the Jewish Messiah, ever so closely.

“Beware of the false prophets, [teachers] who come to you dressed as sheep [appearing gentle and innocent], but inwardly are ravenous wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them [that is, by their contrived doctrine and self-focus]. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?  Even so, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the unhealthy tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.  

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruit you will recognize them [as false prophets].” – MATTHEW 7:15-20, AMP

Should there be any doubt whatsoever about what The Christ meant by this, I turn to the precise scalpel of the noted theologian, JOHN GILL, for an irreproachable answer.

‘Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit’ … Every Preacher and Teacher that does not bring the Gospel of Christ with him, and plainly and faithfully preach it to the people, sooner or later, ‘Is hewn down’: However he may have appeared as a tall lofty cedar, and have carried it with a high hand against Christ and his Gospel, spoke ‘great swelling words of vanity’, and behaved with much ‘loftiness’ and ‘haughtiness’; yet the time comes on, when all this is bowed and made low, ‘And the Lord alone is exalted’: Such Preachers are either Cut Off from the Churches of Christ, or Hewn Down by Death, and cast into the Fire; into the Fire of Hell; into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, ‘where the beast and false prophet shall be’.” – ‘Exposition of the Old and New Testament,’ 1746-1763; edited

I tell you, Pastor, I tell you, Teacher, that you ought be trembling in your priestly habits about now. With the righteous fear and humility of a true Penitent, if you be part of the 80 percent. If not, you are beyond Lost, brother. By the very Words of the living Son of God, who Returns soon as Judge.

CODA. But for the courageous ‘Remnant of God,’ oh my dears, what a vastly Different Path awaits you. The Genesis Account provides our ironclad, Eternal Template and Promise.

“And the Lord said to Noah, ‘Come with all your household into the ark, for I have seen you to be righteous (upright and in right standing) before Me in this generation.’” – GENESIS 7:1, AMPC

So do I here and now joyously repeat the Ancient Cry that so many of you in this small Fellowship remind ourselves, and all within shouting distance:

“Get on the Ark!”

While there is still time. For the Sky is red and lowring, beloved; and there are many who still cannot discern its Signature.

Ever your servant, DK

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