If your eyes are open and are a follower of the Lord Jesus
Christ, you no doubt feel in your spirit that something is “just not
right” with the Church in America these days.
We see Churches
across the nation making bold moves to become
more culturally relevant and to pacify
the difficulties of their parishioners. Their pastors claim to be doing God's
will and seeking God through prayer as they pragmatically remake their churches
to conform to secular standards. They want big churches that draw the
“unchurched” to come and not feel threatened or convicted by that old
Gospel stuff. We know them to be false shepherds who are scattering the sheep
and leading them to ultimate destruction.
The cheap gospel of the
compromised church is one of "easy believism," appealing to a mass audience. It
is a humanist gospel, a system of thought that centers on humans and their
values, capacities, and worth; the doctrine emphasizing a person’s
capacity for self-realization through reason. Humanism says that God made the
universe and provided salvation for the happiness of Man, thus there are many
paths that lead to God. Humanism places man at the center and says that the end
of all things is for the happiness of Man. Instead of man conforming to the
image of Christ (Rom 8:29-30), humanism teaches that Christ should be conformed
to the image of Man.
Indeed, the Humanist
Manifesto II states, "As in 1933, humanists still believe that traditional
theism, especially faith in the prayer-hearing God, assumed to love and care
for persons, to hear and understand their prayers, and to be able to do
something about them, is an unproved and outmoded faith."
The genuine
Gospel, on the other hand, is costly and requires the disciple to deny self as
they take up their cross to follow Him. The
cheap grace of the compromised church, on the other hand, does not mention
repentance or the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Hypocrisy in the Church
The compromised church is not just a problem of the 21st Century, rather it has been a problem throghout history. Christ confronted seven churches in Asia (Rev. 2 & 3) with similar problems present in the church today.
And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; - Revelation 2:12
Pergamos, Pergamus, or sometimes Pergamum (located in modern-day Turkey), was capital of Attalus the Second’s kingdom, which was bequeathed by him to the Romans, 133 b.c. It is also famous for its library, founded by Eumenes (197-159) with a statue of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, standing in the main reading room. It was later destroyed by Caliph Omar. The city became the seat of Babylonian sun worship, a center of idolatry and demon controlled religions with splendid temples to Nature. People from all over the Roman empire came here to seek healing in the pagan temples and shrines.
I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. - Revelation 2:13
Here was a faithful church amidst "Satan's
seat" or "throne". While the phrase has received differing interpretations, it
almost surely refers to Pergamum as a major center of pagan religion,
especially the imperial cult. The city symbolized secular power and civil
religion working in concert as Satan’s proxies.The Great Altar of Pergamon
dedicated to Zeus is perhaps what John referred to as "Satan's
Throne".
Pergamos is also famous for the magnificent temple of
Aesculapius, the healing god [Tacitus, Annals, 3.63]. Aesculapius is the god of
medicine and healing in ancient Greek religion and was worshipped there under
the serpent form by fanatical devotees who persecuted one of the Lord’s
people (Antipas) even to death. The rod of Asclepius, a snake-entwined staff,
remains a symbol of medicine today, although sometimes the caduceus, or staff
with two snakes, is mistakenly used instead.
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. - Revelation 2:14
The definition for the Greek word Pergamum is objectionable marriage, which alludes to the church mixing the truth with lies of questionable teachers, such as the Nicolaitans. The Nicolaitans was a heretical gnostic group in the early church that taught that the law of God did not apply to man in the flesh because man is spirit and flesh and therefore what he did in the flesh did not apply to his spirituality. They are condemned in Revelation 2:6, 15 for their practices in Ephesus and Pergamon. The Nicolaitans have been linked to the type of heresy taught by Balaam (Num. 25:1-2; 2 Pet. 2:15), especially the pagan feasts and orgies that they apparently propagated in the first-century church. Modern translations of the Bible often equates "fornication" with sexual immorality; although fornication probably more accurately refers to spiritual idolatry.
So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. - Revelation 2:15
The church is being charged by Christ for compromising with the
world, in that some held to the doctrine of Balaam and the Nicolaitans. Just as
Balaam taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel some
1400 years earlier, there were some teachers in the Pergamos church who taught
that it was lawful to eat things sacrificed to idols, and that committing
sexual immorality was not sinful.
To make matters worse, there were not
only some in the church that practiced this idolatry, but as a whole, the
church apparently accepted the practice (compromised) rather than hating them
(Rev. 2:) and rejecting them. Is it not proper to hate what God hates and to
reject what God rejects? Do not mistake the hate God has with the doctrine of
the Nicolaitanes as a hatred of people. It's not people God hates, but the
false doctrines, systems, and deeds some people practice.
Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. - Revelation 2:16
Like the church in Pergamum, the compromised church in America is
not dissimilar. The pluralism that exists in western society today has had an
effect on both the christian church and its preaching of the Gospel. Many
christians today have so much of the ‘other religions’ in their lives
that it is difficult to discover a Biblically based christianity in a lot of
fellowships throughout the West.
How tragic is it for those who profess
to be believers and yet close their eyes and shut their ears to all manner of
sin and evil within the church. Why is it that some churches can become so
actively, and vocally involved condemning the sins of those of the world, yet
turn their face away from the blatant sins within their own pews? Some can
quickly condemn the sexual immorality of the world, homosexuality, and
abortion, but yet refuse to deal with the sin within their own members. We can
condemn those in the world who hate, but yet refuse to remove this cancer from
parts and members of the Body of Christ. We speak against segregation and
separatism in the world, while the church is perhaps the most segregated. White
church, black church, protestant and Catholic church, Baptist, Methodist,
Lutheran, and so on.
