The Seven Churches of Revelation – Part 4 Pergamos – The Compromising Church
Revelation 2:12-17 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, ‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it. ” ’
Everyone gets what they want. This is one of the hardest truths of the Kingdom of God to understand, because it makes possible both great light, but also great darkness. What we “set our eye on” really matters:
Matthew 6:22-23 "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
This important passage in the Sermon on the Mount is talking about how our eye…what we set our gaze on, or what we desire…directs our path and takes us deeper into that thing we are looking at. You go where you are looking. If you are driving and you stare to the right side of the road, your car will begin veering to the right. There is a basic principle of life that you go where you are looking. This is true physically, as anyone who has ever mountain-biked on a narrow trail, or spent any time skiing, surely knows…but this is also true spiritually. You BECOME what you BEHOLD:
2 Corinthians 3:18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.
The compromising church in Pergamos needed to hear this truth. They were full of zeal to obey God and held fast to loyalty to His name, but they had cast off the Word…fidelity to Jesus as He has revealed Himself in the Bible… as a main priority. Instead, Pergamos began listening to “those among them”…leaders…without testing the words of these smooth talkers, full of smart sounding ideas that appeal to men’s logic, prophecies, and dreams. If you don’t have the Word as your foundation, all you are left with is man-based logic, prophecies, and dreams. Over and over the Bible warns against listening to those who cannot connect THEIR words to THE WORD.
Jeremiah 23:25-28 "I have heard these prophets say, 'Listen to the dream I had from God last night.' And then they proceed to tell lies in My name. 26 How long will this go on? If they are prophets, they are prophets of deceit, inventing everything they say. 27 By telling these false dreams, they are trying to get My people to forget Me, just as their ancestors did by worshiping the idols of Baal. 28 "Let these false prophets tell their dreams, but let My true messengers faithfully proclaim My every word. There is a difference between straw and grain!
There IS a difference, and Jesus is warning Pergamos they better start identifying the difference or they will fall away as a community.
Let’s look at the four-fold pattern for Pergamos and see what the Spirit is saying to us…to our Church…in this hour:
1. Jesus addresses Pergamos by saying He is the one who has “the sharp two-edged sword.” Here is a little Bible code that is easily decoded in the word. The Bible interprets the Bible. Always. Everything you need to know is IN the Bible. So what is the sharp two edged sword?
Ephesians 6:17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
Ok. Clearly Jesus is coming to them as THE WORD. This is one facet of who He is:
John 1:1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The writer of Hebrews says that the word discerns our innermost desires. Again, everyone gets what they want. That means individually, we can have THE WORD, or something less, usually the desires of mankind. This is an individual warning, but also, as a community of believers in any geographic region, it is a warning to the church of a city. If you want to value, as a community, those who speak out of their own heart, with no ability to connect their words to THE WORD, then you will get the self-centered desires in their heart manifest in your community. If you want THE WORD, you need to value loyalty to THE WORD. Your Bible is not just a book, it is the heart of the Man who bought you, written unchangingly on paper. It is the standard…the gauge or ruler…of truth. Everything Jesus wants you to value is held up as valuable in His words. Everything Jesus wants you to be warned about is clear in His word. Everything He wants you to war against is CLEAR in His word.
In our hour, the Pergamos problem is most clearly seen in the charismatic church. I am a charismatic. I LOVE the spirit of prophecy. I want more dreams. I value visions. BUT, these are also some of the most dangerous tools of deception in the Body of Christ. MANY use them to elevate themselves. The Bible…the WORD…warns over and over against giving dreams, visions, and man-based logic more weight than the main and plain instructions of the Bible.
According to the Bible, many zealous and on-fire believers are actually falsely leading Jesus body because they have no root in abiding in JESUS. He IS the WORD. IF you love Jesus, then you LOVE the Bible. It takes both the Man Jesus, talking to you through His Spirit, and the Word, that IS also the man, talking to you, to bear fruit. If you don’t abide in BOTH of these, you are in big trouble. As John Wimber once famously said: “if you have the Word with no Spirit, you’ll dry up. If you have the Spirit and no Word, you’ll blow up. If you have the Spirit AND the Word, you’ll grow up.” Pergamos has the Spirit, they seriously are lacking the Word.
2. Jesus says Pergamos has a lot going on. From the outside, let’s look at what Pergamos had a reputation for with Jesus…they REALLY were doing this stuff : “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.”
Works – they fed and clothed the poor, sought the lost, took care of the elderly…works was no problem.
Where they dwelt – they were clearly not afraid of spiritual warfare. They went after the strongholds. They were not afraid of the enemy. They prayed, no doubt, big prayers and believed big things.
Held fast to Jesus’ name – they were LOYAL. Oh, do they LOVE the name of Jesus. They sing it…they SHOUT it…They use the name of Jesus. They are so zealous for Jesus’ name they don’t shrink back, even when one is killed in their city for loyalty to Jesus. These ones are faithful to stand.
Jesus simply says: THIS IS NOT ENOUGH.
Pergamos is blowing up, despite the forceful prayers and powerful moves of the Spirit. They have the Spirit, they have the works, they have the ZEAL…but no high value on the word. The dreamers and self-focused prophets among them are taking this on-fire church for a ride into the falling away. Jesus is saying, “if you don’t repent, you will find yourself fighting against ME!” This is exactly where the Pharisees and Sadducees found themselves, making more of man-based logic…their faulty interpretation of what God surely “must have meant”…instead of simple abiding in both the living Jesus AND his written Word.
Acts 5:38-39 "So my advice is, leave these men alone. Let them go. If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!"
Jesus connects the compromise in Pergamos to the amazing story of Balaam in the book of Numbers. Balaam was asked to use his dominion...His prophetic gifting... to curse Israel. Balaam knew that his words were only to be an echo of what God in heaven was saying. However, he relied on his own logic and desired to please man more than God. Not knowing God's plan, he left himself vulnerable to actually rebelling against God. God let Balaam have his way, eventually. It is a TERRIFYING thing to have God turn you over to your own desires if they are not also His desire for you. It means great loss:
Numbers 22:10-22 So Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, ‘Look, a people has come out of Egypt, and they cover the face of the earth. Come now, curse them for me; perhaps I shall be able to overpower them and drive them out.’ ” And God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to give me permission to go with you.” And the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak, and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.” Then Balak again sent princes, more numerous and more honorable than they. And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me; for I will certainly honor you greatly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Therefore please come, curse this people for me.’ ”...
This is where it gets sticky for Balaam. Rather than making God's plan HIS own plan, he separates from God's desire and basically says "if it weren't for God stopping me, I would go with you...but maybe God will change his mind!":
...Then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more. Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.” ...
God has chosen love, which means God has chosen free will. God honored the desire of Balaam to sell out God for favor with man. It is an awful thing to be given what you want outside of God's plan. Balaam would not LOVE God's plan, which at the time was to bless Israel. LOVING God’s word would have spared Balaam much trouble:
...And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you—that you shall do.” So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the Lord took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him....
Now, we get to the part we all remember:
Numbers 22:27-35 And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord , she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!” So the donkey said to Balaam, “ Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?” And he said, “No.” Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. And the Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me. The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live.” And Balaam said to the Angel of the Lord , “I have sinned, for I did not know You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases You, I will turn back.” Then the Angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but only the word that I speak to you, that you shall speak.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
Right now, God is in the middle of orchestrating very SPECIFIC events in the earth. The sheer amount of fulfilled Biblical prophecy regarding the events in Daniel and Revelation over the last 60 years is jaw-dropping, yet many have not studied God's written plan, let alone agreed with Him in the very specific praying required. Repentance is required.
3. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
There are MANY in Jesus’ body…right now…in this hour…who will tell dream after dream, vision after vision…sermon after sermon out of their own wisdom and desire…although they don’t intend to, their vision is MOSTLY about their own elevation, because the heart of mankind is slippery and deceitful! They are setting themselves, and their community of believers, up for a fight against….JESUS!
Jeremiah 17:9-10 "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? 10 But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve."
This isn’t a warning to someone else. It is a warning to me…and to you. Each person must apply this warning to themselves.
It isn’t just “pastors” who do this. It is also people who want to be elevated to the pastor’s side. Enabling is JUST AS BAD as the one being enabled. Fear of man is a strong lure to be flatters and to reward flattery. We must ALL die to this. If God is your source AND your reward, nothing on earth can pull you from victory. If something other than God is your source OR your reward, you are susceptible to manipulation by satan. Satan works primarily through the words of people.
Everyone that hasn’t died to themselves is actually in some way or another, looking for a leg up at the cost of Jesus’ body! The people want the pastor to notice them, and the pastor’s, many of THEM want to be elevated by some more important leader. What this results in is the “corporate ladder” in the church. This is the satanic pyramid scheme that has existed for centuries, and what it does is crush most of the people to elevate the few leaders. Every time. This is the tower of Babel in the Church.
Babel is the Spirit of the Harlot. The end time apostate Church is the “prostitute” trying to do the same thing the Bride is supposed to do. The prostitute works for what she gets out of it. The Bride works for love and covenant commitment… complete loyalty to the Groom and HIS leadership. God traces this adultery back to Nimrod and His first global empire.
Nimrod convinced Babel that it was in their best interest to build Him a nice throne on a tower so He could be god AND king to the people. You can’t just come right out and say “people, I am so awesome. Why don’t you building me an amazing ministry so I can bless you with my wisdom!” So instead, you need to cast a vision that puts you in the role you want, and sell it that way. Rather than tell the people he intended to rule over them, Nimrod convinced the people to say this:
Genesis 11:4 Then they said, "Come, let's build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world."
Who was gonna sit on the top of that tower? Not “ourselves”…no, it was Nimrod! Nimrod, by casting the vision from His own heart was really saying this: “why don’t you build a great city for me, so I can rule over you, and you can make a name for me.” No one can come out and say THAT, even if it is hidden in their heart. Instead, they need a collective group.
Fear of people makes people act foolishly. The fool says in his heart “God is not going to fulfill the desire of my heart unless I help him a little.” Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. If you let the foolish ones who are not trusting God to the point of persecution, then you are following a fool. Psalm 14 warns of this:
Psalms 14:1-7 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. The fool has said in his heart,"There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good. 2 The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. 3 They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. 4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call on the LORD? 5 There they are in great fear, For God is with the generation of the righteous. 6 You shame the counsel of the poor, But the LORD is his refuge. 7 Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD brings back the captivity of His people, Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.
They have “all together” become corrupt. THAT is what Jesus is warning Pergamos about. Despite the power of the Spirit moving on them, the weight of what is coming will crush them because they have removed the foundation of the rock. The word is a rock that will not move. No storm can move it. To not make completely loyalty to the word…to the point you search out the brilliant plans of the Groom for your own wedding…leaves you ready to collapse in a time of judgment. Many will be surprised on that day:
Matthew 7:14-27 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. 15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' 24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."
To not think this warning is for you, is arrogance . Jesus didn’t teach stuff we don’t need to hear.
Many have “leaderitis.” In the Bible, there are NOT two classes of Christians, yet we have many who believe in “leaders” and “people.” There is ONE body. Everyone is a leader in THEIR thing. Only the esophagus can be the esophagus…and you ain’t livin’ without it. That makes it just as important as the mouth…though the mouth can make a lot more noise. A true great one humbles themselves, listens to others through the filter of the Word, and finds what others are called to, then helps THEM become better at leading. The whole body is built UP this way:
1 Corinthians 12:20-26 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24 but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
MANY in Jesus’ body enable the dividing of the body by flattering and rewarding flattery…this creates “leaders” and ”people”. EVERYONE needs to lead in their area. To elevate some over others is REALLY bad for the leaders AND the people.
James 2:1-4 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, "You sit here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "You stand there," or, "Sit here at my footstool," 4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
Because the Church has not held leaders accountable to be just like everybody else, and instead want to treat them as special…mostly so the leaders will like them more…they leave the leaders unchecked by the word. This IS NOT LOVE.
Many “leaders” have started to buy into their own PR. They don’t think this is why they like to sit in the front row, gather with the other pastors at events, and be called by some formal name that others don’t have…but it is. If you sit in the front because that is the closest place to where you need to be, awesome. But if you sit in the front everywhere you go because you want to be “that guy,” then you got a problem, friend. If the only people you chill with when the show starts are the pastors, you got a problem. If you like to hear, “you flow in Power,” “that was SO anointed,” or “you really impacted me” from people, rather than hear “well done good and faithful servant” or “you really move MY heart” in secret when it is just you and Jesus, you are in BIG danger. If this is you, it means you love the praises of people MORE than you love THE MAN Christ Jesus and His intense plans clearly unfolding in this hour. A true friend of the bridegroom doesn’t flirt with the Bride…that disloyal friend gets beat up when the groom shows up, and RIGHTLY so!
It isn’t just people that need to use the microphone to lead that have the problem. If you drop a conversation with a friend because someone more important walks in the room, you have leaderitis. If you think that someone with a mic has to hear your vision or dream for it to be valid, you are sick. If you only have really flattering things to say to “leaders” who are known by others, but can carry on a normal conversation with everybody no one knows, you are dividing the body which WILL compromise loyalty to the Word at some point.
If the community doesn’t guard against leaderitis, it risks falling away from fidelity to the Word…which IS Jesus. This divides the body into classes and leaves them in perilous danger…called judgment. Jesus connected this VERY attitude to the end time judgment that comes with His return:
Matthew 23:1-39 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples, 2 "The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don't follow their example. For they don't practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. 5 "Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. 6 And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. 7 They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called 'Rabbi.' 8 "Don't let anyone call you 'Rabbi,' for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. 9 And don't address anyone here on earth as 'Father,' for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. 10 And don't let anyone call you 'Teacher,' for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you must be a servant. 12 But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. 13 "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people's faces. You won't go in yourselves, and you don't let others enter either…
Elevating “leaders” will always “shut the door” on the true move of God. In it’s context, this is an END TIME correction. The fullness of the judgment for this error happens in the generation Israel will invite Jesus back as Messiah…that is OUR generation.
THAT is why Jesus is correcting Pergamos. That brings us to part 4 of the pattern. The reward for overcoming the tribulation by repenting NOW…while there is time:
4. Pergamos is not beyond hope. IN fact, if Pergamos will repent, HUGE rewards are available. “To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it. ” ’
The reward for overcoming leaderitis and holding THE WORD as the standard of Revelation and the rock of the community is that you get MORE OF THE WORD!! Hidden Manna, means new Revelation. Jesus said the word is food:
Matthew 4:3-4 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." 4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.' "
What is even better, is that the community will get a revelation of their TRUE identity, individually AND corporately. The name that no one else knows on a “white” stone…which means a really bright rock…a monument or trophy from Jesus with your REAL name on it.
You can settle for the name people give you, or you can stay faithful to Jesus and get your REAL reward…an identity that will forever satisfy you! Everyone gets what they want.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Everyone gets what they want. This is one of the hardest truths of the Kingdom of God to understand, because it makes possible both great light, but also great darkness. What we “set our eye on” really matters:
Matthew 6:22-23 "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
This important passage in the Sermon on the Mount is talking about how our eye…what we set our gaze on, or what we desire…directs our path and takes us deeper into that thing we are looking at. You go where you are looking. If you are driving and you stare to the right side of the road, your car will begin veering to the right. There is a basic principle of life that you go where you are looking. This is true physically, as anyone who has ever mountain-biked on a narrow trail, or spent any time skiing, surely knows…but this is also true spiritually. You BECOME what you BEHOLD:
2 Corinthians 3:18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.
The compromising church in Pergamos needed to hear this truth. They were full of zeal to obey God and held fast to loyalty to His name, but they had cast off the Word…fidelity to Jesus as He has revealed Himself in the Bible… as a main priority. Instead, Pergamos began listening to “those among them”…leaders…without testing the words of these smooth talkers, full of smart sounding ideas that appeal to men’s logic, prophecies, and dreams. If you don’t have the Word as your foundation, all you are left with is man-based logic, prophecies, and dreams. Over and over the Bible warns against listening to those who cannot connect THEIR words to THE WORD.
Jeremiah 23:25-28 "I have heard these prophets say, 'Listen to the dream I had from God last night.' And then they proceed to tell lies in My name. 26 How long will this go on? If they are prophets, they are prophets of deceit, inventing everything they say. 27 By telling these false dreams, they are trying to get My people to forget Me, just as their ancestors did by worshiping the idols of Baal. 28 "Let these false prophets tell their dreams, but let My true messengers faithfully proclaim My every word. There is a difference between straw and grain!
There IS a difference, and Jesus is warning Pergamos they better start identifying the difference or they will fall away as a community.
Let’s look at the four-fold pattern for Pergamos and see what the Spirit is saying to us…to our Church…in this hour:
1. Jesus addresses Pergamos by saying He is the one who has “the sharp two-edged sword.” Here is a little Bible code that is easily decoded in the word. The Bible interprets the Bible. Always. Everything you need to know is IN the Bible. So what is the sharp two edged sword?
Ephesians 6:17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
Ok. Clearly Jesus is coming to them as THE WORD. This is one facet of who He is:
John 1:1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The writer of Hebrews says that the word discerns our innermost desires. Again, everyone gets what they want. That means individually, we can have THE WORD, or something less, usually the desires of mankind. This is an individual warning, but also, as a community of believers in any geographic region, it is a warning to the church of a city. If you want to value, as a community, those who speak out of their own heart, with no ability to connect their words to THE WORD, then you will get the self-centered desires in their heart manifest in your community. If you want THE WORD, you need to value loyalty to THE WORD. Your Bible is not just a book, it is the heart of the Man who bought you, written unchangingly on paper. It is the standard…the gauge or ruler…of truth. Everything Jesus wants you to value is held up as valuable in His words. Everything Jesus wants you to be warned about is clear in His word. Everything He wants you to war against is CLEAR in His word.
In our hour, the Pergamos problem is most clearly seen in the charismatic church. I am a charismatic. I LOVE the spirit of prophecy. I want more dreams. I value visions. BUT, these are also some of the most dangerous tools of deception in the Body of Christ. MANY use them to elevate themselves. The Bible…the WORD…warns over and over against giving dreams, visions, and man-based logic more weight than the main and plain instructions of the Bible.
According to the Bible, many zealous and on-fire believers are actually falsely leading Jesus body because they have no root in abiding in JESUS. He IS the WORD. IF you love Jesus, then you LOVE the Bible. It takes both the Man Jesus, talking to you through His Spirit, and the Word, that IS also the man, talking to you, to bear fruit. If you don’t abide in BOTH of these, you are in big trouble. As John Wimber once famously said: “if you have the Word with no Spirit, you’ll dry up. If you have the Spirit and no Word, you’ll blow up. If you have the Spirit AND the Word, you’ll grow up.” Pergamos has the Spirit, they seriously are lacking the Word.
2. Jesus says Pergamos has a lot going on. From the outside, let’s look at what Pergamos had a reputation for with Jesus…they REALLY were doing this stuff : “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.”
Works – they fed and clothed the poor, sought the lost, took care of the elderly…works was no problem.
Where they dwelt – they were clearly not afraid of spiritual warfare. They went after the strongholds. They were not afraid of the enemy. They prayed, no doubt, big prayers and believed big things.
Held fast to Jesus’ name – they were LOYAL. Oh, do they LOVE the name of Jesus. They sing it…they SHOUT it…They use the name of Jesus. They are so zealous for Jesus’ name they don’t shrink back, even when one is killed in their city for loyalty to Jesus. These ones are faithful to stand.
Jesus simply says: THIS IS NOT ENOUGH.
Pergamos is blowing up, despite the forceful prayers and powerful moves of the Spirit. They have the Spirit, they have the works, they have the ZEAL…but no high value on the word. The dreamers and self-focused prophets among them are taking this on-fire church for a ride into the falling away. Jesus is saying, “if you don’t repent, you will find yourself fighting against ME!” This is exactly where the Pharisees and Sadducees found themselves, making more of man-based logic…their faulty interpretation of what God surely “must have meant”…instead of simple abiding in both the living Jesus AND his written Word.
Acts 5:38-39 "So my advice is, leave these men alone. Let them go. If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!"
Jesus connects the compromise in Pergamos to the amazing story of Balaam in the book of Numbers. Balaam was asked to use his dominion...His prophetic gifting... to curse Israel. Balaam knew that his words were only to be an echo of what God in heaven was saying. However, he relied on his own logic and desired to please man more than God. Not knowing God's plan, he left himself vulnerable to actually rebelling against God. God let Balaam have his way, eventually. It is a TERRIFYING thing to have God turn you over to your own desires if they are not also His desire for you. It means great loss:
Numbers 22:10-22 So Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, ‘Look, a people has come out of Egypt, and they cover the face of the earth. Come now, curse them for me; perhaps I shall be able to overpower them and drive them out.’ ” And God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to give me permission to go with you.” And the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak, and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.” Then Balak again sent princes, more numerous and more honorable than they. And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me; for I will certainly honor you greatly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Therefore please come, curse this people for me.’ ”...
This is where it gets sticky for Balaam. Rather than making God's plan HIS own plan, he separates from God's desire and basically says "if it weren't for God stopping me, I would go with you...but maybe God will change his mind!":
...Then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more. Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.” ...
God has chosen love, which means God has chosen free will. God honored the desire of Balaam to sell out God for favor with man. It is an awful thing to be given what you want outside of God's plan. Balaam would not LOVE God's plan, which at the time was to bless Israel. LOVING God’s word would have spared Balaam much trouble:
...And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you—that you shall do.” So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the Lord took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him....
Now, we get to the part we all remember:
Numbers 22:27-35 And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord , she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!” So the donkey said to Balaam, “ Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?” And he said, “No.” Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. And the Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me. The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live.” And Balaam said to the Angel of the Lord , “I have sinned, for I did not know You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases You, I will turn back.” Then the Angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but only the word that I speak to you, that you shall speak.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
Right now, God is in the middle of orchestrating very SPECIFIC events in the earth. The sheer amount of fulfilled Biblical prophecy regarding the events in Daniel and Revelation over the last 60 years is jaw-dropping, yet many have not studied God's written plan, let alone agreed with Him in the very specific praying required. Repentance is required.
3. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
There are MANY in Jesus’ body…right now…in this hour…who will tell dream after dream, vision after vision…sermon after sermon out of their own wisdom and desire…although they don’t intend to, their vision is MOSTLY about their own elevation, because the heart of mankind is slippery and deceitful! They are setting themselves, and their community of believers, up for a fight against….JESUS!
Jeremiah 17:9-10 "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? 10 But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve."
This isn’t a warning to someone else. It is a warning to me…and to you. Each person must apply this warning to themselves.
It isn’t just “pastors” who do this. It is also people who want to be elevated to the pastor’s side. Enabling is JUST AS BAD as the one being enabled. Fear of man is a strong lure to be flatters and to reward flattery. We must ALL die to this. If God is your source AND your reward, nothing on earth can pull you from victory. If something other than God is your source OR your reward, you are susceptible to manipulation by satan. Satan works primarily through the words of people.
Everyone that hasn’t died to themselves is actually in some way or another, looking for a leg up at the cost of Jesus’ body! The people want the pastor to notice them, and the pastor’s, many of THEM want to be elevated by some more important leader. What this results in is the “corporate ladder” in the church. This is the satanic pyramid scheme that has existed for centuries, and what it does is crush most of the people to elevate the few leaders. Every time. This is the tower of Babel in the Church.
Babel is the Spirit of the Harlot. The end time apostate Church is the “prostitute” trying to do the same thing the Bride is supposed to do. The prostitute works for what she gets out of it. The Bride works for love and covenant commitment… complete loyalty to the Groom and HIS leadership. God traces this adultery back to Nimrod and His first global empire.
Nimrod convinced Babel that it was in their best interest to build Him a nice throne on a tower so He could be god AND king to the people. You can’t just come right out and say “people, I am so awesome. Why don’t you building me an amazing ministry so I can bless you with my wisdom!” So instead, you need to cast a vision that puts you in the role you want, and sell it that way. Rather than tell the people he intended to rule over them, Nimrod convinced the people to say this:
Genesis 11:4 Then they said, "Come, let's build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world."
Who was gonna sit on the top of that tower? Not “ourselves”…no, it was Nimrod! Nimrod, by casting the vision from His own heart was really saying this: “why don’t you build a great city for me, so I can rule over you, and you can make a name for me.” No one can come out and say THAT, even if it is hidden in their heart. Instead, they need a collective group.
Fear of people makes people act foolishly. The fool says in his heart “God is not going to fulfill the desire of my heart unless I help him a little.” Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. If you let the foolish ones who are not trusting God to the point of persecution, then you are following a fool. Psalm 14 warns of this:
Psalms 14:1-7 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. The fool has said in his heart,"There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good. 2 The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. 3 They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. 4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call on the LORD? 5 There they are in great fear, For God is with the generation of the righteous. 6 You shame the counsel of the poor, But the LORD is his refuge. 7 Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD brings back the captivity of His people, Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.
They have “all together” become corrupt. THAT is what Jesus is warning Pergamos about. Despite the power of the Spirit moving on them, the weight of what is coming will crush them because they have removed the foundation of the rock. The word is a rock that will not move. No storm can move it. To not make completely loyalty to the word…to the point you search out the brilliant plans of the Groom for your own wedding…leaves you ready to collapse in a time of judgment. Many will be surprised on that day:
Matthew 7:14-27 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. 15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' 24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."
To not think this warning is for you, is arrogance . Jesus didn’t teach stuff we don’t need to hear.
Many have “leaderitis.” In the Bible, there are NOT two classes of Christians, yet we have many who believe in “leaders” and “people.” There is ONE body. Everyone is a leader in THEIR thing. Only the esophagus can be the esophagus…and you ain’t livin’ without it. That makes it just as important as the mouth…though the mouth can make a lot more noise. A true great one humbles themselves, listens to others through the filter of the Word, and finds what others are called to, then helps THEM become better at leading. The whole body is built UP this way:
1 Corinthians 12:20-26 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24 but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
MANY in Jesus’ body enable the dividing of the body by flattering and rewarding flattery…this creates “leaders” and ”people”. EVERYONE needs to lead in their area. To elevate some over others is REALLY bad for the leaders AND the people.
James 2:1-4 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, "You sit here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "You stand there," or, "Sit here at my footstool," 4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
Because the Church has not held leaders accountable to be just like everybody else, and instead want to treat them as special…mostly so the leaders will like them more…they leave the leaders unchecked by the word. This IS NOT LOVE.
Many “leaders” have started to buy into their own PR. They don’t think this is why they like to sit in the front row, gather with the other pastors at events, and be called by some formal name that others don’t have…but it is. If you sit in the front because that is the closest place to where you need to be, awesome. But if you sit in the front everywhere you go because you want to be “that guy,” then you got a problem, friend. If the only people you chill with when the show starts are the pastors, you got a problem. If you like to hear, “you flow in Power,” “that was SO anointed,” or “you really impacted me” from people, rather than hear “well done good and faithful servant” or “you really move MY heart” in secret when it is just you and Jesus, you are in BIG danger. If this is you, it means you love the praises of people MORE than you love THE MAN Christ Jesus and His intense plans clearly unfolding in this hour. A true friend of the bridegroom doesn’t flirt with the Bride…that disloyal friend gets beat up when the groom shows up, and RIGHTLY so!
It isn’t just people that need to use the microphone to lead that have the problem. If you drop a conversation with a friend because someone more important walks in the room, you have leaderitis. If you think that someone with a mic has to hear your vision or dream for it to be valid, you are sick. If you only have really flattering things to say to “leaders” who are known by others, but can carry on a normal conversation with everybody no one knows, you are dividing the body which WILL compromise loyalty to the Word at some point.
If the community doesn’t guard against leaderitis, it risks falling away from fidelity to the Word…which IS Jesus. This divides the body into classes and leaves them in perilous danger…called judgment. Jesus connected this VERY attitude to the end time judgment that comes with His return:
Matthew 23:1-39 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples, 2 "The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don't follow their example. For they don't practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. 5 "Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. 6 And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. 7 They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called 'Rabbi.' 8 "Don't let anyone call you 'Rabbi,' for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. 9 And don't address anyone here on earth as 'Father,' for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. 10 And don't let anyone call you 'Teacher,' for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you must be a servant. 12 But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. 13 "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people's faces. You won't go in yourselves, and you don't let others enter either…
Elevating “leaders” will always “shut the door” on the true move of God. In it’s context, this is an END TIME correction. The fullness of the judgment for this error happens in the generation Israel will invite Jesus back as Messiah…that is OUR generation.
THAT is why Jesus is correcting Pergamos. That brings us to part 4 of the pattern. The reward for overcoming the tribulation by repenting NOW…while there is time:
4. Pergamos is not beyond hope. IN fact, if Pergamos will repent, HUGE rewards are available. “To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it. ” ’
The reward for overcoming leaderitis and holding THE WORD as the standard of Revelation and the rock of the community is that you get MORE OF THE WORD!! Hidden Manna, means new Revelation. Jesus said the word is food:
Matthew 4:3-4 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." 4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.' "
What is even better, is that the community will get a revelation of their TRUE identity, individually AND corporately. The name that no one else knows on a “white” stone…which means a really bright rock…a monument or trophy from Jesus with your REAL name on it.
You can settle for the name people give you, or you can stay faithful to Jesus and get your REAL reward…an identity that will forever satisfy you! Everyone gets what they want.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
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