"I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works, and the last to be more than the first..." (Revelation 2:19) I want you to see, this was a really good church! They had a lot of really awesome stuff in that congregation! Faith! Love! Service! Good works! Patience, too. (But there is one thing I notice is missing: can anyone guess?) Man, these guys were rockin' it! What pastor wouldn't love to have a group like the Thyatiran believers? Yet! Jesus has a problem with them that merits severe punishment if it isn't corrected.
"Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols..." (Rev 2:20)
So, though they had all this they were doing right, they got one thing wrong: they let the wrong person teach. Works, charity, patience, service, even better works, what was missing? How about sound doctrine? Jesus said He has "a few things" against them, not just one. IMHO, it was the lack of solid Biblical doctrine that opened the door for Sleazebel to creep in and seduce that church with her witchcrafts. Had they been taught strong, sound doctrine, they would not so easily have been led astray by her siren song. Paul's epistles to Timothy & Titus stress the importance of sound doctrine. Notice the Ephesian church, whom Paul had warned with tears about false teachers creeping in, did a much better job screening their ministers (Revelation 2:2).
I cannot emphasize enough just how vital it is for church leadership to thoroughly check out teachers, worship team members, ministry heads, and anyone else with influence in the church! A little leaven leavens the whole lump, and if Satan can slip even one of his servants into your core group, he can spoil your whole church. I've personally seen churches destroyed by just one person in the right place. Lay hands on no man suddenly! Let them first be proved! (1 Timothy 5:22)
"Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death..." (Rev 2:22-23)
Now I know some wanna say "children" here isn't literal, but means "followers". Moot point. Who do you think Satan is going to go after first? Have you watched any kids' cartoons lately? He starts working on them from the time they're babies. So many of Jezebel's followers would be children anyway. You say, "JESUS wouldn't literally kill children!" Well, He wouldn't literally make idle threats either. Did not God say through the prophet Hosea "I will forget thy children"?
Can you see how important it is to monitor what our children are exposed to? Notice Jesus calls these kids "her children", not "your children"! This is no joke, folks. Are we making the same mistake Thyatira did in letting our children be so hypnotized, socialized, and bewitched that they become Jezebel's children? Listen to what Christ is saying; it's so easy to gloss over a passage we've read or heard so many times, we totally miss what He's saying.
We need to talk more about just who or what Princess Jezebel is. Because those believers who whore around with her will be severely chastized. I'm not saying they will lose their salvation, but if they listen to her long enough, she could deceive them into taking the mark of the beast--then they will be stricken from the Lamb's Book of Life. And do we want to lose any of our children to her?
Grace and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Next: That Woman Jezebel!
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