(Revelation) the Church at Thyatira — Willie Mullan

The Revelation, and we're at the second chapter of this evening, and going through from verse 18 to the end of the chapter. Revelation 2, verse 18 to the end of the chapter, and it's a wonderful portion we have.

The Risen Lord Examines the Seven Churches

We just want to get into our minds again the whole situation here. The Risen Lord is walking in the midst of the churches. He's watching every work, and he's measuring every motive, and he's scrutinizing every piece of service.

And as he walks in the midst of the seven churches of Asia, then he sends letters to each one through John to the pastor of the church. You can see the wording's the same again tonight. And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira writes, and the angel is not a shining angel from heaven, for you don't write letters to angels in heaven.

It's the old Greek word for messenger. It was the pastor of the church. He's responsible for the people. I'm responsible for all who come to this class for the spiritual teaching here, and I alone am responsible.

That's why there must be no punctious fools. That's why I must be faithful to the Lord whether you come back or whether you don't. But for 20 years I stood behind this book and preached the truth as I see it.

And here's the class tonight in spite of all that's going on around us. And I think that speaks for the wonder of the world. And so we're looking at this church in Thyatira tonight. If you know the map of ancient Asia Minor, you will know that this city of Thyatira, you will know that it's in the very heart of Asia Minor on the old ancient map.

Sometime if you get one of these old ancient maps you'll easily find the Mediterranean Sea and then you'll easily find the Aegean Sea. It just runs up off the Mediterranean. And you'll find on the coast of the Aegean Sea, on the Asia side, you'll find Ephesus quite easy.

It's just one of the sittings on the coast. And if you find Ephesus and you go straight north you'll come in a little time to Smyrna. It's not very many miles away from Ephesus. And if you go on through Smyrna and still go north you'll come to Pergamos.

Now when you come to Pergamos, if you turn towards the east and go into the center of Asia Minor, you'll come to Thyatira. If you go south from Thyatira, you'll find Sardis. If you go still south you'll find Philadelphia.

If you go still south you'll find Laodicea. So you see that Thyatira was right in the heart of Asia Minor. But the church here in Thyatira is right in the heart of these churches. You see there are seven.

And there are three in one side and three in the other. And Thyatira was the middle one. If you get Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamos, Thyatira. Then you get Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. But the middle one of the seven is Thyatira.

The historians tell us that it was the great industrial city. It had much weaving and the principal dyers of all weaving material, they were situated in that day at Thyatira. Let's go back to the Acts of the Apostles for a moment to chapter 16.

The Acts of the Apostles, chapter 16. 16 and the way down the chapter there, it says in verse 11,. And looking from Troas. Now Troas is a port just north of Ephesus. And of course Paul sailed from there and he sailed straight across the Aegean Sea.

He's weaving Asia Minor. Actually he's coming to Europe. He's coming to Macedonia. And it says, verse 12,. And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and the colony, and we were in that city abiding certain days, and on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side where prayer was wont to be made.

And we sat down and spoke unto the woman which resorted to her. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira. Now that's where she came from. You can see that she was a seller of purple, for this was the color that kings and princes were after in those days.

Purple is always called the royal color. And it seems to establish what the historians tell us, that Thyatira was a great industrial weaving and dyeing center. And you know sometimes I hear a lot about women being kept down and we hear a lot about women's lib and I'll have a word or two to say about it tonight in the meeting when we come to Jezebel.

I want to tell you that way back yonder there was a woman out selling cloth, for nobody keeping her back either. She had come from Asia Minor and she was now in Macedonia, which is Europe, and she was trading there.

She was a seller of purple. Yes, it's very wonderful to think that in those days from all around they were running into Europe to sell. And I think we're going to be doing that again in the last days because everybody's turning towards Europe now.

But this is where Lydia came from and we don't need to go on with that. Let's get back to this. And this is the Lord's letter to this church of Thyatira. And in verse 18 he said, and unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write, these things saith the Son of God.

Christ’s Signature as the Son of God and Judge

Now he's putting his signature on the letter in the very plainest possible way. In fact, this is one of the letters where he signs the signature absolutely clear and plain. No dilly-dallying about with it at all.

It's the Son of God that's writing this letter. You know, only once in the book of the Revelation is Jesus Christ called the Son of God. Many times he's called the Son of Man, but he's writing his signature in the plainest possible way.

You know, all who see this letter know who he is. All doubts at all about the writer here, who he is. And then I want you to notice the other bits that's put to this. These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire.

You see, he's the judge of all the earth. We'll be looking at verse 24 in a minute or two, verse 23 it is. And he says, I am he which searcheth the veins and hearts. You know, the Son of God is able to see through you.

You cannot blot him. You cannot hide anything from him. He's the one who has the eyes like unto a flame of fire. He can search into the very depths. And I want you to get the hold of that, because when Paul was preaching on Mars Hill, you remember he said to the crowd that stood around him, God hath appointed the day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.

For he hath given assurance unto all men, and hath erased them from the dead. You see, God ordained Christ to be the judge. All judgment, both of faith and error, is committed unto the Son. And so it's the Son of God, and it's the ordained of God.

And do you see the other little bit that's there? These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass. You remember we were looking at this in chapter one.

Turn back to chapter one there. And John saw him in the midst of the golden candlesticks, verse 13, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man. You can see that the term has changed a little bit.

The Son of Man, verse 15, saith, and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace. You know, where we've gone through the tabernacle, you remember that we looked at the brazen altar. And it was here the fire was kindled, the holy fire.

It was here the lamb was offered. And it's here the lamb was consumed, but the brass of the altar was never consumed. Oh, it's true that it must have glowed at times, like brass in a furnace. You see, I think that what we're seeing here is we're seeing the Son of God who became the Lamb of God.

Because in the Old Testament, the fire always consumed a lamb. But in the New Testament, the lamb consumed the fire. And thus you see him with his feet as if they burned in a fire. He's been in the fire.

What I think the stamp on the letter is, the Son of God who is the Lamb of God, who is the Judge of God. That's the signature on the letter. And it's a very important signature because we're going to look at the church tonight that was going to go to the devil completely.

And the Son of God can see through it. And the Son of God, who was the Lamb of God, is the Judge of God. And that's the signature on the letter. And the letter begins like all other letters, I know thy works.

I don't know if you have noted, I think you should by now that he said this personally to every church. See chapter two, verse two, he's speaking to the church in Ephesus. Verse two he says, I know thy works.

See verse nine and he's speaking to the church of Smyrna. I know thy works. See verse 13 and he's speaking to the church of Pergamos. I know thy works. See chapter one of, verse one of chapter three, and he's speaking to the church of Tardos.

I know thy works. And to the whole seven churches he said the same thing. You know the Lord was never afraid to repeat something. I hear the mumbling now you'd think you dare to repeat anything. Well the Lord did it.

Well that's just a good enough example for me. Every time he did it. He's just saying as I walk through, I know, I can see your activity. I can see how you're getting on. He could see everything that was going on in the church.

And we're back at verse 19. I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works, and the last would be more than the first. It's an old figure of speech in the Greek language where you put in all the elements.

Commendation for Thyatira’s Love, Service, Faith, and Patience

Now notice this. I know thy works, and charity, and service, and I think these two are definitely joined together. You know what charity is? It's just love in your heart isn't it? Well he's talking about an inward love as we can see.

And there's nothing surer than this. If there is an inward love, there'll be an outward service. If there's inward charity, there'll be outward ministry won't there? They go together. You can't tell me that you love sinners without doing something about it.

And you can't tell me that you love the Lord without doing something about it either. So if there's this inward charity, then there'll be this outward ministry. And if those two are joined together, I think the next two are joined together.

He says, I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience. Because if there's an upward faith, and faith must be going upward if it's going anywhere, if there's an upward faith, then there will be a world-wide patience.

He's commending them you know. He says, I know your activity. I know your inward charity. I know your outward ministry. I know your outward faith. I know your upward fidelity, I put it. He says, I know your world-wide quality.

Because I believe that if you have faith, then you have patience. And there's something more he has to say for this little church. He says, I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience.

And thy works and the last should be more than the first. You know, this is the very opposite to Ephesus. You know, Ephesus began so well, and then he said, nevertheless I have somewhat against thee thou hast left thy first love.

And they were losing out. But these fellows were increasing. And so this is a word of commendation from the Master. You know, I love the Lord as I see him talking to the churches. Because no matter how much he had to condemn them for, he could always find something to commend them for.

And so many Christians are the very opposite to the Lord. They're always looking for something to condemn a fellow, if he doesn't go to the baptists. However, the Lord commands people, whether they come here or not, if there's something to commend them for.

Don't you forget that. Because I would think he might have something to condemn the whole bunch of us for. And then we come from this word of commendation, we come to this great passage of condemnation.

Jezebel’s Corruption and the Danger of False Teaching

He says, notwithstanding I have a few things against thee. He doesn't be very gentle all the time. Because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel. Oh, we need to take time with this. I don't think that Jezebel of the Old Testament was resurrected and appeared to try a title, you know.

No, Jezebel from her day appearing in the scriptures, she's always been the symbol of anything that's erroneous and evil. In fact, one of the translations says, thou hast there in the assembly a woman like unto Jezebel of old.

I think that's the whole truth. But let's think why the Lord used the name of Jezebel at all. He know about Jezebel. But let me say this to you. I honestly believe that she's the most wicked woman in the Old Testament.

I don't think I would have any bother defending that statement. I know that somebody said to me once, what's a butler's wife? Well, she was no good. That's very true. But she was a long way behind Jezebel in wickedness.

Somebody said to me once, what about Delilah? I know she was no use. I think she might have been running a good second for Jezebel. But I think if you study Jezebel, you'll find that she was the worst woman in the Old Testament.

You know, ladies, she was the first woman in this book that ever painted her face. And if you paint your face, you know exactly who you're following. Jezebel. And you're not following a good example. I don't think it'll keep you out of heaven on anything like that.

But as the teacher of this class, I would need to point it out to you, whether you blush or whether you don't. You'll know by now I'm not worried whether you do or not. But I can tell you, ladies, she's not a good example.

I'll tell you more. She was the woman who used such authority over her husband. Oh, he was the king Ahab. And he was a wicked man, yet she had to do almost as Jezebel told him. She was the wicked character.

In fact, if we go way back to 1 Kings, let's go back to 1 Kings, and we'll find the thing that you're about to hear. Kings chapter 16. First book of Kings chapter 16. And this is what he says about Ahab.

This is her husband. And Ahab, the son of Omride, did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. He was a very wicked man. Well, he married a more wicked woman. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Esphediel, king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal.

He was one of the kings of Israel. Well, he married this woman, and he went and served Baal. And she brought into the land of Israel, she brought 860 prophets. Four prophets brought them in among God's people.

And she brought idolatry into the nation. And that's why it's very well used in this church at Thyatira, because we're going to enter into a period in the moment where idolatry came into the church. But you know, she not only did all these things, but go on over to chapter 21.

1 Kings 21. It came to pass after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria. And Ahab speak unto Naboth, saying, give me thy vineyard.

And Naboth just wouldn't give it to him. And it says, verse 5,. But Jezreel, his wife, came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? And he said unto her, Because I speak unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money, or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it.

And he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard. 2 And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry. I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

3 And she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with a seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in the city dwelling with Naboth. And she wrote them the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth and I among the people, and set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against, and say, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king, and then carry a mountain stone, and let him die.

And it happened. She was a wicked woman. 4 You know, she not only used such authority in the kingdom, and seduced her husband, and brought idolatry into the nation, but I'll tell you this, she terrorized Elijah.

She became a terror pest to Elijah. She scared the man of God. I'm nearly ashamed to say it. And this man who was a mighty man, this man who took a stand for God, this man who faced 850 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel alone, this man ran for his life from Jezebel.

She was a very wicked woman. She's a symbol of everything that's erroneous that comes into the truth. 5 You know, this is very interesting, that nearly all the erroneous doctrines and teachings that have come into the church of Jesus Christ a woman has had something to do with them.

Yes, that's very interesting. Go across America today and you'll find that some of the biggest churches, some of the biggest buildings are erected to the name of some woman who started some erroneous practice in the church and seduced many of the Lord's people.

You know, I know that there's the great argument going on at this moment about women's lives. And Miss Greer, whose women live in person, she is the great, eloquent auditor and advocate. But if I get her message right, she's not advocating and not arguing for women's liberation.

She's arguing for women's license to sin, because she's a double-died sinner. Of course, you know, she would immediately come back at me and say, your master was very kind to women. And I would assure her he was, because I would know better than she does, how gentle the Lord Jesus was with women.

Jesus’ Compassion Toward Women

I believe in all my heart that the greatest gentle man that ever lived on this earth was Jesus Christ. And if you just go through the gospels as I have done and take out every tiny speck to woman. You know, he was the only Jew in the whole world who would walk right the way up through Samaria, up the high hills, and sit on Jacob's well to meet a woman that nobody would speak to far less of you.

But he did, you know, went to meet the woman at the well who was living with a man she shouldn't have. And you know, he stopped the chariot of his glory when he rose from the dead and was going back to heaven, just to step out to talk to Mary at the tomb when she was dying.

Oh, he did, you know. And when Martha came in, all fussed up and said, why, why do you allow my sister to sit here? I've got a lot to do in the kitchen. And here she said, you know, he defended Mary. He said, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things.

I'll tell you this, Mary's right and you're wrong. It's never wrong to take time to sit at Jesus' feet, you know. And I know exactly how he treated woman, and I know how he talked up for woman. I know all about it better than Mithra does.

And I'll tell you this, and you ladies sit up and take notice, that when he chose twelve apostles from among the old men, oh, he knew all about Judas. We needn't enter into that argument. He knew Matthias would eventually come and fill the place.

And I'll tell you when the Holy Ghost wrote the New Testament, the old men, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and many writers in the New Testament, five of them after that, four in the Gospels, five names, Paul, Peter, John, James, Jude, no woman.

You don't think God's gone crackers, do you? He's led them afoot. I'll tell you this, if you don't know all about your place, the devil does. I'll tell you this, the devil came around and tackled Eve.

I'll tell you this, he deceived Eve. He never deceived Adam, you know. He deceived Eve. And you know, when a woman gets an idea, you know, that she can take over a meeting and stand up and expand truth, she's the greatest fool on God's earth.

Women’s Roles in the Church

But I'll tell you this, ladies, that God tells you to be silent in the church. And you can quibble with that whatever way you like, but the sooner you learn it, the better. You're to be silent, just like that.

And if a woman in our meeting would give a cheap outlaw on Sunday morning, I would tear her apart. She's not talking in here. She's not alive from God, not from us. All women know their place, you know.

I'll tell you this, dear, that a woman is not to usurp authority over the man. And Paul said, I suffer not a woman to teach. I'll tell you this, the whole trouble has always been if a woman gets her foot in the door and she starts talking, she's going to run the show.

And she's as easily deceived as ever anybody could be. You know, sometimes I get some of the young lasses coming to me with problems. And you know, sometimes I think they think they're smart, but they're as dopey as can be.

And I can see it a mile away. Now, just take your time and don't start and you shall walk. Because God has given you a place. But it's not to usurp authority over the man. And it's not to talk in the church.

You're to be silent. God doesn't suffer you to teach. And you just learn that. And it'll put you into a place where you'll be of some use for God. Because I know that all type brethren take it far too far then, don't they?

Because you know, while it does say that she's to be silent in the church on the church week and Sunday morning, there's not a word in this book about her preaching the gospel, or praying in the prayer meeting.

In fact, God teaches her how to pray. God says she's to have her head covered when she prays. It's not teaching her not to pray or how to pray. That's the one brethren follow that and he's looking at me and yet never opening his mouth.

Now she has her place. Don't let's just sit on her all together, you know. And one of the wee faith mission lasses came to me. As best she was. He says, Mr. Monk, I'm going to confess this to you. I have a difficulty.

This book says I'm to be silent. This book doesn't suffer me to teach. Yet I've been preaching the gospel and men and women have been saved. I said, dear, you're getting muddled about something you shouldn't be muddled about.

You should be silent when the church meets. And you're certainly not one of the teachers of God's word. It's not to hinder you, dear, from taking the good news to sinners. And it's not to hinder you from preaching the glorious gospel and praying for men and women.

Ah, you've got a place all right. Just see that you keep it now. You see, the Lord chose twelve apostles and the Lord chose nine writers. And when Christ went back to heaven, he gave gifts. Some were the very decadent men.

Some all Greek were man. And there were apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers. And you're not in this at all. And don't let anybody fool you into it either. Just do what God tells you and you'll find you'll be of use to him.

The Scarlet Woman and the Historical Church

You know, this is most interesting when you realize that we come to the end of the day. You know, when Jesus Christ comes and takes the church home and the Antichrist appears for the rest, he's going to use the church.

And it's in this book under the figure of a woman. The scarlet woman. We'll look at Revelation 17 just for a moment. And I must not get into this because when we come to Revelation 17, we'll have to have a night and a half.

You see, John says here that the angel, verse 3, carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast. Verse 4, and the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color.

Who is this woman here? See what verse 1 says. Verse 1 says, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore. That's not a nice phrase. It's in your Bible. Who is this great whore they say? Have a look at verse 6.

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the masters of Jesus. Who is this woman? I don't think you would have any bother with that. You know, I know tonight, I know this, that many masters were killed because of Judaism.

It was Judaizers that stoned Stephen. And Paul was an old Pharisee called Judaizer who brought many of the saints to death. And I know that communism has been responsible for the death of many of God's saints.

And I know that paganism in the jungles has killed many of God's choice servants. But there's only one system in this world that has ever been drunk with the blood of saints and it's the Roman church.

You've got to face this whether you like it or not. A way back in the dark ages, we'll come to that in a moment. They set up the Inquisition and they murdered and butchered millions of martyrs and the saints of God.

And I'll tell you this, God hasn't forgotten that. He's only forgotten that. Now there's just one thing that you must never deduct from that. You must never deduct that Roman Catholics today are responsible for that.

I think this is where we go wrong enough. Almost blame the ordinary Roman Catholics for that. That was the people's system, a way back in the dark ages, and it is responsible. That's what it was. Get back to chapter two because I mean to do this.

You know it's perfectly true that this is the message to a church, the church in Thyatira. But I've been showing you in these letters that not only do you have an actual church and at the end of each letter do you have an individual promise, and that is he that overcometh, that's to an individual.

But the word of God is so wonderful that each church represents a period, not only a place or a person, but a period in church history. You see, Ephesus shows us the church in the first hundred years of church history, when the church got taken up with itself and its governments and its bishops and deacons so much that it left its first love, Christ.

And then Smyrna was the church that suffered under the Roman emperors for the next 200 years, like down from Nero to Diocletian. And there were nine periods in there where the church suffered under the different Roman emperors.

And then we found out last week that we were looking at Pergamos, which means mixed marriage. It was the time when Constantine, Constantine professed to be saved and joined the church with the state. The man preaching the other morning, if you heard him, I listened to them all.

And he's the bishop of the Church of England, and I don't have a whole lot of concern for him, but he was honest enough to say this. He said the greatest blunder in world history was the time when Constantine joined the state to the church.

And he even went on to say this, and the establishment today is no better. Well, I sure said hallelujah. I don't think he heard me, but it doesn't matter. Yes, that was another period. And you see, we get through the first hundred years with Ephesus, and we get through the next 200 with Smyrna.

Yes, that was another period. And you see, we get through the first hundred years with Ephesus, and we get through the next 200 with Smyrna suffering, and we get through the next 300 with Pergamos, the state and the church joined together.

And that takes us through 600 years of church history. And from 600 now to 1500, which is 900 years. That's the dark ages. That's when Rome began to come into the church under Jezebel. Same sort of ideas as Charlotte Wynne.

Yes, this is exactly what happened. This people system began to be set up, and of course, idolatry came into the church just like it did with Jezebel in Israel. And of course, many of God's servants were seduced by this erroneous teaching.

But the reason that I said, don't for any sakes just blame the Roman Catholic who lives next door for these dark ages, that there have been many good men in the Roman Catholic church who have stood up and openly, unbasingly condemned this.

I'll tell you that is true. You know, I've got a book here. It's an old book, as you can see. It's a very old one. And it was written by a Roman Catholic scholar. I couldn't tell you how I came to get it.

His name is Filian Wilberforce O 'Neill. He sure is nothing to fear. He's a far more honourable man, I can tell you that. And he's writing notes on the Apocalypse. And he was the mission priest of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist.

He was a mission priest. He was a very clever man. And the way back there, he sort of saw the thing that I see, that not only are these actual, literal, not only have we individual promises, but these are historical, prophetical periods.

And when it came to Pius Isaac, I'll read to you what he wrote. Now this is a Roman Catholic, Roman Catholic scholar. He said, Pius Isaac was a puppet of saints. Oh, he's a clever doctor, my friend. He's quite right in this.

He says, in this respect, it reminds us of Babylon. Now, that's his, so I didn't steal it from him. I let him keep it, and it was very good. He says, the remarkable combination of worldliness and yet self-sacrifice in this church.

You can see the charity. And yet you can see the worldliness. He said, the remarkable combination of worldliness and self-sacrifice in this church cannot but lead one to think of the Church of Rome. Now that's a monosma.

Some of our Protestants are monosmas, I can tell you. And this is what he says down the chapter, a little bit. He says, this church had the mixture of Balaamism and Nicolaitism, which actually means a luxury both in morals and in discipline.

It is how such a church ever existed, really. When one reads of the doings of the people, Church of Rome, in past times, its worldliness, its luxury, its immorality, its fear of indulgence, its cruelty towards those who wanted reform.

One cannot but see a remarkable resemblance. I wrote that, you know, as a Roman Catholic priest was writing. Now, we need to give them full marks when they really need it. I think that this was an honest man.

Here's another bit. He says, the children born of this prostituted faith are infidels. He says, is it not sufficiently plain that the infidelity of Europe is greatly due to the corrupt and cruel practice of the Court of Rome, which has brought religion into contempt and made it hateful?

You'd wonder that a fellow like this ever existed to preach in the church when he preached like that. So that we've got to be very honest with things, you know. See, we get Roman Catholics in this class, and like everything else, they know that I don't spare them when I need to say some things.

Why should I? One of them met me on the street the other day, and he said, you know, Mr. Long, we have learned this, that you are fierce, but you're fair. I think that's a great compliment that was paid to me.

I shall always be fierce, but I will always endeavor to be fair. I prayed in this church for Sean McStaphan on Sunday morning, prayed that God would spare him. I wouldn't like to see him in hell. I have a feeling in my heart there's no use, but I wouldn't like him in hell.

I would never like to see a rat in hell. I hold no grief for Austin Curry tonight, because I think he's a crooked creature. But I think that the men that go in to batter his wife about the way I saw on the TV, I don't think they're men at all.

I don't think the man that shot the big surgeon yesterday morning, my God, mate, if you only knew him. Let me tell this church that it was his daughter that took my tumor out and saved my life. I think we go far too far with our dead Protestantism.

Be fair. And if he had always been fair to no sir, we never would have had last bother. Yes, that needed to be said. He'd get on with this. You know, the Lord's speaking here, and he's saying to them, verse 29, notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest not woman Jezebel.

He's talking about how tolerant they were towards her. We don't need to be tolerant towards her, only of doctrines. It calls herself a prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to make things sacrificed unto idols.

This is when Rome was beginning to creep in. The Lord says, I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not. So what's the terms here? Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and then that committed adultery with her into great tribulation.

He's talking about a bed of tribulation. Except they repent. Listen to this phrase, and I will kill her children with death. And that cannot be physical death, because the Lord doesn't need to do anything.

You'll die if you live long enough, just to go to the end of the time. You'll die. Friend, this is not physical, this is not even spiritual. This is eternal death. And when we get to Revelation 17 and we see the scarlet woman and all her deeds, you'll find that God will lift her and plunge her and her children with her into eternal death.