Saturday, May 31, 2008

The book of Revelations tells us that God hates the deeds of the Nicolaitans. And Proverbs tells us that one of the things that God hates is "...And one who sows discord among brethren."

I found a site on the internet for people who had been hurt by churches. I am only being fair when I state that in some cases, it appears to me that the church was trying to do the right thing. But in other cases, people told about joining a group that was extremely friendly. Later, if some of the family wanted to leave, the group would try to turn other family members against them. The groups taught disobedience to various Biblical commands for children to honor and obey their parents, and for husbands and wives to love and honor each other.

Some time ago, my wife and I left a good church that had been seized by a small group of people. A couple of weeks later, my wife was amazed to get a phone call from two of the leaders. They told her that God was going to judge me, and they wanted to warn her. Later, members of the church urged my wife to rebel against me and return to the church without my permission.

The problem here is that my wife is a Godly Christian. She was disgusted at their efforts, and she already knew that their seizure of the church was not part of God's will. We're currently engaged in helping to start a successful church, and both of us are active and blessed in our ministries there.

And the two leaders who called my wife? After the church had gone from 120 to 30 in one year, the other leaders kicked them out of leadership.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Murder

Proverbs 6:17 also tells us that God hates "Hands that shed innocent blood." Catholicism began growing in the early church, as people began strugling for leadership positions in a new religion that was on its way up. Without church buildings, early Christians met in a variety of houses and locations, presided over by a bishop. Soon, people began using the office of bishop as a tool to rule over all the Christians in a geographical area. Persecution began when the government united with these bishops as a tool for both state and church to control people. Eventually, Catholicism provided so many martyrs that God described it as "drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus" (Rev.17:6).

Modern Nicolaitans aren't allowed to practice bloodshed to build their power. They rely on lying and plotting, which God also hates. The only real persecution they can offer today is slander, keeping their opponents out of leadership positions, and driving people out of the church. They sometimes try to turn family members against each other in order to retaliate against Christians who oppose their sins.

And in Revelation 2:6, God praises the church at Ephesus because "... you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate."