yuck.. yuck..yuck.. tolerating the doctrine of nicolaitains
February 1, 2021 Word for Today 2: YUCK, YUCK, YUCK.. TOLERATING THE DOCTRINE OF THE NICOLAITANS!
How yucky is the "church age mixture of flesh and spirit, human wisdom trying to mix with God's. May His kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is heaven. How yucky is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans,
"Nikao" means to conquer or consume the "Laos" or laity, the people.
The Nicolaitans advocated a compromise with the world system so Christians would be able to take part, without embarrassment, in the social and religious activities of the society in which they lived.
They attempted to blend heathen practices with the Christian faith. In the time of the Church at Ephesus, their teaching allowed Christians to participate in the Roman civil religion.
This resulted in the withdrawal of the Holy Spirit from their meetings, which caused the loss of the spontaneous impartation and movings that came to the members of this Church. That is just like today in the present church age structure
Thus, the Nicolaitans represent a clergy that departed from the "presence and power" of the supernatural and substituted "form and ritual" in its place.
The compromise that they advocated caused the "dulling of the spirits" of the Lord's people, as they became conversant with the society and practices of their time.
It caused the people to become dependent upon them for all spiritual truth and revelation. This caused a "religious spirit" to come so they could "rule over people" which would continue to dull their spiritual senses in knowing God.
Also, the "clergy" gained control over the functions of ministry to under their control, and then they did away with the spontaneity of worship that resulting in the manifest power of God being in their midst. Thus, the people became "spectators"(participants)a to the functioning of the clergy (church leaders).
When the people become spectators, the clergy took a place and usurped God's place to become "over them" for their spiritual life survival in God.
This demonic doctrine perverts true ministry and produces a "usurp" of God's authority of a believer to be "Under" a mans authority using "gifts" as a tool to control and establish a false ministry idolatry.
This spirit is seen in the seven churches and it is hated by God. It is hated because it causes the people to never grow up and be dependent upon men instead of God alone.
I write this understanding the work of the 5 fold ministry. I write this understanding the principles of God of Spiritual Fathers and Mothers with spiritual children, the elders teaching the younger.
Yet, there is something very evil and demonic mixed in with the truth of God that causes leaders to measure the flock after man's standard of faithfulness and not God's.
The evil that mixes with religion that has buried so many wonderful anointed people young and old that can never function as God made them because of the "leaders" ideas of what true life is in Christ and ministry work set by agendas and goal setting from the wisdom of man.
God hates this doctrine and those who establish either by word or deed that brings two classes of people in the body, "the learned and the students."
Jesus greatest rebukes were to the "leaders and teachers" and what their desire to be over the people instead of true shepherding the people.
In these 7 woes you will see the fruit, the heart, the work of this evil doctrine of the Nicolatians in the heart of the leaders in Jesus day.
Seven Woes to the Scribes and Pharisees
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.
4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear,[a] and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi[b] by others.
8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.[c] 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.[d] 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell[e] as yourselves.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’
19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.
28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,
30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,
35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah,[f] whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
Lament over Jerusalem
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
Beloved, The Church of the LaodiceansThe seventh is the Church of the Laodiceans. The Word of the Lord to this Church is:
Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.-Revelation 3:17
This present-day Church has received more prosperity, gifts, and ministry than any previous Church. Though it is quick to testify about these blessings, this Church is exposed by the Lord as being spiritually immature (blind and naked).
Beloved, the prosperity gospel being preached today is not the primary cause of their spiritual blindness and nakedness.
Their problem rests in the fact that they do not recognize their spiritual need-"and have need of nothing" (Revelation 3:17). They are satisfied with the things they possess and are not seeking after the One who gave all this.
When a people loose their first love, they lose the priority of the Lord and then we build man made things in the name of God. IN the church when leaders build man made things in the name of the Lord it buries the people of God.
We end up with a government of 5 fold ministers on top of God's people instead of underneath them. Think about this from a practical point of view.
If we took a great number of little stones and then put great big foundational stone over them, on top of them, what would happen to the little stones?
They would be crushed and buried and so it is today in many of the churches in the land because the 5 fold ministry is laid on top or over people instead of underneath them which their lives can be built upon.
In stead of laying their life down for the sheep, the sheep have to lay their life down for them, their work, their ministry, and they get to decide who is mature and who does what. That heart is the heart of the doctrine of the Nicolatians. God's hates it because it buries the sheep instead of nurture them.
Beloved, The Lord is revealed as standing outside of this prosperous Laodicean Church, knocking upon its door, seeking to attract their attention:
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.-Revelation 3:20
Because this Church has lost its sensitivity to His voice, the call of the Lord has changed to seeking out individuals who are responsive-"if any man." That is so important.
Why does the Lord call any man and not church leadership or the churches, because of the upside down system of 5 fold ministry governmental structure built by the wisdom of man and not God.
The doctrine of the Nicolaitans has caused this Church to become "dull of spirit." Their acceptance of and adjustment to material prosperity, and to be fed by men each week, has effectively hindered the visitation of the Lord within this end-time Church in the church age.
This is one of the primary causes of the failure of the "Charismatic" visitation. But thank God for the New Day and hour that is now upon us of the kingdom age where God is turning what is upside down rightside up.
Beloved, the Nicolaitan spirit that sought to bring about compromise with the world system in the early Church is still present within the Church of our day.
Jesus clearly said, "My Kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). James told us that "Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4).
Notice the contrast between these two present-day Church ages. In Philadelphia,(Kingdom age) the Lord has set before them an "open door" into the revelation of His manifest presence and the operation of the Supernatural in their midst.
In Laodicea, He is outside of the Church mixed with the doctrine of the Nicolatians knocking upon a "closed door," seeking out any individual that is still able to hear His voice, inviting them to turn aside and commune with Him.
The Lord counsels these, who willingly open the door of their spirit to Him to "buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich" (Revelation 3:18). This "gold" speaks of the divine nature as being of far greater value than all of these external riches that they possess and rejoice in.
A glorious promise is given to the individuals who choose to turn aside from this materialistic spirit within the Laodicean Church:
To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.-Revelation 3:21
This is the greatest of the promises given to each of these seven Churches, yet the most difficult to attain, even more so today, because of the many subtle deceptions that must be discerned-the intensity of the temptations that must be resisted.
The hindrances to true spirituality that must be overcome are greater than any pressures that other generations had to face. It is popular to compromise, but the cost is high. Those who do ."will not be able to hear the gentle knock of the Lord on the door of their spirit-"If any man hear My voice.
The Lord is looking for those who are willing to pay the price in order to be a part of the "Church at Philadelphia," and gain the spiritual life and strength that is available therein.
Few do because the "Church at Laodicea" is very popular. It knows and uses the techniques that bring about Church growth and material prosperity and to keep people under that authority of two classes of Christians. .
A passage of Scripture that the Lord is making very real at this present time is one of my favorites: "I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me...That I may cause those that love Me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasure" (Proverbs 8:17, 21).
