THE TRUE CHURCH ERAS
Chapters 2 and 3 of the book of Revelation contain specific messages to "seven churches" located in seven different cities in first century Asia Minor. In the Sabbath keeping Churches of God, these messages have correctly been understood to foretell seven consecutive time periods, or eras, from the time of the foundation of the Church almost two thousand years ago, until the soon coming return of Jesus Christ.
Herbert W Armstrong (HWA) (1892-1986), the founder of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG), proclaimed frequently that he established and headed the sixth Church era, called "Philadelphia" (Rev 3:7).
Unbeknown to most Church of God (COG) members today, when HWA first came into contact with the Church, its general belief was that the spiritually strong Philadelphia era had long since passed, having come to an end around the middle of the 19th century, and that the lukewarm "Laodicea" era (Rev 3:14-22) had commenced at that time.
I believe that with close examination of the evidence we will be able to see that their interpretation was most probably correct.
Herbert Armstrong consistently taught that the era previous to his own was the one called "Sardis", which is described in Revelation 3:1-6 as being "dead". The Sardis era of God's Church, according to him, covered approximately 300 to 350 years prior to the beginning of his ministry in the 1930's.
This supposed Sardis period, however, was a "Golden Age" in the history of western civilisation. It attained the highest standards in a wide variety of areas such as literature, painting, music composition, architecture, craftsmanship, scholarship, exploration, and even in manners, conduct, dress standards etc.
The Church and the world are closely related; they mirror one another.
The Church, created near the end of the fourth millennium, is pictured by the moon, created on the fourth day of Creation. For more on this see the page "THE SEVEN DAY BLUEPRINT". The nations of the world are pictured as waters (Rev 17:15), and just as the moon affects the tides of the oceans, so the Church affects the tides of this world.
When the Roman Empire tried to "break" the Christian religion, the Empire itself was broken in half. When God's true Church was largely hidden from the pages of history, the world went through the Dark Ages. When the Church emerged from obscurity around the time of the Reformation, this was accompanied by the Christianisation of the world as a result of the widespread distribution of the Scriptures. When there was great turmoil in God's Church in the United States in the 1860's, that country fought a terrible civil war. When God's people were in serious spiritual decline in the first half of the 20th century, the world experienced the Great Depression sandwiched between the two greatest wars ever known to man. When apostasy befell the Church in the latter half of the 20th century and onward, this has been mirrored by the terminal decline of this world.
So how could the poor-quality, "dead" Sardis era of the Church of God have been paralleled by such a high-quality period in the history of mankind?
The Sardis era is usually considered by the Churches of God to have lasted from the end of the 16th century until the rise of Herbert Armstrong in the 1930's. However, this period ran from the enormously influential reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and James I until the splendour of the Victorian Age, an era that saw the emergence of the greatest empire of all time, the British Empire, and the greatest single nation ever founded, the United States of America. It was the period in time when the descendants of Israel received Abraham's blessings after they had been withheld for 2520 years.
Identifying the Church era at that time as "Sardis" does not add up.
William Penn (1644-1718), in founding the state of Pennsylvania, started what he termed "A Holy Experiment". Religious persecution had existed in Europe for a long time, but with the settlement of the "New World" a way opened up for all who wanted to escape the restrictions placed on Christian worship. Penn and others actually went around marketing their colonies to Christian groups in Europe, for the specific purpose of offering them somewhere to live and worship in freedom. Penn was himself a Quaker, and the Quakers were also a persecuted group. These people in many cases left behind family and friends, home and work, and went looking for a better place; so strong was their desire to worship God as they believed He required.
Among these pilgrims were Sabbath keeping members of the true Church of God. They had no guarantees, no governments to protect them, no travel, health or life insurance, just faith in their Creator and a desire to live a peaceful, quiet and humble life of obedience to Him.
They travelled on dangerous ships and in perilous waters. These people happily started all over again, enduring much hardship, and in the process helping to build up a nation founded on God and His law: the United States of America.
One city stood out as a beacon; a city purposefully named by Penn; a city built without fortifications. The US independence from Great Britain was declared there. In the twelfth year of independence, the new nation's constitution was drawn up in that same city. The first President resided there, and the first US Congress met there. The providential city that William Penn founded was Philadelphia.
Generally speaking, the true, faithful Christians of that era were made of sterner stuff than the Christians of today; they earned and deserve the name Philadelphian.
As time progressed, however, with religious persecution mostly a thing of the past, the American people became prosperous with Abraham's blessings and, just like Israel after conquering the land of Canaan, they gradually became lukewarm; they didn't need God quite so much anymore.
By the time of World War 1 the Christian Western nations were in serious spiritual decline. By then Charles Darwin's theories had been around for more than half a century, and it was no longer considered progressive to believe in God or Biblical narratives like the Creation and the Flood. The Bible was ridiculed.
I think of my own grandparents. All four were born around 1900 (in the Netherlands); all four were decent, law-abiding people who wouldn't hurt a fly. However, none of them went to church, none of them believed in God, and none of them taught their children anything religious. That just wasn't the thing to do anymore in a modern, educated, Western society. I remember that anything to do with God or religion was embarrassing in our family. The decline in Western society started much earlier than many people think, and this is clearly paralleled in the Church eras.
The author of this website wracked his brain for years over how the Philadelphia era could have produced such leaders as Herbert and Garner Ted Armstrong, who on the one hand taught much truth, but on the other hand also expounded many erroneous doctrines, practices and Biblical interpretations. The logical answer is that their ministry was during the seventh and final, Laodicea era and not the sixth, Philadelphia era.
Much Biblical truth was certainly taught, but much damage was also done.
Hot and cold at the same time - that's why Laodicea is lukewarm (Rev 3:16).
Let's look at the Church era messages in Revelation 2 and 3:
The Ephesus era covered the time of the twelve apostles and ended soon after the death of the last original apostle, John, around 100AD. Two second century writers, Polycrates and Irenaeus, say that John resided in Ephesus in his latter years. It is a long-held tradition that he was also buried there. So we see that the name of this city is a geographical marker: the first Church era, which the book of Acts shows had commenced in Jerusalem, came to an end in Ephesus.
This era, which began on the day of Pentecost in the year 31AD, set off on a solid footing. Many brethren continued in the faith, which is affirmed by Christ's comment, "you have persevered and have patience, and have laboured for My name’s sake and have not become weary" (Rev 2:3).
Already in this first Church message, however, it is stated that there were true apostles and false apostles (Rev 2:2), and we see evidence of this in the New Testament (II Cor 11:13-15; Jude 4, etc).
Over time, a substantial number are said to have "left your first love" (Rev 2:4). The Olivet Prophecy states that "lawlessness" is the reason that the love of many brethren would grow cold (Mt 24:12), and so it seems likely that what is alluded to here is the inroads false Christian ideas were already making into the Church in this era. Jude 4 speaks of false brethren who "have secretly slipped in among you", and states that "they are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality" (NIV). In I John 5:3 it says that the love of God involves keeping His commandments, not abolishing them. The false notion that God's grace frees man from God's law appears to have taken hold at an early stage of Christian history.
The apostle Peter speaks about this same condition in II Peter 2:1-2: "But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed".
A group called "Nicolaitans" are also mentioned in the Ephesus era message: "But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate" (Rev 2:6). The Greek word "Nicolaitan" is composed of two words: "nikos", meaning "victory" or "conquest," and "laos", meaning "people". Therefore, "Nicolaitan" can be translated as "conqueror of the people".
At the time of the first Church era, the Holy Land and most countries where early Churches were founded were under the control of the Roman Empire. Thus, the Romans were the "conquerors of the people". Their idolatrous, polytheistic religion was strongly condemned by various New Testament writers, as seen for instance in Romans 1:18-32, I Corinthians 10:14-22, II Corinthians 6:14-18 and I John 5:21.
The first Church era came to a close around the end of the first century AD.
The Smyrna era started after the death of the apostle John and with the emergence of Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna, around the year 100AD. It ran until 313AD, ending with Roman emperor Constantine's "conversion" and the issuing of the Edict of Milan. As with Ephesus, the name of this era functions as a geographical marker of Church history: the original city of Smyrna being the city where a leading minister of God resided during the first half of second century AD.
Polycarp, who had been taught and ordained by John, was burned at the stake, at an advanced age, for confessing to being a Christian and refusing to offer sacrifice to the Roman emperor. In "The Martyrdom of Polycarp" his death is said to have occurred "on the great Sabbath". Polycarp had learnt from John to keep Passover on the 14th day of the first month of the year. He disputed with the Bishop of Rome over this date, the latter arguing for the date on which Easter came to be kept. This dispute was continued, later in the second century, by Polycrates of Ephesus and another Bishop of Rome, and became known as the Quartodeciman controversy.
The Smyrna message is one of only two Church messages that is totally complimentary of its members. They are said by Christ to be spiritually "rich" (Rev 2:9), even though they were physically poor. The most likely reason for their being rich is that during the post-apostolic period the New Testament writings began to be copied and circulated, leading to a deeper understanding of Christ's gospel message.
This era also saw serious oppression and torment inflicted by pagan Rome on all who called themselves Christian. As the era drew to an end it witnessed ten years of severe persecution initiated by the Roman emperor Diocletian, from 303AD until early 313AD, as foretold in Revelation 2:10.
In 312AD Emperor Constantine was converted to "Christianity". The key event connected with his conversion is often cited as the Battle of Milvian Bridge (in Rome) in that year, where he reportedly saw a vision of a cross in the sky with the words "By this sign, conquer". Following this, Constantine adopted the Chi-Rho (a "Christian" symbol) for his troops, and went on to defeat his enemy, Maxentius. This led to the issuing of the Edict of Milan in 313AD, which established religious tolerance in the Roman Empire and ended the Diocletian Persecution.
However, from this point on "Christianity" began to be organised at Constantine's discretion and in 325AD he went on to lead the highly influential Council of Nicea at which he sought to doctrinally unify the various factions of Christianity under the umbrella of the Roman Empire.
In this era we see a clear distinction between true Christians (those addressed by Christ) and organised false Christianity, which is labelled "a synagogue of Satan" (Rev 2:9).
The Pergamos era ran from 313AD until 1095AD, the year when the first Catholic Crusade began.
Whereas the first two eras are mainly delineated by geographical markers, Pergamos is the first of four eras where figurative clues in the text regarding false Christianity serve as guideposts of the passage of time.
The ancient city of Pergamos, a.k.a. Pergamon and Pergamum, contained a massive altar to the Greek god Zeus. It had been built in his honour to commemorate a Greek military victory in the second century BC.
Fittingly therefore, Revelation 2:13 says that the Pergamos Church era dwells "where Satan's throne is". Satan is the god of this world (II Cor 4:4), so one could argue that Satan's throne, or "seat" (KJV), is omnipresent throughout man's 6000 years under his sway. One could also say that the entire succession of "Beast" empires described in the books of Daniel and Revelation form Satan's throne. So why does God single out this particular period in Church history and refer to it as "where Satan's throne is"?
The Roman Empire up until this time had been anti-Christian. However, at this remarkable juncture in history, in the first half of the fourth century, when Constantine was emperor, the Roman Empire had a complete about-face. In effect, Satan manifested himself as an "angel of light" (II Cor 11:14) and began to pass off this Beast power as "Christian". Over time the Papacy was established, and church and state were united.
The rise of the Roman Empire as a "Christian" power was predicted in Daniel 8:25: "And through his policy (of accepting "Christianity") also he shall cause craft (deceit) to prosper in his hand". See the page "DANIEL 7 & 8 - JERUSALEM'S CONQUERORS" for more on this.
The rise of the Papacy was foretold in II Thessalonians 2, where it was predicted that one who "opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" would come on the scene and that this would be by "the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders". The office of the Papacy was earlier foretold in Daniel 7:25.
So the "synagogue of Satan" of the Smyrna era (organised false Christianity), developed into "Satan's throne" (Roman state Christianity) of the Pergamos era. This "throne" was led at first by the emperor and later by the Papacy.
Some people might object and say that the false church cannot be described as "the temple of God" as it is in II Thessalonians 2. The fact is, however, that it was the true Christian faith that over time was largely corrupted by the introduction of unbiblical teachings.
During the Pergamos era Satan hijacked Christianity in an organised way, and on a state level, forcing true Christians to go "into the wilderness" (Rev 12:14), i.e. to disappear from public view. The phrase "where Satan's throne is" should therefore be understood as "when Satan's throne is established".
Next, a reference is made in Revelation 2:13 to a certain "Antipas", no doubt a figurative name for a martyr of the first century "who was slain among you". This name is an abbreviated form of Antipatris, meaning "against the father", and therefore a cryptic name for the true Christians of the Pergamos era who stood against the "holy father" (the Papacy) of the great false church, often to the point of martyrdom. The Papacy became an independent power in 685AD when the emperor, based in Constantinople, allowed Rome to appoint and install its Popes without imperial approval.
Revelation 2:14 identifies the issues they faced: "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 (in this case, true Christians), to eat things sacrificed to idols (accept false doctrines), and to commit sexual immorality (idolatry)". As shown in the account in Numbers 22-24, Balaam taught Balak how to bring curses on Israel by enticing them to sin.
As with the Ephesus era, the Nicolaitans are also mentioned in the message to Pergamos: "Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans" (Rev 2:15). Throughout the Ephesus and Smyrna eras the pagan Roman Empire had been "the conquerors of the people" in the Holy Land and most of the territory where Christians were located.
However, some 325 years into the Pergamos era a new power conquered the Middle East, including the Holy Land, as well as parts of Africa and Europe. This power, which invaded Jerusalem in 638AD, was Islam. Islam subjugates the nations it conquers, either forcing its beliefs on them or reducing them to a lower status in society. Thus the "teaching of the Nicolaitans" that the Church became susceptible to at this time were the teachings of Islam.
The long and troubled Pergamos era ended as the "synagogue of Satan" (false Christianity), led by the "throne of Satan" (by this time solely the Papacy), shifted into an even deadlier phase of its diabolical existence: the Crusades and the Inquisitions.
As a side note, in the latter part of the 19th century German archaeologists dismantled the Altar of Zeus in Pergamos and transported it to Germany. In the 1930's it was reassembled and put on display in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. This occurred at the same time that Nazi Germany was rising and the final attempt by the "Christian" Beast power to destroy the Jews was imminent, just as "the times of the Gentiles" were coming to an end (Rev 11:7). The symbolism of the original, physical "throne of Satan" being set up in Berlin at the same time that Adolf Hitler held power there is remarkable to say the least. However, the story doesn’t end there. In Revelation 18 the false Christian Beast is called “Babylon the Great”. In the 1930’s the Pergamon Museum also reconstructed and put on display the famous blue Ishtar Gate of Babylon. How amazingly fitting! See "THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES" and "THE TWO WITNESSES" for more on this subject.
The Thyatira era ran from 1095 until 1347, the former date being the commencement of the First Crusade, and the latter being the onset of the Black Death.
The Thyatira era is warned by Christ about "Jezebel", a type of the same Catholic Church that oppressed the Pergamos era, but which was now taking things to a whole new level. The congregation in Thyatira in first century Asia Minor must have had a troublesome woman in attendance, who is alluded to here to illustrate this point. The original Old Testament Jezebel was a pagan princess who married Ahab, an Israelite king, but actively continued her pagan religion in Israel, whilst murderously hunting down and persecuting the worshippers of the true God.
The story of Jezebel in the book of I Kings has notable parallels with the Catholic Church at the Thyatira point in history. The Catholic religion, like Jezebel's, is largely of pagan origin, but it palms itself off as the wife of Christ, and Christ of course is the ultimate Israelite King. The Catholic Church, like Jezebel, was also very murderous, being responsible for the death of millions.
Revelation 2:24 speaks of "the depths of Satan", because during this era Satan showed himself at his very worst.
In the year 1095, Pope Urban II called the First Crusade to liberate Jerusalem from Muslim control. The capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders in 1099 led to them establishing what they called "The Kingdom of Jerusalem". The Catholics saw their conquest of the Holy City as an affirmation of God's favour, and a justification to enforce their brand of Christianity in all the territories under their control or influence.
In the following century the Inquisitions began. The extent of the barbarism meted out, and suffering inflicted in these endeavours, supposedly in the name of Christ, is incalculable. The details are too grotesque to mention, and prove the satanic mindset from which they originated. The Crusades and the Inquisitions brought an enormous escalation in evil from that perpetrated during the Pergamos era. How fitting that the great false church, which masterminded these evils, is figuratively referred to as "Jezebel"!
Revelation 2:19 states "and as for your works, the last are more than the first". This most likely refers to many of the Thyatiran brethren faithfully enduring the escalation of persecution in the latter half of this era.
Enforced conversion to Catholicism is symbolically described by God in Revelation 2:20 as: "you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols". When the Scripture calls Jezebel a teacher, keep in mind that her teaching involved the sword. No doubt some of the brethren gave in under the pressure.
God's response to Jezebel was proportionate to the crime. He says in Revelation 2:22-23 that He will "cast her into a bed" (a sick bed), "into great tribulation" (the Black Death), and "will kill her children with death", unless they repent of their deeds.
As the Catholic leaders did not repent, this prophecy was fulfilled with the arrival in southern Europe of the Black Death in 1347. Many estimates show that more than half of Europe's population was wiped out; in southern Europe, where Catholicism was headquartered, perhaps as many as eighty percent died.
The Sardis era most likely ran from 1347 until 1455, from the beginning of the Black Death in Europe, until one of the greatest interventions by God in the history of man.
The enormity of the Black Death would have made a life-changing impact on the members of the true Church. They certainly recognised that this severe curse was from God, because we read in Revelation 2:23 regarding this plague, "I will kill her (Jezebel's) children with death and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts".
In Revelation 3:1 Christ says to the Sardis brethren, "you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead", which applied to them figuratively. But as the general population of Europe had been decimated, the numbers of Church members would also have been greatly reduced. Those who had been compromised by false Christianity were not spared the wrath of God, as Revelation 2:22 indicates.
Another sign that the Sardis era was not in good shape is given in Revelation 3:2, where Christ encourages the brethren to "strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die". Some 1300 years had passed since the original apostles first went out into the world to preach the gospel, so it is likely that, due to the passage of time and the corrupting influence of false Christianity, as well as the relentless persecutions, very little of the original truth did "remain".
In Revelation 3:3 Christ continues, "Remember therefore how you have received and heard". The word "heard" is very significant here, as the scarcity of Biblical manuscripts at that time meant that the transmission of the gospel had largely been by word of mouth. The word "heard" also alludes to the enormous blessing God was about to bring to the world in the next era.
Previously, in the Pergamos message, Christ warned those who opposed Him, "I ..... will fight against them with the sword of My mouth". Hebrews 4:12 states, "the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword", and Galatians 6:17 speaks of "the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God". Therefore, the sword that Christ uses to fight and disarm evildoers is His Word, the Holy Bible.
Then, in the Thyatira message, God foretold that He would give Jezebel “time to repent". The New Testament Greek doesn't use the indefinite article, "a". Rather, it says, "I will cast her into bed" and "He will rule them with rod of iron". Likewise, the word "time" in verse 21 should read "a time". A "time" in Scripture is a year of 360 days. However, in a prophecy of duration, using the "day for a year" principle given in Numbers 14 and Ezekiel 4, a "time" denotes 360 years. See the page "DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS, YEARS AND TIMES" for more on this.
Therefore, the "fight against them" mentioned in Revelation 2:16 was held back for 360 years, giving "Jezebel" that amount of time to repent, with the count starting from the commencement of the Thyatira era in 1095. As the Black Death of the Sardis era did not convince the Catholic Church to repent, and instead she quickly resumed her evils, Jezebel's fate was sealed. Her full demise would begin in the next era.
Clearly, at this point a historical sequence can be observed where the false Christian “throne of Satan” of the Pergamos era developed into the murderous “Jezebel” of the Thyatira era, which left at least half of the people in Europe “dead” in the Sardis era.
The Philadelphia era ran from 1455 until around 1860, from the commencement of the widespread availability of the Word of God, until the time that the Churches began to be followers of men rather than of God.
The ancient city of Philadelphia in Asia Minor was founded in the days of the Kingdom of Pergamon. It was situated at its eastern extremity and was intended to be an example of Greek civilisation, spreading Greek culture into eastern Lydia and Phrygia. As such it functioned as a gateway, or "open door" (Rev 3:8), to advance the cause of Hellenism.
The Philadelphia Church era began with one of the greatest turning points in history, i.e. the invention of the printing press. This soon led to the mass production of the Holy Scriptures, which was the "open door" by which the truth of God was spread to the world.
In 1455, exactly 360 years since the commencement of the Thyatira era, Johannes Gutenberg produced the first Bible printed using movable metal type, in Mainz, Germany. This Bible was printed in Latin, the only language the Scriptures were permitted to appear in, by Catholic edict. Only about 180 copies of the Gutenberg Bible were produced, but a means to mass produce printed material, combined with the onset of the Reformation, led over time to Bible translations in various languages, resulting in widespread access to the Word of God.
In 1522 a German language New Testament, translated by Martin Luther, was printed. A full Dutch language Bible was printed in 1526. The first full French version appeared in 1530. English language versions included that of William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale in 1535, the Great Bible of 1539, and the Geneva Bible of 1560. The first full Spanish Bible was printed in 1569.
The Geneva Bible was so popular that, over a period of about eighty years and as a result of many printed editions, an astonishing 360,000 copies were sold in England, at a time during which the population increased from about four to five million people. The Geneva Bible was especially popular as it contained lengthy marginal, explanatory notes, and was printed using an easy-to-read letter type. It was also the first full English Bible to contain verse numbers. Its publication in England was temporarily banned at one stage to promote sales of the King James Bible, which appeared in 1611.
People who had hitherto been unable to read the Word of God had a whole new world opened up to them. Those who were illiterate flocked to churches just to hear the Scriptures read aloud; such was the thirst to hear God's message. In a relatively short period, historically speaking, Europeans went from being virtually cut off from access to God's Word in the middle of the 15th century, to being awash with the Scriptures in their own languages by the end of the 16th century.
The Biblical awakening caused by the "open door" fuelled the Protestant Reformation, which was a historical event of proportions hard to overestimate. The Reformation led to a great diminishing of Catholic power and influence, the emergence of numerous additional Christian denominations, and the rise of much Biblical inquiry, discussion and scholarship.
The Reformation also brought the remarkable Iconoclastic Fury, which saw large crowds attacking Catholic Churches all over northern Europe and destroying idolatrous statues and artworks. Many books have been written about all the remarkable societal changes that the Reformation led to.
In England, Queen Elizabeth I (reigned 1558-1603) made church attendance mandatory; those who didn't comply were fined. In Scotland, Bible ownership was compulsory for those who were of means. The result of all this, historian J R Green summed up in the following way:
"No greater moral change ever passed over a nation than passed over England during the years ..... of the reign of Elizabeth. England became the people of a book, and that book was the Bible. And its effect ..... was simply amazing. The whole temper of the nation was changed. The whole nation became, in fact, a Church" - (A Short History of the English People, Chapter 8, Section 1, 1874).
Through this momentous period of change, God's true Sabbath keeping Church also saw its turnaround. The rapid introduction of the Scriptures, in an ever-wider variety of languages, steadily allowed the Sardis era's Scriptural ignorance to be replaced by solid Bible literacy. By this direct access to the Scriptures, people could now understand God's truth directly from His Word.
The Anglo-Spanish War that commenced in 1585, and the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, also curtailed Catholic influence in the world and assisted in creating the breathing space required to bring the true Church back to life. This allowed it to come out of hiding, grow in numbers, and thus emerge from the near-death experience of the Sardis era.
Records exist of substantial numbers of Sabbath keeping congregations that sprang up from the early 1600's onwards in England and Wales.
The Church had originally set off on a strong footing, having been taught personally by Jesus Christ in the first century. After some 1300 years, that foundation had been all but fully eroded. How was the Church brought back to health? Did men bring this about? No, just like in the Smyrna era, God brought it about, this time by making His Scriptures available to the general public, calling it the "open door that no one can shut" (Rev 3:8, NIV). By providing His Word in languages people could understand, God opened Himself up to them. Christ said, "I am the door" (Jn 10:9), and He is also called The Word (Jn 1:1). The Bible is the mind of God in print. Therefore, a legible, intelligible Bible is an open door, giving access to God.
It is significant that the Philadelphia era is said to have "kept my word" (Rev 3:8). This makes sense, for how can people keep God's Word if they haven't received God's Word?
This crucial marker of time, showing that the Philadelphia era sprang up as a result of the widespread distribution of the Holy Scriptures, is no small point. It was the mass circulation of the Scriptures that created the necessary conditions for the transition from the "dead" Sardis era to the Philadelphia era.
These Christians are said to have "a little strength" (Rev 3:8). They had this strength because they spent much time reading God's Word, and were not beset by the multitude of mindless distractions that we are. As a consequence, they were able to gain spiritual strength.
Additionally, in Revelation 3:8, Christ says "you have not denied my name". We are commanded to not take His name in vain, but to represent Him in all our words and deeds. That's what a true Christian does. But again, how can people do that without having His Word available for instruction, deep meditation and reflection?
In Revelation 3:9 we are informed that this era was opposed by false Christianity ("the synagogue of Satan"), which at this time was mostly Protestant, and that these persecutors will in the future be forced to admit their error. Again, this is a marker of time, because those of our day who want to claim the Philadelphian mantle have encountered little or no opposition or persecution from false Christianity. In true Philadelphian days, however, being a Sabbath keeping Christian was not easy. For many years Sunday keeping in England was compulsory; church attendance records were kept, and fines were imposed. Sabbath keepers were not free to congregate in large numbers wherever they wished, as we are. Permission had to be sought to meet at specified addresses, and preachers were required to be credentialed by the authorities. Such ministers could not travel freely to other congregations; they were only licensed to preach at particular localities. These restrictions on assembly were designed to minimise opportunities for dissent against authorities. Many a Sabbath keeper spent time in jail for "unorthodox practices" in Philadelphian days.
The history of the post-Reformation, Sabbath keeping Church of God has been largely ignored by the end time COG's. As the agenda in our day has mostly been one of glorifying our recent or current leaders, this has led to downplaying the accomplishments, and sometimes even the existence, of those who went before us. It is somewhat ironic that HWA portrayed himself as the one who restored Church doctrines, when this was exactly what drove the era prior to his. From the writings of Sabbath keepers in the 1600's, we can see that they felt it was their duty before God to rid themselves of all false doctrines that Christianity had been saddled with by Rome. They believed that the Reformation had not gone anywhere near far enough, and in England they even petitioned leaders of the country to change the national day of worship from Sunday to Saturday.
A very good source of information on this topic is "The Seventh Day Men - Sabbatarians and Sabbatarianism in England and Wales, 1600-1800" by SDA scholar Bryan W Ball. The great wealth of factual information in this book comes from old church records, church bulletins, correspondence between congregations, county records, court records, and the many publications by Sabbath keepers.
Ball identifies over 60 Sabbath keeping congregations that existed in England and Wales between the years 1617 and 1750. Groups varied in size from just a family or two to congregations of hundreds of people. Ball also lists 66 known pro-Sabbath writings published between 1628 and 1745 in England. At least as many pro-Sunday publications were produced, and often these writings were in response to each other. Some of the authors of this period state that the Sabbath v Sunday argument was the most significant point of Christian debate in 17th century England.
Sabbatarian ministers and writers of this period included John Traske, Theophilus Brabourne, Peter Chamberlen, John Belcher, James Ockford, Francis Bampfield, Thomas Bampfield, Edward Stennett, Joseph Stennett I, II and III, Samuel Stennett, Robert Cornthwaite, Thomas Tillam, Christopher Pooley, Edmund Townsend, Joseph Davis, John James, John Sullins, Henry Jessey, William Saller, Henry Soursby, William Whiston and many more.
Many of these brethren were highly intelligent, educated people. Henry Jessey was a Cambridge University educated Hebrew scholar. Thomas Bampfield was a lawyer and a member of Parliament. William Whiston was a Cambridge University mathematician and lecturer, as well as a Greek scholar, who is best known for translating the writings of Josephus. Peter Chamberlen was the royal physician to King Charles I and King Charles II.
Beliefs held generally among these people were: the validity of the Ten Commandments, including the Saturday Sabbath from Friday sunset until Saturday sunset, adult baptism, baptism by immersion, laying on of hands, anointing of the sick, foot washing, Millennialism, prophecy interpreted according to the school of thought called Historicism, which employs the "day for a year" principle for prophetic timelines, Sunday worship is the "mark of the Beast" (I believe it is Sabbath breaking), clean and unclean meats, and the "little horn" is the Roman Church. Some brethren even kept Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Tillam and Pooley espoused more radical beliefs over time, even advocating circumcision, incurring the rebuke of other Sabbatarian ministers.
Here are a few notable events of the 1600's in Britain, given by Ball:
1) In the town of Exeter in the year 1600 a group of Christians attempted to keep Passover, but were prevented from doing so by authorities. In those times public meetings needed government approval and were strictly regulated. "Non-conformity" to the State religion was a punishable offence.
2) In 1607 theologian John Sprint, in a publication supporting Sunday worship, referred to "Sabbatary Christians" of his time who insisted on keeping "the Jewish Sabbath". The fact alone that so many pro-Sunday writings were produced shows the subject to have been a serious point of contention.
3) In 1621 Archbishop of Canterbury, George Abbot, objected to a bill brought before Parliament on the grounds that it contained the word "Sabbath", which he felt might be misinterpreted. He argued that "many of late have run to Judaism" and have "written for the very day".
4) An opponent of John Traske (1585-1636) wrote that Traske believed "the resurrection of Christ should be celebrated on the fourteenth of March moon to coincide with the Jewish Passover and should be followed by the eating of unleavened bread for seven days".
5) In 1657 and in 1682 Sabbatarian ministers appealed to Parliament and the judiciary to change the official day of worship from Sunday to Saturday, on the grounds that Sunday had been instituted by Rome without Scriptural proof and contrary to apostolic practice.
6) During the 1690's a Frenchman by the name of Henri Misson travelled throughout England and recorded his observations in a detailed memoir. Here are some of his notes on people he encountered there, who referred to themselves as "Sabbatarians": "There is a particular society, though it makes but a little noise, of people, who ..... go by the name of Sabbatarians (footnote: "the common people call them Seventh-Day Men") [and] make profession of expecting the Reign of a Thousand Years...... These Sabbatarians are so called, because they will not remove the Day of Rest from Saturday to Sunday. They leave off work betimes on Friday Evening, and are very rigid observers of their Sabbath. They administer baptism only to adult people..... The major part of them will eat neither pork nor blood, nor things strangled..... For the rest, their morality is severe, and their whole outward conduct pious and Christian-like". (M. Misson's Memoirs and Observations in his travels over England, 1719, pp 233-235).
The seriousness with which brethren of this time period kept the Sabbath is echoed by English Sabbatarian George Carlow. In his writings, he quotes Nehemiah 13:15-18, which condemns doing business on the Sabbath. He also advocates sunset to sunset "holy rest", and hails Nehemiah for "causing Jerusalem's gates to be shut before the Sabbath", calling this "a good example for earthly minds, who will not leave their servile labor till the last minute, but perhaps allow themselves liberty to do some household business after the Sabbath's beginning" ("A Defense of the Sabbath", 1847, p74 and p97, originally published in 1724 as "Truth Defended").
The above-mentioned information only deals with Sabbath keeping Christians in Britain, but a sprinkling of like-minded people also existed throughout other countries in continental Europe.
Throughout the 1600's and 1700's many European Christians began making their way across the seas to the New World, giving themselves the opportunity to escape religious oppression and start a new life in what would become the United States of America.
As mentioned in the introduction, the city of Philadelphia became the launchpad of the United States, the "great" nation of Manasseh that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had been promised by God long ago (Gen 48:17-19). We see therefore that, as with the first two Church eras, the name of the sixth era is also a geographical marker. However, rather than being a reference to the original city in Asia Minor, in this case it is a new city by the same name. As with Ephesus, the name Philadelphia doesn't indicate where the era began, but rather where it became established and later came to its end.
The history of Philadelphia is embodied in the person of William Penn, the founder of both Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. His 1701 "Charter of Privileges" was the foundation for Christian freedom of religion in the United States. It also provided for democratic rule of the people and, wisely, only allowed inhabitants who professed the Christian faith to hold office in Pennsylvania.
Through the foundation that freedom of religion provided, Christians, including Sabbath keeping Christians, were able to flourish in this undeveloped new continent, many congregations being raised up of quiet, humble, hard-working, God-fearing people. These times of spiritual prosperity lasted for the best part of two centuries on American soil.
The first known Sabbath keepers to make the journey to the New World were Stephen and Anne Mumford who, with other members of their family, had belonged to a Sabbatarian congregation in London. They arrived in Rhode Island in 1665, and within a few years had begun a small congregation in Newport. Soon other congregations were raised up in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. These people referred to themselves as Sabbatarians, Sabbatarian Baptists, and later, Seventh Day Baptists.
Around 1684 Abel Noble, a Sabbatarian minister, came from London to America and settled a few miles from Philadelphia, teaching the seventh-day Sabbath. As a result of his work a Church was raised up near Philadelphia around 1700. Noble also laboured as a missionary in New Jersey, and introduced his views among the German Seventh Day Baptists at Ephrata, Pennsylvania.
In 1705 Edmund Dunham, a Baptist deacon, organised a small Sabbath keeping congregation in Piscataway, New Jersey, after being challenged on the validity of observing Sunday. Dunham was later ordained a minister by elders from Rhode Island.
A history of the Sabbath keeping Church in America was published in 1811 by Henry Clarke, a Seventh Day Baptist (SDB) minister from New York. Clarke presided over a congregation of about 160 Sabbath keepers in that state. His book lists 11 congregations of SDB's in north-eastern USA, with close to 1800 baptised members, and adds that thousands more non-baptised people attended their services.
As today's Seventh Day Baptists are mostly Trinitarian, in line with mainstream Christianity, it is noteworthy that in Philadelphian days this was not the case. Clarke states that they believed in "one God, the Father", and "one Lord, Jesus Christ", but that the holy spirit is "the operative power or spirit of God". He goes on to say that "there are few if any, of this denomination, as I conceive, who believe that the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are three absolute distinct persons, coequal, coessential, and coeternal Gods, and yet but one God, as such an idea would be in the face of Scripture, and repugnant to right reason" (A History of the Sabbatarians or Seventh Day Baptists in America, 1811, p62).
These brethren strongly believed in the validity and morality of the Ten Commandments, and kept the Sabbath "from even to even". They utilised local congregational government and rejected the concept of the Primacy of Peter, thereby avoiding individuals gaining control of the Church.
It is a very interesting and significant fact of history that when Biblical awareness was greatly re-ignited during the time of the Reformation, there was in general a wholesale move away from the concept of one man leading a church.
Clarke also states that Sabbatarians in his time believed that God had created all things by Jesus Christ, and that Christ was the giver of the law, and the Rock that followed Israel in the wilderness. They believed in a resurrection, were Millennial in outlook, practised baptism by immersion, and baptised adults only. They understood Christ spent fully three days and three nights in the grave, from late Wednesday until late on the Sabbath. Clarke also stresses that Sabbath keepers should avoid fellowshipping with Sunday keeping "Christians".
In 1830 the Seventh Day Baptists began publishing a periodical called "The Protestant Sentinel", which was soon after renamed "The Seventh Day Baptist Register". Its October 6, 1841 edition states that at that time there were 50 SDB churches, with 62 ministers and a membership of about 5500 in the USA.
The Philadelphia era came to its conclusion around the time of the outbreak of the US Civil War in the early 1860's. The "Christian" world had by then clearly begun a downhill slide in standards and morality, with Christianity beginning to take a back seat to the emerging belief in evolution and the non-existence of a Creator. Over time, influenced by the changes occurring in the world and made complacent by growing prosperity, the Church of God also became lukewarm in its allegiance to God. Serious divisions developed among them, where individuals sought to draw away personal followings.
As the end of the era drew on, the danger God had warned the Philadelphians about when he said, "hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown" (Rev 3:11) began to rear its ugly head. The cooperative spirit as embodied in the governmental principle established by Christ in His appointment of 12 apostles, rather than just one single leader, began to be eroded by individuals seeking selfish glory and proclaiming themselves to be "some great one" (Acts 8:9). Most Bible translations read something like "let no one take your crown" in Revelation 3:11, which is more correct, as both men and women are alluded to here.
From the mid 1800's on, the Church saw the emergence of people such as James and Ellen White, and others, who proclaimed some of God's truth, but also introduced "damnable heresies" (II Pet 2:1) into the Church of God, including beliefs about their own importance or office, echoing the spirit of "Diotrephes, who loves to have the pre-eminence" (III Jn 9).
This condition only grew worse over time.
However, God promised the faithful Philadelphians that "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world (the World Wars), to try them that dwell upon the earth" (those of the "earth" of Israel, i.e. the Jews) (Rev 3:10). And so He did. By the time of the horrors of the World Wars, including the Holocaust that killed one third of the Jews in the world, the Philadelphia era had long since run its course.
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An explanation should be given here of the phrase "the key of David", mentioned at the beginning of the Philadelphia era message. One COG makes a very big deal of this, but totally misses its simple meaning.
At the start of each of the seven Church era messages there are introductory statements that enumerate attributes of Christ, confirming that He is the one who is speaking to the Churches. If the reader refers back to chapter one of Revelation, he will find all these attributes of Christ already mentioned. This is where we are given the clue to the meaning of the key of David.
In Revelation 1:18 Christ says, "I have the keys of Hades and Death". The terms Hades and Death are shown, in Revelation 20:11-15, to simply refer to the grave. Christ Himself was in Hades when He was in the tomb (Acts 2:31).
Christ, however, died having lived a sinless life. His death therefore paid the penalty for all who have sinned, making possible their resurrection from death to eternal life. In John 11:25 Christ says, "I am the resurrection".
So what is the connection between "the key of David" and "the keys of Hades and Death"?
God's plan is to reproduce Himself in mankind. However, man sinned.
In the Scriptures, David is presented as the ultimate example of a sinful man finding redemption with God. His sins were serious; they included murder and adultery. And yet he found favour with God who called him "a man after My own heart" (Acts 13:22). God confronted David with his sins and he genuinely repented and turned his life around. He is a type of all true Christians, showing that salvation is possible even for the worst of sinners.
Christ says that He holds "the keys of Hades and Death" and "the key of David". He also says that He "opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens" (Rev 3:7). If He opens the door of eternal life to a person, no one can shut that door. Likewise, even if all men speak well of someone, but Christ shuts the door of His Kingdom on that person, he won't be in it. All power has been given to Christ, as He says in Matthew 28:18. The key of David that He holds is the key to His Kingdom and eternal life.
In a single phrase, the key of David is the key to salvation.
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The Laodicea era of the Church of God began around 1860 and will continue until the return of Jesus Christ. The message to this Church era contains no geographical markers, as all the main Churches of God remained headquartered in the USA where they had been established in the previous era. This message also contains no references to false Christianity, as its days as a force against God's Church had mostly abated by the time this era commenced.
What the message does have is an abundance of figurative language describing the spiritual state of God’s people during this era: “neither hot nor cold”, “lukewarm”, “wretched”, “pitiful”, “poor”, “blind” and “naked”.
Most of these traits are either pictured by or contrasted with aspects of the ancient city of Laodicea in Asia Minor. The city had a water supply that was piped in from a great distance, rendering it lukewarm by the time it reached Laodicea; it was a banking centre and therefore rich with substantial quantities of gold; it had a school of medicine which produced eye salve made from Phrygian powder and oil; and it was also known for the manufacture of black cloth.
Additionally, when Laodicea suffered a severe earthquake in 60AD, and Rome offered financial assistance to rebuild the city, the Laodicean authorities declined the offer, in effect saying that they "have need of nothing".
Whereas the meaning of the names of the first five cities in Asia Minor addressed in Revelation 2 and 3 is obscure, the meaning of the last two is very clear. Philadelphia means "brotherly love", which appears to be highly appropriate from what we know about the people of this era being a body of believers with Christ as their head. Laodicea literally means "the people judge", which we will see is also very fitting.
All these things will help us to understand this final Church message, which I will go through towards the end of this section.
The emergence of the Laodicea era of the Church must be sought in the aftermath of the "adventist" movement begun by William Miller in the 1830's in North America. Although not a Sabbath keeper, Miller was a persuasive preacher who believed in the imminent return, or "advent", of Jesus Christ. He had made calculations, based on Biblical prophecies, which led him to believe that first 1843, and then 1844, would be the year of Christ's second coming.
Miller made quite a lot of sense in his interpretations of difficult Biblical subjects. He believed that the commencement of the Reformation in the early 16th century coincided with the start of the Philadelphia Church era, and that it ran until the late 18th century, when he believed the Laodicea era had begun. He correctly used the "day for a year" principle when interpreting prophecy, as was the custom in times prior to ours, and believed that the Bible speaks of prophetic periods of 2300 years and 2520 years as pertaining to major events. He also correctly believed that the "times of the Gentiles" mentioned by Christ in Luke 21:24 are the same as the "seven times" of punishment spoken of in Leviticus 26. History has proven him in many ways correct on these points, though not about what the time periods pertain to.
A very good source of information on the subject of William Miller and his beliefs is "The Journey - A History of the Church of God (Seventh Day)", a book by Robert Coulter.
Over a number of years Miller gained thousands of followers, some of whom sold all their belongings in anticipation of Christ's return. When the appointed date passed without event, it became known as the "Great Disappointment" among Miller's followers. However, in the same year that Christ was expected to return, 1844, some Millerites were introduced to and accepted the doctrine of the seventh day Sabbath. Soon this belief gained acceptance by many other Millerites, though not by Miller himself who died in 1849.
James and Ellen White were among those who had been won over by Miller's predictions regarding Christ's return. In 1846 they also began observing the Sabbath. Ellen White claimed that she received regular visions from God, and over time many Sabbath keeping adventists began to view her as a prophetess. In that process, she and her husband James also began to be seen as the movement's leaders. Still convinced that Miller's identification of 1844 was accurate, Ellen White claimed that his predictions concerning the year 1844 hadn't been incorrect, but had instead involved Christ entering a new phase of His work in heaven that year.
In the 1850's Ellen White's visions led to a split amongst Sabbath keeping adventists. James White, Ellen's husband, had established a number of Sabbath keeping congregations in Michigan. Over time, the Whites began to insist on members accepting the legitimacy of Ellen's visions. One of the Church's preachers at the time was a man by the name of Gilbert Cranmer, who rejected the visions of Ellen White and was on that basis denied the opportunity to speak in the congregations established by James White. Cranmer subsequently departed from them and, together with others who were of the same opinion regarding Mrs White, established the Church of Christ in 1858. It was later renamed the Church of God, and later still, the Church of God Seventh Day.
In 1860 the Seventh Day Adventist Church officially commenced by that name, and brethren began the now common trend of putting a human being, or the ideas of one human being, in charge of the Church.
In 1861 the US Civil War broke out. It is hard not to see this as an outward manifestation of the spiritual state of the Church: the physical nation at war was a reflection of the spiritual nation at war. It was certainly a sign of a house divided against itself. During the Civil War, Ellen White predicted that the British would invade the US and fight against the North, but this did not happen.
During the last century and a half the SDA Church has grown to enormous proportions, with more than 20 million members worldwide. From their earliest days they have believed that the Laodicea Church message of Revelation 3 applies to them, although to this day they curiously seem to see it partly as a badge of honour. Over the course of the 20th century they strangely adopted the doctrine of the Trinity, a trademark of false Christianity, greatly discrediting themselves as a true Church of God.
The Church of God Seventh Day (COG7) has also grown, but at a much slower rate. Internal friction has caused it serious damage through the years. The divisive and controversial legacy of long-term leader and preacher Andrew N Dugger hangs heavy over its history. Dugger took much power to himself and banned opposing views. Additionally, following the SDA's, he changed some of the Church's long-held Historicist prophetic interpretations into Futurist interpretations. At present the COG7 numbers some 400 thousand members, mostly outside the USA.
One branch of the Sabbath keeping Churches that emerged from the COG7 in the 1930's was the Sacred Name Movement. These people insist on the use of God's names in the Hebrew language only, but offer questionable explanations as to how God's names can be found written in Greek in the New Testament. Also, a wide variety of possible pronunciations are offered by various groups, all insisting that theirs are the correct ones.
Another breakaway from the COG7 led to a relatively short-lived, but very influential branch of the Church of God:
In the 1930's, Church history saw a man emerge who would go on epitomise the Laodicea era in the 20th century, introducing Papal style "one man rule" into the Church of God.
That man was Herbert W Armstrong. The Church he founded was the Radio Church of God, later renamed the Worldwide Church of God. At its peak it had over 100,000 members. Armstrong called himself the "end time Elijah", falsely claiming that God had raised him up to restore all lost doctrines to the Church in fulfilment of Matthew 17:10-11.
Many individuals have arisen since, though none quite like him, who have also laid claim to being "some great one" (Acts 8:9), such as an apostle, a prophet, the fulfilment of some particular Scriptural prophecy, or simply the successor of HWA.
The desire for power and dominion over the Church on the part of charismatic individuals is one of the most obvious hallmarks of the final Church era.
This fits well with Seventh Day Adventist belief that the Laodicea era commenced in the 1860's with the emergence of their group and its central figure, Ellen G White.
The Laodicea era message (Rev 3:14-22) has been applied, by some groups, to those who have departed from the faith, but in reality most of those who left the faith, at whatever time they left, were pruned by Christ from His vine. The Laodicea passage applies to those who remain, who still have God's spirit, not to those who have been pruned off and cast away, and no longer constitute the Church.
The Laodicea era has been characterised by the teaching of the validity of God's law, the resolve of many to die in the faith while waiting on God for healing, the willingness to give up a job or career rather than break God's Sabbath or annual holy days, and other significant fruits and traits that are truly "hot" (Rev 3:15).
At the same time this era has seen doctrines that are undoubtedly "cold". Serious errors have been introduced involving idolatry of Church leaders, and autocratic Church government, thus denying the direct way that God interacts individually with His children. In addition, opulent lifestyles of leaders have been witnessed, including the amassment of significant personal and family wealth, financed through centralised tithing, leaving the local congregations poor and the people at the top wealthy.
In the late 1970's the average annual wage in the USA was approximately $12,000. According to Worldwide Church of God lawyer Stanley Rader, in his book "Against The Gates Of Hell", Herbert Armstrong's income around this time was $200,000 per year, plus expenses (as was Rader's own). This means that Armstrong was taking about sixteen times the average wage for himself from the Church's tithe income. There can be little doubt that he was the highest paid Church of God minister of all time.
Additionally, HWA's leadership legitimised the desecration of the fourth commandment by permitting Church members to visit restaurants on God's holy Sabbath Day in direct violation of Nehemiah 10:31 and 13:15-22. Other doctrinal errors are listed elsewhere on this website.
Unfortunately, by only focusing on the "hot" aspects, whilst hiding or ignoring the "cold" aspects, an unbalanced view of its history has been retrospectively portrayed by the Church, obscuring the true nature of this final Church era.
The breakaway of many ministers and members from the Worldwide Church of God after Herbert Armstrong's death in 1986, when Joseph W Tkach took over the helm and led the Church into oblivion, was very commendable. These brethren sought to retain the true doctrines handed down through the ages. Regrettably, however, they also continued to teach many unsound doctrines that had been introduced by Herbert Armstrong.
With all this in mind, let's look at the message to Laodicea (quoted from the New American Standard Bible [1995 version] except where indicated):
(Comments in brackets are added by the author)
Revelation 3:14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:
15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold (unconverted) nor hot (converted); I wish that you were cold (unconverted, not yet called) or hot (converted, and "on fire" for God, so one could be part of the firstfruits harvest).
16 So because you are lukewarm (possess traits of both converted and unconverted people), and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth (remove you from the Body of Christ).
17 Because you say, “I am rich (claim to understand the Bible), and have become wealthy (profess to have greater understanding than those of previous eras), and have need of nothing ("all things have been restored by the end time Elijah"; "Christ places His doctrines in the Church" (COG's); "we have the Spirit of Prophecy" (SDA's)”, and you do not know that you are wretched (in a dismal spiritual state), pitiful (deficient in effort), poor (in Bible knowledge), blind (to fulfilled Bible prophecies) and naked (lacking God's righteousness, as a result of sinful practices such as making men into idols, misrepresenting God, transgressing the Sabbath, observing pagan practices, depriving people of truth, teaching doctrinal and prophetic lies, etc.) (NIV),
18 I advise you to buy from Me (obtain from Christ) gold refined by fire (God's truth, direct from His Word) so that you may become rich (in Godly knowledge), and white garments (God's righteous nature, obtained through genuine repentance and obedience, having learnt His law from His Word, rather than the dubious explanations of men) so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve (God's understanding) to anoint your eyes so that you may see (especially in regard to fulfilled prophecy).
19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock (Christ stands shut out of His Church due to its members following the doctrines of men, rather than the Word of God); if anyone (any individual willing to go against the flow of this era) hears My voice and opens the door (opens their Bible, which is Christ in print), I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me (he will be given solid, wholesome, spiritual food by Christ).
21 He who overcomes (but not he who remains in the Laodicean state), I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’”.
I believe that the sequence of Church history presented in this article cannot be too far off the mark. The evidence in most cases speaks for itself, as long as we are willing to look at the facts objectively, without prior biases and allegiances to certain individuals.
Some people deny that the Church era messages constitute a historical sequence. And yet an abundance of historical markers are given:
Ephesus, where John, the last of the 12 apostles resided; Smyrna, "rich" with the treasures of God's Word and its "ten days" of severe persecution; the "martyr(s)" slain by the "throne of Satan" of the Pergamos and Thyatira periods; the Black Death "sickbed" of Sardis and the "time", or 360 years, leading to Catholicism's loss of power; Philadelphia's "open door" of receiving God's "word" in print, and the "hour of temptation" they were spared from; and deceived, supposedly "rich" Laodicea which has failed to "let no man take your crown" by allowing humans to rule them in place of Jesus Christ.
The historical sequence in the seven messages to the Churches also shows seven stages of the false church that can be identified throughout:
Era 1) "Apostles" who are "liars" (single deceivers)
Era 2) "A synagogue of Satan" (organised deception)
Era 3) "Satan's throne" (state "Christianity" and the Papacy)
Era 4) "Jezebel" and "the depths of Satan" (Catholicism's murderous endeavours)
Era 5) "Death" (Catholicism's severe punishment by means of the Black Death)
Era 6) "The synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews" (predominantly Protestantism)
Era 7) No mention of a false church (their power waning and ultimately "fallen" - see the page "BABYLON IS FALLEN" for more information)
The historical account of the Church eras reveals three glaring errors made by HWA:
1) He totally failed to recognise the post-Reformation re-emergence of the true Church, and its unwavering determination to restore the true doctrines Roman Catholicism had suppressed for so long. This era of believers could not by any stretch of the imagination be "Sardis" as he labelled them. They were full of life, zeal and sound Biblical knowledge, raising up substantial numbers of Sabbath keeping congregations on both sides of the Atlantic. HWA himself mostly continued with these people's teachings, as shown on the page "THE END TIME ELIJAH", so his theory and his practice did not match up.
2) His placement of the Philadelphia era in the 20th century does not make sense in light of its description given by God. Revelation 3:9 mentions the "synagogue of Satan" opposing the Philadelphia era Church. As shown above in the Pergamos and Thyatira era descriptions, this involved ongoing oppression from organised false Christianity. The problem with HWA's explanation is that there was no ongoing, organised oppression of the Sabbath keeping Churches in the 20th century. The power of the false Christian churches had by then been greatly eroded. The long period of persecution by false Christianity, especially in the Western nations where the true Church was mainly based, had largely come to an end before the time of HWA's ministry. The fact that HWA was able to preach his message widely, through various forms of media, virtually without any restrictions, shows that his time period was not the Philadelphia era. Had it still been the Philadelphia era, the forces of the "synagogue of Satan" would never have permitted it.
3) The Laodicea era message makes no mention of external persecution; rather, it refers to problems within the Church itself. This is a perfect historical fit with HWA's time period, but one that he failed to take into account.
In conclusion, if we have eyes to see and a willingness to be honest about these things, from our unique viewpoint in history we should be able to identify the historical timeline of the seven eras of the true Church of God.