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ZNPaaneah · 10-10-2016, 06:04 PM

8 And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

These things saith the first and the last, who was dead, and lived again: 9 I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty (but thou art rich), and the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Fear not the things which thou art about to suffer: behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. 11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Here we see the dichotomy. We have those who have overcome in Ephesus, they have eaten from the Tree of life, they are genuine believers and they are now following the Lord to the cross of Christ. There is a reward in this church, the crown of life.

But there is also a synagogue of Satan, composed of those who say they are Jews and are not. This is not a "degraded" church, it is a nominal church. They are a church in name only, not in reality. There was a fork in the road in Ephesus, some left their first love, some were faithful to their first love. In Smyrna this is more than a temptation, we can now see what happens if you go down this road. For those who abandon their first love they end up in the "synagogue of Satan", a church that claims to be genuine but is false. For those who are faithful to hold onto their first love they end up on the cross of Christ, suffering tribulation for a season.

Genuine believers will suffer tribulation and will be faithful unto death.

But, this is necessary to receive the crown of life. This is something that we must overcome so that we would not be hurt by the second death.

Witness Lee teaches that these churches represent different churches in church history. But this doesn't make sense because he also teaches that we need to partake of the tree of life, and we all want to receive the crown of life.

So although there are some interesting parallels with history, I feel that we all need to experience Christ in all of these experiences. As a child you may have "overcome" measles, mumps and rubella, not just one childhood disease but maybe three, maybe four, maybe five. All of use need to learn to cling to our first love and we need to follow the Lord to the cross and be faithful unto death.

But, if Satan will disguise himself as an angel of light why wouldn't he also disguise himself as a "synagogue of Satan" claiming to be a church when he isn't. The test is if you are faithful unto death.

James talks about this test when he says that Abraham was justified by works. How are we supposed to know which are the genuine Christians and which are those of the synagogue of Satan? Simple, the genuine ones are justified by works. What was Abraham's work? He was faithful to go to the cross and let everything that he had given himself to be sacrificed to God. Satan would never do this.

In our experience with Witness Lee, when Watchman Nee was excommunicated for living with a mistress this was similar to sending Witness Lee to the cross and seeing everything that he had given himself to be sacrificed to God. There is no advantage in being the closest coworker of Watchman Nee if he is an adulterer. Was Witness Lee faithful unto death? No, he created a lie in which he said the elders excommunicated Watchman Nee for living with a woman, but the woman was his mother.

If he had been faithful he would have had tribulation for a season, but in the end the 2nd death couldn't hurt him. But now, not only is he dead, but his legacy is suffering loss as well. That lie is causing his whole ministry to go up in flames.

10-10-2016, 06:04 PM	#11
ZNPaaneah Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 7,105	Re: The church in Smyrna? 8 And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These things saith the first and the last, who was dead, and lived again: 9 I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty (but thou art rich), and the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Fear not the things which thou art about to suffer: behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. 11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. Here we see the dichotomy. We have those who have overcome in Ephesus, they have eaten from the Tree of life, they are genuine believers and they are now following the Lord to the cross of Christ. There is a reward in this church, the crown of life. But there is also a synagogue of Satan, composed of those who say they are Jews and are not. This is not a "degraded" church, it is a nominal church. They are a church in name only, not in reality. There was a fork in the road in Ephesus, some left their first love, some were faithful to their first love. In Smyrna this is more than a temptation, we can now see what happens if you go down this road. For those who abandon their first love they end up in the "synagogue of Satan", a church that claims to be genuine but is false. For those who are faithful to hold onto their first love they end up on the cross of Christ, suffering tribulation for a season. Genuine believers will suffer tribulation and will be faithful unto death. But, this is necessary to receive the crown of life. This is something that we must overcome so that we would not be hurt by the second death. Witness Lee teaches that these churches represent different churches in church history. But this doesn't make sense because he also teaches that we need to partake of the tree of life, and we all want to receive the crown of life. So although there are some interesting parallels with history, I feel that we all need to experience Christ in all of these experiences. As a child you may have "overcome" measles, mumps and rubella, not just one childhood disease but maybe three, maybe four, maybe five. All of use need to learn to cling to our first love and we need to follow the Lord to the cross and be faithful unto death. But, if Satan will disguise himself as an angel of light why wouldn't he also disguise himself as a "synagogue of Satan" claiming to be a church when he isn't. The test is if you are faithful unto death. James talks about this test when he says that Abraham was justified by works. How are we supposed to know which are the genuine Christians and which are those of the synagogue of Satan? Simple, the genuine ones are justified by works. What was Abraham's work? He was faithful to go to the cross and let everything that he had given himself to be sacrificed to God. Satan would never do this. In our experience with Witness Lee, when Watchman Nee was excommunicated for living with a mistress this was similar to sending Witness Lee to the cross and seeing everything that he had given himself to be sacrificed to God. There is no advantage in being the closest coworker of Watchman Nee if he is an adulterer. Was Witness Lee faithful unto death? No, he created a lie in which he said the elders excommunicated Watchman Nee for living with a woman, but the woman was his mother. If he had been faithful he would have had tribulation for a season, but in the end the 2nd death couldn't hurt him. But now, not only is he dead, but his legacy is suffering loss as well. That lie is causing his whole ministry to go up in flames.