Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelical
If you are going to allude to these other groups then you best state clearly why you think we should consider them.
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For some we need to
5Remember therefore whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent.
For others, we need to know their tribulation and the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews and are not. This is so we would not be ignorant of Satan's devices.
For others we need to learn about the teaching of Balaam and the teaching of the Nicolaitans, stumbling blocks to the church.
Still we also need to be inoculated against the evil influence of Jezebel, false prophets and false prophetesses.
With others we need to
3Remember therefore how thou hast received and didst hear; and keep it, and repent.
With all of them the Lord says
8I know thy works so it is crucial that we also know their works.
Finally, a major error some make is to be boastful
17Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked: 18I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see. 19As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Being reproved by the Lord is not a reason for us to ignore their example, nor does it indicate He loves them any less.
Finally, I would point out that Philadelphia is composed of saints who have experienced some of the failed church experiences:
12 He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the [h]temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and mine own new name.
Indicating that these experiences are crucial for the church to become a church of overcomers.
That is why we should consider them.