What is the boundary of the Local Church?

[ZNPaaneah]

3And to the angel of the church in Sardis write:
These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars: I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead. 2Be thou watchful, and establish the things that remain, which were ready to die: for I have found no works of thine perfected before my God.

There is a beautiful symmetry here. The synagogue of Satan in Smyrna has become an empty husk, it still has the name that it lives, but it is obviously and plainly dead. This is why Jesus rebuked Peter -- Get behind me Satan. This is where this "minding the things of men" leads. Nothing but the pretense of having a name that you live, when everyone can see you are dead. The things that are not dead yet are ready to die. No works are perfected, for all of their boasting and pomp they haven't accomplished anything.

3Remember therefore how thou hast received and didst hear; and keep it, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.


Remember Matt 16, remember the Lord's word that you have to follow Him to the cross. Remember His word about gaining the world and losing your soul.

4But thou hast a few names in Sardis that did not defile their garments: and they shall walk with me in white; for they are worthy. 5He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garments; and I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 6He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.

The vast majority of those who have travelled this road. Leaving their first love with unforgiveness. Being swayed by the synagogue of Satan, those that claim to be the chosen of God, but are simply liars. Building your little kingdom with Satan's throne right in the center and all of your persecution of the faithful witnesses. All of these ones have defiled their garments. I guess that is "old news". All those stains that they have never wanted to deal with all these years.

And we even have a window into their most heinous sins. "I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life". I didn't know this was an option. I didn't know that once your name is in the book of life it could be blotted out. But then, in the LRC, I saw as time and time again different ones were "blotted out". They were "poisoned". You could not "confess their names". So it shouldn't be a surprise, we were told in the gospels that "as you have done it will be done to you".

That is the way this seed grows:

Unforgiveness -- special name for the chosen ones -- grows into a worldly kingdom with worldly boundaries -- self proclaimed prophets

until the life is sucked dry and all you can see is either they are dead or ready to die. Their garments are all stained with stains that are decades old, no one wants to deal with that, it is old news. What are those stains? All those brothers and sisters they stumbled, the ones they blotted out. The lawsuits, excommunications, etc.

[ZNPaaneah]

14And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God: 15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth. 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.

So there is a very interesting connection between Laodicea and Ephesus.

2I know thy works, and thy toil and patience, and that thou canst not bear evil men, and didst try them that call themselves apostles, and they are not, and didst find them false; 3and thou hast patience and didst bear for my name’s sake, and hast not grown weary.

Imagine you were in Laodicea. You could see they claimed to be rich but were poor, blind, naked, etc. Now you get to Ephesus -- the Lord commends you because you can't bear evil men, He commends you because of your patience and that you found those in Laodicea to be false. He commends you that you have not grown weary. It is a never ending cycle.

When we came to the Local Church we had "left religion", we were not going to go back anymore, etc. We discovered that they were false. But then the cycle began all over again. The meeting hall of Satan with the better name. The kingdom of Satan with the worldly boundary, the self proclaimed prophet, the false prophet teaching the saints to commit fornication, stumbling the little brothers, etc. Where was the error? How do you get off of this merry go round?

The church in Philadelphia is the exit. Everyone in this church has exited the merry go round, which is why the Lord says "they will not need to go out anymore".

The door out is mentioned in every church. In Ephesus it is "their first love". When we came to Jesus we confessed our sins and he forgave us. You can't simply find that certain brothers and sisters are false, you have to continue all the way to forgiveness. If you don't deal with the sin until you get to forgiveness, then you simply stay on the merry go round.

In Smyrna the exit is the cross of Christ. Remember, taking up your cross and following the Lord includes forgiving your brother 70 times 7 times.

In Pergamum the exit is holding fast the Lord's name and not denying the faith. When you make a boundary line of a worldly city the foundation of the church you have denied the faith in the Lord's blood. No longer are you holding to the Lord's name but rather to Balaam's name.

In Thyatira "suffering Jezebel" is where the Lord draws the line. When you allow this adulterous, evil woman to call herself a prophetess, even "the prophet of the Age" you are on the wrong side of the line the Lord draws.

In Sardis the stained garments are the boundary. The church walks in white, not because we are sinless, but because we deal with our sins. If you refuse to deal with your sins it is evidence that you are on the wrong side of the boundary the Lord has drawn.

In Laodicea we see the "door". This is the boundary. The Lord is on one side and everyone in Laodicea is on the other. Jesus is the Lamp, He is the light. Laodicea is the fulfillment of the warning to Ephesus about losing their lamp stand.

[ZNPaaneah]

In Matthew 16 -- we see that the boundary of the church is the cross of Christ.

In Matthew 18 -- we see that the cross of Christ is very much about dealing with sins and forgiveness.

In Revelation 2-3 -- we see that if you leave your first love (don't follow Him to the cross, deal with sins and forgive) then you are in danger of losing your lamp stand. And this process of losing your lamp stand follows a predictable pattern:

Pretending to be a church without the cross makes you a liar and the synagogue of Satan. We see this in the doctrine of the ground of the church where they replace the cross of Christ with the best name for the meeting hall. What is the cause of all the division in Christianity? It is that they don't have the very best name for their meeting hall, the "no name name".

In order to maintain this false kingdom you will need a false prophet like Balaam. You will then begin to see that the believers are stumbled (rebellions, cleaning house, puppet elders). Those who are faithful will be blotted out of the church, those who see and fear can be installed as puppets. We saw all of this in our experience of the LRC. This ruthless behavior proclaims the boundary to their little kingdom as equal to a worldly boundary, and the Prince of the World sits on the throne in this church. We saw this with the "doctrine of dirt" in the LRC.

Now that the toxicity level has increased you have a good environment for self proclaimed prophets like Jezebel who are all about using their position as a pretense to rob and steal others vineyards. For example what WL did with the church in NY which was not raised up by him. We had a very good example of this in WL, both of being proclaimed as the "prophet" and of seizing other vineyards that didn't belong to him and accusing those that object of rebellion.

The church will now have thirty years or more of un dealt with sins. Their garments are stained with the sins and abuses of the last 30-50 years. As a result the church is dead. However, to counter this they will come up with innumerable names that they are "living". The pure word of God is replaced with the pure spin put on the "living ministry" by the false prophets. We saw this with Ed Marks when he said that "he didn't want to deal with this [sin of apology letter to PL] today" about 30 years after the fact.

And finally, the Lord leaves the building. He is outside knocking for those who are still genuine believers to come out of this festering pit and join Him.

At this point, when you come out you have the risk of entering Ephesus all over again. This church is "patient" having endured the deadness and corruption of Sardis, or Thyatira, or Laodicea. In Ephesus they are taught to use the word to explore the errors of the "church" they were in and condemn them as "false". But the error is taking the road of self righteous judgement without forgiveness. Hence the merry go round begins all over again.

The other option is that at any time you can leave the merry go round and become part of Philadelphia. Simply take up the cross and follow the Lord. The path is described in detail in Matthew 16-18.

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah

In Matthew 16 -- we see that the boundary of the church is the cross of Christ.

In Matthew 18 -- we see that the cross of Christ is very much about dealing with sins and forgiveness.

In Revelation 2-3 -- we see that if you leave your first love (don't follow Him to the cross, deal with sins and forgive) then you are in danger of losing your lamp stand. And this process of losing your lamp stand follows a predictable pattern:

Another predictable pattern is not only dealing with sins and forgiveness, but an inability to practice the spiritual discipline of reconciliation.


"I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church."

[ZNPaaneah]

Originally Posted by Terry

Another predictable pattern is not only dealing with sins and forgiveness, but an inability to practice the spiritual discipline of reconciliation.


"I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church."

It reminds me of the invention of indoor plumbing and sewer systems. Some people say this was the single biggest innovation that allows people to live in cities. You cannot have a city if you don't properly deal with the foul sins that take place every day. It is absolutely fundamental. This is the real "high peaks" revelation.

[ZNPaaneah]

7And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and that shutteth and none openeth:

The church is the “testimony of Jesus”. Unlike Pergamum, this church is Holy. Unlike Smyrna this church is true. Unlike Thyatira this church has “the key of David”. Unlike Sardis this church testifies that no one shuts them out. Unlike Ephesus, they open the door for those who have sinned and repented.

8I know thy works (behold, I have set before thee a door opened, which none can shut), that thou hast a little power, and didst keep my word, and didst not deny my name.

When you get to the “merry go round” churches they pretend to have a lot of power, they can “blot your name out”. They hold the saints in fear. This church has a little power. In the merry go round they don’t keep the Lord’s word, they make up stuff. They are liars. Their doctrines are designed to protect the synagogue of Satan, to establish their own little kingdom. They use false prophets like Balaam.

9Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of them that say they are Jews, and they are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

So even though they only mentioned the “synagogue of Satan” with Smyrna I think it is reasonable to think that all of the churches, from Smyrna to Laodicea have the “synagogue of Satan”.

10Because thou didst keep the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of trial, that hour which is to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

Imagine how patient you have to be when after 30 years you are still being told “they don’t want to deal with that sin right now”.

11I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown.

This is the crown of life given to those who are faithful to the Lord to take up their cross and follow Him. To cross that boundary line is to be given this crown.

12He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more:

All of those in Philadelphia are pillars in the temple and they are also those who “have gone out”. You cannot be an overcomer in Philadelphia if you have not overcome one of the other six church situations. Overcoming those includes “going out” just as those in Laodicea are being called to come out.

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.

This is incredible. With the LRC the name was so important, the no name church where the name decides everything. However, if you overcome that then look at all the names that are written on you! Mysterious names. These are names that the synagogue of Satan does not know.

13He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.

I like how this is not "let him hear what the Spirit says to the "church" or to "Philadelphia" but rather to the "churches". You need to see all seven.

You can immediately determine where a church is at by how they deal with sin.

You can immediately determine if a church is on the right path or not by whether they are following the Lord to the cross.

Liars, grandiose names, false prophets, Jezebel, stained garments, these are simply symptoms of those who do not go to the cross and who do not deal with sin.

The root cause for the abuses and corruption in the Local Church is that they did not take the way of the cross.

The key characteristic of the Local Church that should be the alarm is that they did not deal with sin.

[ZNPaaneah]

This now brings us to the most controversial topic -- the "one unique church". When you look at the seven churches in Revelation they are all in different situations, but most would agree that "Philadelphia" is the church that sets the standard.

But instead I would like to turn this topic to Matthew 18 where I believe it is addressed better and more to the point.

18 In that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

I think most of us are uncomfortable with this question, but the Lord does not rebuke them for it, instead I would say that Matthew 18 is the answer to this question.

I would like to interpret this question as referring to the "one unique church". Although we might consider it fleshly to discuss which person is the greatest, it is commonly taught in the ministry of Witness Lee that there is one unique church and the rest of the gatherings of Christians are somehow deficient.

"Then all the saints here, with the one Christ, would form the one unique church in Los Angeles. Composed together and built upon Christ as their foundation, they would be standing simply upon the ground of Los Angeles, which is the local ground, the unique ground of genuine unity. That is the only proper ground for the local church in Los Angeles and the only ground which can keep all the saints in this locality in oneness." (The Ground of the Church, Chapter 1, Section 1)

It is Biblical to say that Christian churches can be in a number of different and degraded situations like Laodicea, Sardis, and Thyatira. So therefore it is not unusual that you might ask how to know if this gathering of Christians is proper, one with the Lord, even "the greatest".

In Matthew 18 we see several characteristics of "the greatest" church.

1. They entered the kingdom by becoming as little children.
2. They don't tolerate those that stumble the little believers.
3. They seek out the "lost sheep", backsliders, the ones that leave the fold.
4. They deal with sin
5. They forgive those that sin against them 7x70
6. Jesus is known to be in their midst
7. They are known by their answered prayers.
8. What they bind on earth is bound in heaven and what they loose on Earth is loosed in heaven.