Re 2:1 ¶ Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
 2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
 3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
 4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
 5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
 6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
 7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
 8 ¶ And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
 9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
 10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall 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 a crown of life.
 11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
 12 ¶ And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;
 13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
 14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
 15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
 16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
 17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
 18 ¶ And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;
 19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
 20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
 21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
 22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
 23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
 24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
 25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.
 26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
 27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
 28 And I will give him the morning star.
 29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (KJV)

Some of what I am going to say is my comments and some is gleaned from Book of the Revelation, Church History. Rev 1:20 speaks of the mystery of the seven lampstands. The lampstands as we know represent  the seven churches, but what is the mystery? The key to that is to put the events of church history alongside the seven church letters and observe how they parallel a prophetic history of the church. For each church there is a dominant description that fits that church of that time, but also fits a time period in church history. The church's name reveals the character or conduct which provides identification for the coresponding period of church history.

We will look at the first four churches in this post and the next three in the next post on chapter 3.

First we see Ephesus -  which means "desirable" The church at Ephesus corresponds with the Apostolic church period from about 30AD to 100AD. It was a time when the church was closest to the Lord. The apostles were alive and ministering in the church and we see the works they did. The gospel was being spread. The young church loved the Lord and each other and it showed. Unfortunately though as time passed the church moved away from their first love. They were still trying to do what was right, but not with the love and fervour they had at the beginning.

We must be careful of that in our Christian life. When we are first saved, we are so thankful to the Lord and so much in love with Him. As time goes by though it is too easy to get in a rut, so to speak, and rather than serving Him out of love and devotion, we begin to to serve Him out of habit in our own power. We must have the power of God in our life if anything is going to be accomplished. He saves us, He keeps us and any good done by us - will be done through Him and His power. We must be careful to stay true to our first LOVE!

The next church period is from about 100AD to 300AD. It is represented by the church at Smyrna. The name Smyrna relates to myrrh, which had to be crushed in order to give off its sweet fragrance. The church at Smyrna faced persecuation as did the early church in this time period. Persecuation existed during the Ephesus church age, but it worsened in this time period.  To this church it was told in verse 10, "Ye shall have tribulation ten days" The early church in these years experienced 10 periods of intense persecution. Although it was a hard time for the church - It weeded out many of those who were only playing at church, or half hearted and was a time of growth and spreading of the faith as those persecuted sought places of refuge.

The next time period from 300AD to 500AD is represented by the church at Pergamos. The root of the word Pergamos means married and unfortunatley during this time the "church" and world were married. Now understand there were ones who stayed faithful and did not fall in to the false doctrines we are about to discuss - they were the true church of the Lord - they were saved, born again, blood washed. But in this time period was the actual beginning of the power of the Roman Catholic church.  The RCC claims to be the church that Christ founded and to go back to Peter. But Peter NEVER taught what it teaches. They claim that there were popes such as Clement who was in AD70's  and there were indeed false teachers even back in the Ephesus church such as those who adhered to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Nicolaitan is a combination of two Greek words - niko, which means to conquer or overthrow and laos which means the people or the laity. They advocated an unwarranted exaltation of the clergy over the laity. (It seems to me to be a pretty good description of the way the Roman Catholic church runs itself) We know Clement was not "Roman Catholic" because it didn't exist. Whether he was part of those who adhered to false teaching I don't know, perhaps like Peter they just falsely claim him to give themselves credibility or perhaps he was indeed among those who adhered to the false doctrine rebuked at that time. We do know from the word of God that the teaching of the Nicolaitans was wrong and we know also from Scripture that putting the traditions of men over what God says is wrong. The Roman Catholic church today is as guilty of that as it was in its beginning.

The way one web page puts it -

"Constantine made Christianity the state religion (my note: Catholics will claim otherwise, but it is so to to all practical purposes).  Constantine was a useful ally, he had stopped the persecutions and did what He could to bring peace to the church by holding an ecumenical council to decide some tough issues that needed to be dealt with. The persecutions had strengthened the church but the Roman church had already compromised by this time by bringing the Nicolatian errors of the separation of clergy and laity. By destroying the unity and humility of the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, the pride of lording it over the people stifled the prophetic influence and plunged the church into the dark ages. They compromised further by allowing pagan Roman idolatry to influence their worship.  

The church was no longer a separate sanctified people and the Roman influence became a stumbling block. The effect of the rule of Constantine meant that the state supported the church and the emperor became its benefactor. When the Empire crumbled and the throne was vacant, the wordly authority was taken over by the papacy who turned the throne into "satan's seat." The bishop of Rome was now Pontifex Maximus with all the pretention and false authority over the church that the old imperial office held.

Successive generations of the Roman church show this admixture of pagan influence and the gospel of Christ existing side by side. In this atmosphere however is the spirit of God that consists of a gospel that will not return void. The church has always had its true worshippers and those that held fast to the name of Jesus because the true church of Jesus Christ consists of those that have partaken of salvation. The church is the bearer of the truth of this salvation but salvation itself comes from Jesus and does not proceed from the church no matter what the church tells us. Salvation is sronger than man's attempt to divert the source and there will always be those that have not denied the true faith."

We see from the next church period how it leads to the "dark ages" This church age is from 500AD-1500AD and is represented by the church of Thyatira. In the letter to Thyatira, Christ presented Himself as the "Son of God" to restate His position of authority over the church. It corresponds to the correction needed in the corresponding church age, for during those years of 500-1500AD those claiming to be the church began to look at Jesus more as the Son of Mary rather than the Son of God and exalted Mary. It is false doctrine the Roman Catholic church clings to still. The Thyatira church also exalted the bishop of Rome above all other bishops, making him the head of the church, the position held only by Christ. During this time the "church" was given space to repent - it is the longest of the church ages - from 500 to 1500, but she did not repent. God still had a true church of believers though. God's church has always consisted of all born again believers and it still does.

What we learn from these is we must stay true to our first love when we are saved, and not let false doctrine come into our churches. Do not uplift man and his doctrine - stick to the Word of God.

We will look at more about the Thyatira church age and how the Roman Catholic church relates to it, as well as at the last three churches in the next post.

Oh, Kerri. Once again you prove your ignorance. How sad. I would like to see a link to where you get your "facts."

To any non-Catholics reading this garbage: If you want to know the truth about the Church and its history, go to a true source -- take a class, talk to a devout Catholic, seek out a priest. Do not take the word of an anti-Catholic.

BTW: The name "The Catholic Church" was coined in the FIRST CENTURY. St. Ignatius (who DIED around 107 AD), who was the third bishop of Antioch and student of the Apostle John, stated the following in one of his writings: "See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is[administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude[of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church." (Letter to the Smyrnaeans, 8-9)

Also see: http://www.cpats.org/_WhatsNew/feature_pages/CatechismForProtestantsProgram.cfm

I am so impressed they way you explained all of this. I love the book of Revelation because it gives me hope and the strength to continue on no matter how hard things get, I know that I will be with my Savior one day.

Leticia, thank you for your kind words but it is really the blessing of the Lord to give me good resources that answered some of my questions and also for the preachers He has blessed me with by putting them in my life so I could hear and learn from their preaching and teaching and of course it is most all because He has given us the written word of God that we can hold in our hands and KNOW the truth!

Pam, you prove my points. There was indeed false teaching in the Ephesus church period. I suggest you reread what the post says. I did make one mistake, it was Cletus in AD70's and Clement was in the 80's. But the same truth applies to each including Ignatius. Maybe they were saved maybe they weren't. For sure when Ignatius referred to the "catholic" church he did not mean the "roman catholic" church of today. It didn't exist, but the seeds of false teaching were certainly in existance. It was rebuked soundly.

If indeed Ignatius was a student of John he should have paid better attention - 1Jo 2:25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

As far as my resources I did give some, some is what I have learned from history over the years through school, preaching and the Word itself. Some of the info that helped the post was from the book I named and a very little bit from the web page I found. It wasn't a Chick site if that makes you feel better - It was just something I found in passing, didn't notice where it was from or if it was even a site that I would approve of everything on it. It was late and I hurried to finish the post.

As far as asking the RCC what they teach, I will agree, ask one - but do it with the Word of God in your hands and see if it agrees - It won't without them twisting it and applying man's interpretation. Without the traditions of men you cannot have the Roman Catholic church because that is what it is built on not the teachings of Christ.