Revelation 2:14-15 - Pergamum

14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. 15 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

Although some at the church had been faithful, they are condemned for their compromise. Some have been enticed to be immoral or to accept the immorality around them.

Balaam was a gentile prophet from Mesopotamia. He was hired by Balak, king of Moab. Balaam tried unsuccessfully to prophecy against the people of Israel (Numbers 22). This didn’t work, so he advised the king how to defeat Israel by deviously seducing them. (Numbers 31). They used Moabite women to tempt the Israelites into sexual relationships and into pagan rituals. 2 Peter 2:15 refers that those who follow Balaam are willing to overlook wrongful or immoral acts for economic benefit. Therefore, Balaam’s “way” is a choice to allow or pursue immoral acts rather than to choose and pursue obedience to God’s Word. The doctrine of Balaam makes believers indistinguishable from the unbelieving world. In order for that to happen, the relevance of sin must be removed or what constitutes sin must be redefined.

If we profess to be Christians, but act, think, and speak in a worldly or profane manner, we take His name in vain. When we misrepresent Christ, either intentionally or through ignorance of the Christian faith as proclaimed in Scripture, we take the Lord’s name in vain. When we say we love Him, but do not do what He commands, we take His name in vain.

Compromise is “where Satan lives”. There are at least four reasons why it is effective:

1. It never occurs quickly, so you hardly notice the change.
2. It always lowers the original standards you once held important.
3. It is seldom offensive because it is perceived as loving (at least by the doer).
4. It eventually leads you to accept what you once rejected and even thought repulsive. It has been well said that what one generation tolerates, the next generation will accept; what that generation accepts, the next generation celebrates.

Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” – Luke 9:62

We are not to decide that Jesus is real and that we are going to follow Him, then turn around and look back at Sodom. Know that Jesus is the Son of the one true Living God and don’t look back. Do not compromise your faith by trying to live in two worlds. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (Mt 6:24)

“A new Decalogue has been adopted by the neo-Christians of our day.  ‘Thou shalt not disagree,’ and a new set of Beatitudes too, ‘Blessed are they that tolerate everything for they shall not be made accountable.’” – A. W. Tozer

“Truth always carries confrontation.  Truth demands confrontation: loving confrontation nevertheless.  If our reflex action is always accommodation of the centrality of the truth involved, there is something wrong.” – Francis Schaeffer  (Christ-Centered Exposition, Exalting Jesus in Revelation, by Daniel L. Akin.)

In Daniel 7:1-7 there is the reference to four great beasts or creatures in his visions. These are most commonly referenced to great world kingdoms, or at least three of them are. The lion with eagles’ wings is Babylon. The bear is Persia. The leopard with four heads and wings is Greece. And the fourth is thought to be the Roman Empire and a global civilization yet to come. Daniel had a hard time describing what this fourth creature looked like. He says it is the most terrifying of the four and seems to only be able to describe its iron teeth and bronze claws. He says it is frightening, very powerful and that it crushes and devours it’s victims.

The Hebrew word used to describe this creature is shainah. “Shainah can be translated to mean different.” This fourth creature is different from the other three. “Thus, the civilization of the last days will be different from every civilization that preceded it. The word shainah also means changed or altered. Thus, the state of the last days will be a changed state … an altered civilization. The first three creatures were based on forms of nature. But the fourth creature has no clear grounding in nature. It’s different … altered … changed.”

An interpretation is that the fourth creature is a civilization that is not based on the natural, but the unnatural, and wars against the order of creation. It exists against nature and will be an altered or changed nature. Therefore, it will war against the order of God and the Words of God.

“Those who live in the end times must resist a civilization that wars against the order of creation and uphold the Word of the Eternal. They must stand firm against the power, the nature, and the terror of the altered creature.”  (The Book of Mysteries by Jonathan Cain)

Christians must not compromise their position on the Word of God and must resist being defiled by the culture that demands acceptance of any altered form of Creation.

In order to overcome the words of the world, one has to believe that the Words of God are what is best for their life.