I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

REVELATION 3:15-16

One of the reasons we can see a chronology of church history within the seven letters is the parallels between the Laodicean letter and what Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 4:1-2. In both places, we find a season of church history identified, a departure from the faith recognized, demonic doctrine emphasized, and ignorant indifference actualized. Also, the word Laodicea is a compound of laos, meaning “people,” and dikea, meaning “judgment” or “rule,” and Paul prophesied of such a generation of church history when he wrote his second letter to Timothy.

I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

2 TIMOTHY 4:1-4

In the final season of church history before the rapture, many in the church will be teaching what people want to hear rather than what the Bible says. Like those in the church at Laodicea, people will rule in the sense that they dictate what is taught. They will be intolerant of sound teaching and prefer instructions that tickle the ears. They will use Christian terminology to fabricate lies and deceive others. They will depart from the faith and “heap up for themselves” teachers of fables. They will reject sound doctrine and allow for the rise of doctrines of demons. This will lead to the ignorant indifference Paul wrote of that will become dominant right before the Lord’s appearing and the tribulation.

When I teach through the letters to the seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3, I like to point out that through the lens of a chronology of church history, there is no eighth letter. That means that in the latter times, when the apostasy is in full swing and doctrines of demons are preferred over the sound doctrines of the apostles, we will have reached the end of the church age and Jesus is coming soon. If we consider the various scriptures that tell us of the spiritual state of what is called “the church” in the last days, we will find that they all have a common thread: They speak of a defection from long-held biblical truths. Today, these truths are being replaced with culturally sensitive messages that leave the listener feeling better about their fallen condition, with no unction in their spirits to repent or change their ways.

One of the primary points for us to consider about what will develop in the church during the time of the signs is this: In the last days, church will become an activity rather than an identity.

Excerpt from The Time of the Signs by Barry Stagner. Order Now.

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