Chapter Four 

Faithful Christians are ready to inherit righteousness. They will rule with Christ as He rules with an iron rod. He will bring judgment and correction once and for all. The righteous of Christ and Sunday morning Christians are working to opposite effects. Their causes are opposite in every account, yet they claim the same church. Like a magician's illusion, the imitator's tricks will be revealed. Those not in Christ will be cast out.

“Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. 25 But hold fast what you have till I come. 26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations— 27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’— as I also have received from My Father; 28 and I will give him the morning star.29“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’

Revelation 2:24-29, NKJV

A church of false religion, or a church that places religion before Christ, is corrupt. A corrupt church tolerates sin, allows immorality within its people, and does not correct sin. False religion is exampled by a church that allows self-appointed leaders to sit in positions of authority and allow false leadership to lead God’s people into sin and temptation. The Church of Thyatira was a church of false religion.

Evil and corrupt churches have existed from the beginning; they are alive and strong today despite biblical teaching. Paul, a disciple of Christ, handles sin in the church firsthand. He confronts sin and brings correction against the evil within the local church. The church was engaged in an affair with false gods. Many churches today flirt with the same sin. The local church can be an adulterous, disloyal group of mixed attendees. In contrast, the Body of Christ is pure and washed in the blood of the Lamb.