A careful study of the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation provides a true picture of how God and Christ react to the behavior of Christians. God and His Christ stand ready to give to every one of us according to his or her works (Revelation 2:23).

The believers in Christ have been taught (unscripturally) that God will not judge their sins; that they will not suffer for their neglect of His salvation in Christ. Indeed, God does have a great love for His people, and for all people. But God's love is not human love. It is the love of a Spirit for those whom He has brought into being. God has a standard for human behavior and nothing short of it will ever be accepted by Him.

God's wrath is against all unrighteousness. God has made a way for each human being to escape unrighteousness and to come into fellowship with God. This is a far different concept from that of God striving to make people happy—as though He owed them something for creating them.

We humans exist for the Glory of God. God does not exist for our pleasure or welfare.

The wickedness of Laodicea is this false image—the image of man as the center of the universe and material wealth as the power by which man solves his problems. The spirit of Laodicea abounds today in the Christian churches.

The only possible means of discerning and escaping this subtle, insidious, totally destructive deception is to take up one's cross and follow Jesus faithfully and patiently throughout the tribulations of life. To refuse to take up one's cross, to seek for a means of serving Christ while at the same time holding to one's own desires, is to guarantee deception—the destruction of his or her ability to perceive spiritual realities.

He who would sleep in the lap of Delilah will lose his spiritual strength and will have his eyes blinded.

There only is one way of keeping our spiritual strength and a true vision of Jesus Christ. We must obey the Scriptures and hold steadfastly to the end our faith in Christ. If we do we will bear the fruit of the Spirit of God.

The Antichrist churches, because they fear and hate the cross (the personal cross that the disciple is required to bear), tell us we are saved by grace and it no longer is necessary to keep the commandments of God. They are blind leaders of the blind, for spiritual sight comes only as we keep the commandments of God (II Peter 1:9). It is impossible to enter the rest of God other than by exercising patience, keeping the commandments of God, and having faith in the Lord Jesus.

If it indeed is true that God has completed all things from the creation of the world, if God knows the destiny of each of us to this extent, why then do people, including the believers in Christ, have such problems?

We all have the problems we do because we do not believe that God knows what He is doing with the world or with us as individuals. It is only as we believe that we enter God's rest (Hebrews 4:3). It is a matter of faith and trust in God.

To be continued.