The tendency of Laodicea is to exalt men who tell us about Christ. Christ is not the Center in this instance. The leaders do not always reveal Christ in themselves, they just talk about Christ. It is not Christ who is central, it is the teacher or system that becomes central.

Today there are a number of outstanding ministers of the Gospel. In some cases they are receiving the exaltation that belongs to Christ alone. They will be humbled before the Presence of the Lord.

Tomorrow the emphasis will be on collective action. The church of Laodicea will accomplish things by group action. Hand will join hand to work the works of the human mind. The cry will be "togetherness." It will be a conspiracy against God. Man, not Christ, will be the center.

The true saints will bear the reproach that always follows Christ, a disgrace brought on them by the Laodicean churches and by the Antichrist government that will make the Laodicean churches a part of its system. The Antichrist government will gain the friendship of the Christian people by accepting them, but will insist that the Christian churches work with the government in promoting world peace and prosperity.

Many of the Christian churches, because of their eagerness for acceptance by anyone, especially by the leaders of the government, will receive the overtures of the government with the greatest gladness.

The Laodicean churches will be rich and increased with material goods because they are socially acceptable and influential. They will be in harmony with the world government that is seeking worldwide peace and prosperity. Satan will not be opposed to this material prosperity because he is able to slay a church's spiritual life when the church becomes popular and prosperous.

The government will accept and aid the efforts of the churches to promote social welfare, but it will not permit the Christians to raise their voices in the denunciation of sin and perversion. Also, the government will take a direct hand in the supervision of what children are taught, especially with regard to the topics of the Scriptures that have to do with the nature of the coming Kingdom of God rather than with the promotion of the current needs of the people of the world.

The Christian churches always can win friends by working to assist people in a material way. The conflict is joined when the churches proclaim the witness of God against the image and works of Satan in the earth.

The true saints, those who are living in the Spirit of God, will be persecuted and scattered on the face of the earth. The persecuted saints will exalt only the Lord Jesus Christ.

The prominent ministers of today state they are exalting Christ. But because they are ministering out of their life rather than out of their death, it is they themselves who are exalted.

If we are willing to die in the Lord, the Lord will come to us in the spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:34). When we experience the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles the Lord Jesus is exalted in us above all else.

To be continued.