It is the Lord Jesus who teaches us how to approach God, meanwhile adding to us His own holy Person and Presence so we can become a sweet fragrance, recognized by God as belonging to His Son.

The Laodiceans do not understand this. They think believing in Christ makes them immune to God's wrath so they may behave presumptuously and carelessly in the Presence of God. They are in delusion. Some of them may be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb.

The Laodicean Christian never would apply Revelation 14:10 (above) to himself, supposing that the Scripture is referring to a heathen individual somewhere in a far off land. Revelation 14:10 does not apply to the ignorant heathen but to numerous Christians of our day. Many believers clearly stand in danger of Revelation 14:10. Yet, in their delusion they think they have need of nothing.

Notice who stands in danger of being tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb:

And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, (Revelation 14:9)

The spirit of Antichrist, of the Beast, has been in the world since the days of the Apostle John. It is the world spirit, the spirit of looking to the world for security and survival instead of to the Lord.

The image of the Beast may have to do with gold. Nebuchadnezzar's image was fashioned from gold.

The mark in the forehead means that we think as the world thinks. How many Christians in America have never been transformed by the renewing of their mind in the Word of God but spend hours each day watching the gods of America on the television: the demon gods of violence, lust, covetousness, witchcraft and drunkenness? How many American believers are mentally and emotionally involved with professional athletics far beyond the normal, wholesome need of the individual for diversion? This is to have the mark of world in our forehead.

How many believers in America act according to the ways of the world, spending their time acquiring more money than they need? How many believers in America worship a romantic relationship, or money, or their job, or their children, or entertainment, or lust? How can we know if we are worshiping an idol? We know we are worshiping an idol when there is something in our life we would have great difficulty giving up if the Lord called for it. How many American Christians have truly denied themselves, taken up their cross, and are following the Lord Jesus?

No, we worship the golden image in America; we think the way the world wants us to think; we act the way the world wants us to act.

We are moving rapidly toward the elevation of the United Nations over the sovereignty of the individual nations. In that day Christians eventually will have to defy the world in order to serve God. Those who accept the ungodly directives of the one-world government will stand in clear danger of being tormented with burning sulfur.

Christian teaching in America is unscriptural to a great extent and is not preparing us to stand in the evil day. Ascribed righteousness is not balanced with the need for moral transformation.

Ours is an era of deception. One characteristic of deception is we do not know when we are deceived. We believe we have need of nothing, when in the sight of the Lord we are close to the fire. May God open our eyes before we die and pass into the realities of the spirit realm.

Antichrist has succeeded, and will continue to succeed, in conquering Christian believers through deception. This especially is true in the wealthy nations. Antichrist deceives the believers by offering them the opportunity to prosper in the world and yet keep their "Christian testimony." We think that an examination of the lack of spiritual fervor of the believers in the wealthy, "free" nations of today will support our position.

In the last days a person will be either a typical fleshly believer or else a truly consecrated saint. There will not be, as there is today, a mixture in the churches of the lovers of "Egypt" and the dedicated saints. Such division into the cold and the hot is necessary to make straight the way of the Lord. The filthy must be filthy. The holy must be holy. It is God's will that both sin and righteousness, the tares and the wheat, come to maturity in the earth.

Each of us who loves the Lord Jesus needs to put his or her household in order! (from Laodicea)