For most of us, many years of perplexity and sorrow are necessary before we are ready to come up out of the wilderness leaning on our beloved.

There is a teaching today that Christians are not supposed to suffer. This doctrine clearly is of the False Prophet. The believer who must have his desires met now is not fit as yet to be the dwelling place of God. He is immature, self-centered, ill-tempered, unbelieving, proud, knowing little about men and nothing about God. He is a baby, crying if he does not get what he wants immediately.

The experienced saint knows the value of suffering. He does not find suffering to be pleasant; but, like the Apostle Paul, he has come to appreciate the value of his infirmities. He has learned that after God wounds us He binds us up. The blessing and glory of the binding up far outweigh the pain of the wounding.

The true saint loves Christ and is ready to suffer in His name. He will be faithful to death in his prison, accepting deliverance only at the hands of the Lord.

One of the most important areas of the rest of God has to do with our willingness to wait patiently, to carry our cross cheerfully, until the Lord brings us to the fullness of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Pergamos has to do with our witness against Satan and his works. If we would be reconciled to the Father we must come to hate the Father's enemies. Satan is not our friend. The demons (whom some Christians unknowingly allow to guide their activities) are not our friends. The world is not our friend.

The Christian Church is a lampstand; it is a light. The Christian Church always is to reveal clearly that the ways of the world are unrighteous, that God will bring every evil work to judgment. The Church is to represent the Person and works of God!

Today the Church is not giving a true testimony of the Person and works of God. The Church keeps on telling the world that God loves everyone. There is a time to present the boundless love of God. But the churches and the world are in sin today and need to become aware of that fact and of the punishment that is to follow. Every sin shall be brought to account!

Many practices take place in the civilized nations that are an abomination to God. The Divine judgment has fallen on the nations of history that have practiced the deeds that abound today on every hand.

Where is the voice of the Christian churches? Where is the voice crying in the wilderness of sinful civilization? Where is the scepter of righteousness? Who is informing the world and the Christian churches that God is holy? Who is warning the churches and the world that judgment is at hand—a judgment that will be as fiery as our sins are abominable?

To be continued.