When there is an open door for the Gospel, and little or no persecution, there is a temptation to run ahead of God. Why not go forth and do "big things for God"? Why wait patiently for the Lord when the gifts are here?—when the door is open?

There are times when the Lord leads us to be very active. On other occasions we are to wait patiently until we are sure of His will. We must always keep in mind that the character development of the saint is more important than any work the saint can perform. God is preparing eternal servants.

If we would be fully reconciled to God we must avoid the temptation to leap off the pinnacle. We must wait for God's time and move only by His Spirit.

Laodicea is the mixture of humanism and Christianity. This mixture is apparent today as the ministers of the Gospel of the Kingdom present Christ as the solution to the problems of the world. "Christ is the answer," they cry, meaning you can use the Lord Jesus to help you make a success of your way of life.

The Christian Gospel is being infiltrated with various self-fulfillment concepts. The believers are to receive power so they can amass wealth, keep in perfect health, control the civil governments, and conduct their life and the rest of the world as they see fit.

This is entirely incorrect. The Gospel of Christ does not give the believer power to do as he pleases. Rather, the true Gospel of the Kingdom of God requires the imprisonment and death of the believer. He must turn away from his life, take up his cross, and follow the Lord Jesus.

It is Jesus who is the true and only King. It is Jesus, not the believer, who does as He pleases. It is Jesus who allocates wealth, keeps us in health, and controls the civil governments.

In today's preaching, the adamic nature of the believers is exalted to power and authority. In the true Gospel the adamic nature is slain and Christ is exalted to power and authority.

There is no doubt that the Laodicean age is here now. Man-centeredness abounds in the secular and the Christian realms.

Great tribulation and great glory are at hand. The result of the tribulation and the glory will be the separating of the Bride from the man-centered church systems and cultures. This separation is beginning already.

Babylon is manmade, man-centered institutional Christianity. Speaking of Babylon, which always is created when the adamic nature attempts to lay hold on God according to man's wisdom and strength, the Spirit says:

And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. (Revelation 18:23)

To be continued.