Revelations Chapter Two (Part V)

By Odon Bulamba (16 March 2001)

Revelation 2: 12-17

12And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; 13I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. 14But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. 15So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. 16Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 17He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Many young people have a desire to become married. If Michelle leaves her family and goes to Kelly’s family and finds that one of her brother’s is single, Michelle can marry him. Everything in Michelle’s life will be shared with her husband’s life. She will follow what she has learnt and follow what her husband has learnt. Her life will not depend on herself but someone else. Before making any decisions she will consult with her husband.

When we are married we lose 50% of our responsibility to take 50% of someone else’s responsibility. In some cultures women aren’t allowed to speak. It means that their husband can do anything to them. Michelle must accept everything her husband says. Why?

The church of Pergamum was a young church. God loved this church a lot and this church walked with God. However, this church decided to get married and when they got married they didn’t respect God’s law. Pergamum means married. Jesus says that, “He is the one that owns a double-edged sword”. This sword has a meaning. (Hebrew 4:12)

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edge sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow: it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

This sword can enter people’s lives and separate both soul and spirit. The sword is the word of God so you cannot play around with it. If a child plays with a sharp knife the parents will know that there is danger. It is the same with the word of God; because the word of God is sharp we must be careful how we look after our sheep.

Parents must be careful with their kids, Evangelists and Pastors must be careful with people who use the word and make sure they don’t play around with it. Unfortunately the word of God in most churches today has become culture. When we don’t recognise or admit that the word of God is efficient and all that we need, God gets very angry. The Bible can cut you in two.

If you think you’re safe from getting cut because you don’t smoke or lie, you’ll forget about the sharp point at the end, which can hurt a lot. There are little things in the word of God we neglect. These little things can provoke a change in us, which means that there is no big sin or small sin. The Bible says that, “to hate someone is like a murderer”.

Some Christians hate others for no reason. For them they think it’s not a sin and is normal behaviour. “This is what my grandfather was like” or, “this is how I was brought up”. We see things as culture and this causes division.

A church we visited once had two race’s sitting opposite each other. Tongans sat on the left and Europeans sat on the right. It was hard for the white people to sit with the Tongans and also with the Tongans to sit with the white people. You could see black and white, which represented division in that church. The preacher speaks about unity but where is it in this church? They talk about it but don’t practice it. If we hate someone we are murderers. 1 John 3:15.

Although we meet together in one church we live in darkness. When you say we come to pray to Jesus because He is the light, are we serious? Can’t you see that you are playing with the word of God? Churches don’t do anything to stop it but encourage it. Why? The church is married to its denomination and would rather follow a rule that was established 18 years ago. You can see this everywhere in Christian life, so before God we are murderers and eternal life is not in us.

We must be very careful with what we call little sins. When we want to justify ourselves we fall into a trap.

A few years ago a man was invited to a meal. He was very hungry but the meal was very hot. He started eating hot potatoes and found that it was too hot, but because people were around him he couldn’t spit it, so he just swallowed it. Tears came from the man’s face, “why are you crying” people asked? There was a picture of Jesus’ cross on the wall so he said, “I remember how Jesus was persecuted for me”. Can you understand? A little thing like this has led him to lie for he justified himself to let people know that he was not greedy. This is how Christians fall into sin. Many Christians today are physically at church but spiritually their thoughts are far away. The body is in the church but their spirit is in the world.