The Church at Sardis (1400-1844) was proclaimed to be dead even though they had a name that they were alive, and so they were exhorted to wake up and strengthen what remained. This was a period of relative stagnation in the restoring to the church what had been lost through the Dark Ages. Yet the church responded to its wake-up call from the Lord. The next church period was one of the most remarkable, as addressed in Revelation 3:7-12:

    "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy, He...

     We will now study the Church at Sardis (1400–1844):

To the angel of the church in Sardis write; these things says He that has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but are dead.

Be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found you works completed before God (Revelation 3:1-2 NKJV).

     Sardis means, “that which remains.” The periods of each church are general, and I have this church period spanning...

         As we have been covering, church history was predicted by the Lord’s messages to the Seven Churches. Church history is filled with crucial lessons to learn if we are to become the pure, chaste virgin the Lord so deserves as His bride. In that history we see the consequences of being joined to the powers of this age and allowing intolerance for those who may not conform to everything we believe, or just the way that we believe, to creep into the fabric of church life.

         Resisting intolerance does not mean that we do not stand for sound...

         In this study, we have spent the longest time on the church at Thyatira. This church spans the longest period of time in the church age, about 1,260 years. This period is measured from the Roman Emperor’s decree in 538 A.D. that made the Bishop of Rome the head of the church to Napoleon’s decree in 1798 that revoked that authority of the Pope.  

         History records how Napoleon demoted the Pope’s authority at his coronation as Emperor of what was effectively continental Europe at the time. When the Pope was about to crown him, as he did...

     As covered, the biggest gate of hell was opened into the church when positions of authority in the church became based on the approval of men rather than God. This began in the early fourth century when the Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Officials of the empire were required to be Christian. This caused all manner of ambitious and evil people to enter the church to gain favor with the government, not because of a true conversion.

     The corruption of the faith deepened when rituals began to supplant the reality of the...