Here is a  church that refused to deny their faith even when one of the faithful converts was killed. Jesus said “I know where you live. You live where Satan has his throne, but you are true to me. You did not refuse to tell about your faith in me even during the time of Antipas. Antipas was my faithful witness who was killed in your city, the city where Satan lives”

However, they allowed people in their midst that compromised their faith. These were people who followed the error of Balaam and the teaching of Nicolaitans. Balaam led people to eat foods offered to idols (something God hates) while Nicholas (one of the seven deacons) did not see anything wrong with Christians who were formerly pagan living their old ways of life.

According to the writings of the Early Church leaders, Nicolas taught a doctrine of compromise, implying that total separation between Christianity and the practice of occult paganism was not essential. From Early Church records, it seems apparent that this Nicolas of Antioch was so immersed in occultism, Judaism, and Christianity that he had a stomach for all of it. He had no problem intermingling these belief systems in various concoctions and saw no reason why believers couldn’t continue to fellowship with those still immersed in the black magic of the Roman empire and its countless mystery cults.

When Balaam could not successfully cure the people of God, he used another method to destroy them. He seduced them into unbridled, sensual living by dangling the prostitutes of Moab before the men of Israel. Numbers 25:1-3 tells us, “And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they [the daughters of Moab] called the people [the men of Israel] unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people [the men of Israel] did eat, and bowed down to their gods.

Nicolaitans was encouraging compromise. As you are well aware, compromise with the world always results in a weakened and powerless form of Christianity. This was the reason Jesus “hated” the “doctrine” and the “deeds” of the Nicolaitans.

It’s like saying it is ok for a Christian to marry an unbeliever when clearly their values are different. God said in 2Cor6:14  Do not join yourselves to [become partners with; be mismatched/unevenly yoked with] unbelievers. Good and bad do not belong together [For what partnership has righteousness and wickedness/lawlessness?]. Light and darkness cannot share together.

So Jesus told them to repent!  Change your hearts! If you don’t change, I will come to you quickly and fight against these people with the sword that comes out of my mouth. “Everyone who hears this should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches! I will give the hidden manna to everyone who wins the victory. I will also give each one a white stone that has a new name written on it. And no one will know this name except the one who gets the stone -Rev2:16-17

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