Pergamos was also a place of heathen
worship. They had a god of healing. Suffer-
ing people came from all over to its temple.

The name of this god meant Saviour. This
title belongs only to Jesus Christ and it
must have upset the Christians to have it
attached to a heathen god.

A famous library was in Pergamos. It has
been said that it contained two hundred
thousand books. Every book was written
and copied by hand.

Parchment ( it is a word that came from
Pergamos) used for writing the New Test-
ament, was invented there. It may be said
that the city was one of the great centers
of learning.

The city of Pergamos was called place of
"Satan's seat" by the Lord.

It was the capital of that area and was just
as important as Paris or London of today.

When John wrote this, the city was still the
capital. While it couldn't be compared with
either Ephesus or Smyrna, it was historically
the greatest city of that area.

"And to the angel of the church in Pergamos

write; these

things saith

he which

hath the

sharp sword

with two

edges; I know

thy works,

and where thou dwellest even where Satan's

seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and

has not denied my faith, even in those days

wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who

was slain among you where Satan dwelleth.

But I have a few things against thee, because

thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of

Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbl-

ingblock before the children of Israel, to eat

things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit

fornication.

So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine

of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.

Repent; or I will come unto thee quickly, and

will fight against them with the sword of my

mouth. He 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."

Revelation 2:12-17

The presecuted Church didn't have the
same miraculous faith that the Church of
the apostles had.

They suffered the persecution, and died
true to their faith. Jesus only had praise
for the Church of Smyrna.

It was a holy, godly, faithful church that
continued in the faith during the greatest
of trials and tribulations.

The Church of the apostles, in its day, had
a very dynamic miracle-working faith. When
they were thrown into prison, angels of God
released them and sent on to preach again to
the confusion of their enemies. (Acts 5:17-26)

When Paul persecuted the Church (he was
Saul of Tarsus then) who was a mortal enemy.
The church's faith and prayers brought about
his conversion,

When Peter was put in prison and condemned
to death, the prayers of God's people resulted
in the angel of God setting him free.
(Acts 12:3-10)

And when Paul and Silas were cast into prison,
they prayed and sang praises unto God, and
the prison doors were opened by and earthquake.

The Church of the apostles, because it had
left its first love, had lost their full miracle-
working ministry and had ended up martyrs..

So it couldn't leave that ministry to the next
church, Smyrna, the persecuted Church.

So the Smyrna Church didn't have the faith
for deliverance like the apostles once had.

One would think with such awful persecu-
tion, that took place during the 2nd and
3rd centuries, that Christianity would have
been wiped out.

But it was just the opposite. Despite the
violent persecution under several emperors,
the Smyrna church stayed strong. And
more important it kept its dedication so that
the Lord, in his letter to them, found no
fault with it.

The Smyrna Era was a

terrible time of suffer-
ing for the Christians.

To quote one author,

"The Christians were in
all parts of the Empire

driven from habitations,
and tormented in their

bodies; racks and prisons, axes and halters,

fire and wild beasts, scalding pitch and melting

wax, sharp stakes and burning pincers, were

but some of the methods of their treatment."

Jesus comforted this martyred church by remind-
ing them that He had suffered death, but was
alive forevermore.

Jesus said, "Ye shall have tribulation ten
days". It could mean that the Early Church
had suffered ten major persecutions under
ten different rulers.

Or it could mean that the Church experienced
severe persecution from 303-313 A.D. (A day
is sometimes considered a year in prophecy.)
Numbers 14:33-34 In 303 the emperor issued
destruction of the churches, burning the the
scriptures and death to the Christians. It ended
when Constantine came to rule. He accepted
Christianity in the year 312 A.D. and became
emperor the next year.

The Jews argued that their traditions were
the only truth on earth and all others were
false.

But the fact was that they were Jews accord-
ing to the flesh, not Jews according to faith.
So Jesus said they were children of the devil
and that they were of the "synagogue of Satan".

They blasphemed the Christians (Acts 18:6),
and claimed their miracles were of the devil
(Matthew 12:24). They were stubborn and
hung on to their traditions, making it hard to
reach them with the truth of the gospel.

The Jews claimed that they were the seed
of Abraham, as proof , when they spoke to
Jesus. "We be Abraham's seed", they said.
John 8:33.

Jesus agreed that they were Abraham's seed
according to the flesh (vs 37), but denied
that they were Abraham's seed by faith.

Jesus said they were of their father, the devil!
John 8:39, 44