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Likewise, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart; prophesy against them, and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Woe to the women who sew magic charms on their sleeves and make veils for the heads of people of every height to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of My people, and keep yourselves alive? And will you profane Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, killing people who should not die, and keeping people alive who should not live, by your lying to My people who listen to lies?" 'Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against your magic charms by which you hunt souls there like birds. I will tear them from your arms, and let the souls go, the souls you hunt like birds. I will also tear off your veils and deliver My people out of your hand, and they shall no longer be as prey in your hand. Then you shall know that I am the LORD. Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and you have strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that he does not turn from his wicked way to save his life. Therefore you shall no longer envision futility nor practice divination; for I will deliver My people out of your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD."' (Eze. [[13:17-23|bible.26.13.17-26.13.23]]) [emphasis added]
How similar this sounds to the modern church which has no shortage of self-proclaimed "prophetesses" who frequent various conferences, peddling their ministries as being inspired by the Holy Spirit while teaching concepts which contradict God's Word.to teachThe sin, apparently involving the majority of the Thyatira church's members, was twofold. First, they violated the biblical teaching that women are not to be teachers or preachers in the church (1Ti. [[2:12|bible.75.2.12]]). That led them to tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. They compounded their error of permitting her to teach by allowing her to teach error.8
In our own day, this Scriptural restriction on the teaching role of women has been twisted by the feminist agenda which distorts the Scriptures using techniques not unlike that of "Christian homosexuals" who deny the plain meaning of the text. As a result, the Christian church is reaping the whirlwind with self-proclaimed prophetesses as well as female "bishops" and pastors usurping roles which God has ordained strictly for men. If a woman believes "God is calling her to be a pastor," she should think again! God does not contravene His own word.seduceSatan seems to have used commerce to undercut the church in Thyatira, for unless one was a member of a trade guild, one had little hope of commercial prosperity; indeed, one's commercial existence was in jeopardy. Two characteristics of these guilds were incompatible with Christianity: first, they held banquets, often in a temple, and these banquets would begin and end with a formal sacrifice to the gods, so the meat eaten at these affairs was meat offered to idols (Acts [[15:29|bible.65.15.29]]). Second, these functions were, as would be expected, occasions of drunken revelry and slack morality.10
Pagan worship was associated with trade guilds in that each guild had its guarding god. Guilds for wool workers, linen workers, manufacturers of outer garments, dyers, leather workers, tanners, potters, bakers, slave dealers, and bronze smiths were known. Membership in a guild was compulsory if one wanted to hold a position. . . . Guild members were expected to attend the guild festivals and to eat food, part of which had been offered to the tutelary deity and which was acknowledged as being on the table as a gift from god. At the end of the feast grossly immoral activities would commence.11
See Worldly Churches. See commentary on Revelation 2:14.Notes
1 "The textual question may be summarily treated. Two uncial manuscripts (A and 046 == Q, of the 10th century) and many cursives and versions insert σοῦ [sou] [your] after τὴν γυναῖκα [tēn gynaika] [the woman/wife]. The decisive weight of textual authority however appears against this (א, C, etc.), and the addition is readily explained by dittography." -- Colin J. Hemer, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in Their Local Setting (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1989), 117.
2 Noadiah opposed Nehemiah in his work of reconstruction.
3 "Isaiah's wife was called a prophetess because the son to whom she gave birth was prophetic of the Assyrian conquest." -- John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Word Publishing, 1997), Isa. 8:3.
4 Although the daughters are not called prophetesses, they are said to prophesy.
5 Richard Chenevix Trench, Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches in Asia (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1861), 140.
6 "Now to do this was to take the place of the Spirit, who indeed spake 'not from Himself,' but 'what He heard' from the Lord in glory." -- William R. Newell, Revelation: Chapter by Chapter (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1994,c1935), 54.
7 Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 1-7 (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1992), 215.
8 John MacArthur, Revelation 1-11 : The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1999), 100.
9 James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship, 1996), G4105.
10 Monty S. Mills, Revelations: An Exegetical Study of the Revelation to John (Dallas, TX: 3E Ministries, 1987), Rev. 2:20.
11 Thomas, Revelation 1-7, 207-208.
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