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| Let's begin this lesson with a short prayer to God: |
| Our Heavenly Father, The letters to the seven churches are a valuable source of teaching and exhortation for each one of us. Today we start on the fourth letter, addressed to the the church of Thyatira. Please guide our study, so that this letter may help us to progress in our spiritual life. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 2 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 1:11 |
Comments |
| «What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira (...).» | The fourth letter is adressed to the church of
Thyatira. The origin of the name «Thyatira» is uncertain, but one of its derived meanings is «Savor of labor». Thyatira was a small city, renowned for its production of purple dye, the color of royalty. The city was also dedicated to the worship of Tyrimnos, god of the sun, which was soon replaced by the worship of the Roman emperor. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 3 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:18 |
Comments |
| And to the angel of the church in
Thyatira write, «These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass.» |
Just like the previous ones, this letter
begins with a portrait of Jesus taken from the initial vision of John. What does this portrait symbolize? |
Revelation 1:14,15 |
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| His eyes [were] like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 4 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:18 |
Comments |
| These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass. | By drawing a parallel between these two
verses, we get the following description of Jesus, the Son of God: - His «feet like fine brass» show that He comes in the glory, on a cloud of angels; - His «eyes like a flame of fire» show that He is fully invested with the power to judge each one according to his works. |
Matthew 16:27 |
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| For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 5 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:19 |
Comments |
| I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. | With His eyes like a flame of fire, Jesus judges the
works of Thyatira, symbolizing the Church of the Middle Ages. First, the good works: from 538, the year when the Church began to fully dominate Europe on religious and political levels, to 1517, when Martin Luther started the Reformation movement, the Church indeed accomplished a lot of good works, establishing hospitals, orphanages, schools and missions. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 6 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
| As for the bad works, Thyatira looks amazingly like Pergamos: |
| Reproach to Thyatira,
symbolizing | Reproach to Pergamos, symbolizing the Church from 538 to 1517: | the Church from 313 to 538: ==================================|====================================== «Nevertheless I have a few things | «But I have a few things against you, against you, because you allow | because you have there those who hold that woman Jezebel, who calls | the doctrine of Balaam, who taught herself a prophetess, to teach | Balak to put a stumbling block before and beguile My servants to commit | the children of Israel, to eat things sexual immorality and to eat | sacrificed to idols, and to commit things sacrificed to idols.» | sexual immorality.» (REVELATION 2:20) | (REVELATION 2:14) |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 7 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:20 |
Comments |
| Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and beguile My servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols. | In the lesson «How
to Study Prophecy», we saw that prophetic symbolism often refers to the characters of
the Old Testament, their attitude towards God, and their deeds here below. Studying the life of Jezebel, just like we studied Balaam's in our previous lesson, will help us to understand what this character symbolizes in Bible prophecy. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 8 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
1 Kings 16:31 |
Comments |
| And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that [Ahab] took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. | Jezebel, the daughter of a pagan king,
married Ahab, the king of Israel. As we can see, this union was rather harmful to the people of Israel... |
1 Kings 21:25 |
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| But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 9 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
1 Kings 18:4 |
Comments |
| Jezebel massacred the prophets of the Lord. | Among her many wrongdoings, Jezebel
attacked the prophets of God who were exposing her misdeeds. A generalized apostasy became firmly established in Israel, but God could still rely on a group of faithful people, among whom was the prophet Elijah. |
1 Kings 19:18 |
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| [The Lord said:] «Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.» |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 10 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:20 |
Comments |
| Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and beguile My servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols. | By referring to the character of Jezebel, Jesus thus
reveals the real nature of the Church: after Pergamos, the compromising church from 313 to
538, the Church sank into generalized apostasy. Becoming a political institution, the Church gave itself a power greater than that of the kings, and plunged Christianity into an unprecedented spiritual darkness. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 11 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:14 |
Comments |
| You have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam. | The progression of apostasy from Pergamos
to Thyatira is obvious. In the church of Pergamos, the apostasy was symbolized by Balaam, a prophet whose bad influence came only from the outside. But in the church of Thyatira, the apostasy is now symbolized by Jezebel, a queen governing from the inside, leading the people to commit evil. |
Revelation 2:20 |
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| You allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and beguile My servants. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 12 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
| From 538 to 1517, the presence of «Jezebel» shows up in the Church: |
| - In 607, the Bishop of Rome takes the title of Pope,
meaning Father. The Bible says: «Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.» (MATTHEW 23:9) -
In 709, the Church adopts the rite of kissing the feet of the Pope. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 13 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
| Other pagan doctrines infiltrate into the Church from 538 to 1517: |
| - In the year 1000, the Church begins to impose
celibacy on the priests. The Bible says: «It is not good that man should be alone.» (GENESIS 2:18) - In the year 1049, the Church begins to celebrate masses for the dead. The Bible says: «While the child was still alive, I fasted (...). But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again?» (2 SAMUEL 12:22,23) - In the year 1090, the rosary appears in the Church. The Bible says: «But when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.» (MATTHEW 6:7) - In the year 1199, the Church gives itself the power to forgive sins by creating the system of indulgences. The Bible says: «Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, (...) "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions."» (ISAIAH 43:14,25) |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 14 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
| Still other unbiblical rites and doctrines adopted between 538 and 1517: |
| - In the year 1215, the Church institutes the hearing
of confession, becoming a mediator between God and men for the forgiveness of sins. The Bible says: «For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.» (1 TIMOTHY 2:5) - In 1216, the Church adopts the dogma of transubstantiation, according to which bread and wine really become the body and the blood of Jesus. The Bible says: «Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life (...). [These] words (...) are spirit, and they are life.» (JOHN 6:54,63) - In the year 1343, the Church institutes the additional works, that is, the works that must be added to the sacrifice of Jesus for salvation. The Bible says: «Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy [God] saved us.» (TITUS 3:5) |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 15 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
| Last examples of rites and doctrines adopted between 538 and 1517: |
| - In 1434, the Church institutes the rite of
confirmation, making up for the problem of the baptism of babies, who are unaware of their
choice. The Bible says: «But when they believed Philip as he preached (...), both men and women were baptized.» (ACTS 8:12) - In 1439, the Church adopts the notion of purgatory, that is, a place where the righteous' souls expiate their sins before going to heaven. The Bible says: «The dead know nothing (...). There is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.» (ECCLESIASTES 9:5,10) - In 1513, the Church introduces the system of the indulgences sold to the people, so as to shorten the stay of the souls in purgatory. The Bible says: «While the child was still alive, I fasted (...). But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again?» (2 SAMUEL 12:22,23) |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 16 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:21 |
Comments |
| And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. | Just as Jesus foretold, the Church of the Middle Ages
was called to repentance by many Christians who were torn by its apostasy. Among those
Christians we find: - Peter Waldo (Italy); - John Wycliffe (England); - John Huss (Bohemia); - Martin Luther (Germany); - Ulrich Zwingli (Switzerland); - Jean Calvin (France); - John Knox (Scotland). But the Church preferred to turn a deaf ear. Even worse, it persecuted and killed many of them. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 17 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:22 |
Comments |
| Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. | Resolutely steeped in a generalized apostasy, Europe
indeed went through a «great tribulation» at the end of the
period from 538 to 1517. First, a dreadful famine struck at the beginning of the 14th century, soon followed by an epidemic of bubonic plague which killed 40 percent of Europe's population. Finally, the Hundred Years War (14th and 15th century) added to these murderous scourges. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 18 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:23 |
Comments |
| And I will kill her children with
death. And all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. |
Just as the sons of Jezebel experienced a
violent death, Jesus announces the death of the sons of spiritual «Jezebel». What does that mean? |
2 Kings 10:1,7 |
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| Now Ahab had seventy sons in
Samaria. (...) [The people of Samaria] took the king's sons and slaughtered seventy persons. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 19 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 17:1,5 |
Comments |
| Come, I will show you the
judgment of the great harlot (...). And on her forehead a name was written: Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. |
First, let's note that God often compares
the Church (or Israel, under the Old Covenant) to a woman. When the Church is faithful, then the woman is pure. On the other hand, when the Church is unfaithful, then the woman is impure, defiled. Like Jezebel, Babylon the great harlot, «the mother of harlots», has children too... |
Jeremiah 3:6 |
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| Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 20 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:23 |
Comments |
| And I will kill her children
with death. And all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and
hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. |
Jesus Himself gives the key to the symbolism: the
children of Jezebel and of Babylon, «the mother of harlots»,
are «all the churches» which take their origin in the
apostate Church, having adopted some of its pagan rites and doctrines. Jesus foretells the judgment of those churches, and their final destruction, symbolized by the death of Jezebel's children. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 21 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:23 |
Comments |
| And all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. | The picture of God searching the minds and hearts is associated with the last judgment. |
Psalm 7:8,9 |
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| The Lord shall judge the peoples. (...) Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just; for the righteous God tests the hearts and minds. | |
Jeremiah 11:20 |
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| But, O Lord of hosts, You who judge righteously, testing the mind and the heart (...). |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 22 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:24 |
Comments |
| But to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, and who have not known the depths of Satan, as they call them, I will put on you no other burden. | As in Jezebel's time, Jesus recognizes that a group of faithful believers did not follow the generalized apostasy prevailing from 538 to 1517. |
1 Kings 19:18 |
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| Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 23 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:24,25 |
Comments |
| But to you I say, and to the
rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, and who have not known the depths
of Satan, as they call them, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come. |
Indeed, between 538 and 1517, many Christians tried in
vain to call to order the Church which had allowed itself to be invaded by apostasy. Among these faithful people who «do not have this doctrine, and who have not known the depths of Satan», the most famous is certainly Martin Luther. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 24 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:24,25 |
Comments |
| I will put on you no other
burden. But hold fast what you have till I come. |
Martin Luther was a German catholic monk and
university professor. By studying the Bible, he discovered that, unlike what his Church was teaching, salvation was a free gift of God, and not a reward for good works. After many attempts to convince the Church of its error, Luther instituted in 1517 the Reformation movement, proclaiming the message of salvation by grace in Jesus Christ, a message which has been carried up to the present day. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 25 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:25,26 |
Comments |
| But hold fast what you have till
I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations. |
The following promise makes a clear link with the
Reformation's message, since it is addressed to whoever keeps the works of Jesus until the
end, not one's own works. The Reformation has indeed proclaimed the work of Jesus, first His sacrifice on the cross giving us salvation, then His work of intercession between God and us, without any other mediator. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 26 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:26,27 |
Comments |
| And he who overcomes, and keeps
My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the potter's vessels shall be broken to pieces - as I also have received from My Father. |
The promise also tells that he who
overcomes «shall rule the nations with a rod of iron», an
authority which also belongs to Jesus. What does that mean? |
Revelation 12:5 |
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| And she bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and to His throne. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 27 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 19:15,16 |
Comments |
| Now, out of His mouth goes a
sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with
a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty
God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: King of kings and Lord of lords. |
Like the expression «to search the minds and hearts», the words «rule the nations with a rod of iron» describe Jesus' work of judgment. |
John 5:22 |
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| For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 28 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
1 Corinthians 6:2 |
Comments |
| Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? | So, God's faithful and victorious people «shall rule [the nations] with a rod of iron», that is, they will assist Jesus in His work of judgment. |
Revelation 20:4 |
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| And I saw thrones, and they sat
on them, and judgment was committed to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been
beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God (...). And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 29 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:28,29 |
Comments |
| And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. | The letter to Thyatira ends by promising
the morning star to him who overcomes. Peter says that this star will rise at the last day. What is it? |
2 Peter 1:19 |
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| We also have the prophetic word made more sure, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 30 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 22:16 |
Comments |
| I, Jesus, (...) I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star. | The morning star is Jesus Christ. Having already sacrificed Himself on the cross for our salvation, He will once again give Himself, at His return, to those who have given themselves to Him during their life on earth. |
Luke 12:37 |
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| Blessed are those servants whom
the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 31 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Exodus 34:12,15 |
Comments |
| Take heed to yourself, (...) lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice. | And now, what is the personal application
of the letter to Thyatira? When we share the message of salvation with the people around us, we must make sure that our faith and commitment toward God remain undefiled. |
John 17:15 |
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I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 32 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
Revelation 2:26 |
Comments |
| And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end (...). | The Corrupt Church, symbolized by
Thyatira, forgot and refused to remember that salvation cannot be gained by men's works,
but only by the work of Jesus, by His sacrifice for us. Let's draw a lesson from it. Let's close our study with a summary of the letter to Thyatira. |
John 6:29 |
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| This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent. |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 33 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
| The five points of the pattern in the letter to the church of Thyatira: |
| 1. Portrait of Jesus, according to the spiritual
state of the church. «The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire.» (REVELATION 2:18) 2. Praise, acknowledgement of the positive points. «I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience.» (REVELATION 2:19) 3. Condemnation, identification of the negative points. «You allow Jezebel (...) to teach and beguile My servants.» (REVELATION 2:20) 4. Correction, counsels to restore the situation. «I will cast (...) those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.» (REVELATION 2:22) 5. Promise, encouragement to persevere. «He who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations.» (REVELATION 2:26) |
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Lesson 25 |
Screen 34 |
Letter to the Church of Thyatira |
| Let's pray together: |
| Father, It is written: «Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.» (Romans 12:2) The church of Thyatira did not follow this advice, and lost sight of the message of salvation by grace in Jesus Christ. As we share this message of hope with the people around us, please help us to avoid being like the church of Thyatira. May our presence in the world, like many bright lights, not cause us to stumble, but strengthen our faith so that it remains unshakeable. In Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. |
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Letter to the Church
of Thyatira