"DOCTRINES OF BALAAM AND THE NICOLAITANES"
Rev. 2:6, Rev. 2:15
 
by DiaBen
ICONOCLAST
 "Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?" Galatians 4:16.
 
   In Revelations chapter two, John is charged, by the Lord, to write these things unto the church of Ephesus, "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.  But this thou hast, that THOU HATEST THE DEEDS OF THE NICOLAITANES, WHICH I ALSO HATE.  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 tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.". (Rev. 2:4-7).  HATEST and HATE, strong words!  Words quite abhorrent to the delicate sensibilities of today's lukewarm adherents of denominational judeo-Christianity.  For our Lord to have used such shocking language, these, "deeds of the Nicolaitanes", must have been something terribly out of order with our Lord's divine will.  And yet, it seems as though denominational Christians of our age skim over such obviously divine scriptural commands to "hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches" without even a second glance.  It is as though the fallen nature within them senses there is something here contrary to their religious "traditions", "But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?" Mt 15:3.  "Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition." Mt 15:6.  "And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." Mr 7:9.
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." Col 2:8.
  The only other place in scripture, other than Rev. 2:6, where we find the word "Nicolaitanes" used is also in Revelation chapter two, where the Lord is speaking through John to the church in Pergamos, "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 stumblingblock 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 else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth." Rev. 2:14-16.
  It would seem prudent then for the sincere Christian, who is desirous of pleasing the Lord in all things, to investigate this "doctrine of Balaam" and "doctrine of the Nicolaitanes", lest we ourselves fall prey to "philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." 
    The *"doctrine of Balaam", according to none other than Dr. C. I. Scofield in his "Scofield Reference Bible" notes on Rev. 2:14, was Balaam's teaching Balak to corrupt the people who could not be cursed (Num. 31:14-17; 22:5; 23:8) by tempting them to marry women of Moab (foreign women), thus defiling their separation (segregation).  Thus, the "Fornication" spoken of in Rev. 2:14, and committed by the children of Israel, was inter-racial marriage between the children of Israel and Moabite women.  The Greek word translated "fornication" in this scripture, according to "Strong's Greek Dictionary of the New Testament" is "# 4203 porneuo" and means "To act the harlot, i.e. (lit.) indulge in unlawful lust (of either sex), or (fig.) practice idolatry:- commit (fornication).  According to the New Testament, "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." 1Jo 3:4.  The law spoken of here is the Old Testament law.  The lust or sex that was unlawful in this scripture, Rev. 2:14-16, was the Old Testament law against racial inter-marriage, "Neither shalt thou make marriages with them: thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son." Deuteronomy 7:3. 
   Thus, if New Testament sin is transgression of Old Testament law, and if the Old Testament states that it is unlawful to make marriages with peoples other than your own, then to do so is a sin according to the New Testament.  Racial inter-marriage is a sin according to the New Testament.
   The "basic law of God" is and has always been, even from the very beginning, "kind after kind".  "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.  And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good." Gen. 1:11-12.  "And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good." Gen. 1;21.  "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.  And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good." Gen. 1:24-25.
   The "doctrine of the Nicolaitans" then, is a sect mentioned in Revelation 2:6 and 2:15 charged with holding the error of Balaam, and casting a stumbling block before the church of God by upholding the liberty of eating things sacrificed to idols as well as committing unlawful fornication.
   According to "Easton's Bible Dictionary", "they were seemingly a class of professing Christians, who sought to introduce into the Church a false freedom or licentiousness... and were probably identical with those who held the doctrine of Balaam", (Rev. 2:14).
   "Smith's Bible Dictionary" states they were, "a sect whose deeds were strongly condemned.  They may have been identical with those who held the doctrine of Balaam.  Mingling themselves in orgies of idolatrous feasts, they brought the impurities of those feasts into the meetings of the Christian Church.  And all this was done, it must be remembered, not simply as an indulgence of appetite: but as a part of a system supported by a "doctrine". 
   To hate the deeds of the "Nicolaitans" and there by those who hold the "doctrine of Balaam" is a sign of life in a Church that otherwise is weak and faithless, (Rev. 2:6).  To tolerate them is well nigh to forfeit the glory of having been faithful under persecution, (Rev. 2:14-15).
 
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*THE DOCTRINE OF BALAAM
We can find out more about Baalpeor, Balaam the prophet, and King Balac by reading Numbers 22 to 25 in the Old Testament.

   Briefly, King Balac of Moab wanted to make war with and destroy the nation of Israel. The Israelites were a powerful nation and this king feared that his army could not defeat them. So he sought out a famous prophet. He sought him out with the intentions of having the prophet curse the people of God.

   King Balac figured that his army would prevail if the enemy nation was under a curse.  So King Balac asked the prophet Balaam to place a curse on Israel.  King Balac offered to pay any amount of money for his cooperation.

   Balaam the prophet knew that Israel was blessed of God, and he informed King Balac that it was not possible to curse, what God has blessed.  However, King Balac was stubborn and he was determined to have Israel cursed anyway; and this Balaam the prophet, he was anxious to please simply because he coveted the king's money.

   So this is the deal that was worked out while the prophet could not place a curse on Israel, he could tell the king how to get Israel to bring a curse upon themselves, and so for money, prophet Balaam told King Balac, he told him how to get God angry at and to curse his very own people.

   And the plan was successful; the results were - God, in his anger, he slew 25,000 of his own people. Balaam got his money, and the enemy king achieved a victory without firing a shot. In fact you could say, his weapon was peace. He gave peace a chance. From reading just The Old Testament, just exactly what Balaam told King Balac is not clear.

   Fortunately, more details are available in a well known, well respected history book. That history book is the History of the Jews, by Josephus. Balaam's advise to King Balac is found in Josephus Book four, chapter 6; here in chapter six Josephus reports what Balaam said to the king, Here is what he said;

   "If you want to be victorious over them - follow my advice. Select your most beautiful women, women beautiful enough to overcome the modesty of their male companions. Dress them in the finest, most seductive clothing and jewelry that you can afford. Then send them to the Israelite camp with these instructions that when any of the Hebrew men desire their companionship, they allow it."

   "And when the men lust after them, to let them do as they please but only after they have been persuaded to abandon their own laws; the laws delivered at Sinai through Moses, and to live by the laws and customs of the gods of the Midianites and Moabites; for by this means their God will be angry at them."

   Balaam's advice is simply this. To; persuade, seduce, trick or otherwise get God's people to break God's Law, or live by the customs and laws of other lands. This is done to get God to remove his blessings and bring instead, curses upon his own people.

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SEGREGATION
Lev. 20:22-24. "Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out.  And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.  But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people."
Sounds as though the Lord believes in segregation.
 
Exodus 33:16-17. "For wherein shall it be known here that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight? is it not in that Thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.
And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in My sight, and I know thee by name."

Lev. 20:26. "And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine."

 

Joshua 23:12-13. "If you do in any wise go back and cleave unto the remnant of these Nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them and they unto you: Know for a certainty...That they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides and thorns in your eyes. Until ye perish off from this good land which the Lord your God has given you."

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