In this sermonette, we explore a challenging but important question: Are you holding beliefs that could identify you as Laodicean? Drawing inspiration from Jeff Foxworthy’s famous “You might be a…” structure—but applying it to a deeply serious spiritual topic—this message examines several prophetic misunderstandings common among many Church of God groups today.
We discuss the history of the Church eras, the responsibilities of the Philadelphian remnant, and why so many believers today fall into Laodicean attitudes without realizing it. This sermonette also addresses major prophetic errors—ranging from misunderstandings about Matthew 24:14, the identity of the King of the North and King of the South, and the beginning of the Great Tribulation.
With over 55 prophetic errors identified among various Church of God groups, this video covers several key ones that may determine whether believers are spiritually prepared—or caught off guard when the time to flee arrives.
If you desire clarity on Church eras, end-time prophecy, and what it means to do the Philadelphian work, this message encourages honest reflection and deeper study.
“The workers are few.”
Join us as we continue the commission Christ gave His Church.
#ChurchOfGod #Laodicean #PhiladelphianEra #BibleProphecy #EndTimeProphecy #GreatTribulation #Matthew24 #Revelation3 #COG #Sermonette #ChristianTeaching #BiblicalTruth #ProphecyStudy #KingOfTheNorth #KingOfTheSouth #GospelOfTheKingdom
We discuss the history of the Church eras, the responsibilities of the Philadelphian remnant, and why so many believers today fall into Laodicean attitudes without realizing it. This sermonette also addresses major prophetic errors—ranging from misunderstandings about Matthew 24:14, the identity of the King of the North and King of the South, and the beginning of the Great Tribulation.
With over 55 prophetic errors identified among various Church of God groups, this video covers several key ones that may determine whether believers are spiritually prepared—or caught off guard when the time to flee arrives.
If you desire clarity on Church eras, end-time prophecy, and what it means to do the Philadelphian work, this message encourages honest reflection and deeper study.
“The workers are few.”
Join us as we continue the commission Christ gave His Church.
#ChurchOfGod #Laodicean #PhiladelphianEra #BibleProphecy #EndTimeProphecy #GreatTribulation #Matthew24 #Revelation3 #COG #Sermonette #ChristianTeaching #BiblicalTruth #ProphecyStudy #KingOfTheNorth #KingOfTheSouth #GospelOfTheKingdom
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Hello. This sermonette is titled,
00:07If You Believe Certain Things, You Could Be Laodicean.
00:12You know, today, many in the world, many in the church today,
00:17many in other religions, I suppose, think that something dramatic or apocalyptic is going to happen.
00:22Remember Jeff Foxworthy had his own TV show about 30 years ago.
00:26I guess he started out as a stand-up comedian.
00:30He used to say things like,
00:32You might be a redneck if, or you could be a redneck if.
00:38Well, now I'm going to flip that into something more serious too.
00:41If you believe these things,
00:45and or you are in a church of God that teaches these things that I am going to read off to you,
00:51you're probably a Laodicean Christian.
00:53Now, this is not meant to make fun of those that believe these certain things that I'm going to read off.
01:01We are in the Laodicean age.
01:04So most Christians in the church of God today are Laodicean.
01:07This is not name-calling.
01:09Let me repeat that.
01:10This is not name-calling or even meant to be funny.
01:14This is meant to be serious.
01:16Before I get into this list of beliefs, I want to say a few things.
01:20I presume that most Church of God today, Church of God groups, believes that they are Philadelphian.
01:29I've been in them.
01:30Everybody's telling each other they're Philadelphian.
01:33Or that their particular group or brand is Philadelphian.
01:38All church eras still exist, but in less dominant numbers.
01:41So there is still probably an Ephesus group out there as well as a Smyrna group, Pergamos group, probably a Thyatiran group, a Sardis group.
01:51And then there's still a Philadelphian group.
01:53And, of course, there is the Laodicean groups dominating these times we are in right now.
01:59Now, there are some individuals in the Church of God that admit that they are Laodicean.
02:06I'm not sure what they base that determination on, but I've had someone tell me that he was convinced that he was a Laodicean, not a Philadelphian.
02:15When everybody else in that church group was telling each other that they were Philadelphian Christians, that they were the Philadelphians.
02:24There are some that don't care that they are Laodiceans.
02:31Some, maybe you, are concerned about making it to the place of safety.
02:36The only ones that make it to the place of safety that is clear are the Philadelphians.
02:41They're the ones that go to the place of safety.
02:44Laodiceans don't.
02:45However, if you don't know where that line is drawn, you may be thinking that you are a Philadelphian or you've heard people in your church say that they are all Philadelphian and you wonder what makes it clear if you're a Philadelphian or Laodicean.
02:58The consequences are that if you're a Philadelphian, you have a good chance of making it to the place of safety and living in safety during the Great Tribulation instead of being a martyr in the Great Tribulation three and a half years.
03:11Another way to put it is this.
03:13A time is coming when there will be two kinds of Christians, those that go to the place of safety and those that don't go to the place of safety.
03:19And the majority of those that don't go to the place of safety will be the larger portion of Christians.
03:25Those Christians will be the Laodiceans and they will be martyred.
03:28Jesus describes this period of time as the worst time in the history of mankind on earth.
03:34Matthew 24, 21, for then there will be great tribulations such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor shall ever be.
03:46And unless those days were shortened, no flesh will be saved.
03:49But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened.
03:51Although Laodiceans think that they are fine and their prophetic knowledge is good, you know, we're talking about Revelation 3, 14 through 20, that is not the case.
04:04Having the correct prophetic word confirmed will distinguish Philadelphia from the Laodiceans and others.
04:09Here is an abbreviated list of end-time prophetic misunderstandings in various claimed Churches of God groups.
04:19I will try to get five completed in this sermonette.
04:22However, there are 55 of these to go over.
04:26I'm only getting maybe five out of 55 of these for the first time.
04:31Many Church of God groups do not officially teach and or believe in the idea of church eras.
04:39And it's kind of convenient if you think about it.
04:42Though they sometimes teach about the church as a revelation, they tend to take more of a preterist or past view of those churches.
04:50Even though many statements made to them had to have future prophetic ramifications.
04:56Because of that, they do not teach certain prophetic aspects of this.
05:03Most do not see their own problems and will have to go through the Great Tribulation.
05:07So, I'm going to give you a quick history of the church eras right now.
05:13There are remnants of all churches in the seven church eras of the book of Revelation.
05:20First one.
05:22Well, it started Churches of Revelation 2 and 3 from 31 A.D. to the present.
05:28The Ephesus church era started in 31 A.D. to approximately 135 A.D.
05:33The Smyrna church era started next, 135 A.D. to 450 A.D.
05:41Roughly.
05:43Pergamos church era started from roughly 450 A.D. to approximately 1050 A.D.
05:49The Sardis church era started about 1600 A.D. to approximately 1600 A.D.
05:57The Sardis church era started about 1600 A.D. to approximately 1933.
06:05In the Philadelphian era, predominantly 1933 to 1986.
06:10And then the Laodicean church era started about 1986 to the present, so almost 40 years.
06:18God's church worldwide, GCW, PCG, the Philadelphia Church of God, sadly like many groups, and CGG does not place its top priority on proclaiming the gospel.
06:32And this is important to do with it, to proclaim the gospel, and these churches don't.
06:40Unlike some of the other groups, John Rittenbaugh originally seemed to consider that to be one of the best things about his group.
06:49Okay, number one.
06:50If you don't think that the gospel of the kingdom of God does not need to be preached to the world anymore, you might be allowed to see a Christian.
06:57Or let me put it another way, if your church leadership teaches that the gospel of the kingdom of God does not need to still be preached to the rest of the world,
07:05then you belong to a Laodicean church of God group.
07:09Many church of God groups do not believe that the kingdom of God still needs to be preached to the world as a witness per Matthew 24, 14.
07:18Or do not really make that a high priority.
07:21Or do so in less than truly loving the truth, like Jeremiah 48, 10 says.
07:27Hence, do not have the real Philadelphian work.
07:31As only the Philadelphians are promised to be protected from the hour of trial that will come on the whole world,
07:39they will not understand when Matthew 24, 14 is fulfilled, or when to flee per Matthew 24, 15.
07:45Hence, they do not have or lead the Philadelphian work.
07:51Only the Philadelphians are promised to be protected from the hour of trial that will come upon the whole world.
07:56You should read, there is a place of safety for the Philadelphians, why it may be Petra.
08:01That's on CogRider.com.
08:03You can also look up, should the church still try to place its top priority on proclaiming the gospel?
08:13Or did Herbert W. Armstrong change that priority for the work?
08:17All this is on CogRider.com.
08:21Number two, many, if not most, Church of God groups do not realize that the Great Tribulation begins with the King of the North,
08:28also known as the first beast of Revelation 13, invading the USA, the UK, and their Anglo-Saxon descended allies.
08:37So if you don't know this, you're probably going to be a Laodicean.
08:42If your church leadership doesn't tell you this, you belong to a Laodicean church.
08:46You won't be properly prepared to be available to react when the time comes near.
08:50Look up, who is the King of the North on CogRider.
08:56Also look up USA in Prophecy, the Strongest Fortresses.
09:00These are in CogRider.com.
09:02Number three, many church guide groups misunderstand the identity of the King of the South, Daniel 11, 40 through 43.
09:09And some have the prophetic, the wrong prophetic sequence regarding the King of the South.
09:15This is not the order that Daniel 11 teaches.
09:18This view overlooks the fact that since the Great Tribulation is the time of Jacob's trouble, Jeremiah 30, verse 7,
09:25that it begins with the USA and its Anglo-Saxon allies, like the United Kingdom, getting invaded.
09:32Daniel 11, 39.
09:34Some of the groups cling to this sequential error because it was once held by the late Herbert W. Armstrong,
09:42who changed his view by 1979.
09:46Oh, you don't believe me?
09:47Well, look it up.
09:49Herbert W. Armstrong, the time we are in now.
09:53Pastor General's Report, Volume 1, Number 15, November 20, 1979.
09:59Since the King of the North will eliminate those of the strongest fortresses, that'd be USA, Canada, UK, etc.
10:04And Daniel 11, 39.
10:06Prior to invading the King of the South in Daniel 11, 40, you know, Daniel 11, 39 and then Daniel 40 in sequential order.
10:15Prior to invading, those who hold to this view will not know when the Great Tribulation will begin until after it has started.
10:21So, if you're not aware of this, you are probably Laodicean and belong to a Laodicean church group.
10:27You won't be ready to leave with the group that does escape to the place of safety.
10:31If you believe or if your church leadership teaches that there is no, this is number four.
10:37If you believe or if your church leadership teaches that there is no biblically required King of the South, then you are Laodicean.
10:45There are some church-wide groups that are like this.
10:48They teach that there is no biblically required King of the South, while at least one group is unsure.
10:54CGF Northwest.
10:57But this is an error.
10:59See, also, is the future King of the South rising up?
11:09Number five.
11:12You might be Laodicean if you believe that the final King of the South will be from the nation of Ethiopia.
11:19You might be Laodicean if you believe this because the Church of God that you belong to teaches it or you learned it from some other Church of God group incorrectly taught this or teaches this.
11:31This is partially based upon a mistranslation in the King James Version of the Bible, as well as a position that Herbert Armstrong once held.
11:40However, he changed his position in the 1960s and 70s to be an Arabic Muslim confederation.
11:46Those who insist that the final King of the South must be Ethiopian will not possibly realize that the Great Tribulation will begin until it is too late.
11:58RCG once held that position also, but later changed it.
12:02In 2018, LCG has pushed involvement, but not specifically kingship for Ethiopia.
12:07There is an abbreviated list of 55 prophetic errors that are being taught in today's Churches of God.
12:17I only mentioned about four of them.
12:20I think it comes out, too.
12:24And I ran out of time for this sermon.
12:26I'm running out of time for this sermonette.
12:28If you would like to read up on more, you can go to cogwriter.com and plug into the search engine.
12:34Do you hold any of these Laodicean prophetic errors?
12:38I just plugged in Laodicean and I found it.
12:42If you belong to a group that teaches these doctrines, you more than likely belong to a Laodicean group or Sardis group.
12:51It's a large group.
12:51You will not make it to the place of safety because you will be caught off guard and not ready to flee when it is time.
12:57We are doing the Philadelphian work that Herbert W. Armstrong taught during that Philadelphian era.
13:06Matthew 24, 14 says this,
13:08And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
13:16There's also Romans 11, 25.
13:18It says,
13:20And so all Israel will be saved.
13:37Somebody has to continue doing the work to bring the Gentiles in.
13:42Until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, Jesus will be held back from his return.
13:48Look around.
13:49You should know that the time is near and you could be a part of that work.
13:53Come talk to us.
13:55The workers are few.
13:57This is Louis Rubin with the Continuing Church of God.