Read Revelation 2:14-15.
While Pergamum was a persevering church, she was unfortunately a compromising one. Have you ever compromised in order to persevere? It is like being on a mission where everything is focused on accomplishing the task at hand. Maybe it’s something simple like getting to work on time. Maybe it’s something more complex like a building project or a big event. Some people can get so focused on the end goal that they feel the need compromise in order to reach it. “The ends justify the means” is often the argument.
The church at Pergamum, while remaining strong in their commitment to the Lord despite tremendous persecution, compromised in the process. Jesus says they tolerated the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans. Balaam was guilty of counseling King Balak to cause Israel to sin by intermarrying with heathen women and then causing the Israelites to worship their gods (Num. 22-25; 31:15-16). Like Balaam, there were people in the church who were intermarrying with heathen women, who were leading them to participate in the worship of other gods. These people began to accept other gods alongside the One true God. While little is known of the Nicolaitans, the message was clear: the church was accepting among them those whose beliefs were completely contrary to God and the teachings of Christ. History records a slow eroding of the church with this compromise, and by the by the beginning of the second century, there is evidence of much confusion in the church. A notable structure in Pergamum was the Serapis Temple to this Hellenistic-Egyptian god. The most renowned temple to Serapis was located in Alexandria, where one source notes:
The land of Egypt, the praises of which you have been recounting to me, my dear Servianus, I have found to be wholly light-minded, unstable, and blown about by every breath of rumour. There those who worship Serapis are, in fact, Christians, and those who call themselves bishops of Christ are, in fact, devotees of Serapis. There is no chief of the Jewish synagogue, no Samaritan, no Christian presbyter, who is not an astrologer, a soothsayer, or an anointer. Even the Patriarch himself, when he comes to Egypt, is forced by some to worship Serapis, by others to worship Christ.[1]
It came to a point where the differences between Christ and Serapis were no longer distinguishable.
Compromise – whether intended or not – has a way of eroding the foundations of our faith and making us more like the world around us rather than the faith-walkers God desires. Compromise, no matter what the situation, allows the subtleties of Satan’s schemes to slowly erode our foundation.
Don’t compromise! Consider if there are areas or things in your life where you may be allowing compromise to slowly erode your foundation.
[1] Firmus et al. 8 Historia Augusta 8.