Certamente estes são pobres!

“Porque dizes: Sou rico, estou enriquecido, e de nada tenho falta; e não sabe que és um miserável, e miserável, e pobre, e cego, e nu:” (Apocalipse 3:17)

Spiritually, we are in the poorest of the ages of all time. Much physical riches. Many spiritual truths and testimonies of past history to draw from. Many free Bible software tools and references on the Web to be able to study in depth the will of God for our lives. And yet, right among all this great potential, people can attend right where the truth is preached and taught, and they are still largely ignorant of it in their heart and in their daily living.

• “He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.” (Proverbs 21:17)
• “There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.” (Proverbs 13:7)

Have our priorities shifted towards ourselves? We have our: families, careers, plans, vacations, retirements… and we fit the work of God somewhere in between, if there is room left. Is Jesus still looking down and having to say “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few” (Luke 10:2)

“He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.” (Prov 10:4)

Neglect of spiritual things will produce a definite result!

“Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely. O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God. I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.” (Jeremiah 5:1-6)

We will quickly become poor when we do not take heed to the warning from Jesus – and he will have to say “surely these are poor.” In addition, we will not realize it until too late that a “wolf of the evenings” has come right in among the people of God to tear, rend, divide and scatter the people. Have we not seen enough of this already in this evening time of the Gospel day to realize what is happening! The church of God in Laodicea needs to repent!

Have we been so busy that over and over again we neglect the lost around us that so desperately need the truth of the gospel shared with them? Wkipedia has a sober definition for “neglect”:

“Neglect is a passive form of abuse in which the perpetrator is responsible to provide care for a victim who is unable to care for oneself, but fails to provide adequate care to meet the victim’s needs, thereby resulting in the victim’s demise.”

Neglect is abuse? Will there be victims of our neglect who will cry against our soul at the final judgment?

Observe onde esta mensagem para Laodicéia está dentro do contexto completo da mensagem completa do Apocalipse. Veja também o “Roteiro da Revelação.”