Satan's persistent scheme to corrupt the church (Preached in Bethel FPC, Enniskillen.) In the second and third chapters of the Book of the Revelation we have the words of the Saviour to the seven churches in Asia. Each church receives a personal message from the Saviour dealing with the particular issues that it faces. Common to them all are warnings about the threats that face them, praise where it is due and warnings of the consequences they would face should He not be obeyed and His warnings heeded. The seven churches in Asia were young churches. If we take the first one mentioned, Ephesus, then we are talking about a church that was about 35-38 years old when John wrote this epistle. It was founded by Paul about the year 58 AD and John wrote this epistle about 95 AD. That is a fairly average age of the churches mentioned here. How alarming this is? What a need there is today for us to be on our guard if those who had so recently enjoyed great mercies fell victim to the Devil's scheming!