Laodicea

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Seven Church Ages: Introduction • Ephesus • Smyrna • Pergamos • Thyatira • Sardis • Philadelphia • Laodicea • CAB • Last Messenger?

Messengers: Paul • Irenaeus • Martin • Columba • Martin Luther • John Wesley • William Branham??

Laodicea (Also known as Laodicea on the Lycus; Greek: Λαοδικεια προς του Ληκου; Meaning "justice of the people" or "people's rights"), was earlier called Diospolis and Rhoas. Laodicea was a wealthy and powerful metropolis of Phrygia Pacatiana, built on the river Lycus in Anatolia, near the modern village of Eskihisar (Eski Hissar), Denizli Province, Turkey.

Key Features

Rich, wealthy, fertile, finance, commerce, metropolis, united government, worshipped the father of the gods (and therefore could accept all other gods), art, medicine, self-sustaining, aquaducts, earthquakes.

History

Laodicea is situated in the fertile Lycus valley, between the Asopus and Caprus rivers, which discharge into the Lycus, and then the Maeander River. The town was originally called Diospolis as the temple in that town was dedicated to Zeus, the father of the gods. The construction of Laodicea is ascribed to Antiochus II Theos around 260BC, in honor of his wife Laodice (who later poisoned him), and was probably founded on the site of the older town. Laodicea was located in Phrygia approximately 17km west of Colossae and 160 km east of Ephesus, and was situated on a major trade route.

At first Laodicea was not a place of much importance, but it soon acquired a high degree of prosperity. In 200 BC, Antiochus the Great transported about 2,000 Jewish families to Phrygia from Babylonia (Josephus). As a result, many of Laodicea's inhabitants were Jews (Cicero records that Flaccus confiscated the considerable sum of 9kg of gold which was being sent annually to Jerusalem for the Temple.

By 188 BC, the city had passed to the Kingdom of Pergamon, and after 133 BC fell under Roman control. It suffered greatly during the Mithridatic Wars, but quickly recovered under the dominion of Rome; and towards the end of the Roman Republic and under the first emperors, Laodicea, benefiting from its advantageous position on a trade route, became one of the most important and flourishing commercial cities of Asia Minor, in which large money transactions and an extensive trade in black wool were carried on.

The place often suffered from earthquakes, especially from the great shock in the reign of Tiberius (60 AD), in which it was completely destroyed. But the inhabitants declined imperial assistance to rebuild the city and restored it from their own means. The wealth of its inhabitants created among them a taste for the arts of the Greeks, as is manifest from its ruins. Laodicea was also a centre of science and literature, and was the location of a great medical school. Its wealthy citizens embellished Laodicea with beautiful monuments. The city minted its own coins, the inscriptions of which show evidence of the worship of Zeus, Æsculapius, Apollo, and the emperors. The triple eastern gate of Laodicea was dedicated to Vespasian, and its stadium housed gladiators fights (Wycliffe Dictionary of Biblical Archeology).

Laodicea received from Rome the title of free city. During the Roman period Laodicea was the chief city of a Roman conventus, which comprised twenty-four cities besides itself.

Laodicea was weakened by the invading Turks and Mongols, and was finally abandoned in the early 13th century as a result of frequent earthquakes, which had destroyed the aqueducts (stone pipes rather than the usual Roman arches) and infrastructure of the city. Today, the town of Eski Hissar in Turkey lies between Ancient Laodicea and Ancient Colossae.

Christian Laodicea

It was probably owing to its large Jewish community, that at a very early period it became one of the chief seats of Christianity. Laodicea receives passing mention in the epistle to the Colossians and is one of the seven churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation. The Laodicean Church could have been founded by the Colossian Epaphras. Paul asks the Colossians to communicate to the Church of Laodicea the letter which he sends to them, and to read publicly that which should come to them from Laodicea, that is, no doubt, a letter which he had written, or was to write, to the Laodiceans.

Problems with Branham's interpretation

We CANNOT currently be in the Laodicean church age

Less than 20% of evangelical Christians live in North America or Europe where lukewarm churches abound. Today, more evangelicals live in Asia than any other continent. 60% of evangelicals live in Asia or Africa. The churches in the third world… particularly in countries where the church is persecuted… are anything but lukewarm.

1. The Plagiarized Office: Charles Taze Russell and the Seventh Angel

In Chapter 9 of the Church Age Book, William Branham positioned himself as the sole, infallible "Prophet-Messenger" to the final age, claiming this unique dual-office was a direct, supernatural revelation from God. He taught that the "messenger" of Revelation 3:14 and the "seventh angel" of Revelation 10:7 were the exact same earthly man.

• The Evidence: This was not a unique revelation. In his 1918 book, The Finished Mystery, Charles Taze Russell (the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses) was officially identified by his followers as both the messenger of Revelation 3:14 and the seventh angel of Revelation 10:7. The Finished Mystery states: "But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel. — Pastor Russell was the seventh angel. — Rev. 3:14".
• The Logical Audit: William Branham borrowed this exact prophetic scaffolding from Russell and applied it to his own ministry. This represents a profound Category Error. The Greek word used for "angel" throughout these passages is angelos (ἀγγέλλω), the exact same word used to describe the other six heavenly, trumpet-blowing, supernatural beings in Revelation 8 and 9. To rip a cosmic, heavenly angel out of its clear literary context and reduce it to a 20th-century mortal pastor is a severe scriptural misinterpretation. He did not "gather the loose ends" of the reformers; he simply adopted the self-exalting eschatological claims of Charles Taze Russell.

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2. The Larkin Scaffolding and the Failed 1977 Prediction

William Branham claimed that the exact dates of the Laodicean Church Age—which he set from 1906 to 1977—were delivered to him by divine inspiration.

• The Evidence: This timeline was copied directly from the dispensational charts of Baptist theologian Clarence Larkin. In his 1919 book, The Book of Revelation, Larkin designated the Laodicean period as lasting from AD 1900 to the Rapture. Branham adopted Larkin’s exact boundaries, merely shifting the start date to 1906 to align with the Azusa Street Pentecostal revival, and "predicting" that the age would end in 1977 based on his seven visions of 1933.
• The Logical Audit: When 1977 passed without the Rapture, the prediction failed. To manage the resulting cognitive dissonance, Message apologists resorted to a classic Ad Hoc Rescue, arguing that Branham merely "predicted" and did not "prophesy" the date. But under the biblical standard of Deuteronomy 18:21–22, God does not allow the words of His true prophets to fall to the ground. A failed date-setting calculation cannot be rescued by shifting definitions. The ledger of history shows that Branham’s 1977 timeline was a human error inherited from plagiarized material.

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3. Surnames and the Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy

To solidify his claim of being the elected messenger to Laodicea, Branham wrote an audio letter to his editor, Lee Vayle, instructing him to include a numerical analysis of his surname in the conclusion of the book:

"Now, and another thing. If you’ll notice, G-r-a-h-a-m is six letters. A-b-r-a-h-a-m is seven letters, and so is B-r-a-h-a-m seven letters... B-r-a-n-h-a-m is seven, which is perfected, perfection... The message never went to Billy Graham’s group. It went to the elected group..." (Transcript of an audio letter from William Branham to Lee Vayle, paragraph 21).

• The Evidence: In this letter, Branham explicitly equated the spelling of his last name with spiritual "perfection" and contrasted it with Billy Graham’s "six-letter" name, which he claimed symbolized the "world" or "man".
• The Logical Audit: This is a textbook example of the Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy and the logical error of Apophenia—finding deep, mystical significance in completely accidental, random patterns. The spelling of "Branham" is an accident of modern English linguistic history, not a divinely ordained, mathematical proof of dispensational authority. To build a doctrine of prophetic validation on the number of letters in an English surname is logically absurd.

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4. The Closed Loop of "Infallibility" In Chapter 9 of the Church Age Book, Branham insisted that the last day messenger must possess absolute, unquestionable authority:

"Who then will have the power of infallibility which is to be restored in this last age, for this last age is going to go back to manifesting the Pure Word Bride?... It will be a prophet as thoroughly vindicated, or even more thoroughly vindicated than was any prophet in all the ages from Enoch to this day..." (CAB, Chapter 9, paragraph 28).

To protect this authority, Branham bitterly condemned Christian denominations because they supposedly restricted free thought:

"They draw up their declaration, say, 'We believe this, period!' If they would end it with a comma... it would be all right." (Sermon: Once More, November 17, 1963, paragraph 9).

• The Evidence: Despite his rhetorical plea for "commas," Branham set up a system that demanded absolute, uncritical submission to his own words. He warned his followers: "Say what the tapes say". He further claimed that historic, apostolic scripture no longer worked in our era: "The Word that fell on the Day of Pentecost will not work this day. No, sir" (Sermon: The Invisible Union of the Bride of Christ, November 25, 1965, paragraph 130).
• The Logical Audit: This represents a severe Circular Contradiction and a Self-Defeating System. Branham condemned denominations for having a rigid "period," yet he forced his own followers into a closed, legalistic loop where his spoken tapes acted as the ultimate, unchallengeable "period". By claiming the apostolic Word "does not work in this day," Branham cut his followers off from the safety of written Scripture, leaving them entirely dependent on his own fallible, plagiarized voice.

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Conclusion

When we put away our emotions and look solely at the facts, the pattern is clear. William Branham did not receive his Laodicean "revelation" from divine revelation; he got it from Clarence Larkin and Charles Taze Russell.

My first priority is Jesus Christ, and my walk with Him. The Bible tells us that God’s Word is completely sufficient: "His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life" (2 Peter 1:3). We do not need a 20th-century human "vicar" or an "infallible" interpreter to have access to God’s grace.

If the Message is the truth, it must be able to withstand the light of simple, historical evidence. If it cannot, we must have the courage to stand on the side of truth.

Accuracy always beats comfortable illusions.

References

• Wycliffe Dictionary of Biblical Archeology, Charles F. Pfeiffer. 1973, Baker Book House Co.
• This information is based on material from Wikipedia. As a result, this article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License which governs this website as well.

Links to other articles in the series

This article is one in a series of studies on the Seven Church Ages - you are currently on the topic that is in bold:

• Introduction
• Ephesus
• Smyrna
• Pergamos
• Thyatira
• Sardis
• Philadelphia
• Laodicea
• CAB
• Last Messenger?

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