Buy God Refined by Fire/LAODICEA -Counsel on 'Becoming Rich'

 Is there a cure for the sad situation in Laodicea?  Yes, if those Christians will follow Jesus'  counsel:  "I advise you  to buy from me gold refined by fire that you may become rich." (Revelation 3:18a) True Christian "gold,"  refined by fire and with all the dross removed, will make them "rich" toward God." (Luke 12:21) Where can they buy such gold?  Not from the local bankers but from Jesus!  The apostle Paul explained what the gold is when he told Timothy to give orders to wealthy Christians  "to work at good, to be rich in fine works, to be liberal, ready to share, safely treasuring up for themselves a find foundation for the future."  Only by expending themselves  in this way could they "get a firm hold on the real life." (1 Timothy 6;17-19)   The materially wealthy Laodiceans should have followed Paul's advice and thus become spiritually rich. - See also PROVERBS 3:13-18.

Are there modern-day examples of those buying "gold refined by fire"? Yes, there are!  Even while the Lord's day was approaching,  a small group of Bible students was awakening to the falsity of Christendom's many Babylonish teachings, such as the Trinity, immorality of the soul, hellfire torment, infant baptism, and worship of images (including the cross and of those of Mary).  In championing the Bible truth, these Christians  proclaimed Jehovah's Kingdom as mankind's only hope and Jesus' ransom sacrifice as the basis for salvation.  Almost 40 years ahead of time, they pointed to 1014 as the year marked  in Bible prophecy as the end of the times of the Gentiles, accompanied by startling developments on earth. - REVELATION 1:10.

Taking the lead among these awakening Christians was Charles T. Russell, who, in the early 1870's, formed a Bible study class in Allegheny (now part of Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, U.S.A.  When he started his search for truth, Russell was in  partnership with his father and on his way to becoming a millionaire.  But he sold out  his chain-store business interests and spent his fortune in  helping us finance  the publishing of God's Kingdom in all the earth.  In 1884 Russell became the first president of the corporation now known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania.  In 1916 he died on a train near Pampa, Texas, en route to New York, exhausted by his preaching tour of the western United States.  He set an outstanding example of storing up spiritual treasures in heaven,  an example that is today followed by hundreds of thousands of self-sacrificing pioneer ministers. - HEBREWS 13:7; LUKE 12:33, 34; compare 1 CORINTHIANS 9:16; 11:1. 

Next time: Buy Gold Refined by Fire/LAODICEA - Applying Spiritual Eye Salve

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