Who Were the Nicolaitians? - NCCG.ORG Ning Network Archive 2008-10

The English noun Nicolaitans derives from a compound of three Greek words. By examining these three words we can decipher its meaning.
Nikos means a conquest; victory; triumph; rulership of the conquered.

Laos means people - laymen, laity.

Ton in this case is roughly equivalent to the definite article "the."

This breaks down something like this:

Nicolaitans = The conquerors/rulers of the people (i.e. laity).

The sense of the term "teaching of the Nicolaitans", then, is: the doctrine in support of a clergy/priesthood class ruling over the laity. This is the ancient doctrine of the pagan mystery religions which is well-defined as priestcraft. More about priestcraft in a moment.

Notice that the "teaching of the Nicolaitans" equates to "the teachings of Balaam" mentioned in the preceding verse. Nicolaitans and Balaam mean very close to the same thing in their respective languages. Balaam derives from two Hebrew words, bāla (he swallows) and ām (people). Thus we have "conquerors of the people" and "swallowers of the people" - two ways of saying exactly the same thing. Therefore, identifying the "teachings of Balaam" will add further definition to the meaning of Nicolaitans. Notice these facts about Balaam.

Balaam was a soothsayer, a practicer of divination for personal gain (Joshua 13:22). To secure customers Balaam was a "swallower of the people" - i.e. a religious con artist. He made people believe that he was closer to the "gods" (including YHWH) than they were. That way, they would hire him to mediate the favor of the gods and would secure his services by payment of money and/or favors. Such soothsayers claimed knowledge of what I like to call religious mumbo-jumbo i.e. rites and rituals that only they are supposedly authorized to perform to secure the favor of the "gods." The occupation I have just described to you has been known from ancient times as a "priest." See these definitions:

A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities. [Wikipedia]

Ritual, Noun 1. a religious or other ceremony involving a series of fixed actions performed in a certain order. [TheFreeDictionary.com]

Now, consider the definition of priestcraft:

Priestcraft n. 1. Priestly policy; the policy of a priesthood; esp., in an ill sense, fraud or imposition in religious concerns; management by priests to gain wealth and power by working upon the religious motives or credulity of others. [TheFreeDictionary.com]

Now, consider the definition of witchcraft:

witchcraft - The use of magic, esp. for evil purposes.

mag·ic (mjk) n. 1. The art that purports to control or forecast natural events, effects, or forces by invoking the supernatural.

Thus, Balaam behaved in the manner of the pagan priests, fraudulently mediating between men and the "gods" by means of rites and rituals of divination (magic) to extract personal gain from others. This is the very essence of priestcraft.

When priests today perform their rituals and claim to turn wafers and wine into the actual body and blood of Christ (i.e. magic) for their paying audience they are practicing exactly the same thing, and many more examples could be cited through the length and breadth of world religion ..but I digress.

Balaam was hired by King Balak of Moab to curse Israel. Balaam attempted to apply the same mumbo-jumbo he used with all the false "gods" to YHWH and found that YHWH could not be controlled, but that YHWH was able, instead, to control him, to cause him to bless Israel instead! Finally, Balaam resorted to enticing Israel into idolatrous practices to get them to bring a curse upon themselves. By this manipulation Balaam earned his pay.

Let it not be lost upon us that Balaam's primission was to curse Israel , and that he used manipulations of priestcraft to draw Israel into practices of idolatry through which they brought curses upon themselves. (See Numbers 22-24)

Now, back to Revelation. At the time Revelation was written there were already many Gentile "Christians" that had grown up in the pagan mystery religions and who were well versed in the machinations of priestcraft. Many of these people distained Israel as Balaam did and sought to overturn the remnant of Israel from their place of leadership among the believers. These were the Nicolaitans Messiah was addressing in Revelation. Through the ungodly manipulations of priestcraft after the likeness of Balaam the Nicolaitans eventually succeeded in overturning the Biblical order of believing Israel in their midst, installing in its place a counterfeit priestcraft system by which they could be "the conquerors/rulers of the people (i.e. laity)." History shows us that these Balaamites were wildly successful in establishing the religious system Revelation describes as "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of the Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth." Even now she is moving ever closer to her day of judgment for her many and monumental sins against YHWH and His people. The warning goes out to her many captives! "Come out of her, My people, that you may not be partakers of her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues." [Given these facts, I don’t think I need to explain why Messiah “hates” the deeds of the Nicolaitans, nor why the Catholic Encyclopedia leaves out all I have explained here.] Rev 17:5, 18:4

(Eliyahu ben David/Steve Butt), Tsiyon News

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