No attempt will be made to locate each one of these seven churches in Asia, to set in time when one ended and another came on the scene of history, that is totally unnecessary.  Just remember these words as you read about any one of these churches.  "The names of the seven churches are symbolic of the church in different periods of the Christian era.  The number seven indicates completeness, and is symbolic of the fact that the message extends to the end of time, while the symbols used reveal the condition of the church at different periods in the history of the world".  Acts of the Apostles 585.   If God's church out in Timbuktu today, revealed the conditions of those in verses 1 to 7, then that church would be in the Ephesus condition.  Every day are we not confronted with the doctrine of the Nicolaitans who boast of their belief?  "The doctrine is now largely taught that the gospel of Christ has made the law of God of no effect; that by 'believing' we, are released from the necessity of being doers of the word.  But, this is the doctrine of the Nicoilaitans, which Christ so unsparingly condemned".  7Bible Commentary 957.  Much could be learned by reading each one of these churches and their conditions.  If their conditions are not favorable with heaven, then we want to avoid being like that church.  We want to be found in the condition of a Philadelphian who have in their forehead "a new name" written.  Jesus tells a wonderful story of five wise and five foolish virgins in Matthew 25.  Read it again and again, and see if the five wise virgins fit the description of the Philadelphian's condition.  The five foolish fit the description of the Laodicean's condition.  Not one of the five foolish virgins entered into the wedding ceremony.  And not one Laodicean will be saved, but will all be spewed out by the mouth of God.

    "The state of the church represented by the foolish virgins is also spoken of as the Laodicean state". Review & Herald  Aug. 19, 1890.  "The church is in the Laodicean state.  The presence of God is not in her midst".  Notebook Leaflets, Education No. 6, Page 3.  If anyone is "proud to be a Laodicean" as a Conference President suggested years ago, they are in a condition where one "can not offer up ones prayers or expression to God". 6 Testimonies 408.  No one in their right mind would want that, so let us accept the remedy for Laodicea and come out of that condition, then we will be in the Philadelphian state.  "Even if all our leading men should refuse light and truth, that door will still remain open.  The Lord will raise up men who will give the people the message for this time". Testimonies to Ministers 107.  There are words on the book cover about the clergy being unemployed. Unemployed is not really the right word to use here because they will be very, very busy.  "These men were constantly saying 'God is with us.  We stand in the light.  We have the truth!'  I inquired who these men were, and was told that they were ministers and leading men who had rejected the light themselves, and were unwilling that other's should receive it". Early Writings 241.

    Very soon the final warning will sound, and the Later Rain will fall to empower God's witnesses to give the Loud Cry.  "...as the time comes for the Loud Cry to be given, the Lord will work through humble instruments, leading the minds of those who consecrate themselves to His service.  The laborers will be qualified rather by the unction of His spirit than by the training of literary institutions". Great Controversy 424, 1884 Edition.

    "There is to be in the churches a wonderful manifestation of the power of God, but it will not move upon those who have not humbled themselves before the Lord, and opened the door of the heart by confession and repentance.  In the manifestation of that power which lightens the earth with the glory of God, they will see only something which in their blindness they think dangerous, something which will arouse their fears, and they will brace themselves to resist it.  Because the Lord does not work according to their ideas and expectations, they will oppose the work.  'Why,' they say, 'should not we know the Spirit of God, when we have been in the work so many years?'—Because they did not respond to the warnings, the entreaties of the messages of God, but persistently said, 'I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.'" Review & Herald, December 23, 1890.

    Much documentation could be given showing that the Laodicean Church condition represents the foolish virgins, that our Saviour describes in Matthew 25.  Not one Laodicean will enter into heaven, that group are the ones that will eventually bow at the saints feet  See Revelation 3:9.  Yes, the Laodicean condition is worse than being a heathen.

    "The great mass of professing Christians will meet with bitter disappointment in the day of God.   Lukewarm and halfhearted they dishonor God for more than the avowed unbeliever.  They grope in darkness, when they might be walking in the noonday light of the word, under the guidance of the One who never errs."   Letter 121, 1903.