community, and that was the root of her problems. Prosperity is as great a threat to God’s people as adversity. This church received the sternest of Christ’s letters. There is much censure here and no praise. The Lord begins by proclaiming himself to be the ‘Amen’ (his words are reliable and true), ‘the Faithful and True Witness’ (his witness to God is accurate and dependable) and ‘the Beginning of the creation of God’ (he, the source and agent of all creative activity, is supreme in rank over creation).