Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Look at the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, Thyatira has the deep things of Satan and yet they also have those who don't know anything of the deep things. Pergamum has faithful ones like Antipas, but they also have the false prophet Balaam who is teaching them to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication. Sardis has a bunch of unfinished works that have not been established, yet they also have a few that are dressed in white and will walk with the Lord. The only churches to not get a rebuke are Smyrna and Philadelphia. Philadelphia has not denied the Lord's name (which indicates other churches had otherwise it would not be much of a commendation) and they have kept the Lord's word (again indicating that other churches have not kept the Lord's word). Laodicea is the worst with the Lord saying they are going to make Him vomit and He isn't even in their midst (which indicates they aren't even meeting in the name of the Lord). The only word to them is to get out of that church.
What we are seeing in these letters to Ephesus, Thyatira, Pergamum, and Sardis is the wheat and tares growing together. What we are seeing is the apostasy and the genuine believers mixed together like Antipas and Balaam, or the synagogue of Satan and the church of Philadelphia. But the wheat and the tares are separated when we get to Philadelphia and Laodicea. By the time we get to Philadelphia we have both this church and we have "the synagogue of Satan". Recently there was a big "Christian" meeting that opened with a male stripper. When someone objected they were the one that was expelled. This is obviously "the synagogue of Satan". With Laodicea Jesus is not even inside the meeting, indicating they are not meeting in the name of Jesus, and His message to those in it is to get out.
What separates them is the ten days of trial that we see with Smyrna.
The tares begin their growth by "leaving their first love" in Ephesus. By the time you get to Laodicea this separation is complete and they have fully left Jesus.
Ephesus began by not being able to bear those that are evil but by Laodicea they have become fully tolerant of those that are evil. Initially they tried those that said they were apostles and weren't but with Laodicea all those who claim to be apostles aren't. Initially the church was very good at pulling up the weeds but they had one mistake, they left their first love. That was the merciful savior that saved them when they were sinners. The Lord's promise was that if they overcome they will get to eat of the tree of life, that means they weren't eating of the tree of life they were eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
This progresses and with Smyrna we see the church being put to death, sown into the ground.
Then with Pergamos the first tender shoots of the tares is idol worship taught by Balaam, the false prophet. They eat things sacrificed to idols. The wheat grows up from the martyrs like Antipas who hold fast the Lord's name and do not deny the faith. Christmas and Easter are two prominent examples of how the false prophet taught church to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication. This is also where we see the tares holding the doctrine of the nicolaitans, to have a clergy laity system.
When you get to Thyatira the tares have grown and now have Jezebel, a woman calling herself a prophetess that doesn't simply teach but also seduces the Lord's people to commit fornication. Now the pageantry in the church grows and becomes seductive. Not only so but there are those that commit adultery with her, she claims to be the bride of Christ while she is also cutting deals with kings and governors. This is the deep things of Satan and this is how the deep state comes into being.
By the time we get to Sardis we realize that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil results in death. The church tries to imitate all the saints and all the men of God, it dresses up with names that are alive while the church itself is dead. We see the church drying up and dying as people leave. As a result you have two different churches that come out of this dead church. One turns whole heartedly to the Lord in Philadelphia. They are poor, but rich in Spirit. The other is well funded, they have TV ministry, Online ministry, big campuses, and push the "prosperity gospel" claiming to be rich and yet are poor, blind, and naked. They will do anything to attract members and as a result the sin begins to stink and smell up the place.