Re: How do you account for this?

"The Church" is the entirety of the body of Christ, His Pure Bride

These Chapters in John's revelation are talking about physical churches and using them metephoricaly as an example to the type of Christians that exist.

The churches are from places like Philadelphia ,Sardis ,Ephesus, and Pergamum

Just as Paul wrote to the church at Corinth.

1 Cor 1:2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

it is obvious that he is talking to them as brothers. Yet the entire book for the most part is telling them not to eat all the bread and wine and leave the poor poeple outside while you get wasted. Or don't be having sex with all your family members. So he spoke to them as Christians. Yet he told them they were messed up and needed to change. A lot of this is because they were coming from paganism and were struggling with these concepts.