As to the 2nd. They were not "way off track" - have you read the texts?
- Ephesus: this was set up by Paul but were under John's bishopric. The text says "I know your toil...BUT I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ... Yet this you have, you hate the works of the NIcolaitans, which I also hate" -- note the Nicolaitans who took personal interpretation rather than holding to the faith taught to them by the Apostles. This is a refutation of the sola s argument
- Smyrna "... you may be tested" -- I don't see any "way off track"
- Pergamum: "you hold fast my name and did not deny my faith..but I have a few things against you" - a few things, not "way off tracks"
- Thyatira: "I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance.. (yet) you tolerate the woman Jezebel" - note in the first part that it is works+love+faith+service+patient endurance and in the latter it is a "yet" - this is not "way off the tracks"
- Sardis: "I know your works, you have the name of being alive and you are dead" - this one yes, looks way off tracks. Note again, he talks of their works
- Philadelphia: "I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name... Because youhave kept my word of patient endurance" -- again, no sign of "Way off the tracks"
- Laodicea: "i know your works yu are neither cold nor hot" - again, not "WAY off the tracks" - rather that their "works" and they are lukewarm
Ultimately these, with one exception are not "way off the tracks" - and that one example is due to sola S of the Nicolaitans rather than holding fast to the traditions and faith taught to them by the Apostles.
Now the Church that held on to this was the Church following the teachings of the Apostles, with the faith and traditions handed down.
This is in orthodoxy.
The evangelicalism, mormonisms etc. are as you point out of Sardis or of the Nicolaitans
Almost Clintonian in the minimalization of the word 'way'.
Nearly as good as the 'is' obfuscation Slick Willy pondered.
Acts 15:22-29
22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. 23 With them they sent the following letter:
The apostles and elders, your brothers,
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
Greetings.
24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Farewell.