I was filling up my tank today at a gas station on a bluff that overlooked the Ohio River. I had spent the previous few hours walking on this sunny day and from the pumps I could see clearly over a mile down the river where a wall of rain looked like an Arabian sandstorm coming in. Above it were ominous black clouds. There was little or no breeze. It only took a few minutes but that cloud came closer and closer as the breeze became a wind and then a storm. The rain started as a drizzle, turned into large droplets and then a deluge. What went through my mind during this sequence was America and the coming storm that I can see as clearly as the one coming up the Ohio River. The following post is from 2012:
The Seven Churches
The third verse in the Book Of Revelation reads "Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of this prophesy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near." (ESV) A fair amount of my reading in the Bible is in this book along with the Old Testament prophets. These have been for every believer in every age since they were written but one would be especially unwise to ignore them today. The second and third chapters of Revelation are seven letters written to seven churches. They were real churches that existed. Some Christians believe that these churches describe seven church ages. I have never been convinced of that theory. Other Christians believe that those seven churches exist today according to the descriptions given. I do ascribe to this theory. There is an Ephesus church today, and a Smyrna church, and a Pergamum church, and a Thyatira church, and a Sardis church, and a Philadelphia church and a Laodicea church. I'm not talking about denominations or even continents where these churches might be located, rather a mindset for each church that could be located anywhere.
I really don't go any further with this other than to say that it would behoove all Christians to meditate on the warnings given to these seven churches and to consider where we as individuals might fit in. It seems to me that this is the purpose of this part of Scripture. I can see myself at times as representing five of these churches excluding only Smyrna and Philadelphia, and I stand in dire need to hear the corresponding warnings as if written directly to me!
Yesterday I just happened to come across a church website of a fairly large church in a very large denomination. There must have been thirty or forty pages listing every ministry imaginable, and their calender was filled with activities that involved the community. Although I didn't listen to any of the sermons, the topics were generic and non-offensive. Most troubling of all was the mission statement and 'beliefs' links which had far less words in total than I have written so far in this particular post. This type of church is in every city of America, maybe in every community of America and we are what we are today, that of near demise, in no small part because of it.
No...Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of this prophesy..!. The warnings given in these chapters of Revelation are never far from my mind and from my own self-examination. Although all seven of these churches are probably within America somewhere, we seem to be typically Laodicean. This last statement would probably upset many pew sitters, ministry leaders and pastors but such is to be expected. I, for one, take these warnings very seriously and encourage any readers of these posts to do the same thing....for the time is near!
The Seven Churches
The third verse in the Book Of Revelation reads "Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of this prophesy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near." (ESV) A fair amount of my reading in the Bible is in this book along with the Old Testament prophets. These have been for every believer in every age since they were written but one would be especially unwise to ignore them today. The second and third chapters of Revelation are seven letters written to seven churches. They were real churches that existed. Some Christians believe that these churches describe seven church ages. I have never been convinced of that theory. Other Christians believe that those seven churches exist today according to the descriptions given. I do ascribe to this theory. There is an Ephesus church today, and a Smyrna church, and a Pergamum church, and a Thyatira church, and a Sardis church, and a Philadelphia church and a Laodicea church. I'm not talking about denominations or even continents where these churches might be located, rather a mindset for each church that could be located anywhere.
I really don't go any further with this other than to say that it would behoove all Christians to meditate on the warnings given to these seven churches and to consider where we as individuals might fit in. It seems to me that this is the purpose of this part of Scripture. I can see myself at times as representing five of these churches excluding only Smyrna and Philadelphia, and I stand in dire need to hear the corresponding warnings as if written directly to me!
Yesterday I just happened to come across a church website of a fairly large church in a very large denomination. There must have been thirty or forty pages listing every ministry imaginable, and their calender was filled with activities that involved the community. Although I didn't listen to any of the sermons, the topics were generic and non-offensive. Most troubling of all was the mission statement and 'beliefs' links which had far less words in total than I have written so far in this particular post. This type of church is in every city of America, maybe in every community of America and we are what we are today, that of near demise, in no small part because of it.
No...Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of this prophesy..!. The warnings given in these chapters of Revelation are never far from my mind and from my own self-examination. Although all seven of these churches are probably within America somewhere, we seem to be typically Laodicean. This last statement would probably upset many pew sitters, ministry leaders and pastors but such is to be expected. I, for one, take these warnings very seriously and encourage any readers of these posts to do the same thing....for the time is near!
