Today I visit two of the Seven Churches mentioned in the book of Revelation. My reflections are not so much theological, but impressionistic. Looking at the sites of these Churches, what does the text trigger? I will leave the hard theology to my state-side colleagues.
The actual churches that inspired this foresight are gone or nearly gone. Their present state is reminder that Christianity can not merely be a matter of culture or tradition. It has to live in each generation of young people. Passing the faith from one generation to another is a matter bring best reason, passion, and action to education of the soul.
A Christian always attempts to conserve the best of the past (tradition) within the present context. He is a progressive conservative or a conservative progressive.
What is the message of John to Churches that would have a glorious future only to lose it all in the extinction of a conquest by a people who believed more strongly?
Not every conquered people (see the Greeks) lost their Christian faith in captivity, but these Churches did. Something was wrong.
The Revelation to Saint John says of Smyrna:
To the Church in Smyrna
8″And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.9″‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander[a] of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
Persecution comes even to a faithful Church. The preachers who say that Christianity will solve all earthly problems are wrong, often Christianity creates new problems. Intolerant people will not tolerate the truth claims of the Christian faith, look at the reaction of the “new atheists” to even the most unaggressive forms of Christian faith!
Pain is part of the school for souls in which all Christians are enrolled this side of Paradise.
The Greeks faced hundreds of years of persecution and endured. Nothing lasts forever and eventually the Greek nation was reborn, because a people kept faith in their future. Sadly, too many other people lost faith in the future in the harsh winds of persecution and second class citizenship and lost their faith. It is easy to think God is on the size of the winners, but God is less concerned about the short term (few hundred years) of human history and more concerned with individuals in the light of eternity.
Christianity is an all embracing life style and it will often offend those who demand total allegiance for the state.
Of course, some in Smyrna have endured and faced tragedy right through the twentieth century. Justice and the end of evil is only to be found in the joy of Revelation 21. Pain and persecution are real, but they are not the only problems a Church can face. Pressure from without is often not as difficult as bad ideas from within.
To Pergamum, John writes:
To the Church in Pergamum
12″And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.
13″‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith[b] even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. 15So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’
The Church of Pergamum had to deal with heresy . . . not a popular word in today’s culture. Safe to say most of us have been taught to root for the heretics and dislike the heresy hunters. Our only picture of the orthodox is a man who wants to use political power to enforce religious conformity. In such a situation, it is hard not to root for the heretic!
Most of the time, however, the heretic is not a bold freethinker. He is a man who twists the truth and deceives others to their harm. Often he benefits from his “new and improved” form of religion. It requires less spiritual discipline and learning to bend orthodoxy than to defend it. The spirit of the age, always changing from age to age, will applaud the heresy of the moment. Of course, the heresy of the last moment always looks absurd in the next moment and heresy is always evolving.
Christians eschew government power to enforce orthodoxy, but do rely of their freedom of association to draw lines! I do not wish to use the government to change men’s minds, but I can choose to associate with men whose ideas are vile.
There is no escape from the hard work of determining what the truth is, even in theology. We are led by the Spirit, but the Spirit is not whimsical and has chosen to speak to us in ways that are consistent. We can know the Spirit by recognizing its voice from all ages past.
Many Christians tire of creeds and theology. They hope that the life of the Spirit can somehow dispense with Orthodoxy and return to some charismatic world before theology where the Spirit led without heresy hunting. This Revelation should remind them that no such time exists. Christians believe in sound doctrine, because the Bible teaches us to do so. We worry about heresy, because the Bible teaches us to do so.
The Church of Pergamum faced bad ideas. God did not ask them just to “experience the conversation” or to merely dialog with the heretics. In the end, the community of the faithful had to draw lines in order to be faithful. Dialog? Yes, but not endless dialog which serves as an excuse for impotence.
Persecution tests our resolve externally. Do we love the things of this world more than the things of the world to come? Heresy tests our mental resolve. Do we love intellectual peace more than truth?
Standing on the site of these two cities of the Books reminds me of the need for strength within against the challenges of the times. I hope that my children remain part of the Church being faithful to both the culture and the doctrines of the Kingdom of Heaven.