Forgive the irreverance, but everytime I heard that phrase, I always thought “and also with you”. It was something I learned in an Episcopal Church that has always stuck out in my mind. It was just so automatic. The priest would say to the church, “the Lord be with you” and instantly a crowd of 400 would reply in one voice, “and also with you”.

It’s a rhythm thing, I can’t resist.

On to serious matters, though, it seems that our brother in Portland has been to the movies lately. It seems that his rhetoric is racheting up and is only bound to increase as he works through a study of the book of Revelations. I’ll give you a hint into those sermons – Thomas and his doctrine will be on the side of God. All others will be on the side of Satan. All symbolism that points to the Christian church will point to his specifically controlled, er, influenced congregations. The message intended to remind early Christians that God is sovereign and encourage them in their fight against Satan (and not the Romans) will be twisted into grow faster at all costs.

Skipping past the spoilers of Episode III, let’s start at this point:

A mere story, perhaps, yet there are many parallels to the ways of Satan, especially in the past few years in our fellowship of churches. Revelation 12 describes a galactic “war in heaven.” The powerful archangel Satan and his dark angels are hurled to the earth, where “Satan leads the whole world astray.” Confusion reigns and Satan speaks his “native language” of lies. (John 8:43-45) The loss of their “first love” for God, fear of persecution, toleration of sin and lukewarmness and most likely few baptisms are but some of the signs of Satan’s lies confusing our brothers in the first century and today. (Revelation 2-3) Paralleling the plight of the Jedi through the evil Emperor’s “order 66,” for the past three years many preachers of the truth were “cut down” by the very “saints” they led. Admittedly, many of us preachers at times fell short of God’s code of honor. Our loyalties to God and one another waned, similar to the Jedi leaders.

Satan’s native language is lies. He demonstrated this in a few places, especially during the temptaion of Jesus. (Matt 4:1-11) As far as the confusion spread by Satan in the churches mentioned in Revelation 2 – 3, let’s take a look:

• Loss of first love – Ephesus (Rev 2:1-7)
• Fear of persecution – Maybe Smyrna? (Rev 2:8-11)
• Toleration of Sin – Thyatira (Rev 2:18-28)
• Lukewarmness – Laodicea (Rev 3:14-22)
• Few Baptisms – ???

Ephesus was doing a lot of things right. They worked hard, they had suffered, they were perservering, they were dilligent in doctrine and tested the words of every speaker that came to town. However, despite the good works, what is missing is the motivation of love. It’s not that they aren’t feeling a certain emotion, it’s the impetus that drives the good works that is in question. There is a difference between doing the right thing from a sense of duty and doing the right thing for the sake of one you love. I serve my boss because it is my duty, I serve my wife because I love her. Satan’s lie here is “Do what is right so that God will love you.”

Smyrna was not rebuked for anything, therefore it doesn’t seem like Satan’s lies are taking hold here. They are told to take courage for the upcoming ten day persecution. This scene is very similar to Jesus’ words to Peter that Satan had asked to sift Peter and the other disciples like wheat (Luke 22:31). This is important later: this passage shows nothing about Satan creating confusion in this church by making them fear persecution. Even if it did (which it doesn’t), the persecution they will endure is prison.

Thyatira appears to have a Christian teacher (a woman, no less) that is teaching things she shouldn’t. She is characterized as ‘Jezebel’ because she is leading other believers into exual immorality. In addition, she also seems to be teaching some ‘deep secrets’ that really aren’t true at all. There were many teachers in the early church that promoted secret wisdom and the unveiling of ‘previously hidden’ teachings. This is similar to the serpent in the garden. He led Eve to sin by implying that there was more to know than what God was tellling her. It shows up today in adding to the gospel and/or adding to the Bible.

Laodicea had become very wealthy. Because they were not in want for comfort or food or shelter or other important physical needs, it seems they began to act as if they didn’t need God. How easy is it to take comfort and security from your possessions instead of God. Satan’s lie in this case is pretty clear, “You’ve got everything covered, you don’t need anything.”

As for the opinion that they ‘most likelt had few baptisms’, this is sheer specualtion. Jesus does not rebuke any of the seven churches for a lack of growth, nor does he commend any of them for their growth. For this reason, this point and any subsequent conclusion made from this point is an idea inserted into the text that is simply not there. Which church was commended for growing? Which one was rebuked for shrinking? This is also important later.

As far as a parallel to order 66, I have no doubt that innocent middlemen were punished for the sins of those higher up, especially the man at the top. On pages 19 and 20, Thomas details his viewpoint of what lead to the attacks on leaders from the people they were leading. Suffice it to say that the missing element was a “point man” or “quarterback” to lead. However, the implosion of the past three years has more to do with Galatians 6:7-10 than betrayal. To quote from RTRIII:

In retrospect, it is easily understood that they simply reaped from their own people
what they, in many cases unconsciously, had sown: the attitude of mistrust of those who led and
discipled them. (Matthew 7:1-5)

It’s important to deal with the ‘facts’ presented. Anyone can see analogies from Revenge of the Sith in the ICoC subculture. I think a few are accurate becuase Lucas always told a human story in all his movies. However, when Scripture is quoted, it is very important that things are not put into the text that simply are not there. The implication is made that the churches in Revelation were suffering because they lost their first love (evangelizing the world in one generation), were afraid of persecution, were tolerating sin, were being lukewarm and were probably not baptizing many people. For that reason, it is important to point out what the Scriptures were actually addressing to these churches:

The Ephesian church was doing many great things, but they did not have love.
The Symrnan church was poor, but persevering – Jesus urges them to have faith in the face of an upcoming ten day persecution. They were not rebuked for being afraid of persecution.
The Thyatiran church was tolerating sin because of a Gnostic teacher, not because of a lack of commitment.
The Laodicean church had become lukewarm because of their trust in wealth instead of God.
There is no encouragement or rebuke about the rate of conversions anywhere in chapters 2 and 3.

Therefore, the implication that a focus on world evangelism is a measure of how a church is doing can only come from one place: the author’s mind, not the Bible. This passage deals with seven churches, most of which received rebukes. If anything, the Ephesian church was ‘cranking’ but still rebuked for a lack of heart.

More tommorrow…