Broad meadows

In the letter to the the angel of the church at Pergamum, Jesus says, “These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.” Revelation 2:12b. In the book of Hebrews, the author writes, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12. The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 6:17, “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Focusing in on the phrase “it penetrates even to dividing soul , joints and marrow..”. This implies a precision that the Church doesn’t reach for and doesn’t want anyone else to, either. Much of the way the Bible is preached and taught emphasize the historical aspects of the Bible, but basically its teaching stops there. It’s not that the history part is wrong, it simply doesn’t go far enough in its examination of those scriptures. In Acts 18:28, it says of Apollos, “For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.” How many of us can do that? Not to boast, but I for one, can, using a whole of Bible approach.

I think it’s this lazy way of understanding scripture that leads to letters that Jesus sent to the angels of Sardis and Laodicea. To Sardis he writes, “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent.” Revelation 3:1-3.

To Laodicea he writes, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’” Revelation 33:15-17. The reason that there deeds are incomplete and lacking in a desire to know and understand God and His plan better I believe stems from a certain dismissiveness of how profound what we have in God’s word actually is, how precise it can actually be.

In spite of the warnings that the Lord gives through these letters, the various forms of the church has found its way to falling into one of these categories, but all of them stem from a lack of respect and more serious study of those scriptures that actually bring them to life in a more real way for the believer. It doesn’t please me to say such things, but this is what I have observed. When I was part of the Lutheran community, I found, through revelation and ultimately through scripture , that the doctrine of the real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper was wrong and what that ultimately meant, I was threatened with excommunication.

When I tried to show my more recent church, a small independent church, how I could show from the symbolism in the Old Testament to “prove from the scriptures” that Jesus and only Jesus could be the Messiah , but then in so doing, you were able to see individuals that came after biblical times, they called me a false teacher and barred me from the premises, a church I had taught at for over 17 years and was a member of for about 25 years.

This disinterest in any deeper understanding of scripture that basically showed beyond any reasonable doubt about the divine origin of scripture is baffling to me. Ostensibly, I was told people were too dumb to understand what I was explaining. This in spite of the fact that I had walked them through an exercise that allowed them to see someone outside of biblical times through a series of questions that led them to see Jesus as Messiah, but also Muhammad as the likely false prophet of Revelation. It is this disinterest that has caused them to misinterpret the book of Revelation. More on that in the next writing.