Barry has deluded himself into thinking that nothing and no one can stop his lust for the power to control our lives.The Founding Fathers made our right to bear arms the second amendment for a reason.Does he think the police and the military would fire on law-abiding citizens on his sayso?It seems inevitable that this is coming.He has never understood the spirit that made this country what it was.There are things that a free people hold dear and are willing to die for.Liberals don’t understand that anymore.
In January of 2010, Pro-Abortion protesters illegally blocked the sidewalk outside a Louisville abortion clinic. Pro-Life sidewalk counselor David Hamilton walked through the Pro-Abortion line while speaking with a woman entering the abortion clinic and was arrested. The case was correctly dismissed.
Almost a year later, despite the fact it was pro-Abortion protesters who were blocking the sidewalk AND the case against Hamilton had been dropped at the local level, Barack Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder filed charges against Hamilton under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
This lawsuit was part of a campaign of intimidation on the part of the Pro-Abortion Obama Administration in which AG Holder filed numerous lawsuits against Pro-Lifers for trivial offenses that should have been and often were handled locally.
So far, the effort has been a colossal waste of taxpayer money and an outrageous abuse of the rights of American citizens whose only “crime” is to disagree with the anti-baby agenda of the Left-Wing thugs in Washington.
Due to the valiant efforts of the Life Legal Defense Foundation on behalf of individual citizens targeted by the massive, well-funded Department of Justice Obama machine, Hamilton’s case was recently dismissed without an injunction and without a fine.
This is good news. But the fact remains that charges like these should never see the light of day in the United States of America. Even worse, more serious cases, like the one pending against Hobby Lobby, continue.
For the eleventh year running, this atheistic Communist nation is the most difficult place on Earth to be a Christian. Christians face arrest, detention, torture, even public execution.
#2 thru #9 and #11 EXTREME: SAUDI ARABIA, AFGHANISTAN, IRAQ, SOMALIA, MALDIVES, MALI, IRAN, YEMEN, SYRIA = MUSLIM
In these Islamic nations, Christians risk imprisonment, lashing, deportation and torture. Muslims who convert to Christianity risk honour killings.
#10 EXTREME: ERITREA = STATE-CONTROLLED DENOMINATIONS ONLY
The government bans all but state-approved, registered Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran or Islamic groups. Anyone discovered to be an evangelical is tortured and forced to revert to the registered denominations. If they don’t, they are held in military camps without trial.
Over this series, I’ve mentioned my belief that, in order for my interpretation of the Letters to be valid, it had to apply to all seven of them in the same way. And I’ve told y’all my puzzlements over the last three, which didn’t fit the format I’d established for the first four. Today, when I gathered my Bible, yellow pad, sharp pencils and the all-important cuppa joe, I gave extra attention to my pre-Scripture reading prayer for insight. I’m sure the Lord provided; the real question is … did I hear Him correctly?
At the end of the fourth Letter, there is a kind of entr’acte that suggests the first four Letters are one group, while the last three are another. This possibility is supported by the parallels we saw with the Seals. There are seven Seals, but only four Seraphim and four Horses. So perhaps it does not negate my interpretations thus far that the last three Letters do not fit the pattern for the first four.
Entr’acte: [AWN tract] A pause between two parts of a stage production, often a place where a piece of music is performed.
I said in Part Three that each of the seven letters follows the same pattern:
Address “To the angel of the church in ___;
Description of the exalted Christ, author of the letter;
Lessons for the church;
Exhortation “Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches”;
Promise to “victors” – i.e., all Christians who endure faithfully to the end.
I got that wrong. In the first three Letters, the Exhortation “Whoever has ears” precedes the Promise to the “victors”; in the last four Letters, those two bits are reversed. This might suggest the Letters group up 3-4, not 4-3, as I am proposing, except for the Seraphim, Horses and this Entr’acte that appears at the end of the Letter to Thyatira [Rev 2:26-29]:
To the victor, who keeps to my ways until the end,
I will give authority over the nations.
He will rule them with an iron rod.
Like clay vessels will they be smashed,
Just as I received authority from my Father.
And to him I will give the morning star.
Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Parts of this are straight out of Psalm 2. The majority of the Psalms were composed as songs for liturgical worship. We may speak these as poetry, but the early Christians sang them. And the Book of Revelation was clearly intended to be read aloud to the congregation. It says so right in the beginning:
Blessed is the one who reads aloud and blessed are those who listen to this prophetic message and heed what is written in it. -Rev 1:3
I’m guessing that Psalm 2, being a Messianic Hymn, would have been a particular favorite of the early Christians, most of whom were raised Jewish. In fact, it breaks itself down very easily into a little bitty oratorio. (See below for definition of oratorio. If anyone knows a better term for a piece of music like this that is “little bitty”, please share it with the class. Thanks!)
Imagine, if you will, that your congregation often performed Psalm 2.
CHOIR:
Why do the nations protest and the peoples conspire in vain?
Kings on earth rise up and princes plot together against the LORD and against his anointed one:
CONGREGATION (PLOTTERS):
“Let us break their shackles and cast off their chains from us!”
CHOIR:
The one enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord derides them,
Then he speaks to them in his anger, in his wrath he terrifies them:
BASS SOLO (GOD):
“I myself have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”
BARITONE SOLO (JESUS)
I will proclaim the decree of the LORD, he said to me,
BASS SOLO (GOD):
“You are my son; today I have begotten you.
Ask it of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance,
and, as your possession, the ends of the earth.
With an iron rod you will shepherd them,
like a potter’s vessel you will shatter them.”
CHOIR:
And now, kings, give heed; take warning, judges on earth.
Serve the LORD with fear; exult with trembling,
Accept correction lest he become angry and you perish along the way when his anger suddenly blazes up.
CONGREGATION (FAITHFUL):
Blessed are all who take refuge in him!
Isn’t that beautiful?! And, if you’ve been following my blogs, you won’t have missed that the themes here are the same as those running through the first four Letters. My point here is that for first century readers and congregations, those lines at the end of the fourth Letter – while not identical or complete – would have been understood as parts of the liturgical song we call Psalm 2. It would be as if someone today were to plunk these lines into the middle of a sermon:
Amazing Grace! What a sweet sound.
I once was lost, but now am found.
Even if the reader didn’t actually sing the lines, it would be almost impossible for him not to speak them in the song’s cadence or for the congregation to not comprehend that the couplet referenced the entire song.
Consider the impact of the whole of Psalm 2, especially coming on top of the first four Letters. Then add this bit:
Just as I received authority from my Father.
And to him I will give the morning star.
That reference to the “morning star” is from 2 Peter 1:12-21 in which the Apostle Peter says, “I will always remind you [that] we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.” Then, he describes the Transfiguration of Jesus:
For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory,
“This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. Moreover, we possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable. You will do well to be attentive to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
Look again at the end of the Letter to Thyatira [Rev 2:26-29]. Do you see why I think it’s an entr’acte that sums up and emphasizes the major themes of the first four Letters? Can you imagine how potent it would be if the reader left off at the end of verse 25 and the church choir performed the last part like this:
BARITONE SOLO (JESUS)
To the victor, who keeps to my ways until the end,
I will give authority over the nations.
He will rule them with an iron rod.
Like clay vessels will they be smashed,
Just as I received authority from my Father.
BASS SOLO (GOD):
And to him I will give the morning star.
CHOIR:
Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Introduction to the Psalms from the New American Bible (Catholic translation) – “The Hebrew Psalter numbers 150 songs. The corresponding number in the Septuagint differs because of a different division of certain Psalms. Hence the numbering in the Greek Psalter (which was followed by the Latin Vulgate) is usually one digit behind the Hebrew. In the New American Bible the numbering of the verses follows the Hebrew numbering; many of the traditional English translations are often a verse number behind the Hebrew because they do not count the superscriptions as a verse.” http://www.usccb.org/bible/scripture.cfm?bk=Psalms&ch=
An oratorio is a large musical composition in which a choir, soloists and an ensemble play various distinguishable characters, usually with an orchestral accompaniment. Unlike an opera, an oratorio is performed as a concert piece, without props or costumes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oratorio
The Jefferson County Democratic Party was made aware of the ongoing criminal investigation and honored Carson anyway. Anyone wanna ask me again why I am positive Obama didn’t WIN the damn election?
In Chapter One of the Book of Revelation (verses 10-11), John says a voice as loud as a trumpet told him to, “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.” After the last Letter, John says that he sees an open door to Heaven and again hears the voice like a trumpet inviting him to “come up here and I will show you what must happen afterwards.”
Since I’ve been exploring the idea that the seven Letters are about Church history from the Age of the Apostles to the End Times, I first thought “afterwards” meant “after the time of the last Letter.” E.g., Like maybe after the Rapture, something I hope happens BEFORE the Tribulation itself, especially if it’s soon enough that me and mine are still breathing air, since I’d way prefer we all get caught up together before the you know poo hits the you know fan.
Since I am trying to read the Scriptures to find out what they actually say, not read into them what I would prefer they say, but couldn’t make any headway with the last three Letters, I just kept reading those first four chapters over and over until I realized it makes more sense for “afterwards” to mean “after this vision is over” … which would put the beginning of the heavenly vision (i.e., the opening the Seven Seals) back at the time of the first Letter, when John wrote Revelation (mid-90s AD).
If this is a true interpretation, the opening of the first four Seals should mirror the time periods in the first four Letters we’ve already studied here. And maybe if that’s true, then the last three Seals will offer some insight into what the last three Letters mean. So, for the past few days, I’ve been studying those first four Seals. And, you know what? They DO mirror the first four Letters! Let’s look.
In the heavenly vision, John sees “four living creatures” around the throne, praising God day and night. [Rev 4:6-8] We know from Isaiah 6:1-2 that these creatures are Seraphim (or Seraphs, both are correct plurals for Seraph). In Rev 6:1-8, we watch Jesus break open the first four Seals and the four Seraphim call out the Four Horses of the Apocalypse.
Now, watch what happens when I link up my speculations about the first four Letters with the four Seraphim and the first four Seals.
The Letter to Ephesus appears to be addressed to the faithful of the Apostolic Age and maybe also to those in later times when the political climate allowed Christians to teach and preach freely. This is mirrored by the symbolism of the First Seal.
Lion: Symbol of Jesus and the might and boldness of the righteous. See: Rev 5:5, Prov 30:30, Prov 28:1.
White: Symbol of Jesus at Transfiguration and the purity of those cleansed from sin. See: Matt 17:2, Psalm 51:7.
Bow: A bow and arrow is a powerful tool for military and hunting, with penetrating power and deadly accuracy even at a distance. But a bow is also likened to the tongue, which seems a more likely choice since the White Horseman has no arrows or quiver. See: Jer 9:3.
Crown: Symbol of victory. See: James 1:12.
“He rode forth victorious to further his victories.” This suggests the war has already been fought and won. In other words, Jesus is risen and now the Word of God goes forth to further victories.
SECOND
Letter: Smyrna. Seraph: Calf. Seal: Red, Sword.
The Letter to Smyrna appears to be addressed to the faithful of the 200 years of Roman persecution (roughly 100 to 313 AD) and maybe also to those in later times when political powers again warred against and martyred God’s people for their faith.
Calf: The Greek word here means a young female (heifer) or male (bull) cow and is sometimes translated as ox. Sacrificing bovines was an important part of Hebrew rituals. See: Genesis 15 (God seals his covenant with Abram); Leviticus 1 (The Law of Burnt Offerings); Leviticus 4 (The Law of Sin Offerings), Numbers 19 (Ashes of Red Heifer for ritual cleansing). When Jesus came, “He entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.” See Hebrews 9:11-14.
Red: Blood. “Why is your apparel red, and your garments like one who treads the wine press? … Their blood spurted on my garments, all my apparel I stained.” Psalm 63:2-3
Sword: “Its rider was given power to take peace away from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another.”
THIRD
Letter: Pergamum. Seraph: Human Face. Seal: Black, Scale, Famine.
The Letter to Pergamum appears to be addressed to the faithful of the Early Middle Ages (roughly 313 to 1,000 AD) and maybe also to those in later times where poverty and famine were rampant.
Human Face: This one is kind of cryptic. The best I can figure is that famine is the most personal, up close and face-to-face of God’s “four evil punishments – sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague” [Ezek 14:21]. Wild beasts and disease are impersonal and there’s a frenzy and a heat to war that depersonalizes even hand-to-hand combat. But hunger is slow and very personal.
Black: In Lamentations 4:8-9, the color black is associated with famine. “Now their appearance is blacker than soot, they go unrecognized in the streets; Their skin has shrunk on their bones, and become dry as wood. Better for those pierced by the sword than for those pierced by hunger, Better for those who bleed from wounds than for those who lack food.”
Scale: A tool that measures stuff by weight. A voice tells the Black Horseman, “A ration of wheat costs a day’s pay, and three rations of barley cost a day’s pay.” In other words, during famine, food is sold at such an exorbitant price that one wage earner could barely keep himself alive, much less feed dependents.
Famine: Because of the political chaos, general poverty, and lack of food storage technology during the Dark Ages, people were very dependent on what they could actually grow in a year. Obviously, a single bad harvest meant people went hungry. But the Black Horseman of Famine received the cryptic limitation to “not damage the olive oil or the wine.” Remember when I talked about how the hidden manna (Part 8) and the white amulet (Part 9) in the letter to Pergamum worked well as symbols of Baptism and Eucharist? And then again (Part 11) when I talked about how I believe the Holy Spirit protected the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, even as He permitted wicked popes to sin? I think this limitation might be part of that. Olive oil has been used as part of the Baptism ritual from very early on. And wine, of course, is used for Holy Eucharist.
FOURTH
Letter: Thyatira. Seraph: Eagle in Flight. Seal: Pale Green, Death and Hades.
I looked at a number of Pale Horse paintings that depicted Death and Hades in various frightening forms, but the one I found the most creepy was the one above, where we can’t see the enemy.
The Letter to Thyatira appears to be addressed to the faithful of the Late Middle Ages (roughly 1,000 – 1,500 AD) and maybe also to those in later times where political and religious corruption led to enormous loss of life due to war, famine, disease and “the beasts of the earth” … which I’m thinking could extend to geological- and weather-related “beasts.”
Eagle in Flight: Eagles are very far-sighted and search for prey from heights of 1,000 feet or more. In other words, you can’t really see them coming. When one spots a likely victim, it drops suddenly and slams into its prey with incredible force and precision. An eagle in flight is a truly terrifying metaphor for any kind of enemy!
Pale Green: The skin color of a dead person. It also gets translated as ashen, pale, pale-colored, sickly pale. Dan 10:8 “No strength remained in me; I turned the color of death and was powerless.”
Death and Hades: “Its rider was named Death, and Hades accompanied him. They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and plague, and by means of the beasts of the earth.”
I briefly discussed the wars and Black Plague in the Late Middle Ages, but only today came across an article at Wikipedia about a huge famine that killed millions all across Northern Europe in the first half of the fourteenth century. Oddly enough, the famine was partly due to global climate change. (That would be prior to the widespread use of fossil fuels, Mr. Gore.) As you can see on this traditionally accepted climate graph (the one the Gore-acles have replaced wherever possible with their faked up hockey stick thing), our climate became quite a lot warmer and more comfy for all God’s creatures for an extended period called the Medieval Warm Period.
During this time, fewer people died before bearing children, so there was a growth in population, if not in political stability or food storage technologies. When the climate began to cool again, harvests shrunk, putting the pinch on for society’s poor, who at that time occupied about 95% of the population. Bad weather led to universal crop failures in 1315, 1316 and 1317; millions died and Europe did not fully recover until 1322. It was a period marked by extreme levels of crime, disease, mass death and even cannibalism and infanticide. The Black Plague hit a few decades later killing millions more.
I don’t know much about any deaths due to the usual “beasts of the earth” … apart from the kind that carried the Plague germs. But I think this phrase can be legitimately stretched to include natural disasters, of which I found a bunch listed at Wikipedia:
1091: London experienced Britain’s earliest reported tornado, which only destroyed London Bridge and a bunch of churches, but also more than 600 homes.
1117: A powerful earthquake that destroyed most of the buildings in Verona, Italy, was felt all across northern Italy and even in Switzerland.
1138: The deadliest earthquake in recorded history (outside of China where the top two happened) hit Aleppo in northern Syria. Aleppo was really not a good place to be at that time, what with the Crusaders and the Muslims having at it and buildings falling down all around.
1170: A catastrophic flood in the Netherlands drowned an entire forest and turned a freshwater lake into the salt-water Zuiderzee.
1287: Two massive storms actually reworked the coastlines of England and The Netherlands, leaving some towns that had stood by the sea landlocked, while others that had been inland on the shore.
1343: A huge earthquake caused significant damage and loss of life around Naples, plus set off a tsunami that destroyed ports all along the Amalfi Coast.
1404: A catastrophic flood hit Flanders, Zeeland and Holland, washing away islands and wiping out entire towns.
1428: Probably the worst earthquake in the history of the Pyrenees struck Catalan. The fallout lasted well over a year and the event remains a point of reference for the study of seismic risk.
That’s just SOME of the list of natural disasters from the Late Middle Ages. And we thought we had stuff to gripe about.
I still have no idea what the last 3 Seals or the last 3 Letters have to do with anything. If I figure it out, I’ll get back to you.
————
Sources:
Eerdman’s Handbook to the History of Christianity [Eerdmans Publishing, 1977]
The New Bible Dictionary [Eerdmans Publishing, 1962]
"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." --Nathaniel Hawthorne
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