7 Church Ages/ The final age... Laodecia...the lukewarm church

[amadeus]

I looked at the history of the 7 churches and they were all in Asia but each came and went in different periods of time....and none of them exist today...
Google Image Result for https://www.blueletterbible.org/assets/images/study/larkin/dispensationalTruth/c72.jpg

I looked up this one on Wikipedia because my old pastor [will be 97 next month] many years ago visited one of those old cities in modern Turkey, Smyrna, now known as Izmir.

Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara.

İzmir has more than 3,000 years of recorded urban history. In classical antiquity, the city was known as Smyrna, a name which remained in use in English and various other languages until around 1930 when government efforts led the original Greek name to be gradually phased out internationally in favor of its Turkish counterpart Izmir.

Years ago he told me about that visit but I recall little of it now. I will check with him again to have him recite the story to me again.

 

[michaelvpardo]

Not finished....
“And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:”
— Zechariah 4:2 (KJV)
“And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.”
— Revelation 4:5 (KJV)

Now I hope I can articulate this well...I fully believe the 7 Churches addresses 7 stages the church movement would go through before His Return...church ages as some call them...
And as each church was addressed each had a different greeting and a different closing...I believe it is because of how the church was progressing...

This is an old concept in terms of "church ages" and there might be truth to it, but those scriptures also address individuals in the church as we all go through "stages" in life where Christ's commendations and rebukes are applied to our own hearts. I'm not suggesting that all Christians experience all the things discussed in these addresses to the church, but rather that all Christians experience some of them and that they are appropriate for "all with an ear to hear." Consequently, at any given time, all 7 types of church coexist, not as assemblies but as the spiritual status in the various hearts of believers living around the world.
I'm sure that I've made an argument from scripture before about the conditions and spiritual issues associated with apostasy. God started warning the congregation of Israel about these things under Moses, beginning with the book of Deuteronomy (as far as I can recall) and the modern prosperity doctrines encourage the pursuit of those very things God says will lead to "turning away."
For those who haven't read it, I would recommend a thoughtful reading of John Bunyan's novel "The Pilgrim's Progress". It's an allegorical tale of the journey of one pilgrim on the road to salvation and describes experiences common to most of the saints in receiving the gospel and attempting life's journey in sanctification.

 

[Heart2Soul]

This is an old concept in terms of "church ages" and there might be truth to it, but those scriptures also address individuals in the church as we all go through "stages" in life where Christ's commendations and rebukes are applied to our own hearts. I'm not suggesting that all Christians experience all the things discussed in these addresses to the church, but rather that all Christians experience some of them and that they are appropriate for "all with an ear to hear." Consequently, at any given time, all 7 types of church coexist, not as assemblies but as the spiritual status in the various hearts of believers living around the world.
I'm sure that I've made an argument from scripture before about the conditions and spiritual issues associated with apostasy. God started warning the congregation of Israel about these things under Moses, beginning with the book of Deuteronomy (as far as I can recall) and the modern prosperity doctrines encourage the pursuit of those very things God says will lead to "turning away."
For those who haven't read it, I would recommend a thoughtful reading of John Bunyan's novel "The Pilgrim's Progress". It's an allegorical tale of the journey of one pilgrim on the road to salvation and describes experiences common to most of the saints in receiving the gospel and attempting life's journey in sanctification.

Yes...physical church-physical body,,,x
spiritual temple-spiritual body
It has a dual subject matter.

 

[Heart2Soul]

No it hasn't. Whoever made that chart is inaccurate and frankly a bit unfaithful.
That chart claims the faithful church (Philadelphia type), the church of brotherly love ended in 1900.
In 1900 there were 500 million Christians. Now there is 2.65 billion. That's growth! The Gospel has been spread throughout the last 1989 years exactly how God ordained it to.
IF YOU do not believe this, then you have an unfaithful view of our SOVEREIGN LORD.
He is in control!
The Body and all who were written in it before history are saved and the LORD is right on schedule down to the exact number - all His sheep.
That is what sovereignty means. He factors all our failures, blunders errors and sin into His perfect plan. We have faithful churches that grow tremendously and we have dead churches with only a few alive in those churches. We have persecuted churches - take a trip to southern Sudan or any Muslim nation or China, where Christians have to meet in secrecy, in private home groups. They are getting their heads chopped off as we speak.
We have all the types present today. The workers are few and the givers are few - always been that way. We have faithful Christians giving it their all, sacrificing their lives. We have churches that teach false doctrine, materialistic churches .. BUT GOD IS IN CONTROL AND RIGHT ON COURSE. The Gospel has always pushed forward.
His purpose for His Church cannot be thwarted by man or Satan.
"For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’” (Isaiah 46:9-10, ESV).

I think I continued and spoke of His Church that He is restoring which is present today...the other is a historical run up.
However you call it we are in the final time of judgment on the church....
Gathering the harvest and separating the wheat from the tares.
Have a blessed day.

 

[Heart2Soul]

That chart claims the faithful church (Philadelphia type), the church of brotherly love ended in 1900.

The physical church ceased...none of those churches still stand.

 

[Ronald David Bruno]

The physical church ceased...none of those churches still stand.

Yes but your chart wasn't describing those physical churches.
My prayer for you is that you are among faithful brothers and sisters and attend a church like the Church of Philadelphia.
GOD is sovereign!

 

[Heart2Soul]

Yes but your chart wasn't describing those physical churches.
My prayer for you is that you are among faithful brothers and sisters and attend a church like the Church of Philadelphia.
GOD is sovereign!

Oh I didn't use that image except to show the years they existed...couldn't find any other kind of chart