your opinion please

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Phi Run Ltd

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what is the significance is of Christ finding fault with 6 of the 7 churches in Revelation?

what, is your opinion of what these churches represent?

has anyone learned anything personally from the failures of the churches?
 

Stranger

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Phi Run Ltd

Pleased to meet you.

The significance of Christ finding fault with six of the seven churches to me is that the Church must always guard against error. And the errors described in these churches will always be used of Satan to infiltrate the Church.

I believe these churches were real churches with these real problems, and faithfulness, and were so picked by the Holy Spirit to warn us of the problems the Church will face through out its history, and to encourage us in our faithfulness. Plus, I believe these churches prophetically describe the course of the Church throughout its history.

Stranger
 

Deborah_

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Phi Run Ltd said:
what is the significance is of Christ finding fault with 6 of the 7 churches in Revelation?

what, is your opinion of what these churches represent?

has anyone learned anything personally from the failures of the churches?
All Christ's churches have imperfections and flaws. These vary from church to church. Some are bigger than others. Maybe intensely persecuted churches tend to be 'purer'.

The failures of the churches are corporate failures, so I'm not sure how personal the application can be. But we should all be aware of the possibility of letting our love for Christ grow cold, or of compromising with idolatry (just to give two examples).

The fact that there are seven churches (the symbolic number of completeness) suggests that they stand for the whole church (worldwide, and in every age). I'm sure that we could find examples of all seven in the world today.
 

Phi Run Ltd

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Christ said this 2,000 years ago:

When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ On its arrival, it finds the house vacant, swept clean and put in order. 45Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and dwell there; and the final plight of that man is worse than the first. So will it be with this wicked generation.”
 
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ezekiel

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Only one fault not hearing God. If all would spend time with Gods word all ways thinking on his words He will council you.
 

bbyrd009

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as you are considered to be building a temple, that must withstand and be unassailable, the outline of the shortcomings of the churches can be personally applied to your walk. Even the Church at Philadelphia is characterized as having "little strength." Imo this is a discussion of the "seven" pitfalls you might/will encounter in your walk, that oppose the seven spirits of God in some way.
 

mjrhealth

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Only one fault not hearing God. If all would spend time with Gods word all ways thinking on his words He will council you
If you are talking about the bible. God has no plans to teach anyone the bible, you can read it for yourself, now if you want to know Jesus well there only one way to do that, is spend a lot of time with Him.

Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
 

lforrest

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mjrhealth said:
If you are talking about the bible. God has no plans to teach anyone the bible, you can read it for yourself, now if you want to know Jesus well there only one way to do that, is spend a lot of time with Him.

Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Many non believers read the Bible to validate their position. They find something, take it out of intended context, then use it to validate their unbelief.

The scriptures require spiritual decernment to get anything from them other than of superficial value.
 
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bbyrd009

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mjrhealth said:
If you are talking about the bible. God has no plans to teach anyone the bible, you can read it for yourself, now if you want to know Jesus well there only one way to do that, is spend a lot of time with Him.

Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
i'm not sure which passage of the Book you would reject there, mjr, but it seems to me that you must fulfill the Law, therefore you must have spiritual knowledge of It. Just because Paul is translated--and likely even written--in such a way that many might see and not see is no reason to dismiss the Law, imo. Most people might use the Revelation for divining the future, but it may also be understood from other premises, as It applies to the battle within you, iow. Imo you are rejecting your most powerful tool for revealing the hearts of men, in how they manifest their interpretation to you. See, when someone else tells you "here is hell, a place of fire in the afterlife, in the Book," for instance, then they are revealed; which does not mean that they should be judged, but that you are plainly being told where they stand. Manifesting your faith correctly cannot violate the Law, which must be fulfilled, so how else might you lead others to an understanding, if it is not in the Book? The Book points to the Word, and the Book is God~Breathed, so i would consider this. I mean, you are quoting the Book to make your points, so "God has no plans to teach anyone the Book" is made moot, is it not?
 

ezekiel

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mjrhealth said:
If you are talking about the bible. God has no plans to teach anyone the bible, you can read it for yourself, now if you want to know Jesus well there only one way to do that, is spend a lot of time with Him.

Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
So God gives a person a dream, maybe a vision, or just flat out speaks to his spirit. Should that persons go about la la la with hands over the ears I got I got Jesus I dont want to hear or try to understand.
 

bbyrd009

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well, in practice it starts out much more honestly, with a seeker going to those who are assumed to understand the things that the seeker does not, without realizing that being of a spiritual nature, at least outwardly, these institutions have been taken over by wolves, as Paul clearly warned us would happen. See, you have exactly as much authority as the pope; you just don't have as many people who believe that, and so you are led to doubt it yourself. Other people with degrees and the commendations of other men are naturally assumed to be more knowledgeable. when it is little children that best manifest your first love.
 

mjrhealth

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So God gives a person a dream, maybe a vision, or just flat out speaks to his spirit. Should that persons go about la la la with hands over the ears I got I got Jesus I dont want to hear or try to understand.
If God gave you a vision you would understand that is the whole point.

Mat_16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

REading does not give you revelation, even the book of revelation was given to John, its not ours it was His from God.
 

lforrest

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mjrhealth said:
If God gave you a vision you would understand that is the whole point.

Mat_16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

REading does not give you revelation, even the book of revelation was given to John, its not ours it was His from God.
I highly doubt the book of Revelations was just for John. Read the introduction, it says John testifies to everything he saw. Also a blessing to those who read it aloud, showing God's desire to spread the prophecy.

Perhaps John understood it better than anyone else, he never shared if he did because it would be adding to the prophecy.
 
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mjrhealth

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I highly doubt the book of Revelations was just for John
You missed the point, it was given to John from God, reading it will never give you understanding, to understand it one need teh revelation from God, just as if God revealed something to you and you tried explain it to someone else they would look at you very strange.
 
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bbyrd009

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mjrhealth said:
You missed the point, it was given to John from God, reading it will never give you understanding, to understand it one need teh revelation from God, just as if God revealed something to you and you tried explain it to someone else they would look at you very strange.
i think the point of view from which you approach a passage makes quite a bit of difference, and simultaneously reveals your heart to...God, and everyone else.
You can read prognostications about the future, or how the Revelation of Christ proceeds inside of you, where the battle is, imo. Or prolly some other way, too.
And i guess doing the second may not necessarily invalidate the first, which after all is undertaken in earnest, so it is an honest expression of where one is in their beliefs, which descend from their faith.
But most anyone can testify to having experienced a new understanding of an old passage, having gotten some Word on the matter; which comes like a peek through the Veil, right?

Of course you will then be accused of nonsense--i guess this is almost required--but i usually note some supporting passages--that perhaps also did not previously make as much sense--now come into focus, and make more sense, as well. But imo it is tilting at windmills to expect much agreement from others in the moment; or even to assume that you have discovered some absolute truth that has no exceptions. Generally you are just made aware of another facet of reality, so to speak.
 

mjrhealth

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Hmm

Anyway from teh beginning, its how God loves to start
In the beginning man walked with God, Adam and Eve that was. Now one day they disobeyed God, this removed the covering of Gods rightousness from them and so they discovered there nakedness, this ghastly flesh of ours. Now God could not leave them in the garden of Eden for two reasons,
1. If they ate of the tree of life thye owuld remain in there fallen state for ever and evil would simply prevail and never end
2. As corruption grew and evil took hold, if they had remained in God presence His glory would have destroyed them.

So now form then to Christs Birth, God had men like enoch and teh prophets to tell His story and to talk to men, men He could use. The only access man had to God was through teh high priest in teh Holy place where He could only go with lots of washing and doing ans smoke, but even that was not enough, if teh High prest loooked upon God accidently He would die, nothing could protect us from teh Glory of God

Than came Jesus, from His birth to His death he came to show the Jews a better way, His way. From His death to penetcost there seend to be a quiet period, than Pentecost happened, and that promise of teh holy spirirt was given, just as Jesus said. But that was for the Jews, untill Peter with the vision of the sheets, and salvation came to the gentiles with all the same promises. And because of our Lords work and the promises of God, we can now do by teh spirit what Adam and Eve did in teh beginning

Rom_5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Eph_2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Eph_3:12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

More tomorrow
 

mjrhealth

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Mat 4:5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
Mat 4:6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Now we have a problem. We have an enemy6 who knows more than us. How He is quoting scripture to Jesus, but Jesus is filled with wisdom, not mans wisdom but Gods so answers Him. Yet we think we are smarter than Him yet here on these forum we see His work. People study the bible for years yet I doubt they would ever win an arguement with the devil, and tehre are many who even with all this "knowledege" will ever find Christ.

And so you become a christian and someone says get a bible, so you do. Which one, they reccomend the NIV, so you start reading it, the pastor teaches from the NSV, and they dont match, than you discover the NKJ and it sounds nice, so your get it, now you have 3 diferent versions and you start getting confused, than you go to a different church, different pastor and he teaches from a different bible and it gets worse, because he has a different slant on things and it just causes more issues, not getting you closer to Jesus just adding to the confusion. So you cry out to God, Help" and He comes to teach you, by the spirit and so shows you something in the bible. Oh you say, the bible doesnt say it that way, and since the bible is the word of God so they keep telling me, so you cant be God because God must agree with the bible, Which one I may ask?? and so because of all the confusion, because of ones knowledge God Himself is rejected and God Jesus and the Holy spirit are all in agreement so you have just rejected them all.

This is why we must empty ourselves of everything. For God to be able to teach man, He must literally do a reformat of our brains. We are foolish ignorant men, but once we gain a bit of knowldege we become proud, arrogant and obstinate. God cant teach any one when they are filled with themselves, and for the brain well it is another problem.

Here in Aus our cars indicators are on the right side of teh steering colum, the wipers on teh left. A couple of times for work I got a european car that had the wipers on the right and the indicators on the left. it is much annoying when you go to indicate and Hit the wipers, but that is what my brain knows and it takes time to unlearn what it knows.

And so it must be "more of Him and less of us". but that is a hard thing when we are filled with us.

God blesss