Tragic Errors of the Christians: A Reflection on the Dangers of Spiritual Lapses by Fortune Nwaiwu

PREFACE

The author, F.E.C. Nwaiwu reviews the Seven Churches in Asia Minor and finds out that all the churches have lapsed to spiritual crisis except the churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia. The church of Ephesus has the spiritual problem of having abandoned her first love. Pergamum suffers religious heresies. She regards the teaching of Balaam who had taught Balak how to seduce Israelites with the women of Moab and Nicolaitans whose teachings are similar to that of Balaam. Thyatira permits a wicked woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. This woman’s teaching has caused spiritual lapses in the Thyatiran church. She teaches the believers that committing sexual sin and eating food offered to the idols are acceptable, which the Apostles in the council of Jerusalem have refuted and warned believers to abstain from. This woman, whose actions are comparable to that of the wife of Ahab, has negatively influenced the members of the Thyatiran congregation through her heretical teachings. She is inspired by the teaching of Balaam and Nicolaitans. She would live to reap the harms she has sown in the church along with her children and her followers. Sardis is spiritually dead already and must face the judgement of God if she does not go back to what she heard and believed at first. Her actions are contrary to God’s will and so do not match the requirements of God, while Laodicea suffers the problem of lukewarm attitude.

The author, after reviewing the seven churches, affirms that the spiritual life of Christians is in a constant state of decline. This idea came up because the churches that Jesus Christ finds guilty of moral lapses outnumber the ones that maintain their faith despite the challenges of life. The few churches that retain the requirements of God represent few people all over the world today who still remain loyal to Jesus Christ; the five other churches are symbolic. They represent the multitude of worshipers who profess Jesus Christ but do not follow what is required of them. This study of the seven churches, however, encourages believers to work hard to become victorious. Christ promises eternal life to the overcomers in all the churches: they shall consume the manna hidden away in heaven and be clothed in white garments. These promises are made to kindle the sinners from their spiritual weakness and make them turn to Jesus Christ.

Moreover, the Ark of God— the untouchable—is a stumbling block for those who could not live a pious life and fail to abide by the rules that signal proper conduct in terms of handling the Ark. Such fellows are doomed by the furious anger of the Holy God. Their deaths reveal that their deeds and thoughts are profane. Uzzah is smitten by the righteous anger of God for his improper conduct in handling the Ark. The people of Beth-Shemesh perish also because of their carelessness in looking into the Ark of the Covenant, which God had warned them not to. The Philistines treat the Ark of God with irreverence, keeping it in the house of their god Dagon. They are destroyed along with their gods, and their land is infected. 

The author presents a series of events about the Ark to show how people have degenerated to the vilest debauchery. Destruction comes upon Uzzah and other Israelites in Beth-Shemesh because their spiritual life did not meet the prescriptions of God in handling the Ark. Their ungodly life brought communal disaster and King David’s disappointment. The Ark is then moved to Obed-Edom's house, and God blesses him and his household. Obed-Edom's spiritual life is void of immoral impulses.

Furthermore, in the last series, the author demonstrates how men of evil conscience sow corruption and reap ruin. His major emphasis is that no one can escape the law of equital and retributive justice (karma). If you sow to the flesh, you reap corruption; and if you sow to the spirit, you reap eternal life. The choice is left to you. The reference to the doom of King Agag and King Adoni-Bezek will prevent readers from being tempted to indulge in evil and then rebuild their spiritual life with godliness.

Similarly, adequate information is provided about the individual impulses. We present the tragic errors of the two apostles, Simon Peter and Judas Iscariot. Their sudden tragic blowout is overwhelming. Since they could not retain most of the moral principles imparted to them by our Lord Jesus Christ, spiritual forces brought them to the low ebb. These kinds of tragic pressures that force them to submit to the divine will reveal that man must acknowledge his limitations and seek his Creator in prayers. Judas has a curse that awaits him, and this curse is fulfilled when he hangs himself. Also, Peter’s tragic flaw is foretold, and it occurs when he denies Christ. Since the Son of God, through whom the world is created, has endorsed his will about what will manifest in the future, the two apostles have no power to thwart the divine will.

Spiritual defilements have been discussed in detail, and we reveal that such spiritual phenomena can cause a decline in the spiritual lives of Christians. We are told to avoid such defilements as adultery, fornication, idolatry, consultation with mediums, and so on. The result of people soiling themselves with such evil practices is that the door to heaven is shut for them—they will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

A HISTORICAL SURVEY OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA

The seven churches of Asia are found in the book of Revelation—the only prophetic book in the New Testament Canon. John the Apostle wrote the book of Revelation, whose name is mentioned four times in the book itself (Rev.1:1, 4, 9, 22:8). John the Apostle was exiled to the Island of Patmos during the reign of Domitian for his refusal to conform to the worship of Emperor (81-96, See Constable 2017, p.1 and Marshall–Cornwall). Thus, John’s adherence to his Christian faith positioned him as a partner in the suffering of our Lord Jesus. On the Isle of Patmos, John received visions from Jesus Christ through an angelic intermediary, which led him to write down the things he had seen, including the letters to the seven churches of Asia. After the death of Emperor Domitian in A.D. 96, John’s exile ended in the accession of Narva in the same year, when he returned to Ephesus. Also, it was in A.D. 96 that scholars agreed upon the date of the writing of the book of Revelation.

The seven churches in Asia, which John was commissioned to write letters to, were Ephesus, the church that forgot her first love (2:1-7); Smyrna, the persecuted church (2:8-11); Pergamum, the compromising church that lives where Satan has his throne, (2:12 -17); Thyatira, the corrupt church that permits Jezebel (2: 18 – 29); Sardis, the dead Church (3: 1 – 6); Philadelphia, the faithful Church, and the Church of open door (3: 7 – 13); and Laodicea, the Lukewarm Church (3: 14 – 22).

The messages to the seven churches were written to call the Christians to repentance and turn to God. Each of the introductions to the letters bears peculiar titles of Jesus Christ, in which He is projected as the Holy One—the true Son of God. By this, sinners are spurred on to listen to the message and turn to God for salvation. In each of the letters after Jesus Christ introduces himself, He justifies his omniscient power—his act of knowing the things happening in his church. Further, He let the Christians know that he is the owner of the churches, and He reveals their strength and the area they have spiritual lapses, where they need to repent and do what they heard and believed at first. A promise was made to the Christians, who will be victorious on the last day when Jesus Christ will return. This promise, along with many others, was made to motivate the sinners to repent and join together. In fact, all the promises point to attaining eternal life and to reign with Christ in his kingdom. The letters are written in such a way that a sinner who refuses to repent does so at his/her own peril. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches” (Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29, 3: 6, 13, 22) is a peculiar slogan, which Jesus Christ uses to conclude his letters to the Seven Churches. Those that have the ears to listen to the word of the Holy Spirit are those the word of the God has pierced into their hearts and those who are determined to repent and remain faithful to Christ; on the other hand, the sinners, who are heading to destruction, have blocked their ears to what the Spirit is saying.

However, it is believed that John wrote the letters to the Seven Churches according to the route to the cities, and specifically, how they are situated from the Isle of Patmos. This is because, when looking out from the Isle of Patmos, the first city you would see is Ephesus, followed by Smyrna, and so forth (see the map below). Thus, John wrote these letters while bearing in mind these places.                    

Of these letters to the Seven Churches in Asia, some scholars believe that the letters are not addressed to believers in a “Church” but rather to all the believers in the community of faith. This may be true because it is obvious that John the Beloved had already received the messages from the Christians, who were residing within the province of Asia before Paul the Apostle planted the church at Ephesus during his second missionary mission (Acts 19). This explains the fact that the seven letters were delivered to the Christians living in the areas of Asia. 

As individuals, the messages to the seven churches ought to grip our hearts as to how we could work out our salvation by trusting in the Lord. Churches all over the world should evaluate themselves with the messages to the Seven Churches and classify themselves to one church. When we evaluate our various churches with the seven messages to the Seven Churches, we will enable some of the weak churches to be fervent to the service of the Lord. Since there are numerous churches across the globe, the seven letters to the seven churches speak volumes about the ways churches operate; that is, whether they are seeking after the riches of heaven or in the earth, or whether they preach about repentance and salvation or how to be rich. From the messages to the seven churches, Jesus Christ sticks to the principal message, which focuses on repentance; however, rarely do we hear churches preaching repentance these days. Over the radio, we hear about how to make money and prosper, but no one preaches repentance and how to seek God, aside from a few ministers who received a divine calling.

In this series, our lessons are well-designed and prepared to make our studies very easy and understandable. In each of the churches, brief historical records are made to have a lenient view of the locations of the churches. Each of the studies is broken down into sub-headings to analyze the message with cute cogent decorum. At the end of each lesson, an application is made to help reflect on the subject matter of the discourse.

Discussing the book of Revelation is not possible without first looking into four views on the Revelation held by different classes of scholars. The views are listed as thus:

1. Preterist View: Preterism is derived from a Latin word meaning past. This means that Preterists view the prophecies about the end time in the book of Revelation as events that have already been fulfilled. The Preterists believe that the end time prophecies in the scriptures are a matter of the past. In the Scriptures, people the likes of Hymenaeus and Philetus are members of the Preterist class because they falsely teach that the resurrection of the dead has already taken place (2 Timothy 2: 17–18).

2. Futurist View: Futurists interpret the book of revelation as prophecies that will be fulfilled in future time. The events that this class holds to occur in the future include the rapture of the church, the seven-year tribulation, and a millennial leadership of Christ upon the earth.

3. Idealist View: This class of scholars teaches that the images and symbols used in the book of Revelation concern the battle between Jesus Christ and Satan and good against evil.

4. Historicist View: Teaches that the book of Revelation is a symbolic representation of church history beginning from the first century A.D to the end of age.

Each school of thoughts’ attempt to interpret the book of Revelation based on the laws of hermeneutics (the art and science of interpretation of Bible). Most of them have their strengths and weaknesses, but Christians find favor in the futurist view, as they all believe that most of the events in the book of Revelation point to the events that will occur before the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Or contact the author via fortune.nwaiwu.fn@gmail.com