Bible

[plugger]

The letter to Philadelphia----THE FAITHFUL CHURCH

This letter to the church is very much like the letter to the church at Smyrna, since it contains no word of blame or censure; instead, the message is one of praise and encouragement , so the message is be a good Christian, remain faithful and all will be well. As I studied I was taken in by the Christian's living conditions and what they faced.

Not exactly sure how to handle this one, but will go with what caught my eye. Back in Philadelphia in John's time of writing the chief deity was Dionysus, the Greek god of vegetation, later of wine and drama. As I read this thought OK, so what, back in that day there were gods of just about everything. Then I came upon Dionysia, a festival that honors the god Dionysius, a vegation-deity. It celebrated the return of the return of life in the spring, after the long sleep of winter, and by means of sympathetic magic attempted to secure fertility. Therefore it was accompanied by drunken excesses, sexual license, and the tearing to pieces of human or animal victim, symbolizing the god, and the burying of the flesh. This was held in the city and was accompanied by the comedies and tragedies of the great dramatist and long processions of people wearing ivy. Jews were compelled to join in these processions. I could not find the consequences to those who did not. In that day it was the popular thing to do and we all know how important it is to be in the in-crowd----that was sarcasm .

Back in Isaiah 22:22 we read the Eliakim, a king in the line of David who held the key to all the king's treasure. When opened the door it was opened and when he closed the door it was closed. In the same way Jesus possesses the key to the kingdom of God and the entrance to eternal life. In verse 8 we read about the church with little strength, much as the church of today, but what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:9---Jesus said--"My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness"

Once again, not exactly sure how to handle this one, but in our world today our temptations may be different than those of a couple thousand years ago, but the temptations are just as strong as those of yesterday-year and our weakness is just as weak as back then. Nothing here is saying we have to be perfect, we just have to keep the faith the best we can. The needed Strength and Courage to deal with our world today will come from the Holy Spirit----we just need to trust

I encourage you to read this faithful church Rev. 3:7-13, maybe think on it like a letter to the church of today....God Bless