Yesterday after the post on Patmos we hiked up to Hermitage
of the Prophet Elias on the highest point of Patmos. We were already tired from
our hike to the beach and the reading of the entire Book of Revelation so it
was a struggle to walk up the paved but steep path. The wind got stronger and
stronger as the path got steeper and steeper. Could this not be a metaphor for
our spiritual life as we have to work hard and exert ourselves to develop
spiritual self-discipline and wisdom?
At the top there is a hermitage but the door was locked and
we had not been able to get a key. The hermitage is controlled by the Abbot of
the Monastery, who recently retired creating a vacuum in decision making.
Finally we reached the top and were rewarded with a stunning panoramic view of
the entire island – and a personal reflection by our leader Prof. Charles Neinkirken
on the Book of Revelation. Revelation is dismissed by many Christians as an
unintelligible vision of the End Time. The truth is that it is neither unintelligible
nor only about a future event. Reversed Thunder, one of the books
recommended for this Course contends that Revelation is nothing less than a
brilliant summation of the whole Bible. Prof. Neinkirken noted that modern
Christianity in many places has become a pale reflection of what it used to be.
Instead of standing firm and proclaiming repentance and the good news of
forgiveness the modern church avoids conflict with the culture. We have now
gone so far as to bless same-sex marriages which have been historically outside
the boundaries of acceptable moral behavior in all places and religions. The seven
churches we are visiting in Turkey died from within long before they were
overrun by Islam and the Ottoman Empire.
Our journey continued this morning (May 19) with a four-hour
boat ride back to Kausadasi. As I write we are back on our old bus driving
across the huge Meander Valley toward the site of ancient of three churches in
the Lycos Valley (near modern) Denizli – Hierapolis, Laodicea and Colosse. The
Meander Valley – from which we get the English word, meanders back and forth
all along the coast, silting up ancient harbors which with the gradual sinking
of the Aegean Sea are now far back from the present coastline. The soil is
incredibly fertile so everything grows here. This fertility and massive
agriculture everywhere in Turkey was completely unexpected to me.
In Revelation 3.14-22 the church in Laodicea is warned about
being neither hot nor cold. The Risen Jesus warns them he will spit them out if
they do not repent their loss of faith and recover their spiritual fervor. Like
many churches today they had begun to take their faith for granted, reduce
religion to a form and not really love Jesus with their hearts. This spiritual
decay and severe earthquakes had reduced their great city of over 100,000
people to rubble. Laodicea was at a junction of major trading routes so grew
rich from lending to desperate travelers at hugerates of interest. Their
prosperity led to their spiritual demise. This should be a warning to us all.
Over the valley about 10 km away we could see the triangle
of sites of ancient Colosse (i.e. Letter to the Colossians) and Hierapolis. We did
not visit Colosse as the site has not been excavated. Hierapolis was a
different story. The Turkish Government has a full-time year round excavation
going on. I was amazed at how large these cities were – we walked for over a
km. in 30 degree heat just to get to the middle of the site. There were the
usual temples, market and theatres. But Hierapolis was a proud place – they famously
declined to accept a gift of money from the Roman Emperor to rebuild after an
earthquake. This was clearly not a community listening to the Holy Spirit and
aware of their need for salvation – and they too passed.
Today’s take away must be the difficulty of keeping our eyes
and hearts focused on Jesus when things are going well. That such massive stone
cities could simply crumble into the ground reminds us that we are all
temporaries.
No comments:
Post a Comment