REVELATION SEVEN CHURCHES HISTORICAL OVERLAY PERGAMUM Lesson 14

REVELATION SEVEN CHURCHES HISTORICAL OVERLAY PERGAMUM Lesson 14

RUINS OF PERGAMUM The Great Deception Began at Ephesus & Smyrna Paving the Road to PERGAMUM the Imperial Age of the Church PERGAMUM Marks and Seals Anti-Hebraic Demarcation 313 – 606 A. D.

Deception Breeds Anti-Hebraism (Anti-Word) Garden Parallels at Ephesus Historical Age Cancer Natural Realm – Foreign cell(s) Primary Site – First occurrence Metastasis – Medical Team observe for metastatic lesions Defining the Cells – Typical or Atypical / Irregular Cancer Spiritual Realm - Deception Primary Site – In Creation, Deception opens door in the Garden / Eve; Rejected the Word Prophetic Metastasis – At Ephesus Deception opened the door, the Church Fathers rejected the Word and Hebraic Ways. Metastatic process proliferates to :

Deception Breeds Anti-Hebraism (Anti-Word) Parallel Garden and The Church at Ephesus SMYRNA SUFFERING AGE 100 – 313 A. D. PERGAMUM IMPERIAL AGE 313 - 606 A. D. THYATIRA PAPACY AGE SARDIS 606 – 1517 A. D. REFORMATION AGE 1517 – 1730 A. D. PHILADELPHIA MISSIONARY AGE 1730 – 1900 A. D. LAODICEA AGE OF APOSTASY 1900 – TODAY

EPHESUS Apostolic Age “But I have this against you, you have forsaken your first Love” ( Rev 2: 4).

Epistle of Barnabas Written after the destruction of Temple 80 -120 A. D. The writer argues that the Christians are the only true covenant people, and that the Jewish people had never been in a covenant with God (9. 9). The Didache written 80 -90 A. D. establishes that Sunday had already been substituted for the Jewish Sabbath as the day of Christian assembly based on Acts 20: 7 and 1 Cor 16: 2 and called the Lord’s day in Rev 1: 10.

CORRECTION “You have forsaken the love you had at first. ” Ante-Nicene Church Fathers ANTI-HEBRAISM Ignatius of Antioch Ignatius 40 -115 A. D. in his Epistle to the Philippians claimed that Satan “fights along with the Jews to a denial of the cross” and ‘If anyone celebrates the Passover along with the Jews, or receives emblems of their feast, he is partaker with those that killed the Lord and His apostles. ” Richard Booker, How the Cross Became a Sword, p. 13 Clement I of Rome 92– 99 A. D. is considered by some to to be the first (fourth) to succeed Peter as Pope.

CHURCH AT SMYRNA PERSECUTION AGE Rev. 2: 8 -11 Messiah’s message to the Angel of the Church at Smyrna: The words of the First and the Last, Who died and is alive, assuring believers of the resurrection. A fitting message for the saints at Smyrna who were experiencing martyrdom.

SMYRNA ANTI-HEBRAISM ANTE-NICENE CHURCH FATHERS’ Writings Based on and Filled with Anti-Hebraism A. Justin Martyr B. Irenaeus C. Clement of Alexandria D. Tertullian E. Origen F. Hippolytus G. Cyprian *H. Marcion

Satan’s attack on the Word - Anti-Hebraism. Church Succumbs to Pride & Presumption. At Smyrna, Satan scaled the Church Fathers’ eyes so they presumed their opponent to be Judaism, the Root and source of Life of the Church (Rom 11: 18).

SMYRNA - ANTI-HEBRAISM ANTE-NICENE Church Fathers 100 -313 A. D. Justin Martyr 100 -165 A. D. Dialogue 11: “We (Christians) have been led to God through this crucified Christ, and we are the true spiritual Israel, and the descendants of Judah, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham who though uncircumcised, was approved and blessed by God because of his faith and was called the father of many nations. ” Martyr Dialogue 44: “You [Jews] are sadly mistaken if you think that, just because you are descendants of Abraham according to the flesh, you will share in the legacy of benefits which God promised would be distributed by Christ. ”

Martyr Dialogue 119: “We Christians are not only a people, but a holy people. . . nor just any nation. . . but the chosen people of God. . . For this is really the nation promised to Abraham by God when He told him He would make him a father of many nations. . And we (Christians) shall inherit the Holy Land together with Abraham, receiving our inheritance for all eternity, because by our similar faith we have become children of Abraham. . . Thus, God promised Abraham a religious and righteous nation of like faith, and a delight to the Father; but it is not you (the Jews) ‘in whom there is no faith’ ” Jeffrey Siker, Disinheriting the Jews pp. 166167

SMYRNA - ANTI-HEBRAISM ANTE-NICENE CHURCH FATHERS Writings 100 – 313 A. D. Origen 185 - 254 A. D. Origen was a Neo-Platonist philosopher of Alexandra, Egypt. He is credited as the father of the Allegorical Method of interpretation and made allegory the only way to truly understand the Scriptures. His knowledge of philosophy and theology brought him fame and influence throughout the Roman world, even by the emperor. His students become leading theologians using the allgorical method which helped to establish Anti-Hebraism as official Church teaching and lay the foundation for Anti-Semitism in the Church.

Marcion 85 -160: Bishop of Sinope Heretical teaching of the second century continues to influence the Church. Anthony Sciolino summarizes Marcionism in The Holocaust, the Church, and the Law of Unintended Consequences. “Marcion proclaimed that the God of the Jews was demonic. Marcion even when so far as to propose that the Old Testament be excluded from the Christian Canon. He and his followers sought to edit all references to Jews out of the New Testament in order to sever Christianity from its Jewish roots. Despite the Church’s rejection of Marcion’s views, excommunicating and condemning him as a heretic, his brand of anti. Judaism continued to resurface in history, including in Nazi Germany. ”

PERGAMUM The Imperial Church Constantinian Age 313 – 606 A. D. To PERGAMUM MESSIAH Revealed Himself as the One with the Sharp Two-edged Sword Rev 2: 12; Heb 4: 12 Condemned the teachings of: Balaam (anti-Semite) Nicolaitans (Heavy handed Leadership)

Pergamum the seat of Satan. Rev 2: 13 Replica of Zeus on his throne. Temple Interior Antipas Martyred 92 A. D. on Zeus’s Altar. Zeus was to the Greeks as Jupiter was to the Romans

Pergamum to Germany The Pergamum Altar is a massive structure originally built in the 2 nd century BC in the Ancient Greek city of Pergamum. The temple was dedicated to the Greek god Zeus. The Pergamum Altar was shipped out of the Ottoman Empire from the original excavation site by the German archeological team lead by Carl Humann, and reconstructed in the Pergamum Museum in Berlin in the 19 th century, where it can be seen alongside other monumental structures such as the Ishtar Gate from Babylon.

CONSTANTINE 57 th Emperor of Roman Empire AGE OF NICENE FATHERS Pergamum Church Period The Imperial Age 313 – 606 A. D. Back drop for the Imperial Age of Constantine, Emperor of Rome. The Savior’s correction to Ephesus, repent for leaving your first love went unheeded, hence the cancer of Anti-Hebraism meastasized to Smyrna and progressively invaded the Church era of Pergamum. Satan’s scheme became a frontal attack on the Word (Anti-Hebraism) and the Chosen People through (Anti-Semitism).

Constantine established the new capital of the Roman Empire in the east in 324 naming it Constantinople after himself. It was dedicated May 11, 330. In the 12 th century, the city was the largest and wealthiest of the Byzantine Empire. Eventually, it was reduced to just its capital and environs and fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. Following the Muslim conquest, the city prospered as the Islamic capitol of the Ottoman period. After the founding of the modern Republic of Turkey — the successor state of the Ottoman Empire — the city was renamed Istanbul in 1923.

In the fourth century, when CONSTANTINE made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Hebraic Ways were treated with greater disdain and Jewish persecutions intensified. Ishtar/Astarte Gate COUNCIL OF NICEA 325 was held in the city named for Nike, the goddess of victory. “At the Council of Nicea it was decided that Easter (Resurrection Day) should not be determined by the Jewish Passover calendar, and that Christians should ‘have nothing in common with this odious people, ‘the Jews. ’ ” David Rausch, Legacy of the Hatred, p. 23

Ishtar/Astarte Gate Astarte Also known as: Fertility goddess Ishtar goddess Ashtoreth goddess Asherah goddess Recognition of Easter Precedes Pergamum While Constantine by passed the Hebraic calendar in calculating the date to celebrate Easter, it appears it was already in place prior to Pergamum. Most probably Easter had replaced Passover at Ephesus based on Ignatius’ teaching. The change involved calculating Easter according to the Spring solstice replacing the Hebraic date and continues to our day.

Astarte Also known as: Goddess of Fertility Ishtar goddess Ashtoreth goddess Asherah goddess Israel Was Condemned For Worshiping Asherah / Astarte / Ishtar / Easter "You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah. . . you shall not set up a pillar, which the LORD your God hates. ” Deut 16: 21 -22

"You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah. . . you shall not set up a pillar, which the LORD your God hates. Deut 16: 21 -22 (Gideon). . . cut down the Asherah that is beside it and build an altar to the LORD your God. . . Judg 6: 25 -26 He (Asa) also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. I Kings 15: 13; 2 Ch 15: 16 Ahab made an Asherah. . . 1 Kings 16: 33. . . gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah , who eat at Jezebel's table. ” 1 Kings 18: 20

Under Constantine’s rule Christianity became the official religion of the Roman state. The year after the Nicean Council 325 A. D. , Constantine murdered his son, Crispus and wife Fausta. Scholars have written that Eusebius, the Christian historian, was often less than honest in his recordings. He promoted only the happiest of images in his accounts of the Roman Emperor. Eusebius designated Constantine as the “new Moses” and makes no mention of the murder of his wife and son. James Carroll, Constantine’s Sword, p. 203

Historian W. H. C. Frend records the fateful rule of Constantine in his book The Rise of Christianity. After Crispus was murdered and Fausta asphyxiated in a steam bath he proceeded to murder “innumerable friends. ” His court became as perilous as that of Henry VIII. “He did not abandon his allegiance to the Sun god, even though he regarded himself as a Christian. ” Offi- cially the Sun god was not dethroned. He ordered that Sunday be a day kept free from legal proceedings, “the day celebrated by the veneration of the Sun. ” “Outward manifestations of the emperor’s Christianity are few. ” He is venerated as a saint by Eastern Orthodox Christians, Byzantine Catholics and Anglicans.

Constantine reinforced the Anti. Hebraic stance of the Church and locked arms with the Anti-Semitic rhetoric and actions instituted by Ante-Nicene Church Fathers. “Constantine. . . initiated the transformation of anti-Semitic doctrine into anti-Semitic law. ” David Brog, Standing with Israel, p. 26 Dan Juster in Jewish Roots points out religious and social prejudice targeted the Jews. “Religious bigotry was part of (Constantine’s) state policy; severe economic and social sanctions were progressively applied to the Jews. Church-state collaborations in discrimination continued for fifteen centuries. ” (p. 143)

Eusebius (263 -339 A. D. ) is considered the “Father of Church History. ” He had a leading role of influence with Emperor Constantine. He wrote the pro- mises of the Hebrew Scriptures were for Christians and not for the Jews but the curses were now their inheritance. Eusebius taught the Church was the continuation of the Old Testament, hence superseded Judaism. As those who preceded him, He took the position that the Church was the “true Israel” and heir to the prophecies. The Church Fathers had to discredit “Israel according to the flesh” to prove the LORD had cast away His people and transferred His love to the Christians.

Constantine as a “Christian” emperor forbade Jews to live in Jerusalem and regarded them with contempt. During Constantine’s rule, if a Jew tried to punish an apostate he would be burned alive while the same penalty was invoked against proselytes to Judaism. Bishop Hilary of Poitiers 300 - 368 wrote that the Jews were a perverse people accursed by God forever. St. Hilary of Poitiers

Aurelius Ambrose 340 -397 A. D. was Archbishop of Milan. Each decade Christian polemic against Jews and Hebraic practices increased serving to intensify Jewish persecution. Dan Juster in Jewish Roots writes, “Bishop Ambrose, in the 4 th century, even went so far as to suggest that burning a synagogue was no sin. Why? Because the Jews rejected Yeshua; therefore, what could be considered a crime against others would not be a crime against Jews. ” The Church Fathers forgot that it was Jews who first followed the Savior, who originally spread the Good News and that Hebraic Judaism was the context of the Christian faith.

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM 347– 407, Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Nicene Church Father. He is known for his preaching and public speaking; he was often referred to as the golden mouth. He is the author of the greatest virulence. Chrysostom was threatened because Christians in Antioch visited synagogues to gain a better understanding of the Jewish roots of their faith. Chrysostom held that the coming of Christianity eliminated the value of Jewish practice and identity. To destroy any Christian interest in Judaism, Chrysostom wrote eight sermons against the Jews. The poisonous hate of these sermons has not been surpassed. Juster p. 143

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM 347– 407 Jewish author David Brog in his book Standing with Israel records, “Chrysostom enthusiastically embraced Replacement Theology and added to it a new and ominous charge of Deicide. ” For Justin Martyr, Jews had been replaced because they lacked faith in Christ. While Martyr invoked the charge of deicide against the Jews, he did not emphasize it. For Chrysostom, however, Deicide was the ultimate Jewish crime and he made it a central plank of Replacement Theology. Addressing the Jews, Chrysostom asserted:

“ ‘It is because you killed Christ. It is because you stretched out your hand against the Lord. It is because you shed the precious blood that there is now no restoration, no mercy anymore and no defense. . Through your madness against Christ you have committed the ultimate transgression. This is why you are being punished now worse than in the past. . If this were not the case God would not have turned his back on you so completely. ’ Having traced the cause of replacement to the bloody crucifixion, Chrysostom calls for bloody retribution. In Chrysostom, the link between replacement and elimination is made explicit. ” (continue)

“In one example of his oratory, Chrysostom analogizes the Jews to gluttonous ‘pigs’ who understand only how to ‘gorge themselves and get drunk. ’ The analogy thus established, Chrysostom escalates his rhetoric. The following is chilling: ‘When animals have been fattened by having all they want to eat, they get stubborn and hard to manage. . When animals are unfit for work, they are marked for slaughter, and this is the very thing which the Jews have experienced. By making themselves unfit for work, they have become ready for slaughter. This is why Christ said, ‘As for my enemies, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them before me. ’ ” David Brog, p. 24, 25

The Anti-Jewish rhetoric of the Ante. Nicene and Nicene Church Fathers inevitably inspired and set the stage for the centuries filled with anti-Jewish action. “Chrysostom preached at the close of the fourth century. In the fifth century there were a series of violent pogroms against the Jews in Chrysostom’s city, Antioch. The great synagogues of the city were destroyed. During this same era, the first recorded charge of ritual murder (human sacrifice for a deity) against the Jews was made in Antioch. These eruptions of anti-Jewish violence continued into the sixth century until the Jews were finally expelled from Antioch altogether. So it began. ” David Brog, p. 25

Augustine 354– 430 James Carroll states, “next to Constantine, the conversion of Saint Augustine may be the most momentous in the history of the Church. ” p. 208 Augustine had a career as a writer. His prolific work marks him as the most influential Christian thinker of his day. His views became the official doctrine of the newly ascendant church. With reference to the Jews, Augustine embraced replacement theology, declaring the Jews to be “the House of Israel which [God] has cast off. ” James Carroll, Constantine’s Sword, p. 215

Augustine, Some scholars feel Augustine was not as aggressively anti-Semite as Chrysostom. However Carroll holds that his benign supersessionism would actually prove deadly for the Jews. Walter Laqueur quoting Augustine sees him through anti-Semitic lens: “I wish that you would slay them (the Jews) with your two-edged sword, so that there should be none to oppose your word. . . Gladly would I have them die to themselves. . ” Laqueur states, “St. Augustine also wrote that Judas Iscariot, the traitor, was the true image of the Hebrews and that the Jews would forever bear the guilt for the death of Jesus. ” The Changing Face of Anti-Semitism. ” p. 48

James Carroll writes, “For a thousand years, the compulsively repeated pattern would show in bishops and popes protecting Jews —but from expressly Christian mobs that wanted to kill Jews due to what bishops and popes had taught about Jews. Such a teaching that wants it both ways was bound to fail, as would become evident at every point in history when Jews presumed, whether economically or culturally or both, to even think of thriving. This is the legacy that haunts the Catholic Church (and the Church at large) into the twenty-first century, a perverse legacy from which, despite the twentieth-century’s jolts, the Church is not yet free. ” Constantine’s Sword, p. 219

Jewish author of From Jesus to Christ, Paula Fredriksen addresses believers / the Church: “If history, for the church, is important, then undistorted history is very important. Only by meeting this obligation with intellectual integrity can the church, with integrity, continue to witness to the message proclaimed by the first apostles, expounded by Paul, and reflected in the gospels: that the horizontal plane of the human and the vertical plane of the divine met at the cross of Jesus of Nazareth. ” p. 215

David, a man after our Father’s heart wrote: “Behold, You delight in truth in the inward being, and You teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Ps 51: 6 Messiah said “You will know the truth , and the truth will set you free. ” John 8: 32

ANTI-HEBRAISM TAP ROOT OF REVELATION 2: 4 Taproot Roots Deeply Extension of the Tap Root System

CALL TO REPENTANCE “You have forsaken the love you had at first. ” ANTI-HEBRAISM As members of His Body we are Called to take ownership for sins committed against our Savior and His family, the Jewish people. (Matt 25: 40). "But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their father. . . if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant”. Lev 26: 40, 42 “While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the LORD my God for the holy hill of my God. . ” Dan 9: 20