Category: Persecution
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Pay Attention. This Is Serious.
“Look at me! Look me in the eyes! Son, we’re about to cross this street and it’s very busy. You must hold onto my hand or you could get hurt. Do you understand? Tell me that you understand!”
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Defeated but Dangerous
When a lioness stalks her prey, she seeks out the most vulnerable from the herd—the weak and elderly, the sick and injured, the young. While there is protection with the herd, a zebra or wildebeest for example, who wanders from the others is in grave danger.
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A Ruler from the Ruler
My next door neighbor owns a small pack of yapping chihuahuas. A few years back I set out to erect a fence between our properties to prevent those dogs from trampling my lawn and harassing any visiting family and friends.
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Tables Turned
The synagogue of Satan. That’s not a description adorning any Jewish temple today. It seems a rather harsh assessment to say the least. What did Jesus mean by calling their opposition a synagogue of Satan?
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Highly Honored
One of the challenges of interpreting Revelation is in determining how literally to interpret John’s vision. In this scene did the Lord actually hear the voices of the faithful dead who had lost their lives in the present tribulation? Or are these souls merely a poetic, symbolic voice?
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He Gets Us
The church in Smyrna should not have been poor. As a port city on the Aegean Sea north of Ephesus, Smyrna was an important, prosperous trading hub connecting the inland regions with the Mediterranean Sea. The Christians there should have prospered too except that the pagans and leading Jews excluded…
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Brotherhood Strengthened through Trials
John calls the churches brothers and partners. That relationship is based on a shared experience brought on them by their witness to Jesus Christ.
A Revelation Invitation 