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The Letter to Philadelphia
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"At
first, John of Zebedee came with Jesus to the island of Patmos, off the
coast of Asia Minor. There he wrote the first part of the book of
Revelation, with letters to the seven churches of the province of Asia,
conveying the will of Jesus concerning the different problems, moral and
doctrinal, that were besetting them". The letter to
Philadelphia was not to any church in the city by that name in the state
of Pennsylvania, but to a city by that name in western Turkey. The
massive arches shown on the left are about all that remains of that
ancient city in the era John and Jesus wrote this letter. |
Barbara
Thiering writes: "John wrote that he was on the island of Patmos
"on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus".
He was "in the Spirit on the Lord's day", that is, acting as a
presbyter on the Sunday service, when he heard behind him a loud voice
telling him to write what he saw, in a book. " I'm
contending that this was not a Sunday service, but an Essene YOM KIPPUR
service, and that John of Zebedee was only one of several authors of this
book.
| As the sixth
of seven churches to which John and Jesus addressed these letters,
Philadelphia was the LAST to be addressed before the FINAL CHURCH,
Laodicea. It has not been understood that much of this letter was
written to the modern Christian Church, and is very complementary of
the efforts of this church to give the "Gospel" to the
entire world. But the "Open door" featured in this
letter includes also the Jews, who will, in 1948, become a nation
once more. |
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Philadelphia
Revelation
3:7 "And
to the angel of the church in Philadelphia
write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that
hath the key of
David, he that openeth and no man shutteth; and shutteth and
no man openeth; 8 I know thy works: behold I
have set before thee an open
door, and no man can shut it: for thou
hast a little strength, and hast
kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 9 Behold, I will
make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews,
and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship
before thy feet, and
to know that I have loved thee. 10 Because thou hast
kept the word of my patience, I also will keep
thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all
the world, to try them that dwell on the earth. 11 Behold
I come quickly: hold thou fast which thou hast, that no man
take thy crown. 12 He that overcometh will I make a pillar in
the temple of my God, and the name
of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem,
which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon
him my new name.
13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches."
The letter to the church of Philadelphia is the letter to the
people who live in the sixth millennial day -- from 1000 AD to 2000
AD. Since we are now in the seventh millennial day this
material is now history not prophecy and we should be able to
recognize it if we have our eyes open. As I look it
over, part of it is for Adventists, who from 1844 to 1888, and even
now have "a little strength" in those areas
(Sabbath-keeping and Vegetarianism) in which they have "kept my
word".
Ellen White, who gave Jesus' messages but sometimes backed down on
them, fumbled the ball on the "open-door" then
"shut-door" then "open-door" again message,
which makes up a good part of the message to Philadelphia. One can
hardly blame her. She was no "theologian" and
had only a third-grade education. |
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Once one
understands that the Essenes in the end supported a MILLENNIAL WEEK
prophecy, also shown in John chapter 7, the 8 parables of Matthew
13, and Daniel chapter 12, its possible to find the same MILLENNIAL
WEEK prophecy in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Each
church and its associated candle stick stands for 1000 years,
starting about 4000 BC and extending until 3000 AD. And we are now
living in the 7th millennium of a "Millennial Week".
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