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Denis Hart (8 Oct 2012)
"Turkey - Home to All Seven Churches - A Key Sign?"


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Turkey - Home to All Seven Churches - A Key Sign?


One quite startling (key) fact (from the perspective of our time) is that ALL seven churches in chapters two and three of the Book of Revelation are part of modern day Turkey. Is it just coincidence that tensions or sabre rattling between Syria and Turkey have emerged during this week of Tabernacles? One day after winning blanket authority to send forces into Syria, Turkey’s Prime Minister warned (on Friday) that his country is not far from war with Syria. .

Turkey is an Interesting Name! I have tried to convey this below:

t

(ch) ur (ch)

(the) key ?

Is the Holy Spirit About to Speak to (Judge) the Church(es)?

17 For the time [has arrived] for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will [be] the end of those who do not obey the good news (the Gospel) of God?

When is the Day of the Lord? Link to Seven Churches

Before looking at what the Holy Spirit said to the Seven Churches, it is important to see the link to the Day of the Lord. I have covered this in a section of a previous letter (The Coming of Elijah and the Pre-tribulation Rapture) - link below. Some excerpts from this are discussed below.

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/march2012/denish319.htm

In Revelation 1:10 we read that John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day. Most good commentaries point out that this means the Day of the Lord (not Sunday - viewed as the first day of the week in the early church). In Revelation 1:19 John is told to write the things he sees (happening) and what is to take place hereafter. In other words, John is taken by the Spirit into the Day of the Lord, and the first thing he sees/witnesses is the Spirit speaking to the churches (Revelation 2 and 3)! This, I believe, speaks of Joel’s outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Then he witnesses the rest of the Revelation, including the disappearance of the Church (the Rapture!!!!!).


What is the Holy Spirit saying to the Churches ( with Turkey as a Sign of Imminence )


This is a big subject, so I would like to just make a few comments, with particular emphasis on Ephesus and Laodicea. It is of note that Ephesus is the only one of the seven Churches in Revelation that also has a Pauline epistle in Bible (and the Book of Ephesians speaks of the glory of Jesus Christ revealed in the Church!). There was also a letter from Paul to Laodicea - the latter day letters on Five Doves rest on this foundation!!!

Colossians 4:16 After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea .

There is an historical perspective to the Seven Churches, but it is also true that the churches in our time are made up, like a hybrid, from all the churches that have gone before. In the Day of the Lord John the Revelator sees the Holy Spirit speaking to remnants of all seven churches, although there is a special place for the first church at Ephesus (Ephesians contains the highest revelation of the Mystery of the Church) and Laodicea, that reminds us so much of the church of today!

Ephesus - the Mystery of the Church and Its Mysterious Disappearance!


Ephesians 5:27: That He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such things. (This is achieved, through the Rapture - our expectancy is that may happen anytime, it may happen today!)

In Revelation 2 we read what the Spirit said to the Church at Ephesus:

Ephesus: Return to your first love! You have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first. 5 Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord]. The Spirit warns the Ephesus church that it has fallen away (and from what heights!). Today we witness this falling away from the Truth and Holiness that is to be found in Christ Jesus!. However, there is a great promise for those who return to their first love, who find and are joined in unity with Him and other believers (including Doves!) - and who, experience the love, joy and holiness that is to be experienced as we wait for the imminent return of the One we Love so intensely (Who died for us, and rose again!). Ephesians 3:20, 21 (Amplified) reveals this promise:

20 Now to Him Who is able to do superabundantly

far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think

[infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams].

21 To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus

throughout all generations forever and ever.



What the Spirit said to: Smyrna - Pergamum - Thyatira - Sardis - Philadelphia

Smyrna: 9 I know your affliction and distress and pressing trouble and your poverty, but you are rich! 10 Fear nothing that you are about to suffer.

Pergamum: 13 I know where you live, a place where Satan sits enthroned. 16 Repent [then]! Or else I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of My mouth.

Thyatira: 19 I know your record and what you are doing, your love and faith and service and patient endurance. and that your recent works are more numerous and greater than your first ones. 25 Only hold fast to what you have until I come.

Sardis: I know what you are doing; you are supposed to be alive, but [in reality] you are dead. 2 Rouse yourselves and keep awake. So call to mind the lessons you received and heard; and repent. In case you will not keep awake and watch, I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not know or suspect at what hour I will come (!!!)

Philadelphia: These are the words of the Holy One, the True One, He Who has the key of David, Who opens and no one shall shut, Who shuts and no one shall open. See! I have set before you a door wide open which no one is able to shut.

The great promise to those in Philadelphia: I also will keep you [safe] from the hour of trial (testing) which is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell upon the earth. I am coming quickly!

What the Spirit is Saying to the Church at Laodicea – the End-time Church!

(Revelation 3): 15 I know your works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth!

17 For you say, I am rich; I have prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing; and you do not understand that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

18 Therefore I counsel you to purchase from Me:

gold refined and tested by fire, that you may be [truly] wealthy

white clothes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nudity from being seen

(eye) salve to put on your eyes, that you may see.

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will eat with him, and he [will eat] with Me.

These are the last and poignant words of Jesus (through the Holy Spirit) to the Church. He is pictured outside the home, and in some respects rejected by the Church, but still seeking a home in those who will receive Him into their hearts. The Church is made up of those Who receive Him, for to these He gives the power to become the sons/daughters of God (John 1:12). In these closing days of the Church there will be many, including deceivers and false Christs, who will knock on the door of our hearts and lives, but we need to listen for His Voice - and only open the door when we hear the unmistakable voice of Jesus! If we know His Word, we will also know the Words and Voice of the Living Word!

Denis! Maranatha!



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Zechariah 12:3,9:
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people; And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.


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