Seven churches

82
M. M. NINAN
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Rev 2:17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To
him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a
white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.
Our Lord identifies himself to it as the one having "the sharp, doubled-edged sword." The
Word of God coming from his lips is double-edged; it cuts two ways. It cuts down the
enemies and it cuts the evil within the church. God is no respecter of persons. He cuts
down evil and sin wherever it is seen. Both ways - within and without. This Church had
enemies outside in the world and within the church was heresy and evil practices.
Jesus says that this is the location of the "throne of Satan." And it was. It was the capital
of the Roman province of Asia, and was famed for its site on a 1000 foot hill which held its
acropolis, dedicated to Zeus, Athena, Dionysus and Asclepius (around which centered a
cult dedicated to medicine), and it also was the center of the Imperial cult, the worship of
Augustus Caesar.
This was an intellectual city with a city library holding over 20,000 volumes, second only to
the ancient library of Alexandria at that time. The word ‘parchment’ actually comes from
the city’s name Pergamos. Pliny says that it was invented in the second century BC in
Pergamum; hence the term `parchment' from the Latin pergamena - `of Pergamum'. Skin
had been used as a writing material before in several other countries. But the refined
methods of cleaning and stretching so that the parchment can be scribed on both sides of
a leaf , leading eventually to the making of the manuscript rolls by the binding the leaves
to form a book was new. Vellum is a parchment made from the delicate skins of young
animals and the superior quality ones were made specially from unborn or still born baby
animals.
Not far from the City was the center of worship of Zeus - the temple at Olympia in the
state of Elis in Peloponnesus. In the center of the worship of the Acropolis in the city stood
the Temple of Athena and on top of the mountain 800 feet above the plain led by a long
flight of steps stood the imposing altar of Zeus over a 100 feet square land. It was another
of world’s Seven Wonders of the ancient world.. It was here that the Olympic games
started . The temple of Zeus housed a colossal gold and ivory statue of Zeus, made by
Pheidias of Athens in the fifth century BC. The statue was one of the seven wonders of
the ancient world. Antiochus IV made a temple for Apollo at Daphne, near Antioch using
the same pattern and dimensions. Pausanius provides a description of the statue of Zeus