To understand the Book of Revelations, it is important to view it as a prophetic book. It is a book with many parallels with the Book of Daniel, especially in its descriptions of the future Kingdom of God. Also, the book of Revelations was created during the peak of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire dominated Israel and followers of Judaism and followers of early Christianity were heavily persecuted. Some view the Book of Revelation as too scary, too difficult to understand, and too complicated. Yet, we are human beings, and we can decipher its concepts via using context and with our understanding. In short, Revelation 1 shows the Apostle John encountering Jesus Christ, and the Messiah tells John to write the letters to the 7 churches of Asia Minor (or Turkey). In Revelation Chapters 2-3, the seven letters are given to the seven churches of Asia Minor. By Revelation 4-5, John witnesses the throne room of God and heaven. From Revelation 6-19, the future end times events happen from the rise of the Beast (or the Antichrist) until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ on Earth. Revelation 20-22 shows the final events of human history, according to the Bible, with the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ on Earth, the 2nd resurrection, the Great White Throne Judgment of the unrighteous, and a New Heavens and a New Earth. The New Jerusalem and the Eternal State of righteousness exists for the saved (with the everlasting Kingdom of God on Earth being for all times returning back to the state of what was meant to be from the beginning, Amen). It is important to realize that all of Revelations are not shown chronologically in a linear fashion. There are 2 major cycles of Revelation 6-11 showing the events from the rise of the Antichrist until the return of Jesus. Revelation 13-19 is another cycle of the same timeline showing more events of that period. We know that Revelation 14 talks about the Great Tribulation.
Now, let's begin. From the start of the Book of Revelations, we see the Apostle John praising Jesus Christ and stating the the purpose of the book is a prophecy, "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." (Revelation 1:3). The start of the book revelations goes into great detail of the seven churches. Jesus Christ calls himself the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and ending. The prophecy states that every eye will see him during his 2nd Coming among all kindreds of the Earth. The Apostle John was in the spirit and saw many visions. There is great symbolism in the book of Revelation too of the seven candlesticks representing the 7 churches. The book described Jesus Christ as having hair like wool, eyes being a flame of fire, and his feet like brass. The 7 churches in Turkey have descriptions not just showing how the churches back then acted. It outlined the diverse personalities and fruits of modern day Christian Church todays. Scholars like John Daniel in his book called, "Secret Societies and their Infiltration into the Seven Churches" believe that the 7 churches are also about the future history of the church prophetically. This view has been embraced by many Christians.
This view teaches that the church of Ephesus details a moderate, loveless church. This church loses its first love and Jesus said that he doesn't like the views of the Nicolaitans (who embraced Gnostic views. Gnosticism is one cornerstone of the New Age heretical movement). This describes much of the first centuries of A.D. (starting in ca. 70 A.D. when the 2nd Temple was destroyed by the Romans as predicted by the Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Matthew). When the gospel was new, many people were on fire for Jesus. Yet, even them infiltration and persecution harmed many people in the causing some of them to be tired and left their first love. The next church is the church of Smyrna. This was the persecuted church from 100 A.D. to 313 A.D. (according to scholars who believe in this view). The 10 major persecutions of Christians were executed by the pagan Roman Emperors of: Nero, Domitian, Tajan, Marcus Aurelius Antonius, Lucuis Severus Septimius, Maximus, Valerian, Aurelius, and Diocletian. These are 10 people. The Christian Church experienced massive persecution, death, poverty, and tribulation. The pagan Roman Empire was cruel and wicked to not only persecute Christian. They enslaved people, glorified animals killing humans in the Roman Colosseum, and embracing overt imperialism (harming people in lands as far as England to Iraq). Jesus Christ said that this church will have tribulation for 10 days (some view this as ten waves of persecution under 10 Roman emperors ending by 313 A.D.). Jesus Christ made it clear in the New Testament that evangelism is key in saving souls.
The Church at Pergamos was the worldly church (from 313 to 606 A.D). According to the scholar John Daniel, this church reflected the time of the age of Constantine. We know that Constantine was once a sun worshiper and merged church and state. He used paganism and Christianity to mix them up. Jesus Christ condemned the wicked actions in Pergamos constantly at Revelations 2:12-17. Pergamos was found with tons of paganism. This time saw the Council of Nicea filled with debates on the Trinity. The heretic Arius denied the Deity of Jesus Christ. The Nicea Council allowed the Nicene Creed to exist. I believe fully in the Nicene Creed. The problem with Constantine is that he merged pagan views with Christianity. Also, he wanted to make the Bishop of Rome the supreme bishop of all of the church (when historically the church had a democratic existence of bishops). Sylvester was chosen by Constantine to be the representative of Jesus Christ. This was promoted in 314 A.D. Sylvester was the first bishop of Rome crowned like a temporal prince, therefore causing the beginning of the modern day Roman Catholic Church. The church and state were united in violation of the words of Jesus Christ saying clearly Render what is to God things of God, Render to things related to Caesar to Caesar. The state church ordered people to go to church against their wills. Paganism and false doctrines entered the Roman church like veneration of saints and angels, the veneration of Mary, purgatory, prayers offered directly to Mary. These things have no basis in the OT or the NT. Augustine saw this new era. Next, it was the Thyatira church. This church would be about the rise and decline of the Roman Catholic Church into the next level from 606 to 1648 A.D. During this time, Romanism was complicit in the Inquisition, the Maafa, anti-Semitic pogroms, and other evils so wicked that modern day Popes had to issue apologies for these crimes. Also, Protestantism was right to disagree with the superstitions of Catholicism, but many of them embraced the union of church and state just like the Roman Catholic Church. The Thyatira era saw massive growth of the Roman Catholic Church. In 606 A.D, Boniface III was crowned the first universal pope. As the Catholic Church grew, more false doctrines existed in the church and secret orders infiltrated that church too. That era saw the Merovingians, the Knights Templar, and other groups having prominence in the world. There were the Cathars who were Gnostic heretics who performed many rituals. The end of this age saw the rise of Protestants, the rise of Masonry (from the guilds of Europe), and the age of Enlightenment.
The Church of Sardis represented those who escaped. Some scholars believe that this era was from 1648-1750. The Protestant church grew. The Protestants were right that superstitions and many false doctrines in the Roman Catholic Church should be disagreed with. The issue is that many of the Protestants retained many Catholic doctrines like union of church and state (including baptizing infants) along with the fact that many secret societies infiltrated some Protestants. In other words, the Protestant Reformation didn't fully complete the spiritual transformation. Conversely, the Roman Catholic Church was wrong to embrace overt false doctrines in their church like forcing all priests against their wills to be celibate, forcing every bishop to be celibate, transubstantiation, etc. The Philadelphia church had the most praise from Jesus Christ. John Daniel believed that this era was from 1750-1945. This time saw the massive expansion of evangelism of Christianity in the world, massive invention, the growth of human expectancy, and the growth of the Gospel in general. Philadelphia helped to massively expand Christianity in the world. The 2 Great Awakenings in America all existed in the Philadelphia church era causing conversions and the Anti-Masonic movement in America. Peter Cartwright, Dwight L. Moody, and other preachers of every color flourished with their gospel messages (found in Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and other churches). These are the Christians who fought to end slavery in many places worldwide, defeated the Confederacy, and stood up for other social changes in the world. The Laodicea Church was mostly condemned by Jesus Christ. Religious scholars said that the Laodicean age existed from 1945 to the present. This age is self-explanatory. During this time, we have people bragging about being rich and have need of nothing (especially the 1 percent, but they are spiritually poor). Many secret groups like Freemasonry have infiltrated some churches. That is why some churches refuse to condemn Masonry, the Boule, the doctrines of false religions, and the agenda of economic inequality. With new evils, cowardice among some, and false doctrine in the world, this time is very much unique.
The late 19th century and the early 20th century of American history saw many changes in the world. This period of time was after the American Civil War. We saw America went from a nation being young to a nation being an international power with military resources, trade, and other forms of power. The contradiction of that time and in our time (to be honest) is that while America claimed to be democratic, many of its policies domestically and internationally was the opposite of democracy. For example, the U.S. government advanced the Monroe Doctrine that wanted Latin American nations to be client states of America. American forces occupied Cuba and the Philippines in imperialistic, wicked adventures. Also, Jim Crow grew to harm tons of black people in murders, rapes, oppressive laws, and overt terror. Jim Crow apartheid was terrorism. Debates about the role of government existed with the Presidencies of Cleveland, Roosevelt, and Taft. Many Presidents wanted an expanded role of the federal government to change society, and other President didn't desire that reality. The Progressive Movement desired the policies to have antirust laws, to have workplace protections, labels on foods, and an end to child labor. Me personally, I do believe that the federal government should have an active role in improving our society (in promoting the general welfare). After Woodrow Wilson, future Presidents will see some of the greatest changes in American history from World War Two to the Civil Rights Movement. The next part of the History of the Presidency series will deal with people form Warren G. Harding to John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
In 1971, there was the 26th Amendment signed. This was signed by President Richard Nixon to allow American citizens who are 18 years old or older the right to vote. During the 1960's, the movement to fight for a younger voting age from 21 existed strongly. This movement was strengthened by the increase of student activism and the anti-Vietnam war movement. Many people, who were 18, back people were drafted to war but couldn't vote until 1971. By 1975, we see the Voting Rights Act to expand to protect language minorities. Congress added new provisions to the Voting Rights Act to require jurisdictions with significant numbers of voters (who have limited or no proficiency in English) to have voting materials in other languages (and to provide multilingual assistance at the polls). By 1982, Congress passed a law extending the Voting Rights Act for another 25 years. The extension required states to take steps to make voting more accessible for the elderly and people with disabilities. In 1993, the Motor Voter became law. This is about the law requiring states to allow citizens to register to vote when they applied for their drivers' licenses. This required states to offer mail in registration and to allow people to register to vote at offices offering public assistance. More than 30 million people finished their voter registration applications or updated their registration via the law after the first year of the law's implementation.
After the 2000 Bush v. Gore controversial election, new changes happened. There was a recount in the state of Florida. So, new policies existed to upgrade faulty equipment and bad ballot designs. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled to stop the Florida recount and cause George W. Bush to be President of the United States of America. By 2002, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act. This law streamlined election procedures in America. It placed new mandates on states and localities to replace outdated voting equipment, create statewide voter registration lists, and have provisional ballots to make sure that eligible voters are not turned away if their names are not on the roll of registered voters. The law made it easier for people with disabilities to cast private, independent ballots. By the 2010's and 2020's, new reforms existed along with massive voter suppression policies on another level. Many programs and institutions have invented to promote voting rights and expand voting among historically underrepresented communities. In 2011, Florida changed its felony voting rights to make felons wait 5 years after sentencing and apply for the right to vote again. By June 2013, the Supreme Court made one of its worst decisions in history by ending the Section 5 part of the Voting Rights Act. The case is Shelby County v. Holder. The Supreme Court gutted a major part of the law. Now, states and localities, with a history of suppressing voting rights, can no longer require to submit changes in their election laws to the U.S. Justice Department for review (or preclearance). The 5-4 decision ruled unconstitutional a section of the landmark 1965 law that was key to protect voters in states and localities with a history of race-based voter suppression. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg was right to state in her dissent of the case that, "Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet." By August of 2013, more states increase their policies to put up more barriers to voting. By August 11, 2013, North Carolina's governor signed a voter ID law. Many critics of the law said that it was an attempt to suppress the votes of people of color. After a lawsuit (sent by civil rights groups and the U.S. Department of Justice), that North Carolina law was struck down by a federal judge who said that it targeted African Americans with "almost surgical precision." Voter ID laws were passed in Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, and Florida. The problem with these voter ID laws is that they sometimes restrict the time when people can vote, limit how people can vote, and even go to use restrictions causing discrimination in many ways. By 2014, more civil rights and social justice groups unite to fight the far-right voter suppression agenda.
This fight has been done by the NAACP, National Action Network, the ACLU, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), and other groups. This battle involves racial gerrymandering, strict voter ID laws, and other efforts to reduce the voting rights of black people, other people of color, the poor, the elderly, and other underrepresented populations. By 2016, Trump won the election. Voter fraud never existed in a massive scale regardless of Trump's claims. This lie of massive voter fraud would continue in 2020, 2021, and 2022. By October of 2018, Georgia promotes efforts to advance more barriers to voting. This measure to cut voting hours in Atlanta and restricting early voting on the weekends were defeated by 2018. Record voters in 2018 existed. The 2020 Census existed, and Trump failed to try to add a question to the 2020 census to see if someone is a citizen of America. 2020 saw some voting rights victories. For example, in that year, California restored voting rights to citizens serving parole, Washington D.C. passed a law to allow incarcerated felons to vote, voting rights increased for those with felony convictions, and in New Jersey felons can vote (after conviction and release from prison plus citizens on parole or probation can vote). North Dakota reached an agreement with the Spirit Lake Nation and the Standing Rock Sioux to recognize tribal address as valid for voting purposes. In 2020, Trump lost. Afterwards, new voting restrictive laws existed in Texas and Georgia. In 2021, the Supreme Court's ruling on Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee had broad removals of the remaining sections of the Voting Rights Act, which was wrong. The fight for voting rights continues.
The culture of architecture is very diverse. Since the 1980's, buildings have existed in a more complex fashion. We see a changing environment too. Some approve or disapprove of the Modernist and Post-Modernist culture of architecture. Recent cultural changes deal with New Urbanism, Metaphoric architecture, and new classical architecture. Because of climate change, there is an increased look at architecture dealing with sustainability. Landscape architecture is very much used in parks, various mountains, and other places. The misconception is that architects must always build something large in order for it to be functional. The truth is that this isn't the case. Some airports have easily navigable locations. Adaptability is one aspect of the culture too. Flexible structures can last for generations. There are cultural architects whose purpose is to change the mindsets of other human beings. Culture is about the ideas, customs, and social behavior of a group of people or society. So, diverse cultures of the world in Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, Oceania, the Americas, etc. have tons of temples, buildings, and centers that reflect the cultures of those large global regions.
The Ecumenical Movement has expanded greatly in the world since the 1960's. After the historic Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Church and the Jesuits knew that it couldn't convince all of the human race to embrace Roman Catholicism. So, they used universities, various movements, and organizations who are dedicated to Ecumenicism? What is the Ecumenical Movement? It's a movement that teaches that Christians, Catholics, and all denominations must come together to be part of one single church or be into compromise (some go as far as wanting to unite all religions into one religion). The Ecumenical Movement took off greatly by the time of Vatican II Council in the 1960's. The World Council of Churches is a key group of the Ecumenical Movement. Many members of that groups are high level Freemasons, CFR members, Knights of Malta, have ties to the Jesuits, etc. The ecumenical philosophy is a theme song of Contemporary Christian Music. In an interview with Christianity Today, Don Moen of Integrity Music said: “I’ve discovered that worship [music] is transdenominational, transcultural. IT BRIDGES ANY DENOMINATION. Twenty years ago there were many huge divisions between denominations. Today I think the walls are coming down. In any concert that I do, I will have 30-50 different churches represented.” The Emerging Church is linked to the Ecumenical movement and the Prosperity Gospel too. 1 Timothy 1:3 cites that, believers teach no other doctrine, "“As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach NO OTHER DOCTRINE." Jude 3 said that we should contend for the faith, "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). The Ecumenical Movement's problem also is that it diminishes the need to expose false teachers who preach heresies. Heresies are condemned in Mt. 7:15-17, 2 Peter 2, 1 Timothy 4:1-3, etc.). The New Testament is clear that: “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Romans 16:17).
By Timothy
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