The culture around us

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad it in it. Psalm 118:24

Today is Sunday February 18,2018. Today is the day that the Lord has made indeed. As we continue to travel with new found friends, we are reminded of the richness of the biblical history we are immersed in and the lessons we can learn from the context of the actual locations of the scripture we are studying.

As we reflect on the text of Revelation 2:12-17, we are situated at Trajan temple in Pergamum, the city of the third church of the seven churches of Revelation. We have been traveling for five days now and we have seen several temples and pagan places of worship. The prolific worship of false gods cannot be lost on us as we view the opulent, grandeur of the structures we have seen. But what lessons can we learn as we absorb the environment and history around us? John identifies this place as the throne of Satan. The biggest threat to the believers was not the persecution by the pagan people around them but rather the bigger threat was the allure of the society around them and becoming like the people around them. It seems that the overarching theme of what we have learned at each site we have visited thus far is the threat of compromise and our own temptation to be lulled into the culture around us. This is a bigger threat to maintaining the faith than anything else.

We then travelled for several hours on the bus to our new location. The time went quickly as we worshipped together in song and reading of scripture. Perhaps this may become the most memorable part of our day. We were also blessed with a talk from Dr. Mark Strauss, who gave us an overview on how to study the book of Revelation.

The day was capped off with a visit to a Turkish rug factory giving us insights to the complexity of the production of authentic Turkish rugs and a greater appreciation of the Turkish culture.

We are grateful for the opportunity to re-energize with a three night stay along the Aegean Sea.