Good post Mike. Interestingly, in my small study group we are just studying Rev 3:1-3. I’ve found the best study on Revelation to be in Dr. Steven Dilday’s course and translation work on the book. As it relates to the churches one could sample through the readings at:
https://www.fromreformationtoreformation.com/post/revelation-2-1-christ-s-inspection-of-the-churches
But I would suggest one go back to the beginning work he has on the book. Not for the casual reader though as his will be a multi-year study.
Be sure to listen to the Sermon Audios which are embedded in the comments for each verse.BTW, Thanks for sending me on a scavenger hunt, with your 2009 quote of Piper. I have not seen much on him lately. It was interesting reading your post on the letter to him back 10 years ago. You got lots of comments on that one. In another post I saw 👀 a Machen quote you put up, one of my favorites, and shows that for a hundred years we have been on this path.
“In such a time of kaleidoscopic changes, is there anything that remains unchanged? When so many things have proved to be untrustworthy, is there anything we can trust?
“One point, at least, is clear – we cannot trust the Church. The visible Church, the Church as it now exists upon this earth, has fallen too often into error and sin.” J. Gresham Machen
by Mike Ratliff
1 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write:
He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Revelation 3:1 (NASB)
As part of my research for this piece, I did some Google searches on the Internet using the word phrase, “A Dead Church.” It was very interesting reading what “some” people considered the markers of a “dead church.” One fellow was adamant that the two markers which revealed that a church was dead was that its leaders used a Bible other than the King James Version and/or its denomination practiced infant baptism. Other markers I saw were things like the sort of music was used in worship or if there was an over abundance of ceremony or ritual in the order of worship…
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Rainbow Trout 