**Pergamum,**an ancient city in the first century, part of the Roman province of Asia, in modern-day Turkey.
The Church at Pergamum focuses on teachings that purify the soul, the pursuit of self-control to access divine law, and the importance of insight and knowledge. It warns against secular humanism and the dangers of replacing divine authority with human governance, which can lead to issues like addiction and mental illness.
The Church at Pergamum focuses on teachings that purify the soul, the pursuit of self-control to access divine law, and the importance of insight and knowledge. It warns against secular humanism and the dangers of replacing divine authority with human governance, which can lead to issues like addiction and mental illness.
Significance in the First Century: Pergamum was a cultural and learning hub, known for its library, second only to Alexandria's. It also served as the capital of the Roman province of Asia for a time.
Biblical Significance: Pergamum is mentioned in the Book of Revelation as one of the seven churches addressed by John the Apostle, often seen as representing a period in the early Christian church threatened by false teachings and persecution.
Link to the genius of the Didasko: The teaching in Pergamum can be likened to the gift of the ear in the Ear of Adam, emphasizing the ability to listen, discern, and understand divine revelations. It's a call to remember and obey God's Word, similar to the Shema, the central tenet of the Jewish faith beginning with "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one."
Pergamum, the third of seven communities mentioned in Rev 2-3, whose guardian angel Entolas stood against doctrinal errors, allowing the NT ecclesia to recover stability and maintain orthodoxy by preserving inerrancy as a key tenet of faith. This fulfills Malachi 4:4's mandate to “remember the law of Moses” with attendant benefits and gospel adjustments.
In Pergamum, this gift of the ear represents the need for the church to discern the gospel's truth amid false teachings and persecution, and to preserve this truth for future generations.
Preservation of the Hebrew Scriptures: The accurate transmission of the Hebrew Scriptures, or the Old Testament, is a testament to the Holy Spirit's inspiration and the faithfulness of those who listened to and obeyed God's Word. Scribes have meticulously preserved every letter and word over centuries.
This preservation underscores the importance of God's Word and the need to listen, understand, and obey it, echoing the central message of the Shema and the biblical significance of Pergamum.
<aside> <img src="https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/49de0235-e8bc-4eca-bf20-2a9d6d267a02/d081fd74-1f6a-49d4-aebf-8a529a4a6210/IMAGE_2024-02-23_213606.jpg" alt="https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/49de0235-e8bc-4eca-bf20-2a9d6d267a02/d081fd74-1f6a-49d4-aebf-8a529a4a6210/IMAGE_2024-02-23_213606.jpg" width="40px" /> 3. Pergamon: Pergamon faced threats from false teachings and persecution. The gift is discerning self-control (egkrateia), helping to identify and reject false doctrines. Wheat symbolizes providing instruction and nourishing the community with cleansing words. Jesus' mantle to this church ensures Bible accuracy through correct transliteration, pronunciation, interpretation, and application.
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[Third] - This term, in the context of Paul’s discussion in Rom 12:6-8, refers to a sequence. It characterizes an individual who, having been touched with the logic of heaven, can hear with evaluation, assessment, and discernment. This is not about the content of what is heard, but the capacity for hearing itself to contribute to understanding. The phrase “ears to hear” is often repeated in the 7 churches narrative, underscoring the idea that the reception of heavenly truth is sometimes an auditory experience. Once this truth is heard, it cannot be unheard, much like once something is seen, it cannot be unseen.
[Entolas] - The messenger who provides insight into the very order and structure of life as God meant it to be, a reflection of heaven’s wisdom, beauty and goodness. This wisdom guides the various communities within the City of faith, who are the custodians of a truth that is as integral to their identity as DNA is to biological life. Those who interact with Entolas will naturally gravitate towards a divine order based on the rule of law, a system that governs society with a level of reasoned principle that is beyond dispute.
[recover] - This term is an aviation analogy. Just as a pilot uses their understanding of the flight environment to stabilize and control the aircraft, so too does the church navigate and overcome challenges. By preserving the inerrancy of its doctrines, the church maintains its faith and order over time.
[inerrancy] - The term refers to the Hebrew scripture and the New Testament manuscripts that have been preserved to modern times. These documents form a complete, comprehensive, and encyclopedic repository of the full gospel, passed down from original source documents received and communicated in authoritative oral histories and written scrolls. They have been meticulously preserved throughout the millennia, from Moses to Jesus to the early apostles, and down to the present day.
[keeps the law] - This term refers to the guardians of the historic Judeo-Christian heritage's fundamentals, appointed by heaven. These guardians, whether Jewish or Christian, have been distinguished by their continual emphasis on the modalities from Adam to Moses to Jesus and the new testament evangelists. There is an ancestry of ideas, a central corpus of doctrine common to both Judaism and Christianity that inextricably binds the two together in a common thread of history and destiny since the foundation of the world.
[Moses] - a key figure in the 7modalities paradigm who represents the didactic genius required to unlock the treasures of darkness within the human soul created in the likeness of it’s Maker. This is Moses the Teacher of Righteousness who was the divinely chosen vessel to be the mouthpiece of the Jewish remnant from earliest days of the Patriarch until the captivity in Babylon down through the Greek and Roman period to the times of Pilate and the days of the Caesars when the fires of revival broke out in Palestine among those who followed after a greater than Moses. Moses was the supreme servant of the Almighty, Jesus is the risen Son who forever lives in the ecclesia by His Spirit poured out in hearts and minds of an advancing Kingdom.
Teaching series inspired by the sacrifices and devotion of the ecclesial community at ancient Pergamum as mentioned in the Book of Revelation, Rev 2:12-17 "Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it"
Content creation by the EAR of ADAM in the original pattern of sevens and the natural endowment EGKRATEIA: mastery, self-control (2 Peter 1:6)
Brought to you by BREAD WHEAT (Triticum Aestivum) alongside the colour ORANGE representing the didactic genius in sorting and classifying (ideas) laying orderly foundations for subsequent generations to build upon under the covering of the Angel ENTOLAS responsible for the principle of inerrancy of Holy Writ through the transliteration, pronunciation, interpretation and application of the Word in the believer’s life.
