In conservative Evangelical jargon, lampstands are being removed because of false, deceptive support for Trump

[lees1975]

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2024/09/evangelicals-must-clean-house-and-rid.html

If you still have evangelical friends, here's something you can use that tells the story in their language.

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love that you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent...Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. Revelation 2:4-7a, NRSV

This passage from the book of Revelation, an often misunderstood and misused prophetic word from one of Jesus' apostles, John, to a group of Christians in churches where he served and worked during the early first century, in and around the city of Ephesus, on the west coast "bulge" of the Asia Minor peninsula, was both a warning and encouragement to what was the largest and most prosperous of seven churches addressed in this particular book. Ephesus was a large, prosperous city, a seaport on the Mediterranean coast, and also a hotbed of Christian evangelism.

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The language of having their lampstand removed is symbolic. What John meant was that the continued failure of the Ephesian church to turn back to the priorities of loving Christ and using spiritual help from God to practice the Christian gospel, instead of depending on the worldly power they'd discovered, would result in the church ceasing to exist, which it certainly did. In this prophetic book, addressed to seven specific churches, this warning was given to five of them, while two of them, Philadelphia and Smyrna, were commended for their commitment and assured of spiritual protection.

Bowing the knee and giving loyalty to Trump has caused the churches whose pastors and members who have done it to be guilty of many of the things John mentions in his warning to these seven churches in Asia. This also includes idolatry and false doctrine, sexual immorality, being spiritually dead and disconnected, and having spiritual fervor tempered by secular politics into lukewarm apathy. All of those things are part of any church that has raised Trump up to the point where they are willing to make him a political leader, and it has led them into sheer hypocrisy, and apostasy.

And there is evidence that lampstands are being removed, so to speak. Evangelical Christian churches and denominations in the United States have lost 16 million members and have seen their attendance plummet, by almost 10%, over the time that Trump has been the nominee of the GOP for the Presidency. I want to make it clear that this prophecy is not literally applied to today's church, but it is a prophetic word. Trumpism is a non-Christian, perhaps by definition an anti-Christian intrusion into the Christian churches of this country, a huge distraction from their mission and purpose.

Keep it up and see what happens. The Bible is giving a big hint, and it might be time to stop merely proclaiming belief in its infallibility and inerrancy, and actually put it to practice instead of ignoring what it says about Trump's hate-filled rhetoric.

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. When there is a split in belief, which side is right?

Is it in the Bible?

[lees1975]

2. Split? Like a disagreement?

The Bible has a very clear historical, cultural and linguistic context that is pretty clear to interpret. A lot of differences come from taking it out of those contexts and attempting a literal reading and interpretation, applying it as if it were specifically written for all times and cultures, rather than for the actual settings each part of it was written, and the culture and history that were addressed.