I believe in the seven churches as ages...
Ephesus - Messianic - Beginning with the Apostle to the Circumcision, Peter
Smyrna - Martyr - Beginning with the Apostle to the Un-Circumcision, Peter
Pergamos - Orthodoxy formed in this time... Pergos is a tower... Needed in the dark ages
Thyatira - Catholicism formed in this time - The spirit of Jezebel is to control and to dominate.
Sardis - Protestantism formed in this time- A sardius is a gem - elegant yet hard and rigid
Philadelphia - Wesleyism formed in this time - To be sanctioned is to acquire it with love.
Laodicea - Charismatic movement formed in this time - Beginning with DL Moody, the first to make money off of ministry
In which all of this is a mystery...
The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
- Revelation 1:20
In which we all, as part of the one whole church, are in the right hand of the Lord Jesus Christ...
These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; - Revelation 2:1
In which I also question my own interpretation of this great mystery...
1. Are the seven churches ages?
2. Are the seven churches denominations?
I would say that they are a mixture of the two. My family comes from Methodist and Catholic origins. And, strangely enough, I was brought up Baptist. By the time the Baptist got through with me as a teenager I could not imagine any but Baptist as truly saved. As a young adult I felt the Holy Spirit come in and reside in a powerful way in a Pentecostal Holiness church. After research this was an offspring of John Wesley Methodism.
I wonder though, with the changes of the times and the seasons, if we have not all become Laodicean...
1. People do not care as much about church doctrine these days
2. Most successful churches are non-denomination independent Charismatic type churches
3. The denominational walls are not as high as they once were.
I took my dad, who professes to be Lutheran, to a Catholic church service last Christmas morning. To my amazement they were singing carols that were Protestant in origin. And then to my surprise my dad went for communion and they served it to him. Pope Frances has also reached out hands of fellowship to churches of other non-Catholic Christian congregations. I just wonder in this Laodicean time if the churches are not blending together as one.
I believe that the Catholic church is a Christian church that had its hay-day in Thyatirean times. I do not think that the spirit of Jezebel, to control and to dominate, is with them in the magnitude as it was in earlier times. But this spirit can raise her head again.
My dad's family are from the Saginaw Michigan Catholic church family and I use to attend when I was very young. The church then had nuns, monks, priests, and a very Catholic service. If I could go back in time I would like to sit again in one of the churches and take it all in.
The Holy Family Catholic church in Saginaw, Michigan. Just walking through the doors for me as a child was an incredible experience!