I was driving in a new town today and I saw a sign for "The Church of the End of Times". Has anyone ever heard of them? I can almost guess where they came from. Does anyone know anything about this church? Just curious.
The Church of The End of Times?????
by gringojj 4 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
wednesday
here in the south/southwest, there are many odd religions and sometimes it is hard to telll jws from the rest. sometimes the others are so bizzare, it almost makes jws seem normal-almost. many people down here believe in the end of the world, noteably the church of christ groups (remember "in case of the rapture this car will be unmaned"). jws did not originate this belief, it is only b/c we don't go to other churches and check them out that we are not aware that many other churches teach these things.
-
RachelHall
My "Born again" friend thinks we are in the end times!
-
lovelylil
There are some churches today that interpret the 7 churches that are mentioned in Revelation as being 7 different church types we will see on the earth during different time periods running from the first church at Pentecost to the last church during the end times. They claim the first; the church in Ephesus was the one that was active during the Apostles time. And the last, the church of Laodicia, is the one that is active during our time as we are in the last days. That is why some claim they are the church of the end times. The seven churches of Revelation were actual churches in the Apostle John’s time. They were located in Ephesus, Smyrna, Perganum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea and were listed in their geographical order along an ancient triangular highway route in what is today eastern Turkey, touching on the Aegean Sea. The Island of Patmos, where John was when he wrote Revelation was just off the coast. Beginning at Ephesus, it was about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north through Smyrna, up to Pergamum, and then about another 100 miles back southeast through Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, to Laodicea, which was about 100 miles east of Ephesus. (See Revelation 2 & 3)
It is hard to say if the belief that there is one church represented by each of these types through out our history or whether these churches have a different significance. If you take the view that each type of church is represented by one type of church on earth from the day of John until today, you will have to show conclusive proof as to not only which churches they were and what time periods they covered but, also how their message was given to them as there would have to have been a messenger representing each church.
Another view that seems to make more sense is that these churches are just representative of all the different types of churches that we have experienced though out history and including today. Since all these churches in John's day were on earth simultaniously, this adds wieght to the view that they are represenational of all Churches only and not specific to one church. Some of these churches allowed false teachings, some worshiped idols, some were strong in faith, and others were just going through the motions of being in Christ. We can definitely see all these types of behaviors in many churches today. And within the individual churches some of the members have these different characteristics mentioned here. Some are stronger than others in their faith, some are weaker etc. When you read all these letters in their context and understand that they were once literal churches, in John's time, it is easy to realize that the significance for us today is to learn from the council that they are given. If we are displaying any of the qualities that they were counseled on, we need to make corrections in this area.
Hope this helps, Lilly
-
gringojj
Thanks for the reply Lily but do you know anything about this church?
I saw the sign for it in Mass and I see you live here too.