By the time this issue arrives in subscribers’ mailboxes I’ll be on the Mediterranean. My wife and I will revisit some of the cities where Paul preached and the sites of the seven churches of the Apocalypse.
I never fail to thrill at the ruins of Ephesus. I can see Paul engaged in spiritual battle with Demetrius, a silversmith, whose statues of Artemis brought him great gain. I can almost see the huge multitudes gathered in the theater shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” But greater was Jesus Christ, the crucified one, for here in Ephesus a church was formed.
I hear the final obituary penned by John in the Revelation as he spoke the words of Jesus: “I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first” (Rev. 2:4). Judgment fell. The church and the city disappeared. All remains are the ruins—an abiding testimony that God removes the lampstand even of churches if they refuse to repent.
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
We’ve got little information on Jesus’ appearance and personality. But that’s the way God designed it.españolFrançais
The plan would organize UMC churches in four global regions, with each given more leeway around same-sex marriage and other theological issues.
