To me, our 10 days
STM Turkey Study Trip 2013 was like being caught in a tornado and
dropped into the land of Oz (no, not Australia). There are these periods
of hurried packing and unpacking, been awoken at unearthly hours, and
hours of boredom on planes and buses. I do not believe I have seen so
many different types of stones in ruins, and toilets in such a short
period of time in my life before! These stones of ruins (not the
toilets) carry an ambiance sense of antiquity and spiritual power of
ancient gods such as Artemis and Apollo.
Artemis is the
daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the
Hellenic goddess of the hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth,
virginity and protector of young girls, bringing and relieving disease
in women. Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the ancient
Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. However her influence was
so powerful that the ancient Romans continued to worship her as Artemis
as evidenced by Artemis Ephesus in ancient Ephesus. Artemis Ephesus
predates ancient Greece and may have even earlier roots in the ancient
bear cults. Artemis Ephesus is also the Mother goddess of Anatolia, the
ancient Romans being syncretic in their approach to religion, merging
the Greek and Mesopotamian deities.
Her brother Apollo is
recognized as a god of light and the sun, truth and prophecy, healing,
plague, music, and poetry. As the patron of Delphi, Apollo was the
prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing are
associated with Apollo mediated through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo
was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague. As
the leader of the Muses and director of their choir, Apollo functioned
as the patron god of music and poetry.
Between the two of
them, they control all aspects of human existence: business, government,
media, arts and entertainment, education, the family and religion (also
known as the seven mountains or spheres of influences of culture). As
gods, they also control the fate of human beings (souls). The cult of
emperor worship during the latter part of the history of the Roman
Empire is another manifestation of these powers. These deities and their
cultic institution of worship are the faces of spiritual powers and
principalities that early Christians have to face and struggle against
as they seek to follow the demands and worship a monotheist God. This
struggle was intensified when Christianity herself become
institutionalized and political after Constantine.
Walking among the
ruins of Ephesus, Laodicea, Sardis and Hierapolis, I cannot help but
feel the spiritual battles these early Christians have to face as they
live in a culture of the bondage of fear, materialism, hedonism and
consumerism. It would have been a great struggle to be a people that
stood apart from influences of these which Reformed pastor and author
Timothy Keller called ‘counterfeit’ gods. The letters in the Book of
Revelation to the seven churches reveal certain aspects of these
struggles. The struggles against the bondage of fear, materialism,
hedonism and consumerism have not changed over the millenniums. The
faces of the powers and principalities have changed but they themselves
have not. These faces are no longer known as temples, agoras, nymphaeums
or theaters. Nowadays, they are recognized as shopping malls, banks,
Hollywood, online shopping, multinational corporations, governments and
institutional religiosity. These powers and principalities are still
controlling major sectors of the seven mountains. It is still a daily
struggle for many of us not to follow the seductive ways of these
counterfeit gods.
The spiritual battle
has been ongoing for two millenniums and is still going on. Modern
Turkey which is the cradle of early Christianity and later, part of the
Holy Roman Empire has a population of 74.4 million people
in 2011. Of these,
only less than 0.2% is Christians! This shows that the spiritual forces
working against God are still active and powerful. This is a powerful
reminder to us to take heel of the warnings contained in the letters to
the churches in Revelation. The spiritual warfare is still waging all
around us. The modern Church ignores this at her own peril. We are to
choose to intentionally walk closer to God, be holy, reject the
seductions of other gods and be in continual communion with the Father,
Son and the Holy Spirit.
Help us, O Lord, we
plea.
Amen.
| 07 July 2013 |
