Westside Youth - the blog on the 7 churches I promised. (No one will read this) :)
Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7) City of 250,000 Center of town was a humongous church for Diana (the greek goddess of hunting and fertility, as well as the moon). (Insert joke here). Every building in town as well as every coin they had had a palm leaf on it. That was her symbol. They believed that she was born outside of town in a grove of palm trees. They called the grove paradise and the tree “the tree of life.” Sound familiar? Jesus introduces himself as the one who holds the seven stars. He identifiies himself as the one with all the power. The Ephesian church had forgotten their first love. Jesus tells them to repent, and turn back to their first love, then they will eat every day from the tree of life and be with him in real paradise. Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11) Was located on a hill and had buildings around the peak. People called it the crown of smyrna. The town was leveled by Alexander the Great and rebuilt. Then it was destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt