Is there a reason why the Bible starts with Genesis and ends with Revelation? I don’t think of the books of the Bible on a continuum but a story that comes full circle—a place that starts and ends at the same point. My revelation of the Book of Revelation is how it explains the struggle of getting back to the days of Genesis.
Genesis defines who God is and the perfect human relationship with Him. You can see through Adam’s and Eve’s relationship with God, the design He had for humanity. Revelation revels Christ’s identity and the hope to restore humankind back into the perfect relationship with God while at the same time showing how broken our world is by the reproach in the letters to the 7 churches. And to think, this was the condition of the churches just 95 years after Jesus’s birth. What might the letters look like today in 2021 with untold numbers of Christian denominations. When Jesus ascended into Heaven, I imagine his vision was for one church and not hundreds of religions.
Revelation
Revelation identifies Christ’s full identity and the only means of getting back to the original relationship design in Genesis. Thom Rainer in his research published in Autopsy of a Deceased Church says that 90% of churches are sick or dying. Is God taking away their lamp stands? Have you watched the documentary The Clergy Project, which in my opinion, should be renamed Atheists in the Pulpit? If you haven’t, it will have you questioning whether your pastor has lost his or her faith in God while still preaching the Word in which they don’t believe.
What’s surprising about the 7 letters described in Revelation is that these were churches of Jesus’s day. You’d think they wouldn’t struggle as much as we do today, but it appears the struggle hasn’t changed much in 2000 years. These early Christian churches stood in what is now known as present day Turkey, and yet you can hardly find any Christians in the area.
Will you recognize your church in one of the 7 letters?
- Ephesus: The judgers. They focus so much on not sinning that they lost the love and acceptance of people.
- Smyrna: The fearful. These were the suffers. Encouraged to be faithful, not fearful, so they could receive the crown of life
- Pergamum: The tolerators. They tolerated sin by bowing to the external pressure of being open-minded to the culture at large
- Thyatira: The Jezebels. Promoted and took part in sexual immortality that was widely accepted in the day
- Sardis: The spiritually dead. Active in doing good deeds but superficial because corrupt inside
- Philadelphia: The hangeron-ers. Probably the only church not rebuked. Told to hold tight even though their strength may be weak
- Laodicea: The half-hearters. These are those who believed and relied not on God but on their own self-sufficiency
These letters cover the same struggles that are going on in most churches across the country and world.
What Can Be Done?
Many people have never had a spiritual encounter with Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit. The only way to God is through a personal relationship with Christ, which means you have to get comfortable with the spiritual realm—the same one described in stories throughout the Bible such as Jesus tempted by the devil for 40 days in the Judaean Desert and demons jumping out of people and into pigs. The world hasn’t change except the demons have multiplied.
Your ability to have a personal relationship with God is a spiritual battle through Original Sin. The Good News is that God made a way to reconcile us to him. You must focus on your relationship with Christ and not by adhering to the rules. Get into the Word, pray, and let God reveal Himself to you. When you do you will have the power to live according to the exemplified values of Christ and bring more Heaven to earth.
Full Circle
Genesis tells the story of God walking and talking with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Revelation describes people worshiping God face-to-face. Genesis describes a garden before an evil serpent. Revelation describes a perfect city without evil.
The only way to come full circle is to walk through the narrow gate. “…For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:14 (NIV). The narrow gate is an invitation from God for a personal, spiritual relationship.
If you’d like to talk more about Christ, Salvation, or the Bible, don’t hesitate to reach out for a conversation.
About the Author: Sandra Dillon is a professional coach with an extensive background in premarital/marriage, finances, ministry, and leadership. She coaches individuals and couples to find their purpose, be the heroes of their own life stories, and help them be a shining light in this spiritually dark world. You can learn more about Sandra or engage her as you coach by reaching out to her at shinecrossings@gmail.com
I have two questions for you? The second we’ll get to later. The first is: what are your core values? How would you describe them in action in your life?
Rescue starts when someone posts on social media, commonly Facebook, a dog found dumped on the streets or when volunteers post photos/video of available shelter dogs. Yes, there are volunteers who walk the Texas shelter aisles—whose sole purpose is to put those adoptable dog faces behind wire cages on social media, so someone’s heart can be tugged. A Colorado rescue can commit to take the dog but will only do so if it has a short-term foster in the shelter area that can hold the dog for about 1-3 weeks while out-of-state transport can be arranged and the minimum vetting completed to take the dog across state lines.
Shelters will routinely allow registered 501c3 rescues to pull dogs for free by submitting their nonprofit incorporation papers or completing shelter forms. Ideally, the local foster will provide a home environment, learn of the dog’s behaviors and personality, take it to a vet to secure its health certificate and vaccinations (at rescue expense), and ensure it makes its transport to Colorado when space has been secured.
Colorado volunteers will pick up the dogs off transport and typically take them to their next foster home until they are adopted. Fosters take daily care of the dogs, which includes helping with training (crate, potty, behavior, and basic commands). Dogs are also spayed and neutered before their adoption. On average fosters give a loving home to these rescue dogs for a couple days to a couple weeks and commit to taking them to scheduled adoption events, vet appointments, and meet-and-greets with potential adopters.
Adoptable dogs are posted on the rescue’s website, social media pages, and available at the adoption events. Potential adopters must fill out an application and are screened, which includes home and vet (if family own other pets) checks. The adopting family must typically agree that the dog spend most of its time indoors. Although each rescue has its own rules, most have a trial adoption period to make sure the fit is right. At any time if the family can no longer care for the dog, the contract stipulates it must be returned to the rescue. This process delivers a high permanent adoption rate.
Many people don’t understand why the adoption fees are so high for unwanted rescue animals. The truth is that rescues want to make sure they put a happy and healthy dog in the home of its forever family. With that end goal, rescues are just covering their basic costs in the adoption fees.
Fosters may find they work on crate and potty training as the history of the dog is mostly unknown. If the foster/dog fit is too strained, rescues will do their best to find another foster home. Fosters must realize rescue organizations run solely on volunteers, so nothing happens overnight.
Although Alex has gained an incredible support network of friends who have a common passion and knows the pure joy of connecting the family and rescue, the price has been expensive in both money and untold hours in the field.
Today Alex is serves NHCDR, breed specific for heeler mixes, and she tags pitties with From Forgotten to Forever Rescue (FFTF). She has a dream to own property to build kennels as backup to her own foster-home rescue. Her passion is to save death row dogs—those minutes from euthanasia—victims of shelter overcrowding. Alex is truly the champion of the underdog of underdogs.
If you have a dog or two, the rescue will require that your pets are spayed or neutered. No one wants an oops! If you’ve ever thought of fostering, do it. The upside is how fulfilled you’ll feel in helping an underdog, and the only downside may be some adjustment in a temporary living situation.
We should all have at least one great story to tell, and it is the story of our life. And if we want to make ours worth a read, it must have certain elements.
specialties. Brick-and-mortar as well as online schools are popping up and offering training and certification with a small investment of time and several thousands of dollars. These schools advertise they can teach you how to coach and build a client portfolio delivering a 6-figured salary. I’ve yet to find anything sustainable that does not require time, patience, and hard work. Without a doubt coaching can be transformational, and the responsibility lies with the client to vet a coach to find the best fit.
Shine Crossings Ministry 