Friday, August 4th | Mutilated

Welcome back, everyone.

Today is Friday, August the fourth. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. And you're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. Or if you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028, or you can email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

That's right. You guys can help us keep the conversation going by supporting the podcast, sharing it online, leaving us a good review on iTunes, Spotify, anywhere you get your podcasting content from. Leave us those good five-star reviews.

We are going to leave some links in the description of this podcast so you can do just that. The verse of the day today comes from 2 Timothy chapter four, verses seven and eight. I have fought the good fight.

I finished the race. I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day. And not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Anybody who has ever questioned what the purpose of being a Christian is, that's it right there. To make it to the end of my life and be able to say those words. Paul said that with passion. He said it with conviction. He was assured that what he was writing was not only true, that it was the word of God. He has fought the good fight.

He has finished the race. I have kept the faith. Being able to die with that satisfaction is, I would say, the single most important goal in my life.

Yeah, absolutely. Being able to know that I did what God called me to do, and what I did mattered. It made a difference. It made a difference that I was here. Paul's writing to Timothy, his son in the faith, his younger brother in ministry. He's saying, Timothy, look at how I've lived my life. I can say this at the end of my life, and I want you, my son in the faith, my Christian brother, I want you to be able to say this as well.

We should live our lives in a way that points people toward who God is and the race that we're running. That's right. I had a lot more than two people write in, but I'm going to read from two people who wrote in.

Number one, the first person, I'm not going to name them, because I'm going to insult you. You dork. You nerd. They wrote in, but yesterday we talked about me being afraid of frogs. Oh, yeah.

I think we even said it after the break. We know that frogs are not reptiles. Yes, I know. I made that mistake. I said, is it all reptiles, or is it just frogs? Frogs are not reptiles. I do know that.

We took third grade science and biology. I temporarily forgot. Look, we misspoke. We misspoke, and we put it on the radio. Now you go right into my show, into my show, to Dr. Shaw's show, and say, actually, frogs are amphibians. According to my calculator, no, I know. I appreciate you holding me accountable.

I will own that. I did say they were reptiles. Accountable? This guy's a, you know what? At least I didn't say they were birds or something.

Something way, way off. This is a Christian talk show. I'm not going to blast this guy. But when these microphones go off, sir, you are getting roasted. You are going to get roasted up and down.

I will own it on the air, but rest assured, when the microphones come off, so do the gloves. Ginger tea also wrote in. Ginger tea? Ginger tea sounds like we thought the same thing at the same time. I could go for some ginger tea right now.

Ginger tea sounds like a beverage. What are three movies that you'd recommend to your audience? Oh, all right. Three movies I would recommend to the audience, OK. Number one, Inception.

I was going to say it. That was one of mine. Great film. If you haven't seen it, there is very little that I can find that is wrong with that film. Great, great movie. It's one of the few movies that, as soon as I watched it in theaters, I wanted to watch it again. Great movie.

Let's see. Movie number two. I mean, any of the Marvel movies. Yeah, any of the MCU. Um, I would say probably Spider-Man Homecoming. The first?

OK, yeah. The first solo Spider-Man with Tom Holland. You should watch that one, for sure. And then, let's get a wide range of different types of movies.

Movie number three would probably be Encanto. Yeah, the Disney one. The Disney movie, the new one that just came out. The sweet movie.

So sweet, family hanging together and working together. Love it. I was also going to say Inception, but since we're in took that, I'll take another Christopher Nolan one. It was Interstellar with Matthew McConaughey. Long, dry, but it is riff. If you're into science fiction, really, really good.

That was really good. One, that and Looper are two, and I think Prisoner of Azkaban. Those are the only three movies I can think of that did the time travel mechanic well. Interstellar had some, but I mean, for what it is, it is really, really, really excellent. So, Interstellar is one. Then, I would also say Spider-Man 2. I would go with a superhero movie as well. That's a staple of superhero films. It's a great film. I would say that's a great film.

No, some disagree with me. I would say that is the quintessential superhero movie. Most people say Dark Knight, but I say Spider-Man 2.

Great question. I love that film. Yeah, I want to ask Dr. Shaw. I wonder what his... Yeah, three movies you recommend to the audience.

That's awesome. I can't wait to hear his recommendations. What's your top three? I think that's someone everybody should have your top three books and your top three movies. You should be able to just nail it right there. Top them off the top.

Yeah. We're going to check out Dr. Shaw in just a second, but if you have any questions or suggestions, or you want to let us know your top three movies, maybe you'd like to recommend films for us to watch. We're always looking for good movies.

Send us a text to 252-582-5028, or you can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. We'll be back after this. When it comes to running the race of life, it matters how you start, but a bad start doesn't ultimately determine how you finish the race. You can have a good finish even with a bad start, and that's where this book comes in. No matter who you are or where you are in life, you're going to get stuck.

Instead of going out and buying some gadget or some planner, like I know I've done several times. I know that's right. 30 days encourages you to find your fresh start in God's word. Life doesn't have a reset button, but our God is a God who does new things. His mercies are new every day, which means every day is a new chance for you to start over. You can grab 30 days to a new beginning on Amazon.com. We're going to leave a link in the description box below, and if you already have the book, let us know what you think about it.

That's right. Send us a text 252-582-5028. Share what God has done in your life through this devotional. Hey, maybe we'll even read your story on the air. Ellie, you ready to get back to the show? Let's do it.

All right. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com, or if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028. That's right. And if today's your first time ever joining us here on the Clear View Today Show, we want to welcome you, let you know exactly who's talking to you today. Dr. Abbadon Shah is a Ph.D. in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show.

You can find all of his work on his website. That's AbbadonShah.com. I momentarily forgot how words work. Professor, teacher, chancellor.

You know what was going to happen? I was also going to add a sixth title in there, which is Film Buff, because Dr. Shah, people want to know. Cinema critic. Cinema critic, Roger Ebert style. You're a lot better looking than Roger Ebert.

What are your top three movie recommendations? Oh, tell them who the question was written in by. Oh, it was written in by a woman named Ginger and her last name.

We don't say people's last name, so we always give them the initial. It was by Ginger T. Ginger T. Ginger T. Well, of course, I love Tombstone. So, it's got to be in the top there. Then, I would put some of the Indiana Jones movies. I can go with that.

Ooh, yeah. I can go with that. If you had to pick one, which would your favorite be? I would go with The Last Crusade. I figured you'd say The Last Crusade. That's a good one. That's definitely the second one.

The third one is kind of eerie, but it really always gets me and gets the people watching is The Game. The Game? Yeah. I don't know if I know that.

I don't know that I know that one. It's with Michael Douglas. I do love Michael Douglas.

Yeah, he's a great actor. So, it's a great movie. I don't want to spoil the plot. I can tell you what the movie's about, but it's not going to go well. What's the synopsis? What's the premise? I cannot do it.

If I do it, the moment I do it, it's over. Oh, now I've got to go watch it. Did you find it? Oh, yeah. It's a 1997 movie. I've not seen this film, but I've seen this poster with him with the puzzle pieces. I've definitely seen it. That's a pretty good movie. There are others, too, I like, of course.

Nicholas, while you're editing the video, go ahead and put this poster just right there. There you go. That's The Game with Michael Douglas. Yeah, Hank Timm himself.

Interesting. I'm going to have to go watch that one now. On today's episode, we are continuing our study of the churches in the book of Revelation. We've dealt with a couple of these churches already, and it has been so impactful, so transformative in the way that we see church, in the way that we see ourselves, and our relationship to God. Today, we are zeroing in on the third church in the book of Revelation.

And we're talking about Pergamum. So the church in Pergamum was having problems with bad theology. And we think bad theology is not a big deal, because as long as you agree on the main things, it's not a big deal. How some of these ideas flesh out, are they biblical or not?

Do they line up with Orthodox Christianity or not? It's not a big deal. So people tend to downplay those differences in theology. But just keep in mind that bad theology corrupts beliefs, of course, but also behavior.

Sooner or later, it will impact the way people behave. And Jesus did not just say, Well, I hope you guys maintain good theology. But he even told his disciples that bad theology will incur his wrath. And of course, in the book of Revelation, it's very clear that he is angry about this. Yeah. So for the church in Pergamum, was it bad theology that was taking place inside of the church? Or was it external that had kind of crept into the church that he was writing to? That's a great question. That's a great question. And I believe maybe a little bit of both would have been happening there. Yeah.

Yeah. This is an early church. These are 30, 40 year old Christians, and they're struggling.

And in their struggle, they're willing to compromise. And Jesus is saying, Absolutely not. And it's not even like, I'm going to fuss at you. I'm going to pour my wrath on you. Wow.

Yeah. And that's such a great reminder about how seriously he takes it. And there are no passive participants in bad doctrine. If you're being fed bad doctrine, you are responsible for putting a stop to it, or for removing yourself and pouring good doctrine, good solid foundational knowledge about Jesus Christ into yourself. Nobody really gets to claim the victim on judgment day and be like, well, I didn't know. They taught me wrong and it's not my fault.

Christ holds us responsible. And this took place in the ancient city of Pergamum. To give you a little background, Pergamum sits about 400 meters high over the valley of the river Caicos. And it's overlooking the modern or present day city of Bergama.

So again, we have Pergamum Bergama. You can tell how the words have sort of evolved. And when we got there, we had to, we went to the sanctuary of Asclepios, and that's nearby. And this is a healing center. So they had all kinds of therapies. As you walk through these tunnels and you can hear water gurgling, it was supposed to calm you down.

And there's much more to that. I'm just kind of being, you know, giving you bits and pieces here, but a lot of advanced ideas on how to help people who are struggling with stress and anxiety and even like positive affirmations. So when you walk through the tunnels, there are places where people speak to you. So it's like the gods are speaking to you, words of affirmation. You're good. You're wonderful.

And you will make it and whatever. Interesting. Yeah. It's kind of funny to think about. Yes.

And they come out of the other end feeling, man, I feel so relaxed. Wow. Yeah. So there's something to it. You know, I hope our churches are in a sense of place where people walk through and are uplifted.

Of course, sin is sin and we're going to deal with sin, but I hope that is there. But anyways, so after we were done with that, we went to this place where there is a cable car and then we ride up to the top of the mountain and it's about 10 miles. The city is 10 miles inland of the Aegean Sea. And Pergamum has a rich history. It claimed it claimed that the city was founded by Telephos who guided the Greeks to Troy. So this is quite, quite interesting. So you're going back to the Trojan War and then the evidence for the city really shows up in the fifth century BC.

So that's where we really begin to get kind of more concrete information about Pergamum. And it was ruled by different people. So the Spartans, right? Our Spartans from Greece ruled. Then Lysimachus, who was one of Alexander the Great's generals after his kingdom was divided. Remember Alexander died, kingdom divided. One of the generals controlled this region. Then Seleucus controlled this region.

Phalaterios was the leader there. And he built it up in architecture, in sculpture, philosophy, and it even had a massive library. I bet that was just filled to the brim.

That's pretty awesome. So actually this library is when you get up to the top on the cable car, you walk through the gates and the gates are not like a big, big old gates. It's just pillars are left now. When you walk in there to the left is a temple of Athena. And so when you walk through there inside, we were told that there was a library. And this library was there in the second century BC, 200 years before Christ. And it had about 200,000 volumes, maybe more. That's incredible.

Yeah, a lot. And the way we know that is because of the grooves that you find on the pillars. That's where the shelves would go. And then the volumes, the scrolls would sit on. That's how you measure them.

And you go out 200,000. And it was the second largest library in the world. First one being in... Alexandria. Alexandria, Egypt.

Yeah. And you've been there as well? I've been there as well, but that was on a different trip, of course, because that's in Egypt. So this was a very important place. This is where the whole art of making parchment was really perfected. Because parchment is really making scrolls from animal skin.

So it was there. But the Pergamens really perfected the art because the king down in Egypt, Ptolemy V, was not sending papyrus to Pergamum. Some arguments. So we're not going to send you papyrus. No paper for you. No paper for you.

So they really perfected this. And by the way, just a quick story. One of our friends who is from Turkey, he owns a restaurant in a neighboring town. He happened to be there.

He's from Bergama. And he met up with us and he took us different places. And I told him, I said, I really want to go see the place where they make parchment today. And this man scoured the entire city before I got there to figure out where is that place. And there's only one left. That's it. That's the one place.

One place, which is part of the Arts Council of Turkey. So it's like one place left in Bergama. That makes it like the old biblical way. Yeah.

I guess that would be like kind of a dying art form. Yeah. And so he tracked the person down and found out that this is the young couple that is now running this business, but they took it or they were mentored by this older gentleman who's now in his nineties. And he found out the art of making parchment and revived it. And so we went to their home, which is in a village. And that's where the workshop is, not the home, it's a workshop. So we went to that place and they actually let me work with the parchment.

Wow. You got to keep it? They let you keep the parchment that you made? No, but I went into the shop and bought it because this was all wet. I mean, it has to dry. Oh, it takes a long time. Yeah. But I'm the one who helped scrape it down and all that stuff. That's incredible. So conceivably, someone else could have bought the parchment that you made?

Could be. One day. Someone else has a parchment out there made by Dr. Avanancha.

Me. I wish I could have signed it. I know. I know.

That would have been really awesome to have that and just know just like the places you go in life and the things you get to do. Yeah. And then they took another parchment and they spread it out for it to dry.

And I helped do that. So there's two parchments with my handprints on it. If you're watching this show at some point in your life and you bought a parchment in Bergama made by Dr. Avanancha, please text in and let us know.

252-582-5028. I don't know. It must have certainly been sold by now. I don't know.

It takes about three to four days just for it to dry. Then they got to take it back in and then... So maybe it's still in the...

Depending on where it is in the stack. Yeah. Maybe another year from now. Who knows? Maybe six months.

Who knows? Do you feel like in a lot of ways we're similar to Pergamum? Like the way that our society is kind of running now? Right. Oh yeah, definitely. And Jesus is talking to them and warning them in Revelation 2.12. He kind of brings up his credentials. He says, these things says he who has the sharp two-edged sword. Now, if you ever begin a conversation with somebody and you begin with a weapon, I have a gun. Yeah.

Yeah. I always pictured Jesus. Like, you know, in episode one of Star Wars when Darth Maul takes the lightsaber and goes, and then the other end comes out and everyone's like, he's got a two-edged... He's got like a double blade. I always pictured Jesus, like samurai style, biting down on that thing and just having a two-edged sword.

That's always how I pictured it. Yeah. This is a longer sword. This is not the smaller one, which is, you know, called a makaira, like a, like a little dagger that Roman soldiers would carry and then, you know, kind of use it to stab people 18 inches long.

This is a five feet long sword that the Thracian kind of the North of Macedonia, they would carry. This is called a rhomphaia. Yeah. He's not playing around.

He's not playing. When you pull out a rhomphaia, the heads are going to roll. Yeah.

Someone's about to die. Yeah. And so this is a powerful statement that tells us that Jesus takes bad doctrine very seriously, and he comes to destroy those who do. And now what is the diagnosis of this church? I know your works and where you dwell there, where Satan's throne is. That is interesting. That is a gut punch.

Yeah. If I was a church and Jesus said that to me, I don't even know how I could continue. And he compliments them. He said, and you hold fast to my name and did not deny my faith, even in the days in which Antipas was my faithful martyr who was killed among you where Satan dwells.

Now this is a hard one to understand. Who was Antipas? The early historical documents don't tell us much about it, but later Byzantine hagiographers. Hagiographers were people who wrote the history of the saints.

Hagios is holy, graufers is writing, holy writings kind of thing. So they would ride the lives of the saints. And they said that Antipas was killed in a brazen bull.

Think about that for a moment. They had this bull kind of a life-size bull. It was hollow inside and they would put the criminal or whoever it is inside this and start heating this bull up. Now what makes it very sadistic and evil and demented is that they had, you know, certain holes like pipes or like a flute. So when you press them, open them, whatever, whatever, different sounds are made. So based on how the steam would carry, it would almost sound like the bull is snorting. Yeah.

All kinds of snorting sounds. So they're not like continuous one sound, but it's like different. Yeah.

They were finding ways to execute prisoners and enjoy it on the outside. Yeah. Like make it kind of like a game. Yeah.

So if you laugh it off, then it's not a big deal. Yeah. Wow. That was so cool.

That one sound, man, it sounded like a real bull. So you're not focused on the man you just burned alive. Yeah. Oof.

You roasted him to death. So this is what they did. And this is what later, we don't know for sure, this is how it happened, but could very well. And what's interesting to me is that Jesus did not give them a pass when it came to theology because, oh, you know, the Antipas situation, we're so sorry. Yeah.

That's what we would, that's what we would start doing is like, well, okay. You've, you're kind of going through a lot. You've been through a lot. I'll let this one slide. Yeah.

You don't get a free pass here. Not with Jesus. No, in verse 14. But I have a few things against you because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel.

To eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. Now, what's very interesting about this is that in the Old Testament, we find this pagan diviner by the name of Balaam, who was hired by Balak. Balak was the Moabite king who hired Balaam so he could curse God's people.

But as you know, the story goes, every time Balaam opened his mouth, he ended up blessing God's people. And there's a lesson there for us. Sometimes when people talk ugly about us or are hateful, mean, whatever, just know that God will turn those things together for our blessing. So don't, don't give up.

Don't get discouraged. Instead, just know that God will turn all things together for good. And that's what ended up happening here. But the point here is this, that he did enable or kind of encourage sexual immorality and pagan worship. Well, I think it's important to recognize that because what you believe, and we've talked about this, this is why we hit so hard on having the correct doctrine is because what you believe affects how you behave. You know, when you, when you believe something you're going to act on it.

It's not, it's not a matter of if, but just when. Yeah, doctrine is tied to everything. It's tied to behavior. It's tied to belief. It's tied to everything.

So what was the, what was the, I guess, treatment plan for Pergamum? Well, stop. Because they were trying to maybe go to the imperial temple. Maybe they were trying to be as, how do I say this, as accommodating to the culture. And what Jesus was telling them, you can't do that.

You cannot be going the way of Balaam. You cannot be tolerating people in your church who say, hey, I know, I know what the Bible says, and I know what you're trying to do, but come on, you don't want to, you don't want to rock the boat here. You don't want to make certain people mad in this community.

We are, if that's not 2023 America, I don't know what is. Because so-and-so's family, you got this sin or, or this lifestyle, or is it homosexuality or is some, some premarital sex or cohabitation, but, you know, hey look, just kind of, don't worry about those things. Just focus on this. And how about people tell me that, you know, I know what you're trying to do and hey, look, I commend you for that, but, but sometimes it's best to leave those things alone and just focus on Jesus and just preach about Jesus, man. Well, they put it under the guise of showing Jesus's mercy. Yeah. That's not Jesus's mercy. That's human mercy, which is typically tolerance of sin. Yeah. Or even the greater good.

Jesus's mercy didn't excuse sin. Yeah. Or even the greater good is like for the greater good, don't, don't, don't rock the boat here. Just focus on this. And I promise you, you will be glad you did not, you know, wake the sleeping giant.

That's right. So it's been tough because sometimes I've also felt like, you know, just leave it alone. Why, why mess with this? Just leave it alone.

It's not even worth it. But then sometimes God says, okay, well, if you're going to do that, then don't call yourself my servant because you're not my servant. You are the servant of the people. You want to survive. You want to thrive. You want to make a buck out of this. And so that's what you want to do.

Go do it. But that's true. That's true. But I will also say you have found a very, very captivating way to tell the truth that still encourages people.

Right. Like, like if, and if you guys have never listened to Dr. Shah's messages, I encourage you to do it. We have another podcast that's Sermons by Dr. Abaddon Shah, or I think it's Sermons by Abaddon Shah, PhD. We'll put a link in the description, but those messages are carefully crafted because you walk a very tight line of excusing sin and encouraging people, making people feel good and telling the truth. And you have found a way to tell God's truth. And yet I still leave, I might leave feeling convicted, but I'd never feel attacked. I never feel like that I've been put on blast for my sin. I felt like my sin is being called to the surface and now I'm forced to deal with it. And that I always leave feeling encouraged.

Right. And I hope so, because that's what I want to do. I never want to go after people and just corner them or have them up against the wall with, with my preaching or Bible doctrine, because that's not what Jesus did. And that's not what he wants me to do. I'm a shepherd, not a mercenary. I'm a shepherd. So, which means I have to tell the sheep that you are about to walk through some dark ravine, or you're about to go into the wolves territory. And I have to tell you, you're not there. Or if you are listening to the wolves, if you're listening to the false teachers or falling a false lifestyle, wrong lifestyle, I'm going to confront you.

But at the same time, I'm not going to attack you. And Jesus told this church, repent or else I will come to you quickly and we'll fight against them with the sword of my mouth. The sword of my mouth is the word of God. It's the truth of God. So my job is to preach the truth, which people have throughout this series has been amazing. People have said, man, I really love this series.

It was uncomfortable at times. I know my toes were stepped on, but I'm glad you did because I needed that. And the people who listen, they end up with the correct prognosis. Like they end up with this promise that Jesus gives that it's going to turn out for good. And the promise given to this church is he who has an ear, this is Revelation 2 17, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, to him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manner to eat. Jesus is the bread of life. So when you begin to feed upon, when you reject the false food, then he will give you the true food, the good food. And I will give him a white stone and on the stone, a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it. So in a sense, it's kind of like an invitation letter or a card to come to the banquet to eat forever.

It's beautiful. So I think this is a warning to us. Don't tolerate false doctrine.

Don't have to be mean and cantankerous and constantly fighting. I know there are people like that, folks. I know that. I know there are people who just put a bad taste in the amount. You don't have to be like that, but don't be compromising the truth of God's word either.

That's right. Amen. If you guys enjoyed today's episode, or if you have questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028. Or you can visit us online at clearviewtodayshow.com. And don't forget, you can partner with us financially on that same website. Click that link at the bottom. Let us know the gifts that's coming from our Clearview Today Show family. We love you guys. We'll see you next time on Clear View Today.