The First Love Get-Back: Ephesus, Evangelicals, and the Players of the Church Game
What did it take to foil a church, sever a culture in two, and frame the message of Jesus, turning it into something to manipulate others for material gain? Was it fundamentalist legalism? Baby boomers? Abusive church leaders? Donald Trump? Nancy Pelosi? The gender revolution? We could journey through the prior decades and gives scores of potential answers, particular moments in time, individual "anti-Christ's" 1 John mentions, and deflect the personal blame for the institutional ruin the American Church has been left to deal with. But in reality, we can look to the book of Revelation where the Son of Man in a revelation to John tells the Church of Ephesus in flashing neon lights to see where white Evangelicals screwed it all up: "I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars. I know that you have persevered and endured ha