Day 09 - "Where Satan Has His Throne."

Today was an interesting and faith-challenging day in Pergamum. First we visited the Aesculapion, the worship center for those who followed Aesculapius, the god of healing. He was described by his followers in ways much like the descriptions of Jesus as a healer, only thousands of years earlier. Universal truth, preemptive counterfeiting, or God sowing seeds? His symbol was the caduceus, the snake on a stick. Coincidentally, if you believe in such a thing, without knowing where we were going this morning, I wore my BSB-EMS hat which has a caduceus on the front.

Those entering the compound (essentially a medical center) would be able to drink from the fountain on the right which had running water. These Greeks called it “living water.”

RLV led us in an amazing journey into the medical treatment of patients who came here. By adopting first-person question and answer roles, we learned that they had a form of medical insurance, sought all over the known world for herbs and medicines, and adopted a holistic approach to health. Pergamum gave birth to Galen, a physician to whom all modern physicians trace their practice.

Here, in the dark, soothing sounds and drugs would be accompanied by priest physicians advising patients of what the oracle held for them.

The message – the truth of our faith lies in something greater than science and art, but in the truth of the Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth the Christ.

We skipped a big hike today, and spent the rest of the day on the acropolis studying the rest of the letter to the church in Pergamum. Get it out and read it, and keep in mind words such as “sharp, double-edged sword,” “where Satan has his throne,” and “Baalack who enticed the Israelites to sin.”

After using this statue to lead us through Ephesians 6’s description of the armor of God, RVL then noted that the double-edged sword from the Revelation would have been what Romans used for close-quarters combat – John using language of the community to convey Jesus eternal message – the unsheathed Word is the true Sword.

An extended discussion of the Throne of Zeus and the presence of evil in the world. The throne that was once here now takes up an entire wing of the Pergamum Museum in Berlin. Glowing white and once sitting on this hill, it would have loomed over the entire area.

Dionysus would, in today’s world, be called the King of Spring Break. You laugh, but our kids today face enormous challenges to live wholesome lives – the drinking and gorging and immorality that goes on as a matter of course is exactly what John was writing against. Jesus offers the real party.

Pix courtesy of Laura Valenzo (I forgot my camera today).

Tomorrow we travel east to Laodecia.


Grace and Peace, KTR