"A Plea to the Seven Churches and to Every Heart That Still Hope"
To the ones who gather in sanctuaries and living rooms
To the ones who preach from pulpits and sidewalks
To the ones who claim the name of Christ
And to the ones who have walked away from it
To Laodicea, To Philadelphia, To Sardis, To Thyatira, To Pergamum, To Smyrna, To Ephesus, and to every soul who still listens for the quiet voice of mercy
I write this with a trembling heart.
I have spent years reading the book of Revelation through the lens of fear because that is how it was handed to me. I was told it was a warning. I was told it was a threat. I was told it was a countdown to destruction. But when I read it again through the lens of mercy, something inside me broke open. Something inside me healed. Something inside me woke up.
I realized that the problem was never the scripture.
The problem was the lens.
I realized that many preach the Ten Commandments as if the story stopped at Sinai. They hold the stone tablets high but forget the living commandments entrusted to Yeshua. They forget the two that complete the shape of the human heart. They forget the commandments that turn law into love and judgment into healing.
Love God with all you are.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
These are not suggestions.
These are not footnotes.
These are not optional teachings for the gentle and the soft.
These are commandments.
The eleventh and the twelfth.
The ones that reveal the heart of the Creator.
The ones that show us how to live the Ten without turning them into weapons.
Yeshua did not come to erase Moses.
He came to fulfill the law by restoring its purpose.
He came to show us that obedience without compassion is empty.
He came to show us that righteousness without mercy is cruelty.
He came to show us that truth without love is violence.
And yet I watch people preach doom for the non believers while the non believers often live closer to the red words than the ones shouting them. I watch people claim to love Christ while refusing to reflect Him. I watch people defend commandments they do not practice. I watch people condemn strangers while ignoring the suffering of their neighbors.
And it hurts my soul.
Because I see the ones who do not claim faith feeding the hungry without needing applause. I see them defending the vulnerable without needing a verse. I see them practicing compassion without needing a doctrine. I see them living the commandments that many believers have forgotten.
And that gives me hope.
It tells me that the Spirit is not owned by any institution.
It tells me that mercy is not confined to any religion.
It tells me that the Creator still breathes in unexpected places.
It tells me that love still rises in the hearts of those who have never stepped inside a sanctuary.
So I write this plea to the seven churches and to every heart that still hopes.
Laodicea
Look in the mirror and see where you have grown comfortable.
Philadelphia
Look in the mirror and see where you have grown weary.
Sardis
Look in the mirror and see where you have fallen asleep.
Thyatira
Look in the mirror and see where you have tolerated harm.
Pergamum
Look in the mirror and see where you have compromised compassion.
Smyrna
Look in the mirror and see where you have suffered without losing love.
Ephesus
Look in the mirror and see where you have forgotten your first love.
This is not a condemnation.
This is a call to awaken.
Read Revelation again.
Not through the lens of fear.
Not through the lens of punishment.
Not through the lens of rivalry or pride.
Read it through the lens of the red words.
Read it through the lens of the twelve commandments.
Read it through the lens of mercy and compassion and unity and joy.
Because Revelation was never meant to be a horror story.
It was meant to be an unveiling.
A revelation of what becomes of the human heart when it chooses fear
and what becomes possible when it chooses love.
The Lamb does not conquer through violence.
The Lamb conquers through sacrifice.
The Lamb conquers through mercy.
The Lamb conquers through love that refuses to die.
So I ask every church and every believer and every skeptic and every wounded soul
Raise a mirror.
Look at what you have become.
Look at what you want to see in the world.
Look at the commandments you claim to honor.
Look at the mercy you have forgotten.
Look at the love you have withheld.
Look at the unity you have resisted.
Look at the joy you have buried under fear.
Then read again.
Read slowly.
Read honestly.
Read with a heart that wants healing more than victory.
Read with a spirit that wants unity more than certainty.
Read with eyes that want to see the Creator in every face.
Because the world does not need more fear.
The world does not need more judgment.
The world does not need more division.
The world needs mercy.
The world needs compassion.
The world needs love that restores.
The world needs people who reflect the heart of Yeshua
not the pride of an excited man.
This is my plea.
This is my prayer.
This is my hope for every church and every heart.
Return to the red words.
Return to the twelve commandments.
Return to the mercy that created you.
Return to the love that can still save us.
💚JoshM