Loyalty Tests

Erik preached on Christ’s letter to Pergamum. Pergamum’s Christians were faced with the question of whether or not to sacrifice to the Roman Emperor and Roman Gods. This question can seem removed from the issues modern Christians face, but Erik described these rites as fundamentally loyalty tests, not at all different from the loyalty tests Christians face regularly today.

When Christians burned incense to emperor before finishing a business deal or joined their neighbors at the temple meat markets outside, they were a pulling capital G God into the pluralistic, polytheistic pantheon of lower case g gods, where the empire could manage Him alongside all the other cultures, interests, and gods encompassed by the empire. Sacrifices tested and revealed loyalties.