Idolatry, Gold, Mammon and the Church of the Walking Dead

     Just outside of where the church at Sardis was located was the place that gold coinage was first minted. Sardis at one time was the capital of the Lydian Empire. About 5 centuries before Jesus' death there was a metal refinery located in the Pactolus river valley. There was a patron goddess idol to Cybele overlooking the refinery. An altar was found in the gold purification plant at Pactolus North and the writings on nearby walls indicate that the altar was sacred to the goddess Cybele; it was made of river stones and originally had four eastward-roaring sandstone lions set on its corners, as though seeking someone to devour. The altar was believed to be an integral part of the Lydian gold refinery and Cybele may have been seen as a mountain goddess that acted as the protectress of the Lydian gold sources on Mt. Tmolus, that washed down to the Sardian plain by the Pactolus River. Cybele eventually became the chief god of the Roman empire, the "Mother of all the gods" (of Rome). Augustus considered this idol god to be the supreme deity of the Empire. In some regions of Asia Minor the names of Artemis (of the Ephesians) and Cybele were interchangeable. The Greek culture, though, acknowledged Artemis as the goddess of fertility, while Cybele was the Phrygian goddess of sorcery, mystery and faith.

                     

Ruins of Sardis, near to the first gold mint.

     The refinery that minted gold coins used a chemical process which was so efficient that the same process was used for nearly two thousand years. In this process called "salt cementation" or "cupellation", silver alloy called electrum was mixed in with ore containing gold. This was further mixed with salt (NaCl) and brick dust and heated to a high temperature for a long time. The silver would, with time, combine with the salt for conversion into chlorides which would be absorbed into the brick dust. What was left in a "parting vessel" after chemical changes was refined gold made for coinage under the watchful protection of an idol goddess; in another "vessel" lay what remained of the refining process; it was what was later "cast away". This "cast away" or "reprobate metal" was the hardened, cement like mixture of silver chloride, sodium and brick dust. The only value that this cobblestone could serve would be to be thrown under foot to be walked on. It is noteworthy that the only way for salt, NaCl, to lose its saltiness is in a chemical reaction such as the one described above.

     There are biblical references to metal refining processes. A word associated with such a process is "adokimos" which has as its meanings "not standing the test" or "not approved" as used of metal smelting processes and in the minting of coins. It also has the meanings, in this light, of "unfit" (for circulation), "unproved" (not proof-worthy in minting), "rejected", "reprobate".  The word "reprobate" occurs in Jeremiah 6:27,29,30: "In vain the refining goes on, but the wicked are not separated. They call them "reprobate silver", because the LORD has rejected them." Jeremiah says here that "His people" who continue on in their own ways, unchanged by God's refining process are the base, "reprobate silver" that is good only to be "cast away".  

                             

Columns near to the Church at Sardis

     
     In I Corinthians 9:27, the Apostle Paul says: "I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be "cast away" (adokimos). In 2 Timothy 3:5-9, it is said that there would be a last day people who have an outward "form" or godliness, but who deny its power. These are men who will oppose the truth of God having a "reprobate mind", rejected (adokimos, "cast away") in regards to the faith. Titus 1:10-16 speaks of rebellious men who teach things to believers that should not be taught for the sake of sordid gain. These are people who profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless (adokimos, "cast away") for any good deed. It is noteworthy that these people were teachers and that for the most part elders in the church were allowed to teach. Titus is told to "reprove them severely, so that they may be sound in the faith. It does not say preach the gospel to them or introduce them to Jesus, neither does is say that they may "obtain faith". It says that they might be "sound in the faith", as opposed to "unsound in the faith". 

     The word "reprove" is elegcho and has as its meaning "convict", "refute", "to chasten", "to punish". In I Timothy this word is used to describe correction given to elders in the church "who continue to sin". Now once again it is usually elders who are allowed and expected to teach the church. These elders are to be "rebuked" (elegcho) in the presence of all, for the purpose of instilling a fear of sinning in the believers of this congregation. In Revelation 3:19, Jesus tells the rich Laodicean church that they are "wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Jesus then states to this church: "those whom I love, I "reprove" (elegcho) and discipline". 

                             

Location of 7 churches of Asia

                            

     2 Corinthians 13:5,6 also carries the analogy of the testing of metals to see if they are proof ready. "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith: examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus is in you - unless indeed you "fail the test" (adokimos, or be like so much "cast away, reprobate metal"). The verbs test and examine are in the present tense with active voice and in the imperative mood. It is a command of God to presently and continually test themselves to recognize that Jesus was in them of a truth.  (This of course would be an illogical stream of actions for the person believing that the Holy Spirit must of some cosmic necessity remain in a person who at one time professed Christ.) Ecclesiastes 12:14 says that God will bring every deed into judgment.  Romans 2:16 says that "God will judge the secrets of men through Jesus Christ" on the day of judgment. In Galatians 4:19, Paul says that he is in the labor of prayer until Christ is formed in the people of God. This is the test: Is the true and righteous Jesus formed in you? This is what we, as the people of God, are to continually test and examine our lives by: Are we 'walking in the same manner as He walked'? (I John 2:6). On that day this is the standard that the secrets of men will be judged, the same Jesus, and not another, should be walking in us. This is our hope for future glory.

     "I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate," says the Lord. "And do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me," says the Lord Almighty. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." 2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1.

     The reason we cleanse ourselves is that we have promises. What are the promises? God will dwell in us and walk in us. He will be our God and we shall be His people. God will be a father to us, and we shall be sons and daughters to God. These are the promises based upon faith working obedience through love.

     The church at Sardis had an overwhelming obstacle before it; Sardis was the first people to experience first hand the pull of Mammon on their hearts. They were the first people to see value in coined, minted money. And how many problems are in the world today because of the love of money?

     "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other,  or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth (Mammon)." Mammon was originally a word spelled with only two m's. It was an archaic word that meant something that was trusted in and biblically it speaks of idolatry. How this scripture can be read is: "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate God and love wealth, or he will hold to God and despise (in relative comparison) wealth. You cannot serve both God and wealth." Matthew 6:24

     Just prior to the above verse, Jesus makes the following statements: "...store up for yourselves treasures in heaven (by fasting and praying in secret, giving to the poor in secret, living the beatitudes out and seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness... and what we see in chapters 5 and 6) for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is single, you whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness."  God is talking about the heart here. He is even talking about the eyes of the heart. In Ephesians 1:18 the Apostle Paul prays for the church at Ephesus that "the eyes of their heart would be illuminated (or full of light)." A single heart vision cannot be had with a heart divided in service to both wealth and Jesus. Where your heart has one, single vision: for the Kingdom of God, the glory of God and Jesus our soon returning King, your body will be aflood with God's light. Jesus didn't become all glorious on the Mount of Transfiguration, this is just where His glorious light was revealed to Peter, James and John. This is our hope of glory: that this same Jesus would be formed in us. "You are the light of the world... Let your light shine before men in such a way that they ... glorify your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:14,16. If you have a divided heart you can do nice things, but you will be "full of darkness" ... a great darkness, and whatever you do will not have the touch of God upon it: more importantly what is done will never bring glory to God in any real sense.  At some point in time, Judas began to serve God with a divided heart. There is no doubt in my mind that there were times that Judas Iscariot did exactly what Jesus said. But at some place in time he tried to serve both God and mammon; as a result Judas Iscariot's body was flooded with darkness, and how great was this darkness!

What fellowship (koinonia) has light with darkness? Or what harmony (symphonesis) has Christ with Belial (name for satan)? 2 Corinthians 6:14,15.

     "You are the salt (NaCl) of the earth; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can it be made salt again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men." Matthew 5:13. Jesus is here talking to the twelve apostles of the Lamb. He says that the possibility exists for them to cease being salt. And that's what it amounts to because the only way for salt to lose its saltiness is through a chemical change of the structure of NaCl, where sodium, Na, and cloride, Cl, are broken up: at such a point it is no longer salt at all. Jesus could have said, "You will always be the salt of the earth. Once salt always salt." But He did not.

"My beloved, flee from idolatry." I Peter 4:3

"and greed, which amounts to idolatry." Colossians 3:5

"You have in obedience to the truth purified your souls..." I Peter 1:22

"I know the plans that I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans for good and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope....You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with your entire heart." Jeremiah 29:11,13.  Jesus is your good. Jesus is your future. Jesus is your blessed hope. Seek and acknowledge Him in all your ways.

                                 
                                       


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1  King Croesus' Gold: Excavations at Sardis and the History of Gold Refining.         Andrew Ramage, Paul T. Craddock, Michael R. Cowell

2  Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, Harvard University Art Museums, 2000, 
    272 pgs.

3  A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Vol. 1. D.T. Potts, 
    pg. 904

4  Ancient West and East, pg. 503, Gocha R. Tsetskhladze, editor.

5  Heritage Recovered. The Lydian Treasure, I. Ozgen and J. Ozturk, Istanbul,
    pp. 189-219.