Smyrna was a very religious, commercially prosperous city, and favored by Rome. The difficulty for believers was the imperial worship demanded by Rome, in particular the emperor Domitian, at the time John was writing. Being polytheist, the Romans required worship of the emperor while worship of any and other gods was acceptable. Consequently, the Christians who remained faithful to God and would worship Him only were under the death penalty. Collectively, these believers were a suffering church who were commended for remaining faithful and encouraged to keep on doing what they had been doing even until death. They received no condemnation and with the message from Christ, reminded that God knew what they were going through and He was overseeing them through every difficulty until the end.
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In the fall of 1969, Gil began a full-time teaching ministry as Senior Pastor of Indian Hills Community Church. He also earned his Ph.D. from the California Graduate School of Theology. The focus of Pastor Rugh’s ministry is systematic, verse-by-verse teaching of the Bible. As a...
