Dear John and Fellow-Watchers:

There's an idea, fairly well-supported, that the letters to the seven churches in Revelation were written to actual churches, but were also written to the end-times church that would be around when the events of Revelation transpired.  Within those seven letters is a warning (of sorts) that appears twice, concerning some group(s) of people who “say they are Jews and are not, but lie,”  (see Rev. 2:9, 3:9).

Are any of you aware of any period of time anywhere in church history where “synagogues of Satan” could have been a threat to the church or to Christianity? Is there any time in history where 1) claiming to be Jewish was NOT a threat to the claimant's well-being, and at the same time 2) claiming to be Jewish garnered some spiritual, political or financial benefit?

When Jesus said there were people who “say they are Jews and are not, but lie,” exactly who did He have in mind? Any ideas?

I've gone into this in some detail here:  https://stevekerp.wordpress.com/2022/08/24/a-question-of-identity/

Very best,

Steve

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