Smyrna

Agora of Smyrna

Seven Church Ages: Introduction • Ephesus • Smyrna • Pergamos • Thyatira • Sardis • Philadelphia • Laodicea • CAB • Last Messenger?

Messengers: Paul • Irenaeus • Martin • Columba • Martin Luther • John Wesley • William Branham??

Smyrna is the second city mentioned in the Book of Revelation to receive a message from Jesus Christ. Smyrna (Greek: Σμύρνη, meaning: myrrh, a perfume) is an ancient city (today İzmir, Turkey) that was founded on the Aegean coast. Aided by its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defense and its good inland connections, Old Smyrna rose to prominence before it was destroyed in the 6th century B.C. Its initial location at the northeastern corner of the tip of the Gulf of Smyrna, commonly called "Old Smyrna", was moved to the southeastern corner of the Gulf of Smyrna on the slopes of Mount Pagos (Kadifekale today) at the time of Alexander the Great. At the heart of the new city is the Izmir Agora Open Air Museum, where ancient ruins still remain today.

Smyrna is roughly forty miles north of Ephesus, and was the birthplace of Irenaeus (a student of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John, who was a disciple of Jesus).

Old Smyrna

Smyrna began as an Aeolian city-state, marking the Aeolian frontier with the Ionian colonies. Smyrna became the thirteenth city-state of Ionia when Ionian defectors hijacked the city while the Aeolians were partaking in a festival to Dionysos outside the city. The Ionians increased Smyrna's defences, but Theognis (about 500 BCE) declared that it was this pride that destroyed Smyrna. Alyattes III of Lydia conquered and sacked old Smyrna in 605 BC, attracted by its wealth, and the Persians thoroughly destroyed the city in 545 BC for supporting Lydia. Though Smyrna did not cease to exist, the Greek life and political unity were destroyed, and the polis was reorganized on the village system.

Old Smyrna's streets ran north-south and east-west, and intersected at right angles. All the houses faced south, and Old Smyrna holds the oldest example of a multi-room dwelling, with two stories, five rooms, and a courtyard. Many of Smyrna's streets were paved, and Old Smyrna contained a Temple of Athena from the 7th century BC.

Hellenistic Smyrna

Alexander the Great refounded Smyrna around 300 BC, and its consruction was carried out by his successors who enlarged and fortified the city. As Old Smyrna could only handle a few thousand people, the Hellenistic city was moved on the modern site of Izmir. The beauty of the Hellenistic city, clustering on the low ground and rising tier over tier on the hillside, was frequently praised by the ancients and is celebrated on its coins. Hellenistic Smyrna had an acropolis, stadium, theatre, a temple to Zeus ("Father of the gods"), and a temple to Cybele (the "Great Mother").

At the end of the Hellenistic period, in 197 BC, the city suddenly cut her ties with King Eumenes of Pergamum and instead appealed to Rome for help. In 195 BC, the city of Smyrna started to deify the city of Rome, and became the inventors of the cult of the goddess Roma. This marked the end of the Hellenistic period.

Roman and Byzantine Smyrna

Smyrna grew substantially under Roman rule, vying with Ephesus and Pergamum for the title First City of Asia with a population of about 200,000. A Christian church existed here from a very early time as there was a considerable Jewish population in the city. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, was martyred in the city in 153 AD. In 178 AD, a severe earthquake leveled the city, and the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius contributed to the rebuilding of Smyrna as the damage was too great for the residents of Smyrna to handle on their own.

When Constantinople became the seat of government, the trade between Anatolia and the west lost in importance, and Smyrna declined. The city was exchange hands between the Turks and the Crusaders several times after 1000 AD, and today it is a liberal Muslim city in Turkey. The major conquests were as follows:

• Seljuks, Çaka Bey in 1076 AD,
• Crusaders, Knights of Rhodes in 1204 AD,
• Turks & Genoese around 1344 AD (cohabbiting Muslims and Christians)
• Ottomans, Bayezid I in 1389 AD
• Mongol, Tamerlane in 1402 AD
• Ottomans, Murad II in 1425 AD (assisted by the Knights Templar in return for a castle)

Historical accuracy in the Church Age Book

1. The Timeline Clash

William Branham claimed that God gave him the exact dates and timelines of the Seven Church Ages by divine revelation. He also said that the messenger ALWAYS came at the end of the age. He assigned the Smyrnaean Church Age to the period between AD 170 and AD 312, and chose Irenaeus of Lyons as its messenger.

• The Audit: There is a massive, irreconcilable chronological conflict here. Irenaeus lived from circa AD 130 to circa AD 202. This means that the first 40 years of his life occurred in the Ephesian Church Age (AD 53–170). That's the wrong age. And Branham said the messenger always came at the end of the age, not at the beginning. Who messed up? God? or William Branham?
• The Source of the Error: This "revelation" was actually a direct copy. Branham plagiarized these dates verbatim from page 21 of Clarence Larkin's 1919 book, The Book of Revelation. By copying Larkin's arbitrary dispensational chart, Branham trapped himself in a historical anachronism, completely unaware of the timeline clash.

2. The Apostolic Succession Irony

Branham argued that the True Church and its messengers must be "unorganized," bitterly opposing any form of episcopal hierarchy, centralized church government, or human authority. He claimed that church organization is "of the devil" and represents the "deeds of the Nicolaitanes".

• The Audit: This is a classic Self-Defeating Argument. Historically, Irenaeus of Lyons is famous precisely for being one of the premier defenders of church organization, episcopal hierarchy, and the preeminent authority of the Church of Rome! In his masterpiece Against Heresies (Book III, Chapter 3, paragraph 2), Irenaeus argued that the absolute test of truth against heretics was to look at the organized succession of bishops ordained by the apostles, stating: "For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church [Rome], on account of its pre-eminent authority...". If Branham is right that church organization is a satanic heresy, then his chosen "messenger" of the Smyrnaean Age was the chief of the heretics.

3. The Polycarp and Anicetus Fiction

In his church age sermons, Branham related a highly dramatic story of Polycarp visiting Bishop Anicetus in Rome. He claimed Polycarp found the church in Rome "worshipping images," "burning incense on the altar," and "celebrating Easter" as a pagan sun god ritual, prompting Polycarp to storm out, declaring, "Ephraim is married to his idols, let him alone".

• The Audit: This story is pure fiction. Polycarp did visit Rome c. AD 155 to discuss the date of Passover with Anicetus. However, according to Irenaeus's own written testimony, the two bishops disagreed on the calendar but parted in full communion and peace, with Anicetus even letting Polycarp administer the Eucharist in his own church as a sign of respect.
• The Source of the Error: Branham plagiarized this dramatic "confrontation" almost verbatim from Rachel C. Hazeltine's 1958 book, How Did It Happen!. Hazeltine openly admitted in her subtitle that her book was written "by deduction"—meaning she made up historical events to fit her theological ideas. William Branham presented a modern work of fiction as a direct, divine revelation from God.

4. Scriptural Misinterpretation of the "Synagogue of Satan"

To support his anti-denominational polemic, Branham interpreted "them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan" (Revelation 2:9) as representing the organized, false Christian denominations of the nominal church.

• The Audit: This is a severe Category Error. In the historical context of second-century Smyrna, "them which say they are Jews, and are not" referred to the literal, ethnic Jewish population of the city. Historically, the local Jewish community in Smyrna was highly hostile to the Christian church. In the famous historical account of the martyrdom of Polycarp, it was the local Jews who eagerly gathered wood on a great Sabbath to burn Polycarp at the stake. They were "Jews by blood" but not "true Jews" spiritually because they rejected their Messiah. Redefining this historical conflict as a twentieth-century battle against Christian denominations is a complete distortion of scripture to serve a personal agenda.

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A Forensic Conclusion

When we take away the emotional delivery and the absolute certainty of the pulpit, the logic collapses. A prophet's message cannot be built on plagiarized charts, historical fabrications, and deep logical contradictions. Loving God with your mind is not a sin; it is a direct command from Jesus Christ Himself.

I understand how painful it is to face these facts. It was shocking when I first realized that the man I had revered as a prophet was committing basic, textbook errors in reasoning, copying unreliable Pentecostal fables, and plagiarizing the timelines of other authors. But if we are to be honest with ourselves, we must place our loyalty in the Truth, not in a man.

Accuracy always beats comfortable illusions.

References

• Wycliffe Dictionary of Biblical Archeology, Charles F. Pfeiffer. 1973, Baker Book House Co.
• This information is based on material from Wikipedia. As a result, this article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License which governs this website as well.

Links to other articles in the series

This article is one in a series of studies on the Seven Church Ages - you are currently on the topic that is in bold:

• Introduction
• Ephesus
• Smyrna
• Pergamos
• Thyatira
• Sardis
• Philadelphia
• Laodicea
• CAB
• Last Messenger?

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