https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-7...3/#UserReviews
The 7 Churches of Revelation - Part II: Times of Deception was released on the Blu-ray format on 5-27-2022. This Revelation series might become a 3 part series with possible part 3 being released sometime in the year 2023. I have written a brief user review for Christians that are interested in these types of movie documentaries. Also, it strengthens the popularity of the Blu-ray format to review certain titles that some people would never review in fear that the documentary would be too controversial. 4K Blu-ray and standard Blu-ray offers the best picture and sound quality and the Blu-ray format is for every writer and director regardless of how unpopular the content may be with certain worldviews.
One might agree or disagree with the teachings of the Book of Revelation and this documentaries contents. In the Christian worldview the entire Bible including the Book of Revelation is God breathed, meaning Holy men of old inspired by God wrote all 66 books in the Bible. In the Christian worldview the Book of Revelation is 100% historically and prophetically accurate, just like all other Bible books are 100% historically accurate and 100% prophetically accurate when prophecy is involved. However, that being said if one is an Atheist or a Non-Christian, then those worldviews have a different point of view when it comes to the Book of Revelation. If one is an Atheist or Non-Christian then one believes the Book of Revelation is not inspired by God and is not a book about prophecy. But instead, an Atheist and Non-Christian holds to the belief that the Book of Revelation was only written by a man called John regarding the early persecution that the first Christians experienced in the years following the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. However, it is considered blasphemy in the Christian worldview to not believe in the Book of Revelation and Bible as being 100% true historically and prophetically. This documentary released by Thinking Man Films holds to the belief that the Bible including the Book of Revelation is God breathed and 100% historically and prophetically accurate.
The 7 Churches of Revelation - Part II: Times of Deception was released on Blu-ray on 5-27-2022. If this documentary is popular enough there might be a sequel with possible the third sequel being released in 2023. Therefore, this Blu-ray release covers the final 4 churches which are Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. The chapters for this Blu-ray documentary are labeled with the following labels: Introduction, Thyatira: Jezebel, Sardis: Time To Wake Up, Philadelphia: The Victorious Church, Laodicea: The Lukewarm Church, Are You Ready For What’s Coming?
During this Revelation series the documentary takes people to actual popular Bible locations and tourist attractions in modern times as the investigation into Revelation continues. The introduction chapter is a brief summary regarding what was covered on the part one Blu-ray disc called The 7 Churches of Revelation: Times Of Fire.
The chapter called Thyatira: Jezebel is about the false prophet Jezebel who by her teaching she misleads people into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrifice to idols. Jezebel is at risk for facing the judgment of the Lord unless she repents. (
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage...22&version=NLT This documentary goes into detail about the evil idolatrous queen in the Old testament known as Jezebel who was a role model prostitute that committed sexual immorality and spiritual immorality by sacrificing foods to idols. Jezebel was a false prophet because she was encouraging other people to live a lifestyle of sexual immorality and sacrificing food to idols. The documentary mentions that in the modern 21st Century, western culture is similar to the times of Jezebel, and that the prophetic Revelation book is calling the modern church and society to repent and return to living a Holy lifestyle that is taught by Jesus Christ and the Old Testament prophets.
The next chapter covered in this documentary is called Sardis: Time To Wake Up. According to the documentary the Christians in Sardis were not making the Lord Jesus Christ priority number one and they had become spiritually dead by putting wealth and worldly possessions above the Lord. There is nothing wrong with Christians in modern times having a lot of wealth and worldly possessions, sometimes the Lord blesses people with a lot of material items in this life. However, putting the wealth above God and spending too much time with material possessions can lead to idol worship. One is supposed to make the Lord priority number one in life by spending time reading the scriptures and praying to the Lord. In modern times some people are able to balance a very wealthy lifestyle while at the same time finding time to worshiping the Lord with prayers and donations to charity. So, for various reason the church of Sardis even though living a holy lifestyle had become dead with spiritual rituals and had lost their first love which is suppose to be the Lord Jesus Christ according to scriptures (Sardis had lost its relationship with God through the Holy Spirit). The documentary then goes on to compare Christian rituals that occurred centuries after the prophetic book of Revelation was written. The Roman Empire Constantine decided to become a Christian, which also had the benefits to politically and spiritually unifying the Roman Empire. This was a major policy change for the Romans to legalize the Christian religion. The documentary mentions the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century where a former Catholic Monk called Martin Luther in Germany, ended up condemning the practice of indulgences that was being taught by the Catholic church. In the 16th century the Catholic church had come out with a religious teaching that one could pay for salvation with eternity in heaven by paying a certain amount of money to the Catholic church. This teaching was rebuked by Martin Luther as false doctrine that has no scripture support. Martin Luther discovered that salvation is a free gift, that is obtained by grace through faith in Jesus Christ according to the scriptures. Religious wars broke out in Europe between Protestants and Catholics, and both sides committed violent acts when instead they should have used verbal peaceful methods to bring up doctrinal issues that they have disagreements with. The religious wars went against the teachings of Jesus Christ. This documentary mentions that starting in the 20th Century that the charismatic movement in both Protestant and Catholic circles is bringing the body of Christ together. But also, some Protestant and Catholics that are not part of the charismatic movement are learning to be friends and coming together as one religious and political force, even though they still have some doctrinal disagreements with each other.
The next chapter is called Philadelphia: The Victorious Church. The Christians in Philadelphia were honored for their faithfulness to Christ. The Philadelphia church is the type of church that Jesus Christ honors the most.
The next chapter is called Laodicea: The Lukewarm Church. Some people interpret hot meaning good and cold meaning bad when it comes to Revelation 3:15-16 (Or cold being good and hot being bad). For example, a hot tea or other hot drink is considered good, just like a hot bath is good. This documentary mentions Revelation 3:15-16 which many Christians interpret as a spiritual condition where Jesus vomits or spits the so called Christian soul out of his mouth in the afterlife since the person is not hot on fire for the Lord, but instead is lukewarm which Jesus hates. Some Christians interpret this verse to mean a cold person with bad deeds is an unsaved person that is living for themselves or Satan, and a hot person is a saved person on fire for the Lord by obeying the teachings of Jesus Christ with good deeds and constantly preaching the Gospel to get other people saved. With the Lord Jesus Christ hating a lukewarm person that is somewhere in between. A lukewarm person has not fully dedicated their life and lifestyle to Jesus Christ. Various Christian ministries have similar and sometimes different interpretations to Revelation 3:15-16, and what it means to be lukewarm. Too many Christians have based doctrines or teachings on Revelation 3:15-16 in terms of salvation, and one should use the entire Bible regarding what it means about salvation and not base their entire theology on one verse or a few isolated verses in order to have a balanced view of what scripture is teaching. Revelation 3:15-16 is an unpopular verse with some people since some feel it implies there is no middle ground with Jesus Christ, one is either against Christ and follows Satan with evil deeds, or one is following the Lord Jesus Christ in this life with many good deeds, and being lukewarm is somewhere in between cold and hot which really upsets the Lord the most. In the Christian worldview Jesus is God and the only way to heaven, this means a lukewarm or cold person with many bad evil deeds is following the ways of Satan. But during this life before the afterlife occurs, one can repent and following the Lord Jesus Christ with evidence of many good deeds which would result in a hot person on fire for the Lord.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage...16&version=NIV
Over many decades I have started to not like what various Christian ministries have taught people about Revelation 3:15-16 when it comes to salvation. If one has a non-Christian worldview it would make logical sense that having a lukewarm condition with a mixture of good and bad deeds in life would be much better than a cold condition, which is a person that committed 90 to 100 percent bad deeds in life. Of course, the hot condition would be the best with 90 to 100 percent good deeds performed in life. But this Revelation scripture inspired by God is claiming that Jesus Christ hates the lukewarm person the most. Its like God is in some ways similar to a binary computer that uses only two numerical symbols. With 1 meaning good and 0 meaning bad, and absolutely nothing allowed in between the binary 0 and 1 numbers. With 0 being hell in the afterlife and 1 being heaven in the afterlife. I guess that is why in the Christian belief that Jesus Christ is the perfect sin sacrifice where if one repents and changes their lifestyle, they can have the free gift of salvation in heaven while at the same time earning rewards in heaven for one’s good deeds.
The people of Laodicea were also very rich and proud of their wealth. The documentary mentions an earthquake occurred and Laodicea took pleasure in their entertainment and worldly wealth but were poor spiritually since they lost their first love. Christians are suppose to make the Lord Jesus Christ first in their life. The documentary talks about the attitude in the church of “We can do it ourselves” since we have the knowledge and economic resources, however Jesus exposes churches like Laodicea as being spiritually poor, blind, and naked. Again, there is nothing wrong with being wealthy as long as one does not make money their God, money is just a tool that can be used for either good or bad purposes. For some reason there seems to be a lot of New Testament scriptures that rebuke people that are wealthy and successful in life, since they did not put Jesus Christ first in their spiritual life, but when one looks at the Old Testament, Yahweh blesses many Holy people with wealth, power, and authority. Scriptures like Matthew 19:21-24 are unpopular with many people since it appears to imply that wealthy people should give all their money to the poor and that it is very hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Scriptures like these have led to some people questioning if Jesus Christ is really the risen Messiah. But wealthy people can enter the Kingdom of heaven as long as they trust in the Messiah for their salvation. Also, Jesus in Matthew 19:21-24 was only telling one person to give all their money and everything they own to the poor, so that one person mentioned in scriptures could follow Jesus as an official disciple. That message was only for that one person and not for everyone. If everyone in modern times gave everything they own to the poor, almost everyone would be homeless with no money. So that message was for one person almost 2,000 years ago. Wealthy billionaires and millionaires have the free will to do anything they want with their money as long as the activity is legal under the law. Many billionaires and millionaires donate a lot of money to secular charities during their life and sometimes even donations to a few Christian organizations. But it’s also everyone’s free will to decide not give nothing to certain charities that one does not like for various reasons.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage...24&version=NLT
The Laodicea chapter suggests that Laodicea economics and well being is similar to our modern day western society. Laodicea is similar to the church of the modern 21st Century according to the documentary. A quote from documentary ,“Is money possessing us, or are we possessing our money?”. I got the feeling that too much of this documentary was a rebuke toward people with wealth, success, prosperity, and materialism. Calling people to come out of the materialistic society with massive amount of entertainment, and returning to Jesus Christ who is suppose to be the first love. Become rich in Jesus Christ with eternal life and one’s rewards in heaven that will last forever.
The next Chapter is called “Are You Ready For What’s Coming?”. The last part of this documentary mentions the end times and what God has foretold will happen to the earth. A lot of things about judgment and punishments are covered in a short period of time. The following are a select few things that are mentioned. “…creation against destruction, nothing but friction, no possibility of middle ground.” The documentary talks about the earth being completely destroyed and making room for a new earth and a new heaven sometime in the future. The new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven with Jesus Christ ruling and reigning over the earth for 1,000 years (Jesus Christ being a holy dictator over all the nations of the earth when he returns in the flesh). The earth will experience the highest form of reality with the Creator living among its creation. The documentary talks about the destruction of the old sin cursed world that was dominated by Satan, and God’s perfect new creation being in the new heaven and earth. Revelation has a promise that one day Jesus Christ will return and end all suffering, sickness, and aging. It will be a perfect world where humans and animals live forever and never die by eating from the tree of life in a new Garden of Eden.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage...22&version=NLT
I realize many Christians in the 21st Century believe that the planet earth and possible even the entire Universe which is part of God’s creation is living in the last days, and that at some future time a wormhole will open up and Jesus Christ in the flesh riding on a white horse will appear on the earth. It has been almost 2,000 years since the historical record claims that over 500 eyewitnesses saw the risen Christ ascend into heaven 40 days after the resurrection. Some Christians theorize that the rapture or second coming of Christ might take place around the year 2033, which is exactly 2,000 years since God in human flesh left the earth. I also know there is a lot of Christians that believe in Israel being the fig tree in scripture, and Israel becoming a nation again in 1948 occurred, and the theory that this 85 year old generation will not pass away until all these things be fulfilled is mentioned in Matthew 24:32-34. However, no one knows the day or hour of Christs return but might known the season or general time frame down to a year, month or week if the Lord allows it. Some Christians believe Jesus Christ might not come back for several thousands of years in the future. But logically if Jesus Christ is the Messiah he would come back before the human race attempts to colonizes outer space. Mark 16:15 clearly says to go into all the world and preach the gospel. It does not say to go into all the Universe and preach the Gospel, and there would be a big theological problem if humans leave earth and colonize other planets before Jesus Christ returns (Is Jesus going to rapture people from each planet that was colonized by returning to each colonized planet in the Universe?). Therefore, my point is according to scriptures the Gospel is to be preached to the entire world and not to other human beings or other lifeforms on other planets especially if they are not descendants of Adam and Eve (I know some people believe the entire Universe was cursed with sin after Adam and Eve sinned, but I hold to the worldview that only the planet earth was cursed with sin after Adam and Eve sinned, therefore only people of the earth need the Messiah as their sin sacrifice). Other religions believe Jesus Christ is not the Messiah and will never return since they theorize, Jesus was a false Messiah that was tossed in a hidden grave after his body was stolen from the tomb in order for the apostles to create the Christian religion. Some people even question why there needs to be a Messiah and why does there need to be a sin sacrifice (The hope by some people is that modern technology one day might save the human race). It always bothered me that for several thousands of years that various religions on the planet earth sacrificed humans or animals to their gods or God as part of their religious customs.
Thinking Man Films use to always have interesting documentaries about the Old Testament on the Blu-ray format, like the Prophet Moses, Exodus, and Red Sea Miracle. In the last few years there has been such a large growing movement with Christians into the Book of Revelation since many Christians believe we are living in the last days. Therefore, starting in the year 2021 Thinking Man Films started coming out with Revelation end times topics on Blu-ray. 20 years ago my two favorite books in the Bible were Genesis and Revelation, however now for various reasons I am losing interest in the Book of Revelation (I still like the Tree of life part which is mentioned in both Genesis and Revelation). I am now more interested in the modern day here and now issues and I personally am getting less interested in Revelation topics and Bible prophecy topics that I have heard all my life. So, I wish Thinking Man Films would consider doing some other Blu-ray series on the Old Testament like I really enjoyed. So many Christians believe we are living in the end times, and are getting wrapped up in the Book of Revelation. If for some reason we are not living in the end times, I get the feeling some people are going to be disappointed. My point is there is 66 books in the Bible, and I know Christians that spend 90% of their time in Revelation and other end time prophecies that are located in many books of the Bible. While its good to look to the future and what might happen, it is more important to be involved in current here and now events which many Christian ministries are still involved in. Preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world while helping the poor is a good thing for Christians to do. There are a lot of people in the world that are dying of starvation that need help. Also, Christians getting involved in politics and pro-life movements that defend the life of the unborn are important issues. While some people might choose to give The 7 Churches of Revelation - Part II: Times of Deception Blu-ray documentary a 5 star out of 5 user review rating for the program itself. I have decided to give the program 2 stars out of 5 since I thought the documentary could have been more organized and there was too much negative comments about wealth, material possessions, and entertainment. Also, there is nothing wrong with people using their God given knowledge and prosperity to make improvements in their own life. The program felt like it was cramming a lot of information by covering too many topics in a short period of time. Someone that lives in a cave with no wealth might have a closer relationship with God when compared to someone that is very wealthy (But that is not always true and sometimes the one living in the cave with no material wealth has a terrible relationship with God because of the immoral lifestyle that they are living is against the teachings of Christ and the Ten Commandments). There are many Old Testament examples were God blessed Holy people with wealth, power, and authority. Christians and non Christians need to ignore how much money or wealth a person has, and they need to judge the person by how well that person obeys God’s 10 commandments and if that person is living a Holy lifestyle (everyone should be treated fairly regardless of their net worth). In the afterlife God is not going to judge a person by how much money they had or did not have, he will judge the person by their lifestyle they lived and how they treated other people. Of course, if someone is starving on the street and that person refuses to give them food, then that is morally wrong to not spend one’s money to help a starving person.
*** Video comments ***
The 7 Churches of Revelation - Part II: Times of Deception is on a single layer Blu-ray disc that only uses 16.3GB of space out of 25GB (also looking at My PC screen under "This PC" in Windows 10 Professional 64 bit the title of the Blu-ray uses some very long numeric number that might be some type of serial number or other weird number coding system). I was very disappointed that this 1080P Blu-ray uses the legacy MPEG-2 codec for the main program and all extra features. Most secular studios for the main program have not used the MPEG-2 codec for 16 years on a Blu-ray release since the MPEG-4/AVC and VC-1 codecs have a better picture quality then MPEG-2 when compared at the exact same bit rate. In fact the part one Blu-ray documentary from Thinking Man Films called Times of Fire that was released in 2021 uses the higher quality MPEG-4/AVC codec, so it makes no logical sense at all why part two uses the lower quality legacy MPEG-2 codec. Overall the MPEG-2 codec looked ok with average bit rates for some scenes being around 23Mbps. But it was not as good of picture quality when compared to the first Blu-ray on Revelation that was released last year. Maybe the company that does the video encoding charges more money for a higher bit rate MPEG-4/AVC or VC-1 codec versus the legacy MPEG-2 codec. This Blu-ray program is also encoded with English and Spanish subtitles options.
*** Audio comments ***
Another big disappointment regarding this program is that lossy English 5.1 Dolby Digital audio at 224kbps is used instead of the lossless 5.1 DTS-HD Master audio soundtrack that part one Times of Fire Blu-ray received in 2021. Perhaps the company that did the master encoding for the Blu-ray charges a higher fee to use 5.1 LPCM, 5.1 DTS-HD Master audio, and 5.1 Dolby TrueHD. But the lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital was not at the average bit rate of 448kbps and instead the low bit rate of 224kbps is used. In addition, the audio mix was not as good as the first Blu-ray disc. All these issues are not logical. There was plenty of unused space on the disc for lossless audio or at very least a lossy encode with higher bit rate. Part 1 received 5.1 DTS-HD Master audio, therefore part two should have received the same treatment but instead got lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital at 224kbps which is no better then a DVD release. The only reason to buy this Blu-ray version over the DVD version is to get the better 1080P picture quality, the audio will be exactly the same quality.
*** Extra features ***
This part two release has fewer extra features when compared to the part one release. 100% of the menus and extra features are in 1080P using the MPEG-2 codec along with a 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack at 224bps. The full trailer lasts 2 minutes and 6 seconds. What people are saying lasts 1 minute and 42 seconds.
*** Conclusion ***
Unless one is a big fan of Revelation and Christian prophecy topics, this is a Blu-ray release that one should consider skipping. The 7 Churches of Revelation - Part II: Times of Deception felt like a lot of the material was crammed together in a short period of time. Also, one may get the wrong impression that wealth and successful people are less holy which scriptures does not teach (and this program does not actually teach that, but it brings the materialism and wealth issue up a lot in a 91 minute program). For some unknown reason this part two program uses the lower quality legacy MPEG-2 codec for the 1080P encode along with the lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital at a low bit rate of 224kbps. This does not make any sense at all since the part 1 Revelation Times of Fire Blu-ray that was released in 2021 uses the better quality MPEG-4/AVC codec with 5.1 DTS-HD Master audio. Also, the extra features for this release is very limited. There is a big interest in Revelation topics since many Christians believe we are living in the end times, however I wish Thinking Man Films would return to its roots and bring back the very interesting Old Testament documentary programs on Blu-ray. I hate to admit it but after 20 years of watching programs about Revelation, I am getting less interested in Revelation and Bible prophecy in general for various reasons. Maybe its time for someone else to volunteer time and write a user review for every new Christian Blu-ray disc that is being released.
The 7 Churches of Revelation - Part II: Times of Deception can be purchased at the following website:
https://store.patternsofevidence.com...42053050302624
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The 7 Churches of Revelation - Part I: Times of Fire and Part II: Times of Deception
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