NONSENSE FROM THE BIBLE Read Free Page B

been deceived.
     
    The Apostle John wrote a ‘prophesy’ to the seven churches in Asia – this manuscript being known as Revelation – it is also the last book in the New Testament. Here again, those early Christians may have seen that John’s prophecy also provided some suggestion that the return of Jesus and the end time events could be sometime in the future. BUT– how long in the future? 2,000+ years?
     
    I will not bore you with a commentary on the entire book of Revelation or attempt to explain it as there are numerous and varied explanations or theories available in books and websites. Basically, there are four interpretations of the Revelation - (1) Historicist, which sees in Revelation a broad view of history (2) Preterist,  in which Revelation mostly refers to the events of the apostolic era  (1st century); (3) Futurist, which holds that Revelation describes future events; and (4) Idealist or Symbolic, which holds that Revelation does not refer to actual people or events, but is an allergory of the spiritual path and the ongoing struggle between good and evil.
     
    As you can see – you can take your pick and explain the Revelation according to your personal views or pre-conceived beliefs or previously indoctrinated thoughts and opinions about the book.
     
    Other notable critics of Revelation include: Thomas Jefferson *2 who omitted it, along with most of the Biblical canon, from the ‘Jefferson Bible’ and wrote that at one time he considered it:  as merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy nor capable of explanation than the incoherences of our own nightly dreams.
     
    The Nineteenth-century agnostic Robert G.Ingersoll *3 called Revelation - the insanest of all books . Friedrich Engels claimed that the Book of Revelation was primarily a political and anti-Roman work, while, George Bernard Shaw described it as -  a peculiar record of the visions of a drug addict.
     
    Martin Luther *4 changed his perspective on Revelation over time. In the preface to the German translation of Revelation that he composed in 1522, he said that he did not consider the book prophetic or apostolic, since Christ is neither taught nor known in it. But in the completely new preface he composed in 1530, he reversed his position and concluded that Christ was central to the book. He concluded; As we see here in this book, that through and beyond all plagues, beasts, and evil angels, Christ is nonetheless with the saints and wins the final victory.
     
    Perhaps the best explanation of the book of Revelation and other so-called prophecies or revelations is that they are most likely to be the result of hallucinations, imaginations, so-called visions or night visions or at best a series of dreams or nightmares! Unfortunately they are readily accepted by believers to be genuine prophecies of the events of the end times, especially as there is a clear link between the prophecies of Daniel Chapter Seven and Matthew Chapter Twenty Four and the book of Revelation. The three accounts all include similar descriptions of the time of tribulation, the appearance of the ‘Beast’ – the Anti Christ - and finally the return of Jesus or the son of man.  Other parts of the Revelation are borrowed from Old Testament Prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel and Ezra
     
    The Book of Revelation, that last book in the New Testament, includes a vivid and terrifying account of the final conflict between God and the beast during the time of tribulation. Most Christians believe they will escape this as they will be ‘raptured’ – taken up to meet Jesus in the sky prior to the time of desolation. Finally Jesus and his angels and Christians will return to earth for him to reign as the ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords!’ But was it in fact simply a message of a warning and reassurance for the seven churches of Asia? If so, then again this Revelation is not for some remote future period of time.
     
    During a discussion about Revelation on August 23rd