A Re-Vealing Look into the book of REVELATION
(important reading for both the damned & the damning)

“But nothing unclean shall enter [Heaven], nor any one who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” ~ Revelation 21:27

For a number of years now, I have consistently witnessed a somewhat disturbing phenomenon – namely, that many of my Christian friends, at some point during our discussions about the nature God & Jesus & Heaven & Hell, almost invariably quote a verse or a passage from the Book of Revelation to “prove” their point; most often a point that seeks to show that God is a god of judgment, that Jesus will return in wrath to separate the saved from the damned, that Heaven’s doors will only be opened to those few Souls who bow down to Jesus as their “only Lord & Savior”, and that the portals of Hell and its eternity of torment will be flung wide for everyone else.

And for a number of years after first hearing such statements, having never read the Bible myself – and having naively chosen to believe the violent claims of those who professed to know its contents, I adhered to the notion that Revelation was nothing more than a very bad chapter in what was obviously an evil book (the Bible).

Of course, I continued to ponder the mystery of how the angry Jesus of Revelation could be the same man who supposedly preached the virtues of radical Kindness, selfless Service and humble Forgiveness. I wondered how this great prophet of unconditional Love – a Son of God who was supposedly so violently opposed to hypocrisy — could himself be so hypocritical.

And then one day I decided to read the first 26 books of the Bible’s New Testament for myself (purposefully avoiding John’s Revelation, of course)… And upon doing so, I immediately realized that they didn’t at all seem to say what my Christian preachers & many of my Christian friends had told me they said.

In fact, this discovery was so wonderful to me that I decided to read them again — & again … & again … & again. And then I started to go the next step and experiment with their teachings. I started to actively (and often radically) test the “Spiritual Fruit” that resulted when the different admonitions from the Bible’s various authors were actually put into practice in everyday life.

And after doing so over & over again, many hours a day — every day — for almost 18 months of my life, I eventually became intimately familiar with those first 26 books of scripture – both what they said (and didn’t say), as well as what they did (and didn’t do) when they were practiced more than they were preached.

And then one day thereafter, I took a deep breath & decided to read Revelation for myself …

… and it all made sense.

You see, without going into the historical setting of Revelation, the obvious political motives of its author, the rich metaphorical symbolism that decorates almost all of its chapters, or its clear ties to the Bible’s “Old Testament” (275 of its 404 verses allude to or directly quote from various passages in the Hebrew Bible), it is enough for Christians & non-Christians alike to note the following: that while the Christian church would have you believe that the Book of Revelation is also the “Word of God”, and that even though your church leaders would have you believe that the “Jesus” mentioned in that somewhat wrathful tome is the same gentle & Loving Jesus we find in the Gospels, THIS IS SIMPLY NOT THE CASE!

To simplify the matter for you, after examining the Biblical record in detail, it is clear that EITHER the “angel of the Lord” in the Book Revelation was lying (something at which the other “fallen angels” in the Bible have proved to be quite adept) and speaking about a completely different “Jesus” than the one mentioned in Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, OR the Jesus Christ of the Gospels suffered a dramatic bipolar personality shift after his resurrection & ascension – a personality shift which had him essentially renouncing his entire ministry of unconditional Love in favor of a new ministry of exclusion, judgment, punishment & wrath.

Basically, Christians must choose between either two very different & highly incompatible Jesuses or between two very different & highly incompatible ministries … Essentially, every believer must choose to abide EITHER in Revelation’s visions of “Jesus” OR in the teachings of Jesus found in the Gospels. Simultaneously believing in both (without watering Revelation down to a piece of mere metaphorical mysticism) is simply not possible …

And this is actually extremely GOOD NEWS for Christians and non-Christians alike. For if you belong to the latter portion of humanity, it is now possible to feel Compassion for condemnatory Christians – it is now possibly a bit easier to respond to them with sincere Kindness instead of indignant rage. And if you consider yourself to be a Christian, you are now – if you wish, without fear of blaspheming your Bible or insulting your God or dismantling your faith – free to set aside the Jesus of wrath & judgment, and embrace a truly all-Loving Lord & Savior instead.

………

Now I realize that this quite the bold claim I am making – a claim that shakes the very foundations of the Christian church. And I realize as well that all extraordinary claims rightfully call for extraordinary evidence.

So with this in mind, I offer the following for your humble consideration – an incredibly vivid & thorough scriptural contrast between the “Jesus” mentioned in John’s Revelation and the Jesus Christ illuminated in the Gospels:

First, a few GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS …

*Initially, it is important to realize that the author of Revelation clearly attempted to prove that the Jesus of the Gospels was his tome’s “wrathful redeemer”. Indeed, the very first words of its very first verse identify it as “The revelation of Jesus Christ”, though the last words of that verse do admit that Revelation was not transmitted directly by Jesus himself, but rather by proxy via “his angel”. Later, after quoting Daniel 7:10’s praising of the Messianic “Lamb” (Revelation 5:11), the author has that same “Lamb” opening the infamous seven seals (verses 6:1-17 + 8:1-2). Remembering that the Gospel of John had already identified Jesus as “the Lamb of God” (see John 1:29), it is once again obvious that Revelation’s author clearly claims the same man to be his protagonist. Finally, as if there was any doubt remaining, Jesus is directly mentioned as Revelation’s primary source near the end of its final chapter (“It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches.” ~ Revelation 22:16).

*Next, while seemingly speaking of the future, Revelation clearly references words from the past, and it does so purposefully – with much of its verses representing the apparent fulfillment of the prophecy found in the book of Daniel (see Daniel 12:4). Indeed, the author of Revelation quotes Daniel 7:13 at the very beginning of his work (see Revelation 1:7) to emphasize his major theme: that Jesus Christ will return as a forceful & vengeful & wrathful Davidian Messiah (see Revelation 5:5). As mentioned above, it is Jesus who opens the seven seals of destruction and it is Jesus who imposes final judgment on the unworthy (who have 70 weeks – or seventy times seven days – to “finish transgression and eliminate sin” before their sentencing … Daniel 9:24). Indeed, throughout the book of Revelation, this Messiah is consistently described as wrathful and condemnatory (see Revelation 2:5b, 2:22-23, 3:5, 3:19, 6:1-17, 8:6-9:6, 11:18, 16:2-19, 18:6-8, 19:15, 20:4, & 21:8). This fact becomes especially intriguing when we remember that Jesus’ own disciples had similar notions about him and that they desired similar results (see Matthew 14:30, 16:13-20, 18:1, 19:16-17, 19:25, 20:20-23, 20:25-28, Mark 10:36-37, 13:4, Luke 19:11, John 1:49, 6:65-66, 7:3-4, 10:24, 12:34, 12:37, 14:8, 14:22, et al).

AND YET, Jesus himself made it very clear in the Gospels that he was NOT and would never be this type of Messiah (see Matthew 16:20, 22:18, 22:41-45, 24:1-2, 24:23-27, 26:63-64, Mark 1:25, 1:38, 3:12, 8:27-30, 9:9, 10:17-18, 10:31, 10:39-40, 12:14-17, 12:35-37, 14:3-8, Luke 4:5-8, 4:35, 4:41, 8:39, 9:18-21, 11:28, 17:14-15, 18:18-19, 19:20-26, 19:41-44, 22:70, 23:35, John 5:41+44, 6:15, 6:35+6:45, 7:18, 8:50, 8:54, 12:3-7, 12:44-45, 12:49 &13:13). Indeed, he repeatedly informed all who would listen that he had come to offer a spiritual transcendence of suffering, not a physical liberation from the same (see Matthew 4:8-10, 5:3-16, 6:1-8, 6:19-21, 12:49-50, 16:24+27, 18:3-4, 19:14, 21:43, 25:35-40, Mark 3:35, 7:15-23, 9:35, 10:14-16, 10:43-45, 12:43-44, 13:21-23, Luke 6:20-23, 6:46-47, 8:18, 8:21, 9:48, 10:19-20, 11:46, 12:15, 12:31-34, 12:57, 13:18-21, 14:13-14, 14:25-33, 17:20-21, 17:22-24, 17:33, 18:16-17, 18:29-30, 19:19, 22:26-27, John 1:12-13, 3:3-8, 3:20-21, 3:27, 4:23-24, 6:27, 6:33, 6:53-57+63, 7:6, 7:24, 8:36, 13:17, 13:35, 14:20, 14:27a & 17:20-23+26, et al).

As an intriguing aside here, it is also important to realize that Revelation’s quoting of Daniel 7:13 to establish Jesus as the prophesized “wrathful redeemer” (being indeed one of the very few verses in the Bible where the term “Son of Man” does in fact refer to a singular Davidian Messiah – with most of Jesus’ personal uses of this term alluding either to his immediate listeners or to humanity in general) cannot be incorporated into Revelation without also adopting the verse that follows it … And when we look to Daniel 7:14, we find that the Old Testament Messiah is rewarded with the very powers & glories that Jesus rejects after Satan offered them to him in Matthew 4:8-10! This fact becomes even more intriguing alongside the realization that it is the demons in the Gospels who repeatedly announce Jesus as the only Son of God, and that Jesus invariably tells them to be silent after they do so (see Mark 1:23-25, 1:34, 3:11-12 et al).

*Thirdly, the contrast between the Jesus mentioned in Revelation and the Jesus found in the Gospels can be seen in the thematic way each is consistently portrayed in their relative Biblical abodes. The Jesus of Revelation provides seven “Beatitudes of Death” (see verses 1:3, 14:13, 16:15, 19:9, 20:6, 22:7 & 22:14), while the Jesus of the Gospels gives us nine Beatitudes of Love (see Matthew 5:3-11). The Jesus of Revelation is a destroyer, while the Jesus of the Gospels refuses to destroy (see see Luke 9:51-55, John 3:16-20, John 12:47 et al). The Jesus of Revelation is a condemner of Souls, while the Jesus of the Gospels refuses to condemn anybody (see John 3:17, 12:47, Matt 8:11, Luke 6:35-36 et al). Revelation’s “New Jerusalem” arrives at some point in the future, while Jesus’ “Kingdom of Heaven” has already arrived Here&Now (see Luke 17:20-21, Matthew 6:25-34 et al). Revelation provides us with a multitude of visions not yet seen in the Bible, while Jesus made it clear in the Gospels that there would be no new revelations from him after his death (“I have already told you everything.” ~ Mark 13:21-23). And finally, we see the Jesus of Revelation receiving extreme forms of glory & subservient worship, while the Jesus of the gospels repeatedly rejected all such adorations (see Mark 10:18, John 5:41, 6:15, 7:16 & 12:44 et al).

And if that is not enough to pique your curiosity, consider the following sample of Revelation’s more SPECIFIC CONTRADICTIONS…

*Revelation 1:7 notes that on Jesus’ account “all the tribes of the Earth will wail”, while Jesus makes it clear in the Gospels that the primary purpose of his ministry is that our “Joy might be complete” (John 15:11) …

*Revelation 1:16 & Revelation 2:12 have Jesus’ mouth as the “two-edged sword” – a weapon of death, while Jesus himself states that this sharpened blade is actually the WORD of God, and is actually a tool of pruning & purification (Matthew 10:34) …

*Revelation 1:17 has Jesus saying “I am the 1st and the last”, while the Gospel Jesus gave glory only to God (see Mark 10:18, John 5:41, John 6:15, John 7:16, John 12:44 et al) …

*Revelation 1:18 shows Jesus holding the keys of death, while the Gospel of Matthew clearly shows Jesus holding the keys to life (Matthew 19:17, 19:29, 22:32 et al) …

*Revelation 2:1+ has Jesus condemning many in the churches mentioned, while Gospel Jesus made it clear that he condemned no one (John 3:17, John 12:47 et al).

*Revelation 2:4 shows Jesus openly desiring to be loved by the Ephesians, while Jesus himself repeatedly “accepted the glory of no man” (John 5:41, John 6:15, Mark 10:18 et al) …

*Revelation 2:6 claims that Jesus actually professed a hatred for the Nicolaitans, while Jesus in the Gospels desired only for us to “Love our enemies”, and thereby “be perfect [in our Loving] just as the Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:40-48) …

*Revelation 2:14 & Revelation 2:20 have Jesus rebuking others for eating foods sacrificed to idols, while Jesus himself made it clear that doing so was patently irrelevant (“Whatever goes into a man from the outside cannot defile him.” ~ Matthew 15:17-18) …

*Revelation 2:14 & Revelation 2:20 also show Jesus condemning fornication, while the Jesus in the Gospels merely frowns upon this miscue, gently saying “Let anyone accept [celibacy] who can” (Matthew 19:12) …

*Revelation 2:16 has Jesus saying “I will come to you soon and make war against them with the sword of my mouth”, while the Gospel Jesus said “Blessed are the Peacemakers” and taught us to bless those who curse us (Matthew 5:9 + Luke 6:28) …

*Revelation 2:19 notes that “the last are greater than the first”, while Jesus in the Gospels made it clear that the two were equal (“The last shall be the 1st, and the 1st the last” ~ Matthew 19:30, 20:16, Mark 9:35, 10:31, Luke 13:30) …

*Revelation 2:22 has Jesus punishing others with illness, when the Gospels consistently show Jesus as a conduit through with the Divine heals (see Matthew 9:20-31, Mark 5:24-34, Luke 17:11-19 & John 9:1-12 et al) …

*Revelation 2:23 has Jesus “striking her children dead”, while the Gospels show repeatedly that Jesus loved & revered children (see Matthew 18:5 & 19:14, Mark 9:42 & 10:14 et al) …

*Revelation 2:26 has Jesus “giving authority over the nations”, while the Gospels have Jesus telling us to “give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21 & Luke 20:25) …

*Revelation 2:27 has Jesus ruling with an iron rod, while the Gospels have Jesus telling us to “be merciful as the Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36) …

*Revelation 3:2 intimates that Jesus will judge us if our works are not “perfect in the sight of my God”, while the Jesus of the Gospels asks that our Love be “as perfect as the Father” (Matthew 5:48 + Luke 6:45) …

*Revelation 3:5 has Jesus claiming to blot the unworthy from the Book of Life, while the Jesus of the Gospels made it repeatedly clear that he judged no one, and indeed would call everyone to him when he was “lifted up” (see John 12:47 + John 12:32 et al) …

*Revelation 3:7 & 5:5 & Revelation 22:16 all show Jesus claiming to be “the root and the descendant of David”, when the Jesus in the Gospels made it repeatedly clear that he was NOT the Davidian Messiah (see Matthew 22:41-46 & John 7:42 juxtaposed with Matthew 2:23, et al) …

*Revelation 3:20 shows Jesus “standing at the door, knocking”, while the Jesus of the Gospels made it plain that his knocking wasn’t needed, that “For all who knock, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8 et al) …

*Revelation 4:3-6 shows heaven as being seemingly composed of precious stones, while for Gospel Jesus, heaven was an immaterial, spiritual Kingdom (see Matthew 6:19-21 + 25 + 33 et al) …

*Revelation 4:5 & Revelation 11:19 show lightning coming from the throne of God, while Jesus saw something similar in a very different situation, when he “beheld Satan as lightning fall from the heavens” (Luke 10:18 – also Matthew 24:27, Luke 17:24, Exodus 19:16 & Ezekiel 1:13) …

*Revelation 5:5 makes it clear that only an ancestor of David can open the scroll and its seven seals, and yet Jesus himself made it quite clear that he was NOT the Davidian Messiah (see

*Revelation 5:7-8 shows Jesus taking down the “scroll of doom”, while the Gospels show Jesus opening a scroll of liberation (see Luke 4:18, where Jesus publicly reads from the scroll of Isaiah — verses 58:6 & 61:1-2) …

*Revelation 5:12-13 (see also Revelation 19:16) has Jesus the “Lamb” receiving power & glory from “myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands”, while Jesus in the Gospels repeatedly rejected all offers of power 7 glory (see Matthew 4:1-10 juxtaposed with Daniel 7:13-14, John 6:15, Matthew 10:18 et al) …

*Revelation 6:16 has all people calling on the rocks to fall on them to hide them, while the Jesus of the Gospels made the statement that “The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls” (see Matthew 21:44) …

*Revelation 7:4-8 seems to indicate that only 144,000 Souls are ultimately saved, while Gospel Jesus used his two feedings of the masses to signify that ALL would be redeemed (see Mark 8:18-21) … [NOTE that there is still much debate & disagreement amongst theologians & scholars as to what this passage signifies]

*Revelation 7:13-17 seems to show that only those who “have come out of the great ordeal” will be soothed and cared for, while the Jesus of the Gospels soothes and cares for ALL (see Matthew 12:50, Matthew 18:14, Mark 11:17a, Luke 3:6, John 3:17, John 10:16, John 12:32, John 12:47 et al) …

*Revelation 8:3 shows one of the heavenly angels standing at the altar with “much incense to offer”, and yet Jesus in the Gospels stated clearly that he “desired mercy, not sacrifices” (Matthew 9:13) …

*Revelation 8:6 has Jesus’ royal coronation being announced by seven trumpets, while the Jesus of the Gospels openly refused to become king (Matthew 4:1-10 + John 6:15) and was only anointed for his imminent self-sacrificial burial (see Matthew 6:6-13) …

*Revelation 10:4 has a “voice from heaven” demanding that the author keep the words of “the seven thunders” to himself, while Jesus in the Gospels spoke “openly to the world” and “said nothing in secret” (John 18:20) …

*Revelation 11:18 speaks to a time of judging the dead (se also Revelation 19:15 & 20:4) – rewarding those “who fear” and “destroying those who destroy the Earth”, and yet Jesus in the Gospels made it very clear that neither he (John 3:17, John 12:47 et al) nor the Father (John 5:22) would ever judge anybody, and that no rewards were to be reaped (“Do as I have done for you” ~ John 13:15, “The Son of Man came to serve, not to be served” ~ Matthew 20:28) – that we are to simply Love one another, regardless of anything that happens or doesn’t happen to or for us thereafter (see John 15:17 et al) …

*Revelation 14:6-7 has an angel pronouncing an “eternal gospel” of giving God glory by fearing Him, while the Jesus of the Gospels clearly felt that the “Kingdom of Heaven” was an imminent, Here&Now state of being (Luke 17:20-21 + Matthew 10:7), accessible in every moment we choose to selflessly Care for another (Matthew 24:12-14 + John 13:15-17 et al) …

*Revelation 14:10 — along with Revelation 14:19, Revelation 15:1, Revelation 15:7, Revelation 16:1, Revelation 19:15 & revelation 20:10, all speak graphically of “the wrath of God”, and yet the Jesus of the Gospels repeatedly speaks of his Father as a God of perfect Love & unconditional mercy (see Matthew 5:40-48, John 5:22, Luke 3:6, Luke 6:36, the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 et al) …

*Revelation 14:14 has Jesus seemingly reappearing in physical form, even though Jesus himself stated that he would actually be with us in spirit, “always, [from now] until the ends of days” (see Matthew 28:20b, John 11:25-27, John 14:26, John 15:26, John 16:7, John 16:13-14 et al) …

*Revelation 16:17 has “a loud voice from the throne” crying “It is done!” at the end of the apocalyptic destruction, while Jesus in the Gospels utters “It is accomplished” at the end of his ministry of Love & selfless service (John 19:30) …

*Revelation 16:19 shows “God” giving Babylon the “cup of the fury of his wrath”, while Jesus in the Gospels spoke of (and offered) a cup of self-sacrifice and perfect Love (see Matthew 20:22-23, Matthew 26:42, Mark 14:36, Luke 22:20 et al) …

*Revelation 17:6 negatively portrayed Babylon “drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses of Jesus”, while Jesus himself offered his blood freely as a covenant of Kindness (see Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20 & john 6:56) and encouraged us all to freely do the same (Matthew 16:24-26 + John 15:13 et al) …

*Revelation 18:8 again shows God as a wrathful judge, while Jesus could not have been clearer in the Gospels that his Father would judge no one (John 5:22, John 7:24, John 8:15, John 10:38, John 11:41-42, John 12:26, John 12:48 et al) …

*Revelation 18:11-23 (along with several other passages) show the end as a time of great sorrow & despair & mourning for many, where as Jesus in the Gospels made it clear that one of his ministry’s primary purposes was “so that my Joy might be within you, and your Joy might be complete” (John 15:11) …

*Revelation 19:5 makes it clear that we are to fear God, while Jesus in the Gospels makes it just as clear that we are to LOVE Him (Matthew 22:37-38, Mark 12:29-30 & Luke 10:27-28) …
[NOTE: according to the scriptures, fear & LOVE cannot co-exist. ~ 1 John 4:18]

*Revelation 19:7 speaks of “the marriage of the Lamb”, while Jesus in the Gospels noted that “in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage” (see Matthew 22:30, Mark 12:25 & Luke 20:34-35) …

*Revelation 19:9 hints at a marriage banquet that is accessible only by exclusive invite, while for Jesus of the Gospels, “all the people” are invited to partake of the festivities, “the bad as well as the good” (see Matthew 22:2-9) …

*Revelation 19:11+ has the Word of God riding into violent battle on a white stallion, while Jesus in the Gospels enters Jerusalem Peace-fully & humbly riding on the back of a donkey (see Matthew 21:5-7, Mark 11:1-7, Luke 19:3-35 & John 12:1-4) …

*Revelation 19:13 seems to equate Jesus with the Word of God, while Jesus in the Gospels consistently mentions himself separately from the same (see Matthew 4:4, Mark 7:13, Luke 3:2, Luke 5:1, Luke 8:11-15, Luke 11:28, John 5:37-40, John 8:47, John 12:48 et al) …

*Revelation 21:10 shows the paradise of “New Jerusalem” as having 12 gates that are all always open (verse 21:25), while Jesus makes it quite clear in the Gospels that the Way to Salvation passes through a single, narrow gate (Matthew 7:13-14) upon which one must knock in order to enter (Matthew 7:7 & Luke 11:9) …

*Revelation 21:16 describes “New Jerusalem” as being grandiose in size and appearance, while the Jesus of the Gospels described his Kingdom of Heaven as miniscule & humble – comparing it both to the tiny mustard seed as well as the small portion of yeast mixed into flour to make bread (see Matthew 13:31-33, Mark 4:30-32 & Luke 13:18-21) …

*Revelation 21:21 shows “New Jerusalem” as containing 12 pearls, while Gospel Jesus spoke of only one Great Pearl (see Matthew 13:45-46) …

*Revelation 21:27 notes that all who are “unclean” could not enter the heavenly city, while Jesus made an entire ministry out of purposefully violating or altering most if not all the Jewish laws related to uncleanliness – annulling Jewish food laws (“What goes into one’s mouth does not defile” ~ Matthew 15:11), dismissing conventional table etiquette (Mark 7:5-8), and even mingling with lepers (Luke 17:11-19) …

*Revelation 22:14 notes that “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the Tree of Life”, while Jesus in the Gospels notes in contrast that blessed is he who first cleans the INSIDE of his cup (Matthew 23:2526 & Luke 11:39) …

*Revelation 22:16 tries to make Jesus into a “descendant of David again, and yet we remember that Jesus himself in the Gospels made it both directly and indirectly clear that he was NOT the Davidian Messiah (see Matthew 22:41-46, Matthew 1:1-18, Luke 3:23-38, Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 11:1-10, Isaiah 55:3, Daniel 7:13-14 + Matthew 4:1-10, Matthew 5:9 et al) …

CONCLUSION

So, you see, while quite a few of Revelation’s gentler verses (e.g. Rev 5:13) do give more devout followers of The Way of Christ the opportunity to interpret even this crass & drastic book in a Loving manner, there is a more flagrant Truth that cannot be denied: namely, that when it comes to Revelation, Christians have a very important choice that they simply must make … and this choice is as follows …

Either they must admit that the Jesus fund in the Gospels does NOT condone the dysfunctional & brutal ramblings of the “angel of the Lord” in Revelation (= discount book entirely), OR that Jesus had a complete personality shift after his ascension and all of his teachings on perfect LOVE in the Gospels (specifically whose found in the Sermon on the Mount) can be tossed right out the window. After all, the only Son of God certainly has the right to change his mind … and if Revelation IS talking about the same Jesus Christ as the Peace-full Prophet found the Bible’s earlier texts, then there can no longer be any doubt that change his mind (and change his mind drastically) he did.

Of course, we all have free will as well, and none of us are required to worship such a passive-aggressive, codependent deity.

In fact, in a delicious twist of irony, it is the Jesus of the Gospels who would tell us to beware of such false prophets and denounce their teachings completely … In fact, he DID tell us to do so.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits … A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.” ~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:15-20)

Personally, I think Jesus’ “Fruit of the Tree” test makes this conundrum extremely simple to resolve. Jesus in the Gospels is a pure believer in perfect LOVE … Jesus in Revelation is a pure reflection of LOVE’s opposite, fear. And at least as far as I am concerned, if I am going to make a mistake, I definitely want to err on the side of following the teachings of the “Good Jesus”.

And what are the ramifications of this newfound clarity?

Well … for atheists, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Taoists, agnostics, New Age mystics, and all other members of all other religions non-Christian, you are all now free to cease being annoyed or frightened or angered by the book of Revelation & those who quote it AT you. When being condemned by a believer in “angry Jesus”, you can now have the wherewithal to pause, quell your disgust, and exude a sincere compassion for those doing that condemning. After all, there is a far more Loving God in their own Bible – and they refuse to see Him!

For “awakened Christians” – those members of Christian churches who simply don’t jive with the colder preachings of their pastors or the more rage-filled ramblings of their reverends, your faith ca be reborn into LOVE. You can now in all good faith remain a Christian while discounting the hate and the fear and the discord that Revelation has sown into your Sundays … you can take your churches back!

And for conservative Christians, you now have the information required to leave your man-made & undivine dogma of hate and judgment behind you. You can stop doing Satan’s work (spreading fear & judgment) and to start doing God’s Will (forgiving and caring) instead.

For conservative Christians, the question has now become not whether you can prove that Jesus is coming back pissed off, but rather WHY you are determined to do so? Frankly, I think it’s high time that Christians stopped perverting the Gospel teachings of their own Lord & Savior. I think it’s high time that Christians stopped using the book of Revelation to damn their brother Muslims & atheists and sister Buddhists & Hindus to Hell … and started treating them like brothers & sisters instead.

Amen

“The book of Revelation contains as many mysteries as it does words.” ~ Jerome, one of the principle founders of the Christian church

Filed under: Questions for Christians by Scaughdt