Revelation … an Introduction
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 “prove” their point by quoting a verse or a passage from the book of Revelation; and that most often the point they are trying to prove thereby is one that seeks to show that God is a god of judgment — or that Jesus will return in wrath to separate the saved from the damned – or that Heaven’s doors will only be opened to those few Souls who bow down to Jesus as their “only Lord & Savior” – or that the portals of Hell and its eternity of torment will be flung wide for, and then slammed shut upon, 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 a very “evil” book (meaning, the Bible).
Of course, I couldn’t just leave it at that … The conundrum just wouldn’t let me be, and I continued to ponder the mystery of how the angry Jesus found in the book of Revelation could in any way be the same man who supposedly preached the virtues of radical Kindness, selfless Service, and humble Forgiveness in the Gospels. I wondered how this great prophet of unconditional Love could somewhat suddenly abandon his own teachings in favor of those steeped in condemnation and damnation – how this great Son of God who was supposedly so vehemently opposed to hypocrisy (see Matthew 7:5, Matthew 7:21-23, Matthew 15:7-9, Matthew 22:18, Matthew 23, Luke 6:46, Luke 12:56, John 8 et al) could himself be so hypocritical when it came to such all-important topics as Love & Mercy & Justice & Judgment (see Matthew 5:40-44, Mark 12:31, Matthew 22:37-40, Luke 6:35-36, Matthew 7:1-2, John 8 et al).
And then one day everything changed – for then one day I decided to read the first 26 books of the Bible’s New Testament for myself (purposefully avoiding Revelation, of course) … And upon doing so, I immediately realized that those texts didn’t necessarily say what my Christian preachers had preached or what many of my Christian friends had said. In fact, this discovery was so wonderful to me that I decided to read the New Testament again — & again — & again — & again.
And after doing so I then took the most important step of all: I began to actively experiment with the teachings I read therein. I started to purpose-fully (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 what they clearly didn’t say), as well as what they manifested (and what they clearly didn’t manifest) when I put them into practice …
And then one day shortly thereafter, I took a deep breath & decided to actually read the entire book of Revelation for myself as well …
… and that is when it all started to make a bit more sense.
You see, without even 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 Revelation’s 404 verses either allude to or directly quote from passages found in the Hebrew Bible), it is enough for Christians & non-Christians alike to note the following: that while our church leaders would have us believe that the somewhat angry “Jesus” mentioned in the somewhat wrathful tome of Revelation is the same loving & gentle Jesus Christ we find in the Gospels of the Bible’s New Testament, this is simply NOT the case!
To simplify the matter for you, after examining the Biblical record in detail, it has become quite clear that one of two possibilities is true — either the “angel of the Lord” in the book of Revelation was lying (a trait common to most of the other “fallen angels” mentioned in the Bible as well) – that he was speaking about a completely different “Jesus” than the one mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John — or the Jesus Christ of those same 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.
Essentially, all you need to understand is that it is fundamentally impossible to reconcile these two very different “Sons of God”, and as such each & every Christian believer must choose both between two very different & highly incompatible manifestations of Jesus, as well as choose between those Christs’ two very different & highly incompatible ministries …
In essence, every member of the Christian church (indeed every sincere reader of the Bible’s New Testament, regardless of his or her religious bent) must choose to abide either in Revelation’s vision of “Jesus” or in the teachings of Jesus Christ as read in the Gospels … The two are mutually exclusive, and a choice between them must be made. And while make no a claim here as to which of these two is “better” or more “true”, I do contend that it is impossible to simultaneously worship both of them consistently (unless one chooses to water-down Revelation to a piece of mere metaphorical mysticism — which it might very well be).
And I also contend that this incompatibility is actually extremely GOOD NEWS for Christians and non-Christians alike, for if you belong to the latter portion of humanity (non-Christians) – if you qualify as an “unbeliever”, it is now possible to more readily feel Compassion for all those conservative Christians who are professing the condemnation of your Soul … After all, once we realize that the “Jesus” conservative Christians are using to justify their beliefs has nothing at all to do with the “Lord & Savior” shown in the Gospels, we can understand as well that theses folks are actually missing out on the deepest meaning within their own religion – and as such it becomes much easier to respond to them with sincere Kindness instead of indignant rage.
And if you are someone who considers yourself to be a Christian, you are now fully free — without fear of blaspheming your Bible or insulting your God or dismantling your faith — to set aside the wrathful “Jesus” read in the pages of Revelation and the judgmental God heard from the pulpits in conservative churches, and embrace both a Divine Father of perfect Grace and a Holy Son of unconditional Love instead.
This is definitely a way that honors the fundamental pillars of the teachings of Jesus Christ, and as such it is definitely something for every Christian (and every non-Christian who has regular dealings with Christians) to earnestly consider …
“And why do you not judge for yourself what is Right? … Beware false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous as wolves. You will know them by their fruits … Do not judge by mere appearances, but rather discern using sound judgment.” ~ Jesus Christ (Luke 12:57 + Matthew 7:15-16 & John 7:24)
Now I realize that this quite the bold claim I am making – a claim that shakes the very foundations of the Christian religion. 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 – a vivid & thorough scriptural contrast between the “Jesus” mentioned in John’s Revelation and the Jesus Christ illuminated in the Bible’s four canonical Gospels … EnJOY!
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