High Stakes

by Erin McCarthy

  The Book of Revelation seems to take precedence over so many of the books of the Bible. Remember, again, the author is unknown (as most all the writers of the Bible are), but Francine says he was a citizen of Rome who had a dream about what was going on in the political and religious climate of the day, around 64 A.D.

  The first, second and third chapters of Revelation are instructions and admonitions—supposedly they were written to seven bishops in Asia who presided over seven churches. The following chapters are prophecies of things to come, particularly about the end of the world. The book of Revelation supposedly was written in Greek on the island of Patmos, where this “John” was supposedly banished by the Roman emperor. He starts out by bemoaning the fact of his banishment, but says that his words come directly from God in the form of this revelation from Jesus Christ.

  In the letters to the bishops of the seven churches, the writer rails against the sins of mankind and also seems to admonish the churches. In chapter 2:9, in his letter to the church at Smyrna, it says: “I know thy tribulation and thy poverty, but thou art rich; and that thou art slandered by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” In his letter to the church of Pergamum he writes in 2:13, “I know where thou dwellest, where the throne of Satan is; and thou holdest fast my name and didst not disown my faith, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was slain among you where Satan dwells.” He goes on to reprimand each of the seven churches, saying for example in 2:20–21 to the church at Thyatira, “But I have against thee that thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach, and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication, and to eat of things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time that she might repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.” Each church is given a reprimand and it gives one the feeling that he is referring to the churches as if they are a potential Sodom and Gomorrah (cities that God supposedly destroyed because they lived in sin). After he rails against the churches and what he feels is wrong with the religion of the day, he launches into a not very well disguised tirade against politics by using symbology. It was one thing to spout religious principles, but against politics you were courting death. Remember, this whole book is supposedly Jesus relating all of these words to the unknown author John. This reveals a slight inconsistency, for as we read in the gospels, Christ is not interested in politics.

  The book of Revelation goes on, with this unknown John being taken up into heaven and seeing God on his throne with twenty-four elders about with crowns on their heads and also four living creatures—a lion, calf, eagle and some type of creature with the face of a man. You can already see how bizarre this tale is, for the creatures have eyes before and behind and each has six wings. We then read about the author seeing a scroll at the right hand of God with seven seals. No one can open the scroll except Jesus, and the author sees him as a lamb. The book then relates how Jesus breaks the seals and lets loose the four horse men of the Apocalypse, among other things. We then have seven angels with trumpets, which they sound, and destruction rains upon the earth. We then have the author John eat the scroll that had seven seals, and he supposedly is then a prophet.

  We then have various beasts come into play that are supposed to be manifestations of Satan, and John gives his number as 666. The mark of the beast was really referring to Nero, whose address was 666, and some historians say it was also his name in Hebrew (which has number values for letters). Regardless, many feel that this refers to the Roman emperor Nero and many look on him as the Antichrist. The Antichrist has been thought to be everything from a secret society to the Church to bar code technology. Many think that all technology is the prelude to the Antichrist. In early times of the Roman Empire, no one could buy or sell unless they were from the house of Caesar. Again we see symbolism overriding the underlying true political story line of what was going on. The beast is the social regime that eats people alive, just as we could create a beast to represent our taxes that we feel are eating us alive.

  The book continues to describe various hideous beasts representing the power of Satan and how mankind is destroyed with plagues. Then we have Jesus coming down to do battle with Satan and Satan is defeated and chained up for a thousand years. John then gets into the Judgment Day, where God supposedly judges all men.

  When will Christ come and save the believers and strike down the unbelievers? This question has been asked for centuries, and there have been many who have predicted the answer. So far, no one knows and no one has been right. The Judaic people have waited for their Messiah since their very beginnings, and Israel has been attacked and conquered numerous times. When Israel was granted its independence in 1948, to many this event started the countdown of the battle between Christ and the Antichrist. Some people point to earthquakes and natural disasters and say the end is coming. Some felt that 1988 would be the end, and some say 2012 is the end because the Mayan calendar ends then.

  William Miller, a poorly educated farmer who became a self-proclaimed preacher, revived the apocalyptic movement in 1831 by predicting the end of the world by March 22, 1844. He became very popular and had a following in the thousands. When March 22 came around there was no end of the world, but a follower said that William had forgotten to add the time for the switch from B.C. to A.D. and they recalculated the new time for the end of the world to be October 22, 1844. Again the time came and went and to thousands of followers it was called “the Great Disappointment.” Many of Miller’s followers eventually became Jehovah’s Witnesses or Seventh Day Adventists.

  We still have strong apocalyptic beliefs in conservative and evangelical churches today that use the Book of Revelation as a tool. It seems that every time you hear an evangelist, they say the end of world is near. The good will be rewarded when Christ comes and the bad (sinners) will be cast down to everlasting hell (they seem to conveniently forget that Christ said no one could predict the end of days). The ones left behind will be those who didn’t accept Christ (then what about all the good people who aren’t Christian?). The Judaic people will be persecuted, the world will experience famine and earthquakes and one third of the world’s population will die. (This sounds like the Holocaust all over again, and this is not only judgmental but bigoted and again puts forth a God who is partial to certain groups of people). Apocalyptic preachers say that Satan will come to wipe out the earth and then Christ will come and vanquish Satan and take up to heaven all the believers. This type of message is almost like one that could be attributed to the supposed Antichrist, because it is full of bigotry and judgment and allows only Christians to be saved.

  The Book of Revelation also supports the Christian concept of hell and a Judgment Day, which is exactly why the early Church wanted it included in the Bible. Hell wasn’t even a consideration or even discussed until the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament, which is also one of the most powerful apocalyptic writings of Judaism. This was because most scholars, and again some liberal theologians, felt that people were straying from the Judaic religion or Judaic Law. What better way to keep people in tow than to give them a concept of eternal torture or damnation? Even St. Augustine in his City of God condemns practically all sexual activity because it will surely send you to hell. This is amazing, because for years Augustine committed every crime against these rules. So much so that history tells us his mother prayed for thirty years that his soul would be saved. It’s interesting also to note that he wrote this when he was very old and probably all feelings of sexuality were used up or he wasn’t capable of indulging his vices.

  All the major religions have a concept of heaven and hell, but each differs from the others in one or more ways. The Judaic term for hell is Sheol, but it is more of a dark place where the body and soul reside, almost as in a holding place until the world ends and the Judgment Day commences. At the time of judgment good souls will go to heaven. In the religion of Islam, Jahannam is their term for hell and Jannah is their term for paradise or heaven. The Judg
ment Day is referred to as Qiyamah, which Allah can enact at any time. Muslims believe that souls that go to Jahannam (hell) reside there only for a certain time, depending upon the gravity of their bad deeds. They also believe in a savior called the Mahdi, who will come and, with Jesus Christ, help to defeat the ad-Basjal (their term for a type of Antichrist). The Hindu term for hell is Naraka, but it is more a state of demotion for the soul. The soul becomes lower in spirituality and advancement if bad deeds are done and then karma will be enacted and they will live their next life in a lower class or form. The Hindu word for heaven is Swarga, which, again, is a state of advancement for the soul and the soul no longer has to reincarnate.

  Then we have Dante’s Inferno in The Divine Comedy coming along that gives us the nine degrees of hell. This book was widely read and used by the Church to be an adjunct to the Bible. Missionaries historically would use the fear of hell to convert people of other lands or those who had strayed. Hell became a much more powerful tool than heaven or God or Christ, for it converted the uneducated masses with a promise of eternal damnation if they didn’t join the Church.

  The Church, becoming alarmed that this was too harsh, decided to implement Purgatory. This gave people a stepping-stone to wait upon, rather than having no other option than to go directly to hell. The Church also created Limbo for unbaptized babies or people who were not sanctified by being baptized. Nowhere in the Bible do you read about Purgatory or Limbo, and neither the early Bible, nor even the Judaic scrolls, ever mention hell.

  Now, with that in mind, we get back to this unknown John who has a dream, and because it fit into the fear theme of what the early Church and its popes put forth, they place it into the Bible; not realizing that someday the people would become more literate in the world and figure out that the Book of Revelation was a symbolic treatment of the politics of the day. Many educated people who read it come away with the very real thought that this author John was absolutely insane and surely needed help.

  If we look at the Bible as somewhat historical, all these books written at different times in different places were really a potpourri of stories and legends and traditions and all finally ended up together in a volume of controversy and many inconsistencies. Almost all the books in the Bible are written with a different style signifying different authors, and since no one knows who wrote these books, there is a lot of conjecture about them and whether or not they were highly edited.

  The first five scrolls of the Judaic Bible known as the Torah, which are also the first five books of the Old Testament, seem to be the most intact and unedited. They were reputedly written by Moses, or at least dictated to some scribe writing down his words. I have personally studied almost every version of the Bible, including Douay-Rheims, King James, Jerusalem, Lamsa, etc., and even they differ in the deletion of books and even interpretation. To add the Book of Revelation was perhaps an action designed by the early Christians to have their own apocalyptic literature rather than to rely on the Judaic literature that was apocalyptic in nature. I guess it’s the same principle as Paul being the only one who came up with the premise that Christ died on the cross for our sins. Although, as I have stated, Paul never met Jesus or heard him speak, the early Church forever after took Paul’s idea as gospel. I find it amazing, since Jesus never said he was going to die for our sins.

  Catholic canon law also stated that no one could get into heaven until Christ’s death on the cross. Which means that they think God kept all the good souls and even saintly people in some kind of limbo until Jesus died on the cross, or better yet, none got into heaven even after his death because none of them were Christians when they died. How mankind can come up with these “laws” is far beyond what I believe is even logical and makes God again humanized; and to even take it further, makes Jesus greater than our Creator.

  The Apocrypha was part of the early Church’s teachings and “Bible” at one time, as were other religious writings. Then, suddenly, these writers, whose works were originally accepted as infused by God and taught to the masses, are now deemed heretics. Can you imagine yourself back at that time in the midst of a conclave of early Christian leaders and bishops who were bickering over what books would be included in the Bible and being presided over and ruled by a pagan Roman emperor!

  You could almost laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, except for the fact that it is so tragic. Tragic in the sense that humankind was deprived of the true outlook on their God…tragic in the sense that they were deprived of the true Jesus Christ and his teachings…tragic in the sense that a pagan Roman emperor had the last say in the early Church’s agenda of conversion by fear for conversion’s sake…tragic in the sense that so many writings were edited or deemed heretical to satisfy the Church’s quest for wealth and power…tragic in the sense that humankind, by the influence of the Church, has been made to suffer a dogma of untruth and fear…tragic in the sense that the actions of the Church have protected secrets that have perpetuated one of the greatest hoaxes on humankind…and most of all, tragic in the sense that religious teachings today put forth a God to be feared who is judgmental and puts people in an everlasting hell—not our real God, who is all-loving, all-merciful, all-forgiving, all-powerful, omnipotent and a God who would not let any of His/Her creations be destroyed or suffer everlasting torment in the religiously inspired fantasy of hell.

  Humankind have created a conception of God based on their own imperfections. God is the ultimate goodness and it is completely illogical to think that God is perfect and all-loving and then to turn around and give God imperfect qualities, such as anger or wrath, which send people to an everlasting hell. All of us must question the goodness of ourselves rather than condemning others. It really is a battle within ourselves against the temptations of negativity that we face almost daily in our lives.

  CHAPTER 9

  The Mystical Traveler

  AS I WROTE this book I did not have any fear; but I also realized that in telling the truth about Our Lord Jesus Christ, I would be in direct conflict with so much Christian doctrine as it is put forth today, and of course the hierarchies and followers of that doctrine. Yet if you read deeper with your heart open, it is a true belief not only from years and years of theological research, but from a common or logical knowledge of who and what our dear Lord was and also what he did and accomplished.

  Jesus Christ was a Jew, and as such his audiences were mainly comprised of people who were of the Judaic faith. When he put forth his teachings they were naturally steeped with Judaic overtones and Judaic laws of the time, but his teachings were so universal in nature that they bridged all peoples and all faiths. For example in Matthew 22:36–40 we read, “Master, which is the great commandment in the Law?” Jesus said to him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like it, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” We see that here he is responding to a question from a doctor of Judaic law, and Christ’s answer is completely within the framework of Judaic law and yet…it is also a universal answer that can incorporate any man and any religion on the face of the earth.

  If we took this teaching of Christ at face value and accepted it wholeheartedly, we would eliminate all bigotry and hatred and judgment and condemnation of our fellow man. There would be no persecution of different ethnic and racial groups, or groups that practiced a different religion or groups that were homosexual. It is an act of the greatest hypocrisy to preach these teachings on the one hand and then to turn around and condemn and persecute a racial, ethnic, religious or homosexual group on the other. I personally have seen this done by a supposedly famous religious leader of a conservative Protestant church on television when he bashed homosexuals…a leader who pro fesses to believe in and preach the words of Jesus Christ. He evidently doesn’t follow the second great commandment that Jesus puts forth in the just-rel
ated passage from Matthew. This type of person is what we could call a hypocrite in the truest sense. Hypocrites in general do not practice what they preach and are usually very judgmental and condemning and sometimes persecuting in their nature.

  Jesus also had a lot to say about hypocrisy throughout the four gospels. If you substitute the phrase “any religious leader” for the words Scribes and Pharisees, you can see how the following verses in Matthew 23:1–17 are a universal teaching meant for all religions: Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The Scribes and the Pharisees have sat on the chair of Moses. All things, therefore, that they command you, observe and do. But do not act according to their works; for they talk but do nothing. And they bind together heavy and oppressive burdens, and lay them on men’sshoulders; but not with one finger of their own do they choose to move them. In fact, all their works they do in order to be seen by men; for they widen their phylacteries and enlarge their tassels, and love the first places at suppers and the front seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the market place, and to be called by men ‘Rabbi.’ But do not you be called ‘Rabbi’ for one is your Master, and you are brothers. And call no one on earth your father; for one is your Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called masters; for one only is your Master, the Christ. He who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. But woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men. For you yourselves do not go in, nor do you allow those going in to enter. Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you devour the houses of widows, praying long prayers. For this you shall receive a greater judgment. Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you traverse sea and land to make one convert; and when he has become one, you make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves. Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of thetemple, he is bound.’ You blind fools! for which is greater, the gold, or the temple which sanctifies the gold?”