A PROPOSAL JUSTIFYING THE BANNING OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION - A FIRST DRAFT.

I often tell believers, Messianic Christians and Christians, that the book of Revelation should be banned. The response is always one of shock, and for good reason, no book of the Bible should be banned, and John's Revelation stands out insofar as it contains an exclusive blessing to those who come to understand its great mystery.

Despite this unique blessing and the protestations from all whom become acquainted with my desires regarding the Book of Revelation, I nevertheless persist in calling for the banning of this book. My inspiration in this matter is, and has been, the manifestation of all the nonsense that has been borne out of the endless attempts to decipher the symbolisms contained in the Book, the endless trail of unfulfilled prophecies and the pathetic attempts at justifying and reinterpreting these failed attempts at revelatory insight, and the existence of an entire industry composed of so called believers who make their living exploiting every catastrophe that occurs throughout the world. There is, I am certain, a more biblically grounded foundation that would better justify my admittedly wild demand, however, I have not been bothered, nor had any reason to provide such a justification given the abundance of evidence already supporting my cause.

To provide some clarity regarding the specifics of my seemingly absurd claim, I am not suggesting that the Book of Revelation should be burnt in the streets nor am I advocating that it be banned to everyone. Instead, I am suggesting that it should be banned to a particular type of believer, that is, those who do not yet have the intellectual and theological knowledge that understanding such a text necessarily requires. An appropriate level of knowledge in this regard would include a proper knowledge of the Old Testament and the Mosaic Law, the political and social context within which the Revelation was written, a proper understanding of current international relations and social and economic trends that does not involve reducing human affairs to the cartoon character superficiality of the conspiracy theory world, and a proper grasp of the literary tradition from which this text is associated with. That this would inevitably result in nearly everyone being banned from reading the final chapter in the Bible speaks to the great complexity, depth and mystery of this book than it does to any fault in the believer.

I have come to this decision over time, but the benefits that such a proposal would entail became ever more so apparent during the Covid lockdown years. If those dark times proved anything, it was that, at the very least, the Book of Revelation should be locked away in some far away heavily guarded fortress during difficult times and that any talk of the End Times, and all related topics, should be strictly monitored by some noble power capable of doing so. There has been enough said about those times, but suffice it to say, while many in the faith conducted themselves admirably and as best as they could, many behaved in ways that one would have politely described as unproductive, and impolitely, but more accurately, described as embarrassing, prefixed with a word that rhymes with ducking. When people were forced to make incredibly hard decisions regarding their jobs and livelihoods, when people were under considerable strain, with some committing suicide in distress and alone, that some believers thought it was acceptable to vomit whatever rubbish their YouTube gurus were now sprouting in some Gnostic belief they were privy to secret information that the “sheep” where blinded to while arrogantly believing they were fighting the Illuminati, that is to say, that some believer retreated into some weird Gnostic cess pool on the internet instead of engaging others in practical ways to alleviate the burdens of those times, was more than enough evidence that the Book of Revelation should have been banned a long time ago.

To perhaps get at the spirit of why I say John the Elder’s revelation should be put away, it is probably more accurate to say that the problem with which I have identified is not just that the Book of Revelation and a focus on the end times make believers say and do incredibly stupid things, though that reason is sufficient on its own to justify my cause, it is that such a focus orientates one's faith that is in contradiction to the spirit of the Torah and the teachings of Jesus. God gave the Torah as the framework to participate with Him in the sanctification of this world, we do not strive towards heaven above, but we strive to bring heaven down, as Moses knew. Those who have made obsessing over "the end times" the foundation of their faith have evidently forgotten this and have done so because of their fetishization of the NWO and the Illuminati. There is a fatalism, a weak and back footed defensive posture to this thinking that would have a believer do nothing but complain and hold tight until Jesus returns, confusing their rantings and ravings and online chat forums and YouTube videos as “fighting back”.

I do acknowledge that there are truths that we must always speak that are unjustly labelled a conspiracy theory by interests whose plans are totalitarian in nature, and I also understand why some people get sucked into this world, conspiracy theories and knowing the End Times provides an existential calmness in a world that is changing for the worse at a pace never before seen in human history – but such change, and such challenges, do not excuse stupidity. And while one may joke about wanting to ban the Book of Revelation, one cannot argue against the facts put forward in this brief essay.

KS.