An accident of upbringing?
The Book of Revelation, the final book of the Christian Bible, has been the subject of study and speculation for centuries of believers. Revelation is the source of scores of cultural references, including The Beast, 666, the Antichrist, the Battle of Armageddon, the Apocalypse, and The Seven Seals. I encourage you to read, or at least skim, the Book in one of its paper versions or here online, where you can choose to read it in any one of more than sixty english language translations. (I recommend either the Revised Standard Version [1952] or the King James Version [1611].) A passing familiarity with the actual text of Revelation is an important basis for evaluating its many consequential modern-day spin-offs.
I first read the Book of Revelation as a teenager leading up to my confirmation as a full member of the Methodist Church. I read it from a standpoint of reverence for Biblical text, but I possessed only a sketchy grasp of the history of western civilization, of the process of assembling the Bible, and of the Christian church(s). As ill-prepared as I was by my lack of perspective, I was fascinated by the imagery and captivated by the idea that Revelation contained clues from which one could predict the future. After all, I was taught that the Bible was in some sense the Word of God for us to interpret.
In the 1960s exactly what future was predicted by the words of Revelation was mostly the subject of elaborate, illustrated pamphlets affixed to doorknobs with rubber bands—and whispered insinuations that this or that public personage was, for example, “the Beast”. In my upbringing, Biblical verses and stories were read, taught, and discussed seriously, but the idea that every word in the Bible was the inerrant word of God and therefore requiring of explanation was a foreign concept. In that context I felt the allure of the looming and elaborate End Times predictions spun out of the Book of Revelation, but there remained a yawning gap between the actual words and the story certain preachers had been made of them.
Awareness of the Book of Revelation is important because it is the one book in the New Testament on which all Christian eschatology, the study and prediction of the End Times, is based—a study that features prominently in the minds of many Evangelical Christians of today. Take, for example, the immense popularity among Evangelical Christians of the Revelation-based “Left Behind” books and movies that popularized the idea of “The Rapture”. The author, Timothy LaHaye, was an American Baptist evangelical Christian minister based in San Diego. (For more detail see CMR’s Worldview.) Famed politico-religionist pastor Jerry Falwell Sr. said of the “Left Behind” series, “In terms of its impact on Christianity, it’s probably greater than that of any other book in modern times, outside the Bible.” Remember that nearly all of this is a spin-off from the words of the Book of Revelation.
I find it disturbing to realize that if, by a quirk of fate, I had been brought up on fundamentalist Biblical interpretation I might still be studying the Book of Revelation for clues to the future—or at least seriously following the fanciful interpretations of Revelation concocted by others. Instead, I consider adherence to Biblical fundamentalism a block to critical thinking and an open door to the acceptance of all manner of fringe interpretations.
In September of 2022 (can that be just over a year ago?) General Michael Flynn’s and Clay Clark’s Christian Nationalist “Reawaken America Tour” attracted a crowd at the Stateline Speedway in Post Falls. Its poster featured many political personalities including Mike Lindell (the “MyPillow Guy”), “Pastor” Sean Feucht (who has appeared twice in Spokane, most recently with Nadine Woodward), Josh Hawley, Lindsey Graham (?), and Roger Stone, among a sea of others, some of whom I recognize but cannot name. (For more detail click Flynn’s Reawaken America Tour Comes to the Inland Northwest.)
In my efforts to understand and write about “Reawaken America” as came here to the Inland Northwest I must have disclosed my cell number. Since October I have received period texts from “Reawaken”. Following a link in one of these texts led me down a rathole where I fear I stood shoulder to shoulder with folks who shared my youthful fascination with Revelation, but never escaped from it—a sobering thought.
The first way station in cesspool of misinformation and conspiracy theories was this link to the Reawaken America website itself. From there you can lose yourself (and your mind) in dramatic videos posted on Rumble, like “Mike Lindell | Lindell & Clay Clark Share Their 3-Year Journey Together On Quest to Save America from The Great Reset: Being De-Banked, Being Canceled By Media, Having Countless Venues & Vendors Cancel Them, Law-Fare & More”. (Not recommended unless you have an idle hour and quarter). But the link that really caught my eye was a six minute video that starts with the image of the Bible opened to the Book of Revelation Chapter 16 and a deep male voice reading verses 12-14. The caption reads: “Revelation 16: 12-14 | Did the Bible Prophesy That China & Russia Would Team Up & the False Prophet Would Show Up When the Euphrates River Dried Up? Understanding: Yuval Noah Harari, China & Russia, the Euphrates, AI & the Gilgamesh Projec”. Whoa! What? Each of those two videos claims to have “265K followers”, suggesting to the viewer than they are not alone in their fascination.
The Revelation video is a disturbingly far cry from the illustrated pamphlets hung on the doorknobs of my youth by various true believers. Rumble is a social media video hosting platform popular with the far right. Scanning the video titles reminds one of the headlines in the National Enquirer magazine—except that while you had to buy the Enquirer, Rumble is free to visit (presumably under expectation that the gullible visitor will be conned by the advertising). Moreover, the content on Rumble is presented as video—no need to spend any effort actually reading. It should surprise no one that Rumble’s cloud services business hosts Trump’s Truth Social.
Faith in Biblical inerrancy, a devotion that encompasses much of modern-day Evangelicalism, is fertile ground for the Sean Feuchts, Matt Sheas, Mike Lindells, Alex Joneses, and General Flynns to seed their cultish, religion-laced, End Times-inspired politics. The temptation is to think of these people as clever grifters deceiving the gullible for monetary and political gain. Sadly, it now seems to me more likely they believe the insanity they spread, buoyed in their confidence that they are divinely guided to their interpretations.
I present all of this as a window on a worrisome mindset that underpins the politics and religious beliefs of a significant share of modern-day Evangelical Christians, many of whom are otherwise delightful, well-meaning people, like my former neighbor (whose story I told here). Arm yourself with at least a passing familiarity with the actual words of the Book of Revelation—and marvel at the fantastic stories spun off from those words. If you wonder at the opinions expressed by some at your holiday tables, remember that some guests might be coming up from a Rumble video rathole for a bit of holiday cheer. Decline to argue. Ask questions, and listen to the answers in quiet amazement.
Keep to the high ground,
Jerry