Apocalypse of John

THE ALLEGED AUTHOR of Revelation was Jesus’s personal friend and disciple, John (not to be confused with John the Baptist, a different person). John appears to have been the most influential of Jesus’s disciples, and an earlier biblical text that is attributed to him, the Book of John, seems to come closest to conveying the strong mystical leanings of Jesus’s backers and of the early Christian church. For these and other reasons, the name of John has been an important one to Christians and to a number of mystical organizations. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that John’s name would be chosen to convey the final and most colorful apocalypse in the Bible.

The Revelation of St. John is the fifth and final work attributed to John to appear in the New Testament. Some scholars believe that Revelation was written by John while he was living in exile on the Greek island of Patmos many years after the crucifixion of Christ. Others are convinced that disciple John was not the author of Revelation because Revelation was not discovered until about two hundred years after John’s lifetime. According to Joseph Free, writing in his book, Archaeology and Bible History, the linguistic qualities of Revelation are inferior in some ways to the Book of John.

It is argued that if Revelation was written five years after the Book of John by the same person, Revelation should be linguistically equal or superior to the earlier work. Another point is that Revelation contains expressions from the Hebrew language that were not used in John’s earlier writings. On the other hand, important similarities between Revelation and other books of John have been noted, especially in the repetition of certain words and phrases. Whatever the true authorship of Revelation may be, the impact of this work has been major.

Revelation is the first-person account of the author’s bizarre meeting with a strange person he believed to be Jesus. Over a period of a day or two, the author also met a number of unusual creatures which showed him pictures of frightening future events. The author was told by those creatures that Satan (the “anti-Christ”) would take over the world. This would be followed by the Final Battle of Armageddon during which the angels of God would battle the forces of Satan. The Final Battle would bring about the banishment of Satan from human society and the triumphant return (“Second Coming”) of Jesus to reign over Earth for a thousand years.

The Book of Revelation is written in a wonderfully picturesque manner. It is filled with complex and imaginative symbolism. Because the pictures revealed to John were symbols, Revelation can be used to predict an imminent ”End of the World” at almost any historical epoch. The prophecy is constructed so that the symbols can be interpreted to represent whatever historical events happen to be occurring at the time one is living. This is precisely what has been done with Revelation ever since it appeared, and it is still being done today.

The question is, what caused the author’s “visions”? Was it lunacy? A propensity to tell tall tales? Or was it something else? The author seems sincere enough to rule out deceit. His straightforward manner of narration tends to eliminate lunacy as the answer. That leaves “something else.” The question is: what?

Upon analyzing the text of Revelation, we discover something rather remarkable. It appears that the author had actually been drugged and, while in that drugged state, was shown pictures in a book by individuals who were wearing costumes and putting on a ceremony for the author’s benefit. Let us look at the passages of Revelation which suggest this.

John begins his story by telling us that he was at prayer. From a further description, it seems that he was conducting his ritual outdoors during daylight hours. Suddenly, a loud voice resounded behind him. The voice commanded him to write down everything he was about to see and hear, and to send the message to the seven Christian churches in Asia [Turkey].

John turned around to see who was speaking to him and, lo and behold, there he saw what he believed to be seven golden candlesticks. Standing among the candlesticks was a person whom the author described as:

. . . one who looked like the Son of man [Jesus],
clothed with a garment down to the foot, and wearing
about the chest a golden girdle [support].
His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white
as snow; and his eyes were as flame of fire;
And his feet were like fine brass, as if they burned in
a furnace; and his voice was as the sound of many
waters.
And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out
of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his
appearance was like the sun shines in his strength.
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.
And he laid his right hand upon me .............
REVELATION 1:13-17

There are striking similarities between this new “Jesus” and the space age “angels” of earlier Biblical stories. The prophet Ezekiel, for example, had also met visitors with feet of brass. The above passage from Revelation suggests that John’s “Jesus” may have been garbed in a one-piece body suit extending from the neck down to metal or metal-like boots.*

* The fact that the author mistook this creature for Jesus may be further evidence that the author was not the original disciple John. For convenience, however, I will continue to refer to the author of Revelation as John.

The creature’s head was described as “white like wool, as white as snow,” indicating an artificial head covering or helmet. John’s claim that this creature had a voice “as the sound of many waters,” that is, rumbling and thunderous, is also reminiscent of Ezekiel’s angels and could have been caused by the rumbling of nearby engines or by electronic amplification of the creature’s voice. The “two-edged sword” protruding from the creature’s mouth easily suggests a microphone or breathing pipe.

After John regained his composure, “Jesus” commanded him to write down the missives that “Jesus” wanted sent to various Christian churches. Those letters constitute the first three chapters of Revelation. The most interesting phase of John’s experience then begins in chapter 4:

. .. / looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard, which sounded like a trumpet talking with me; said Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place hereafter.
And immediately I was in the spirit: and, look, a throne was set in heaven, and one [creature] sat on the throne.
And the one who sat looked to me like a jasper and sardine stone: and there was a rainbow around the throne looking like an emerald.
And all around the throne were twenty-four seats: and upon the seats I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments: and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
And out of the throne came lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
And before the throne there was a sea of glass like crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round
about the throne were four beasts full of eyes in front and back.
REVELATION 4:1-6

The above passage can be viewed as the author being taken up through the door of some sort of aircraft and finding himself face to face with its occupants, as told by someone incapable of understanding the experience. The quote contains two especially interesting elements: first, John said that a voice from above sounded like a trumpet talking with him. This strongly suggests a voice bellowing through a loudspeaker. Second, the “lightnings and thunderings and voices” emitting from the “throne” suggest that the throne had a television or radio set of some kind. A modern-day human might well describe the same experience this way:

“Well, yes, I was lifted up into a rocketship. There I confronted the seated crew in their white jumpsuits and helmets. They had some radio or TV reception going.”

The presence of seven candles and seven lamps indicates that a ritual had been prepared for the author. The ritual was replete with costumes, theatrics, and sound effects— all designed to deeply impress the message upon the author.

This is what happened when John was shown the first scroll:

And I saw in the right hand of the one who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on the inside and on the back side sealed with seven seals.
And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loosen the seals of it?
And no man in heaven, nor in earth, nor from under the earth, was able to open the book nor to look upon its contents.
And I wept a great deal, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, nor to look upon its contents.
And one of the elders said to me, Weep not: look, the Lion [one of the animals there] of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has succeeded to open the book,
and to loosen its seven seals.
And I saw standing between the throne and the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb in the manner of having been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out to all the earth.
And he came and took the book out of the right hand of the one who sat upon the throne.
And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each of them holding harps, and golden containers full of odors, which are the prayers of saints.
And they sung a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the book, and to open the seals of it: for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood from every family, language, people, and nation:
And have made us into kings and priests to God: and we shall reign on earth.
And I saw, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the beasts and the elders: and they numbered ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;
Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.
And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and those that are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever.
And the four beasts said, Amen. And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshipped him that lived for ever and ever.
REVELATION 5:1-14

The elders continued to fall at dramatic moments throughout the ceremony. Each time they did so, they made quite an impression upon John. Among their cries of “Amen!” and ”Alleluia!”, the author was given the somber task of writing down everything he was being shown and taught.

It has been pointed out that the experience John described is identical to mystical ritual, especially of initiation into the teachings of a secret society. For this reason, some people believe that Revelation is actually an account of an initiation ceremony typical of many Brotherhood organizations—typical even today. These observations are quite significant when they are coupled with the evidence that John’s experience had an element of space opera. It reveals continued Custodial involvement in Brotherhood mysticism after the time of Christ and shows Custodians to be the ultimate source of apocalyptic doctrines.

In the above passage from Revelation, we observe that John reacted with strong emotions to what was going on around him. He was especially prone to weeping on relatively little provocation. He seemed unable to distinguish between ritual and apparent reality. This raises questions about his mental state. A careful reading of Revelation indicates that John’s mind may have been influenced by drugs administered to him by the creatures. Modern psychiatry has discovered that a number of drugs can be used to deeply implant messages in a person’s mind.

This technique serves today as an intelligence tool in the United States, Russia, and elsewhere. The probable drugging of John is exposed in Chapter 10 of Revelation. The author was apparently outdoors again preparing to memorialize the latest revelations when an “angel” flew down from the sky holding something in its hand:

And the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me
again, and said, Go and take the little scroll which is
open in the hand of the angel which stands upon the
sea and upon the earth.
And I went to the angel, and said to him, Give me
the little scroll. And he said to me, Take it, and eat
it up; and it will make your belly bitter, but it will be
in your mouth as sweet as honey.
And I took the little scroll out of the angel's hand, and
ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and
as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
And he said to me, You must preach again before many peoples and nations, and tongues, and kings.
REVELATION 10:8-11

Most Christians believe that the little scroll offered to John was an actual document, the contents of which the author magically came to know by eating the scroll. Our clue that it was probably paper, or something else, saturated with a drug lies in John’s testimony that the scroll was sweet to the taste but caused a bitter reaction in the stomach.

Interestingly, an almost identical experience had been reported by Ezekiel:

And when I looked, a hand [of an angel] was put before me; and a scroll was in it;
And he spread it before me; and it had writing inside and out: and there were written lamentations, and mourning, and woe.
Additionally, he said to me, Son of man, eat what you are finding; eat this scroll, and go to speak to the house [people] of Israel.
So, I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that scroll. And he said to me, Son of man, make your belly eat, and fill your bowels with this scroll that I give you. Then I ate it; and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.
And he said to me, Son of man, go, get yourself over to the house of Israel, and speak with my words to them.
EZEKIEL 2:9-10, 3:1-4

Many people mistakenly believe that John actually saw the future historical events he prophesized in Revelation. It has been pointed out by Christian and non-Christian scholars alike that John’s “visions” of the future were simply illustrations drawn on scrolls. This is especially evident in John’s “vision” of the Creature with seven heads and ten horns:

And I stood upon the sand of the sea,

and saw a beast rise up out of the sea,

having seven heads and ten
horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his
heads blasphemous names.
REVELATION 13:1

The fact that actual words (blasphemous names) were written upon the heads of this creature reveal that John was looking at an illustration with labels—much like an old-fashioned political cartoon. Although the author does not specifically say so, it is likely that many other “visions” on the scrolls were labeled in a similar fashion.

There can be no doubt that, as literature, the Book of Revelation is a colorful, dramatic, and hard-hitting work. As the basis for a religious philosophy, however, it has all the pitfalls of the apocalypses which came before it. As we shall see, the prophecy made in Revelation has been fulfilled at least a half-dozen times in world history, complete with global catastrophe followed by “Second Comings.”

Not once has this brought about a thousand years of peace and spiritual salvation. All it has done is set the stage for the next catastrophe. Today, as we stand on a massive nuclear powder keg, perhaps it is time to reevaluate the usefulness of apocalyptic belief before the world is plunged into yet another “final battle.” Yes, spiritual salvation and a thousand years of peace are goals well worth having, and are long overdue, but there is no need to pay the price of an Armageddon to achieve them.

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The Plagues of Justinian

As WE LEAVE the time of Jesus and enter the A.D. years, history becomes firmer and personalities come into better focus. Documentation is better. Even so, the same historical patterns we have studied continue undiminished. To those who find what we have looked at thus far completely unbelievable, I can only share that feeling with full empathy. The view of history I am presenting seems to demand an understanding that the factors which lie at the bottom of human turmoil may be extremely bizarre factors, and perhaps that is why they have never been resolved.

After the lifetime of Jesus, the Christian church grew rapidly. In its early years, Christianity attracted a large number of genuine humanitarians who were enthused by the message Jesus tried to put forth. Early Christian leaders, despite the Essene influence, were able to promote a rather benign religion with many benefits. Jesus had not failed entirely. Early Christians gave people the hope that they could achieve spiritual salvation by acquiring knowledge, by engaging in ethical conduct, by unburdening themselves through confession of wrongdoing, and by making amends for those transgressions that caused a person to suffer guilt.

Given the benign character of the early Christian church, it did not need a harsh code of ethics. The severest punishment a person could suffer in most Christian sects at that time was excommunication, i.e., being kicked out. That was considered a very severe punishment, however (equivalent to our modern death penalty), because an individual was considered doomed to eternal spiritual deterioration if he or she was excommunicated. A priest was obliged to do everything he could to appeal to a person’s reason before excommunicating him. The primary cause for excommunication was criminal or grossly immoral behavior.

For about the first three hundred years of its existence, Christianity remained an unofficial religion and was often persecuted. A number of political leaders eventually became converts and, under them, Christianity began to change. The humanitarian foundation created by Jesus eroded as Christianity became more political.

The political transformation of Christianity got its first big push in the West Roman Empire with the Christian conversion of its ruler, Constantine I the Great.*

* In the late 3rd century A.D., Roman emperor Diocletian appointed three additional Caesars (emperors) to help him govern the Roman empire. The empire was split into eastern and western divisions for administrative convenience, each with a separate emperor. From 324 to 337 A.D., however, Constantine ruled both the East and West Roman Empire as sole emperor.

A number of historians believe that Constantine was already leaning in the direction of becoming a Christian because his father was a monotheist. Contemporaries of Constantine have noted, however, that Constantine’s true conversion came as the result of a reported vision he had in 312 A.D. Several different accounts have been recorded of that vision.

According to Socrates, who wrote about it in the fifth century A.D.:

 . . as he was marching at the head of his troops, a preternatural vision transcending all description appeared to him. In fact, at about that time of the day when the sun, having passed the meridian, began to decline towards the West, he saw a pillar of light in the form of a cross on which was inscribed “in this conquer.” The appearance of the sign struck him with amazement, and doubting his own eyes, he asked those around him if they could see what he did, and, as they unanimously declared that they could, the emperor’s mind was strengthened by this divine and miraculous apparition. On the following night, while he slept, he saw Christ, who directed him to make a standard [flag] according to the pattern he had been shown, and to use it against his enemies as a guarantee of victory. Obedient to the divine command, he had a standard made in the form of a cross, which is preserved in the palace until this day...1

The truth of Constantine’s vision is disputed by those who would attribute it to mere legend-making. Others might view the aerial cross as an unusual reflection of the setting sun, followed by a dream. Some theorists might even argue that it was another manifestation of the UFO phenomenon with its continuing links to apocalyptic religion. Whatever the truth of the story is, Constantine’s purported vision of a bright light in the sky followed by the appearance of “Jesus” the next night is stated to be the event which pushed Constantine into the arms of apocalyptic Christianity. He issued the famous “Edict of Milan” one year later. The Edict officially granted tolerance to the Christian religion within the Roman Empire, ending almost three centuries of Roman persecution.

Constantine was responsible for other significant changes to Christianity. It was he who convened, and often attended, the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. At that time, many Christians, such as the Gnostics, strongly resisted efforts by Constantine and others to deify Jesus. The Gnostics simply saw Jesus as an honest spiritual teacher. The Nicene Council met in large part to put an end to such resistance and to create a divine image of Jesus.

With this purpose in mind, the Council created the famous Nicene Creed which made belief in Jesus as “the Son of God ” a cornerstone of Christian faith. To enforce these often unpopular tenets, Constantine put the power of the state at the disposal of the newly “Romanized” Christian church.

Constantine’s reign was notable for another achievement. It marked the beginning of the European Middle Ages.

Constantine is credited with laying the foundation for medieval serfdom and feudalism. As in the Hindu caste system, Constantine made most occupations hereditary. He decreed that the “coloni” (a class of tenant fanners) were to be permanently attached to the soil on which they lived. Constantine’s “Romanized” Christianity (which came to be known as Roman Catholicism) and his oppressive feudalism caused Christianity to move sharply away from the surviving maverick teachings of Jesus into a nearly complete Custodial system.

As time progressed and official changes to Christian doctrine continued to be made, two new crimes emerged: “heresy” (speaking out against established dogma) and “paganism” (not adhering to Christianity at all). In the earliest days of the Church, Christian leaders felt that people could only be made Christians by appealing to their reason, and that no one could be, or should be, forced. After Constantine, leaders of the new Roman orthodoxies took an entirely different view. They demanded obedience as a matter of law, and belief on the basis of faith alone rather than reason. With those changes came new punishments.

No longer was excommunication the severest penalty of the Church, although it was still practiced. Physical and economic sanctions were also applied. Many devoted Christians became victimized by the new laws when they would not agree to the new Roman orthodoxies. Those victims correctly saw that the Church was moving away from Jesus’s true teachings.

The new Christian teachings were given a great boost at the end of the fourth century A.D. by East Roman Emperor Theodosius I. Theodosius issued at least eighteen laws aimed at punishing those people who rejected the doctrines established by the Nicene Council. He made Christianity the official state religion and closed down many pagan temples by force. He ordered Christian armies to burn down the famous Alexandrian Library, which was a world book depository and center of learning. The Alexandrian Library contained priceless historical, scientific, and literary records from all over the world-gathered over a period of seven hundred years. Although some of the library had already been ravaged by earlier wars, the destruction by Theodosius’s army obliterated what remained. Because most of the documents were one-of-a-kind, a great deal of recorded history and learning was lost.

Matters continued to worsen. By the middle of the sixth century A.D., the death penalty came into use against heretics and pagans. A campaign of genocide was ordered by East Roman emperor, Justinian, to more quickly establish the Christian orthodoxies. In Byzantine alone, an estimated 100,000 people were murdered. Under Justinian, the hunting of heretics became a frequent activity and the practice of burning heretics at the stake began.

Justinian also introduced more changes to Christian doctrine. He convened the Second Synod of Constantinople in 553 A.D. The Synod was neither attended nor, apparently, sanctioned by the Pope in Rome. At that time, in fact, many of the changes to Christian doctrine in the eastern Roman empire had not yet reached the Papacy, although they eventually would. The Second Synod issued a decree banning the doctrine of “past lifetimes,” or “reincarnation,” even though the doctrine was an important one to Jesus. The Synod decreed:

If anyone assert the fabulous pre-existence of souls
and shall submit to the monstrous doctrine that follows
from it, let him be anathema [excommunicated].2

In deference to that decree, all but very veiled references to “pre-existence” were taken out of the Bible. Belief in preexistence was declared heresy. This suppression was enforced throughout the western Christian world and in its sciences. The idea of personal pre-existence still remains, to a very large degree, a Western religious and scientific heresy.

Christianity was shaped into a powerful institution under the East Roman emperors. True to the pattern of history, “Romanized” Christianity was another Brotherhood faction that could be counted on to do battle with other Brotherhood factions, thereby helping to generate nonstop warfare between human beings. The new orthodox Christianity was placed in opposition to all other religions, including the East Roman Mystery Schools, which Justinian banned.

We have just observed a snowballing of historical events triggered by Constantine’s vision. This period marked one of mankind’s “End of the World” episodes, highlighted by religious “visions,” cataclysmic genocides, and the creation of a new world social order promising, but not delivering, Utopia. Another important “End of the World” element was also present. A massive plague struck, accompanied by reports of unusual aerial phenomena.

Between 540 A.D. and 592 A.D., when Justinian was carrying out his Christian “reforms,” a bubonic plague engulfed the East Roman Empire and spread to Europe. The epidemic began inside Justinian’s realm, and so it was named “Justinian’s Plague.” Justinian’s Plague was one of the most devastating plagues of history and many people at the time believed it to be a punishment from God. In fact, the word “plague” comes from the Latin word for “blow ” or “wound.” Plague has been nicknamed “God’s Disease,” i.e., a blow or wound from God.

One reason people thought plague to be from God was the frequent appearance of unusual aerial phenomena in conjunction with outbreaks of the plague. One chronicler of Justinian’s Plague was the famous historian, Gregory of Tours, who documented a number of unusual events from the plague years. Gregory reports that just before Justinian’s Plague invaded the Auvergne region of France in 567 A.D., three or four brilliant lights appeared around the sun and the heavens appeared to be on fire.

This may have been a natural “sun dog” effect; however, other unusual celestial phenomena were also seen in the area. Another historian reported a similar event twenty-three years later in another part of France: Avignon. “Strange sights” were reported in the sky and the ground was sometimes as brightly illuminated at night as in the day. Shortly thereafter, a disastrous outbreak of the plague occurred there. Gregory reported a sighting in Rome consisting of an immense “dragon” which floated through the city and down to the sea, followed by a severe outbreak of the plague immediately thereafter.

Such reports chillingly suggest the unthinkable: that Justinian’s Plague was caused by biological warfare agents spread by Custodial aircraft. It would be a repetition of similar plagues reported in the Bible and ancient Mesopotamian texts. By the time of Justinian’s Plague, however, the Custodians were “invisible.” They were hidden behind Brotherhood secrecy and veils of religious myth, yet they were apparently no less concerned about keeping their slave race oppressed. We will see a great deal more evidence of UFO activity associated with plagues in the upcoming chapter on the Black Death.

According to apocalyptic prophecy, an event like Justinian’s Plague is supposed to herald the coming of a new “Messiah” or messenger from “God.” Sure enough, such a figure did arrive. His name was Mohammed. He was born during Justinian’s reign at a time when the Plague was still raging. Proclaimed in adulthood as the new “saviour,” Mohammed became the leader of a new monotheistic apocalyptic religion: Islam.

Like Moses and Jesus before him, Mohammed appears to have been a sincere man, but his new religion nevertheless became a faction which created new religious “issues” for people to endlessly fight over. Like Moses and Jesus, Mohammed was supported by the corrupted Brotherhood.

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