rumitoid wrote:
I might as well start with what is the most controversial part of my argument: Revelation does not belong in the Bible. I am not saying it does not have great spiritual insights or is somehow apostate: it is just crazy. When the Romans went to fight the First Judean Revolt in 70 AD, all their resources were occupied in this attack. Some of their supply lines were left unattended to rot, one of those was a shipment of rye. After the rye plant contracts ergot, the fungus grows and replaces shoots on the grain with sclerotia. Ergot sclerotia are purple-black growths that contain lysergic acid and ergotamine. These were eventually shipped to Patmos, where a different John than we know from the Gospels, was a prisoner.He had a stimulating but "bad trip."
A similar thing happened in Salem with the witch trials.
In 1692 the small Puritan village of Salem, Massachusetts, was plagued by a sudden and brief cloud of witchcraft accusations. After young girls Betty Parris and Abigail Williams exhibited severe convulsions and other strange symptoms, village doctor William Griggs diagnosed them as having been bewitched. Soon after, other townspeople began showing similar symptoms. That’s when the accusations started flying. The town quickly decided that they were going to search for, and execute, all the witches of Salem. By the end of the trials in May 1693, 19 people had been hanged, one had been crushed by stones, and four had died in prison—all accused of being witches. Three hundred years later, we’re still asking: Did witches really haunt the town of Salem? Or was another devil at work?
Surprisingly, a lot of them can. With the exception of a few events (which are typically attributed to groupthink and the power of suggestion), the behavior exhibited in 1692 fits the bill of rye-induced ergotism. Ergotism forms in rye after a severe winter and a damp spring—conditions that Caporael and other historians claim were present in 1691 and therefore affected the rye harvested for consumption in 1692. After the rye plant contracts ergot, the fungus grows and replaces shoots on the grain with sclerotia. Ergot sclerotia are purple-black growths that contain lysergic acid and ergotamine. Since medical knowledge was sparse, the presence of darker shoots on rye was probably thought to be the product of overexposure to the sun, so it was most likely eaten despite being poisonous.
Once contracted from rye bread, ergotism (also called St. Anthony’s fire) causes severe convulsions, muscle spasms, delusions, the sensation of crawling under the skin, and, in extreme cases, gangrene of the extremities. Severe hallucinations can also be a symptom, as lysergic acid is the substance from which the drug LSD is synthesized. These symptoms were the same as those shown by the accused in Salem: mostly young girls whose immune systems had not fully developed, leaving them susceptible to diseases such as ergotism. The village doctor, being religious and, so the theory goes, unaware of ergotism as a disease, attributed the strange symptoms to a known evil: witchcraft. He claimed that the girls had fallen victim to the evils of witchcraft, and the girls went along with it. The rest of the townsfolk fell victim to suggestibility, and thus the trials commenced, with accusations of witchcraft being targeted at the outcasts of society by those who were afflicted. According to this theory, the abrupt end of the witch trials in May 1693 happened, quite simply, because Salem ran out of ergot-contaminated grain.
https://www.britannica.com/story/how-rye-bread-may-have-caused-the-salem-witch-trialsAll that scientific mumbo-jumbo aside, we are not to look or fear the future. Who we are this moment in Christ is all that matters. It is not the threat of the End Times that have us witness but the love of Christ. Please throw your stones now.
I might as well start with what is the most contro... (
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The Book Of Revelation
By: Michael Bradley
Last updated on: February 23, 2021
Blessed Are Those Who Read And Study From the Book of Revelation
There are a total of 66 books in our Bible, but there is only one Book that promises some kind of a special blessing for those who will attempt to try and read it and keep the words, revelation, and knowledge that is contained in it – and that one Book is the very last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation.
Why would God single out the very last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, as the only Book that He will actually say that “blessed” is he who “reads” and “hears” the words of this Book?
For those of you who are not aware of this very profound verse, here it is, word for word:
“BLESSED is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.” (Revelation 1:3)
Notice this statement is being made right at the very beginning of this Book. Right at the very beginning of this last Book in the Bible, God is officially making the statement that “blessed” will be the man or woman who will attempt to try and read and keep what is in this Book.
If all 66 Books of the Bible are highly anointed and inspired by God Himself, then why is He making the statement that the Book of Revelation is the one Book that will cause someone to become blessed in some way?
When God is making this kind of direct statement right at the very beginning of this Book, He is trying to tell all of us something very important – and that something is that He is really wanting all of us to try and read and assimilate what is in this last Book. Otherwise He would have never made this kind of a direct statement right at the very beginning of it.
Many Christians, including some pastors, are afraid to try and get into this last Book and make an attempt to try and fully understand it.
For some, they feel it is too hard to try and fully understand. For others, it is just too frightening and scary to try and read due to the extreme events that will be taking place in the end times.
They would prefer to keep their heads buried in the sand due to the severe and extreme judgments that will be taking place, as God will be releasing His wrath and fury on this world in a way that the world has never seen before and will never see again.
Not even Hollywood, with all of its special effects capabilities, could even begin to duplicate on the big screen what is going to happen to this world once we enter into the Great Tribulation, which will be the last 7 years on this earth before Jesus comes back to set up His Millennium Kingdom from the city of Jerusalem.
I believe there are three main reasons as to why God is really wanting all of us to read this last Book, and then make an attempt to try and fully grasp and assimilate the knowledge and revelation that is contained in this Book.
1. The first main reason that God is really wanting all of us to read this Book is due to the fact that it is the very last Book of the Bible – it is the very last chapter. It is the climax to our whole story in the Lord. As such, each Christian should know exactly how everything will eventually play out and exactly what our final ending is going to be in the Lord.
Can you imagine reading a good fiction novel, and then all of sudden you quit reading as you get to the last chapter, never finding out what the final ending came out to be? Can you imagine watching an exciting movie on the big screen, and then all of sudden you walk out on the last 10 minutes of the movie never finding out exactly how the movie was going to end?
It’s the exact same way in our walk with the Lord. There will be an eventual end to all of the bad things that keep occurring on this earth on a daily basis. As Christians, we all should know exactly what our final ending is going to be in the Lord and how everything will eventually play out.
Once again, this information and knowledge should be basic 101 knowledge and revelation that should be taught in every single Christian Church – especially with the Lord Himself singling out this Book and the revelation that is contained in it as something that will cause all of His own to become blessed in some way.
If you ask many Christians what the final end of their story in the Lord is going to be, they will tell you that when they die and depart from this earth, they will go straight to heaven and live with God, Jesus, and all of their saved loved ones forever and ever up in heaven.
However, unless you have read from the Book of Revelation and all of the other Scripture verses that pertain to these coming end time events, you will not know that there are two more chapters that will play itself out after you had already died and entered into heaven.
After you have died and entered into heaven, the next thing that will occur is that all of the saints who have been living with Jesus up in heaven will be coming back down with Him to rule this earth during His Millennium Kingdom. This Millennium Kingdom will last 1000 years.
After this 1000 years has passed, the next, last, and final event will be God the Father creating a New Heaven and a New Earth where He will then bring both Himself and the city of New Jerusalem down upon our new earth where He and Jesus will then rule this new earth from this new holy city of Jerusalem for the rest of all eternity.
The Bible tells us that our world is a world that will know no end. Unless you have studied from the Book of Revelation, along with all of the other Scripture verses pertaining to these coming end time events, you would not have been aware of these two remaining chapters.
The heaven where God and Jesus now live in is not going to be our final abode. The New Heaven and New Earth will be our final resting place with the Lord, and this information and knowledge can only be found in the Book of Revelation.
2. The second main reason that each Christian should have basic knowledge on how everything is going to eventually play out and end up is so they can share and transmit this knowledge to other Christians who do not have this knowledge and information under their belt.
Until more churches start to teach on this subject matter, you are going to have many Christians, especially in the times we are living at right now, who are going to be very hungry for information on this topic, and they will seek out teachers who can educate them on this topic.
3. The third main reason that every Christian should be fully armed with knowledge on this topic is because we will never know which generation will be the one that will start to live through these end time events. And once these end time events start to take place, your knowledge on this subject matter and your faith in the Lord will be the only two things that will help get you through some of these horrific events.
You will need to know exactly how everything is going to play out. If you do not, you could easily lose your faith in the Lord due to the extreme activity that will be occurring during these very trying times.
This is why the Lord goes more than overboard in the Bible on this entire subject matter. He wants to give all of us more than enough fair warning on exactly what will be coming down the road so we can properly prepare ourselves to be able to handle all of it once it does start to come our way.
Many teachers who are anointed by the Lord to be teaching on this subject matter in this day and age believe that there is a very good possibility that our current generation may be the generation that will see the return of our Lord back to this earth.
No one obviously knows the exact date of our Lord’s return back to this earth, but there is no question that the end time events prophesied to occur from our Bible are all starting to form out. Only time will tell if our generation will be the one to see our Lord’s visible return back to our earth.
But sooner or later, all of these end time events will eventually occur because our Bible tells us so. As such, each and every Christian should have some basic fundamental knowledge on this part of our walk with the Lord so they cannot only have it for themselves and their own knowledge base in the Lord, but so they can also have it to be able to teach and educate others about it.
Rumi, Christians are in disagreement on several aspects of Revelation.....and that’s OK! It is not a salvation issue! Most of us realize and accept the possibility that we will all be wrong on some of it! If we are saved, we are SAVED and nothing can take us out of the hands of our Savior!
This book is in the Bible because it was put there by God! It is imperative for every Christian to read and study it
In my opinion!
MARANATHA ........Come Dear Lord, Come!