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Book of Revelation
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Special to United Methodist Insight | July 22, 2025
It’s impossible to find a single source for the mess we are in today. A mulligan-stew of factors are in play. But it is possible to look into a stewpot and say, “There’s a carrot.” That’s what I am doing in this post: identifying one ingredient that contributes to “the mess of potage” we are being served by fallen-world principalities and powers. The ingredient I am seeing and calling out in this post is a botched interpretation of the Book of Revelation.
This is not new. Apocalyptic literature in the Bible has been misused from the early days of Christianity, and that especially when gloom-and-doom exists and calls for some explanation. There are always those who rise up to say, “Here’s what’s going on,” complete with bogus interpretations of the Book of Revelation. That this is happening in our day with “celebrity prophets” in Not-Christian Nationalism with its many variations (e.g. The New Apostolic Reformation) comes as no surprise, nor does it surprise us to learn that faux Christianity sells, with its multi-million-dollar merch income that includes the God Bless the USA Bible.
harper ident 2024
Versions of this have been alive and well throughout my tenure of ministry, most especially in the end-time ministries of Hal Lindsey, Jack Van Impe, Peter Wagner, and a plethora of wannabees. The Left Behind books and movies similarly foretold foreboding things. These things stirred the pot such that every church I pastored in the late 1960’s and 1970’s wanted their Wednesday-night Bible-studies to feature a look at the Book of Revelation. In my last pastorate, the First Baptist Church pastor in the city set things buzzing through his weekly radio program that engaged in a prolonged study of the Book of Revelation. One of the members of my congregation gave me the complete set of tapes when the series was over, almost certainly with the hope that I would “see the light” and not be “left behind.”
And now, here we are again. This post is not meant to be a detailed refutation of botched interpretations. Rather, I simply want you to know where the headwaters of this faux faith are. There are several key things to note in the early-on contamination of the river of religion.
First, a fundamental misuse of the word apocalyptic. The word means unveiling, a deeply metaphorical description of life. Apocalyptic literature serves this useful purpose, but the thing to note is that it is an exposure of current reality, not a prediction of the future. Moses, you will recall, had an unveiled face after meeting God on the mountain. We too have unveiled faces when we experience God (2 Corinthians 3:18). Jesus called it having “eyes that see” (Mark 8:18). To be apocalyptic is not to have an end-time calendar, but rather an engaged conscience that does justice, loves kindness, and walks humbly with God (Micah 6:8) so that love prevails and the common good is advanced.
Second, a gross falsification of the word dominion in Genesis. Read wrongly it allegedly equates dominion with domination. It escalates a false notion of power/control, claiming that it is God who has given us authority to rule over all things. But what kind of authority is it? What is the dominion that we have been given? The Hebrew word names it: dominion is not subjugation, it is stewardship—not pillaging, but providing. It is tending creation in ways that it thrives and is preserved. We are shepherds, not subverters. Dominion is an enrichment, not an extraction, life-giving not life-taking. God holds us accountable for this.
Third, and arising from the first two points, a counterfeit theology called Christian Dominionism that combines faux apocalypticism and fake dominionism to create the system which we know as Christian Nationalism, but which is neither genuinely Christian nor truly nationalistic. It falsely claims God has given Christians the right to control the power centers of the earth. Dominionism’s “Seven Mountain Mandate” authorizes this through a totally-erroneous use of the mountains surrounding Rome in Revelation 17:9. Allegedly these mountains are religion, family, education, media, entertainment, business, and government. Christians are mandated to control all seven mountains, doing whatever it takes to do so. But the fact is, there is no such mandate in the Book of Revelation. It is an imposed idea onto the text, not one arising from it.
Fourth, a complete misinterpretation of Jesus’ words i Matthew 11:12. The dominionists include Jesus’ words “taking the kingdom by force” in their justification of extremism. Of course, they claim that violence is a last resort, but an acceptable one nonetheless when circumstances warrant, and the dominionists claim they are the ones to know when it’s necessary. Problem is, when you read Jesus’ words, he says the exact opposite He does not allow using force; he prohibits it—something dominionist preachers and teachers leave out. The use of force “shall not be so among you,” Jesus said.
Taken together, these four points expose the fallacies of Christian Dominionism and the faux eschatology it injects into the bloodstream of (Not) Christian (Not) nationalism. A botched interpretation of the Book of Revelation has played a major role in legitimizing evil and condoning the mess we’re in.
P.S. In the next post I will offer “A Better Interpretation of the Book of Revelation.”