Maybe Everyone Is Wrong: Revelations, Conspiracy, and the Kingdom of Heaven

By Terry Wolfe

This study brings together the whole story of Revelation (as well as Daniel, Isaiah, and the Gospels, among other prophecies) and shows how together they form a coherent narrative—not just of the end of the world, but of God's immense plan to allow Satan to build a global empire of evil on earth over the centuries.

Find out why popular interpretations surrounding the Antichrist, the Tribulation, the Rapture, Zionism, the Millennial Kingdom, the Beast, the Mark, and the Whore of Babylon are all deeply mistaken and in need of re-examination. No tradition is safe when we look closely at the holy text!

One of the main goals of this book is to show that Revelation is a single, linear story, with no repetition, redundancy, or interchangeable parts. Every seal, trumpet, and vial is unique and has to happen in the exact order they appear.

Skeptical? Fantastic. Be prepared to see things in the Bible you've never even thought about before, including a prophecy in Jeremiah which has allowed Satan to believe he will have a final victory over God when Jesus Christ comes back to Jerusalem! Oh, and did I mention that most of Revelation happens after the Church is wiped out by Satan? Learn the mystery of the 144,000 elect and prepare yourself for a whole new appreciation of the final book of the Bible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Oct 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9780228837787

Book preview

Maybe Everyone Is Wrong

Revelations, Conspiracy, and the Kingdom of Heaven

Terry Wolfe

Maybe Everyone Is Wrong

Copyright © 2020 by Terry Wolfe

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-3777-0 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-3778-7 (eBook)

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - About This Book

Chapter 2 - Introduction

Chapter 3 - Judging Interpretations

Chapter 4 - Logic of The Seven-Sealed Book

Chapter 5 - Logic of the Kingdom of Heaven

Chapter 6 - Logic of The Riders

Chapter 7 - Evil Delusion

Chapter 8 - The Tribulation

Chapter 9 - God’s Holy Terror

Chapter 10 - Conversion of Jerusalem

Chapter 11 - Heavenly History

Chapter 12 - Harvest Season

Chapter 13 - Mother of Harlots

Chapter 14 - Marriage Supper

Chapter 15 - Thy Kingdom Come

Chapter 16 - Judgment Day

Chapter 17 - Logic of New Creation

Chapter 18 - Afterword

1

About This Book

Hypothesis (n): a proposal made with limited evidence, intended as a starting point for investigation. A tentative supposition.

This document is not a publication of factual claims about past, present, or future events, organizations, people, or systems. The views contained within are the product of an ongoing study exercise of Revelation, organized and presented as a proposal for your consideration. It is a radical what if examination, seeking to interpret the prophetic vision of John the disciple in a new way that makes better use of the fascinating details and literary structures of the book. Rather than seeing it as a description of some magical end time of chaos and punishment, or a jumbled metaphor that connects the church age to ancient Jewish archetypes, I believe it is the most intricately and perfectly designed puzzle in the history of the world. This book is an attempt to solve as much of the puzzle as possible, following the hints created by God in a very specific order, using very specific symbolism, to help believers understand that Jesus Christ and God the Father have been in total control of world history ever since Jesus ascended to heaven. Therefore this book examines on our own world’s history (as well as our present age and possible future) not as modern historians who obsess over complicated tangles of circumstances and luck, but as a unified, perfect, necessary plan of God, cryptic and hidden from understanding, yet beautiful and poetic in so many ways.

As I explore this view I will be challenging popular conceptions of Revelation and show, if nothing else, that there is still room for fresh interpretation in the otherwise stale conversations surrounding the most exciting and challenging book of the Bible. Whether this hypothesis is closer to the truth than any other interpretation God alone will know.

I will happily advertise here that important sections of this book are hugely speculative, academically dubious, impossible to prove, ungenerous to certain historic characters, and deeply subjective. Nobody should mistake this for a formal or rigorous treatment of the subject, or accept its proposals as if they have undergone professional scrutiny. All of the research underpinning these views has been done on a layman level with an unsystematic methodology, using intuitive guesswork at times, in my limited spare time. I have no special education, resources, journalistic access, or scholarship. I do not claim to be an expert on anything. Far from it. I would describe it as a sort of meditation on the text:

Meditation (n): continuous, profound contemplation on a subject of a deep or abstruse nature.

All Christians believe things we can’t possibly verify, and call it a religion. But this does nothing to diminish it. On the contrary, it is our strength and our joy. We listen to a higher voice, which is called discernment. Our spirit is not factual. It resonates with God’s Word not by intellect or information, but by a personal awakening of our spirit. This allows us to test ourselves and each other’s ideas through the spirit, in prayerful questioning. Scholarship has never persuaded me to live better, love people more, or suffer persecution with grace, and if they were completely honest even scholars would admit that they pick and choose which facts and narratives suit their personal tastes. No academic proof has ever shown me the gates of heaven, nor pulled me from the fires of hell. The heart hears what is heartful. Change is not chosen, but chooses us, overcoming our nature through conviction, beyond reason. My findings are driven by the feeling of being struck by possibilities, and following them into a powerful appreciation of poetry, irony, and beauty. My study of interlinear Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic manuscript passages has been fascinating and helpful, and so has expert testimony on various topics, but all of it has been subjected to my own heart’s discernment. If my own lack of training has disqualified me to speak on the Bible, so be it. But what shall we say about the experts and their conclusions? I’ve seen the end result of their work. They all contradict each other, talk in circles about dull questions, and have altogether offered the church a worse tangle of half-baked guesses than I have in this lowly hypothesis. Indeed, this study did not begin wanting to make anything new, or to be a contrarian, but only to take stock of what was already understood by my superiors. Upon closer inspection, I was profoundly disappointed that even the biggest, oldest, and most highly respected views were shabby and ready to fall apart at the slightest jostle. It has forced me to reconsider everything and start over from the beginning.

This book, therefore, is not a study of religious views, or an attempt to analyze any of them in particular, but a religious document itself, written in a religious mode of thought by a religious man. It is by no means scripture, prophecy, or divinely inspired, though it is written in the strength of my own spirit. In other words, it does not try to prove anything. It is the realm of discussion and personal exploration. Where it deals with factual questions of history, it is certainly missing detail and could be improved, but I have gotten it as accurate as I can with my limited time and resources so far. Think of it as one possible path through Revelation, and one that I continue to question. The most important word in this book might be the very first one you see: MAYBE.

Questions of offensiveness

As a citizen of Canada, I’m very grateful for our Charter of Rights, which gives us religious freedom to proclaim our beliefs as long as we’re not depriving others of their rights. In the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Section 2(A), titled Freedom of Religion, we see religious freedom defined as: the right to entertain such religious beliefs as a person chooses, the right to declare religious beliefs openly and without fear of hindrance or reprisal. This book entertains religious beliefs, declaring them, not even to be true necessarily, but possible.

As Christians we must be willing to separate ideas from people, and people from their backgrounds or institutional connections. Only God judges mankind; but we can discuss ideas and institutions while we ask what the Bible is warning us about. When we condemn an idea or an institution, we do not condemn people, nor imply that everyone attached to them are evil, unworthy, or inferior. The Bible establishes God’s standards, and thus it inherently comments on every institution’s beliefs, priorities, and ideas. Even without mentioning names, the Bible stands in judgment of mankind. When interpreting or applying the Bible’s mysterious symbolism and prophetic passages, therefore, we must be even more willing to let the logic of the Bible shine forward without indicting any person or group, either categorically or individually. As for myself, I have always appreciated Christ’s teaching when it comes to tolerance, discrimination, bigotry, and hate:

When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

(Mark 2:17 KJV)

The principle behind this is simple: Christians are supposed to offer and invite, not bully or force others, even if we think it is best for them. I do not advocate anyone to discriminate against anyone. Even if the Bible condemns Catholicism by showing it to be an abomination, I treat Catholics with love. I do not treat them badly or wish for anyone else to pile against them either. Even people who disagree fundamentally on religious matters need to respect each other’s legal rights, and this is what the Bible teaches us as well. Anabaptists live peacefully with many people who are atheist, agnostic, Hindu, Catholic, Jewish, or some other faith, if said Anabaptists adhere to the Bible. Many Catholics claim that the Catholic Church is the only way to be saved, but does this count as hatred and intolerance? As long as we are allowed to have our own faith, and preach our own message, I don’t believe so. Not even Jesus Christ himself sought to forcefully convert anyone, or wage some kind of war against those whose practices and beliefs he condemned, but said that he seeks those who will gladly hear him. That is love in truth. With this book, I also wish to speak to those who will gladly hear, and have no interest in disparaging those whose ideas or institutions I oppose.

Furthermore, spreading the Gospel and defending the Bible is an act of love for those we sympathize with, not an attack on a person. As a Canadian, I value that we are allowed to contest ideas and beliefs, as millions of people participate in arguments about ideas in a free society, including groups fundamentally opposed to each other on religion, politics, or any number of matters. Those who reject the Bible or the Gospel are free to do so, and we do not want to harass those who disagree, even if they harass us. Those who have another interpretation can be disagreed with, but this is not intolerance. I welcome disagreements, and in the future I may disagree with this hypothesis myself. Intolerance and discrimination goes beyond sharing beliefs, or trying to persuade people with arguments and evidence. If sharing our beliefs counts as hatred or intolerance, then the gospel and Christianity itself have been outlawed—which would be true intolerance and discrimination! Preaching and talking to others, or writing as scribes who belong to God’s Kingdom, is fundamental to Christianity. For anyone who reads this book and disregards this message of love, tolerance, and non-confrontation, I disavow their actions.

Questions of writing style

With respect to the writing style, I’m afraid it is the only way I know how to write. I have tried to avoid unnecessary hedging language, and instead preferred a straightforward approach of pouring out the ideas from my heart, and advocating for them strongly. I do this without constant disclaimers, although it would be warranted. Let this first chapter be the disclaimer for it all. Many ideas are asserted flatly without citations or a methodological breadcrumb trail to follow. I encourage you to dismiss any and every point that is unconvincing, or to look up the claims and reason among yourselves.

2

Introduction

The ruler of this world

Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world [Satan] shall be cast out. (John 12:31 EMTV) I will no longer speak many things with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in me. (John 14:30 EMTV) And when he [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in me; of righteousness, because I am going to my Father and you see me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

(John 16:8-11 EMTV)

Three times in the same discourse Jesus talks about the ruler of this present world as a fundamentally evil being who has no part with him. He has been judged, along with this present world, and he has been cast out and is coming, but what does that mean? It’s obvious when we read Revelation:

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

(Revelation 12:7-13 KJV)

So we see that the ruler of this world is Satan, cast out of heaven after the war with Michael and God’s faithful angels. Apparently Satan and his angels had their own place in heaven before Jesus came up. Once he loses the battle and gets cast down to earth, he rages and looks to make war with the church.

Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. (Revelation 2:10 KJV) "I know your works, and where you live, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to my name, and did not deny my faith in the days in which Antipas was my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan is dwelling.

(Revelation 2:13 EMTV)

Look closely. Here Jesus tells the churches that the devil is the one who will cast believers into prison and have them killed. Not only that, but he has a throne placed in a geographical region on earth, and Jesus knows where it is. It’s important to notice that Jesus does not say that Jews will imprison them, or the Romans, or the Greeks, or any humans at all; although obviously human authority figures will be the ones to carry out the conspiracy on behalf of Satan. Jesus does not even comment on them, because he knows that Satan is behind it all.

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

(Ephesians 2:2 KJV)

Who is the prince of the power of the air? Once again it is Satan, of course. He has earthly power to influence the world, to the point where the course of this world is dictated by him. It’s a conspiracy against the church by the children of disobedience. Satan has his own deceiving spirits that can accomplish this.

and every spirit which does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard that it is coming, and now is already in the world. (1 John 4:3 EMTV) For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

(2 John 1:7 KJV)

John confirms that Satan’s deceiving spirit is in the world during the early church period already. He uses the term antichrist for it because they have already heard some folklore tale about it; we’ll discuss the antichrist in detail in later chapters. What matters here is that the spirit of Satan is already in the world and active during the lifetime of the disciples, not some distant scary future.

Not only are we taught when Satan is coming to earth to make war and by what methods he will use, but we’re actually told the time where Satan’s conspiratorial world system stops controlling world affairs and starts to be governed by Christ and God:

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

(Revelation 11:15 KJV)

Jesus shall reign, but currently his Kingdom is spiritual and heavenly, not earthly. Until that day, the world and its kingdoms are the domain of Satan. We’re even told at which prophetic point Satan decided to give his power, throne, and authority to a certain empire described as a Beast that has body parts of a leopard, bear, and lion:

And the Beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon [Satan] gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.

(Revelation 13:2 EMTV)

There are a lot of questions around the timing of these things, and so we will deal with those as we explain the amazing, deliberate structure of Revelation. What’s important to understand right away is that the Bible never teaches that Satan is the ruler of Hell, or some spiritual place where he punishes sinners. That is a myth created by false teachers hundreds of years ago, and a tradition that needs to be destroyed. Satan was cast out of heaven (the divine realm) to the earth itself, and has been building an empire against the church ever since.

Revelation as our guide to global evil through the ages

In this book I will take seriously what Jesus and the disciples taught about the global Satanic conspiracy, and more importantly I’ll analyze how Revelation beautifully expands on this world view to give us clues. Revelation tells us what manifestations Satan’s empire will take throughout history until Jesus reclaims the world from him, and what the destiny of believers really is, contrary to the outward appearances of being destroyed and unloved by God.

Once we put Revelation into context, it becomes simple and clear. The context is Jesus’ teachings and ministry, which was about proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven to be imminent in the spiritual realm, and Satan’s empire to be imminent in the carnal world, which has been judged already. The events of Revelation therefore teach us what God will be doing in heaven after the time of John’s vision, and what Satan will ultimately do on earth until he is destroyed. Then it goes beyond and describes the fulfillment of the many promises and prophecies God has made to reward the faithful.

The truth is, all Christians are conspiracy theorists if they truly believe the Bible. To say that Satan himself is the ruler of this planet we’re currently living in, conspiring all the time to destroy the church, means we should look at history and our current day very differently than we’ve been taught. If we really believe what Jesus says, we need to examine the world in light of his teachings, not go along with secular propaganda and government education.

Notice what Revelation says: "Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night." What this means is that, until Satan was kicked out of heaven and no longer able to accuse the brethren before God, neither salvation, nor strength, nor the Kingdom of Heaven, nor the power of Christ could be fully established. This is why Jesus taught not only about the coming of the Kingdom, but also warned about the arrival of the "ruler of this world" being cast out and coming to earth. And Satan didn’t come alone. His angels are kicked out too, but instead of sending any of them to hell, God exiles them to earth with Satan, where they wage war in ignorance, not knowing what God’s plan is anymore because they have lost access to the divine realm!

Revelation is not some spooky book about the end of the world, but rather a major comfort to the faithful, who might be confused why Satan seems to be winning against Christianity in every era. It is a guide to future generations to recognize how everything is happening according to God’s ultimate strategy, not Satan’s. The church is supposed to have tribulation, and Satan is supposed to carry it out. This is not an accident, an oversight, or a failure on God’s part. God allows Satan to become more powerful in this world, and therefore test each generation of believers to see whether they are willing to resist and die for the gospel and the Kingdom.

Dealing with mysteries and misconceptions

There are many amazing mysteries in Revelation and the Bible, and this book will try to tackle as many as it can without being too long. For one, how is it that Satan seems to actually think he can win against God somehow? I think it might be due to a single unusual promise made by God thousands of years ago in connection to Israel’s fate, and I’ll explain how it connects to the bizarre, complicated conspiracy Satan’s servants are involved in today. Beyond that, we must deal with the many flawed interpretations regarding the Antichrist, the Rapture, the Mark of the Beast, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Beast itself, the Whore of Babylon, the Day of the Lord, the Tribulation, and God’s promises about Jerusalem and the Third Temple, the Millennial Kingdom, Heaven, and Hell.

If this book’s hypothesis is true it means that many scholars have been wrong despite their best intentions. I would never accuse them of being lazy, stupid, or malicious, because:

So then each of us shall give account concerning himself to God. Therefore let us no longer judge one another, but judge this rather, not to put a stumbling block or an offense before our brother.

(Romans 14:12-13