Updated: 03/15/05
 

CHAPTER 21

REVELATION

            ALL religion is based on revelation. That is, someone says, "God revealed this truth to me." He then proceeds to expound upon what God said. All religion is started and fed on these claims of revelation. I recently heard a television evangelist of the fundamental type say something like this. "Last night in prayer, God revealed this plan to me. It is a plan to get twelve more cable stations to carry this program. Last night while I was on my knees pleading with God to keep this program on the air, God said to me, 'J----, get up off of your knees. Tomorrow, tell the people to send an extra twenty-five dollars to Me. We can keep this program on the air. We can also increase our coverage and take on twelve more cable stations.' So, I got up off my knees.”

            "I was not feeling too good about the program yesterday and I argued with God. I said, Lord, I have been asking the people to send more money for the support of this ministry for months. They give some but not enough. Do you know what God Said to me? He Said, 'J----, the trouble with you is, you don't have enough faith. These are My people out there. When you speak tomorrow, you tell My people I Said for them to send in an extra twenty-five dollars at once, today, or as soon as possible. You tell them this is My program.' Then God Said, 'Don't worry, J----, I will send my Holy Spirit to the people. When they hear your voice, they will also hear the voice of my Holy Spirit. My Spirit will plead with them. They will Be Afraid To Reject The Voice Of My Holy Spirit. We will get the money and the twelve more cable stations.' Amen." And then the preacher added, "Listen - and you will hear the Holy Spirit of God speaking to You."

            Now, That Is A Revelation! God Talks to a person and reveals something to him and it is called a revelation. That is what makes religion what it is today. God Talks to a person and then that person talks to other people. Revelations have been going on in exactly the same way for thousands of years.

            God Talks and reveals himself. God Talks and reveals how he made everything. God Talks and reveals sin. God Talks and reveals hell. God Talks and reveals salvation. God Talks and reveals how we should believe and not question or think. God Talks and reveals heaven. God Talks and reveals the resurrection of man from the dead. God Talks and reveals the past history of man. God Talks and reveals his plans for the future. God Talks and reveals his rules and laws. God Talks and reveals his only approved church and denomination. God Talks and reveals his enemies. God Talks and reveals a Holy War against his enemies. God Talks and reveals heretics. God Talks and reveals his plan for the torture and eradication of the heretics. God Talks and reveals his plan for the United States of America. God Talks and asks men to forcefully close the abortion clinics. Sometimes when God Talks, he tells us for whom to vote.

            A revelation is a divine concept or message that comes straight from God. God may deliver it himself, or it may be delivered by an angel, or by some other divinely appointed agent of the supernatural. Thus, voices from the dead, angels, automatic writing, Gods, dead saints and others, all bring these revelations to man. To be a true revelation the message Must come from a supernatural agent, all of whom are ultimately responsible to God himself. The True Christian is so protected by God that the Devil could Not bring a false message and cause the True Believer to think it was coming from God when it was really coming from the Devil.

            There are those who say the Devil can actually bring a revelation and cause a Non-Christian (those in other false religions and denominations) to think the revelation really came from God. In fact, they claim that most of the other religions and other Christian denominations have been deceived by the Devil in this manner. Catholics think the Protestants have been deceived in that manner. The Protestants think the Catholics have been deceived by the Devil. It would take at least two pages just to list the major denominations that think the other religions, denominations, cults and sects have received messages from the Devil, but Thought the revelations came from God. Such confusions and disputes demonstrate the certainty and proof as to which are the true revelations from God and which are not.

My revelation is from God, yours is from the Devil.

            A revelation is not something man could know on his own. It is not something man could arrive at by logically studying the facts. Thus, revelation differs from intuition. Intuition is an idea that happens in a person's head that can be checked out. That is, it can be verified, or it can be disproved. Intuition is usually about some physical or social matter that is already in the conscious mind of the one who is struck with an intuition. Intuition is often called a feeling. Holy men of Christianity do not accept as revelation, something that is described as a feeling. A true revelation must come as a voice in the head, as a dream, or as a vision. Is it possible that some who had a feeling or dream described it as though they heard a voice, or had a vision?

            Revelations only concern things you cannot know for sure. You cannot validate a revelation. You cannot examine the facts or use honest logic and clear thinking on the claim. Revelations must, of necessity, be accepted on Faith. You must believe that a revelation is true for it to be classified by you as a true revelation. A claimed revelation can only be classified and certified as a true revelation from God if you actually believe it IS a revelation from God. A revelation is a true revelation only if someone says it is a true revelation, and if you believe it is a true revelation. To believe is to obey.

A revelation can point to nothing to support the truthfulness of it, except authority. That is to say the highest authority, God, said it. Reason must, therefore, conclude, if you hear the television evangelist say, “God (the highest authority) wants you to send in twenty-five dollars,” you had better send in your twenty-five dollars, because God has revealed that fact to you through the evangelist.

            God has revealed that you should be saved from sin and Hell. God has revealed that you should be baptized. He has revealed that you should become a member of the Body of Christ. That is, you should join the Catholic Church or: the Jehovah's Witness, the Seventh Day Adventist, the Radio Church of God, the Church of God, the Missionary Church of God, the Church of Christ, the Church of the Latter-day Saints, the Church of the Four Square Gospel, the Gospel Bible Church, the Seventh Day Baptist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Anabaptist Church, the Lutheran Church, the Methodist Church, the Church of God of Prophesy, the Baptist Church, the Radio Church of Christ and hundreds more churches (add your own). All claim they have received, or interpreted, a revelation from God, which declares that their Church Is The True Body Of Christ.

            And do not forget the many sects, cults (like the Jones Church) and hundreds of small denominations and churches. They all tell us daily on radio and television, "God wants you to join The Body of Christ (their church) and support (send money to) this ministry of God." The reason they say this is, God has given them a Revelation, either in modern times, or ancient times.

            These are only the churches and religious bodies of Christianity that God has revealed to be his only true religion. These are the churches to which God has spoken in a revelation and said, "You are my only church, the true Body of Christ." But God also revealed himself and his instructions to others. God made revelations, which prove others are the true and only religion. There are the revelations to the Japanese, the Chinese, the Vietnamese, the Indians, the Native Americans, the Jews, the Muslims and hundreds of others. God kept busy down through the ages making these revelations, not only on religious matters, but on other diverse subjects such as politics, war, social problems, sex, drugs, economics, education, taxes, elections, land management, royalty and even gambling. It seems God is interested in everything. Nothing is too small, or too large for God to have overlooked, or to have missed giving his opinion on. God has given many revelations about every subject known to mankind (according to the various believers).

            There are so many revelations from God to man, a strange thing has happened. God has gotten confused. He has! He has told a great number of different folks in different Christian churches that their particular church is the Only one he accepts as being the True Body of Christ. He has even told some of these people that members of other churches will not go to heaven (theirs). God told some people, by way of revelation, that some of the other churches are actually churches of the Devil. He said some of these other churches are actually "the great whore" mentioned in the New Testament as a terrible offense to God and man.

            By way of revelation, God has been known to tell both sides in war, he will be with them and lead them to victory. God has revealed great secrets of the past, like how he made the universe in six days (or periods), how he made the fish in the seas, how he made the plants, how he made the animals and man. He has even told how and why he made black people. I have always been intrigued by the fact woman was made out of the rib of man. Only a revelation like that could give religious chauvinists the tools to keep women "in their proper place" and keep them from doing God's work in church as ministers. It seems God is a chauvinist. Even the word, "Woman " means, "not man.”

            God has revealed secrets of his war with the Devil God and with the angels of the Devil. God has revealed the inner secrets and decisions of his own councils in heaven. God has likewise revealed the secrets of his talks with his angels. God has taken man into his confidence and even revealed the inner secrets and Thoughts of the mind of Satan, that old Devil. Once in a while, God can be quite gregarious and sometimes even "gossipy.” It seems God just cannot keep a secret.

            For the benefit and uplifting of mankind, God has revealed slavery. He has revealed how to carry slavery out, how to buy and sell slaves. God has revealed how and for what reasons to stone to death your children, neighbors, friends and enemies. God has revealed how to steal, how to conduct a massacre, how to carry out prostitution, how to eat cow dung, how to lie and cheat. In other words, there is hardly an evil known to man that God has not revealed, and then he had these things put in his Holy Word. God even asked his people to do these things (so the Bible claims). He has done this by giving a revelation to one of his faithful servants. He has appeared and talked to certain people and instructed them to do these things and to tell his people to do them. The revealee in turn, tells others what God has requested. Ultimately the deed is done and God is obeyed and glorified.

        The problem with revelation is too many thousands of people have them. A small child can have one. An old man can have one. A woman can have one. But it does give added weight to a revelation if the revealee is a virgin. It adds additional weight if the revealee is a high leader in a religious body. It adds even more weight if the revelation is what the people want to hear. But the very best weight of all comes if the revelation is two or three thousand years old.

            Another thing bothers the Clear Thinker about revelations. If God really did speak to a person in some way, that Would be a revelation. But, if that person turned around and told me his revelation, it would Not be a revelation to me. It would only be a tall tale to me. That person might have heard a voice in his head, he might have had a dream, or he might have had a hypnotic dream (called a vision). On the other hand, he might have had an attack of indigestion last night. He might have a brain tumor, or he might be just plain lying. It is still just a tall tale to me. Would I not be crazy, or a fool, to accept the claim or statement as one coming from God, even if I were a Christian? Yes! Certainly, I would. My question is this:

DOESN'T GOD KNOW
SOMEONE ELSE'S REVELATION IS NOT MINE?

            Someone else's revelation is just a tall tale to all the rest of the world. If God wanted me to know something out of the ordinary realm of facts, he should tell Me, not someone else.

IF THERE WERE AN ALL-KNOWING AND ALL-JUST GOD,
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE THE REASON FOR GIVING A REVELATION

IF ALL HONEST THINKING PEOPLE WOULD REJECT IT?

            If God knows anything, he knows an honest thinking person would not accept and could not accept, someone else's tall tale as being a revelation from God. The Clear Thinker sees all revelations as lies of convenience told to persuade people to do something the teller wishes to happen, or as simple self-delusions. It could also be seen as a form of insanity. An all-wise God would Not and could not use a method of communication that all Honest Thinking people would reject, even if the message came to them personally.

            If I heard God's voice delivering a message in my head, how would I know it was God and not that other God, the Devil, or another super being impersonating God? How would I know my own mind was not playing tricks on me? The only thing I could do, would be to listen and then report immediately to a doctor. I may have a brain tumor.

            Ultimately, one is left with the message itself. If the message or revelation goes against known sound scientific principles, it must be rejected. If the message or revelation is contrary to healthy morals, it must be rejected. If the revelation is contrary to earlier or other revelations, it must be rejected. Only a revelation that can be demonstrated as true can be accepted as a true revelation. Of course, if it can be demonstrated as true, then it must be classified as intuition and fact. It is not therefore, a revelation.

ONLY THE UNTRUE OR UNPROVABLE

CAN BE CLASSIFIED AS A TRUE REVELATION.

            When the Clear Thinker examines these revelations, he finds there is not a single one that will stand testing of any kind. Even the people who believe in various revelations only believe in a very few of them. They could not possibly believe in all of them. A vast majority of the revelations are mutually exclusive. That is, they contradict one another. They must absolutely reject those that say their own religion or church is the Devil's church and not from God. They must reject those that have doctrines contrary to the ones in their church. Thus, even the believers in revelations reject the vast majority of them. They only accept a few that fit their particular idea of what really Are the real, genuine, true revelations from God. A true revelation must agree with their doctrines.

            The true, genuine revelations from God are only those that agree with the doctrines and ideas, which that person or church Already Accepts As True. That is a very small percentage of all revelations claimed to have come from God.

            With all of the discrepancies in these revelations, how does a person go about picking out the ones in which he will believe? He Doesn’t! Someone else does that for him. Like all of the rest of religion, someone else does the thinking for you. Your only requirement is to Believe and Obey. That is, you are required to be a good mental captive or slave in order to be a good religious church member or person. Your religion does Not Trust you to have a mind of your own. Only your religious Authorities have the ability to determine a true revelation. You are sheep.

            So your denomination and its leaders will tell you which revelations are from God and which are not. They will tell you which ones to believe and obey and which ones to ignore. Only the gullible are, or can be, good religious persons, because they let someone else do their thinking for them. Honest Clear Thinkers who think for themselves, do not, and cannot, become religious persons following and obeying the teachings of these illogical, immoral and unprovable revelations. I hope you are learning to think.

            Once a revelation is claimed, it is told and retold. Finally, someone writes it down. Later, a number of these revelations are collected together and they become a little book. Little books from here and there are collected and edited according to what the editors Think the revelations Should be saying. Soon they are bound into a bigger book. Believers study this Book of Books and eventually it becomes the basis, or a major part, of a new religion.

            ALL religions are founded on these Claimed revelations. Theologies and doctrines grow from these revelations like fleas on a yard dog's belly. Since the revelations differ and even oppose each other, these theologies break away from each other. Soon, what started as one religion breaks into two religions. Then the process continues and there are four then eight then sixteen new religions. Finally, this one Book of Books is supporting dozens of separate, different and often hostile religions. All of this is because the revelations themselves do not agree with one another, even the ones collected together in these Holy Books of Books.

            Is God the author of such confusion? Is He the one responsible for the diverse and differing revelations? Even if there were a religious God, I would have to answer, No! Man is the author of this confusion and of these conflicting revelations. There is no other explanation for such a confusing situation.

            Have you read any science fiction lately? In science fiction and science fantasy, man lets his imagination run off in all directions. Most of the stories, especially science fantasy, are impossible. Man can imagine these stories but science could not reproduce the impossible settings and happenings. These science fantasy “revelations” are written about gods, ghosts, demons, magic, life after death, instantaneous travel, travel into the past or future, fantastic super beings, abilities of the mind to project killing or stunning lights from the hands or eyes, ability to see through solid objects, ability to read other people’s minds, ability to disappear, or cause other people to disappear and thousands of other entertaining but presently impossible happenings.

            Science fiction and science fantasy is proof that man is capable of thinking up, all by himself, fantastic and impossible happenings. Thus the simple explanation for, so called, "Revelations from God" is that men made them up. They did so either voluntarily or involuntarily, either consciously or subconsciously. It is much more natural and understandable to see man as a liar, or as a good story teller, than it is to imagine an all-wise and all-knowing God, who is either so dumb, or so confused, he would give thousands of illogical, inconsistent and contradictory revelations. And then some men claim that God has the gall to ask men to live and preach those same terrible revelations.

WHO REALLY BELIEVES THESE REVELATIONS?

            Certainly not as many people believe them as claim to. Absolutely no one believes them all, not even the totally insane. But in order to belong to any of the Christian churches and denominations, one must claim or Indicate he does believe the revelations that his denomination says are genuine and that deal with sin, salvation, forgiveness, heaven, hell, eternal life and those revelations that make his denomination the Body of Christ. In addition, he must claim he does not believe the ones that other denominations claim are genuine. That is if one is joining the Four Square Gospel Church, he must not believe the revelation that claims the Catholic Church is the only Body of Christ and the Pope is God's only duly authorized, validated and certified representative on earth.

            Who believes these revelations? All the religious people Claim or Indicate they believe the ones belonging to their denomination and sad to say, some of them do. But there are too many smart businessmen and women in these religions. There are too many intelligent attorneys and judges, too many doctors with high IQ's, too many professional people of all types. Do these people actually believe in all of these fantastic revelations that only their particular denominational leaders say are genuine?

            The answer to that question is both a "yes" and a "no.” Yes, they believe or they would probably not be there. They swear an oath before God and the congregation based on the Assumption that they do believe these things. But the reason they believe is because they have been kept from thinking about it. They believe their religious leaders and authorities have examined these revelations and proven them to be true. Many have also been members since they were small children and they have all been Taught Not To Think (when it comes to religion). Besides, it is Good Business to say they believe if they live in certain sections of the country where all of the other people also Claim to believe in these revelations. They are willing to subjugate their honesty and their morals in favor of their business and politics.

            Actually, if these people ever thought about it at all, they would find They Do Not Believe in these revelations. The fact that these revelations are against all common sense, all justice, all science, all acceptable morality, all good ethics and all reality never occurred to them. The ministers, rabbis and priests know if their people ever actually thought about these things, they would lose half of their members at once. So these religious leaders present their doctrines and sermons (stemming from these revelations) in such cunning and deceptive ways, one hardly realizes he is being asked to believe them. The ministers, rabbis and priests are actually ashamed of many of these revelations upon which their churches and doctrines are founded. They do their best to either hide them, or keep them well in the background of their sermons and studies.

            Any mature man or woman, who actually stops to think about it, would have to concur with the Clear Thinker. God did not argue with the evangelist and tell him to ask the people to send their twenty-five dollars to the evangelist at the television station. The preacher simply lied. Most preachers know they are lying every time they give a sermon on the doctrines of their church. Did the evangelist also lie about other things he said? Yes, and I can prove it!

            Even believers have to agree, God never told thousands of different individual people, by way of a revelation, that there was only one Body of Christ and that their particular church or denomination was That Body. Mature men and women would have to agree, God never revealed to man that we should not kill one another and quickly changed his mind and told a holy man to command the people to go out and kill all the men, women and children in another village. They would have to agree, God would not reveal himself to be the only God in existence and then reveal other Gods that hindered his purpose and then forbid people, under the pain of death, from believing, following or worshiping the other Gods. Mature people would have to conclude with the Clear Thinker, God would not reveal over sixty plans of salvation and then claim for each one that this particular plan is the only plan of salvation. God was never that confused. Only Mankind gets that confused.

            People in religion, who are otherwise smart, have never stopped and asked honest questions about their beliefs. But should they read this book, HONEST MAN'S PHILOSOPHY, they will be challenged to think about religion in the same manner and with the same honesty with which they think about business, raising their families, investing their money or about their work. If they think at all, they will know religion and revelation for what it is. It is superstition fueled by lies, pure and simple. I hope you will see that a few of the otherwise smart people, whom you know, have the opportunity to read this book. Buy it for them as a gift. It could change their lives for the better - forever. They will be very grateful to you.

            The concept of revelation is proof there is no such God as portrayed in any of the Christian denomination or churches. If there were a Just, Good God, he certainly would have no part in the so-called revelations, doctrines and creeds. These revelations are nothing more than confusion, deception, antisocial propaganda, prejudiced and bigoted attitudes, greedy attempts to gain wealth, intolerant and belittling concepts and blatant attempts to enslave mankind. If there were such a God, I want no part of him, or any part of his promises. He is too unstable to keep his promises.

            Everything (and I wish to emphasize EVERYTHING) that is claimed today about God, heaven, hell, salvation, or any other religious concept came to us by someone Claiming to have had a revelation in his head. The whole life of Christ and the so-called early church history is a revelation. There is not one single civil reference to any of the claimed New Testament happenings. Think about it for a moment! Not even one! The so-called religious histories were written much later by authors unknown. These histories were often written as a result of the claimed guidance and revelation by the Holy Spirit. Now the guidance of the Holy Spirit is just another way of saying someone had a revelation sent by God, that is, through the Holy Spirit of God. Writers collected the writings of those who had written earlier, made selections and changes as directed (revealed) by the Holy Spirit and compiled them into new books. The Holy Spirit Always seems to have the same point of view as do the biased doctrinal position of the editors and writers.

            “Everything” in the Bible today came to us by way of a claimed revelation. The one, who claimed God gave the revelation, told it and acted upon it. The revelation and the actions provoked by it were recorded in the Bible, the Koran and other Holy Books as words from God.

            And that is where All Holy Books came from, and All religions, and All religious beliefs, and All claims of sin and salvation, and All promises of an after life and All promises of answered prayer, and All miracle claims, and All information on Heaven and Hell, and All authority in All the religions. Remember - never forget - "ALL!”

            The Bible, which is called the Word of God, bases its authority upon the claim that it is The revelation From God to man. Equally as often, the claim is made that the Bible is the revelation Of God to man. So no matter how one views the Bible as to its source or content, it becomes clear, it is Totally based upon the concept of a Claimed Revelation that came into the minds of some men who claimed that God Talked to them. That is, certain holy men claimed they heard voices in their heads, or had dreams, or saw visions that others could not hear or see. These unsubstantiated, unverifiable and unprovable claims of having communicated with the Unknowable Almighty God are the stuff from which All religion is made, from which it is daily fed and from which it gets rich. (And I might add, from which it saps your life and future.)

            Another interesting fact about religion and revelation is how ordinary events can be made into a religious revelation. Thus, the Japanese lost the war because they turned their back on the Christian God. The famine came to Ethiopia because the people forsook the Christian God and turned instead to the godless communistic form of government. The earthquake came to San Francisco because of the sins of the people there, especially the gay people.

            People live or die because they have, or have not, acted according to someone's particular religious revelations and doctrines. The ministers, priests and rabbis have these things Revealed to them as they sleep, pray, or as they read their holy books.

God either Talks to these people, or they only Believe that he does.

PICK ONE!
WHICH DO YOU HONESTLY PICK?

            This was all revealed to me by reading the Bible and by studying the history of religions. But most of all, it was revealed to me by Honest Clear Thinking!

            The reason people Believe and Belong to religions is because they Do Not Think! The concept of revelation should cause some of you to begin some Honest Clear Thinking in your life. Let me ask you,

WHAT DO YOU THINK? 

OR, DO YOU LACK COURAGE AND HONESTY,

AND SIMPLY BELIEVE?

Next: Clear Thinking About God

Index