updated: 6/16/01
REVELATION
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. Then, we can not only keep this program on the air, we can also increase our coverage and take on twelve more cable systems.' So, I got up off my knees."
"I was not feeling too good about the program last night, 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.'" 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 sin. God talks and reveals hell. God talks and reveals salvation. God talks and reveals heaven. God talks and reveals heretics. God talks and reveals his plan for the torture and eradication of the heretics. God talks and reveals his rules and laws. God talks and reveals a Holy War against his enemies. God talks and reveals the resurrection of man from the dead. God talks and reveals his only approved church and denomination. God talks and reveals his plan for the United States of America. God talks and asks men to forcefully close the abortion clinics. And sometimes when God talks, he tells us who to vote for.
A revelation is a divine concept or message which comes straight from God. It may be delivered by God 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 which the TRUE BELIEVER would think was coming from God, but which was really coming from the Devil.
There are those who say the Devil can actually bring a revelation and cause a NON CHRISTIAN to think the revelation came from God. In fact, they claim that most of the other denominations have thus been deceived by the Devil. 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 which think all of the other denominations, cults, religions and sects have received messages from the Devil, but THOUGHT the revelation came from God. Such confusion is the only certainty and proof that these revelations are from God.
My revelation is from God, yours is from the Devil.
A revelation is not something which man could know on his own. It is not something which man could arrive at by logically studying the facts. Thus, revelation differs from intuition. Intuition is an idea which happens in a person's head which can be checked out. That is, it can be verified, or it can be disproven. Intuition is usually about some mechanical or social matter which is all ready 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 usually accept as revelation, something which is described as a feeling. The revelation must come as a voice in the head, or as a vision. Is it possible, some who had a feeling, described that feeling, making it sound as though they heard a voice, or had a vision?
Revelations, therefore, only concern things which man could NOT and can NOT know for sure. Revelations, must of necessity, be accepted on FAITH. One must believe it. To believe a claimed revelation 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 Hell. God has revealed that you should be baptized. He has revealed 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 Adventists, 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 Lutheran Church, the Church of God of Prophesy, the Radio Church of Christ and hundreds more churches which claim that they have received, or interpreted, a revelation from God which declares that their Church IS THE BODY OF CHRIST. Don't forget 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 because, God has given them a revelation, either in modern times or ancient times.
These are only the churches and religious bodies in Christianity which 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 has 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, economics, social problems, education, taxes, elections, land management, royalty and yes, 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 believers.)
There are so many revelations from God to man, a strange thing has happened. God has gotten confused. He has told a great number of different folks in different Christian churches that THEIR particular church is the ONLY ONE which 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 has told some people, by way of revelation, that some of the other churches are actually the Devil's churches. He has 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. Even the word, "Woman " means, "not man". How modern women can become Christians and give approval to the chauvinistic Bible is beyond me.
God has revealed secrets of his war with the Devil, and with the angels of the Devil. God has revealed the inner secrets and decisions of his 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 can't 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 which God has not revealed, and then had put in his Holy Word. And he even has asked his people to do these things (so believers claim). 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, 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 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 a 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 use a method of communication which 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 the Devil, or another super being (or alien) 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 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 which can be demonstrated as true can be excepted 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 REVELATION.
When the Clear Thinker examines the revelations, he finds there is not a single one which 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 because a vast majority of the revelations are mutually exclusive. That is, they contradict one another. They must absolutely reject those which say their own religion or church is the Devil's church. They must reject those which have contrary doctrines to the ones in their church. Thus, even the believers in revelations reject the vast majority of them. They only accept a few which fit their particular idea of what really are the real genuine revelations from God.
The genuine revelations from God are only those which 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 in order to be a good religious church member, Christian or person. Your religion does not trust you to have a mind of your own. 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 believers 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 can not, 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 given, 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 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 revelations. Theologies and doctrines grow from these revelations like fleas on a 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 confusing 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 fantasies 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 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, 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 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 which his denomination says are genuine and which deals with sin, salvation, forgiveness, heaven, hell, eternal life and those revelations which make his denomination the Body of Christ. In addition, he must claim he does not believe the ones which other denominations claim are genuine. That is, if one is joining the Four Square Gospel Church, he must not believe the revelation which 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 they believe the ones belonging to their denomination, and sad to say, some of them do. But there are too many smart business men and women in these religions. There are too many sharp 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 the revelations which 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 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 (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, 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 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 which hindered his purpose, and then forbid people, under the pain of death, from following and 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 on the 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. It could change their lives for the better.
The concept of revelation is proof, there is no such God as portrayed in any of the Christian denomination or churches. If there were such a 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 attempts to enslave man. If there were such a God, I want no part of him, nor any part of his promises. He is too unstable to keep his promises.
Everything (and I wish to emphasize EVERYTHING ) which 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. Think about it for a moment! Even the so called religious histories were written much later by authors unknown. These histories were often claimed to be written as a result of the guidance of 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, by 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 concur with 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 beliefs, 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 by many, the Word of God, bases its authority upon the claim, 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 revelation. That is, certain holy men claimed they heard voices in their heads, or had dreams, or saw visions which 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.
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.
Either God TALKS to these people, or they only BELIEVE 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.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
OR, DO YOU LACK COURAGE AND HONESTY, AND SIMPLY BELIEVE?
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copyright July 1999 Thomas E. Blaylock jr