Unwelcome Revelation

About this book of the Revelation of John, I....consider it to be neither apostolic nor prophetic... I can in no way detect that the Holy Spirit produced it... Christ is neither taught nor known in it.
--Martin Luther, Preface to the Revelation of St. John, 1522

My own opinion about Revelation is that it has done more harm than good. It has been the catalyst and origin of most anti-Christian cults. It has unwillingly led hundreds of thousands to error and vain imaginations. It has seduced even the people of God so that they should be turned from good and relevant actions in their world to focus instead on flights of future fantasy. It has led to the rest of scripture being twisted and mistreated. I believe it would have been better if Revelation was never accepted into the canon. At one point, I even considered ripping it out of my bible.

It is quite a turn of events for me to say this. Those who knew me several years back know that Revelation was one of my favorite books. Indeed, I was one of those seduced. I read not about Yeshua or the ways of the kingdom. I fed no hungry and helped no poor. I sought no scholastic and critical learning, but my ears rang with the sound of popular political preaching. I became obsessed and driven by an eschatalogical agenda. In conflict with charity, I sought those outside my party (Preterism) against whom I could harshly oppose and defeat. If there is a witness to the calamity of this book, it is I.