Jamin Bradley

In 2020, the American Christian world lost its mind. We were argumentative and defiant against safety protocols in our churches and society. We were argumentative and defensive about racial inequality, crushing people of color under the weight of deaf ears and still feet. Instead of rebuking political tyrants, we embraced and endorsed them to the point that the world thought that to be Christian was to be Republican and Pro-Trump. We stormed the capitol with crosses and American flags, confusing Jesus with presidents. And in case these things weren’t enough, we blasted conspiracy theories across every last airwave we could find, blending QAnon with Revelation while accusing any fact that didn’t fit our fictional construct to be “fake news” or “mainstream media.” We destroyed our witness.

During the pandemic, I began to see conspiracy theories based on Revelation appearing everywhere. The mark of the beast had changed from the bar codes and RFID chip theories to the COVID-19 vaccine. Bleak photoshopped pictures of people being forced by the military to file into large stores to get shots while helicopters flew overhead, surfaced on Facebook posts. It seemed to many Christians that we had reached the end of the world—and though we hadn’t, we militarized our false beliefs to create a microcosm of the end times. Chaos ensued—and it did so via the means of our anxiety, frustration, and misunderstanding of Scripture.

Having studied the Book of Revelation by reading scholarly books about it in the years leading up to the pandemic, I did what I could online to combat the many misinterpretations of Revelation. I addressed theories on some of the most abused verses in Revelation—if not some of the most abused verses in the entire Bible—and I was surprised to find a significant amount of online interaction in return.

In time, I realized how desperate people were for a better understanding of this old, confusing book, which has significantly damaged so many. For example, as I plugged my phone into my car radio to put on some music, a story on NPR started to play and grabbed my attention. A mother was talking about how her son had become suicidal and I was curious as to why. I figured it had to do with the pandemic since the quarantines widely affected mental health, but her son had actually been triggered by the church. A youth pastor was being sued because of the trauma he had instilled in a young child with his crazy Revelation talk and end-times theories. The kid was a complete mess. Such Bible discussion did not lead him to the fullness of life, but to a desire for death.

We owe it to John to interpret his book better. Indeed, the Book of Revelation expects us to work hard to get it right, as seen in its closing words:

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Rev 22:18-19)

This book should not be treated lightly. It must be handled with the utmost care and caution, and that applies to the crazy conspiracy theories we make. And if we do not treat it carefully, we will go on to misrepresent God and His word.