It was in the nineteen forties and I was about nine years old.I had found a copy of Believe It Or Not, by Ripley. .My little mind was just opening up. I proudly read the words of a section called "contradictions". "the steel guitar is not made of steel, but is played with a piece of steel."
I got about three of them off. My father scowled,"Debunk, debunk, debunk, that's all you do." I had been so proud of my new knowledge.
But I had made a serious mistake. I had found errors. I had contradicted. My job was to learn and believe what the authorities said.
Later, a voice came over the car radio. Someone had given us a ride. As we were getting out of the car, the voice began to speak of the book of Revelation. "Hold on, mister," my father muttered. "You're getting in over your head. You're talking about things no one understands."
It was a dark warning. The man was probably a fanatic. Who else would talk about the forbidden book. We weren't meant to know about it.
As a young man, a member of the church I belonged to had lunch with me. I was talking about Revelation. Particularly, chapter seven. I read off the twelve tribes that comprised the one hundred and forty four thousand. As I finished with the tribe of Benjamin, he said, "Of course that is the church." Wonder which tribe he belonged to?
My pastor reluctantly agreed to my teaching Revelation. "I was told "Do not teach prophecy. It divides people," he told me. Wonder who told him that? Better to obey them than follow the Bible. Blessed is he that readeth, and they which hear the words of this prophecy, ... Revelation 1:3.
So many warn you not to study it, or tell you how difficult it is. I have ignored them.
Debunk, debunk, debunk. That's all I do.
I seem to recall that there is a curse to those who relate Revelations incorrectly and so, all I have ever had the courage to do is refer to it. It is certainly difficult, and I am just a simpleton, however compared to God, we all are.
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