The Apocalypse of John

[DjM]

OOPS- sorry...should have read: Of all the Christian documents, this one has been most MISUNDERSTOOD.  Of course, the rest of this post confirms the intended meaning, however, we must show reverence towards the Truth.

[andrewfrew]

Excellent post I hope the below information will be informative

I have provided information you may be interested in the release of the following book, which can be bought on Amazon. Co.uk, Waterstones Online, Tesco.com, the Bookplace.co.uk and Bol.com or can be ordered in your local good book store after providing the information below.  I would be very pleased in your comments as I am a first time author and I am also looking for an informed scholarly review.


Title 'A Celestial Revelation'
(Uncovering the mystery of ancient Christian Prophecy)

(ISBN) 1-904018-76-9

Pen Press Publishing Ltd

Author Andrew G Frew

This is an informed and informative work that examines the Book of Revelation and the apocalyptic writings of Daniel, and considers their spiritual messages within a modern-day context, particularly (and topically) with regard to the future of the state of Israel and the art of astrology. The book poses various questions that are more pressing now than ever, such as;' are we not all waiting for the same messiah, whatever religion we follow?' which has political and social as well as religious connotations. The author is clearly quite erudite. Alongside his in-depth knowledge of his chosen Biblical texts, he reaches further afield to draw allegorical comparisons between the Book of Revelation and historical events such as the French revolution, as well as Greek and Roman mythology. He explores the field of astrology, using that discipline to examine and critique the modern day Christian church since parts of both the Old and New Testament are related astrologically to the 'seven orbs' that govern the twelve signs of the zodiac. Many of the book's propositions are intelligent and reveal broad ranging, imaginative thought. The content of the book is good, if rather specialised. The author may be let down a bit by his style, but his ideas are nevertheless interesting and his knowledge impressive.

Publication date November 2003

AG Frew

andrewfrew@lineone.net

[DjM]

The Apocalypse of John


The Apocalypse of St. John contains nothing less than a great part of the mysteries of Christianity...the profoundest part of what may be described as esoteric Christianity.

Of all the Christian documents, this one has been most understood.  Almost from the beginning of the spiritual movement of Christianity it has been misunderstood by all who were not really Christian initiates.  And it has always been misunderstood at various times according to the prevailing though and disposition of those times.  It has been misunderstood by the times which, one might say, have thought in a spiritually materialistic way; by times that have forced great religious movements into one-sided fanatical party affairs; and it has been misunderstood in modern times by those who, in the grossest and most sense-bound materialism, believed themselves able to solve the riddle of the universe.

In the very early days of Christianity the idea came into the exoteric stream that things which in the world's evolution first take place in the spiritual worlds, that such purely spiritual proceedings ought to take place externally in material life.  And so it came about that while the writer of the Apocalypse expressed in his work the results of his Christian initiation, others only understood it exoterically; and their opinion was that what the great seer saw, what the initiate knows can be seen spiritually taking place over thousands of years, must happen in the very near future in external life and be visible to the senses.  They imagined that the writer was indicating something like a speedy return of Christ Jesus, a descent from the physical clouds.  When this failed to occur, they simply extended the period and said: With the advent of Christ Jesus a new period has begun for the earth in contrast to the old religions teachings., but (this again was understood materialistically) after a thousand years the next events described in the Apocalypse will take place in the physical world.  Thus, it came about that when the year A.D. 1000 was dawning, many people actually expected the coming of some power hostile to Christianity; an Antichrist was to appear in the sense-world.  As this again did not occur, the period was further extended, but at the same time the whole prediction of the Apocalypse was elevated to a kind of symbolism- whereas the crass exoteric approach had represented the prophecy more literally.  With the advent of a materialistic world-conception these things were enveloped in a certain symbolism; external events were invested with a symbolic significance.

Many people adopted the view that the Papal Church, this externalization of Christianity, was something hostile and anti-Christian.   Joachim of Floris found followers among the Franciscans, and these looked upon the Pope as the symbol of the Antichrist.  Then in the age of Protestantism this conception passed over to those who looked upon the Pope to be the symbol of the Antichrist, and the Pope retaliated by calling Luther the Antichrist.

Thus the Apocalypse was understood in such a way that each party drew into the service of its own view, in its own opinion.  Each regarded the other as Antichrist and identified itself with Christianity.  Men were unable to understand because they had no initiates among them.  A certain spiritual sense was there; for although it was crudely imagined that a Being would descend in a cloud, there still belonged to it a spiritual faith.  A spiritual life such as this was no longer possible with the crass materialism of the 19th century.  The thoughts of a genuine materialist of the 19th century regarding the Apocalypse may be described somewhat as follows: No man can see into the future, for I myself cannot.  No one can see anything more than I can see.  To say that there are initiates is an old superstition.  Such persons do not exist.  What I know is the norm.  I can scarcely see what will happen in the next 10 years, therefore no man can say anything about what is to happen over thousands of years.  Consequently, whoever wrote the Apocalypse, if he is taken as an honest man, must have been describing something which he had already seen- for I only know what has already taken place and what I can discover from documents.  Therefore, the writer of the Apocalypse could see nothing more either.  What, therefore, can he relate?  Only what happened up to this time.  Thus it is obvious that the events of the Apocalypse, the conflicts between the good, wise, and beautiful world and the ugly, foolish and evil world, this dramatic contrast, is only intended to represent what the author had himself experienced, what had taken place.  The modern materialist speaks in this way; it is his opinion that the writer of the Apocalypse describes things as he himself does.

Some of the deep secrets of the Apocalypse were hidden in numbers, particularly that dramatic event in the number 666.  It was known that numbers were to be dealt with in a particular way, especially when such a distinct indication is given in the words: Here is wisdom.  The number of the beast is 666.  When such an indication was given it was known that the figures must be replaced by certain letters in order to ascertain what was intended.  Now those who had heard something, yet really knew nothing, came to the conclusion in their materialistic conception that when the letters were substituted for the number 666, the word "Nero' or 'Caeser Nero' resulted.  And nowadays in a large part of the literature dealing with the deciphering of the Apocalypse you may read: Formerly people were so foolish that they imagined all sorts of things in connection with this passage, but the problem is now solved.  We need now only investigate what happened immediately before and we shall discover what the writer of the Apocalypse really wished to describe.  It is reported that earthquakes took place in Asia Minor when the struggle between Nero and Christianity was raging.  Therefore it was these earthquakes that the writer was referring in the opening of the seals and the sounding of the trumpets.  He also mentions plagues and locusts.  Quite correct!  We know from history that at the time of the persecution of Christians by Nero there were plagues of locusts.  He was, therefore speaking of these.  Thus the 19th century has come to materialize the profoundest document of Christianity so far as to see nothing in it but the description of what may be found by a mere materialistic observation of the world.  The deepest and most important document of esoteric Christianity has been misunderstood.

Even the introductory words of the Apocalypse show us what it is intended to be.  We need only remember that it says that he from whom the contents of which the Apocalypse proceeded was a place in an island solitude which had always been surrounded by a kind of sacred atmosphere, one of the ancient places of the mysteries.  And when we are told that the author was in the spirit, and that in the spirit he perceives what he gives us, it may indicate to us that the contents of the Apocalypse originate from a higher state of consciousness, to which a person may attain through the development of his inner creative capacity of soul, through initiation.  In the so-called secret Revelation of John is contained what cannot be perceived with external senses; and it is given in the way in which it can be imparted to the world through Christianity.  In the Apocalypse of John we have therefore the description of an initiation, a Christian initiation.  

Initiation is the development of the powers and capacities slumbering in every soul.  If we wish to have an idea of the manner in which it really takes place, we must clearly bear in mind what the consciousness of the present normal man is; we shall then be recognize in what way the consciousness of the initiate differs from that of the ordinary man of today.  What is, then, the consciousness of the normal human being like? It is a changing one.; two entirely different states of consciousness alternate, that of wakefulness during the day, and that of sleep during the night..  Our waking day-consciousness consists in our perceiving sense objects around us and connecting them by means of concepts which can only be formed with the aid of a tool belonging to the sense world, namely the human brain.  Then, each night, the astral body and the ego withdraw from the lower principles of the human being, the physical and etheric bodies, and therewith the sense objects around man sink into the darkness; and not only this, for until reawakening, total consciousness prevails.  Darkness spreads around man.  For the human astral body today under normal conditions is so organized that it is unable of itself to perceive what surrounds it.  It must have tools.  These tools are the physical senses.  Therfore in the morning it must submerge itself in the physical body and make use of the sense organs.  Why does the astral body see nothing when during sleep at night it is in the spirit world?  Why does it not perceive?  For the same reason that a physical body without eyes or ears could experience neither physical colours nor physical sounds.  The astral body has no organs with which to perceive in the astral world.  In primeval times the physical body was in the same position.  It too did not yet possess what later was molded into it as ears and eyes.  The external elements and forces chiseled out and formed the eyes and ears, and thus this world was revealed to man, a world in which was previously hidden from him.  Let us imagine that the astral body, which is now in the position in which the physical body was formerly, could be so treated that organs could be built into it in the same way that the sunlight molded the physical eyes, and the world of sound the physical ears, in the soft substance of the human body.  Let us imagine that we could mold organs in the malleable substance of the astral body; then the astral body would be in the same condition as the present physical body.  It is a question of molding the organs of perception for the supersensible world into this astral body, as a sculptor molds his clay.  This is the first thing.  If a man wishes to become a seer, his astral body must be treated as a sculptor treats a piece of clay; organs must be worked into it.  This was, in fact, what was always done in the schools of initiation and in the mysteries.  The organs were molded in the astral body.