Mar 6th, 2007 8:19 AM

*Book Of Revelation Back In The News Again*

Theories abound on mysteries of Revelation
Bible's final book believed by some to predict apocalypse

Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times

For nearly 2,000 years, each succeeding generation of Christians has
tried to puzzle out whether the Book of Revelation's riddles and symbols
has meant its own time was the end of time.

Over the past six decades alone, the beast with seven heads and 10 horns
rising out of the sea at the start of Chapter 13 has been variously
pegged as Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong and Saddam Hussein, or the nations
they represented.

The debate over Revelation has continued for generations and, given
world events and the ease of communication in the media age, the
discussion shows no signs of abating. Books about Revelation remain
brisk sellers, and two recent publications, by John Hagee and Jonathan
Kirsch, highlight differing analyses of the text.

For many Christians, the Book of Revelation, attributed to the apostle
John, continues to serve as God's countdown to his son's return to Earth
in a final triumph over evil. Without it, they say, Christianity would
be an incomplete story.

But is humanity finally facing the final chapter? That depends on whom
is asked.

Malcolm Yarnell, director of theological research at Southwestern
Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, acknowledged: "These are very
unsettling times, and I often wonder, 'Lord, is this it?' But I also
think it's an incredible waste of time to speculate on whether today's
headlines are mirrored in the Book of Revelation. Of course, if I wanted
to make a lot of money in a hurry, I'd write a book saying they are."

In Revelation, John reveals the mystical origin of the text. He
describes how Jesus appeared to him on the island of Patmos, off Asia
Minor, with a punishing vision of the plagues, famine, earthquakes and
satanic armies that will set the stage for Judgment Day.

"What thou seest, write in a book," he commanded John, who did just
that. John then went on to cast a curse on anyone who would tamper with
his 404 verses about "things which must shortly come to pass."

Essentially, the plot goes like this: Billions of people perish in seven
years of natural disasters and plagues, the Antichrist arises to rule
the world, the battle of Armageddon erupts north of Israel, and Jesus
returns to defeat Satan's armies and preside over Judgment Day.

The text never fully explains its monstrous key characters and clashes
-- the Whore of Babylon, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the
Antichrist, the Battle of Armageddon -- or any of the other eerie
images, numbers and colors.

With apocalypse in mind, Hagee, senior pastor of the Cornerstone Church
in San Antonio, in July gathered 3,400 evangelical Christians to lobby
Washington politicians on the "biblical imperative" of supporting Israel.

The best-selling author's latest book, "Jerusalem Countdown," predicts
an impending battle "that will usher in the end of the world" and turn a
huge chunk of the Middle East into "a sea of human blood!" It has sold
more than 1.1 million copies since its release in 2006. A revised
version was published in January.

Revelation, Hagee said, "is the story of truth over deception, and of
hope over despair. The Book of Revelation, when we truly know it, is a
thunderous applause of God's victory over the world, the flesh and the
devil."

Hagee's peers include Mark Hitchcock, pastor of Faith Bible Church in
Edmond, Okla., and contributing editor for the Left Behind Prophecy
Club, whose new book "Iran: The Coming Crisis" outlines an "apocalyptic
vision of Islam."

Both pastors believe that Revelation and other prophetic books of the
Bible, including Ezekiel and Daniel, are previews of epic history
confirmed by current world events. As evidence, they say the creation of
Israel -- which achieved nationhood in 1948 -- was listed in Revelation
as a precondition for the onset of the end times.

"In fact, history is unfolding exactly the way you would expect it to if
the Bible is true," Hitchcock said. "You'd have to be blind not to see
the parallels."

Not so fast, argues Kirsch, an intellectual property attorney and author
of "A History of the End of the World: How the Most Controversial Book
in the Bible Changed the Course of Western Civilization." Published in
August, it chronicles what Kirsch calls the use and abuse of Revelation
from the fall of the Roman Empire to the rise of the religious right.

Revelation, he said, was probably the work of a single author, most
likely a brilliant middle-aged prophet and poet born in Judea who
witnessed the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by a Roman army in
A.D. 70. He spoke Hebrew or Aramaic and was "among those Jewish
Christians who believed Jesus of Nazareth was the long-prophesied
messiah of Jewish tradition," Kirsch said.

The fact that the little book is crammed with more than 500 references
to the Hebrew Bible indicates the author was deeply familiar with Jewish
traditions.

Kirsch also suggests that Revelation was a product of its own time. It
wasn't meant to predict the future, he said, but to explain the present
-- the ultimate good news/bad news story aimed to help early Christians
cope with their Roman oppressors.

"It's fair to say that Revelation began as an oral tradition that was
eventually transcribed and used as a way of making sense of the chaos in
the world," Kirsch said. "But I find it fascinating that many of the
ardent readers of Revelation in America today are not suffering much of
anything. With good jobs, nice homes and cars, they are among the most
comfortable people in the world."

He said the biggest flaw in Revelation is that the world hasn't ended yet.

"Nonetheless, each generation concludes that John got it wrong and it
was really their own lifetimes he was writing about," he said. "They
continue to use the book out of context and point to daily headlines
saying, 'Look! It's all there!' "

If the viewpoints of Kirsch or Hagee don't mesh with a reader's belief
system, there probably is a book somewhere that does. Even a casual look
at Amazon.com, for example, produces thousands of titles for
commentaries on Revelation -- as well as some fiction.

And they tend to carry weighty titles, such as "Controversies in the
Book of Revelation: A Comparative Analysis of Premillennial
Interpretation." On the other hand, there's also "The Book of Revelation
for Dummies."

This article appeared on page A - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle