How irresponsible readings of the Bible are being used to hurt people…yet again.
“Blessed are the canaries, the ones who keep watch for harm, the ones who resist the structures at hand, the ones who risk their lives in order to find it, the men who speak up for the women, the women who speak up for the men, and the people in power who speak on half of the oppressed. Blessed are the ones brave enough to to tell their story amidst a sea of noise. Blessed are the people who ache deep in their bones, craving a new way forward to start a new path. We will forge the path together.” Who is Blessed? (Matthew 5, Timshel)
It’s not often I put on my Pastor’s Hat. While it’s true I have a higher education degree in Theology, have been a pastor for around 12 years, and even wrote an idiomatic Bible translation, I don’t discuss Christianity that much.
Partly because my faith is so very different than it once was, and I don’t like saying what I believe as it ebbs and flows, it’s full of nuance and core things and then not-so-core things and I’m not afraid of exploring. I still preach monthly at a small church that feels more like a family. And I would have called myself an Evangelical up until I translated the Bible and honestly it broke the whole thing open for me. When you get into the languages and the literary framework, plus the history and the nuance of the text, well you realize how much of what you had believed it said was a product of Evangelicalism and not Christianity. I’m not an Evangelical anymore and while I do believe in Jesus, it comes from years of turning the gem and figuring out what we mean when we talk about God and Jesus and everything in between. My definitions are probably not the same, but they are mine and that’s a beautiful thing to keep it close to my heart.
My faith is a very personal subject to me and I’ve accepted that on many levels, I will always be figuring it out. I’ve adopted so many practices and beliefs from other faith traditions over the years as I have opened my mind and heart to other cultures and texts. And to be clear, I think that mostly it’s the American Church who reads the Bible irresponsibly (more on that below). And a really good place to start if this feels like news to you, is Rob Bell’s What is the Bible?
But this post really isn’t about me and my beliefs, or really anyone else’s belief system…except for when that belief system is actively harming others. And I happen to know a lot about that belief system; it’s my moral duty to speak up.
There was a time in my faith journey that I believed that Christians in America were the persecuted ones. That we were living holy and good lives and that we needed to be aware of everyone else that would try and take this away from us. Over time I have grown to understand that this is not the case, not even close. But recently, I watched a MAGA church pastor give a sermon (I use this word loosely here because that implies some integrity with the text) that someone sent to me. And I was horrified to learn that there is a whole group of people who believe this and are currently, voting and living by this very idea. The cliff notes are this: a joke that all democrats should be destroyed from “the face of the earth”, a blatant misunderstanding and dare I say uneducated understanding of the difference between radical Islam and Islam, a misuse of the Bible and the book of Revelation, and applause that the killing of innocent people was, in fact, ordained by God.
The current state of the Evangelical Church, specifically those that believe the current administration is sent by God and the war on Iran is ushering in the book of Revelation is not only unbiblical, has zero utterance of the Gospel behind it, but it is irresponsible and harmful.
It would be beneficial if we all were astute to understand that this is what is going on in a majority of big, Evangelical churches in America. And when the misreading of the book of Revelation has crossed from the pulpit into the government and back again; we are deeper trouble than we thought.
Here’s why.
The 90’s
Before we can really dive into the main point (and certainly there is much more to cover than this post will do) we must begin in the 90’s. The 90’s were glory days for the Evangelicals. There were Christian bands that rose to the top of the charts (I think that may still be happening, but I am out of the Christian music loop), purity culture took a strong hold on everyone that stepped foot into a youth group, shame became the prevalent narrative of all things God, and don’t forget the real kicker that was a personal invitation into the world of anxiety for me: the Left Behind book series.
If you don’t already know, this volume of books was a story about the rapture, the moment that Jesus comes back and saves all his people (read: other Evangelicals) and whisks them up into heaven. The imagery is that of a knight in shining armor on a white horse coming to rescue everyone from this horrible thing we call earth, and if you don’t believe then you get … left behind. And what happens when you are left behind? Actual torture. War. Starvation. Oppression. Cue the nightmares, covers lifted over my head.
The emphasis on the book of Revelation and getting all your ducks in a row before Jesus came back was very a prominent part of culture and I can recall going to bed at night asking God, no, begging God to please show me how “good” I was and if I was going to go to heaven with the faithful or be left behind with the heathens.
Not only was this anxiety inducing to an entire generation, but it also made a theology for Christians that says the only point of this Earth is that we need to leave it. That there is nothing here for us, it will all blow up anyway, and therefore it is not our responsibility to take care of Her. (To be clear, the word “Her” would never be used for the Earth. This is me and my heretic ways just leeching in here.)
Now the only way that you can keep a whole group of people to be like a frog in a boiling pot; to watch the world actually falling apart around them in the form of climate change, horrific and non-existent gun laws, the continual exclusion of anyone who is different in gender, sexual orientation, skin color or immigrant status is to make them believe this is all a part of the plan.
A poem, not a prophecy
Most Evangelicals have been taught to read the book of Revelation as a screenplay that will happen at the end of time. That this ancient book was written as a prophecy to be told to someone (could it be us??) in the far future of how the end times will play out. Which means that for centuries, this war-time literature has been brought into the pulpit, and the battle fields, to explain events that are currently going on.
This entire ideas hinges on the fact that the book of Revelation is written as a warning for Christians. But, unfortunately for this school of thought, Revelation is not actually a prophecy but it’s a poem. With heavy-handed political satire. It was not written to tell the story of what would happen, but it was written by a Jewish man whose entire town was destroyed by Rome, and he wrote what that felt like.
He also wrote to future people who would be obliterated by the powers at be to have hope, to hang on, that yes, it does feel exactly like a beast with six heads is destroying you when you see fighter jets and countless missiles aiming at the children’s school. Because the only way that a person knows that you understand what exactly it is they are going through is if you tell them exactly what it feels like.
It’s such a sad thing that the majority of the Bible is picked a part and dissected as if it were a recipe on how to live, instead of felt and danced to like a song.
Which leads us to a very obvious, yet easy point to miss: in the context of the book of Revelation, America is the beast. We are the Roman Empire. We are the military power, the ones that are attacking and obliterating the other. This book, then, this poem, is a warning to the rest of the world, (currently Iran), about the monster that is the United States of America.
There’s a verse in the book of Psalms that (paraphrased) says, “We don’t trust in chariots of men, but in God”. This is actually quite a hard thing to do if you are the one riding in the chariot.
But perhaps the real issue with this understanding of the book of Revelation is that we are completely passive. We are at the mercy of a horrible world going to shambles and there is nothing we can do about it except watch bad preachers give a message that is what I like to call the “Bible sleight of hand” and match up random calendars and numbers and verses to make people think that all of this was ordained. That the killing of thousands of people is actually permissible because the God of peace, the one who said “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword” has ordained the President of the United States to usher in the end of the world.
That, finally, if we just wait a little bit longer, God will save the like-minded.
But how can this be true of God, that the only way for peace is through war? If God is like this, then what about Jesus? It’s a question that often gets explained away by talking about God’s wrath and righteous anger. But I don’t hold to this interpretation. God’s wrath is actually when we are left to our own devices; when the quiet knowing inside stops and instead of intervening, we watch all of our collective actions of choices and words and laws fold in on themselves in a devastating set of circumstances that we made.
No, Jesus continually “poured out his privilege for the greater good, to the point of death on a cross” (Philippians 2, Timshel) not because death was ultimately required, but because in the First Century, if you believed that military power was not the way for peace, then you died because of it. These two opposing things of what God is like cannot both be true.
A word of warning
Not to be all doomsday with a slice of conspiracy theory here, but as one who knows how the Evangelical system works, I would be amiss if I didn’t say this:
In every re-telling of the book of Revelation there is an AntiChrist figure, the one who is in direct opposition to the Christ figure. And for centuries people have been trying to figure out who the antichrist is, and therefore, who the Messiah figure is. Of course, I mean, ideally the Christ figure is actually the Christ, but we that would be too simple. When we live in a world where power-hungry narcissists are elected and also those who are hurting and lost and blinded, then we sometimes make the mistake of making humans the Christ figure. When we do this, then that person is often given more, uncontrolled power. Whatever they say goes because they are “saving” humanity and this is allowed to play out even at the cost of someone else’s life. It wasn’t that long ago that many thought Hitler was a Messiah figure, an idea that was spurred on by Nazi propaganda to the entire nation of Germany.
When someone in power is touted to doing “God’s work” or a “savior” of any sorts, we are in a lot of trouble. There have been countless articles online that suggest this of the current powers-that-be and I fear we are getting ourselves into a situation we won’t be able to get out of. But this brings me back to the antichrist figure. This person is anyone who opposes the Christ figure.
It is a little ironic that in the book of Revelation there is the “mark of the beast” which people love to discuss as computer chips being put into our hands or other technology that is coming our way. But in the First Century, this actually was a mark of ink that you gave allegiance to Caesar as God so that you could sell your items at the marketplace and make a living. If you did that, you got a mark of ink, if you did not, then you did not.
It was about declaring Caesar was God, but it was also about threatening your economic livelihood. Without this mark, without this allegiance, your entire life and family’s life was at stake. Side note: This is why we need to so staunchly protect voting rights.
When the book of Revelation talks about this mark it is referring to naming someone as God who isn’t actually God. Ironic, isn’t it? That the book they are using as a playbook for war is actually a hefty warning they should take note of.
Revelation: A Definition and a Responsibility
The word revelation actually means and unveiling or uncovering. Given the above literary and poetic framework, it is not a revealing of what is to come, but it is a revealing of what is already here. In this sense, then the war with Iran, or any war at all, any upheaval in the streets, any call to better laws and cleaner air: these are all revelations of their own.
Each and every time, these horrific things reveal exactly what is going on under the surface and has been for some time. They are a call to make change to reform, to pass better laws, to let in the immigrant, to be kind to our neighbors. And in this definition, we actually have a responsibility. The passivity is over.
So then, what shall we do and how do we live? We become active participants in this life and on this earth. We realize that we take responsibility through the words we saw, the laws we help pass, the systems we take part in each and every day.
When the Bible talks about Christ in me then we must realize something extremely important: we are our only hope. There is a co-creation that we are called to, that is in our hands. Christ is not coming on a white horse to save us, the Christ Spirit is already in us, begging us to pay attention, and then to act and move and change.
And sometimes that looks like saying the things we see so that others are aware and we can do realize how important it is to resist this very movement.
I am so saddened by the whole thing because I guess I just didn’t think there would be a day, that me, the little girl that was the poster child for Evangelicalism would be here facing the responsibility I have of speaking out against this very group I used to call home.
Editor’s Note: Previously published on LittleWeirdWriter Substack on Mar 18, 2026. Used here with permission.
