Stained glass Rose window in Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

Out-of-Body Experience (OBE)

⁹ I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰ On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, ¹¹ which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.” (Revelation 1)

I can imagine what it was like: you’re in a meditative state and you get visited by a spiritual being who tells you to write down everything you see and then share it with others of your faith. Not a lot different from having a CE3, in my opinion.

But is that all it was?

Near Death Experience (NDE)

In the Wikipedia explanation of an NDE, there was one statement which made me sit up and take notice:

“Connection to the cultural beliefs held by the individual, which seem to dictate some of the phenomena experienced in the NDE and particularly the later interpretation thereof.”

Now that’s something I can agree with.

First of all, St John the Divine may have induced this experience by fasting (forty days and forty nights), so that he wasn’t just meditating, he may have been close to death, brought on by the process of fasting for so long.

That makes the use of symbolism in his nightmarish vision understandable.

Ezekiel Got There First

In the Book of Ezekiel, we are presented with a similar vision. But the kicker is the way Ezekiel starts his discussion about the Chariot:

I was watching a big storm come in from the north. It was a big cloud with a strong wind, and there was fire flashing from it. Light was shining out all around it. It looked like hot metal glowing in a fire.
(Ezekiel 1:4)

If you want to read how a 6th century BC prophet describes a UFO, may I suggest that you pick up your Bible and read chapter 1 of the Book of Ezekiel?

Warning, Warning, Will Robinson!

Why would someone or something from the future wish to go back in time to warn a group of believers about what will happen someday?

Isn’t it obvious?

Think about the events being foretold in Revelation. There is going to be ‘trouble at mill‘ and to be forewarned is to be forearmed.

It has been suggested that St John’s vision took place in 70 AD. That’s when the Temple at Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. The worst that could happen to the Jews has already happened. So, the only way left to them was up.

But going to Heaven wasn’t the goal here. It was bringing down to Earth the Kingdom of Heaven in the form of the “New” Jerusalem.

Conclusion

Hal Lindsey in his book “The Late Great Planet Earth” suggests that the re-creation of the State of Israel is the staring point for the countdown to Armageddon. He times events with a seven base. Well, what if he didn’t see the missing zero following the seven? Seventy years from the re-creation of the State of Israel is right now!