Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-11-19

Der OF a man.; ana MS nuihpsi
six hundred and three score ana SIX.
Revelation kills.
THE BOOK of Revelation, from
i which the text is taken, is sup
posed to be written by the Apostle
John, the brother of the Apostle
James, and a son of Zebedee, who
was banished by the Emperor Dom
itan to the Isle of Patmos and died
there. He was the apostle describ-
ed in some of the gospels as the
lone that Jesus loved" He was
a fisherman by trade and was en-
gagged in his occupation when
called to the ap~ostleship, according
to the New Testament. He also
wrote the Gospel of st. John, as
we'll as three other epistles in the
New Testament. The first of these
epistles seems to be addressed IN
general to Christians. The other
two are short letters, n addressed
to a lady whom the apostle calls
the elect lady" and her children.
The last epistlc is addressed to
"the well beloved Gaius." Then
comes the book of Revelations.
This latter does not sound at all
like the other writings of the gen.
tie John. 1t is highly mystical, and
reads to us like the rawlings OF a
disordered mind, without sense in
meaning for the most part. It is
a hodge podge of mysterious beasts
with surplus heads rising out OF
the sea, dragons pursuing their de-
v~astating course among the sons OF
men, angels blowing trurnpets and
carrying vases full of plaques
which are poured out on the world,
bloody battles, death and destruc-
ton, a third part of the stars of
heaven thrown out of their celes-
tial orbits by the flashing of the
great dragons tail, a battle between
the dragon and Ibis angels" and
Michael and his angels, and finally
the second coming of Christ to rule
with his saints" for a thousand
years on earth, which is the So
called millennium, which the world
has been waiting for during many
thousands of years. All evil IS to
disappear out of the world then,
and this old globe, soaked with in
nocent blood, will need no League
of Nations, for we will have uni
versal peace, righteousness and
happiness.
We have said that if the Apostle
John wrote the book of Revela-
tions we think that his suffering
must have affected his mind. The
doubt of his authorship expressed
by the IF" arises from the fact
that there is another account extant
concerning the death of John,
prior to his Punishment to Patmos,
off the coast of Asia Minor, which
says that he was thrown into a
cauldron Of boiling oil at Rome.
This is stated on the authority of
Tertullian, the earliest of the
fathers of the Christian church,
who wrote about 200 A. D., and is
generally credited as accurate in
his facts. To reconcile the story
Of Tertullian with the subsequent
writing of this book of Revelation
by John, the early church fathers
had to resort to the favorlte ex-
PLANTATION Of those days--a miracle
and said that the apostle came
out of the vat of boiling oil un-
boiled and unhurt.
But this book of Revelation has
been a favoritc digging ground for
the searchers after prophesies full
filled ever since it was adopted as
a part of the New Testament code.
A whole library of books have
been written about it by searchers
who think they have identified it's
mythical characters with some re-
ligious teacher, some political
power, or somebody or thing they
iisapprove Of. For it is a fact thai
all these beasts and women and
dragons and powers that the au
thor of Revelation saw and wrote
about seem to have been bae
actors. In particular, however, in
vestigation and explanation By
pious and superstitious people have
conferred around the beast de
scribed in the text with the mys'
terious number 66o. The author
invites wise men to solve his rid
die, and there has been a big re
Spouse from those who consider
that they are blessed with superior
understanding" We have seer
this 666 beast positively identified
L. - 5~,-< L,1f . r~o-n re 1urtfar,