ONE OF THE CENTRAL PURPOSES of the Book of Revelation is to give a vision of true freedom and genuine joy, which the world can never give, for these do not rely on any external stimuli, but they come from the secure inner knowledge that one has the spiritual “seal” which the Divine being puts on all those who are His disciples. We discussed the symbolism of that “seal” in §2 of the previous main heading, when we looked at chapter 7 of the Book of Revelation where John speaks about the “servants of God” being “sealed in the forehead” — which is the opposite of receiving the symbolic “mark of the beast” in chapter 13, which I dealt with in §4 of the previous main heading. That such a “seal” provides true freedom and genuine joy I will show in the paragraphs below. But first here are some observations and caveats about this freedom and joy.

If you are truly free and genuinely joyful, you will only be able to have a fruitful relationship with those who are free and joyful themselves. For if they are not, you will either wind up being their therapist or you will languish in a gruelling co-dependency. Those who lack true inner freedom and genuine joy in themselves means that they will continually try and find those qualities through relying on others to provide them, or any external stimulus which gives them the illusion of pleasure (and such pleasure is always illusory).

If you are truly free and genuinely joyful, you will have to be prepared for a life of relative aloneness. For true freedom and genuine joyfulness in others are hard to come by in this world. By “aloneness” I do not mean loneliness or isolation. For true freedom and genuine joy do not originate in another human or ‘out there’ in the world but from a connection with the One who has created those humans and who originated that world.

If you are truly free and genuinely joyful, you will become a magnet for the aggression of others who are not free and joyful. True freedom and genuine joy are a threat to those who do not know that state of soul. For it means that you cannot be controlled, and those who do not know freedom and joy always want to control others — whether it is in a one-to-one relationship or a relationship with someone in authority (e.g., a government, or those who enforce government edicts).

If you are truly free and genuinely joyful, you will realise that the two will always go together if it is true freedom and genuine joy. For true freedom + genuine joy = love. False freedom = rebellion, licentiousness, ‘attitude’, being a rebel without a cause, putting ‘the finger’ up at everything. Joy without freedom is impossible, for true freedom and genuine joy always come together, and true freedom always begets joy. Therefore, freedom without joy is not true freedom and joy without freedom is not genuine joy. Most people are chasing false freedom and try to get a semblance of joy from either entertainment or drugs or self-hypnotic religious practices — all of which would be known euphemistically as “the pursuit of happiness”. But permanent inner joy needs none of those and it is totally different to what is called ‘happiness’.

When you are free and joyful — truly free and genuinely joyful — it is because you have been freed from the sorcerous spell, the seductive enchantment, which this world of fakery and rationalistic materialism casts over the minds of humans. We are surrounded on all sides by illusion and delusion, whether material or spiritual, political or religious, or even what is simply the product of our socially-engineered, deluded, seduced and deceived minds — minds which are not free from the polluted shackles of the ego and the engrams of unresolved trauma. That world of fakery and rationalistic materialism is demonic in nature. For, as John writes in his first letter, chapter 5, verse 18: “The whole world lies passively under the power of the evil one” — that “evil one” being no less than the fallen archangel, Satan. This entire world-system of rationalist-materialist, anti-God activity, which ignores Divine law and acts in the spirit of the Antichrist — what John calls Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη, “Babylon the Great” on a number of occasions, as we saw under the previous main heading — is designed to keep us under the thrall of the demonic realm and thereby robbed of freedom and joy. Thus, in the Book of Revelation, in his vision of the Christ’s cataclysmic return for the final judgement on this world-system known as spiritual Babylon, John says, “All the nations were led astray by your sorcery” (chapter 18, verse 23). The Greek word which is translated there as ‘sorcery’ is φαρμακεία, pharmakeia, which indicates that it is similar to a drug-induced enchantment. This is just as John said in his letter, “The whole world lies passively under the power of the evil one”. It is as if Satan and his whole demonic realm have cast a swathe of hypnotic bewitchment over the world. This is why, when one has been awoken by the Spirit to be a follower of the Light and a disciple of the Christ — an eschewer of darkness in all its forms — and has seen the awe-full truth about Babylon the Great as a cosmic trap set by Satan, one feels as if one is living amongst zombies. For if one is not living in true freedom and genuine joy, one is living as a zombie, an automaton who is controlled by base instincts and also controlled by those who are evil enough to exploit those instincts.

This is why governing authorities can exercise such complete power over people. But if you are truly free and genuinely joyful, you will realise that you have only got there because nothing and no one can have any kind of hold over you anymore. You will only be beholden to the Creator of the cosmos, which frees you from all shackles (for to be in service to the Creator is never ‘in shackles’ but wholly voluntary, and one would never want to be free of that service anyway!). Above all, death no longer has a hold over you because you know that you have “crossed over from death to life” (Gospel of John, chapter 5, verse 24). If death no longer has a hold over you, then neither can anyone else have a hold over you. A human who is unafraid of death can never be controlled by another. Most people are controlled by governments through fear — ultimately through exploiting the fear of death (as we have witnessed throughout the world for the past 16 months or more). The power-elite and their lackey governments know this only too well, which is why they use what is known as ‘atrocity propaganda’ (climate change hysteria, pandemics, false flag operations, etc.) in order to alarm you terribly and scare you out of your wits. This is also why governments are so threatened and rattled by those who know true freedom. For governments use the fear of death as a means of control, but those who know true freedom are no longer afraid of death. True freedom means freedom from the fear of death and freedom from the fear of death brings joy. That does not make one foolhardy and want to take unnecessary risks; for having true freedom and genuine joy means that one chooses carefully which hill to die on. It simply means that one has seen through the bullshit and fakery of this world and can no longer be deceived by it. For this world thrives on deception.

It has to be said here that true freedom and genuine joy only fully come when God has “rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son”, who is the Christ (Letter to the Colossians, chapter 1, verse 13). One may have deep insight and a sense of freedom from so much of the crap in this world; but really that should just be the precursor to the deep spiritual rescue of the soul by God through His ‘intermediary’ with humans, the Christ. This is the missing step in the lives of so many who are otherwise very perceptive. For only that will guarantee complete protection from the forces of darkness. By the way, that inner rescue *always* comes when one genuinely asks for it. Only then will one know true and full freedom. When John says, regarding those who have been so rescued, that “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Book of Revelation, chapter 7, verse 17), that reveals the source of their joy… and the beginning of a voyage of discovery beyond your wildest dreams.

Maybe you are sitting there thinking, “Yikes, Alan has really lost it. All this religious rubbish. I saw through all that long ago. I didn’t realise he’d been zapped by Christian bullshit”. First, please know that I have only been ‘zapped’ by the Christ and not by what is known as ‘Christianity’! I am not speaking about religion but about true spirituality. This also doesn’t have anything to do with the religion of Christianity. Much of what calls itself ‘Christianity’ has sold out long ago to Babylon and is nothing more than a gross harlot (as we saw in §6 under the previous main heading). The Vatican and Canterbury are hotbeds of satanic evil, secret conniving, theological compromise and even gross perversion. In the Book of Revelation, as we saw in the previous main section, they are represented as a prostitute aspect of Babylon. Most mainstream churches in general (and even many that are not mainstream) have also compromised themselves through their support for corrupt government, through exercising abusive control over their flocks, or wandering off into a plethora of distracting bandwagons: The ‘pre-trib rapture’ bandwagon. The ‘speaking in tongues’ bandwagon. The ‘Judaizing’ bandwagon. The ‘Christian Zionist’ bandwagon. The ‘liberation theology’ bandwagon. The ‘Evangelical Right’ bandwagon. The ‘Professional Protestant’ bandwagon. The ‘Reformed’ bandwagon. The ‘Sacerdotal’ bandwagon. The ‘Jesus Freak’ bandwagon. The ‘Health ’n Wealth’ bandwagon, the ‘QAnon’ bandwagon, and a huge truckload more.

So, this has nothing to do with promoting “religious rubbish” or “Christian bullshit”, if that’s what you are thinking. Now, here is an explosive truth… one does not have to call oneself a “Christian” in order to be a genuine disciple of the Christ! Boom! On the contrary, as a great many of those who may think themselves to be ‘Christian’ are not even really His disciples. Many of those who call themselves ‘Christians’ think that the spiritual dividing line in this world is between people who call themselves ‘Christians’ and those who do not. But nothing could be further from the truth. The real spiritual dividing line in this world is between those who follow the teachings of the Christ as His disciples (i.e., upholding His light, His truth, His passion, and His love, while exposing the unfruitful works of darkness in this world) and those who do not follow them (who, to greater or lesser degrees, are essentially under the power of Satan). And if you are thinking that true spirituality cannot bring division, read the words of the Christ, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but division” (Gospel of Luke, chapter 12, verse 51). In a predominantly fake world, truth naturally divides. On one level, He will ultimately bring peace in the new aeon when the cosmos has been transformed. But as things currently stand in this fallen world He will inevitably bring turmoil because of the spiritual battle. Transformed people will rattle this world!

I know religious people say that all one needs to do is “believe in Jesus”. But that in itself is not wholly true. Merely believing something is not the essence of spiritual transformation. It is not merely what one believes which counts in this life, but how what one believes makes one behave. The Christ made that fact abundantly clear in his parable of the sheep and goats in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, verses 31-46), and also James (the brother of Christ) when he said that true faith can only be evidenced by actions (Letter of James, chapter 2, verse 18). Added to that, in reference to how to recognise true disciples, Christ said, “By their fruits you will recognise them” (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7, verse 20). Genuine disciples grow fruit. Abundantly. Part of that fruit is having a deep sense of freedom and experiencing a profound sense of joy.

As stated in an earlier section, in view of this clear knowledge of there being a mighty spiritual battle in which genuine disciples of Christ are at the forefront, they are not to be joining a mere social club called a ‘church’, attending what amounts to a fashion parade (dressing up in so-called ‘Sunday best’), taking part in a ritualistic circus (as so many churches have become), forming a so-called ‘evangelical right’ or a ‘liberation theology left’, or maintaining an uptight, screwed-up, heresy-hunting, inquisitional bastion of prim and prudish bible-thumping conformist zealots totally lacking in self-awareness and personal development. Instead, an ekklesia of disciples is to be a gathering of love-smitten, truth-telling, darkness-exposing, Light-proclaiming, always-growing, Christ-centred counterculture humans who, through their very existence, are joyfully defying the satanic zeitgeist of the age by standing millennia of corrupt social engineering, educational conditioning, official indoctrination, and philosophical brainwashing on its head in a supreme act of supernatural disobedience (which is infinitely more powerful than any kind of civil disobedience).

Therefore, although disciples of the Christ (the eternal Logos) are merely ‘sojourners’ passing briefly through this wilderness of a world, they are to do so in freedom and joy as a revolutionary whirlwind bearing witness to their transformation so that it can become a global contagion. That this should be so is one of the key purposes of the Book of Revelation… and also of this little essay!

[Extracted from my forthcoming essay, “The Meaning of Apocalypse: A Primer on the Book of Revelation”, available on my blog before the end of July]

© 2021, Alan Morrison / The Diakrisis Project. All Rights Reserved. 
[The copyright on my works is merely to protect them from any wanton plagiarism which could result in undesirable changes (as has actually happened!). Readers are free to reproduce my work, so long as it is in the same format and with the exact same content and its origin is acknowledged]