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I have to admit, I’ve read Revelation many times and it terrifies me - although not for the reasons that you’d think.

I can grasp the fundamentals of what Revelation is talking about - but whenever I try to dig deeper into it, I can almost hear a voice inside, saying that this Revelation wasn’t meant for the likes of me to understand.

I don’t know what to make of that.

I stripped Dad’s washing machine down when I was ten, just to figure out how it worked... I felt no guilt dismantling it, a sense of triumph when I found a golf tee blocking the pump, and a bit sheepish when I realised I couldn’t clip the hoses back on so it was still in bits on the floor when he got home. But I never felt terrified.

When I start to apply a bit of analysis to Revelation, I can only explain it as, you know how your stomach turns, when as a kid you’re about to do something you know is wrong and you’re utterly convinced there’s no way you’ll ever get away with it.

I can’t think of any other situation in adulthood, where I’ve had that deep sense of “pre-emptive guilt” merely for THINKING about doing something.

The Bible warns of false prophets and listening to the wrong voices, and I don’t know where that voice comes from. But every other time I’ve had that gut feeling, it’s been steering me away from doing something that I know is wrong.

And THAT is what terrifies me.