Stam - Interpretacion de Latinoamerica de Apocalipsis - Ingles

7/28/2019 Stam - Interpretacion de Latinoamerica de Apocalipsis - Ingles

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C7/46 (2011): 289-300

The Book of Revelation:A Latin American Interpretation

1

Juan Stam

For several decades, the book of Revelation has attracted an unusual

amount of attention among Latin American theologians, both Catholicand Protestant. However, about three decades ago, this last book of the

Bible began to occupy first place in the interests and concerns of biblical

scholars, as well as many lay believers. Spanish-language editions of the

vast library of apocalyptic writings were produced, along with many serious

commentaries on the book of Revelation. Important texts were translated

from French, German, and Englishamong them The Bible and the Future

by Anthony Hoekemaand several of the writings of George Eldon Ladd,

including his massive Theology ofthe New Testament.2

This remarkable awakening of interest in Revelation has nothing to do

with the sensationalism, or worse, apocalyptic terrorism, behind a parallel

surge of interest in the United States. Nor is it a resurgence of dispen-

sationalism, which has had a very strong hold among the laity of most

denominations. On the contrary, at the level of seminaries, professors, and

authors, there is a notable movement away from dispensationalism. Several

methods of interpretation are responsible for this renewal.

Contextual Interpretation

The first characteristic of this renewal in Revelation studies is typical of

general trends in Latin American theology, namely, a rigorously contextual

method of interpretation. We find ourselves in a situation that is in many

ways similar to the context faced by John of Patmos and his seven congre

gations. We also live on the outer perimeter of empire; our economies

depend on the vicissitudes of the superpowers and the whims of our own

oligarchies, more allied to foreign interests than to the masses of their own

people. In many of our countries, this unjust system is defended by violent


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CALVIN THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL

repression with frequent assassinations, torture, and arbitrary arrest. It is

very natural, then, for us to read Revelation in the double context of then

and now, of yesterday's Asia Minor and today's Latin America. Reading

Revelation in the context of today's reality helps us situate the book in the

context of the Roman Empire.

The aphorism, "the text without its context is a pretext," is a familiar

slogan in many languages. Context includes the literary, historical,

sociopolitical, economic, and cultural situations. Partially inspired by

the sociology of knowledge and other modern disciplineslinguistics

and ideology analysesLatin American hermeneutics has insisted on

the careful, critical analysis of the double context for all interpretation

of ancient textsthat of the text itself and the existential context of the

modern interpreter. How Latin Americans understand the contemporary reality of our continent, for example, will inevitably affect, one way

or another, how they understand the book of Revelation. Interpreting an

ancient text is like cleaning a window: Both sides of the glass, the ancient

and the contemporary, must be clean and clear. Confused and obscure

interpretations of contemporary realities are very likely to affect negatively

the interpretation of a highly contextual ancient book such as Revelation.

Pastoral InterpretationA closely related hermeneutical key is the pastoral interpretation of

Revelation. Evidence from the book itself strongly suggests that John had a

pastoral as well as a prophetic relation to the seven congregations of Asia

Minor.3 He introduces himself as "I, John" (1:5), immediately expanded

into "I, John, your brother and companion" (1:9). Then come seven clearly

pastoral messages (Rev. 2-3) that prove that Jo hn knew his congregations

well and loved them deeply. As to its formal literary structure, the book is

in fact a very long pastoral letter between the typical salutation (1:4-8) andthe farewell (22:21). This pastoral tone is totally atypical of apocalyptic

literature.

As a pastor, John would talk clearly to his people, in language they

could understand about subjects and problems that concerned them.

For the original readers, Revelation must have been one of the clearest,

most easily understood books of the New Testament because it has fewer

abstract concepts and employed familiar symbols. The frequent calls to

obedience and radical commitment presuppose a prior understanding

of the message. The readers are expected to grasp the message without

difficulty: "Let those who have ears hear what the Spirit is saying to the


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THE BOOK OF REVELATION

churches." Only the so-called hearing impaired would fail to hear the

Spirit's prophetic voice in John's words (1:3).

This pastoral focus is of immense help in understanding Revelation.

Revelation was written to be read aloud, at least seven separate times, in

seven different congregations (1:4, 11). This oral nature is forgotten by

many interpreters, ensconced at their desks, surrounded by concordances

and commentaries, but forgetting those seven anxious, confused, and

threatened congregations who first heard the story read aloud to them.

John wrote to strengthen their faith and kindle their hope. Curiously,

when we look for this pastoral message rather than predictions per se

or eschatological schemes, the central message of almost every passage

begins to emerge clearly. There will always be details for which we lack

adequate hermeneutical clues, but those problems should not deprive us ofthe blessing and challenge the Spirit was communicating to the believers

then and can communicate to us today.

If we remember the condition of those threatened, anxious, and

confused faith communities, it becomes somewhat comical to imagine

John coming down hard on them with complicated prophetic schemes or

specific predictions of televisions and computers, which may be exciting

for us today but for them would be totally meaningless. The believers

would have left the meeting more confused and depressed than they hadentered. Read pastorally, however, Revelation is an inspiring message of

hope and joy in the coming of God's kingdom. Read pastorally, there can

be no doubt that after hearing this book read, the hearers left inspired by

a new confidence with courage to be faithful to the King of kings and Lord

of history.

A Prophetic Interpretation

This Latin American movement also seeks to be prophetic but with avery clear understanding of what that term means. For most laypersons

and even for most prophetic specialists, prophecy is seen essentially as a

prediction of future events.4 However, even the most cursory analysis of

the writings of the Hebrew prophets reveals that prediction is a secondary

element in the prophetic calling. In their classic How to Read the Bible for

All Its Worth,5 Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart affirm that only 5 percent of

the prophetic books relate to events that were future for the authors and

readers, only 2 percent can be considered Messianic, and only 1 percent


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should be seen as future for us today. On the contrary, it can be said that

all of prophecy, including the predictive passages, is an urgent, compell ing

word to God's people. It is not prophecy because it foretells the future or

fails to be prophecy when it is not predicting future events. We might say

that the essence of prophecy is not prediction but convictionthe firmassurance of bringing a living Word from God.

The definitive characteristic of prophecy is not that it foretells the future

but that it focuses the present in terms of the will of God. Even predictive

prophecy, which of course is present both in the Hebrew prophets and in

Revelation, is not introduced for its own sake simply to learn things about

the future but to illumine the present and show the readers how to obey

God here and now. It is significant that John calls his writing an apokalupsis

only once (1:1), but five times refers to it as a prophteia (1:3; 22:7, 10, 18,19).6 John did not write in order to teach his readers about the future but

to orient their obedience and discipleship in their immediate context and

thereby our obedience and discipleship in our modern context.

Precisely for this reason, the comparison of Revelation with other apoca

lyptic literature reveals both similarities and remarkable differences. While

John's Apokalupsis is obviously apocalyptic in form and style, it is prophetic

in its mentality and message. The two most common errors in the inter

pretation of Revelation are futurism and literalism. These twin fallacieswould have us prefer, almost exclusively, literal and futuristic interpreta

tions of the text as if these were somehow more spiritual and as if other

interpretations implied a lack of faith in God's Word. While it is true that

some (though relatively few) of the visions of Revelation should be inter

preted literally, within the apocalyptic genre the preference would usually

be toward symbolic interpretations.7 Likewise, John 's visions may refer to

future events but not necessarily so. It is significant that the verbs in his

vision accounts are in the past tense, corresponding to the past moment

when he saw the vision rather than future moments when predicted eventswould occur.8

Neither futurism {a prion preference for literal future interpretations)

nor an a priori preterist prejudice (relegate all of Revelation to the ancient

6 Curiously, the noun apokalupsis does not appear again in Revelation, and the verb

apokalupt never appears.

7 The return of Christ is described in 19:11 as coming out of the open heavens on horseback

with a sword in his mouth (both figurative). John was capable of mixing in one verse the literal


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past), neither a priori literalism nor a priori antiliteralism, should deter

mine our interpretation of this book. Our goal and duty as interpreters of

God's Word should be exegetical faithfulness to the text, interpreted by

the most careful methods possible.

Praxeological Interpretation

Typical of Latin American hermeneutics is the principle of praxeolog

ical interpretation that maintains an inseparable relation between thought

and action. Jo hn wrote to the believers not just to explain ideas to them

but primarily to change their conduct. It would probably surprise most

Christians to learn that they are expected to obey the book of Revelation.

Those who delight in interpreting its mysteries would naturally ask: "How

does one obey futuristic predictions?" For most readers, though, the chal

lenge is to unders tand Revelation and to know how history will end. Among

the hundreds of commentators on Revelation, most of whom understand

prophecy as essentially prediction, very few indeed have anything to say

about obedience. In their exclusive obsession with the future, they lose the

prophetic and ethical message for the present.

Revelation begins with a promise that is a key to the entire book: "Blessed

are those who hear and obey (trein) the words of this prophecy" (1:3). The

verb obey (tre, "guard, keep," like keeping the Ten Commandments) is

one of the most characteristic words of this book, and the very first para

graph pronounces blessing on those who obey what they have heard. The

blessing promised in this verse is not to those intelligent enough to under

stand this book with its supposedly complicated prophetic schemes and

sequences but to those obedient enough to carry into action its prophetic

message. All of Revelation is an extended call to obedience under very

hostile and difficult circumstances. No obedience, no blessing!

One proof that the book of Revelation was meant to be obeyed is thegreat number of imperative verbs and other expressions with imperative

or hortatory force. The call to obedience sounds throughout the entire

book (1:3; 2:26; 3:3, 8,10; 12:17; 14:12; 16:15; 19:10; 22:7,9). The definitive

command of the entire book is that of uncondit ional faithfulness to Jesus

Christ and the gospel ("Be faithful, even to the point of death," 2:10; cf.

12:11), but other imperatives exhort the readers: to fear and worship God

alone 14:7; 19:10; 22:9; to repent 2:6, 16; 3:3, 19; to remember 2:5; 3:3; to

prepare for the coming of the Lord 3:2; 16:15; to hope instead of fear 1:17;2:10 (cf. 5:5 weep not); to rejoice 12:12; 18:20; 19:1-8; to emigrate from

the imperial system 18:4; and to live prophetically in the midst of history


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a kind of civil disobedience or nonviolent protest. This was especially

bold because the price for this nonconformity came very high, including

the possibility of death. It was especially necessary because the churches

were weak and confused and the temptations to conform with the world

were nearly irresistible. A group within the congregations, known as theNicolaitans, advocated a pragmatic compromise with this idolatry in order

to maintain a more stable and tranquil lifestyle.

A Political Interpretation

The last and most controversial principle of Latin American herme-

neutics, that of political interpretationa consistently "sociohistorical

contextual" focus on the text. We can legitimately apply here the proverbial

refrain, "Everything is political, but politics is not everything."9 Here we

must steer between the twin temptations of over-politicizing the message

when not supported by sound exegesis, and of depoliticizing a message that

is, in fact, clearly political. Glib accusations of "politicizing the Gospel" are

usually themselves political, motivated by an ideology opposed to that of

those being criticized and to the message of Revelation.

Revelation may well be considered the most political book of the entire

New Testament. Probably written in the last decade of the first century,

under the emperor Domitian, it reveals John's deep political concernsand his impressive economic, social, and political understanding. All

this is seldom perceived, both because traditional misunderstandings of

the nature of this book keep us from seeing what is there and because a

general lack of historical sense, and of knowledge of the Roman Empire,

blind us to the clear references to the empire that abound in this book.

The last thing we expect to find here are political denunciations, but they

are there waiting to be discovered.

In Revelation, Jo hn vehemently denounces the political system of theRoman Empire . Although the emperor has John imprisoned on Patmos,

Jo hn begins by defying the emperor and declaring Jesus Christ as "the

ruler of the kings of the ear th" (1:5). John frequently takes titles of the

emperor, such as Pantkrator, or phrases from the imperial ritual such as

"thou art worthy," and transfers them to the Lamb. In chapter 4, John sees

a vision of the true throne, established in the heavens and under the sign

of divine grace, over against the fragile throne in Rome under the sign

of universal disgrace. The seventh trumpet announces and celebrates the

arrival of that new kingdom in its victory over the kingdoms of this world

(11:15-17).


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The second half of Revelation (12-22) is John's response to the renewal

of his prophetic commission with the call to "prophesy again about many

peoples, nations, languages and kings" (10:11). Although this basic four

fold formula is common in Revelation, only here does it mention kings. This

prophetic call is a special clue to the political dimension of the story of the

dragon and the beasts that follows. The identity of the beast as the Roman

Empire is shown by 17:9 (seven hills, seven kings) and 17:18 ("the great city

that is ruling over the kings of the earth" when John writes, which can only

be Rome).10

The entire story (chaps. 12-13, 17-20) is antiempire from start

to finish. To call the emperor a beast, inspired by a dragon, and the capital

city a brothel was language similar to that of the imperial opposition.

One detail is crucial to the story, especially in light of the Nicolaitan

heresy. The dragon, having failed in his attacks against the child and themother (chap. 12), desperately needs a new strategy. He concocts an evil

plan to attack Christians through the beast (Roman Empire) and the false

prophet (probably emperor worship). In telling this parable, John affirms

that it is the Devil who has established the empire (13:2) and that those

who worship the emperor are actually worshipping Satan (13:4). That

should be clear to the Nicolaitans.

John also denounces the military system of the empire. The second

horse, bloody red in color, carries the large sword of the Roman legionary,puts people to killing each other and dedicates itself to uproot peace wher

ever it might begin to surface. The harlot is drunk with the blood of saints

and martyrs (17:6).n

God will avenge the blood of all those assassinated

on earth (18:24). With a marvelous sense of ironical humor, John attri

butes the battle of Armageddon to the war-mongering of three obnoxious

frogs, vomited by the dragon and the two beasts, who travel as propaganda

agents to visit the royal palaces of the world and incite kings to mobilize

for battle (16:13-14). Earth's kings heeding frogs that whisper war in theirears ! These same frogs crawl over our TV screens today and sneak their vile

way into our centers of power.

Irony and a touch of humor appear again in a seemingly passing remark

in the account of the third bowl of wrath (16:3-4; cf. 8:8). The second

bowl turned ocean water into blood; the third bowl all fresh water into

blood. This recalls Moses' first miracle, turning the Nile into blood, which

some rabbis interpreted as a punishment for having shed the blood of

Hebrew children. After the third bowl, "the angel in charge of the waters"

interprets the meaning of these strange signs:


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You are just in these judgments,you who are and who were,the Holy One,because you have so judged;

for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets,and you have given them blood to drinkas they deserve. (16:4-6 NLT; NIV1984)

Those who shed innocent blood do not deserve to drink water. If they

like blood so much, let all of those killers, whoever their victims might be,

drink blood (18:24).

John's denunciations of the economic system of the Roman Empire is so

ample and detailed, it can only be summarized here.John had a passionate

concern for economic justice and a thorough knowledge of the economicrealities of the empire. Indeed, this keen-eyed prophet well deserves an

honorary doctorate in economy. Although this thread of John 's thought

is very impressive, few readers perceive it, both because no one expects to

find economic denunciation in this book and because most readers know

little or nothing about the economics of the Roman Empire.12

The third of the four horsemen sits mounted on a black horse (cf. black

market) and carries with him a pair of scales to sell certain agricultural

products (6:5-6). A mysterious voice, like those regularly heard on thestreets of any Third World city, shouts out the prices for grain and barley,

and adds "do not damage the oil and wine!" The fact that this merchant

sells wheat and barley by the pound is itself significant. Only in extreme

emergency were grains sold by bulk, and selling them by weight was seen

as divine punishment (Lev. 2:26; Ezek. 4:16 [Heb]). The voice announces

its prices, "a quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for

a day's wages" (6:6 NIV)prices of criminal speculation.13 Cicero tells us

that in his time a denano bought twelve quarts of wheat (versus one quart

in Rev. 6:7) and twenty-four quarts of barley {In Verrem. 3:81). Today theblack horse of the Apocalypse has been runn ing wild through the finan

cial centers of the world.

The exhortation to not damage the wine and the oil has led to as much

speculation as the wheat market in the preceding phrase, even identifying

the oil and wine with the Holy Spirit, supposedly damaged by the rapture

12

The economic strain of John's thought begins with the contrast between the wealthof the poor Smyrnians and the poverty of the rich Laodiceans (2:9; 3:17-18). In 5:12, an

innumerable multitude declares that all wealth belongs to the Lamb (cf. Ps. 24:1; Lev. 25:23).


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of the church. A minor detail from the economic legislation of the empire

provides the best explanation. In the year 92 Domitian, in order to protect

Italian wine-growers, emitted a decree order ing agro-exporters from the

provinces (in this case, Asia Minor) to destroy each year one half of their

vineyards (Suetonio, Domitian 7). The Asian exporters refused to respectthe edict ("We will not destroy the wine," our source of imperial currency)

and managed to persuade the emperor to rescind the edict, not only for

their financial benefit but also for the hunger of the farm workers and

their families. John, with his alert knowledge of the imperial economy,

knew that the other major agricultural export from Asia Minor was olives.

It is impressive to find an Asian prophet so well informed about economic

legislation from the capital of the empire.

Another evidence of the economic concern of the Apocalypse is themark of the beast (13:17-18).

14Far more important than speculations

about the mysterious number is the economic purpose of the action: All

those not bearing the required mark are forbidden to buy or sell. The goal

is the economic strangulation of dissenters from the imperial ideology.

Although the Roman Empire occasionally employed sieges as a military

tactic, I know of no evidence that the Roman Empire ever practiced this

type of discriminatory ideological boycott, nor does anything similar occur

in apocalyptic literature. The very originality of this detail shows again

John's profound commitment to economic justice and his sound under

standing of the workings of economic power.

The most impressive discussion of economic matters occurs in the

extended vision of the Harlot, also known as Babylon, the Roman capital

(17:1-19:10). Besides the condemnation of the empire's murderous

violence already mentioned, this passage denounces repeatedly Rome's

economic exploitation of the empire and its uncontrolled passion for

exaggerated luxuries (strnao; 18:3, 7, 9; cf. 18:14; today, conspicuous

consumption and consumerism). This becomes clear if the chapters are

read from an economic perspective, with fornication and drunkenness

understood as the orgiastic thirst for luxury that Rome not only practiced

but also fostered throughout the empire. Franz Delitzsch described the

prostitution of Isaiah 23:17-18 as "mercantile trading, which is only bent

on earthly advantage ... recognizing none of the limits imposed by God,

and making itself common to all the world [as] a prostitution of the soul."15

14It is striking that the only description of eternal torment of humans is not against sinners

in general but against those who accept the mark of the beast i e who accommodate to the


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An analysis of the lament of the merchants (18:11-19) leaves no doubt

about the economic interpretat ion of 17:1-19:10 and of John's detailed

knowledge of imperial commerce.16 In a sort of mock funeral, first the

import-export merchants and then the maritime transporters wail with

double "ay, ay" the demise of their lucrative market. The passage isextended and very specific. In 18:12-13, John offers a list of some thirty

products of imperial trade, mostly luxury items. Then, in more general

terms, John notes that "the fruit [varied luxuries] you longed for is gone

from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished" (18:14). It is obvi

ously a condemnation of the materialism and mercantilism of the Roman

economic system.

This dramatic passage in Revelation follows its basic model from Ezekiel

27. That prophet also gives a list of commercial productsfifty-one ofthembut they are strikingly different from those in the similar list of

Revelation 18. Both lists are also radically different from what a similar

list today might be: Mercedes Benz cars, Rolex watches, oversize refrigera

tors, and whiskey to stock the shelves. This is clearly not an end-time list.

On the contrary, it is reasonable to suppose that Jo hn must have visited

the wharves of Ephesus to learn from the sailors and the contents of their

vessels and has incorporated these so-called bills of lading into his text.

John was indeed a very impressive economist.

Finally, Joh n also denounces the ideological system of the Roman

Empire with its concepts of Roma aeterna, Pax romana, emperor worship,

and the invincible power of the empire. Jo hn unmasks this entire ideolog

ical apparatus with a spellbinding narrative, "the drama of the Dragon and

his allies." The story, which occupies chapters 12-13 and 17-20, revolves

around six dramatis personae: the dragon, the woman, the child, the

Beast, the false prophet, and the harlot. The entire story constitutes a vivid

"demonology of the empire." The dragon is explicitly defined as Satan

(12:9; 20:2), the ancient serpent, and the child is clearly the Messiah ofPsalm 2. The woman of chapter 12 seems to be a composite of Eve (Gen. 3);

Zion (giving birth to the Messiah, Isa. 54:1; 66:7); and, after the ascension

of her infant son, the persecuted church. From chapter 13 on, the drama

revolves around the two beasts and the harlot. The central teaching is that

behind all the political, military, economic, and ideological structures of

the empire is Satan himself. Over against the throne of God and the Lamb

stands the throne of Satan (2:13) and the Beast (13:2-4). In that concrete

context, history is seen as a conflict between the empire of the Beast and

that of Christ the Lord.


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In Chapter 12, the dragon wages war against a pregnant woman and her

soon-to-be-born child, but nothing goes well for him. When he is about to

seize the child and devour it, the child is snatched away from him to the

heavenly throneexactly what the Devil wanted to avoid. He then pursues

the child but is defeated by Michael and thrown violently down to earth.Having lost the battle for the child, he now seeks to persecute the woman,

but she sprouts a pair of wings and escapes from his clutches. Finally,

furious and frustrated, he vomits a river of poison, hoping to engulf the

woman, but the earth opens its mouth and swallows all the poison. Then,

though he has had nothing but embarrassing failures, the dragon adopts a

new strategy to attack the other children of the woman (12:17).17

This is when the Devil decides to create the Roman Empire (13:1-3)

and the imperial cult (13:4; 11-15) as his last, desperate assault againstthe church. Thus, John clearly demonizes the Roman Empire and informs

all those tempted to accommodate to the religion of the empire that if

they jo in in that worship, they will be involved in devil worship. Adoration

of the emperor is, for John, adoration of the dragon who "gave the Beast

his power and his throne and great authority" (13:2). As a result, "people

worshipped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and

they worshipped the beast" (13:4). Emperor worship is devil worship. The

empire and its ideology are an invention of Satan. The message to the

Nicolaitans could not be clearer.

In our times, tolerance is the summum bonum among moral values and

to demonize or Satanize is considered an unpardonable lack of good taste,

or worse, a grave sin against social and political ethics. True, of course, it

is always dangerous to absolutize one political position as supreme good

and its rivals as ultimate evil. Nevertheless, John teaches us that Satan is

active in the political realm and he has no hesitation about demonizing the

Roman Empire. As serious as is the error of seeing the devil where he is not

active, the opposite error is to not see Satan's presence where his "principal

ities and powers" are all too busy. We should neither demonize what is not

demonic nor "undemonize" what is in fact demonic. A task for a Christian

political ethic, and for the church as a prophetic community today, is to

discern and denounce the satanic forces that are active in politics and in all

of society and of history.

John reassumes this narrative in chapter 17 with a new personality, the

Harlot, also known as Babylon the Great. John leaves no doubt that the

Harlot is a powerful contemporary city (17:18), the imperial capital that

intoxicates the entire world with its luxuries and teaches them, like itself,


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having been the last to enter the stage, is the first to depart, devoured

by her own allies (17:16-17). The two beasts, who had been second and

third to appear, are then captured and cast into the lake of fire (19:20).

The dragon, who was the first actor in this drama, is now alone, back to

where he was before he conjured up the imperial beasts (12:17). Somewhatsurprisingly, God does not also cast him into the lake of fire but assigns him

a very long sentence of preventive imprisonment (20:1-3). Upon release,

the dragon is totally unrepentant and with his new allies, Gog and Magog,

tries to provoke another war. He and his rebel army are consumed by fire

from heaven and consigned to eternal judgment . The world has seen its

last war and the forces of evil have been destroyed forever.

This whole story is intensely dramatic and charged with constant polit

ical overtones. Perhaps our endless debates about the millennium miss thereal point of the long story, which a more imaginative reading and a more

contextual interpretation could help us recover.

Conclusion

Latin American hermeneutics cannot claim a monopoly on the above

characteristics and is usually nourished by input from other regions and

cultures. Taken together in Latin America, all this results in a partic

ular perspective on Revelation, on eschatology, and on hermeneutics ingeneral. Exegetical methods that rigorously seek to clarify what the Spirit

said to the churches of yesterday must be supplemented by hermeneutical

methods that listen to hear what the Spirit is saying now to the churches

of today.

In the United States, a caricature of Latin American theology and

especially of liberation theology seems to have circulated as if it were an

impulsive, superficial Marxist movement with little concern for serious

biblical investigation. In my own experience the opposite has often beentrue. I have found great help from my Latin American colleagues, while I

have often been disillusioned by the paucity and poverty of serious biblical

answers from their conservative opponents.

In these times of shattering changes and historic challenges, may the

Spirit guide God's people, both north and south, into faithful and perti

nent interpretation of the Word as well as a courageous prophetic presence

to serve our generation in the name of our Lord.


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^ s

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Stam - Interpretacion de Latinoamerica de Apocalipsis - Ingles

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Transcript of Stam - Interpretacion de Latinoamerica de Apocalipsis - Ingles