Thanks for the less mysterious explanation. The last one was as mysterious as you say the Apoclypse is

!
The Apocalypse was written to be read, and the Church is the one who should do the interpreting. That is why I feel confident with Robert Sungenis’,
The Apocalypse of St. John. I know he stuck pretty much to the Church understanding of the key issues (Millenium, binding of Satan, etc.). He is consistent with what you are saying. In the introduction, he states:
“Lastly, many are tempted to interpret the Apocalypse as if it were written stride-for-stride with the prophetic symbols of the Old Testament. For example, if the exegete wants to discover the meaning of a symbol in the Apocalypse, the method he may employ is to find the meaning of that symbol in other biblical books that use an identical or similar symbol, such as Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah or the various other prophetic books. But although this sounds like a logical step and, admittedly, there are some cases of a one-to-one correspondence between the Apocalypse and the Old Testament, in many instances this is simply not true. One of the primary indicators of this unique attribute of the Apocalypse is that it never quotes directly from the Old Testament… Although the Apocalypse contains over 300 allusions to Old Testament figures and events, some direct and some indirect (e.g., Jezebel, Balaam, Sodom, Moses, Elijah), no exegete can treat lightly the fact that John never quotes directly from the Old Testament, or for that matter, even from the New Testament…Among other things, this lacuna tells us that, although the Apocalypse will perhaps borrow imagery and concepts from the rest of Scripture, it is a book with its own unique message, and it does not confine itself to the meanings employed in the Old Testament. It is our quest to discover precisely what that unique message of the Apocalypse actually is.”
P.S., have you gotten a copy of Sungenis’ book?
Mark Wyatt
www.veritas-catholic.blogspot.com