Strange problem.
You may remember, I was toying with an alternate timeline (the story timeline) to explain why things aren't going as expected when reading Revelation in that timeline. I intended to explain it with the idea that our Bible is not only inerrant but is also the only true Bible, and because it's supernatural, it's also the only Bible out there in every timeline. So, the story's timeline has an inerrant, supernatural Bible from our timeline, yet events along the story's timeline don't match the Bible, nor should they since our Bible was written for our timeline, not the story's timeline.
The alternative, I realized, is to not even mention another timeline. Instead, John wrote Revelation based on his visions of how the future will unfold (without a challenge from Satan). However, the very act of writing that, which Satan read, led to the challenge, invalidating what John had written.
But! Had John foreseen the challenge and written about it, Satan would not have issued the challenge since the second version also predicts Satan will lose.
So, whatever John writes, causes it not to happen. Yet somehow, the Bible is supposed to be inerrant. Yikes!
I'll have to find some way to document the above crazy inter-dependency between the two versions. Perhaps I should write that, although the Bible contains only one version of Revelation, either version (both of which are inerrant!) could come to pass, and humans simply have to wait for the future to unfold to see what happens.
The confusing thing for the reader is that the fake version of Revelation, written by Satan, will be erroneously regarded as one of the two inerrant versions. And some of it (the existence of a challenge) will be true. It was issued and God accepted. Although predictions made in the fraudulent version come true, it's because Satan makes sure they come true (e.g., various wars and assassinations) to lend unquestionable credibility to his version. And his version also (falsely) predicts Christ returning as a child.
I could write a third version (which is the version, with the challenge, that actually unfolds in the story, with the Antichrist masquerading as Christ). That's one of the two inerrant versions noted above. However, three versions of Revelation is a lot for the reader to wrap their mind around. If I include a third version, it would only appear at the end of the book. Of course, if that version exists and is found, it would predict the end of my trilogy, where Satan loses, which spoils a key part of the ending. That clearly suggests, I shouldn't write a third version.
Are your heads spinning yet?
