from Jeff Pippenger’s presentation-London, 2000
"In the fear and love of God I tell those before whom I stand
to-day that there is increased light for us, and that great blessings come with
the reception of this light. And when I see my brethren stirred with anger
against God's messages and messengers, I think of similar scenes in the life of
Christ and the reform. The reception given to God's servants in past ages is the
same as the reception that those to-day receive through whom God is sending
precious rays of light. The leaders of the people to-day pursue the same course
of action that the Jews pursued. They criticize and ply question after question,
and refuse to admit evidence, treating the light sent them in the very same way
that the Jews treated the light Christ brought them." The Ellen G. White 1888
Materials, pg. 911
"In this our day men have placed themselves where they are
wholly unable to fulfill the conditions of repentance and confession; therefore
they cannot find mercy and pardon. The sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit
does not lie in any sudden word or deed; it is the firm, determined resistance
of truth and evidence.
"The Lord has been calling his people. In a most marked
manner he has revealed his divine presence. But the message and the messengers
have not been received but despised….In rejecting the message given… men
committed sin. They have committed far greater sin by retaining for years the
same hatred against God's messengers, by rejecting the truth that the Holy
Spirit has been urging home. By making light of the message given, they are
making light of the word of God. Every appeal rejected, every entreated
unheeded, furthers the work of heart-hardening, and places them in the seat of
the scornful." Pg. 913
"In this time light from the throne of God has been long
resisted as an objectionable thing. It has been regarded as darkness and spoke
of as fanaticism, as something dangerous. Thus men have become guide-posts
pointing in the wrong direction. They have followed the example set by the
Jewish people. They have hugged their false theories and maxims to their hearts
until they have become to them as precious fundamental doctrines. They have come
to think that if they let them go, the foundations of their faith will be
destroyed. If all those who claim to believe present truth had opened their
hearts to receive the message, and the spirit of truth, which is the mercy and
justice and love of God, they would not have gathered about the darkness so
dense that they could not discern light. They would not have called the
operations of the Holy Spirit fanaticism and error." PG- 915
We’re going to begin looking at prophecy from this point
forward.
I thought of a scripture brought out a few places in the book
of Acts that I want to set the stage for my presentation tonight. In Acts 17:2
it says "and Paul as his manner was, went in unto them and three Sabbath days
reasoned with them out of the scriptures."
Tonight I want to address a few concepts concerning prophetic
study, Daniel 11:40-45, and some of the resistance given to that particular
message. There has been a consistent attack on the understanding that comes from
the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy on the last 6 verses of Daniel 11. I want to
address some of this resistance—not specifically but in general terms and
hopefully bring to our attention the seriousness of these particular verses of
Daniel 11:40-45.
One of the things said about these verses is that they’re not
that important—they’re not ‘salvational’. This has been consistently echoed
about these last six verses. My position is that they are extremely important to
the prophetic understanding at the end of the world and that’s what I hope to
demonstrate to you over the next several nights. In fact I will go so far as to
say that Daniel 11:40-45 is the very heart of end time Bible prophecy and that
is not simply my opinion, you can see that established from the Bible and the
Spirit of Prophecy. I know that it is a bold claim but I hope you’ll see when
we’re done that it is an accurate claim.
You may decide when you check this understanding of the last
6 verses of Daniel 11 out, through your studies, that this is erroneous or you
may come to understand that it’s not erroneous. That’s up to you to decide; BUT,
here’s one point I want you to consider; if this understanding is correct and if
this is present truth—If this is light for these last days—then wouldn’t you
expect there to be resistance to this message?
The fact that you have different sectors of Adventism saying
this is fanaticism, or this is that messenger’s personal opinion or
whatever—doesn’t necessarily mean that it might not be Present Truth. We know
that whenever a Present Truth message has arrived in Bible history, the greatest
majority of God’s people resist the light. You need to bear that in mind. That’s
one thing I want to reason with you about. I want to get across that just
because this may appear to be a minority point of view—does not necessarily mean
that it isn’t accurate. It doesn’t mean that it is accurate either, but it
should give you something to at least consider.
In the verse we started with, Paul reasoned with people, and
that word ‘reasoned’ implied that he was sharing truths, concepts, ideas from
the word of God. He wasn’t sharing them in such a dogmatic fashion that it was
‘either you chose it my way or you’re wrong and that’s all there is to the
discussion’. He was challenging the people to investigate it for themselves and
think these things through, so that they could see whether or not it was true.
If not they could reject it. That’s what I’m calling to you to do with this
material. But it’s not really that I’m calling you to do it—that’s not the
issue—as Seventh-day Adventists you have the responsibility to do that—period—whether
I ask you to or not.
I gave out a sermon from 1893 Gen. Con. by A. T. Jones. (See
‘Things Old and New’ in my library) In this sermon, A. T. Jones clearly conveyed
to that group of leaders of the Adventist church, that we know historically,
didn’t want to hear much from him—that when it comes to an understanding from
the word of God—no one has any right to pick and chose whether or not they
believe it! You have to see if it’s true—in the Bible—if it’s true in the Bible
then you believe it. It’s not up to your own human reasoning. You don’t have
that choice if you are going to be a genuine Christian. You have to test it by
the word of God—if it matches the word of God, even if it disagrees with what
you understand—if you are going to genuinely follow the Lord, you have to accept
it.
Do you think that Abraham had a logical understanding of why
it was correct to be killing his son? He knew that it was to break the Ten
Commandments, to commit murder; but the Lord had told him, "Kill your son." And
in spite of his human reasoning, in spite of the fact that he knew that God’s
law forbid the taking of a life, he went ahead and by faith acted upon God’s
Word.
When it comes to the study of God’s word, particularly when
someone is presenting a portion of God’s word and making the bold claim that
this is ‘Present Truth’—this isn’t just a minor concept in the word of God that
doesn’t have impact one way or the other—that isn’t the claim I’m making about
the last 6 verses of Daniel 11; I’m saying that it is—and I’ll say the word that
really makes everyone nervous—IT IS SALVATIONAL to Seventh-day Adventists—they
do not have the right to reject it. They don’t, because it isn’t just a minor
detail, it is saying in these verses that probation is about to close for
Seventh-day Adventists!
It is saying it in order to wake us up in time to prepare our
character for that event. Now if those verses are really saying our probation is
about to close, and we need to finish the work of character development in our
lives so we can receive the Seal of God instead of the Mark of the Beast—you
tell me whether that is salvational or not? That’s salvational! If the claim I’m
making here is correct, then it IS salvational.
I’ve never, ever publicly said that before because it’s not
something I want to emphasize; I’m just responding to some of the nonsense
that’s being said about this. If the claims about these verses I’ve been sharing
are correct, yes, it is salvational. I’ll tell you something else, when it comes
to the study of God’s word, if I choose to disregard what the Bible plainly says
to me, on any doctrine in the Bible, it’s salvational.
Since when do we get to pick and choose a doctrine of the
Bible and say, "I can reject that one," and it’s not salvational? Since when in
the study of God’s word, does it not have a bearing on our salvation? The whole
Bible is salvational! So when you hear men saying, "Well, that topic isn’t
salvational anyway, I don’t know why he keeps dwelling on it" you just need to
reason that one through.
First off, if we’re going to discuss what is and what isn’t
salvational which I’ve never done before publicly, we’re told that our greatest
need is what? For a revival. Selected Messages Book 1, pg.121
"A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and
most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work."
Our first work is to seek for a revival and 2 pages later she
tells us that a revival means ‘renewal from spiritual death’. So she’s saying
that we are spiritually dead. What we need is to be brought back to life and
when we are brought back to life, we are revived. What the church needs is the
same thing; we need to be brought back to life. And the message that we were
raised up to clarify for the world, is the third angel’s message—a warning
against receiving the mark of Rome. If you can’t see in these presentations that
Rome is about ready to strike, then I don’t know how you ever will see it.
That message is about to take place and it is clear that
Adventism is asleep and needs to be woken up. It needs to be revived where it
receives the Holy Spirit to empower it to clearly proclaim this message to the
world. But how is that going to happen? The Spirit of Prophecy tells us how it’s
going to happen. Speaking of the books of Daniel and Revelation, in Test. To
Min. pg. 113: "When we as a people understand what this book means to us, there
will be seen among us a great revival."
There is a truth in the books of Daniel and Revelation,
designed by God, to bring about the final revival. So if we’re going to talk
about whether there is a passage in the Bible that is worth presenting to the
people in the sense that it is salvational, then we know right from the outset
that Daniel and Revelation are probably books that qualify to hold some
salvational issues because they are the very books that God has said will bring
about the final revival if they are correctly understood.
Are you will me on that? We’re reasoning—I’m trying to
parallel what Paul did, he reasoned with people, out of the scriptures. I would
submit to you that the books of Daniel and Revelation are what we are to be
studying. That is where the focus of God’s people is supposed to be. "In the
Revelation all the books of the Bible meet and end. Here is the complement of
the book of Daniel." Acts of the Apostles 585.
There are two words that sound pretty much the same in the
English language—compliment and complement. One has an ‘e’ and has an ‘i’. In
this passage Sister White says that the books of Daniel and Revelation
complement each other—with an ’e’. Now a compliment with an ‘i’ is when I say,
"Brother you really look nice tonight." That’s a compliment.
But that’s not what the books of Daniel and Revelation do;
she said ‘complement with an ‘e’, and complement means to bring to perfection.
When the books of Daniel and Revelation are brought together, they bring each
other to perfection. That’s why she says, "When we as a people understand what
this book means to us," because Sister White sometimes refers to the books of
Daniel and Revelation as if they are one book because when they are brought
together they bring each other to perfection.
One of the handouts is the ‘Rules of Prophetic
Interpretation’ by William Miller; I was hoping you would look through it. (See
Prophecy Seminar on this web site) some of the arguments today against the last
six verses of Daniel 11 are just vague insinuations; some of them have
degenerated to character attacks on the messengers that might be presenting this
message; but some of them are theological. Theological for me means, using the
techniques that are taught in the schools of theology. This is not really just
simply taking God at His Word. It’s a different way of studying the Bible; it’s
studying about God instead of experiencing God. Theology is
different from what you’ll see reflected in the rules of interpretation by
William Miller.
Rule number 1 "Every word must have its proper bearing on the
subject presented in the Bible."
What I want you to see in that first rule of William Miller
is ‘every word’; every word is to be considered and have its proper
bearing. Let me show you an example of this; William Miller, in a very simple
fashion, not in a theological fashion, he didn’t say you need to look at the
Greek or Hebrew of the word and see what tense it’s in and… nothing like this—he
just said every word has to have it’s proper bearing. The primary attack on this
understanding of the last 6 verses of Daniel 11 is in verse 41 and verse 45.
Turn there with me for a moment and I’ll show you what I mean by ‘every word
must have its proper bearing’ and then you can reason among yourselves and
see if some of the accusations that are being made about this message hold up to
the rules of prophetic interpretation of William Miller.
We won’t even discuss so much the meanings of these verses,
we’re just going to look at some words like William Miller said. Verse 41: "He
shall enter also into the glorious land."
Now nobody—critics or myself—argues that this ‘he’ is the
Papacy, the King of the North. That’s not the question that’s being pushed here,
but what is being argued is this ‘glorious land’. So there’s a word,
glorious land. OK? Now we don’t need to read the rest of the verse because
you’ll see it’s a very simple point I want to make here.
Drop down to verse 45: "And he (and once again nobody is
arguing that this ‘he’ is once again the king of the north, the papacy) shall
plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy
mountain." And what I want you to see there is the ‘glorious holy mountain’.
Glorious Holy Mountain in verse 45 and glorious land in verse 41. Now William
Miller says that every word needs to have its proper bearing.
Daniel himself, in his prayer, identifies for us what the
Glorious Holy Mountain is. He’s praying about the glorious holy mountain in
chapter 9 verse 16. It says, "Oh, Lord, according to all thy righteousness I
beseech thee, let thy anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city
Jerusalem, thy holy mountain." And this is consistent with the rest of the
Bible; the Glorious Holy Mountain; Jerusalem His city; His church; His
people.
In fact let’s turn to Isaiah 2:2—the prophets agree with one
another; we’re looking at the glorious holy mountain, "and it shall come to pass
in the last days" You know we’re in the last days, right? So Isaiah’s
talking about the last days here. "And it shall come to pass in our day that the
mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains
and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it and many
people shall say come and let us go unto the mountain of the Lord, to the house
of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk on his
paths for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem."
Jerusalem is the glorious holy mountain, God’s church
in the last days. No one, even those who are criticizing this understanding are
arguing that the Glorious Holy Mountain of verse 45 is God’s church. But
they are saying that the Glorious Land of verse 41, is also God’s church.
Right there, if you’re a student of prophecy, the warning
bells ought to go off. Let me tell you, if you are not sure about whether you
should be a student of prophecy or not, here is a straight testimony. T.5. pg
708- "Whatever may be man's intellectual advancement, (whether his intellectual
advancement is very small, very great or anything in between) let him not for a
moment think that there is no need of thorough and continuous searching of the
Scriptures for greater light. As a people we are called individually to be
students of prophecy." Everyone in this room has been directed by the Word
of the Lord to be a student of prophecy.
So when talking about the Glorious Holy Mountain in
verse 45 of Daniel 11, and I identify it correctly as God’s church and then we
go to verse 41 and it says the glorious land and people are saying that
the glorious land is ALSO God’s church, as a student of prophecy the warning
bells go off. They should. You know why? Because according to William Miller
Every word must have its proper bearing on the subject.
Do you think Daniel was inspired or not? What does it mean to
be inspired? It means to have the breath of God directing what you are writing
or saying. It means that God is controlling the words that are getting recorded
in that particular passage of scripture. It means if God says glorious land in
this verse and Glorious Holy Mountain in that verse, a student of prophecy
recognizes that God is trying to tell us they are not the same thing.
They’re different. If He had wanted us to believe that the glorious land in
verse 41 is God’s church as in verse 45, Glorious Holy Mountain, He would have
said in verse 41 ‘Glorious Holy Mountain’. He did not do it, and William Miller
says that every word should have its proper bearing. So that’s what I mean by
the rules of William Miller. We’re not looking at these verses in depth yet, but
we are reasoning with you.
One of the other controversies is sometimes directed at the
messengers that may be giving this message, saying they are making too much of
this prophetic presentation. Worrying about what these last 6 verses are
in this prophecy, really shouldn’t be given such a high level of emphasis. There
are other things that need to be going forward at this present time in earth’s
history. Let me share some truths on that subject.
Evangelism 196: "Ministers should present that the apostasy
in the church is the foundation of faith of Seventh-day Adventists." That’s not
what it says; it says this:
"Ministers should present the sure word of prophecy as
the foundation of the faith of Seventh-day Adventists."
When anyone tells you, "You know that particular passage of
prophecy, I’m not so sure that it’s that important. You shouldn’t be putting
that much emphasis on it." Just remember that the foundation of our faith is
PROPHECY and we’ve been warned through several dreams and visions through the
Spirit of Prophecy that as we approach to the end, the enemy of souls is going
to seek to remove our foundation. What is our foundation? PROPHECY.
She doesn’t just tell us these things once but over and over.
Let me read you another:
"The Word of God, just as it reads, is the ground of our
faith." Amen? "That Word is—Theology? What about New Theology? No that’s not
what she says—"That Word is the sure word of prophecy, and it demands
implicit faith from all who claim to believe it." The Signs of the Times
06-02-98
Let me reason with you, at the end of the world when every
one wants to be involved with Present Truth, whatever Present Truth may be, if
you see someone with a particular understanding on PROPHECY, and perhaps it is
Present Truth, would you expect to see people opposing it? Yes. Would you expect
one of the arguments to be that they’re making too much of that prophetic
understanding? Yes, you would.
Now that doesn’t prove whether this understanding in these
verses is correct, but I want you to see you could expect that to happen. First;
what should be presented as the ground of our faith and according to the
previous passage, the foundation of our faith, isn’t apostasy in the church, it
isn’t theology or new theology—it is prophecy. That’s what Seventh-day
Adventists are; that’s how we came to be. We are identified specifically in the
book of Revelation. The remnant—potentially the 144,000; possibly Laodecia that
gets spewed out of God’s mouth. We were not just brought about by William Miller
understanding prophecy correctly—we’re actually right there in the
prophecies and we’re told that what brings the final revival is prophecy. So be
very, very cautious when someone starts opposing prophecy and make sure that you
understand it correctly.
Notice this one from The Desire of Ages, pg.799 "It is the
voice of Christ that speaks through patriarchs and prophets, from the days of
Adam even to the closing scenes of time."
Do you know what that means? It means that every word in the
Bible is the voice of Christ. So I have the responsibility to do the best I can
to really understand what the glorious land in Daniel 11:41 really means.
Because it’s Christ’s voice, that’s how He speaks to us.
Continuing on: "It is the voice of Christ that speaks through
patriarchs and prophets, from the days of Adam even to the closing scenes of
time. The Saviour is revealed in the Old Testament as clearly as in the New. It
is the light from the prophetic past that brings out the life of Christ
and the teachings of the New Testament with clearness and beauty. The
miracles of Christ are a proof of His divinity; but a stronger proof that He is
the world's Redeemer is found in comparing the prophecies of the Old Testament
with the history of the New."
You’re going to be more convicted about Christ being the
Redeemer, the Creator, from prophecy, than you are if He stands before you and
performs a miracle. That is how important prophecy is! We’ve already described
how important it is because if we are spiritually dead and our greatest need is
to come alive and we been told that prophecy is what’s going to do it, then
there is some kind of prophetic understanding that’s going to bring salvation to
our lives, because if we don’t wake up, we are lost! So it is from prophecy that
we’re going to be saved, through Christ.
"Beginning at Moses, the very Alpha of Bible history, Christ
expounded in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Had He first made
Himself known to them, their hearts would have been satisfied. In the fullness
of their joy they would have hungered for nothing more. But it was necessary for
them to understand the witness borne to Him by the types and prophecies of the
Old Testament."
She’s talking about the disciples on the road to Emmaus;
notice what she says here to us, or what Christ says to us, "But it was
necessary for them to understand the witness borne to Him by the types and
prophecies of the Old Testament. Upon these their faith must be established."
Ibid.
I’ve heard many, many people say in Adventism, and it’s
correct, "We need to have the faith of Jesus." That’s accurate understanding,
but the faith of Jesus is built upon the prophecies of the Bible. That’s
where faith is established, the ground of our faith.
"Upon these their faith must be established. Christ performed
no miracle to convince them, but it was His first work to explain the
Scriptures. They had looked upon His death as the destruction of all their
hopes. Now He showed from the prophets that this was the very strongest evidence
for their faith." Ibid.
If you’re going to have saving faith then it’s going to have
to be built upon the prophecies. So is there potential in the book of Daniel,
for an understanding that may be salvational? If we don’t have saving faith it
means that we have losing faith, lost faith; it means we’re lost.
It is potentially at least, a salvational issue. We haven’t
yet identified these verses, we’re just reasoning with you about whether or not
some of these accusations are valid.
Daniel is a good example of the 144,000 or those of us that
live at the end of the world? This is from Conflict and Courage 256: "With faith
founded on the sure word of prophecy, Daniel pleaded with the Lord for the
speedy fulfillment of these promises."
There are many issues you could name in Adventism today. The
‘feast days’ are not the message for Adventism today; the Trinity question is
not the message for Adventism today; the re-application of time prophecies is
not the message for Adventism today. There are a multitude of winds of doctrine
blowing through Adventism today and why can’t Adventists just acknowledge that
as Seventh-day Adventists they already know what the message is? Everyone knows
what our message is—what is our message? The third angel’s message—but for some
reason, we get pulled off that message by just about anything that blows
through.
When we look at the last six verses of Daniel 11, that verse
41 that everybody has so much question about whether it’s salvational or
not—that’s the verse that tells us there’s a Sunday Law imminent in the United
States—the Sunday Law is the third angel’s message. So if verse 41 of Daniel 11
truly is identifying the Sunday Law in the United States, then it is part of the
third angel’s message, which is our message and which is prophecy,
which is where the final revival comes from.
Now there are at least three so called self-supporting or
independent ministries in the United States and a couple here, that have a
burden to resist the understanding that we put forth about the last six verses
of Daniel 11.
There might be a little bit more consistency to their
resistance if they all had the same criticism. But no, it’s a little question
here or a little question there, or it’s the messenger, or this, that and the
other. It’s a vague attack.
I’ve heard one kind of inference about the messenger. Not so
much about the message, but I’d like to set the tables straight on it—that’s the
word ‘speculate’. "Brother Pippenger does a lot of speculating." "Now
that’s kind of speculation on that verse."
There are at least three ways you can take it; If anyone is
presenting error, and you are in the audience, you may not know it’s error and
believe it; so you’re not going to say much. Or you may recognize it as error
but decide you’re so complacent you’re not going to say anything. Or you may
recognize it as error and you’re going to say something. If you are among that
group that hears error preached, and you are going to respond to it, then there
are certain rules that you need to follow. 1. You have to clearly identify what
the error is. You have to say, "This right here, that’s the error." 2. You have
to do more than that; you have to say, "It is error for this reason, this reason
and this reason.
If you do that, you don’t have to make any charges about the
messenger’s character; all you have to do in Adventism is show that his message
is out in left field and his influence on Adventism is over. SO if you’re going
to be one of those that recognize error as error then you need to
specifically identify the error and clearly tell why.
The greatest majority attack on this is the word ‘speculate’.
So look up the word ‘speculate’, because I do speculate and I hope you do too.
‘Speculate’ from Webster’s dictionary means to view, to
contemplate, to see. When you’re studying prophecy, should you view it? Should
you contemplate about it? Should you see it? That’s the primary definition of
speculate.
The second definition is about investing money in stock
market—that’s a type of speculation. But the first one under ‘speculate’, the
primary meaning, says, to meditate, to contemplate, to consider a subject by
turning it over in your mind and viewing it in its different aspects and
relations as to speculate on political events. To speculate on the probabilities
of a discovery; do you think a student of prophecy should not speculate? Oh,
absolutely, we need to speculate!
William Miller speculated—he was studying the Bible and he
was straining his mind to try to figure out how these symbols fit together. If
you surrender your God given ability to speculate about what these symbols mean
it means that you’re going to take the position that "I’ll never know. I don’t
understand that one" and you’ll never understand it, because in order to
understand it you have to speculate. You have to think, "where have I seen that
before in the Bible? What could that mean?" So yes, you will hear that part of
the problem with this message is that the messenger speculates. And Yes I do.
Now if you go to the Spirit of Prophecy and you run the word
speculate, you’ll find that Sister White says that we should not speculate,
sometimes. I’ll read you a few: This is T.6 pg 440. "You are not to know the day
or the hour of the Lord's appearing, for this has not been revealed, and let
none speculate on that which has not been given him to understand."
If something hasn’t been given to us to understand we’re not
to speculate on it. Now have we been told to search and study the prophetic word
as a miner would dig for gems? Oh, yes—we’re supposed to speculate on prophecy.
We’ve been told to—but there are some things we’ve been told not to speculate
on.
8T pg.317 "We are not doing the will of God when we
speculate upon things that He has seen fit to withhold from us." We could
probably think of some things that He has withheld from us but if we did we’d be
speculating, so let’s not even pursue that because we’ve been told not to.
We have a clear example in Adventist history, speaking of the
book ‘The Living Temple’, the book written by Kellogg identifying God as an
essence that pervaded everything. The name for that was pantheism. You’re
familiar with that history I hope? She says, "It introduces that which is
naught but speculation in regard to the personality of God and where His
presence is. No one on this earth has a right to speculate on this
question." Sel. Mess. 1 pg. 201. The question about the very essence of God, we
haven’t been given that information. Kellogg stared speculating on that and he
left the truth and took a group of people with him.
So there are some things you aren’t supposed to speculate on.
But they’re simply the things in the Word of God that God hasn’t revealed to us,
at least not that much. Counsels to Writers and Editors pg 193. "It may be
innocent (that’s the opposite to guilty) to speculate beyond what God's word has
revealed, if our theories do not contradict facts found in the Scriptures;"
So it’s OK to speculate about things if they aren’t denying
the truth of scripture. We’ve been told that the 144,000 are going to travel to
the different worlds and share the testimony about the experience of the 144,000
haven’t we? Well what would be wrong with me wondering if I was one of the
144,000 and you were one of the 144,000 maybe at some point you and I would
travel to one of those worlds together. There’s really nothing wrong with that;
I mean I don’t have any time for that; but she’s saying on something that
doesn’t contradict the word of God it’s OK to speculate. So she understands the
definition of speculate.
She even tells one sister you can speculate in T2 pg 243: "I
was referred to this scripture: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are
pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if
there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Here,
dear sister, you may meditate and speculate with profit."
We can speculate; if it comes from the word of God we can
speculate. So when people toss around the reason that you don’t want to consider
this understanding of the last six verses of Daniel 11, is because the messenger
speculates? I’m guilty, but let’s be sure about what speculate means. If they
want to use that as a reason to deny this truth, they have the responsibility to
clearly identify what that speculation is about and why it is wrong.
If they don’t do that, do you know what they are doing? Read
the first few chapters in Patriarchs and Prophets; that’s how Satan brought
discord into heaven, by insinuating doubts, without bringing any facts in
connection with the insinuations; just to create division, confusion and doubt.
You have a responsibility if you’re going to be a straight testimony person and
point out the sins—to identify what the sins are and why they are sins. You have
that responsibility. So let’s be careful about throwing that word ’speculate’
around.
Now the ministries from the United States that have been
foremost in tossing this word ‘speculate’ and some other ideas, say that they
have a message of Present Truth and I’m not going to argue that at this point.
What I want you to understand is—there is a Present Truth for every
generation—there is. And it’s not a ‘Present Truths’ it’s a ‘Present Truth’, so
there is a ‘Present Truth’ for this time in earth’s history. It would be
beneficial for us to understand what that ‘Present Truth’ is.
These ministries that want to resist this, are based upon the
shaking in Adventism. They will tell you that there are three phases of the
shaking in Adventism, have you ever heard that? I had a brother give me a
publication since I’ve been here and there’s an article in the publication that
talks about the different phases of the shaking. They are the experts, these
ministries on what the shaking is.
You know what the shaking is, it comes in three phases; the
first shaking begins in Adventism how? By the introduction of false doctrine.
Anyone ever heard that? That’s the first phase of the shaking. And we all know
that began in the early 1950s with Barnhouse and ‘Questions on Doctrine’ and
it’s just escalated.
What’s the second phase of the shaking? They’ll all tell you
it’s when some stand up and oppose the New Theology and that also brings a
shaking.
What’s the third phase of the shaking? The persecution of the
Sunday Law; persecution in the church; persecution out into the Sunday Law time
period; that’s the shaking. If you understand yourself to be one of those men or
ministries or institutions that has been raised up by the Lord to be the one
that is standing in the gap—to deal with the inroads of New Theology—if you have
your ministry built around that work, then I would say that the essence of your
ministry has to do with the shaking. Is that a logical assumption? Because
that’s what it is, the magazines, the books, the presentations have to deal with
those issues that are causing the shaking.
Manuscript Releases Volume Three pg. 34 "There is to be a
shaking among God's people; …it will be the result of refusing the truth
presented."
You ever heard that principle set forth before? The shaking
comes from refusing the truth. I read you a sentence but I left the middle of
the sentence out. "There is to be a shaking among God's people; but this
is not the present truth to carry to the churches; it will be the result
of refusing the truth presented."
The shaking; what’s bringing the shaking; opposing the
shaking; the persecution; is NOT the ‘Present Truth’ to carry to the churches!
Why? Why? Very clear principle; and this is one of the hardest things for
conservative Historic Seventh-day Adventists or whatever label you want to put
on them, to understand and we all know it by heart!
‘By beholding, we become changed’! If you continue to
focus on the apostasy in the church—and it is there; if you continue to try to
serve those around you from the point of reference of New Theology, false
theology, false doctrines, the apostates, the inroads of Rome—you become
changed!
That’s the rule; you know the principle; "By beholding you
become changed!" So what does Sister White mean when she says the shaking is not
the ‘Present Truth’? I’ll tell you what I think she means; she means the
‘Present Truth’ is the third angel’s message. That’s ‘Present Truth’! and that’s
clearly identified in Daniel 11:40-45. Because the third angel’s message is
talking about the Sunday Law, and the Sunday Law is right there in those verses!
Why is that ‘Present Truth’? Because of the very same principle, ‘by beholding
you become changed’!
If you’re looking at what’s going on in the world, correctly
from prophecy, you’re realizing that a Sunday Law is imminent. And by beholding
you become changed; how do you become changed? If every time you walk out the
door, you get hit in the face with the fact that the current events are telling
you a Sunday Law is imminent, YOU GET SCARED if you’re not right with God.
What’s the very beginning of the three angel’s messages?
"Fear God!" Wake up! Probation is about to close! By beholding you become
changed. When you are focusing on this ‘Present Truth’ you are either changed
into the image of Christ or the image of Satan when you give up. God in His
mercy in the last remnant of time brings a ‘Present Truth’ message that doesn’t
have to do with those around you who aren’t growing up in the truth; it has to
do with you! Are you ready to face the time alive when your probation
closes?
In His mercy and His love He forewarns you from where? From
Bible prophecy! But if you choose to not listen to that warning, but you still
want to be a conservative historic Adventist, and you want to dwell upon the
apostasy in the church which is going on, that’s part of Bible prophecy too; or
be involved with resisting that new theology; by beholding you become changed
into what you are beholding. What we need to be beholding right now is that
Christ is about to finish His work in the most Holy Place, and if we haven’t
prepared a character for that moment—we’re lost. And that’s scary!
I know I can say this with authority, because Bible prophecy
says ‘our greatest need is for a revival’, which means we are asleep in this
room tonight and if I spend the whole hour telling you about the apostasy in the
church, you’re not going to awake. But if I convince you that probation is about
to close—with the power of the Holy Spirit—you just might awake.
Our opening text was about Paul reasoning with people and I’m
reasoning with all of us here tonight about some of the resistance to the
message on Daniel 11:40-45. I am saying that the last 6 verses of Daniel 11 are
necessary for us to understand correctly. Just like every other word in the
Bible.
What would allow me to say which word in the Bible was more
relevant than another? I’m just a feeble human being at the end of 6,000 years
of sin! What kind of enlightenment would I have to tell you which part of the
Bible was salvational and which part wasn’t?
A. T. Jones had the divine endorsement of the Spirit of
Prophecy, and he said that if there was a question about something that was
presented from the pulpit; if someone came to him and said, "What do you think
about that, Brother Jones?" he would say, "You need to go figure it out in the
Bible for yourself, who am I to tell you?"
That’s how I would hope that everybody in this room would
approach this study of the last six verses of Daniel 11 because if you don’t
understand it correctly, it can cost you your salvation. Now maybe I’m wrong,
but don’t let somebody tell you I’m wrong without investigating it; because if
he is wrong, you’re going to go down with him. This message is not about me,
it’s not about the people who think I’m wrong; this message is about you; you
alone and the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.
We’re at the end of the world. This is something we need to
understand, we’re at the end of the world and Sister White says that only
those that have fortified their mind with the word of God will be prepared
to stand through the last great crisis. That’s word for word, daily fortifying
your mind with the word of God. She doesn’t say anything about daily reading the
Bible and going and asking some man what he thinks about what you just read. It
has to be you—especially at the end of the world—because you and I are going to
stand alone.
So if someone is standing in front of you presenting the word
of God and he’s not making any big deal about it, just an interesting study;
isn’t this interesting, this little passage here, well, maybe you’re not too
inspired to go and look at it. But that isn’t what I’m saying to you—I’m saying
that the last six verses of Daniel 11 are clearly identifying that probation
is about to close; and I can say that with a little bit of earnestness
because over the last several nights through the Great Controversy, I’ve already
proved that, haven’t I?
Probation is about to close—it’s all happening—it’s all
there. Sister White did not say the final revival comes from the book, "The
Great Controversy". She says the final revival comes when God’s people
understand the books of Daniel and Revelation, as they should. There’s something
in the books of Daniel and Revelation that is designed by God to bring about the
final revival and what it is? It’s these last six verses of Daniel 11. We won’t
go through them symbol by symbol but I’ll tell you what they are.
Daniel 11 verse 40 starts at the time of the end. It says,
"And at the time of the end." Sister White in Great Controversy pg. 356 says the
‘time of the end’ is 1798. In 1798 there’s going to be a war that begins between
the King of the South and the King of the North; that’s what that verse says.
If you want to know who the King of the North and the King of
the South are? Go read Uriah Smith. Sister White endorsed Uriah Smith’s book
‘Daniel and Revelation’. He gives a clear rule how to identify the King of the
North and the King of the South. You’ll see this rule very clearly identified in
his book; but I’m going to give it to you just off the top of my head.
It’s this: As the pioneers studied the first part of Daniel
11, and Daniel 11 is the only place where the stories of the King of the North
and the King of the South are found in the word of God. so if you’re going to
come up with a rule on how to identify who the King of the North and the King of
the South are, you’re going to find it in Daniel 11, nowhere else because that’s
the only place it is. The pioneers as they traced the history set forth in the
verses of Daniel 11, compared those verses with what transpired in history. They
found a rule:
When one of those kings described in that history, controlled
the country of Egypt, it was always identified by Daniel as the King of the
South. If a king controls Egypt, it’s the King of the South. Simple rule and
it’s crystal clear.
They also found that when a king controlled the country of
Babylon; it’s called the King of the North in the verses. If it controls Egypt;
King of the South; if it controls Babylon; King of the North. Pioneers uphold
that 100% and the people that seem to have a problem with what we’re sharing
with you about Daniel 11 don’t argue that. They’re all in agreement with that;
King of the South; Egypt; King of the North; Babylon.
Now there’s a rule in Bible Prophecy that many people say is
the most important rule in Bible Prophecy: Prophecy that is fulfilled before the
cross, before Jesus died on the cross, is understood in it’s literal
application. But prophecy that comes to pass after the time of the cross and
the crucifixion is understood in its spiritual application.
The New Testament very clearly identifies this, I’ll give you
example, Paul teaches us that after the cross, when he is writing in the New
Testament that Jerusalem is not literal Jerusalem. What is it? It’s Jerusalem
above. When the Bible prophets are speaking about Jerusalem, whatever prophecy
they made about Jerusalem, if it was fulfilled before the cross, it was talking
about the literal city of Jerusalem. But Paul says, "No, no, after the cross,
Jerusalem is Jerusalem above". We’ve already read the proof text for that here
tonight—Isaiah 2:2-4; in the last days Jerusalem, the Glorious Holy Mountain is
God’s people; His church.
So after the cross, Jerusalem is not the city of Jerusalem on
planet earth today, it’s spiritual Jerusalem—His church. That’s the rule in
Bible prophecy; before the cross prophecy comes to pass literal, after the cross
spiritual.
Paul also said of the Jews, that before the time of the cross
they were the literal blood descendents of Abraham. Paul taught that after that
time you’re not a Jew because you are a literal blood descendent of Abraham,
you’re a Jew if you have faith in Christ—before the cross literal, after the
cross spiritual.
So back to verse 40: "At the time of the end;" Great
Controversy 356, 1798. In 1798 King of the North is going to have a war with the
King of the South.
Who’s the King of the North? The power that controls Babylon.
The rule is, the King of the North is the power that controls Babylon, the King
of the South is the power that controls Egypt. Now in 1798, the time of the end,
are we before or after the cross? We’re after the cross in 1798. So are we
looking for the literal kingdom of the King of the South or the spiritual
kingdom of the King of the South? Spiritual. Are we looking for the literal King
of the North or the spiritual King of the North? Spiritual.
So who is spiritual Babylon at the end of the world?
Revelation 17, Sister White in the Great Controversy says very clearly spiritual
Babylon is Rome, the King of the North in 1798 is Rome.
So who is spiritual Egypt in the 1798 time period after the
cross? Very clear, Revelation 11 speaking of the French Revolution and Sister
White’s clear in the Great Controversy the power that is symbolized by spiritual
Egypt and spiritual Sodom is who? France, Atheistic France.
Verse 40 in Daniel 11 is saying that in 1798 there was going
to be a war that began between Atheistic France and the Papacy. Is there
anything that took place in history in 1798 between France and the Papacy? The
Papacy received it’s deadly wound. The Pope was removed. What does it mean to
receive a deadly wound? In Bible prophecy what happened at that time? The Papacy
is two different characters in Bible prophecy; sometimes it’s portrayed as a
Beast and sometimes it’s portrayed as a woman. A Beast is a geo-political power
according to Daniel 7. A woman is a church, we all know that.
In 1798, Atheistic France, the King of the South, began a war
with the King of the North, the papacy and the Papacy received a deadly wound—it
ceased to be a Geo-political power, but it continued to be a church, a woman.
The King of the North continued and verse 40 tells us that in time, the King of
the North, the Papacy, would return and sweep away the domain of the King of the
South. The King of the South, according to the Great Controversy was Atheistic
France.
When the Papacy finally returns and sweeps away Atheistic
France, the power at that time in history controlling spiritual Egypt was no
longer Atheistic France. The power in the world at that time that controlled
spiritual Egypt—Atheism—was the Soviet Union.
And sure enough, History tells us that in 1989, Rome came
into the Soviet Union and swept it away. And verse 40 tells us that when she
does it she brought chariots, ships and horsemen. You take your Bible
concordance and you’ll find that in the Bible ‘chariots, and horsemen’ represent
military strength and that ships represent economic strength.
Those are the very characteristics of a specific Beast in
Bible prophecy. The ‘lamb-like’ Beast of Revelation 13 has two characteristics,
it’s going to force the world to receive the mark of the Beast financially—can’t
buy or sell unless you receive the Mark. If you don’t follow that, then it’s
going to force you with death; that’s military. The two characteristics of the
United States are military and economic strength, which are symbolized in verse
40 by chariots and horsemen, and ships, and verse 40 tells us that when the
Papacy comes and finally retaliates against Atheism, that it was going to sweep
away the ‘countries’, notice that word in verse 40, the ‘countries’. Whoever the
King of the South is, whoever Atheism is when the Papacy finally sweeps it away,
it’s going to be a confederation of countries in the plural. Was there more than
one country in the Soviet Union? There certainly was.
What do historians say took place when the Soviet Union was
swept away? There had been a secret alliance formed between two powers; the two
powers of Revelation 13; the Vatican and the United States. History tells us
that in the secret alliance formed during the Regan years, the United States
contributed to that alliance two things; military and economic strength.
Ronald Regan mounted a massive military buildup in Western
Europe because he knew that would force the Russians to equal him and bring them
to the verge of bankruptcy. At the same time they shut down the Trans-Eural
Pipeline, which was one of the main sources of income for the Soviet Union. At
the same time the CIA secretly took 50 million dollars cash into the solidarity
union in Poland to keep them propped up as they resisted the Soviet Union and
through the economics and the military and the spiritual influence of Rome, the
King of the South was swept away by the King of the North. And that’s what verse
40 is all about.
The critics that really have a problem with this don’t argue
with that verse, it’s the next verse, where he, the King of the North, comes
into the Glorious Land—they want to tell you the Glorious Land is the same thing
as the Glorious Holy Mountain and I’m here to tell you that Daniel made no
mistakes when he was writing. He wrote words purposely, and when he said in
verse 41, the Glorious Land, and in verse 45 the Glorious Holy Mountain, he was
drawing a distinction and it’s crystal clear.
Nobody argues, even the critics, that the Glorious Holy
Mountain is God’s church; but they want to tell you that the Glorious Land is
God’s church but I’m here to tell you that according to the way William Miller
does prophecy, Rule 1; every word must have its proper bearing on the
subject. Daniel was not a novice; he said Glorious Land for the purpose of
making a distinction between that and the Glorious Holy Mountain in verse 45.
Reason that through—would the Lord inspire Daniel to
accidentally make a mistake in verse 41, and say Glorious Land instead of
Glorious Holy Mountain? Did Daniel really want to say the Glorious Land in verse
41 was the Glorious Holy Mountain? That they’re both symbolizing ‘the church’? I
don’t think so! Those are God’s Words and verse 45 of Daniel 11—Do you know what
the very next verse is? Daniel 12:1 and chapter 12 is just a continuation of
Daniel 11. What does chapter 12:1 say? "And at that time Michael shall stand
up." And do you know what takes place when Michael stands up? We don’t have to
use Sister White, we know what it is, but Sister White clearly says it—when
Michael stands up in Daniel 12:1, human probation closes. So, what I’m
saying is that verse 40 begins in 1798—that the history covered in these verses
goes from 1798 into Daniel 12:1 when human probation closes.
So that I submit to you is salvational. It’s talking about
the very last scenes of time that reach their conclusion when human probation
closes. Do you think that we should be very lackadaisical about how we
understand those verses? I don’t think so. We need to understand for sure what
they are telling us. What if they are telling us that a Sunday Law is about to
take place in the United States. In this verse, the Glorious Land in the Bible,
the word ‘Glorious’ means in sense of prominence.
The Glorious Land before the cross—with prophecy in its
literal application—is clearly understood by everyone to be identifying
Palestine, or the LAND of Israel. One of the stumbling blocks for people here is
I can just say, "Israel", and you can correctly say I’m talking about the land
of Israel. And that would be correct. Or you could say the people of Israel, if
I just say "Israel", without any context added. Daniel didn’t do that, he said
the Glorious Land and he’s talking about the Land of Israel.
When you look in the Bible at the LAND that the children of
Israel were taken to, you find that it was very closely related to God’s people
but it had a certain purpose to fulfill. One of the main ways it’s symbolized in
the Bible is the ‘land flowing with milk and honey’.
It means something very specific. The land where Israel was
taken was at the very center of the ancient world. Why? Because it’s very clear
in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy that ancient Israel the people, were
given a commission to take the gospel to the world. They were supposed to take
the gospel that they understood in the Old Testament, and they were to carry
that to the world. Because of that God placed them in a land that was at the
very crossroads of the ancient world and it wasn’t a desert back then, it was a
land abundant in wealth, so that they had the economic ability to carry the
gospel to the world—that’s what ‘milk and honey’ symbolizes in the Bible.
A land ‘flowing with milk and honey’ is a land that had
prosperity so that they could do the work that the Lord commanded them to do.
Now that was literal Israel and it had a land given to it, to fulfill a very
specific purpose in redemption.
So when we come to 1798, in verse 40, and finally the Soviet
Union is swept away by the Papacy, the King of the North and verse 41 says, "And
he (the King of the North, the Papacy) enters the Glorious Land, I will submit
to you that the Glorious Land after the cross, is the land that has been
supplied, not for literal Israel, but for spiritual Israel. And do you realize
how many different times Sister White tells us who spiritual Israel is today? If
you run your CD ROM it’s over and over again in several passages. Do you know
who spiritual Israel is? Seventh-day Adventists!
Were Seventh-day Adventists given a land at the crossroads of
the modern world that was prosperous enough to carry the gospel to the world?
Yes they were. In fact that land is the very focus of end time Bible Prophecy
because it is the land that God so protected for the gospel to be carried to the
world that He gave it the Constitution of the United States to protect the
ability of that land to allow the gospel to go forth. When the Constitution is
overturned at the Sunday Law, that land is the very focus of end time Bible
prophecy. In verse 41 it is crystal clear in Bible prophecy that the Glorious
Land is the United States and the King of the North the Papacy comes into the
United States and captures it at the Sunday Law.
If you read the verse it says at that time there’s going to
be some people that escape out of the papacy’s hand and a hand in Bible Prophecy
symbolizes what? Every Seventh-day Adventist should know what a hand symbolizes
in Bible Prophecy because we’re the ones telling people that you’re going to
receive a mark either in your hand or your forehead. It means you’re forced into
subjection, the forehead means you believe in the subjection.
In verse 41 there’s going to be a group of people that escape
the hand of the King of the North. In other words, at the time of the Sunday Law
in the United States there’s going to be people in Babylon at the time of the
Sunday Law in the United States that are going to escape from Babylon. What a
profound prophecy! Seventh-day Adventists know that at the Sunday Law in the
United States, the faithful are going to be sealed with God’s Seal, they’re
going to receive the Latter Rain, and they’re going to go out and proclaim the
Loud Cry message, ‘Come out of Babylon!’
And right there in verse 41 you can see three tribes,
escaping out of the hand of Babylon. It’s not an accident. Daniel does not put
any words in those verses by accident. In verse 41 you see the word escape and
in verse 42 you see the word escape—they are two different Hebrew words; but
they’ve both been translated escape. The one in verse 42 implies not finding any
deliverance, but the word that’s translated escape in verse 41 is a Hebrew word
that means that you’re trying to pick up a bar of soap in a tub of water and it
slips out of your hand. That is describing someone that has previously been
under control but escapes from the hand and that’s implicit in that word
translated ‘escape’ in verse 41.
It means that those people in verse 41 escape the Papacy’s
hand; prior to their escape they’ve been in the Papacy’s hand. Now what is the
message that begins at the Sunday Law? Come out of Babylon! And do people come
out of Babylon?
Three parts form modern Babylon; John the Revelator called
them the Beast the Dragon and the False Prophet. Different prophets see the same
things but they use different words to describe it. Sister White doesn’t always
say the Dragon, and the Beast and the False Prophet, the dragon is what?
Spiritualism. The Beast is? Catholicism. The False Prophet is apostate
Protestantism in Ellen White’s words. Two prophets, John the Revelator and Ellen
White see the same thing, the three-fold makeup of modern Babylon and they use
three different words to describe them.
Daniel is just another prophet in this description he’s
seeing the same thing in verse 41, he’s seeing the threefold makeup of modern
Babylon and he didn’t say the Beast, Dragon and False Prophet; and he didn’t say
apostate Protestantism or Catholicism or Spiritualism; he said Edom and Moab and
the children of Ammon and in verse 41 you’ll see those three tribes escaping the
hand of the Papacy and the word escape tells you that before they escape they
were in the hand of the Papacy. It’s describing in verse 41 those who come out
of Babylon at the time of the Sunday Law.
Now, if verse 40 is describing through Bible prophecy the
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 years ago, and the very next thing to
happen in Bible prophecy is the Sunday Law in the United States, is that outside
of the message of the third angel? It’s directly connected with the message of
the third angel. Is the third angel’s message Present Truth?
It’s crystal clear in the Spirit of Prophecy that no one
receives the Mark of the Beast before the Sunday Law goes forth. No one has the
mark of the Beast today. But when the Sunday Law goes forth then the Mark of the
Beast begins.
It’s also crystal clear that no one receives the Mark of the
Beast even when the Sunday Law goes forth if they do not understand the issues
between Sabbath and Sunday. But if they had opportunity to understand those
issue but rejected those opportunities, they too will be treated as if they
understood the issues. So when the Sunday Law arrives, anyone who understands
the difference between Sabbath and Sunday; and this message gets resisted on
this point more than any other, and I can give you quote after quote to back
this up, and I will. But when the Sunday Law arrives in the United States, the
first people to be confronted by it are Seventh-day Adventists in the United
States.
Their probation closes at that time either with the Mark of
the Beast or the Seal of God. Now let me ask you, if verse 40 took place in
1989, and the next thing to happen in Bible Prophecy according to the book of
Daniel, is the Sunday Law in the United States and you’re a Seventh-day
Adventist that knows it means that your probation is about to close, is that
Present Truth? Is it salvational? If it is, I would submit to you that a message
like that, you’re going to find a lot of people around that are being used by
Satan to resist that message.
That’s just the way it is. I’m not saying that the people
that may be doing it are beyond redemption, I’m just saying that if it’s true,
you don’t want to be fighting against that message; because you’d be fighting
against God! God in His mercy warns people before He closes their probation, and
that’s what these verses are doing; they’re warning us that our probation is
about to close.
We’ve been showing that from the Great Controversy for the
last several days. The United States is already speaking as a dragon. The
principle of the image of the Beast is already growing in United States and the
final movements will be rapid ones. How many are familiar with that phrase, the
final movements will be rapid ones?
T. 9. pg. 11: "We are living in the time of the end. The
fast-fulfilling signs of the times declare that the coming of Christ is near at
hand. The days in which we live are solemn and important. The Spirit of God is
gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth. Plagues and judgments are
already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God. The calamities by land
and sea, the unsettled state of society, the alarms of war, are portentous. They
forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude."
The Spirit of God being removed from the earth—Do you know
what that means? It means Christ is finishing the work in the most Holy Place.
The Spirit of God isn’t removed from that chair or a rock or a tree—the Spirit
of God is removed from people that have totally and finally reject the grace of
the Lord.
When you see the Spirit of God being removed from the Earth
it means that Christ is finishing up the work in the Most Holy Place and
judgment is about to close, that’s what it means when you see the Spirit of God
being removed from the Earth. Sister White tells us how we know the Spirit of
God is being removed from the earth, we know it when we see what’s going on in
the daily newspapers. Judgment is closing; that’s what she’s saying in this
first paragraph. Next paragraph:
"The agencies of evil are combining their forces and
consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes
are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid
ones."
So we know that you’re called to be a student of prophecy,
right? Who are the agencies of evil in Bible prophecy? There are three. "The
agencies of evil are combining their forces" and the Sunday Law is going to
forbid you to buy or sell. One of the agencies of evil in end-time Bible
prophecy is the financial institutions of the world. Are you seeing the
financial institutions of the world combining their forces?
If you don’t receive the Mark of the Beast even though you’ve
been threatened with financial problems, what’s the next step? They’re going to
put you to death. Are you seeing a world police force being brought together and
exercised throughout the world today through a combination of the armies of the
world? The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating and the
Last movements will be rapid ones.
There’s one more agency of evil, what’s the test? It’s a
religious test; do you see the religions of the world combining their forces and
consolidating? Yes and the final movements will be rapid ones.
Notice this statement, same passage: "The world is stirred
with the spirit of war. The prophecy of the eleventh chapter of Daniel
has nearly reached its complete fulfillment." 9T pg.14
You just all said ‘amen’ to every description she gave and I
left some out because of time, I could have made you say amen several more times
before I got to that paragraph; and after you said, "Yes, this is what’s
happening", does she point us to Revelation 17? Does she point us to Revelation
13? Does she point us to the trumpets? Does she point us to the seals? Does she
point us to Daniel 7? Does she point us to Daniel 8? Does she point us to Bible
prophecy? YES!
And where does she point us? To Daniel chapter 11. This is
speculation? This is salvational? Are we making too much of this? I don’t think
so!
Do you know why I don’t think so? Because this isn’t so much
about Daniel 11; this is about the last 6 verses of Daniel 11; if you go into
the pioneer writings you’ll find that Sister White and the pioneers understood
that the first 39 verses were already fulfilled. They were behind them in
history. In fact the very first clause of verse 40, says "and at the time of the
end". 1798; even the first part of Daniel 11:40 is prior history to them. So
what’s this mean?
It means when Sister White is telling us what the end of the
world is going to be like and she’s pointing us to one place in the Bible, she’s
not really pointing us to Daniel chapter11, she’s talking about the final
fulfillment and she believed that the first 39 verses were already history.
Where’s she pointing us to? She’s pointing us to verse 40–45.
Do you think you need to understand these verses correctly? I
think so. I hope you understand tonight that you must understand this for
yourself! These verses may very well be salvational. In fact they are definitely
salvational.
When you study end-time Bible prophecy you will see that they
are all directly connected to the last six verses of Daniel 11 and I can tell
you why. All the prophecies that talk about the end of the world, go to when
human probation closes; some of them talk about the plagues just beyond that,
but the real heart of it is whether you’re going to be saved or lost, and you
only have until probation closes to make that decision. That’s where all end
time Bible prophecy goes is to when human probation closes and where does human
probation close? Daniel 12:1!
For someone to tell you that those previous 5 verses that
lead to the final conclusion of end-time Bible prophecy when Michael stands up
is not something that we should be considering—PRAY FOR HIM! Pray that the
shades will be taken from their eyes; because the final movements will be rapid
ones.
So if you have not read "The Final Rise and Fall of the King
of the North", look at it, when you don’t understand it stop right there and go
to the Bible. You don’t understand it, get your concordance out and if you still
don’t understand it, get down on your knees, and if you find after doing it that
this is error; then go ahead and demonstrate clearly for every one why it is
error. If you do that you won’t have to worry about whether the messenger’s
overemphasizing something or speculating, you’ll have a clear understanding
about why that is wrong and you’ll be able to explain it. But don’t leave
yourself on the fence in the valley of doubt, because if this is true you must
know it!
Sister White says our greatest need is for a revival and the
final revival comes from the books of Daniel and the Revelation. So here we have
a group in Adventism that are asleep, can you see that maybe if there was a
prophecy in Daniel, that would show you that the Sunday Law was immanent in the
United States and it demonstrated to you that your probation was about to close,
do you see the dynamics of that about how that could bring the final revival?
If every one of us in this building tonight leaves here truly
believing that our probation is about to close, we’re going to bring our life
into agreement with that; and if we do, we’re going to put all the idols and sin
away from us, surrendering ourselves fully to the Lord, and lo and behold, among
this group will be a revival. This is the very plan of God for brining the final
revival. This is not simply a prophecy telling us that probation is about to
close but within that message it has the dynamics of bringing on the Latter Rain
and the Loud Cry and finishing the work so we can go home; then is it PRESENT
TRUTH? Yes, yes it is.