I reject the conclusions of Marion Berry and the other similar teachers of the future application of the prophetic periods found in Daniel 12. You should reject their teachings as well. Marion Berry and others of similar ilk attempt to address the time-lines of Daniel 12 in one of two ways. They reapply them or present them as a future application. There is a distinction between these two approaches. Their claims in either case, are directly opposed to the Bible, the Spirit of Prophecy and the pioneers. Notice what Sister White says about Daniel 12: We Must Study Carefully The Old Waymarks “I have been deeply impressed by the Spirit of God that we are to pass through severe trials. Everyone’s faith will be tested. We must study carefully the old waymarks. These experiences in the past are to be revived. Daniel is to stand out conspicuously with the Revelation given to John on the Isle of Patmos.
Daniel 12. Read attentively this chapter. Hosea 4:1.
“Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” Hosea 4:1–6.
“There is work to be done. Who will take it up?”
“In our experience in these last days we shall meet every conceivable thing that Satan can invent to make of none effect the established points of our faith that have been, in the providence of God, so greatly blessed. These foundation principles are to be held fast unto the end. Read the Word of God.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 22, 220.
What is the counsel in this passage? It is in reference to studying “The Old Waymarks.” It is about holding onto the “foundation principles.” It is a warning that Satan will attempt to remove “the established points of our faith that have been, in the providence of God, so greatly blessed.” This warning is about God’s “controversy” with His people, and the “controversy” is because His people have “rejected knowledge”. The problem addressed in the passage is not about refusing “new light”—it is about rejecting “old light”. And the focus of the warning is set within Daniel chapter 12.
Those who place the time prophecies of Daniel 12, at the end of the world are removing the old waymarks, attacking the foundation principles, and seeking to make of none effect—the established points of our faith. This is the work Marion Berry and others are doing!
There are basically two approaches used by those who attempt to apply the timelines of Daniel 12 at the end of the world. Each premise has its own peculiar characteristics.
Number one is “reapplication”: To state that, “the pioneers were correct in their understanding of Daniel 12, but there is to be a second application to these time prophecies.”
Very few time setters truly attempt this approach. The reason is two-fold. First, if you truly accept the pioneer position, you recognize, as the pioneers did, that the prophetic periods of Daniel 12 are not subject to reapplication. The second reason this approach would be difficult is in the Biblical rules associated with a true repetition of history or prophecy. We have been instructed that histories and prophecies may repeat, but in so doing all the characteristics of the first fulfillment must be duplicated figuratively, sequentially and mathematically in the second fulfillment.
If you uphold the pioneer position on the timelines in Daniel 12 and then reapply them at the end of the world—they must start at the same figurative point in time in relationship to one another, as was identified in the first fulfillment. The relationships of the truths contained in the timelines would also need to correspond to one another. In William Miller’s Rules of Prophetic Interpretation [Future for America has these rules available.] he states it this way in rule 13:
“To know whether we have the true historical event for the fulfillment of a prophecy. If you find every word of the prophecy (after the figures are understood) is literally fulfilled, then you may know that your history is the true event. But if one word lacks a fulfillment, then you must look for another event, or wait its future development. For God takes care that history and prophecy doth agree, so that the true believing children of God may never be ashamed.”
As an example, the pioneers understood that the 1290 and the 1335 started in A.D. 508 The 1260 started in A.D. 538. The 1260 and the 1290 ended together in 1798, while the 1335 ended in 1843. Marion Berry’s material changes this sequence. She starts the 1335 alone, then 75 days later she begins the 1260 and 1290 together. This has the 1335 and the 1260 ending at the same time and the 1290 ending 30 days later. Her discrepancies rule out a “reapplication”. She also changes the figurative meanings of the terms involved. This is one example why she takes the “future application” approach, instead of the “reapplication” approach when addressing Daniel 12.
Number two is “future application”: To state that, “the pioneers (including Ellen White, though usually not openly stated) were wrong about Daniel 12.” (Of course, those who take this approach try to demonstrate the pioneers and Ellen White were wrong in such a way as to make it appear as if they still uphold the pioneers and Ellen White.)
The 1843 Chart Ellen White upheld the pioneer position on Daniel 12, and all one needs to do in order to ascertain the pioneer position on Daniel 12 is simply study the 1843 pioneer chart. [Future for America has these charts available in English, Spanish, and soon in Russian.] All three timelines of Daniel 12 are represented on the chart. Marion Berry spends a great deal of time and effort to destroy the integrity of the information on the 1843 chart. In fact, it is obvious when your read her material that if the information about the timelines of Daniel 12 represented on the 1843 chart is accurate, then her ideas are erroneous. Her attack on the 1843 chart is primarily built around three items, though there are several interconnected points beyond these three.
One of the three points of her attack on the chart is to first point out that there are errors in the chart, (and there are errors) then, state that the information about the timelines of Daniel 12 on the chart were some of those errors.
Another point of attack is the pioneer understanding of what the “daily” in the book of Daniel symbolized. She attacks this point by saying she agrees with the pioneer understanding, but then amazingly, she defines the pioneer position on the “daily” differently than they believed. I believe this technique is effective, because very few in Adventism understand the pioneer position on the “daily”. Generally, even if they know the pioneer definition of the “daily”, they do not recognize the strength of the pioneer position. Satan does. This is why the “daily” is the most controversial and wrongly understood item of Adventist prophetic understanding.
A further attack on the 1843 chart is a second profound misrepresentation. She insists that pioneers arrived at the year A.D. 508 as the fulfillment of the “daily” by first calculating the 2300 day prophecy incorrectly, as the pioneers initially did. They initially arrived with the year 1843 as the fulfillment of Daniel 8:14. She then states that based upon the wrong date of 1843 Miller simply subtracted 1335 from that date and arrived at A.D. 508. He then began a search for some historic event that he could use to prop up his random choice of the year 508. Her representation on this subject is as inaccurate as her teaching that the pioneers believed as she does concerning the “daily”.
Point One –The Errors
Concerning the 1843 chart, we are told in Early Writings 74:
“I have seen that the 1843 chart was directed by the hand of the Lord, and that it should not be altered; that the figures were as He wanted them; that His hand was over and hid a mistake in some of the figures, so that none could see it, until His hand was removed.”
Identifying the timelines of Daniel 12 on the 1843 pioneer chart as erroneous is an important point as Marion Berry presents her fallacies. She writes,
“An inspired prophet declared that on that chart [1843] there ‘was a mistake in some figures.’ The big mistake was the date 1843. Jesus did not come in 1843. From that wrong date, William Miller subtracted 1335, taken from Daniel 12:12 timeline, given the date A.D. 508. Almost any third grader knows that if you subtract from a wrong figure, your answer will be wrong! Nevertheless, many theologians today have made no corrections and defend the past application, based on wrong data, as if it were sacred doctrine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.” A Declaration of Facts Regarding Contemporary Prophetic Exposition, and The Three Timelines of Daniel 12, page 1, Marion Berry.
The mistaken figures in the 1843 chart were as follows: identifying 1843 as the conclusion of the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14; 158 B.C. instead of 161 B.C. as date of league between Jews and Romans; 606 as date for rise of Mohammedanism; minor discrepancies in the dates for certain of the time periods associated with the ten horns of Daniel 7; and 677 B.C. as starting point of the “seven times” of Daniel 5. There were no mistakes in the figures concerning the prophetic periods of Daniel 12. Marion Berry may teach there were mistakes in the timelines of Daniel 12 on the 1843 chart, but the pioneers and Sister White did not believe so.
In the previous statement Marion Berry may be uninformed—but she is bearing false witness and it is totally inexcusable. When you place yourself in a public position through the publication of your ideas, and at the same time lift up and promote your understanding as the correct position in contrast to other positions, it then becomes your moral and ethical responsibility to correctly reflect the positions you are opposing. Several areas of Marion Berry’s material are purely false. They totally misrepresent the true positions of the pioneers. Her last statement is one example.
There are no errors connected with the time lines of Daniel 12 on the chart. A proof of this is established by comparing the 1843 pioneer chart with the 1851 pioneer chart.
The 1851 chart was produced based on the very same vision where God commanded James White to begin the Review and Herald magazine. In the vision where Sister White was told to instruct James White to begin the Review, she also was given instruction to tell him to print a new chart. Otis Nichols printed this chart in 1851. This chart contains the pioneer understanding of 508, as the starting point for Daniel 12:11–12. There are five vertical columns on the chart.
The first column identifies 1843 with the second angel’s message.
The second column provides information about pagan and papal Rome (among other items) and in so doing states, “The pope’s dominion over the kings continued 1260 years. France took it away in A.D. 1798, just 1290 years after paganism lost its civil power. Daniel 12:7, 11.”
The third column states, “The daily taken away. Daniel 11:31. 508 A.D.” The fifth column states, “From the daily taken away, to papacy set up—538 = 30 years.”
Both charts uphold the year 508 as the historical fulfillment of the “daily” being taken away, and therefore 508 as the starting point for the timelines in Daniel 12:11–12. The pioneers and Ellen White never changed their position on the timelines of Daniel 12.
The Truth Must be Made Plain Upon Tables
“On our return to Brother Nichols’, the Lord gave me a vision and showed me that the truth must be made plain upon tables, and it would cause many to decide for the truth by the three angels’ messages, with two former being made plain upon tables.” Manuscript Releases, number 16, 207.
If the 1843 or 1851 charts demonstrate any repetition concerning the 1290 and 1335 of Daniel 12:11–12, it is that both charts repeat the pioneer position of identifying the year 508 as the starting point for the timelines contained in those verses. This means the 1290 concluded in 1798 and the 1335 concludes in 1843! That is the pioneer position, which is also upheld in the Review and Herald article at the end of this newsletter.
Point Two-The “Daily”
Throughout her many publications Marion Berry also falsely portrays the pioneer understanding of the “daily”. Much of her falsehoods are built upon her erroneous position about the “daily”. William Miller identifies the pioneer understanding of the “daily” as follows:
‘The Daily’ Must mean Paganism
“I read on, and could find no other case in which if [the daily] was found but in Daniel. I then [by the aid of a concordance] took those words which stood in connection with it, ‘take away;’ ‘he shall take away the daily’; ‘from the time that the daily shall be taken away.’ I read on and thought I should find no light on the text. Finally I came to 2 Thessalonians 2:7–8, ‘For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way, and then shall that wicked be revealed.’ And when I had come to that text, O, how clear and glorious the truth appeared! There it is! That is ‘the daily!’ Well, now, what does Paul mean by ‘he who now letteth’ or hindereth? By ‘the Man of Sin,’ and the ‘wicked,’ Popery is meant. Well what is it which hinders Popery from being revealed? Why it is Paganism. Well, then, ‘the daily’ must mean Paganism.” Advent Manual, page 66, William Miller.
Marion Berry teaches the pioneer position was something other than paganism: “The ‘Daily’ is a Continuum of Power, Seat, and Authority or ‘Sovereignty.’”
In a unique sense, as used in the book of Daniel, the ‘daily’ refers to a continuum of power, seat, and authority in the rise and fall of empires. Power, seat, and authority is the power to rule which originates with God on His throne, and is from everlasting to everlasting.” Updated Condensation of WARNING!, page 50, Marion Berry.
Marion Berry’s definition of the “daily” is different than William Millers. But, Ellen White identified that William Miller and the pioneers had the “correct view”. In Adventism today there is a third view, which is by far, the most widely accepted, but it also is incorrect. To deal with that subject is outside the scope of this letter, but Marion Berry also recognizes that the mainline view of the “daily” is false, and is not the view the pioneer’s possessed. Confusion magnifies when Marion Berry opposes the false mainline view, but then teaches that her view is—the pioneer view!
“Modern theologians interpret the word ‘daily’ as used in the book of Daniel to refer to the priesthood of Christ. They refer to this concept as being the ‘new view.’ However, this is the ‘old view’ which was used for many centuries until the Bible students of The Great Advent Movement, leading up to 1844, abandoned that view and declared the ‘daily’ to refer to the transfer of ‘power, seat, and authority’ from pagan to papal Rome. That view of the ‘daily’ by the pioneers was proclaimed to be ‘the correct view’ by the inspired prophet. (See Early Writings, 74–75) However that correct view was abandoned after 1844. A Declaration of Facts Regarding Contemporary Prophetic Exposition, and The Three Timelines of Daniel 12, page 3–4, Marion Berry.
Evidently Marion Berry does not have a way in which she feels comfortable in trying to cast an interpretation on Ellen White’s sound endorsement of William Miller’s definition of the “daily” in the book of Daniel. She therefore uses a different approach than reinterpreting Ellen White’s words. She admits the pioneers were correct on the “daily” and even uses Ellen White’s endorsement of the pioneer view to make the point. Then disregarding all the historical evidence to the contrary, she proclaims that her definition of the “daily” is the pioneer definition of the “daily”. If you don’t test her claims—you may even believe her.
The correct view of William Miller was “Paganism.” Marion Berry’s is “a continuum of power, seat, and authority in the rise and fall of empires.” A transfer of power from one kingdom to the next is not the definition that Mr. Webster gives for the word “paganism.” In Webster’s Dictionary of 1828, the time period of William Miller, the word paganism is defined as—Heathenism; the worship of false gods, or the system of religious opinions and worship maintained by pagans.
Point Three-Calculating With Incorrect Information
William Miller did not reach his conclusion of the 1335 days ending in 1843 by subtraction. He projected forward 1335 years from the date he had recognized as the fulfillment of the “daily”. That date was 508 B.C.
Not Sacred Doctrines
In a previously cited passage of Marion Berry, and in other of her publications, she denies that the pioneer positions on the prophetic periods in Daniel 12 are—“sacred doctrine”. This is consistent with her opinion that the pioneers were wrong about the timelines in Daniel 12, yet in the very first quotation from Ellen White in this letter, we see the Spirit of Prophecy addressing the prophetic periods in Daniel 12 as the foundations, the waymarks, the established points of faith. Through dreams and visions Sister White was warned that the waymarks and foundations would be attacked as time progressed. She also identified that they needed to be defended. To associate the word “sacred” with the truths of Daniel 12 is totally consistent with emphasis placed upon them in the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy!
“I have not been able to sleep since half past one o’clock. I was bearing to Brother T a message which the Lord had given me for him. The peculiar views he holds are a mixture of truth and error. If he had passed through the experiences of God’s people as He has led them for the past forty years, he would be better prepared to make the correct application of Scripture. The great waymarks of truth, showing us our bearings in prophetic history, are to be carefully guarded, lest they be torn down, and replaced with theories that would bring confusion rather than genuine light. I have been cited to the very erroneous theories that have been presented over and over again. Those who advocated these theories presented Scripture quotations, but they misapplied and misinterpreted them. The theories supposed to be correct were incorrect, and yet many thought them the very theories to be brought before the people. The prophecies of Daniel and John are to be diligently studied.
“There are those now living who, in studying the prophecies of Daniel and John, received great light from God as they passed over the ground where special prophecies were in process of fulfillment in their order. They bore the message of time to the people. The truth shone out clearly as the sun at noonday. Historical events, showing the direct fulfillment of prophecy, were set before the people, and the prophecy was seen to be a figurative delineation of events leading down to the close of this earth’s history. The scenes connected with the working of the man of sin are the last features plainly revealed in this earth’s history. The people now have a special message to give to the world, the third angel’s message. Those who, in their experience, have passed over the ground, and acted a part in the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages, are not so liable to be led into false paths as are those who have not had an experimental knowledge of the people of God.” Selected Messages, book 2, 102.
Because of the abundant counsel similar to the previous passage concerning the “tearing down” of “the great waymarks” Marion Berry develops (through down playing the pioneer understanding of the timelines in Daniel 12) a multi-facetted attack designed to allow her to move the timelines of Daniel 12 to another location in history, without appearing to be under the condemnation of the dreams and visions that warn about the attempts to move the landmarks. The approach consists of an attempt to remove confidence in the original pioneer position on prophecy, but also by creating an end-of-the-world category for the timelines of Daniel 12 as opposed to the 1844 time period category for the other timelines in the book of Daniel.
Manufacturing A Distinction Between Prophetic Periods
An example of one of her attempts to isolate the timelines of Daniel 12 from the other prophetic periods in Daniel is found in her argument about literal and symbolic time. Of course she must establish literal time at the end of the world, for there isn’t enough time left for these prophecies to be fulfilled in a day for a year fashion. But her argument over literal and symbolic time also helps her manufacture a distinction between the prophetic periods of Daniel 12 and the other prophetic periods of Daniel’s record. Marion Berry emphasizes and lifts up a Biblical rule in an attempt to disavow the year-day principle.
“They [Speaking of modern theologians] ignore the literal language of Daniel 12, in which there are no symbols such as image, beast, heads, horns, eyes, and sea. They ignore this literal context, take the three timelines of Daniel 12 out of their literal setting, and arbitrarily impose a symbolic meaning.” “In regard to Daniel 12 timelines, they misapply the Year-Day Principle. Literal language is never to be interpreted.” Emphasis in the original. A Declaration of Facts Regarding Contemporary Prophetic Exposition, and The Three Timelines of Daniel 12, page 1&2, Marion Berry.
“No symbols such as image, beast, heads, horns, eyes, and sea.” —Smoke and mirrors—… The time prophecies in Daniel 12:7, 11–12, are directly associated with the “daily” and the “abomination that maketh desolate.” And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. Daniel 12:11–12.
Are we now to understand that the “daily” and the “abomination that maketh desolate” are not symbolic terms? Daniel employs these terms to symbolize pagan and papal Rome! He represents these two powers with the symbolic terms: “daily” and “abomination that maketh desolate.” These are definitely symbolic terms. What kind of deception is it to quote a rule as authoritative; then not apply the rule, because it undermines your interpretation; and then act as if you have established your point? The pioneers understood it as follows:
“From the time that the daily shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred five and thirty days. With the facts before us that the daily is Paganism, that the abomination that maketh desolate is the Papacy, that there was a change from the former to the latter in the Roman power, and by the authority of State we have but to inquire further when this took place in a manner to fulfill the prophecy; for if we can ascertain this, we have the starting point from which the prophetic periods in the text before us are to be dated.” Review and Herald, January 28, 1858.
According to the rule pointed out and magnified by Marion Berry, the fact that these two symbols are in the passage under consideration—the student should look for a symbolic application of the passage. That would be a day for a year, not a day for a day. Marion Berry and others: Emphasize the rule—to create a diversion—in order to discard the rule—and then accuse those who oppose their false conclusions of not upholding the rule!
If one possibly concludes that the “daily” and “abomination that maketh desolate” of Daniel 12 are somehow different than when they are used by Daniel in chapters 8 and 11—where is the evidence for this conclusion? Why would Daniel use symbolic words in Daniel 8 and 11, and continue to use those very same terms in Daniel 12, if the same terms in Daniel 12 were to identify something different than when found in Daniel 8 and 11? But, if they are the same symbolic words throughout the book of Daniel, [and they are] then why doesn’t Marion Berry apply them as symbolic in Daniel 12? Once again—the pioneers did:
“The true reading is, ‘the daily and the transgression of desolation;’ daily and transgression being connected together by ‘and;’ the daily and the transgression of desolation. They are two desolating powers which were to desolate the Sanctuary and the host.” Josiah Litch, Review and Herald, January, 1858.
When & Where The Prophecies Conclude
Another approach she attempts in order to isolate the timelines of Daniel 12 from Daniel’s other prophecies is selectively amplifying when prophecies conclude.
Remember, according to Manuscript Releases, vol. 22, 220. The “prophetic periods” of Daniel 12, are the “foundations principles”, the “old waymarks”, and the “established points of faith”. Marion Berry attempts to make a distinction between which prophetic periods qualify as the foundations. After all, if the timelines of Daniel 12 are fulfilled at the end of the world, then they are not foundational. Confronted with several passages such as the Manuscript Releases quotation, she is forced to isolate and magnify some passages from the Spirit of Prophecy, while ignoring others. This allows her to demonstrate her hypothesis that the prophetic periods contained in the 2300 day prophecy are the focus of the inspired warnings concerning the removing or the attack against the foundations, waymarks, and established points of faith. Notice the following:
“The preaching of a definite time for the judgment, in the giving of the first message, was ordered by God. The computation of the prophetic periods on which that message was based, placing the close of the 2300 days in the autumn of 1844, stands without impeachment. The repeated efforts to find new dates for the beginning and close of the prophetic periods, and the unsound reasoning necessary to sustain these positions, not only lead minds away from the present truth, but throw contempt upon all efforts to explain the prophecies. The more frequently a definite time is set for the second advent, and the more widely it is taught, the better it suits the purposes of Satan. After the time has passed, he excites ridicule and contempt of its advocates, and thus casts reproach upon the great advent movement of 1843 and 1844. Those who persist in this error will at last fix upon a date too far in the future for the coming of Christ. Thus they will be led to rest in a false security, and many will not be undeceived until it is too late.’ The Great Controversy, 457.
“It is self evident that the above quotation had to do with the timelines of Daniel 8, and 9, but not 12. It did not pertain to any other timeline prophecy.” Emphasis supplied. Date Setting, Time Setting, Futurism, and Dirty Theology, page 58–59, Marion Berry.
Here we are left to believe that when Sister White counseled us in Manuscript Releases “to hold fast to the end” the “waymarks” and “foundations” in “Daniel chapter 12”, that somehow The Great Controversy, 457 eliminates that command. Marion Berry’s uses that statement to set up a false premise, that only the prophetic periods within the 2300 day prophecy would be subjected to “the repeated efforts to find new dates for the beginning and close of the prophetic periods.” She uses this to magnify her false supposition that the timelines of Daniel 12 are only applicable to the end of the world. Even if there were no passages such as the one in Manuscript Releases, the evidence and support for the commentary she draws on the passage from The Great Controversy does not exist within the statement itself. Everything Sister White said in the passage is accurate, but she made no comment whatsoever about Daniel 12! The fifth rule in William Miller’s Rules for Prophetic Interpretation reads as follows:
“Scripture must be—its own expositor, since it is a rule of itself. If I depend on a teacher to expound it to me and he should, guess at its meaning, or desire to have it so on account of his sectarian creed or to be thought wise, then his guessing, desire, creed or wisdom is my rule, not the Bible.”
This rule obviously applies to the Spirit of Prophecy as well.
The end of the world is an important emphasis for Marion Berry’s prophetic interpretations. She uses this theme to establish a principle that the time prophecies Daniel 8 and 9 were fulfilled in the Millerite time period, while the Daniel 12 prophecies were for the Second Coming of Christ.
“Prophetic Periods” in the Context of “the Eve of the Great Consummation”
“Ellen G. White either contradicted herself or she used the term, ‘prophetic periods,’ if reference to two different situations. While she was declaring that the ‘prophetic periods’ of the 2300 timeline of Daniel 8 and 9 ended in 1844, she wrote of other ‘prophetic periods’ or timelines in the book of Daniel, which would extend to the eve of the great consummation!
“The prophetic periods [timelines] of Daniel [12], extending to the very eve of the great consummation [The Second Coming] throw a flood of light on events then to transpire.” Review and Herald, September 15, 1883. Emphasis in the original. Date Setting, Time Setting, Futurism, and Dirty Theology, page 58–59, Marion Berry. The complete passage reads:
“In the Scriptures are presented truths that relate especially to our own time. To the period just prior to the appearing of the Son of man, the prophecies of Scripture point, and here their warnings and threatening preeminently apply. The prophetic periods of Daniel, extending to the very eve of the great consummation, throw a flood of light upon events then to transpire. The book of Revelation is also replete with warning and instruction for the last generation. The beloved John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, portrays the fearful and thrilling scenes connected with the close of earth’s history, and presents the duties and dangers of God’s people. None need remain in ignorance, none need be unprepared for the coming of the day of God.” Review and Herald, September 15, 1883.
The information in this passage does not uphold the wresting placed upon it by Marion Berry. In the passage the prophetic periods addressed are those found in Daniel, Revelation and the entire Scriptures—not exclusively the timelines of Daniel 12! This is a general statement about prophetic periods. Yet Marion Berry adds her own words into the passage to make the prophetic periods under discussion exclusively the timelines of Daniel 12. She continues:
“The ‘prophetic periods’ (2300 day-years, 490 years, 482 years, seven years, etc.) of Daniel 8 and 9, all of which were ended by 1844, did not extend to the ‘very eve of the great consummation’ nor did they ‘throw a flood of light on events then to transpire.’ Neither did the 1260 timeline of Daniel 7 reach to ‘the very eve of the great consummation,’ but ended in 1798—over two centuries ago! It is therefore the 1260, 1290, and 1335, three literal day timelines of Daniel 12, which extend to the very eve or ‘end’ [utmost end], and it is these three timelines which “throw a flood of light on EVENTS then to transpire, but give no date for the second coming.” Date Setting, Time Setting, Futurism, and Dirty Theology, page 59, Marion Berry.
Once again, selective deduction is employed by Marion Berry. Ellen White points to the judgment as the place where the prophecies reach their conclusions, but Marion Berry is seeking to develop a different emphasis than Ellen White:
“The prophecies present a succession of events leading down to the opening of the Judgment. This is especially true of the book of Daniel. But that part of his prophecy which related to the last days, Daniel was bidden to close up and seal ‘to the time of the end.’ Not till we reach this time could a message concerning the Judgment be proclaimed, based on a fulfillment of these prophecies. But at the time of the end, says the prophet, ‘many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”’ The Great Controversy, 356.
In this passage the prophecies, especially those of Daniel, lead down to the opening of the judgment, not the Second Coming. So is Sister White contradicting herself? Absolutely not!
“Had Adventists, after the great disappointment in 1844, held fast their faith, and followed on united in the opening providence of God, receiving the message of the third angel and in the power of the Holy Spirit proclaiming it to the world, they would have seen the salvation of God, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts, the work would have been completed, and Christ would have come ere this to receive His people to their reward.” Selected Messages, book 1, 68.
Had Adventism finished the work in the days of the pioneers the judgment and the Second Coming of Christ would have been very closely related in terms of time. Our disobedience has extended the time, but this “wandering in the wilderness of unbelief” does not diminish the close relationship between the judgment and the Second Coming. Ellen White is not being inconsistent when she identifies the prophecies concluding at the judgment in one place and then states the prophecies reach to the Second Coming in another. They are closely related. The inconsistency lies with Marion Berry as she exclusively emphasizes the Second Coming as the consummation of the prophecies, in order to provide an avenue to sustain her own private interpretations.
Sister White says the prophecies lead “down to the opening of the Judgment”. In doing so, she focuses primarily on the prophecies of Daniel. But if we were to be even more discerning about the passage, she is focusing more on one chapter in the book of Daniel, and that chapter is Daniel 12. She quotes directly from Daniel 12 twice in the passage and no other Scripture is quoted.
By context Sister White is teaching that the prophecies of Daniel 12 lead “down to the opening of the Judgment”!
Whether lifting up the “literal symbolic rule” to draw a distinction, or trying to develop a case for certain specific time prophecies to extend to the second coming, Marion Berry’s reasoning and application lacks any logical or divine endorsement. Within all of these false premises, which we are addressing, there have been several other errors that we have not taken up do to the limitations of this newsletter. But one other false teaching connected with the Second Coming needs to be also met.
In Marion Berry’s emphasis of the Second Coming she goes to great lengths to identify that her applications of the time prophecies of Daniel 12 do not reach the conclusion of the day and hour of Christ’s return. If she were to do that, the warning flag would be too great for many of her devotees to pass by. As she emphasizes that she doesn’t predict the day and hour of Christ’s return, though she is curiously silent about a specific passage in the Spirit of Prophecy.
Or Any Promise Of Special Significance
“Let all our brethren and sisters beware of anyone who would set a time for the Lord to fulfill His word in regard to His coming, or in regard to any other promise He has made of special significance. ‘It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power.’” Testimonies to Ministers, 55. [This reference is included in an article from The Firm Foundation magazine, page 36, in Marion Berry’s book titled, Date Setting, Time Setting, Futurism, and Dirty Theology.]
In spite of this previous passage, Marion Berry’s application of the 1335 days at the end of the world teaches that when the 1335 day prophecy arrives in history, there will be a special blessing associated with it. This blessing of course is part of the prediction of Daniel 12:12. The blessing that Marion Berry identifies is that on this day, (the 1335 day since the Sunday law) God will pronounce the day and hour of Christ’s return to His faithful people:
“Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.” Daniel 12:12.
“What is the ‘Blessing’ for which God’s people wait?
The Voice of God is heard from heaven, declaring the day and hour of Jesus coming, and delivering the everlasting covenant to His people…And when the BLESSING is pronounced on those who have honored God by keeping His Sabbath holy, there is a mighty shout of victory.” The Great Controversy, 640.
“The declaration of the everlasting covenant by the Voice of God is the blessing for which they wait, because, like the reading of a will, it tells what God’s people will get.” Emphasis in the original. Updated Condensation of WARNING! Page 74-75, Marion Berry.
What did Sister White say? “Beware of anyone who would set a time in regard to any promise He has made of special significance.” Is the pronouncement of the everlasting covenant and the day and hour of Christ’s return of special significance? Beware!
If you are questioning my motives and purposes in specifically addressing the teachings of Marion Berry, Be assured that there are several variations of Marion Berry’s fallacies in Adventism today and those various interpretations seem to borrow each other’s flawed reasoning. But the question may still remain—why such a specific attack on her ideas? Consider the complete paragraph just cited from Testimonies to Ministers, 55:
“Let all our brethren and sisters beware of anyone who would set a time for the Lord to fulfill His word in regard to His coming, or in regard to any other promise He has made of special significance. ‘It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power.’ False teachers may appear to be very zealous for the work of God, and may expend means to bring their theories before the world and the church; but as they mingle error with truth, their message is one of deception, and will lead souls into false paths. They are to be met and opposed, not because they are bad men, but because they are teachers of falsehood and are endeavoring to put upon falsehood the stamp of truth.”
But how serious could a falsehood such as Marion Berry’s be? Let me answer that by first suggesting that the primary reason the Jews rejected and crucified Christ was from a misunderstanding of prophecy:
There Are Persons Ready To Catch Up Every New Idea
“Satan is working that the history of the Jewish nation may be repeated in the experience of those who claim to believe present truth. The Jews had the Old Testament Scriptures, and supposed themselves conversant with them. But they made a woeful mistake. The prophecies that refer to the glorious second appearing of Christ in the clouds of heaven they regarded as referring to His first coming. Because He did not come according to their expectations, they turned away from Him. Satan knew just how to take these men in his net, and deceive and destroy them…
“The very same Satan is at work to undermine the faith of the people of God at this time. There are persons ready to catch up every new idea. The prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation are misinterpreted. These persons do not consider that the truth has been set forth at the appointed time by the very men whom God was leading to do this special work. These men followed on step by step in the very fulfillment of prophecy, and those who have not had a personal experience in this work, are to take the Word of God and believe on ‘their word’ who have been led by the Lord in the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages. These messages, received and acted upon, are doing their work to prepare a people to stand in the great day of God. If we search the Scriptures to confirm the truth God has given His servants for the world, we shall be found proclaiming the first, second, and third angels’ messages.
“It is true that there are prophecies yet to be fulfilled. But very erroneous work has been done again and again, and will continue to be done by those who seek to find new light in the prophecies, and who begin by turning away from the light that God has already given. The messages of Revelation 14 are those by which the world is to be tested; they are the everlasting gospel, and are to be sounded everywhere. But the Lord does not lay upon those who have not had an experience in His work the burden of making a new exposition of those prophecies which He has, by His Holy Spirit, moved upon His chosen servants to explain.” Selected Messages, book 2, 110-113.
So Satan is attempting to repeat the misunderstanding of prophecy that took place among the Jews within “those who claim to believe present truth” within the Adventist church. More specifically Satan will accomplish this by leading men to “catch up new ideas” without considering that “the truth has been set forth at the appointed time by the very men whom God was leading.” Not only do they not consider the truth set forth by these appointed men, but they will be seeking to find “new light” and “begin” their search “by turning away from the light that God has already given.” Specifically these deluded souls will have a burden to make a “new exposition of those prophecies which He has moved upon His chosen servants to explain.” All of this will take place instead of following the counsel within the passage that identifies our responsibility to “take the Word of God and believe on ‘their word’ who have been led by the Lord in the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages”. Did she really say that we were to believe the word of the pioneers? But doesn’t Marion Berry expose their errors and redefine their conclusions?
“There must be no long discussions, presenting new theories in regard to the prophecies which God has already made plain.” Evangelism, 199
The prophetic parallel to the rejection of Christ by the Jews is even more specifically identified than the previous passage. It is not simply to reject the conclusions of the pioneers or to seek for new light in prophecies that have already been established. It is a specific type of prophetic study that is taken up by those who would follow in the footsteps of ancient Israel:
“In our day as in Christ’s day, there may be a misreading and misinterpreting of the Scriptures. If the Jews had studied the Scriptures with earnest, prayerful hearts, their searching would have been rewarded with a true knowledge of the time, and not only the time, but also the manner of Christ’s appearing. They would not have ascribed the glorious second appearing of Christ to His first advent. They had the testimony of Daniel; they had the testimony of Isaiah and the other prophets; they had the teachings of Moses; and here was Christ in their very midst, and still they were searching the Scriptures for evidence in regard to His coming. And they were doing unto Christ the very things that had been prophesied they would do. They were so blinded they knew not what they were doing.
“And many are doing the same thing today, in 1897 [2002], because they have not had experience in the testing messages comprehended in the first, second, and third angel’s messages. There are those who are searching the Scriptures for proof that these messages are still in the future. They gather together the truthfulness of the messages, but they fail to give them their proper place in prophetic history. Therefore such are in danger of misleading the people in regard to locating the messages. They do not see and understand the time of the end, or when to locate the messages.” Evangelism, 613.
Did that passage impact you? Prophetically, the strong delusion Adventists receive as they parallel the rejection and crucifixion of Christ, will take place among those who “are searching the Scriptures for proof that” “messages are still in the future. They” will “fail to give them their proper place in prophetic history.” “Such” people “are in danger of misleading” “people in regard to locating the messages. They do not see and understand the time of the end, or when to locate the messages.” How many people do you know who applying the 2300 days at the end of the world? Remember, this deception takes place with those who “claim to believe present truth”. How many people professing to believe present truth are reapplying the time prophecies of Daniel 8? Must be some other prophetic periods that are pointed out in the warnings, don’t you think?
When we address prophetic ideas such as Marion Berry’s, we are under conviction that the ideas are as dangerous as someone misunderstanding whom the Messiah was—in the days when Jesus walked among men. The seriousness of this type of false application of prophecy is generally not recognized. The Messiah was generally not recognized. Yet we still stand amazed at the blindness in the Jewish response to Jesus when he walked among them. How could they not see?
“When Christ came to the world, his own nation rejected him. He brought from heaven the message of salvation, hope, freedom, and peace; but men would not accept his good tidings. Christians have condemned the Jewish nation for rejecting the Saviour; but many who profess to be followers of Christ are doing even worse than did the Jews, for they are rejecting greater light in despising the truth for this time.” Review and Herald, November 5, 1889
We are in a time period paralleling the days when Christ was upon earth and we have been warned that as Seventh-day Adventists, some of us will repeat the rejection and crucifixion of Christ by turning away from truth that was established by the pioneers concerning the prophetic periods which were proclaimed during the Millerite time period. Those who fulfill this dreadful prediction will not simply turn away from the pioneer positions, they will also seek to place the prophetic fulfillments identified by the pioneers somewhere in the future. In May of 1998 I received a letter from Marion Berry. This is some of the counsel for me:
“You also need to do a computer search and/or investigate all Ellen G. White’s comments in regard to dual applications. You will soon discover that in her earlier years she supported fully the pioneers past applications, but as she passed the 1888 milestone, her statements began to apply the last chapter of Daniel to the future and much that in Revelation had been understood to have occurred in the past is to have another fulfillment…
“I wish we could get together and talk before you set your course and do great damage to present truth all over the world. You started out so well with Daniel 11. What happened? What changed your attitudes? Do you not understand that the three timelines of Daniel 12 simply explain that God’s people will once again be persecuted by 2nd Papal Supremacy and that it will last only 1290 days and that God’s people will wait it out until they are delivered from the Death Decree of Revelation 13:15? It is just Revelation 13 reiterated, and Great Controversy repeated in detail. No dates are set. “Sincerely, Marion Berry” Letter, dated April 25, 1998.
If I may paraphrase some of these statements:
My paraphrase: You need to “search the Scriptures” and the Spirit of Prophecy “for proof that these messages are still in the future”.
(Based upon: You also need to do a computer search and/or investigate all Ellen G. White’s comments in regard to dual applications.)
My paraphrase: You need to turn “away from the light that God has already given by the men whom God was leading in the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages.”
(Based upon: You will soon discover that in her earlier years she supported fully the pioneers past applications, but as she passed the 1888 milestone, her statements began to apply the last chapter of Daniel to the future”.
My paraphrase: You need to stop “search[ing] the Scriptures to confirm the truth God has given His servants for the world.”
(Based upon: “You started out so well with Daniel 11. What happened? What changed your attitudes? Do you not understand that the three timelines of Daniel 12 simply explain…”)
“Again and again have I been warned in regard to time setting. There will never again be a message for the people of God that will be based on time.” Selected Messages, book 1, 188
A Warning We Need To Understand
Those who promote false ideas invariably twist the Spirit of Prophecy to meet their own ideas. A classic example of this is illustrated in the quotation from Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, 228– 229. The entire quotation is on the front cover of this newsletter. Those who seek to reapply Daniel 12, pull a couple sentences out of this passage to isolate and magnify: “Let us read and study the twelfth chapter of Daniel. It is a warning that we shall all need to understand before the time of the end.” These sentences are used by Marion Berry in her manuscript titled, Warning. She uses this passage to twist the warning in Daniel 12 from the importance of character development into the need to believe in the future fulfillment of the prophetic periods in Daniel 12 that came to pass in the Millerite time period.
But when you study the entire passage thoroughly, you recognize the true warning of Daniel 12. This same warning was addressed in our December newsletter, in the article by James White about the “time of the end.” Ellen and James White both recognized the warning of Daniel 12 to be a warning to be among those who shine as the stars of heaven and lead many to righteousness. In the opening paragraph of this passage Sister White speaks about “the unprepared condition of our churches” and our need to “keep our feet in the straight and narrow path” while warning us to “make no missteps now”. She points to “the first and second chapters of Colossians as an expression of what our churches should be.” She then speaks of Paul not being able to share his complete message because the church members would have “made a misapplication of the great truths” he shared. The first paragraph contains a warning, which includes misapplication of truth and the possibility of leaving the path of truth. But what is it in the first two chapters Colossians that is of importance? Isn’t it summed up in chapter 1 verses 26 through 28?
Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
The mystery of Godliness—the hope of Glory, is the warning we are to share with every man. It is a warning that those in the Laodicean church need to accept. This is the warning in the first paragraph of the passage!
The warning in paragraph two, which is where Marion Berry lifts her sentences about Daniel 12 out of, opens with the summary of the entire paragraph. “The people of God need to study what characters they must form in order to pass through the test and proving of the last days.” This is the same emphasis as in the first paragraph. So. Are the timelines of Daniel 12 somehow a warning about character sanctification? In Marion Berry’s letter above she said the timelines of Daniel 12 were to “simply explain that God’s people will once again be persecuted by 2nd Papal Supremacy and that it will last only 1290 days and that God’s people will wait it out until the are delivered from the Death Decree of Revelation 13:15? It is just Revelation 13 reiterated, and Great Controversy repeated in detail. No dates are set.” But is there other information in Daniel 12 that more accurately reflects the warning Sister White is emphasizing in her entire record? Oh yes! A very serious warning, but it is not about future application of previously fulfilled time prophecy:
And at that time shall Michael stand up, [Probation is closed!] the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: [During which you must have a character prepared to stand when there is no longer intercession available for sin!] and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. [Some will be delivered!] And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. [Some will not be delivered. A solemn warning.]
And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; [Here are those who heed the warning in Daniel 12 and shake off their Laodicean lethargy.] but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; [And here are those in Adventism (and those outside Adventism) who reject the warning of Daniel 12.] but the wise shall understand. [Do we understand the warning of Daniel 12?] Daniel 12:1–3, 10.
The warning we need to understand is not about time prophecy.
The third paragraph identifies a warning that is in perfect agreement with the previous paragraphs. “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things”. No connection to a timeline warning. Is there?
Paragraph four emphasizes the wise and foolish virgins at the end of the world. Again we see the identical theme from the first word in paragraph one to the closing thought of the complete passage, “When the foolish virgins reached the banqueting hall, they received an unexpected denial. The master of the feast declared, ‘I know you not.’ They were left standing without in the empty street, in the blackness of the night. ”Once again, no connection to the timeline warning.
The warning in Daniel 12, which we need to understand before the time of the end, is a warning to be among the wise virgins, with our lights shining, leading many to righteousness, with Christ the hope of glory, in us. Yet Marion Berry and others would have you believe it is a warning to apply the timelines of Daniel 12 at the end of the world. Nonsense!
Marion Berry states that Sister White “supported fully the pioneers past applications, but as she passed the 1888 milestone, her statements began to apply the last chapter of Daniel to the future.” If Sister White changed her inspired position half way through her ministry she is a false prophet. If she identified truth at one point and later identified it as error her inspiration was not of the Lord:
“My Instructor said to me, tell these men that God has not committed to them the work of measuring, classifying, and defining the character of the Testimonies. Those who attempt this are sure to err in their conclusions…
“Those who carefully read the Testimonies as they have appeared from the early days, need not be perplexed as to their origin.” Selected Messages, book 1, 49.
Some might incorrectly say that this statement identifies that the early Testimonies were more important than the later. (There are those who do this very thing in Adventism today.) But what she is conveying is that from the beginning of her ministry to the very close of her ministry her message is consistent with itself. Marion Berry would have us believe that after 1888 her understanding on the timelines of Daniel 12 changed. How do we understand the next statement?
That Which Was From The Beginning
“John bore no uncertain message. ‘That which was from the beginning,’ he says, ‘which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.’ [Notice the Inspired emphasis on retaining that which was from the beginning.]
“We have, as had John, a message to bear of the things which we have seen and heard. God is not giving us a new message. We are to proclaim the message that in 1843 and 1844 brought us out of the other churches.” Review and Herald, January 19, 1905.
There are several passages, when correctly understood, all by themselves— expose Marion Berry’s philosophy as false. This last passage is one of them. Marion Berry does not deny that the information on the 1843 chart was what the pioneers were presenting prior to the Great Disappointment on October 22, 1844. So whether the pioneers were correct or incorrect, the message that brought the people out of the churches included the pioneer understanding of the timelines in Daniel 12. You can’t get away from that historical fact. Even if their presentation on Daniel 12 were later found to be erroneous, historically we know, that it was part of the Millerite message that “brought the people out of the churches”.
So we have some choices to make here. Do we accept Marion Berry’s commentary that after 1888 Sister White changed her position on the pioneer message of Daniel 12? If so, Sister White needs to clarify or retract this previous passage. Marion Berry states, “in her earlier years she supported fully the pioneers past applications, but as she passed the 1888 milestone, her statements began to apply the last chapter of Daniel to the future”. That pioneer message was definitely part of what brought people out of the churches and if we believe Marion Berry it was a false message. If we choose Marion Berry’s conclusions we identify that Ellen White counsels us to preach a message which contains error and that Sister White (at certain times) opposes her own Testimonies. To accept that reasoning means we end up with a false prophet!
By the way, notice the date that Sister White wrote this previous statement. 1905 is well after 1888. Perhaps, Sister White forgot that she no longer believed the pioneer message on Daniel 12. As I said to open the previous paragraph, “We have some choices to make”.
The reason the pioneer message (including Daniel 12) brought the people out of the churches is because the message was a test to the people of that day.
“I saw that God was in the proclamation of the time in 1843. It was His design to arouse the people and bring them to a testing point, where they should decide for or against the truth. Ministers were convinced of the correctness of the positions taken on the prophetic periods, and some renounced their pride, and left their salaries and their churches to go forth from place to place to give the message.” Early Writings, 232.
“To William Miller and his co-laborers it was given to preach the message in America, and the light kindled by their labors shone out to distant lands. The testimony of the Scriptures pointing to the coming of Christ in 1843, awakened widespread interest. Many were convinced that the arguments from the prophetic periods were correct, and, sacrificing their pride of opinion, they joyfully received the truth.” Spiritual Gifts, vol. 4, 222.
“There have been one and another who in studying their Bibles thought they discovered great light, and new theories, but these have not been correct. The Scripture is all-true, but by misapplying the Scripture men arrive at wrong conclusions. We are engaged in a mighty conflict, and it will become more close and determined, as we near the final struggle. We have a sleepless adversary, and he is constantly at work upon human minds that have not had a personal experience in the teachings of the people of God for the past fifty years. Some will take the truth applicable to their time, and place it in the future. Events in the train of prophecy that had their fulfillment away in the past are made future, and thus by these theories the faith of some is undermined.
“From the light that the Lord has been pleased to give me, you are in danger of doing the same work, presenting before others truths which have had their place and done their specific work for the time, in the history of the faith of the people of God. You recognize these facts in Bible history as true, but apply them to the future. They have their force still in their proper place, in the chain of events that have made us as a people what we are today, and as such, they are to be presented to those who are in the darkness of error. The true workers of Jesus Christ are to cooperate with their brethren who have had an experience in the work from the very rise of the third angel’s message. These followed on step by step, receiving light and truth as they advanced, bearing one test after another, lifting the cross that lay directly in their pathway, and pressing on to know the Lord, whose goings forth are prepared as the morning. You and other of our brethren must accept the truth as God has given it to His students of prophecy, as they have been led by genuine, living experience, advancing point by point, tested, proved, and tried, until the truth is to them a reality. From their voices and pens the truth in bright, warm rays has gone to all parts of the world, and that which was to them testing truth, as brought by the Lord’s delegated messengers, is testing truth to all to whom this message is proclaimed.” Selected Messages, book 2, 102.
“The burden of the warning now to come to the people of God, nigh and afar off, is the third angel’s message. And those who are seeking to understand this message will not be led by the Lord to make an application of the Word that will undermine the foundation and remove the pillars of the faith that has made Seventh-day Adventists what they are today. The truths that have been unfolding in their order, as we have advanced along the line of prophecy revealed in the Word of God, are truth, sacred, eternal truth today. Those who passed over the ground step by step in the past history of our experience, seeing the chain of truth in the prophecies, were prepared to accept and obey every ray of light. They were praying, fasting, searching, digging for the truth as for hidden treasures, and the Holy Spirit, we know, was teaching and guiding us. Many theories were advanced, bearing a semblance of truth, but so mingled with misinterpreted and misapplied scriptures, that they led to dangerous errors. Very well do we know how every point of truth was established, and the seal set upon it by the Holy Spirit of God. And all the time voices were heard, ‘Here is the truth,’ ‘I have the truth; follow me.’ But the warnings came, ‘Go not ye after them. I have not sent them, but they ran.’ See Jeremiah 23:21.
“The leadings of the Lord were marked, and most wonderful were His revelations of what is truth. Point after point was established by the Lord God of heaven. That which was truth then, is truth today. But the voices do not cease to be heard—‘This is truth. I have new light.’ But these new lights in prophetic lines are manifest in misapplying the Word and setting the people of God adrift without an anchor to hold them. If the student of the Word would take the truths, which God has revealed in the leadings of His people, and appropriate these truths, digest them, and bring them into their practical life, they would then be living channels of light. But those who have set themselves to study out new theories, have a mixture of truth and error combined, and after trying to make these things prominent, have demonstrated that they have not kindled their taper from the divine altar, and it has gone out in darkness.
“The proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages has been located by the Word of Inspiration. Not a peg or pin is to be removed. No human authority has any more right to change the location of these messages than to substitute the New Testament for the Old. The Old Testament is the gospel in figures and symbols. The New Testament is the substance. One is as essential as the other. The Old Testament presents lessons from the lips of Christ, and these lessons have not lost their force in any particular.
“The first and second messages were given in 1843 and 1844, and we are now under the proclamation of the third; but all three of the messages are still to be proclaimed. It is just as essential now as ever before that they shall be repeated to those who are seeking for the truth. By pen and voice we are to sound the proclamation, showing their order, and the application of the prophecies that bring us to the third angel’s message. There cannot be a third without the first and second. These messages we are to give to the world in publications, in discourses, showing in the line of prophetic history the things that have been and the things that will be.” Selected Messages, book 2, 104.
The 1290 And 1335 Days
Another important prophetic period upon which the Advent doctrine is based, is the 1335 days of Daniel 12, with which the 1290 days are so intimately connected. These two periods are introduced to us as follows:
“And from the time that the daily (sacrifice) shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thou thy way till the end be; for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.” Daniel 12:11–13.
The questions at once arise, Can we tell what the events are, from which these periods are to be dated; and if so, can we tell when they took place? We first enquire. What is the “daily” (sacrifice) and the “abomination that maketh desolate?” It will be noticed that the word, sacrifice, is in italics: denoting that it is a supplied word. The same will be noticed in the other instances of its occurrence in the book of Daniel, viz., chapter 11:31 and 8:11–13. Let us briefly refer to this latter chapter. In verse 13 it will be observed that two desolations are brought to view; the daily (desolation,) and the transgression of desolation. This fact is made so plain by Josiah Litch that we cannot do better than quote his language:
“The daily sacrifice is the present reading of the text; but no such thing as sacrifice is found in the original. This is acknowledged on all hands. It is a gloss or construction put upon it by the translators. The true reading is, ‘the daily and the transgression of desolation;’ daily and transgression being connected together by ‘and;’ the daily desolation and the transgression of desolation. They are two desolating powers which were to desolate the Sanctuary and the host.”
“From this it is evident that the “daily,” can have no reference to the Jewish worship to which it has been applied by the older and more prevalent opinion; and this is further evident from the consideration that if these periods, taken either literally or figuratively, be dated from any taking away of this worship, they do not bring us to any event whatever worthy of note.”
The daily and the abomination then, are two desolating powers, which were to oppress the church: can we ascertain what these powers are? We have only to adopt William Miller’s method of reasoning on this point to arrive at the same conclusion with him. He says:
“I read on, and could find no other case in which if [the daily] was found but in Daniel. I then [by the aid of a concordance] took those words which stood in connection with it, ‘take away;’ he shall take away the daily; ‘from the time that the daily shall be taken away.’ I read on and thought I should find no light on the text. Finally I came to 2 Thessalonians 2:7–8, ‘For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way, and then shall that wicked be revealed.’ And when I had come to that text, O, how clear and glorious the truth appeared! There it is! That is ‘the daily!’ Well, now, what does Paul mean by ‘he who now letteth’ or hindereth? By ‘the Man of Sin,’ and the ‘wicked,’ Popery is meant. Well what is it which hinders Popery from being revealed? Why it is Paganism. Well, then, ‘the daily’ must mean Paganism.”
“We see from Daniel 8, that it is the little horn, which succeeded the goat, or Grecian empire, that takes away the “daily;” and it is the only power brought to view after the division of Alexander’s kingdom down to the time when the Sanctuary should be cleansed at the end of the 2300 days. This little horn we have in its proper place showed to be Rome taken as a unit, corresponding with the fourth kingdom of Daniel’s other visions. Now it is a fact that a change did take place in the Roman power from Paganism to Papacy. Paganism from the days of the Assyrian kings down to the time of its modification into Popery, had been the daily, or as Prof. Whiting renders it, “the continual” desolation, by which Satan had stood up against the cause of Jehovah. In its priests, its altars and its sacrifices, it bore resemblance to the Levitical form of Jehovah’s worship; but when the Levitical gave place to the Christian form of worship, Satan, in order to successfully oppose the work, must change also his form of opposition; hence the temples, altars and statues of Paganism are baptized into the blasphemies of Popery.
But the daily, Paganism, is said in the prophecy, to have a sanctuary, and the place of its sanctuary was to be cast down. That a sanctuary is frequently connected with idolatry and heathenism, as the place of its devotion and worship, is evident from the following scriptures: Isaiah 16:12; Amos 7:9,13, margin. Ezekiel 28:18. Concerning the sanctuary of the daily of Daniel 8, we offer the following from Apollo’s Hale:
“What can be meant by the `sanctuary’ of Paganism? Paganism, and error of every kind have their sanctuaries, as well as truth. These are the temples or asylums consecrated to their service. Some particular and renowned temple of Paganism may, then, be supposed to be here spoken of. Which of its numerous distinguished temples may it be? One of the most magnificent specimens of classic architecture is called the Pantheon. Its name signifies the `temple or asylum of all the gods.’ The place of its location is Rome. The idols of the nations conquered by the Romans were sacredly deposited in some niche or department of this temple, and in many cases became objects of worship by the Romans themselves. Could we find a temple of Paganism that was more strikingly `his sanctuary.’
Having now ascertained that the daily is Paganism, and the transgression of desolation, or “the abomination that maketh desolate,” is the Papacy, and that the especial sanctuary of Paganism was the Pantheon, and that the “place” of its location was Rome, we inquire further.”
- Was Paganism “taken away” by the Roman civil power? The following statement of an important and well-known fact in the history of the church and world, we think answers to the prophecy. It refers to Constantine the first Christian emperor, and says:
“His first act of government was the dispatch of an edict throughout the empire, exhorting his subjects to embrace Christianity.”
- Was Rome the city or place of his sanctuary, (the Pantheon,) cast down by the authority of the State? The following extract answers:
“The death of the last rival of Constantine had sealed the peace of the empire. Rome was once more the undisputed queen of nations. But, in that hour of elevation and splendor, she had been raised to the edge of a precipice. Her next step was to be downward and irrecoverable. The change of the government to Constantinople still perplexes the historian. It was an act in direct repugnance to the whole course of the ancient and honorable prejudices of the Roman mind. It was the work of no luxurious Asiatic, devoted to the indulgences of eastern customs and climates, but an iron conqueror, born in the west, and contemptuous, like all Romans, of the habits of the Orientals; it was the work of a keen politician, yet it was impolitic in the most palpable degree. Yet Constantine abandoned Rome, the great citadel and throne of the Caesars, for an obscure corner of Thrace, and expended the remainder of his vigorous and ambitious life in the double toil of raising a colony into the capital of his empire, and degrading the capital into the feeble honors and humiliated strength of a colony.
“This record from the pen of the historian is too plain to need comment. The place of his sanctuary was cast down, says the prophecy; and after a statement of facts like the above, the most fastidious in prophetic interpretation must be satisfied of its application.
“From the time that the daily shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred five and thirty days. With the facts before us that the daily is Paganism, that the abomination that maketh desolate is the Papacy, that there was a change from the former to the latter in the Roman power, and by the authority of State we have but to inquire further when this took place in a manner to fulfill the prophecy; for if we can ascertain this, we have the starting point from which the prophetic periods in the text before us are to be dated.
“Therefore, when did the event referred to in the prophecy take place? Let it be observed, the question is not, when were the saints given into the hands of the Papacy, but when had the change of religion from Paganism to Papacy been so far effected as to make the latter the national religion, and place it in a condition to start upon its career. This, like all other great revolutions, was not the work of a moment. Its incipient workings were manifest long before. Paul said that even in his day the mystery of iniquity, the Man of Sin, the “abomination that maketh desolate,” was already at work. And it is in the light of this scripture that we must understand our Lord’s words in Matthew 24:15, concerning the abomination of desolation, where he makes evident reference to Daniel 9:27. For although Paganism had not given place to the Papacy in the year 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans we do understand that the power which then appeared modified somewhat in name and form, was the very power that should, as the abomination of desolation, wear out the saints and desolate the church of the Most High.
“Up to the time of the conversion of Clovis, king of France, which took place in 496, the French and other nations of western Rome were Pagan; but subsequent to that event the efforts to convert idolaters to Christ were crowned with great success. It is said that the conversion of Clovis gave rise to the custom of addressing the French monarch with the titles of Most Christian Majesty and Eldest Son of the Church. “Between that time and A.D. 508 by alliances,’ `capitulations’ and conquests, `the Avborici,’ the `Roman garrisons in the west,’ Brittany, the Burgundians and the Visigoths, were brought into subjection.
“Paganism in the western Roman Empire, though it doubtless retarded the progress of the Christian faith, especially in those nations which were molested, as in the case of England, by the inroads of the barbarous clans, who continued idolaters, henceforth had not the power, if it had the disposition to suppress the Catholic faith, or to hinder the encroachments of the Roman Pontiff. From that time, the Papal abomination was triumphant, so far as Paganism was concerned. Its future contests were with the other Christian sects, who were always treated as heretics; and with princes who were always treated as rebels or dividers of the body of Christ. The prominent powers of Europe gave up their attachment to Paganism only to perpetuate its abominations in another form; for Paganism needed only to be baptized to become Christian in the Catholic sense; and when the interests or vengeance of its presiding minister made the demand, their possessions and thrones, perhaps their lives, must be laid on the altar.
“In England, Arthur, the first Christian king, founded the Christian worship on the ruins of the Pagan. Rapin, who claims to be more exact in the chronology of events in his history, states that he was elected monarch of Britain in 508.” Book ii, 129.
What was the condition of the See of Rome at this time? “Symmachus was Pope from 498 or 9 to 514. His pontificate was distinguished by these remarkable circumstances and events:
- He `left Paganism’ when he entered the `church of Rome.’
- He found his way to the Papal chair by striving with his competitor even unto blood.
- By the adulation paid to him as the successor of St. Peter.
- By the excommunication of the Emperor Anastasius.
“How much,” says Mosheim, “the opinions of some were favorable to the lordly demands of the Roman Pontiffs, may be easily imagined from an expression of Ennodius, that infamous and extravagant flatterer of Symmachus, who was a prelate of ambiguous fame. This parasitical panegyrist, among other impertinent assertions maintained that the Pontiff was constituted judge in the place of God, which he filled as the Vicegerent of the Most High.”
By the strength secured to the Catholic cause in the west, by these successes, and the agency of the vicars, and other agents of the See of Rome, the Papal party in Constantinople were “placed” in a position to justify open hostilities in behalf of their master at Rome. “In 508 the whirlwind of fanaticism and civil war swept in fire and blood through the streets of the eastern capital.’’
Gibbon, under the years 508-514, speaking of the commotions in Constantinople, says, “The statues of the emperor were broken, and his person was concealed in a suburb, till, at the end of three days, he dared to implore the mercy of his subjects. [Popery is triumphant.] Without his diadem, and in the posture of a suppliant, Anastasius appeared on the throne of the circus. The Catholics, before his face, rehearsed the genuine Trisagion; they exulted in the offer which he proclaimed by the voice of a herald, of abdicating the purple; they listened to the admonition, that, since all could not reign, they should previously agree in the choice of a sovereign; and they accepted the blood of two unpopular ministers, whom their master, without hesitation, condemned to the lions. These furious but transient seditions were encouraged by the success of Vitalian, who with his army of Huns and Bulgarians, for the most part idolaters, declared himself the champion of the Catholic faith. In this pious rebellion he depopulated Thrace, besieged Constantinople, exterminated sixty-five thousand of his fellow Christians, till he obtained the recall of the bishops, the satisfaction of the Pope, and the establishment of the council of Chalcedon, an orthodox treaty, reluctantly signed by the dying Anastasius, and more faithfully performed by the uncle of Justinian. And such was the event of the first of the religious wars which have been waged in the name, and by the disciples, of the God of Peace.”
With the following extract from Appollos Hale, we close the testimony on this point:
“We now invite our modern Gamaliels to take a position with us in the place of the sanctuary of Paganism (since claimed as the `patrimony of St. Peter’) in 508. We look a few years into the past, and the rude Paganism of the northern barbarians is pouring down upon the nominally Christian empire of Western Rome triumphing everywhere and its triumphs everywhere distinguished by the most savage cruelty…. The empire falls and is broken into fragments. One by one the lords and rulers of these fragments, abandon their Paganism and profess the Christian faith. In religion the conquerors are yielding to the conquered. But still Paganism is triumphant. Among its supporters there is one stern and successful conqueror. (Clovis.) But soon he also bows before the power of the new faith and becomes its champion. He is still triumphant, but, as a hero and conqueror, reaches the zenith at the point we occupy, A.D. 508.
“In or near the same year, the last important subdivision of the fallen empire is publicly, and by the coronation of its triumphant `monarch’ Christianized.
“The pontiff for the period on which we stand is a recently converted Pagan. The bloody contest which placed him in the chair was decided by the interposition of an Arian king. He is bowed to and saluted as filling `the place of God on earth.’ The senate is so far under his power, that, on suspicion that the interests of the See of Rome demand it, they excommunicate the emperor…In 508 the mine is sprung beneath the throne of the Eastern Empire. The result of the confusion and strife it occasions is the humiliation of its rightful lord. Now the question is, At what time was Paganism so far suppressed, as to make room for its substitute and successor, the Papal abomination? When was this abomination placed in a position to start on its career of blasphemy and blood? Is there any other date for its being `placed,’ or `set up’ in the room of Paganism, but 508? If the mysterious enchantress has not now brought all her victims within her power, she has taken her position, and some have yielded to the fascination. The others are at length subdued, `and kings, and peoples and multitudes, and nations, and tongues,’ are brought under the spell which prepares them, even while `drunken with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus,’ to `think they are doing God service,’ and to fancy themselves the exclusive favorites of heaven, while becoming an easier and richer prey for the damnation of hell”
“We have the date. The “daily” was taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up in 508. Dating from this point the 1290 days or years terminate in 1798 where, as has already been shown, the civil power was stricken from the Pope by the arm of Buonaparte. The 1335 days bring us 45 full years this side of that event.”
“But some may say, how is it that you make the periods terminate in the past? Does it not read that Daniel should rest and stand in his lot at the end of the days? Certainly; and we believe it. But what is it for Daniel to stand in his lot? This point will come under consideration when we come to an explanation of the passing of the time, and an examination of the events that did take place at the end of the days. Meanwhile we here cast anchor till another week.” The Review and Herald, January 28, 1858.
Published by