The Book of Daniel - Number Forty-Four

William Miller’s foundational truths were covered up over the four generations of Adventism. The restoration of those foundational truths are set forth in his second dream, and repeatedly identified in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy as the work God’s last day people are to accomplish. Miller’s dream identifies that when the dirt brush man restores the jewels, they will shine ten times brighter than the sun.

Miller’s framework was based upon recognizing the two desolating powers of paganism followed by papalism, and the apostle Paul’s testimony in chapter two of Thessalonians, provided Miller with the anchor for his framework. There Paul identifies that pagan Rome had restrained the papacy from rising to power, until pagan Rome was taken away. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul also provided the anchor for the framework of Future for America, when Paul identified that the “man of sin” in the chapter was also represented as the king that exalted himself, in Daniel chapter eleven, and verse thirty-six.

It is essential to see that the increase of knowledge in the movement of both the first and third angels, was directly connected with Paul’s testimony in chapter two of Thessalonians. At the time of the end in 1798, and also in 1989, the book of Daniel was unsealed, thus initiating a three-step testing process. The testing process always produces two classes of worshippers in the history where the book of Daniel is unsealed. It is essential to see Paul’s writings in connection with the increase of knowledge at the time of the end, for it is in that very chapter where Paul warns that those who do not receive the “love of the truth,” will receive strong delusion from God. The strong delusion is what is brought upon the wicked in Daniel chapter twelve, who reject the increase of knowledge. In both histories the strong delusion is most directly referring to Adventism.

Adventism was “the faithful city” when it proclaimed the Midnight Cry in 1844. By 1863, it began the process of rejecting the “foundations” that were established through the ministry of William Miller. When they began to set aside the foundational truths, thus covering them with counterfeit jewels and coins, they were building a new foundation. Those that began, carried out and continue that work, are represented in the writing of the Spirit of Prophecy as “those who have had great light.”

The “great light” they once had, was represented in Miller’s dream as the jewels in the casket, which Miller placed upon a table in the center of his room, that shone brighter than “the sun.” In the passage just cited Sister White identifies, “those who have had great light,” but who “have chosen their own ways.”

They chose a new way in 1863. She says it is “a fascinating delusion, that takes possession of minds when men who have once known the truth, mistake the form of godliness for the spirit and power thereof; when they suppose that they are rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing, while in reality they are in need of everything.”

She is identifying the Laodicean condition, which she and her husband identified occurred in 1856. They were then tested for seven years, but failed the test in 1863, and began erecting the false foundation that brings the strong delusion of Paul’s warning message in Thessalonians. Paul’s warning in Thessalonians is an anchor for both the movement at the beginning and ending of Adventism, and aligns perfectly with Miller’s dream, which addresses both the beginning and ending of Adventism. His dream identifies that when the work of restoring the original jewels of truth is accomplished, those truths will shine ten times brighter than when they first shone at the Midnight Cry in the beginning of Adventism. How is it that Miller’s understanding shines any brighter now, than when he first recognized the truth?

There are several truths represented upon the two sacred charts of Habakkuk chapter two. Those truths were represented in Miller’s dream as jewels that would ultimately be restored in the last days, just before the Midnight Cry. The counterfeit jewels that are carried out of the window in Miller’s dream represent both the false doctrines that were brought into Adventism to create a false foundation, and also to hide the true foundation; but they also represent those who refuse to turn loose of the false doctrines that make up the false foundation. “The daily” was the anchor for William Miller’s framework of truth that established the original foundation, and in the last days “the daily,” symbolizes not only paganism, as Miller correctly identified, but it is the symbol of the rebellion that produced the false foundation.

The Bible, the Spirit of Prophecy and history all testify that the judgment-hour cry of 1798 through 1844, was the proclamation of the message discovered and presented by William Miller. This is why the movement is called the Millerite movement. Logically to reject that movement, is to reject the light that was produced in 1798, that Daniel identified as an increase of knowledge.

Isaiah speaks of the drunkards of Ephraim, and identifies those drunkards as the scornful men that rule the people of Jerusalem. Isaiah identifies that they are not drunk with literal wine, they are drunk with spiritual wine. Spiritual wine in the Bible is either true or false doctrine, depending upon the context. The drunkards of Ephraim are drunk on false doctrine, which is the wine of Babylon, as represented by the whore of Tyre in chapter seventeen, of Revelation and by Belshazzar in his last night of partying.

Isaiah identified the effects of the spiritual drunkenness that comes upon the scornful men that rule the people of Jerusalem.

Sister White quotes these verses and then adds:

All the prophets, including Isaiah and Sister White are identifying the last days. In these days the leaders of Adventism “are positively on Satan’s side, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.” Sister White sets forth a prediction when she says, “When these spiritualistic deceptions are revealed to be what they really are,—the secret workings of evil spirits,—those who have acted a part in them will become as men who have lost their minds.” The leadership of Adventism will become as men who have lost their minds, at the point in the history of the last days when their drunkenness is revealed to be “the secret workings of evil spirits.”

There is an unsealing of the work of the scornful men that rule the people in Jerusalem in the last days. That unsealing was illustrated in Miller’s dream, when Miller prayed and then there was a door opened. It takes place just before he closed his eyes for a moment, identifying the very end of the sealing process of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. The opening of a door identifies a change of dispensations, and at that point the Laodicean movement of the third angel transitions into the Philadelphian movement of the third angel.

In the passage in Isaiah, there is a summary of the evil work of the drunkards of Ephraim, who are the men who “should have stood as faithful guardians.” The summary is expressed as, “‘Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay; for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it. He had no understanding?’”

Miller’s identification of “the daily,” as either the religion of paganism or pagan Rome is ultimately a symbol of Satan, for Satan and pagan Rome are both represented as the dragon.

Speaking of the men who rule Jerusalem in the last days, Sister White states: “Some are becoming imbued with the darkness that prevails, and are setting the truth aside for error. The day pointed out by prophecy is come. Jesus Christ is not understood. Jesus Christ is to them a fable.” In 1901, a leader of Adventism from Germany began to introduce apostate Protestantism’s false view of “the daily” in the book of Daniel. That view identifies that “the daily” represents Christ’s sanctuary work, or some variation of that thought. I say some variation for there have been different emphasis placed upon the falsehood through the history that followed 1901, but those false views always manifest a conclusion that “the daily” represents some type of Christ’s work.

The jewel that was the doctrine of “the daily,” which Miller identified as a satanic symbol, in the Adventism of the last days, is a symbol of Christ. When introduced in 1901, very few accepted the view that “the daily” was a symbol of Christ, and not a symbol of Satan, but by the 1930’s the jewel of the doctrine of “the daily,” which Miller had dug out of the vein of truth found in 2 Thessalonians, chapter two, was rejected as had the “seven times” of Leviticus twenty-six been rejected in 1863. Somewhere in the history of 1863 unto the 1930’s Adventism had changed leaders, without recognizing it.

The scornful men that rule over the people of Jerusalem, who are men “in positions of trust,” will “call sin righteousness and righteousness sin,” and “Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay; for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it. He had no understanding?’” In the progressive rebellion over the four generations of Adventism, those who are positions of trust change leaders, and don’t know it. They do not know it, for they progressively and consistently rejected evidence of their errors. In that progressive rebellion “the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.”

They will turn things upside down, and call sin righteousness and righteousness sin. The symbol of this rebellion is the doctrine of “the daily,” which for Miller was a satanic symbol, and which Adventism today identifies as a symbol of Christ. What once was the anchor that established the framework of William Miller’s prophetic applications, is now become a symbol of the drunkenness of the scornful men that rule over the people of Jerusalem. The symbolism associated with “the daily,” in the book of Daniel shone bright as the sun when recognized in Miller’s casket at the beginning of Adventism, but in the last days that truth shines ten times brighter, for the number ten is a symbol of a test, and for ancient Israel the tenth test was the final test.

Modern Pharisees have “attributed” “the works of Christ” “to satanic agencies” identifying paganism as “the holy power of God.”

We will continue our consideration of the increase of knowledge, that was unsealed in the movement of the first angel, in the next article.