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# The Book of Daniel - Number Twenty-Three

The Scornful Men

Author

Jeff Pippenger

Published

December 18, 2023

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Key Takeaways

- Revelation 18 Fulfilled: The destruction of New York City’s buildings on September 11, 2001, marked the fulfillment of Revelation 18:1-3 and the arrival of the “third Woe.”
- Global Apostasy: By 2001, all nations had established diplomatic ties with the Vatican, symbolizing their acceptance of Babylon’s false doctrines.
- Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Decline: The church compromised its integrity by using government power against those it deemed heretical, paralleling the “drunkards of Ephraim.”
- Rejection of Foundational Truths: Since 1863, the church has progressively abandoned key prophetic teachings, leading to spiritual blindness.
- Third Woe and Islam: The role of Islam in prophecy was ignored by church leadership, signaling their failure to recognize the latter rain message.
- Debate Over Methodology: A theological conflict divides worshippers into two groups—those who follow prophetic truth and those who adhere to false doctrines.
- Judgment on the Church: The Adventist leadership is warned that their “covenant with death” (compromise with worldly powers) will be destroyed at the Sunday Law crisis.

Sister White identified that when the great buildings of New York City were thrown down, Revelation chapter eighteen, verses one through three, would be fulfilled.

> And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Revelation 18:1–3.

By September 11, 2001, the “kings” of the earth had already committed fornication with the Roman church. After World War Two, President Harry S. Truman, for the first time, in 1951, appointed an ambassador to the Vatican. His attempt to form a political relationship with the papacy was flatly rejected by the Congress of the United States, but not so when decades later President Ronald Reagan, in 1984, appointed an ambassador to the Vatican. By 2001, all nations had committed fornication with the Vatican through establishing a diplomatic relationship with the whore of Tyre.

By September 11, 2001, all “nations,” had drunk the wine of the wrath of her fornication. The wine of Babylon represents all the various falsehoods that are presented by the papacy, but the one special variety of wine that is identified in these verses is the wine of the wrath of her fornication. The wrath of the papacy is her persecution of those she disagrees with. She accomplishes her persecution by employing the power of the state to do her dirty work. The wine of her wrath, is her special bottle of error that represents the action of employing the state against those that she deems a heretic.

In the period of time from August 11, 1840 through to October 22, 1844, Millerite Adventism, who had been called out of the Dark Ages, and who was separated from the Protestant churches that then became the daughters of Rome, then became the true Protestant horn upon the newly arrived earth beast. Peter identifies the characteristics of those newly chosen people of God as a nation.

> But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 1 Peter 2:9, 10.

By September 11, 2001, the Seventh-day Adventist church had already, and often employed the political structure of the government of the United States to attack those it deemed as heretical. Well before 2001, the Adventists had already imbibed in the special wine of Babylon that represents the employment of state power to attack those who it deemed as heretics.

Ephraim is a symbol of the rebellion of Jeroboam and the northern kingdom of Israel, and Isaiah begins chapter twenty-eight, by addressing the Seventh-day Adventist church as the drunkards of Ephraim.

> Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet: And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. Isaiah 28:1–8.

The third Woe arrived on September 11, 2001, and it arrived upon the “crown,” representing leadership of the “drunkards of Ephraim.” It did not attack the headquarters of the church in Maryland with an airplane full of fuel, but it marked their inability to recognize that the arrival of Islam of the third Woe was the beginning of the latter rain message of the third angel. The beginning of the very message and work that they profess to have been raised up to proclaim. They are identified as not only the crown, which represents leadership, but as the “crown of pride,” thus identifying one of the two classes of worshippers that was and is produced in the debate of Habakkuk chapter two. On September 11, 2001, Habakkuk’s watchmen took their posts at the battle at the gate.

The gates of Jerusalem are where the interaction of the people of Jerusalem was carried out. The battle at the gates is representing the “debate” of the previous chapter of Isaiah that began on the day of the east wind (the day of Islam). The two classes of Habakkuk’s worshippers in the passage are represented by two crowns. The drunkards of Ephraim, who have already at that point employed the power of the state to win their arguments against those they had deemed as heretics are contrasted with the crown of the Lord of hosts. When Christ is represented as the Lord of hosts, it is symbolic of His work as the leader of His army. The battle at the gate is the warfare represented by the debate over true and false theology.

It is not simply the General Conference leadership that is represented as the drunkards of Ephraim, but also the priests (the pastoral ministry), and the prophets (the theologians and educators) are out of the way, through strong drink. As Isaiah says in the opening verses of his prophecy, it is the entire church.

> The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken anymore? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. Isaiah 1:1–5.

The sinful nation is sick, and has passed the time where any remedy can be provided that would change her heart and mind. Isaiah identifies the drunkards are out of the way, and the way is identified by Jeremiah as the “old paths.” On September 11, 2001, the latter rain began to fall, and Jeremiah identifies that it is when we walk in the old paths, which is the “way” that the drunkards are out of, that we find the rest of the latter rain.

> Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. Jeremiah 6:16–19.

The drunkards of Ephraim are out of the way on September 11, 2001, and have turned “away backward,” in 1863, when they initiated the process of rejecting the “old paths.” It is in the “old paths,” that the rest and refreshing of the latter rain is to be found, and that rain began at the very time that the “Woe,” was pronounced upon them. The third “Woe” of Islam was unrecognizable to the crown of the pride of Ephraim, for they had progressively rejected the foundational truths that identify the role of Islam in prophecy. Jeremiah identifies that at that time the Lord raised up watchmen, which are Habakkuk’s watchmen, and they proclaimed to the drunkards of Ephraim in the battle at the gates that they needed to hearken to the sound of the trumpet. The third “Woe” that arrived on September 11, 2001, was the seventh Trumpet.

Isaiah identifies that “they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.” The counterfeit table, that was introduced in 1863, which removed the “seven times,” and required a explanatory handout to accompany it, represents the counterfeit of the two sacred tables of Habakkuk, but the counterfeit “tables” the drunkards have employed are full of vomit, and they err in vision. The watchmen of Habakkuk and Jeremiah were told that in the debate of methodology, they were to write the “vision,” upon “tables,” but the drunkard’s counterfeit tables present an erroneous vision.

> Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. Proverbs 29:18.

The drunkards of Ephraim have rejected God’s law, but the context of the “debate,” of the battle of the gate, is God’s prophetic law, as represented by the methodology established in the movement of the first and third angels. With Isaiah’s setting in place in the first eight verses of chapter twenty-eight, he then identifies the methodology that is the latter rain, and specifically identifies the drunkards as the “scornful men, that rule” “in Jerusalem.”

> Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. Isaiah 28:9–18.

The “debate” is here defined in terms of “whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?” The “whom” is addressing the potential students, but the subject is about understanding doctrine, which is knowledge. When the book of Daniel is unsealed, there is an increase of knowledge, representing an increased understanding of the truths of God’s Word. The word “doctrine” means a set of beliefs, principles, teachings, or rules that form a particular system of thought or a body of knowledge. To understand biblical “doctrines” it necessitates a biblical methodology to form the body of knowledge.

The methodology is identified as “precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.” The methodology that identified September 11, 2001 as the arrival of the third “Woe” is premised upon bringing the prophetic line of the first “Woe” together with the prophetic line of the second “Woe”, which provides two witnesses of the line of the third “Woe”. That methodology is the test of the “debate” that produces two classes of worshippers, for “the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.”

The five stumbling’s of the scornful men that rule Jerusalem, represents the five foolish virgins. The methodology is clearly a test, for the drunkards of Ephraim rejected Jeremiah’s old paths, refused to hearken to the watchmen’s trumpet warning, produced counterfeit tables, and made a covenant with death; at the very same time that those that wore the crown of the Lord of hosts in the battle of the gate were making a covenant of life.

On September 11, 2001, the latter rain, which is the rest and the refreshing, began to fall, and the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand began. It began a debate over the methodology of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the methodology represented by the Elijah messenger. “Many” will fall with the drunkards, but the few that will be chosen are those that wait upon the Lord.

> For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. Isaiah 8:8–17.

Most certainly Isaiah agrees with his own words, so the many that fall in chapter twenty-eight, are the same who fall in chapter eight. In chapter eight we find that their fall occurs in the sealing time, which began on September 11, 2001. The warning of chapter eight is to not walk in the “way” of this people, for they are those who refused to walk in Jeremiah’s way of the old paths, where the latter rain message is located. Those that fall in chapter eight, are those who trust in the confederacy representing the special wine of Babylon, that represents a confederacy of church and state for the purpose of opposing those deemed as heretics. What causes them to stumble in chapter eight, is the stone of stumbling, representing the very first rejection of foundational truth in 1863, the “seven times” of Leviticus twenty-six, which was rejected by the “builders” in 1863. In that rejection they returned to apostate Protestant methodology to reject the message given by angels to William Miller.

In chapter twenty-eight, the rejection of the stone produces the judgment of the overflowing scourge, which is the biblical symbol of the mark of the beast that begins at the Sunday law in the United States, and then floods the entire world. At the Sunday law the covenant that the Adventist church has made with “death” and “hell” shall be swept away. In sweeping away the drunkards of Ephraim’s covenant with death, their “refuge of lies” will be removed. The “refuge of lies,” is represented by the apostle Paul as the lie that brings strong delusion, and the strong delusion that is poured upon the scornful men that rule Jerusalem is in response to their hatred of truth.

> Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. 2 Thessalonians 2:9–15.

The “refuge of lies,” which produced the “strong delusion,” ultimately brings the punishment of the soon-coming Sunday law. The apostle Paul identifies the class who do not love the truth, and a class that are sanctified by the truth, thus referencing the two classes in the debate of Habakkuk chapter two. In chapter twenty-nine, Isaiah begins by doubling the word Ariel, which is another name for Jerusalem.

> Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices. Isaiah 29:1.

The symbolic doubling of “Ariel” (the city of Jerusalem ), is once again condemned by a “woe.” The killing of sacrifices from “year to year” represents the progressive rebellion that began in 1863. The following verses outline the judgment that will take place upon the Seventh-day Adventist church in the period of the Sunday law crisis. In verse nine a “wonder” is identified, that emphasizes the debate of methodology, while also identifying the rebellious condition of Adventism as an element of the message of the Midnight Cry, which is also associated with the second angel as represented by the doubling of “Ariel” in the first verse.

> Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned. Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Isaiah 29:9–14.

In the “debate” that was recorded in chapter twenty-seven, and represents the argument of true methodology versus false methodology, the drunkenness of the scornful men that rule Jerusalem is identified as a blindness that prevents the leadership of Adventism from understanding the book that is sealed. The books of Daniel and Revelation are the same book, and the portion of the book that is unsealed just before probation closes is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. It includes the enigma of the “eighth being of the seven”. It is represented by the “secret” Daniel was given to understand in chapter two. It is the “hidden history” of the Seven Thunders. It is the message of Islam of the third “Woe”, and the message of the “Midnight Cry”.

The single book of Daniel and Revelation is given to those that have been represented by the Sanhedrin in the time of Christ, who symbolize a system of leadership that professes to uphold and defend God’s truth, but ultimately participates in the crucifixion of the Truth. The system typified by the Sanhedrin, is the scornful men that rule Jerusalem. They are given the book that is sealed, and their distinguished, and educated and scholarly response as to what the book means is that they cannot read it, for it is sealed. Then the flock that has been trained to follow only those that are set apart as leaders, are given the same book, and their response is they will only understand it, if the scornful men that rule Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin of the last days, tell them what it means.

The methodology that was given to William Miller, and then to Future for America, is a waymark of prophetic history. It is a waymark that identifies a life and death testing question. Without the correct methodology the message of the latter rain is “as the words of a book that is sealed.” Without the message of the latter rain, the experience produced by the message is impossible to obtain. That methodology is the process of bringing prophetic line upon prophetic line, from here in the Bible, and there in the Bible. The debate over methodology began when the first message was empowered, in both the beginning and ending histories of the last days.

In the beginning history of the Millerite movement the debate began on August 11, 1840, and was repeated at the end of that history in the period of time when the Philadelphian Millerite movement transitioned to the Laodicean Millerite movement. The debate began again in the history of the Laodicean movement of the third angel on September 11, 2001, and it is repeated at the end of that movement when the Laodicean movement of the third angel transitions to the Philadelphian movement of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. In the beginning test of the Millerites, and the ending test of the Millerites, the test was represented by the methodology of the Elijah messenger. Jesus, as the Alpha and Omega, always illustrates the end with the beginning.

The methodology of bringing line upon line is what we will now employ as we take up our consideration of Daniel chapters four and five in the next article.

> “No one has a true message fixing the time when Christ is to come or not to come. Be assured that God gives no one authority to say that Christ delays His coming five years, ten years, or twenty years. ‘Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh’ (Matthew 24:44). This is our message, the very message that the three angels flying in the midst of heaven are proclaiming. The work to be done now is that of sounding this last message of mercy to a fallen world. A new life is coming from heaven and taking possession of all God’s people. But divisions will come in the church. Two parties will be developed. The wheat and tares grow up together for the harvest.

> “The work will grow deeper and become more earnest to the very close of time. And all who are laborers together with God will contend most earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. They will not be turned from the present message, which is already lightening the earth with its glory. Nothing is worth contending for but the glory of God. The only rock that will stand is the Rock of Ages. The truth as it is in Jesus is the refuge in these days of error….

> “Prophecy has been fulfilling, line upon line. The more firmly we stand under the banner of the third angel’s message, the more clearly shall we understand the prophecy of Daniel; for the Revelation is the supplement of Daniel. The more fully we accept the light presented by the Holy Spirit through the consecrated servants of God, the deeper and surer, even as the eternal throne, will appear the truths of ancient prophecy; we shall be assured that men of God spake as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost. Men must themselves be under the influence of the Holy Spirit in order to understand the Spirit’s utterances through the prophets. These messages were given, not for those that uttered the prophecies, but for us who are living amid the scenes of their fulfillment.

> “I would not feel that I could present these things, if the Lord had not given me this work to do. There are others besides yourself, and more than one or two, who like you think they have new light, and are all ready to present it to the people. But it would be pleasing to God for them to accept the light already given and walk in it, and base their faith upon the Scriptures, which sustain the positions held by the people of God for many years. The everlasting gospel is to be proclaimed by human agents. We are to sound the messages of the angels which are represented as flying in the midst of heaven, with the last warning to a fallen world. If we are not called upon to prophesy, we are called to believe the prophecies, and to cooperate with God in giving light to other minds. This we are trying to do.” Selected Messages, book 2, 113, 114.

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