Some queries for us to ponder over [In no particular order of importance]
Query one:
The period of Papal supremacy (“a time, and times, and the dividing of times” Daniel 7:25), appears in numerous places in various forms in the Bible.
Historic Adventism has taken this to mean the 1,260 years in Europe from 538 – 1798AD and applied it accordingly wherever the term, or its equivalent, has appeared, e.g.
“time, times and half a time” Daniel 12:7; Revelation 12:14;
“a thousand two hundred and threescore days” Revelation 12:6;
“forty-two months” Revelation 11:2; 13:5.
But why has the Spirit caused it to be written in these different ways?
Could it be that He has “flagged” it for us so that we may ask Him just what period is He thinking about, and if they are not the same then what could they mean in the context in which they are found?
Query two:
Why are the people of the Laodicean church (Revelation 3:18) asked to purchase the white robes of righteousness? What can they PAY for them?
Query three:
Why is the beast of Revelation 13:2 part lion, part leopard, part bear?
Query four:
Why are there “seven crowns” on the heads of the beast in Revelation 12:3, and yet on the horns of the beast in 13:1 there are ten? Associated with these is the question as to why there are NO crowns on the beast either on the heads or the horns in Revelation 17:3? (There are no crowns in Daniel 7 because the “little horn” is the subject of that prophecy, not world dominance.
Query five:
Why is the second beast of Revelation 13 (the dragon-speaking one who makes the “image”) described as having “two horns like [pretending to be] a lamb” (they were ineffective ones in controlling the world, but they were there!), and why is it often called “the lamb-like beast” when it is clearly a dragon and not a lamb?
Query six:
Why, when there are two “beasts” in Revelation 13, and one of them makes a “copy (image)” of the other, do we not see that there are then three of them? The original, the second and then the copy? A past “has been”, a present “ineffective” one, and the real future exposed one.
Query seven:
After progressing steadily through the history book of the future from Revelation chapter 6:1 to chapter 10 where the Son of God comes with the open book of Daniel (1840-44) and we are told that we must give another warning to the world (verse 11), why does The Revelation suddenly go back in history in chapter 11 and describe the French Revolution of 1793 – 1796, and then mention “the last trump” which heralds the Second Coming in verse 15?
We have been told that Revelation 12 starts a new line of prophecy.
“The line of prophecy in which these symbols are found [the beast, the image, the mark] begins with Revelation 12, with the dragon that sought to destroy Christ at His birth” (GC438). So this means that chapter 11 is the END of a line of prophecy. Maybe this will help?
Query eight:
When the Papacy arose in Europe it removed three of the ten horns (the nations of Europe) which were on the head of the beast at that time (about 508-538AD). They are described as being “plucked up by the roots” in Daniel 7:8 which means in gardening terms that they were totally removed from the scene.
Then, AFTER the Papacy had ruled for 1,260 years as a leg of iron from 538AD to 1798 we have two feet and ten toes containing the new ingredient, clay, as the last participants in world history. Daniel 2:42-44.
How then can we say that the ten “horns” of Daniel 7 which became SEVEN BEFORE the Papacy ruled, can be the same as the TEN toes which come AFTER its reign?
Query nine:
Why is Greece positioned in the statue of Daniel 2 over the belly AND THIGHS (where the division of the body begins)?
Query ten:
In Revelation 12:6 the “woman” is said to flee into the wilderness (the places where few men dwell which were literally OUTSIDE of Europe) during the Papal dominancy, and stay there protected from the Roman Catholic system while being nourished by God.
But in 12:14 she is given extra speed (eagles’ wings) during one of the alternative time periods where she is protected from the direct attack from Satan. Why? The provision of the “wings” should be a signal to us as an “extra”, similar to the change in terminology of the period.
Query eleven:
Why do we NOT often talk about the eighth head of the beast which is mentioned in Revelation 17?
Query twelve:
Why do some among us continue to insist that we are forgiven and cleansed by the blood of the daily lamb being taken into the sanctuary when there is not one verse in the Bible which says this? Lamb’s blood is NEVER taken into the sanctuary building.
Query thirteen:
Why do we not talk more about the Passover lamb and its blood, for Christ is our Passover lamb? 1 Corinthians 5:7.
Query fourteen:
Why are we taught that the words “I die daily” apply to the rebirth when nature and human biology clearly teach that we can only be born once, physically AND spiritually? “I die” is the OPPOSITE of “I live”.
Query fifteen:
Is there any distinction between “sinners” and “righteous” ones in the Bible?
Query sixteen:
Why is there a sanctuary/temple in heaven? There is no blood (death) there!!
Query seventeen:
How can Christ be said to have died “from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8) when He died at Calvary 4,000 years later (give or take a few)?
Query eighteen:
Why have men invented the idea of an “invisible church” when there is no such term in the Bible?
Query nineteen:
The Roman Catholic system of indulgences states that when money is paid to the church, the “past, present, and FUTURE” sins of the donor (or those of another if it is a gift from him), are forgiven. (GC 59.1 and 127.3)
The Protestant system of forgiveness is that Christ PAID for the sins of all men, past, present and future, when He died on the cross, and gives it to us as a gift.
Where is the difference?
Query twenty:
Do the ten toes of the statue in Daniel chapter 2 represent the nations of Europe in 476AD, and, by extension, the European Union as it is today?
Query twenty-one:
Malachi 4:5-6
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Who is this person, and what does he do?
Query twenty-two:
Why does Paul, in his explanation of the sanctuary services, place the ashes of a heifer as an adjunct to the blood of bulls and goats? And then use all three of them as a contrast to the “blood” of the Son of God?
Query twenty-three:
Does God save in groups? Is that what corporate salvation is all about?
Query Twenty-four:
Why do the events of Revelation chapter 11 appear to come BEFORE the events of chapter 10 in which we are told that we must give the cry AGAIN? In a normally progressive prophetic message this is surely unusual.
Query Twenty-five:
In The Revelation 20:1-3 we have these words, “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled:
and after that he must be loosed a little season.
What is meant by “he must be loosed a little season”?
Query Twenty-six
Why do we accept the phrase that “This place (i.e. nation, state, Church [with a capital “C”], etc. is a Christian system, when that is an oxymoron [an impossibility]?
Query Twenty-seven
1 Corinthians 9:
24 Know you not that they which run in a race run all, but [only] one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain.
When Paul refers to the Christian “race” what does he mean? And who is going to be the winner?
Query Twenty-eight
Revelation 1:7:
Behold, He comes with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.
What does “they also which pierced Him” mean?
Query Twenty-nine: June 2017
A question I saw recently in an email set my mind to work:
“Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”
It sounds like a stupid question to ask, but here it is:
is it difficult to tell the difference between Christ and Satan?”
I’ll put their answer in a note at the end of this article and you will see how they influenced me.
Query Thirty: The everlasting gospel
When did the “everlasting” gospel begin? Can it even be said that it had a beginning? Surely it must always have been there?
Query Thirty-one: August 2017
The Revelation:
7:4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed a hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands . . .
In the Revelation there are two texts which some theologians tell us are describing the same group, but they have different words! How can they be the same?
Query Thirty-two: September 2017
There seems to be a great fuss in the church regarding the trinity (the Catholic view versus the early Adventist pioneers opinion mostly, and accusation is made that the doctrine of the church is now faulty). Just what is the truth?
Query Thirty-three: October 2017
Should we keep the Old Testament feasts today? Do we receive a greater blessing if we do, and are we lost if we don’t, as some are teaching?
Query Thirty-four: November 2017
Matthew 13:23:
But he that received seed into the good ground is he that hears the word, and understands it; which also bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Just what does Jesus mean by this variation?
Query Thirty-five: December 2017
I read recently that someone described the God of the Old Testament as a hard, unforgiving deity; one who punishes at the slightest provocation (and that often with death by stoning; i.e. gluttony, Deuteronomy 21:18-21), and who judges His enemies severely. And others have said even harder words against Him. But the next verses in the law show that they could hang a criminal, so stoning was a deliberate choice! Deuteronomy 21:22-23.
How do I reply to that accusation?
Query Thirty-six: January 2018
There is no doubt that the dinosaurs lived, but where did they come from and why did they die out?
Query Thirty-seven: February 2018
Genesis 11:
5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the LORD said, “Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
7 “Go to [come on], let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech”.
What really happened at Babel? Did God interfere in men’s affairs after the rules of engagement said that He wouldn’t!! He said from the beginning that sin itself would demonstrate to the eyes what He could not talk into the minds of the people. Then the two together would settle the truth.
Query Thirty-eight: March 2018
It is written:
Joshua 6:
16 And it came to pass at the seventh time [of circumnavigating the city], when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout; for the LORD has given you the city. 17 And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
18 “And you, in any wise [at all costs] keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest you make yourselves accursed, when you take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. 19 But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron [the items of value], are consecrated to the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD”.
20 So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass [and cats and canaries], with the edge of the sword.
Yet I read in the S of P;
{COL 34.4}
The gospel of Christ was a stumbling block to them [the Jews and the nations] because they demanded signs instead of a Saviour. They expected the Messiah to prove His claims by mighty deeds of conquest, to establish His empire on the ruins of earthly kingdoms. This expectation Christ answered in the parable of the sower. Not by force of arms, not by violent interpositions, was the kingdom of God to prevail, but by the implanting of a new principle in the hearts of men.
Why is it then that when the former slaves from Egypt entered the Promised Land under the direction of the LORD God of Israel (the God of the Ten Commandments, including the sixth – “you shall not kill”), that they presented to the people of the land a picture of a bloodthirsty, angry and revengeful God who demanded that every living thing in the city be slaughtered? How would that have endeared the nations to follow Him in love?
Query Thirty-nine: April 2018
Revelation 13:
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon.
12 And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Just who and what is this beast, and what is he going to do? Where does it differ from the first beast?
Query Forty: May 2018
My question is, WHY did God allow the Bible to be written in such a way as to portray His character so inaccurately? Or did the writers just write their own thoughts - not God's thoughts?
If so, what then about the infallibility of the Bible?
Query Forty-one: June 2018
There has been a lot of agitation lately in the church about keeping the feasts of the Old Testament. Their arguments sound convincing – so should we keep the feasts, especially the new moons?
oooOooo
For contact: