Jeff,
V. stumbled onto my 20-yr old copy of the workbook that Marion G. Berry put out on the Song of Solomon. I kind of pride myself on being able to detect error in a document or study, but as I reviewed my notes and comments made so long ago, I see that I didn’t find anything really objectionable in her approach then, and even though I’ve only re-read the closing-events stuff in it again, I still cant really put my finger on any part of it and say, “This is off-track.” In fact, it looks pretty good to me.
I also noticed while looking at her stuff on the web that she has a book out on the “daily” too, dated 2000, and the synopsis seems to indicate she supports the pioneer position.
Could it be that her material is useful to help back up our understanding of Daniel 11?
I am distressed that the things we have known for ten years now aren’t going out to our SDA people and the world fast enough. Then there are guys like my local pastor here who believes and teaches that Daniel 11 is all about the history of Islam’s interaction with the papacy; (no mention of a Sabbath controversy or death decree though). . . .
However, I got an email from Steve Dickie that said General Conference Vice President Ted Wilson and Angel Manuel Rodriguez of the Biblical Research Institute indicated to him that they like the stuff he’s been presenting. He said too that this Sabbath he was to be presenting a message at 3ABN to counteract John Lomacang’s futurism.
I pray that the truth has and will prevail in people’s hearts and minds. God Bless! P.
Response
Brother P,
By their fruits ye shall know them. For me, I am convinced that literally and actually thousands of men and women have lost their way to the kingdom of God, at least in part, due to the influence of Marion Berry. She is no doubt the champion in Adventism for publishing her foolishness on how and why the time prophecies in Daniel twelve are fulfilled at the end of time in a literal day for a day fashion.
She identifies that the “daily” in the book of Daniel represents a change of powers. A “change of powers” is not paganism. It may be that what she wrote on the Song of Solomon is correct. I have not looked at that for years. I looked at it when it first came out, and at that time my discernment was not focused on either Marion Berry, or false prophecy. I know that to the law and the testimony—if they speak not accordingly, there is no light. She disagrees with the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy.
The message for the Millerites was Daniel eight. In defending that message Miller had to meet two errors about the little horn: the first being that it represented Antiochus Epiphanies and the second that it was Islam. It is similar that your pastor would once again try to hide the truth about Rome with Islam in Daniel eleven. Samuel Bacchiocchi pushes the same idea, implying that Islam is the antichrist.
“Those who become confused in their understanding of the Word, who fail to see the meaning of antichrist, will surely place themselves on the side of antichrist. There is no time now for us to assimilate with the world. Daniel is standing in his lot and in his place. The prophecies of Daniel and of John are to be understood. They interpret each other. They give to the world truths which every one should understand. These prophecies are to be witnesses in the world. By their fulfillment in these last days they will explain themselves.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 7, 949.
The king of the north is simply another prophetic illustration of antichrist. Hopefully your pastor will overcome his current “confusion”. Even Pfandl and I suppose all of the Biblical Research Institute acknowledge the king of the north as the papacy. Until next time, Jeff.
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