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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Ron du Preez: The 'Day' that Changed the World

Ron du Preez

The Rapture or Ripoff: What Got Left Behind in 1844

If I ask you that question, the day that changed the world, what day do you think of?

Those in more recent history will never forget that day.

Interesting, the Honolulu advertiser, Honolulu by the way, called it America's bloodiest day.

Some people will remember Pearl Harbor as the day that changed the world.

Here are some representations, of course, some pictures of that day, which was, as some of you might know your history, December 7, 1941.

It happens to be my mother-in-law's birthday.

She was 6 or 7 years of age on that day when the attack took place.

A few more shots of Pearl Harbor, a day that will go down, as they say, in infamy.

Some people also think that, well, maybe not.

Perhaps the day that changed the world, others say, is another day, and that is considered the day of the dropping of the atomic bomb.

I had a chance to visit Hiroshima more recently and it's an unforgettable place to go to even today.

These are some pictures of people who were terribly burned by that nuclear war and the second coming of Jesus.

But for Adventists, as we know scripture, what is the day that changed the world?

And I am actually going to suggest a prophetic paradigm.

In prophecy, in apocalyptic prophecy, a day equals what?

Therefore, the day that changed the world, I would like to suggest, is the year what?

Now I want to give you a quick historic background to the events leading up to this important day, 1844.

Okay, You go back to 1798, Louis Berthier, this is Napoleon's general, who arrested Pope Pius VI.

There's a couple pictures of the 2 of them here.

There's overwhelming evidence that events leading up to it were climactic.

And not only that, the very next year, 1799, what was this?

Rosetta Stone was discovered, yes, again by Napoleon's army.

Up until that time, the hieroglyphics on the reliefs on the walls in Egypt.

They'd forgotten how to read hieroglyphics.

Here's a picture and what he did, he deciphered this, the hieroglyphics and a picture of Champollion here.

It took him about 20 years and they could again read.

This, by the way, is a picture of the first photograph in 1826.

1831, the first electricity was produced from magnets.

Here's a picture of Faraday's invention here.

28th of October, incidentally, that's the very day I got married.

Of course, more than a century and a half later on.

1834, the first sewing machine was invented and things were happening really fast.

1837 the first steel plow by John Deere himself.

There's a picture of John Deere with some of these early plows.

I don't have a picture of the first Bidus bicycle, but the later models are very well known.

These penny farthings, in fact on the right hand side here you'll see going on a...

Imagine going on a bike race such as that.

It looks like it will take more to just stay on these wheels.

But I need to back up a little bit because this is now 1839 when the bicycles were invented.

But what was happening in the religious world?

1830 already, about a decade earlier, William Miller had begun to preach Bible prophecy.

Here's of course a couple of pictures of William Miller, this Baptist farmer turned preacher.

And 1833, 3 years later, was the famous Leonid Shower, the falling of the stars.

This was the most amazing falling of the stars that was ever seen, something like 60, 000 per hour.

And of course Halley's Comet was streaking across the sky the very next year.

All of these things that were happening, from the capture of Pope Pius VI to all of these celestial events caused people to go back and say, wait a minute, if we read our Bibles carefully, this seems to be the fulfillment of scriptural prophecies.

The 1260 years of, and they saw this from 538 to 1798 when Pius was taken captive, and of course they began to dig further.

Especially this section here in Daniel 8 verse 14 became the focus of the study.

And he said to me, for 2, 300 days then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.

Now, by the way, I'm going to pause right here because I know there are some who say, oh, that's a mistranslation.

That 1 word, cleansed, there's been quite a debate about that.

But careful study of that interesting word, cleansed.

That word appears 1 time in that form in the entire Old Testament.

Richard Davidson, Californian, went and did some serious research on that, and he found out that that word actually has 3 meanings.

And it's a word that, fortunately, has 3 meanings, because the verse before, Daniel 8, 13, asks 3 questions.

If you want to read a study on that, it's found in the Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 1 of the early volumes that came up on this study of Nitzdak in Daniel 8, 14.

And so it is the best word that could have been chosen because it gives 3 answers in 1 word for 3 questions asked in verse 13.

The sanctuary will be cleansed, that's the correct translation.

Other translations say the sanctuary will be restored, which is also a correct translation.

All 3 meanings answer the 3 questions of verse 13.

So actually the different translations bring out the different meanings and they are all correct.

You must take into account all of the information.

But of course back then at the time of William Miller they were looking specifically at the issue of cleansing and they misunderstood 1 thing they believed that the earth was the sanctuary and the sanctuary would be cleansed by fire which meant Jesus would come was their understanding their misunderstanding they went to these passages in Ezekiel 4 6 and numbers 14 34 each day for a year and in Bible apocalyptic prophecy 1 day 1 prophetic day equals 1 literal year and so what did they conclude 2300 days of Daniel 814 was 2300 years they were right about that, many began to proclaim this end-time message.

The Babble About the Bible: Versions, Diversions, or Perversions

Holy Father, we pause 1 more time here, firstly thanking you for life itself, for Jesus Christ who has guaranteed us eternal life, and for your Holy Word that can show us the way to Jesus Christ.

May we draw closer to you as a result of our time together here.

Would you open your Bibles please to that letter, the letter of Peter, specifically second epistle of Peter, the second epistle of Peter, and I'm sure you're acquainted with this verse because the study of the Holy Spirit's work definitely includes the inspiration of the Word of God.

I've got, by the way, 4 different Bible, 5 different Bible translations here.

We're going to talk about that, the battle about the Bible.

So I'm going to read from the New King James Version right now.

Verse 20, this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." And my goal, My hope, my prayer today is that as we spend time on what sometimes is an issue that generates more heat than light, that we will keep in mind this very, very important factor that the Bible was inspired by whom?

When we know that, then we have to simply come together and say how can we best understand this?

Because we know that according to 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verses 15 16 and 17, Paul speaks to Timothy and says you know that the Holy Spirit, the Holy Scriptures were taught of you when you were a kid.

They lead you to Jesus Christ and then he talks about all Scripture being inspired by God, verse 16 and 17 and the purpose of Scripture.

Incidentally, last night, there were few of you here last night, but just a quick review.

If I ask you, the day that changed the world, what do you think about?

And in a nutshell, the conclusion was, from a prophetic perspective, the day that changed the world was the 2300th day of apocalyptic prophecy.

Incidentally, I just came across this, and this I printed off May 29.

Now, I'm not here promoting Dan Brown's movie.

But it's something that was dealing with that.

It says A line from Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code tells you why it's easily the most disputed religious novel of all time.

Here's a line from it, quote, Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.

Bart Ehrman, religion chair at the University of North Carolina.

Bart Ehrman, religion chair at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, likens the phenomenon surrounding the Da Vinci Code, listen to this, to the excitement of the 19th century when, according to Ehrman, Deluded masses thought Jesus would return in what?

Bart Ehrman speaks as though everybody knows 1844.

It's like, if you don't know 1844, where have you been?

So apparently, it's supposed to be a well-known fact that 1844 was a major event in this world's history.

And this religion chair at the University of North Carolina speaks thus.

So and then he says this whole issue of the Da Vinci Code is quite unlike anything we have experienced in our lifetime.

In other words 1844 is simply understood to be a globally recognized phenomenon of religious excitement.

While there was religious excitement, on the other hand, as I mentioned last night, I am convinced that there was another force, the former covering cherub, 1 who knows about Bible prophecy enough to use, the better term is abuse the Bible.

And at the same time while God was raising up a people to recapture forgotten or lost important biblical truths on the 1 hand.

On the other hand this other power, the devil himself, I have no question in my mind, was trying to counter it with major global movements.

So last night I shared with you just very briefly 2 global movements that arose in 1844.

Many are aware that 1844 was a critical time for the rising of the communist group of people.

Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, we talked about that last night, offered a pseudo heaven.

You don't need to wait for Jesus to come.

We can provide heaven on earth was what they claimed.

Get rid of religion because religion is the opiate of the people.

And of course communism became a hell on earth for many.

The same time between 1843 and 1845, That's the best window in which they can nail it down.

Dispensationalist theologians say John Nelson Darby created a theory that right now More than 50% of all Americans in general believe in the Rapture.

That's the closest they can nail it down.

And the Rapture Theory says, Don't worry if you're a Christian, you won't have to suffer tribulation at the end.

Number 1, second lie, you have a second chance.

If you don't go to heaven during the rapture, you can repent.

And third problem with the rapture theory, if you don't make it by the time Jesus comes back, don't worry, you have a third chance.

That is in the book by the well-known authors in their book on prophecy, America's best-known sellers.

I won't mention their names, but there's a book called Are We Living in the End Times, published in 1999, and they say you have a third chance.

During the first 100 years of the millennium you can still repent.

Now I want to go to the third major issue.

The 2 that arose to counter the true doctrine of the Second Coming of Jesus.

The third issue, the third major movement was the issue concerning the Bible.

So, I'm going to go through some of these pictures rapidly because I want us to open our Bibles here.

You brought your Bibles, this is a time of Bible study, but first, just a quick mentioning of a few issues here to get us going.

Just a second, sorry, I forgot something important.

I mentioned already, writing by inspiration, they listened to what the Lord gave them, and as they wrote, we know that this is the original manuscripts in the Old Testament were in what language?

From God to Godzilla: The Scholars vs. the Scriptures

With that introduction, let's have a word of prayer again.

Lord, bless us as we consider some important movements that arose again in 1844.

Thank you for rising up people at that time to dig deeply into your word.

Help us to be faithful stewards of your holy scriptures.

May the Spirit guide us, the same Spirit that inspired the word.

I've entitled this 1, From God to Godzilla, The Scholars vs.

I am right here where there's a lot of science.

Now please note, too many times people have put science and evolution as though it's 1 thing.

We believe in true good science, hence Loma Linda University.

Medical science, how many of you are medical students or dentists or doctors?

Anybody in the medical field or nurses or physical therapists or whatever?

Medical field people who are active or studying.

But I want to talk a little bit about this issue here, an issue that has become a major contentious issue.

So we're going to just get right into it here, because I'm going to finish this by about 5 or 10 after here, our time together this afternoon.

It's the post-lunch blues, as we all know.

But, so we're going to aim for about 5, 10 after, so we can take about a 15-minute break and get back in here to start moving earlier.

In 1831, when William Miller began to preach Bible prophecy, that same time.

By the way, were all of you here for the last session this morning?

Okay, for the benefit of the dozen hands that are here, just so you know what we're doing.

We're looking back at 1844 and noticing incredibly just as major Bible truths were being re-established, were being rediscovered amongst the faithful band of Bible believers, at the same time that these important biblical truths were being rediscovered, at the same time the devil clearly, Satan, was raising up counter movements.

So last night we talked about the second coming, the true doctrine, and at the same time communism on the side.

Started 1844, the collaboration between Marx and Engels in Paris, and of course 1844, the statements, the opiate of the people, religion, all those things happening in 1844.

The counter to the Second Coming, because Marx then said, we don't need a Second Coming in essence.

We can create heaven on earth, the utopia, the communist utopia that turned out to be a hell on earth instead of the heaven.

We talked a little bit about that last evening.

Plus a second major counter movement, because if the devil cannot attack the church from the outside, he attacks from the inside.

And so the best place, the best timing that the dispensationalist scholars can determine when this new theory arose, the theory of the rapture, was between 1843 and 1845.

John Nelson Darby, according to dispensationalist scholars, say that John Nelson Darby invented this theory between 1843 and 1845.

The theory that says believers will not go through a tribulation time, number 1, Not true according to the Bible.

Number 2, if you are not ready, they claim, during the rapture, when the believers go up, you have a second chance to make your decision for Jesus.

However, if you are not ready, when Jesus comes in the clouds, because they split the second coming up into 2 parts.

When Jesus comes you have a third chance.

During the first 100 years of the millennium you can still repent and become a Christian.

That is the rapture theory, some of the dangers involved in that.

And by the way that's not out of the fictional novels called Left Behind.

That is in the book on prophecy by the same authors, the book on prophecy called Are We Living in the End Times, published in 1999, and they say this is not fictional.

This is what we believe the Bible actually says prophetically.

So the counter movements of the second coming, communism and dispensationalism with its rapture theory.

This morning we talked briefly about very interesting arising of new biblical manuscripts.

1844, discovered by Constantin Tischendorf.

If these new manuscripts are the real Bible, which are the basis for the NIV, the RSV, and all of that, What happened for the last 1800 years?

You mean to say that everybody was following the wrong Bible for 1800 years?

Significant questions come up as a result of these newer manuscripts.

And so this morning I was suggesting, proposing, from my own personal study of the voluminous material of Ellen White, because Ellen White does use different Bible translations.

Something like 10 different translations or marginal readings.

And my study of her is that consistently Ellen White used, and she did use these other translations, but she used them when they said what was already in the King James Version.

Now this afternoon, for the next session, I'm going to begin to answer some questions.

There are 8 or 10 very good questions that will fill out and answer some of the things that I didn't have a chance to talk about this morning in our 45 minutes there.

As you notice I have to move a little fast and that just does not just try to keep you awake but I have a lot to share here.

So that covers what we've covered in the last 2 sessions.

1831 William Miller had begun to preach on Bible prophecy.

William Miller as you well know was a Baptist farmer turned preacher and but around the same time, the same year another person, a young man who had studied theology who had gotten his degree in theology.

This is a picture, you don't recognize him, he was young, he didn't have the beard.

Okay, this is actually, Charles Darwin took a trip on the Beagle.

For 5 years he traveled on this ship and there's the old picture, you know that picture, right?

Well, somehow I missed the boat, but that's OK.

When he came back from that trip, those 5 years, Charles Darwin says this.

By the way, I find the best thing to do is go to the original sources, right?

Charles Darwin's autobiography says this.

He says, I was, quote, quote, led to think much about religion on the strip.

He says, I gradually came, by this time, to see that the Old Testament, from its manifestly false history of the world was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindus or the beliefs of any barbarian.

Then he says, by further reflection I gradually came to disbelieve in Christianity as a divine revelation.

And he says, in 1842 I allowed myself the first, the satisfaction of writing a very brief abstract of my theory, and this was enlarged, listen when, this was enlarged, Darwin says, during the summer of 18, what do you think?

I enlarged this during the summer of 1844 into 1 of 230 pages.

Teenagers and Trances: Mediums in the Media

This session called Teenagers and Trances, Mediums in the Media.

Now my wife and I, Linda and I, we worked as missionaries.

And after that, we also went to the South American continent.

We were there in Peru for a short while learning Spanish.

Please don't ask me questions in Spanish.

I learned, as I tell people, un poquitito.

I've even gone to un poquitito, create my own word, just a tiny bit.

The 1 thing I did learn is it's a fascinating language and it makes so much sense.

I didn't learn to speak it, but I loved the grammar.

My wife couldn't speak it, but she hated the grammar.

So anyway, she was born and raised in El Paso.

So some of it, I think, was able to come back.

But when we came back from the mission field, I turned on television 1 day.

Series

Ron du Preez: The 'Day' that Changed the World

Teenagers and Trances: Mediums in the Media

Transcript

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