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The approach that one takes to Scripture is very important. Yet, as Kevin said, the Rosetta stone has given us critical information that has allowed us to understand the language of Egyptian hieroglyphs. This has contributed considerably to Biblical knowledge. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone

As for questions on exegesis and eisegeses, we have to remember that the science of exegesis was extremely limited prior to the mid 1800s. The break through came when the two events of the understanding of the Rosetta stone lead to understandings of ancient languages and cultures and when Edward Robinson explored the middle east in 1838, and his findings published in 1841, which lead to the rediscovery of Biblical Geography and the role of geography on the text, and what lead to archaeology. Exegesis was not possible before these events coming together and the work that grew from these events. Now the Jublee as this was just starting to spread and slowly getting into sermons happened to begin on the day of Atonement 1844. The investigative judgment is the dawning of the age of exegesis. Too often, we hold to traditions rather than exegesis. Even by the time of Andresen exegesis was limited. Mrs. White did not see exegesis as her job. She loved the little exegesis she did get to do. She loved looking at the archaeological finds in the museums of Europe, but had to sadly rip herself away from these to go and do her job. She kept saying that her writings are NOT to be used to answer questions such as "What is the meaning of the daily in Daniel" and other questions of exegesis. When ever she was asked questions of exegesis she consistently had two reactions, either she would ignore the question or else she would tell people that it was THEIR job to do not hers. My opinion from reading these quotes is that she appeared jealous that exegesis was our job and not hers, and amazed that people wanted just to get an exegetical answer from her instead of doing the work of exegesis themselves. Of course Mrs. White lived so early in the age of exegesis that she would have continued with an unquenchable thirst even if she exhausted the evidence of her day. Tools such as the Ebla tablets and Dead sea scrolls are needed Exegesis is a developing field. But we sit back smugly calling our theories exegesis and other's eisegesis. Seventh-day Adventism and Mrs. White is to pull our focus and to send us down the road of exegesis. However instead of going down this path we tend to want to set up camp and have a feeling of "I have arrived" at exegesis, instead of seeing how our knowledge develops. Archaeologist Dr. Jim Fleming said "I am often asked if I will give the same final exam that I gave last semester. my reply is 'answering that question won't help because the questions remain the same, but the answers might have changed as we learn more evidence and make new discoveries." Of course we run into the dilemma that both non-Adventists and many other Christians face, probably even more so, but how many Adventists does it take to change a light bulb?...… Adventists change???

Joe: It was great what you said about EGW, but if you notice, I included other pioneers as well. We only think of EGW and not all of them. They all had a role in presenting truth but the problem is SDA stopped! In the 1888 message again more truth was given to literally help them to draw closer to what was in the Bible. It was rejected and SDA became just another church or denomination. They elevated EGW and stated things she did not say; took her writings to make money by publishing books she never wrote. They took her writings out of context by making these books. We have not reached all of the world and we should wonder why! Many have left the church forming independent churches, others total false doctrines, then others, totally against SDA. I say something is wrong! SDA call themselves the remnant, now who give them that right? Literally, the Bible said the remnant is a seed and no church is mention. A couple of Sabbath ago, I said that IsraEL was not only one call by YAHWEH! The Canaanites (the Amorites, Melchizideck, YAHWEH literally gave them 430 years), Job, before he failed Baalim, Moses father in law Jethro. There are people today that keep the Commandments, Statutes better than we do. We need to be careful because the slayer angels of Eze five is literally removing us from the Book of Life. We won't even know it because we become more and compromise to traditions and doctrines. Some of my members went off! I wasn't putting Wanderer down, he has true concerns and I know in my heart he like you want to be saved. The Bible says by their fruits you shall know them and I have seen both of you fruits by the things you say on this forum. My heart is heavy as I see the corruption in the Whitehouse. Anything immoral goes these days and if we don't really take this Bible literally we will accept false teachings. I know Henry from a long time ago and this Iran is incorrect. It bothers me Iran really is Persia who was one of the Aryan tribes that the Bible said would dwell in the tents of Shem. Gen 9:27 The Bible is the history of this world and it deals with the past, the present and the future. If we don't understand true history, we will never understand the Bible! I have been given a book which I truly appreciate but do not agree with its concept at all. It amazes me that we have to use other theories, philosophies, and thoughts to understand the Word. No, the Bible explains itself and it has a pattern and if we follow the pattern, symbols, numbers that are used they all are consistent. Example the number 7 stands for perfection. If you break 7 down three and four are used throughout the Bible. Three is significant to the THREE ALMIGHTY ONES among other things that point to ONE of THEM! Four always represents the four corners of the earth. 10 is universal which also means all of the nations of the earth. 12, 120 are numbers that are important as well. The word heart means the center of your mind and spirit is a misused word and has caused a lot of confusion. The KJV used the word in place of using the word mind or our thought process. We must accept that words have been added in the Bible to confuse us. Just like we study to be one of the professions that we chose we had to do research. It is sad but true the Bible needs us to research, the Bereans did so we must do it also. Sin is in the world by Satan and he knows he is lost, he wants you to lose as well. He does not play by the rules, he is a deceiver. Let me give you some examples as I close. Hell is an English word for the Greek word Hades. It means simply grave and if you notice Rev 20:14 that hell was cast into the Lake of Fire. We need to know what words literally mean in order to accomplish salvation. I am not down on anyone. I feel what is taken place today in the USA is a wake-up call. It is time to halt between two opinions either you are on YAHWEH'S side or immorality. Immorality means anything goes, lying, sex, adultery, homosexuality, believing in aliens over THE ALMIGHTY ONES. This world, those who claim to know all have gone astray. So much hate, racism among us that it is getting out of control. I feel this is the time of the remnant being sealed for the work they must do with the Two Witness during the Time of Trouble. The remnant is be sealed now and when that is over that is for those who confess to keep all the Commandments and have the Testimony of YAHSHUA! The next phase is to bring in the harvest of souls along with calling out the wrath of THE ALMIGHTY on this earth. This time will soon be upon us. Proof the earth is dying because we have not taken care of it. People truly want to now but it is too late, time is coming to an end and we must choose whom we will serve! Blessings!

I come before you today realizing that the time has come for me to make a definitive announcement of my plans as to whether or not I will enter the race for President of the United States. I acknowledge that this forum, Adventistan is the ideal venue in which to state my plans. With some 9,000 plus members it has clearly demonstrated that it has the ability to grow in size. Further, as I analyze its population, I sense that its members include both those followers of the current President, whom I will not name as well as those who are looking for someone new, which I am. As I consider my decision, I believe that I have the following qualification that would suggest that I run for President: · * The President needs to be decisive person who can make decision. I fit that mold. Less than 30 minutes has occurred between the time that I first considered it and the time at which I made my decision. · * My years of service in the military, to include service as an enlisted person who reached the rank of Specialist 4 and as a Commissioned Officer who achieved the rank of Major, and served in combat, demonstrates that I have better qualifications to deploy our military internationally than have other Presidents. · * My 20 years of employment with the VA gives me the background needed to understand how the government operates, how it should be reformed and to reform it. · * My formal training in Mediation qualified me to preside over a fractious government system. · * My years of service in representing employees of the Federal government in negotiations with management demonstrates that I can understand and provide for the needs of the common working person. · * Due to issues that I have with sleep, I consider that my ability to sleep during boring meetings as well as to rise early and get to work specially qualifies me for the positon over and above some who have served before me. · * I do not micromanage. I chose competent people and allow them to do their job. · * I will select persons to fill government positons from both Republications and Democrats that are representative of the U.S. population While the above are only a few of my qualification to run for President, I must say that I am lacking in some respects: · * With my advanced age, I am not longer head and shoulders above all of the others who have announced that they are running for President. I have shrunk in height from what I once was. · * I do not have the financial resources needed to purchase the office as some have had. · * I do not own a jet aircraft capable of flying me around the country in luxury. · * While I have represented people before a Federal Administrative Law Judge I have never been to law school. · * I do not want to spend the next two years traveling the country. I have visited all 50 of the States in the past and I do not need to repeat that. Well here you have it--my qualifications for and my lack of qualifications. The time has come to make a decision. I have made a decision and chosen to announce in on this preeminent forum: I will not run for President of the United States during the next election. This decision of firm. NOTE: I have announced my decisions based upon my belief that the multitude of Democrats who are expected to run for President (Presently 14, with more expected to join the race.) requires that I make a statement.

Prayer unto Him

5 Things You Didn't Know About Millard Fillmore President Millard Fillmore died on March 8, 1874, in Buffalo, New York. Millard Fillmore is best known for assuming the presidency after the death of Zachary Taylor, becoming the 13th U.S. president. Here are five other things you didn't know about President Millard Fillmore... He Managed to Stave off War but Wasn't Very Popular Because of It After taking office when President Zachary Taylor died, Fillmore supported the Fugitive Slave Act, which called for runaway slaves in the North to be captured and returned to the South. While Fillmore had nothing to do with passing the act, he thought that, since it was approved when Taylor was in office, he (Fillmore) should continue to respect the act's approval. This actually managed to delay the Civil War for about a decade because his support placated the South to an extent. However, the North did not like him at all after this. He Became Both a Teacher and a Lawyer Without Much Formal Schooling Fillmore has a reputation of being a terrible president, but it wasn't because of any perceived lack of intelligence. Fillmore did not have a lot of formal schooling -- only about six months' worth or so -- but he was a voracious learner and managed to become both a teacher and a lawyer before winning congressional spots and the vice presidential spot on Taylor's ticket. He was also keen on learning even after he became president, always carrying a dictionary around with him so he could learn new words. Fillmore Was Not Elected President -- and He Lost Badly When He Tried Fillmore became president when Taylor died, which is sad but not strange. However, after his mediocre-at-best term, he wasn't nominated to run again in the next election. At the election after that, in 1855, he decided to run again as the candidate for the Know-Nothings, a party known mainly for its hatred of immigrants and Catholics. He won only one state -- Maryland -- and left politics permanently, although he did remain active in general public life in the North. When You Rank Bad Presidents, Fillmore Is in the Bottom 10 -- but He's Nowhere Near the Worst Yeah, it's not a stretch to assume that Fillmore ranks among the worst presidents. He supported the Fugitive Slave Act, tried to run with a party that was not known for kindness, and generally didn't do a lot of memorably good things. However, he's not the worst, nor is he among the worst of the worst. A survey released in 2018 found Fillmore in the 38th spot, just above Warren G. Harding. The absolute worst? Spot 42 goes to William Henry Harrison, who served only one month before dying in office; Spot 43 goes to James Buchanan, who previously was the consistently worst president; and Spot 44 goes to Donald Trump, the first president to knock Buchanan up a notch in the rankings. Richard Nixon made it to Spot 33, by the way. Somehow He (Through Commodore Matthew Perry) Managed to Get Japan to Open Up Something that usually doesn't come up quickly when you hear about Fillmore is the Treaty of Kanagawa. This was the first treaty to get Japan to open up its ports; it was negotiated by Commodore Matthew C. Perry and not Fillmore, but Fillmore was the one who sent Perry and who had the idea to try to get Japan to let American ships stop at its ports. Fillmore sent a letter along with Perry requesting a treaty, which the Japanese initially refused. However, Perry let them know that he'd leave -- but then come back with more ships, which the Japanese took as a potential threat of attack if they didn't negotiate. Upon Perry's return, negotiations began, leading to the treaty.

Your post was very thoughtful, as usual. Concerning the statement above, I think we need to know what words literally mean to learn the deep truths of scripture. But to say we need to know them to accomplish salvation is a little over the top. If that is the case, there won't be many saved. I think we have to believe Who Yeshua is, and that He has done, is doing, and will do all that is necessary to save those who believe in Him - I'll go so far as to say depend utterly on Him - for salvation. Blessed Sabbath to you.

Actually I wish that Andreasen relied more heavily on Mrs. White for a world view. Sadly, he was a mixture of Mrs. White and traditions that developed over the years 1844 through 1888, and which was not very open to Mrs. White's emphases after 1888. Now he did break with the trend by actually going to visit Mrs. White to find out if she did indeed become a trinitarian and from this visit he too became a trinitarian. But his views on trinity were hierarchal while Mrs. White's is based on God's law of self sacrificing/self renouncing love, where the law is a reflection of God's character and thus each member of the trinity submits to the others. He thus ended up with a God the Father who is independent from his character, who is independent and contrary from the law. A second field is Mrs. White did indeed believe in a last generation righteousness. Andreasen's view is a mixture of Mrs. White's view and a theory held by John Wesley. Wesley, who had a wonderful understanding of sanctification, did add to this a theory. He believed that there was a level of sanctification above what he experienced. He never met anyone who reached it. The Pentecostals adapted this theory by seeing the Charismatic movement and speaking in tongues as this level. What Adventists, including Andresen have done is mix this theory with Mrs. White's view of a last generation righteousness and sees the last generation as reaching that level that Wesley theorized existed. Seeing the last generation as a different QUALITY of righteousness then ever before. This includes seeing Jesus as having the sinful nature. Mrs. White saw and quoted authors who pointed out that Jesus had his own unique nature, unlike Adams before the fall and unlike us with our dispensation to think we are for ourselves by making less of the outside world. This balanced view has been thrown out of balance when people like Andresen saw Jesus as having our sinful nature and the book questions on doctrine trying to avoid the semi-arian view that several of our pioneers held (but did not impose as a test of fellowship) said things that could be interpreted as going to the other extreme. And Satan is joyfully gathering us into his two folds on the nature of Christ. Also, for the last generation righteousness, Mrs. White disagreed with Wesley's theory. She understood each generation of having a few people who have reached this level of sanctification. It has been noticed that her descriptions of perfection is a description of the level that Wesley himself reached, rather than a supposed one that he thought existed but was out of his reach. Mrs. White's view of last generation perfection is not a difference in QUALITY as Andresen taught, and as taught by the so called "Historic Adventists" today but a difference in QUANTITY. Rather than a few people reaching this, and a few people reaching the unpardonable sin, she sees the whole world as split between this level of sanctification or the unpardonable sin.

When you look at paganism there is a surprisingly amount of truth, especially in the Baal religion and apparently even more so in what is reconstructed in the El religion that preceded the Baal religion. The pagans start out with basic truths but build corruptions on to the truth to get away from the truths. The pagan gods ended up being the forces of nature and seen as impersonal. That people benefited or suffered only as a biproduct as to whether the gods of honey and life were victorious or the gods of milk and death were victorious. Milk and Honey were ancient geographical terms: Honey was both what the bees made but also any preserved foods (preserved fruits tended to taste sweet and sticky like the stuff bees made). It indicated a permanent home growing foods and having good crops, plenty to eat and plenty of left overs to preserve or make into honey. The landowners could afford to hire workers so class distinction develops, including leisure time for the wealthy and developing excitement to fill leisure time. So it indicated a life predictable, easy and exciting. But of course in the lands of honey you can end up trusting in your goods rather than in God. And this is where the major highways would be located and while that meant riches from trade (both tolls and things to buy) but also it meant that the invading armies would also travel those roads. the question is not will destruction come but when will it come. Milk came from mostly goats, but animals that was mostly kept out in the desert, no permanent home as you move around. You don't know if your garden will give a fairly good, fair, poor or simply plowed under with hopes for a better garden next year. Everyone is equally poor. You are daily reminded on your dependency on God. And while there may be some bandits (but you are too poor to be worth their time) you are safe from the invading armies. Some parts of the world were known as lands of honey others lands of milk. Egypt was seen as both milk and honey but it was predictable: you had the desert or milk, then a strip of honey with the Nile running through the middle of it, and then again desert or milk. Canaan/Israel a small strip of land about 150 miles long by 50 miles wide, is where Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Arabian desert all met. The geography and weather patterns of these 4 areas all met here. This brought about a land flowing with milk and honey. Besides being the intersection of the geography and weather patterns, this strip of land also was the major intersection of the trade routes for the world. The Canaanites probably made a fortune in the tolls from the caravans. But this did not prove enough for them. First in dealing with living in a land flowing with milk and honey, they thought that they could help out the gods of honey and life gain victory over the gods of milk and death. Their worship services in their temples would at certain key points in the agricultural cycle of the land unite their life forces. That meant that they would make breads out of mixed grains (Ezekiel 4:9 bread), wear clothing of mixed textiles, and everyone had sex with each other, adults, children, animals. These were seen as works of righteousness by works to help out the gods of honey and life so that they could benefit the biproduct of their victory and live. They also felt that they could get more benefits of the gods of honey from better honey lands by stealing the life forces of people from the more honey lands, through rape. They believed that in raping and thus stealing the life forces that some of the food that would have grown in their victim's garden back home will now grow in their garden, that some of the animals that would have been born in their flocks back home would now be born to their flocks, that some of the children that would have been born to their victim's wives would now be born to their wives. This idea of stealing the lifeforces of the travelers through the land made this major intersection of trade routes one of the most if not the most dangerous place on earth. (Note: God's use of the land and giving the Hebrews this land was based on it's role in the ancient world. It was both the making the world safe for commerce and changing the major intersection from one of the most dangerous places to the safest and where the merchants could bring to the world stories about these kind and loving people, where everyone was priests, and their simple religion and their God of milk and honey. to the whole world. Today with shipping and aircraft this piece of land can no longer be used in this way, thus the way we see speculation of the dispensationalists who are expecting a return to the theology of the land is wrong. Just as today it is different to eat Ezekiel 4:9 bread and wearing clothes of different textiles. Big sins in the Bible due to the cultural implications.) The problems with the Canaanites was not so much their basic theology which was built on the truths given to Adam and Eve and which came through Noah; but the theories, superstitions and speculations that they built upon and these theories, and over time the truths took a back burner as these theories and speculations came t the forefront. Turning to Adventism and even Christianity as a whole, we are not that different. We have more refined works that we use instead of the orgies and rapes that the Canaanites used, but the same spirit of works are there.

Rats! And I just sent a $100,000 check to seed your campaign! Can you just tear it up when you get it? I hope I sent it to the right address in Boulder.

I love satire. There's always a grain or more of truth in it.....

I'm not here to defend EGW, but she certainly thought it was important to understand last day prophecy or she wouldn't have spent so much time on it. I give her credit for motivating me to look deeper into prophecy. In defense of Wanderer, I believe that the Bible is very clear on what prophecy is about - it is about God preparing and setting up His Kingdom under the rulership of our Lord and King Jesus - the Son of God - by virtue of His perfect life and all atoning sacrifice.

Wanderer: If you don't mind me saying that everything that is giving as prophecy is literal. We need to understand that every number is given for us to understand that specific Appointed Times. All of our lives depend on us to know and understand the truth. If Miller, Bates, J Whites Hiram Edison, Rachel Oakes Preston, EGW, and many others did not check out literally what the 2300 day prophecy meant we would not be here believing on the Investigated Judgment. Everything in the Bible was given for us to understand and the Bible clearly states that many times. Why would YAHSHUA give something to John for us not to literally understand it? The angel came to help Daniel and us to understand his visions. Sadly, we have done what was told us not to do, interpret the Bible! It is no private interpretation! Many do not like what it revealed and tries to change it, making excuses, or using the most favorite words: all we need to do is to love each other and "Jesus! Why wast our time in believing in the Bible if it is not to be completely and literally understood? I heard many complain even about the Word being legalistic! It should be legalistic we have laws ourselves that we want everyone to observe. Yet, we make it so horrible for the Bible!! I say humbly, let's stop wasting our time either the Bible all of it needs to be understood and obeyed or none of it! Either all of it is our road map to Heaven or it is just a mythical book. Lastly, we have so many denominations because the Bible is broken down to believe only what they want and to toss aside what they refuse to accept. I feel it is high time for those to stand and believe that the Bible all of it is to lead us to salvation and to take it literally! Blessings!

Thanks, gents. Another thought that occurred to me in a spiritual (or esoteric?) sense is that 1/3 is the inverse of 3. If 3 is a spiritual number representing perfection or righteousness, could it be that 1/3 is the inverse of perfection/righteousness or imperfection/unrighteousness? Another idea (going along with what B/W said) is that - contrasting the trumpets and the bowls of God's wrath, that the destruction of 1/3 of just about everything referred to in the trumpets is a final warning - like a shot over the bow - before the bowls of wrath which usher in complete destruction of everything.