Daniel—The Controversial Prophet with Disputes Supplement

By Chuck Lee

Daniel—the Controversial Prophet with Disputes Supplement is the third book in a prophecy trilogy that includes John’s Revelation: From a Literalist-Futurist-Premillennialst Point of View and Prophecy and Current Events in the Middle East: Framing Israel’s and America’s Future. This book closes the eschatological circle of Old Testament and New Testament prophecies and current events in the Middle East, all of which point to the end of an age of the world as we know it.

In a supplemental section, the critical arguments against the authenticity and authorship of Daniel are addressed and rebutted.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9781728312491

Chuck Lee

Chuck Lee is a native of Colorado. He and his wife Diane (editor) currently live in Marietta, Georgia--a suburb of Atlanta, where he attended undergraduate (geology and mathematics) and graduate school. While working for the AEC in western Colorado, he taught geology and general science at Intermountain Bible College. He currently is a consultant to the environmental industry. He has been a student of Bible prophecy for more than 30 years and has authored numerous studies on general Christian subjects and Bible prophecy, which can be found on his website: https://sites.google.com/site/atleastthatsthewayiseeitnet/. His previous prophetic books: John's Revelation From A Literalist, Futurist, Premillennial Point of View and Prophecy And Current Events In The Middle East--Framing Israel's and America's Future are available online or in bookstores.

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© 2019 Chuck Lee. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/21/2019

ISBN: 978-1-7283-1250-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-1248-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-1249-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019906894

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Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

CONTENTS

DANIEL—THE CONTROVERSIAL PROPHET

Background

Divisions Within Christianity

Denominational Views On Predictive Prophecy

Conservative and Liberal Positions

THE BOOK OF DANIEL

Introduction To Daniel

A Brief History Leading Up To The Events In Daniel

Chronology Of Daniel’s Chapters

Chapter 1: Babylonian Captivity

Chapter 2: Nebuchadnezzar’s Statue Dream

Chapter 3: Nebuchadnezzar’s Golden Image

Chapter 4: Nebuchadnezzar’s Tree Dream

Chapter 5: Belshazzar’s Feast

Chapter 6: Darius’ Decree/Daniel in the lion’s den

Chapter 7: Daniel’s Dream/Visions

Chapter 8: Daniel’s Vision

Chapter 9: Daniel’s Prayer And Prophecy

Chapter 10: Introduction To Daniel’s Fourth Vision

Chapter 11: Daniel’s Fourth Vision Part 1

Chapter 12: Daniel’s Fourth Vision Part 2

DISPUTES IN DANIEL SUPPLEMENT

General Disputes

Date And Authorship Of The Book Of Daniel

Daniel In The Old Testament Canon

The Four Kingdoms Of The Visions

The Little Horn

Disputes Specific To Chapters

Disputes in Chapter 1

Disputes In Chapter 2

Disputes In Chapter 3

Disputes In Chapter 5

Disputes In Chapter 9

Disputes In Chapter 11.

REFERENCES

CHARTS

Chart 1. Timeframes For Daniel Chapters

Chart 2. Comparison Of Daniel’s Visions

Chart 3. Division Of Alexander’s Empire Among His Four Generals

Chart 4. Date of Jesus’ Death—Calculation

Chart 5. Countries Of The Roman Empire

FIGURES

Figure 1. Christian Beliefs On The Bible

Figure 2. Flow Char t Of Rulers

Figure 3. Daniel’s 70 Sevens Prophecy (Jews)

DANIEL—THE CONTROVERSIAL PROPHET

Background

Daniel is one of the most controversial and debated books in the Bible. Although the specificity of Daniel’s prophecies and the immense detail provided by the prophet, have convinced most Bible scholars of the authenticity of the book, that level of detail and the specific events prophesied have caused liberal critics to conclude that the book actually was written after the events occurred. A primary reason for these diametrically opposed conclusions is simply a matter of philosophy.

Christians who consider themselves fundamental or conservative adhere to the philosophy that the teachings of the early church following the death of Jesus should not be altered, because they are biblically-faithful, biblically-controlled, and historically-faithful. As such, they are prepared to dissent from the ever-changing dominant philosophies and ideologies of society to follow the teachings of Jesus, who is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

Liberal churches are open to redefining the Christian faith so that it is shaped by one or more contemporary philosophies. According to liberal theologian and intellectual historian Alister McGrath (McGrath, 2013), liberals sought to anchor that faith in common human experience, and interpret it in ways that made sense within the modern worldview. This includes ongoing revisions of Biblical concepts and even revisions of the Bible, itself; which seems to fly in the face of God’s consistency.

The basic issue underlying the philosophical differences, however, seems to be how one sees God and how one sees man. Conservative Christians believe in a living God who created mankind and established standards and precepts described in the Bible; and they believe that mankind is totally dependent on Him and subject to His standards and precepts.

The liberal viewpoint could not be any more diametric. Liberals believe that man’s (not God’s) reason is preeminent and is treated as the final authority. Moreover, as described in Liberapedia (2019), the defining characteristic of liberal Christians is that they are comfortable with ambiguity and diversity; …many believe that God is present in life itself; …He doesn’t cause damnation nor is he the cause of inclement weather’.

In our modern world, these vastly different viewpoints have manifested themselves in a conceptual struggle over predictive prophecy. The Bible has hundreds of references to prophets and conservative Christians see literally hundreds of Scriptures devoted to prophetic messages from God. Estimates of Scripture devoted to prophecy and prophetic messages range from 25 to 30 percent (Kelly, 2015); many which have been fulfilled (Messianic; Jews 1948 return to Israel for example) and documented; and many which have yet to be fulfilled.

Predictive prophecy means that God has the power to effect events eons in the future. Given their attitude toward God, it is predictable that liberals would reject this concept—to be able to control events far in the future. Therein lies the controversy and debate over the Book of Daniel—the premier source of near- and long-term prophecy in the Old Testament.

Conservative Christians accept the Book of Daniel as prophetic and historical, and essential for a complete understanding of God’s plan for all of mankind; although God intended it mainly to guide His people—the Jews. Liberal Christians do not accept predictive prophecy, and, therefore, do not accept the Book of Daniel as historically or Biblically accurate (Nate, 2012). Most liberals (Anderson, 1997) have concluded that the book was written by men just to bolster the Jews during the Maccabean wars or later. Conservatives hold a totally opposing viewpoint and believe that the Book of Daniel is inspired by God; literally, "God breathed" (Greek—θεόπνευστος theopneustos).

This study will review the Book of Daniel in chapter detail and then address the chapters in Daniel that are in dispute by liberal and conservative Christians. The goal of this study is not to be unbiased, or fair and balanced, but to confute liberal critics and confirm the accuracy and authenticity of the book from the standpoint of its predictive prophecy.

Divisions Within Christianity

Religious movements. In its earliest years, the Christian religion was divided into three major religious movements: the Gnostics, Jewish Christians, and Pauline Christians (Religious Tolerance, 2015). There also were many minor versions of Christianity. Often, there would be many competing forms of the religion in a given city—much like today. These three movements survived into the early second century, but then the Jewish Christians were largely wiped out by the Roman Army and eventually disappeared from the scene. The Gnostic groups were so diverse that they never formed a coherent central organization and eventually died out—although the Gnostic movement is experiencing some resurgence today—in the form of New Age. Almost all current Christians trace their lineage back to the Pauline Christians.

Today, there are classification schemes to differentiate the more than 1,000 Christian faith groups in North America. They may be, for example:

• Denominational (Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican);

• Theological Belief System (Calvinism, Arminianism, Mormonism); and

• Religious Family (Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Independent).

The major differences among groups based on theological beliefs and religious family divisions are not the focus of the issue of predictive prophecy. Among some of the denominational groups, however, predictive prophecy is a major—and divisive—issue. This study, therefore, will review differences in predictive prophecy among the denominational groups (Protestant, Roman Catholic, etc.) and intra-denominational.

Denominational Views On Predictive Prophecy

From a denominational standpoint, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican viewpoints on predictive prophecy are pretty much irrelevant because of 1) their lack of emphasis on prophecy; 2) their fewer numbers; and thus, 3) their lack of significant influence in Christian community prophetic doctrine. On the other hand, Protestant churches, which are considerably greater in number, with considerably greater influence and numbers of church members, do see views on predictive prophecy as a major watershed issue. Therefore, this study will focus on differing prophetic views on the Book of Daniel among Protestant Christian churches.

Predictive prophecy in protestant churches. Views of Protestant Christians and Protestant Christian churches concerning predictive prophecy depend upon their philosophic beliefs of God’s versus man’s supremacy, as discussed earlier in the Background section. Probably the best, and most obvious, metric for assessing the motivation of the scholars who evaluate the Book of Daniel other than these views on God’s supremacy is their views on His word—the Bible.

Divisions and conflicts from predictive prophecy are, for the most part, traceable to such different beliefs and different concepts of Bible interpretation. The following diagram (Figure 1) graphically depicts the beliefs that guide Biblical interpretative methods of Christians, ranging from the most conservative to the most liberal. Each belief is then briefly summarized.

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Figure 1. Christian

Beliefs On The Bible

Beliefs of conservative Christians. Conservative Christians believe that the Bible is the literal word of God given to the original writers:

• Writers of Biblical text were directly inspired by God. Historically, Christians have generally believed the entire Bible to be inerrant—free of error—in the book’s original version, despite being penned by a group of very human writers. The only way in which such fallible humans could have written such inerrant text, often without even understanding its meaning, is for them to have been inspired by God. God, as the true author, must have overseen the writing of the Bible’s text and He pro-actively prevented the authors from committing any error;

• All Scriptural passages are useful for the believer. The Apostle Paul, in his second letter to his young protégé, Timothy, supports this belief. He wrote, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16);

• It is only when people are saved, i.e., they repent of their sin and trust Jesus as Lord and Savior, that the Holy Spirit possesses them and shows them what the Biblical text really means. Unless a person is first saved, their interpretation of the Bible will inevitably be in error to a greater or lesser degree.

Beliefs of moderately liberal Christians. So called moderate Christians have always leaned more toward the liberal camp. Their beliefs in the Bible may be summarized as follows:

• The Bible contains some Godly truths, but also contains material that we must reject because it has always been opposed to the real will of God. Such material includes passages that condone slavery; exhibit religious intolerance; treat women as property; require the execution of non-virgin brides, witches and gays; and which advocate genocide, sexism, racism, homophobia, or xenophobia.

Beliefs of liberal Christians. It is baffling that so called liberal Christians bother to call themselves Christians at all because they believe so little of the Christian faith. From a Biblical standpoint, they believe:

• The Bible was written by very human and fallible people who were not directly inspired by God. As such, they believe that the Bible may contain some moral truths, but is not necessarily the Word of God;

• The first five books of the Bible were written by four unknown authors or groups of authors over a period of centuries and later re-edited by a fifth person or group;

• The Bible records the