Exposing the Shepherd's Rod

Last Day Events: Seal then Destruction

Revelation 7:1-3...

After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

Ezekiel 9:3-6...

And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side; and the LORD said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.” To the others He said in my hearing, “Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple.

Early Writings, page 36...

I saw that the four angels would hold the four winds until Jesus' work was done in the sanctuary, and then will come the seven last plagues. These plagues enraged the wicked against the righteous; they thought that we had brought the judgements of God upon them, and that if they could rid the earth of us, the plagues would then be stayed.

Early Writings, page 43...

Satan was trying his every art to hold them where they were, until the sealing was past, until the covering was drawn over God's people, and they left without a shelter from the burning wrath of God, in the seven last plagues. God has begun to draw this covering over His people, and it will soon be drawn over all who are to have a shelter in the day of slaughter. God will work in power for His people; and Satan will be permitted to work also.


The Great Controversy, chapter 39: The Time of Trouble, page 613...

When the third angel's message closes, mercy no longer pleads for the guilty inhabitants of the earth. The people of God have accomplished their work. They have received "the latter rain," "the refreshing from the presence of the Lord," and they are prepared for the trying hour before them. Angels are hastening to and fro in heaven. An angel returning from the earth announces that his work is done; the final test has been brought upon the world, and all who have proved themselves loyal to the divine precepts have received "the seal of the living God." Then Jesus ceases His intercession in the sanctuary above. He lifts His hands and with a loud voice says, "It is done;" and all the angelic host lay off their crowns as He makes the solemn announcement: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." Revelation 22:11. Every case has been decided for life or death.

Daniel 2: Christ, the Rock from the Mountain of God

What does the 'Stone cut without hands' do in Daniel's vision? It smashes the image on the feet, shattering the entire thing to dust, then it grows into a mighty mountain which covers the whole Earth. It is Jesus Christ who will destroy the kingdoms of this world, not His followers. It is Christ's kingdom which will grow to an everlasting kingdom covering the entire Earth, not His followers' kingdom. To say that the Stone represents the followers of Christ is to remove Christ from the prophecy. It is to usurp for ourselves the glory and power that belong to Him alone. What self-exaltation, what self-righteousness, what self-centeredness! As one of my favorite preachers, Lyle Albrecht, said about why he hates the teaching that the last week (seven years) of the 70-week prophecy is applied to antichrist: "They take away the beautiful work of my Saviour, Jesus Christ and apply it to satan! How dare they!"

I will not remove Jesus Christ from the center of my theology which is taught so plainly in the Bible, and apply His work and His power and His glory to 'wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked' humans, relegating Christ to the background as some unseen force simply enabling humans to be the focus. I cannot, will not, remove Jesus Christ from my doctrines...for then they would all be in vain. In John 5:39, He Himself said, "You search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, but they are they which testify of Me."

What was the vision in Daniel 2 referring to? Kingdoms and their kings! Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar in 2:38b-39a, "You are this head of gold! And after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours."

So we can see the Bible is clear that the materials in this vision refer to kingdoms and their King.

So how illogical and how much a wresting of Scripture would it be to suddenly change the rules for the last part of the vision and say now at this last part, the material no longer represents a King and His kingdom, but instead the Stone represents a small section of God's people which destroy the kingdoms of the world and then grow to cover it?

Brothers and sisters, I beg, implore and beseech you to never ever ever remove Christ from theology and doctrines which all point to Him and Him alone! To put ourselves in the place of God is to make the same mistake that was made in the very beginning. (Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 28:17)

Let us remember that we are but dust. Our lives, a vapor in the wind. God is the Almighty.

Here are some verses I compiled while studying the topic of Daniel 2 and whether the Stone cut without hands was indeed Jesus Christ, as Seventh-day Adventists believe, or the 144 thousand, as the Shepherd's Rod believes.

Shepherd's Rod doctrine on Daniel 2 hinges on the mountain always being a symbol of God's people and they give 2 verses to back that claim up, but look at all these verses calling Christ the Rock/Stone and referring to the mountain as the dwelling place/righteousness of God...

Jesus Christ the Rock/Stone:

Matthew 21:44, "And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."

Psalm 118:22, "The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone."

Acts 4:11, "This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.'"

Deuteronomy 32:4, "He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he."

Matthew 7:24, "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock" and again in Luke 6:47-48

1 Peter 2:4, "Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious"

Isaiah 26:4, "Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal"

Matthew 16:16-18, "Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."

Daniel 2:34-35, "You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth."

Daniel 2:45, "Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure."

The Mountain as God's Dwelling Place/Righteousness:

Isaiah 14:13, "For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north"

Exodus 15:17, "You will bring them in and plant them
In the mountain of Your inheritance,
In the place, O LORD, which You have made
For Your own dwelling,
The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established."

Ezekiel 28:16, "By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire."

Psalm 36:6, "Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast."

Exodus 19:3, "And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:"

Hebrews 12:22, "But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly"

Isaiah 24:23, "The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the LORD Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders, gloriously."

Isaiah 27:13, "And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem."

Psalm 68:15, "A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan; A mountain of many peaks is the mountain of Bashan."

Psalm 68:16, "Why do you fume with envy, you mountains of many peaks? This is the mountain which God desires to dwell in; Yes, the LORD will dwell in it forever."

Exodus 3:1, "Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb."

Stay Focused On That Which Is Essential For Our Salvation

"I have been shown that it is the device of the enemy to lead minds to dwell upon some obscure or unimportant point, something that is not fully revealed or is not essential to our salvation. This is made the absorbing theme, the 'present truth,' when all their investigations and suppositions only serve to make matters more obscure than before, and to confuse the minds of some who ought to be seeking for oneness through sanctification of the truth." - 14 MR

One of Satan's great deceptions is to divert our focus from that which truly matters to that which is not essential. Let us all beware of these deceptions and heed Ellen White's counsel. Let us focus on our Lord, Jesus Christ.

‎"Satan beguiles men now as he beguiled Eve in Eden by flattery, by kindling a desire to obtain forbidden knowledge, by exciting ambition for self-exaltation. It was cherishing these evils that caused his fall, and through them he aims to compass the ruin of men." - GC p. 554

There is a measure of pride associated with going off after fanatical doctrines and with feeling like you are privy to some exclusive, private or secret knowledge or interpretation of the Bible or, more specifically, prophecy.

This can be seen all around us with such groups as the "Shepherd's Rod" and the "Seventh-day Adventist Reform Movement," as well as those who promote such things as the 2520 "prophecy," the keeping of feast days, the pronouncing of the Father and Son's names in Hebrew only, the lunar Sabbath, the idea that God won't destroy anyone in hell, the idea that Jesus was created, the idea that the Holy Spirit is not part of the Godhead, the idea that it's a sin to shave your beard...and the list goes on and on and on.

The devil is working...but God is also working. No one is being deceived against their will. But when they've made the decision to persistently turn away from truth that God is impressing upon their hearts...He will allow them that which they wish. The end will be as follows:

"The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." - 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

Once someone has lost a love of the pure truth, they will be blown about by every wind of doctrine. So hold fast the anchors of truth which have been given to us by God. Such is also the advice of God through Paul:

"Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle." - 2 Thessalonians 2:15