When writing a conclusion one can close in different ways: one can summarize what has been written, one can end with a quotation, or one can come with a suggestion for further action from the theological community. I will opt for the last. My main aim for the whole study in Dan 11: was to determine who and where the Little Horn power (the papacy) started and finished. Having accomplished this through a nearly correct exegetical methodology and God´s help, I would like to make a suggestion to the Christian Church worldwide inclusive my own church which is the Seventh-day Adventist church: to redefine their paradigm, for the study of exegesis in God´s word the Holy Bible.
Exegesis is a term used by many theologians with different meanings in all the theological universities of the world. A clear example of this is in my introduction of five theologians in the Adventist church. Thomas S. Kuhn in his book “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” a classic book from the 1960´s suggests that a paradigm change has to take place before the community takes any action. This can take a generation shift before it happens: around 16 to 20 years[1]. That is a long time.
Problems can arise during a generation shift. Large theological problems can arise like “women´s ordination” in the Adventist church. This is a subject that split the Anglican Church in England right down the middle. Women´s ordination is just the tip of the iceberg of theological problems we shall encounter in the future of the Adventist church. Why? Because we are using a wrong method of exegesis of Bible study.
I can see one major obstacle why theologians do not wish to tackle this subject and that is their university and college ratings amongst other universities may go downhill. This gives a large problem because it allows liberal theologians doing exegesis from other universities to influence our professors and students in our universities and colleges. Where does one draw the line of theological influence from without? The line will come when more theological problems shall arise in the church, hence endangering our message and splitting the church.
Therefore, I advise all the theologians in the worldwide church, to come together and not just to give presentations at their annual meetings, but to hammer out a method of exegesis, which all theologians in our church can agree on. This will bring both respect and harmony within the theological community and outside of the church, and lead to a further understanding of the truth from the Holy Bible. If this does not happen, then the inevitable will occur and that is the “Shaking” in the church. It will occur sooner than we think. We are already reaping the results of the influence of the charismatic movement, worldly music and liberalization within the church; all because we do not have a correct methodology of exegesis. Do we have to wait for a whole generation shift to occur, before we take action?
Mark Finley used an illustration in his sermon “Preparing for the overwhelming Surprise” on www.audioverse.org. At the beginning of his sermon, he talked about hurricane Camille which was heading for the town of Pass Christian, Mississippi, on the Gulf of Mexico in 1969. There were a block of holiday apartments situated about 200 feet from the coast and a group of young people were having a hurricane party in one of the apartments. A police officer came to the apartments and warned the young people that they should evacuate the place as soon as possible because a hurricane was heading towards them. The young people who were drinking large amounts of alcohol said to the police office, “if we do not evacuate will you arrest us?” They refused to move and stated their democratic rights of freedom to decide as US citizens.
Later that evening at 10.15 pm one of the strongest hurricanes in the US hit the coast at 205 mph with waves of 26 feet high. The holiday apartments were totally destroyed and about 20 young people lost their lives.
There is a hurricane heading for the Christian church worldwide and our theologians are not ready to meet it. It is not because they are drunk of alcohol, but they are drunk of a theological and scholastical pride. They are refusing to come together and work out a form of conservative exegesis which we all can use, based on the whole of the Bible only.
[1] www.ee.scu.edu/eefac/healy/kuhn.html