# What Is Bible Truth? Part Four
> Daniel 8:12 says the power that rose against the prince of the host cast down the truth to the ground, and practised, and prospered. This part follows that conflict from Rome's long persecution to the friends of truth who gathered it back piece by piece — the Waldenses, Huss, Luther, Calvin, the Anabaptists, Wesley, Miller and the Advent pioneers.
- Source: https://timeisathandlive.org/blog/what-is-bible-truth-part-four/
- Site: Time Is At Hand Evangelistic Ministries (https://timeisathandlive.org)
- Key scripture: Daniel 8:12
- Topics: Bible study, faith, present truth
- Licence: free to read, quote and share, with attribution.
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> **Daniel 8:11** — Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host,
> and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his
> sanctuary was cast down.
> **Daniel 8:12** — And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by
> reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it
> practised, and prospered.
## Christ is the Author of all truth
The history of the world is paved with conflicts and opposition against Bible
Truth.
Christ is the Author of all Truth. And the devil is the author, the founder,
father and master of lies.
> **John 8:44** — Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father
> ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth,
> because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his
> own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Whatever a man knows about God and the nature of man; about good and evil;
about our relationship to God and our duty and purpose in this life; about our
future and destiny is only revealed to us through the revelation of Christ.
There is no research centre, laboratory or museum where we can go to learn the
things of God. We cannot rely on scientific method nor the reasoning of
philosophy to provide a clear path to the Truth of God. It can only be obtained
through Divine revelation.
## The truth cast down to the ground
Daniel chapter 8 highlights the brutal persecution inflicted on God's people by
Rome, and the relentless battle to suppress Bible Truth. Pagan Rome magnified
their satanic power against Christ when they abused and crucified Him.
Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life — to walk with Him is freedom — to
know Him is life eternal.
> **John 14:6** — Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
> no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
> **John 17:3** — And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only
> true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
But the devil wanted Him and everything that He stands for out of the way.
Daniel 8:12 says that the evil force cast down the truth to the ground; and it
practised, and prospered.
For many years Rome practised and prospered in her scheme of wickedness against
the Truth. She did what she pleased, and succeeded against the Truth for a
while, with little opposition.
Rome was permitted to continue the horrible acts against God's Truth and His
people so that we can understand the conflict between Truth and error and the
nature of our warfare in these last days.
According to the inspirational insight of one writer, "There is an
irrepressible conflict between truth and error. To uphold and defend the one is
to attack and overthrow the other."
## Whose side will you stand on?
This great conflict is now approaching crisis point with rapid speed and
intensity. Everyone is now deciding whose side to stand on. Will you take a
stand for Bible truth or the traditions of man?
> **Mark 7:7** — Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the
> commandments of men.
Those who choose the traditions of man over Bible Truth will do so at an
incredible loss.
## Truth scattered to the four winds
In his work *Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel*, Isaac Newton contrasts
the "few and obscure" prophecies of Christ's first coming with the "many and
clear Prophecies" regarding His second coming, which he believed would restore
truth and establish a righteous kingdom.
Sir Isaac Newton, the Englishman who studied the prophecies, accurately saw
that the truth of God would be gathered and restored. He wrote that:
> The many and clear Prophecies concerning the things to be done at Christ's
> second coming, are not only for predicting but also for effecting a recovery
> and re-establishment of the long-lost truth, and setting up a kingdom wherein
> dwells righteousness.
>
> — Isaac Newton, [*Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the
> Apocalypse of St. John*](https://newtonproject.ox.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00209)
> (London, 1733), Part II, chapter 1, page 252
John Milton the poet, in an address to the English Parliament, said:
> Truth indeed came once into the world with her divine Master, and was a
> perfect shape most glorious to look on: but when he ascended, and his
> Apostles after him were laid asleep, then straight arose a wicked race of
> deceivers, who … took the virgin Truth, hewed her lovely form into a thousand
> pieces, and scattered them to the four winds. From that time ever since, the
> sad friends of Truth, such as durst appear … went up and down gathering up
> limb by limb, still as they could find them. We have not yet found them all,
> Lords and Commons, nor ever shall do, till her Master's second coming; he
> shall bring together every joint and member, and shall mould them into an
> immortal feature of loveliness and perfection.
>
> — John Milton, [*Areopagitica*](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/608) (1644)
Milton thought all parts of the cast-down truth would not be gathered until
Christ returns.
But the sad friends of Truth went up and down, gathering limb by limb still as
they could find them — and they have done a mighty good job.
## The friends of truth gathered it, piece by piece
The Waldenses kept the true manuscript of the Bible. The Bible is God's Truth,
designed to lead man back to Himself.
Kept in the mountains
In the valleys of the Alps the Waldenses copied the Scriptures by hand,
long before printing, and taught them to their children in their own
tongue while Rome forbade them.
John Huss found the truth of obedience to God's law. The Law of God is His
Truth, given to guide the path of humanity.
> **Psalm 119:142** — Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and
> thy law is the truth.
Martin Luther found the truth of God's grace. He highlighted the fact of
salvation: that it is not by the works of the church of Rome, nor by its dogmas
or traditions, but by the grace of God.
> **Ephesians 2:8** — For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
> yourselves: it is the gift of God.
> **Habakkuk 2:4** — Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in
> him: but the just shall live by his faith.
The just shall live by faith
Paul quotes Habakkuk's words in Romans 1:17. Luther later wrote that when
he understood them, he felt as if he had entered paradise through open
gates.
John Calvin discovered and gathered the truth of Christian growth in Christ.
The Anabaptists discovered the truth of baptism by immersion.
John Wesley discovered the truth of holiness unto God, or what is known as a
sanctified life.
William Miller discovered the truth of Christ's second coming. His discovery
caused an awakening and enlightenment that brought the other parts of truth to
light.
## Present truth for our time
The pioneers discovered the Sanctuary Truth — that Christ our High Priest in
heaven has now entered into the final phase of the antitypical Day of Atonement
in heaven.
They also discovered that the Ten Commandments are essential for these last
days. The true Seventh-day Sabbath was discovered and greatly emphasised; the
state of the dead was discovered; righteousness by faith; the Spirit of
Prophecy. All of these are present truth for our time — one truth in Christ that
must be rightly divided to all the world. This is the only Truth in Christ that
is established to set sinners free, and it was cast down by the evil one.
Within the veil
The pioneers drew the sanctuary truth from Hebrews 8 and 9: the earthly
tabernacle was a pattern of the true one in heaven, where Christ ministers
as our High Priest.
> **John 8:32** — And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
> free.
---
The series began with [What Is Bible Truth?](/blog/what-is-bible-truth), which
opens with Pilate's question in John 18:38 and answers it from Scripture: truth
is of God, Christ is truth made visible, and Bible truth must be known, must
transform us, and must be rightly divided.
[Part Two](/blog/what-is-bible-truth-part-two) turns on 2 Peter 1:12 — why
Bible truth must be kept ever before the people, and why it cannot be known
without the Spirit of truth. [Part Three](/blog/what-is-bible-truth-part-three)
turns on 1 Timothy 3:15 — the church as the pillar and ground of the truth, the
truth cast down in Daniel 8, and God's commandments as the truth.
If this study has raised something you would like to talk through, the team
reads every message: [ask a Bible question](/contact/bible-questions), or
[send a prayer request](/contact/prayer-requests).
On the Sanctuary Truth the pioneers recovered,
[The Sanctuary](/studies/the-sanctuary) works through the earthly pattern and
the heavenly ministry of Christ our High Priest; on the power that cast the
truth to the ground, [Daniel Chapter 8](/studies/daniel/chapter-8) follows the
little horn and the 2300 days; and [The Three Angels' Messages](/end-time/three-angels-messages)
sets out the present truth that is to go to every nation.
