Official Review: Daniel's Secret by JW Farquhar
Posted: 03 Mar 2018, 23:13
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Daniel's Secret" by JW Farquhar.]
4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
A few weeks ago I was in prayer, and I acknowledged something to God. “I don’t exactly know what you are. God is not a man, and your ways are not my ways. I have a general idea about you, but I’ll never fully understand you on my own. Only you can confirm the truth to me.”
Within days of that prayer, Daniel’s Secret by JW Farquhar caught my eye. The book’s description was vague but promised to reveal the secret meaning behind the biblical numbers of 666, 777, 40 and so on. Intrigued, I decided to read it. To be quite honest, I had no idea what to expect.
Daniel’s Secret is based on the concepts found in Farquhar’s theological dissertation. His ideas are condensed into a simpler narrative for Christian audiences, and the book is written like a script with scenes and dialogue. The principal characters are Daniel Veritas, a fictional version of the author, and (doubting) Thomas, a religious fundamentalist. Thomas is an adherent to traditional beliefs in the Trinity, salvation through Jesus Christ and the Bible as the inerrant word of God. Daniel is a biblical scholar with a unique perspective. Daniel and Thomas embark on a journey to Israel to inspect the tombstone of an unknown man. The inscription on the headstone implies that he was a prominent believer who died without knowing why he lived. Thomas contacted Daniel for answers because his church leaders didn’t understand the inscription. Daniel claims to know the truth about God’s creation, biblical numbers, and the true path to salvation. Daniel seeks to prove his ideas to Thomas; Thomas just hopes to avoid the dead man’s fate.
This book is not for the close-minded. It’s dizzying, complex and heavily philosophical. Daniel supplies a multitude of original interpretations of biblical truths you won’t find anywhere else. Even now, I haven’t fully absorbed everything the author presented yet. While I was reading, I often had to stop and re-read passages to understand how he came to his conclusions. Although Farquhar makes a valiant effort to simplify his dissertation, it still requires close reading.
I absolutely loved the author’s attention to Joseph, son of Jacob, patriarch of Israel. Joseph and Jesus are two of the reasons I’m now a Christian, but Joseph gets very little attention from average believers. The author’s revelations about Joseph are stunning to me. A year ago, God gave me a vision of Joseph in Egypt wearing a crown of thorns; that vision deeply perplexed me at the time. I discovered through research that Joseph parallels many aspects of Jesus, but this book took things even further. The author presents arguments, numerical patterns and biblical proof that Joseph is representative of the face of God. He even argues that, like Jesus, Joseph is God. The evidence here is strikingly convincing, especially seeing as it confirms my vision.
Some other revelations involve new ideas about the Trinity, the book of Genesis, and even scientific evolution. The conversation flows through an array of numbers, patterns, charts, and words. There is so much information packed into these pages it’s impossible to describe it all. Some of the author’s proofs are more convincing and constructed more clearly than others, but it’s undeniable to me that his research is sound.
Overall, I loved this book and found very little to complain about. Occasionally, Thomas and Daniel are both arrogant and irritating. Sometimes their interjections distract from the fantastic information presented by the author. The draft I read could also use another round of proofreading. There were punctuation errors quite frequently throughout the text, but they didn’t hinder my understanding and enjoyment. I rate this book a 4 out of 4 stars, and I recommend it to all believers and skeptics interested in ideas that will challenge, stimulate and inspire your faith.
******
Daniel's Secret
View: on Bookshelves
Like Momiji1987's review? Post a comment saying so!
4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
A few weeks ago I was in prayer, and I acknowledged something to God. “I don’t exactly know what you are. God is not a man, and your ways are not my ways. I have a general idea about you, but I’ll never fully understand you on my own. Only you can confirm the truth to me.”
Within days of that prayer, Daniel’s Secret by JW Farquhar caught my eye. The book’s description was vague but promised to reveal the secret meaning behind the biblical numbers of 666, 777, 40 and so on. Intrigued, I decided to read it. To be quite honest, I had no idea what to expect.
Daniel’s Secret is based on the concepts found in Farquhar’s theological dissertation. His ideas are condensed into a simpler narrative for Christian audiences, and the book is written like a script with scenes and dialogue. The principal characters are Daniel Veritas, a fictional version of the author, and (doubting) Thomas, a religious fundamentalist. Thomas is an adherent to traditional beliefs in the Trinity, salvation through Jesus Christ and the Bible as the inerrant word of God. Daniel is a biblical scholar with a unique perspective. Daniel and Thomas embark on a journey to Israel to inspect the tombstone of an unknown man. The inscription on the headstone implies that he was a prominent believer who died without knowing why he lived. Thomas contacted Daniel for answers because his church leaders didn’t understand the inscription. Daniel claims to know the truth about God’s creation, biblical numbers, and the true path to salvation. Daniel seeks to prove his ideas to Thomas; Thomas just hopes to avoid the dead man’s fate.
This book is not for the close-minded. It’s dizzying, complex and heavily philosophical. Daniel supplies a multitude of original interpretations of biblical truths you won’t find anywhere else. Even now, I haven’t fully absorbed everything the author presented yet. While I was reading, I often had to stop and re-read passages to understand how he came to his conclusions. Although Farquhar makes a valiant effort to simplify his dissertation, it still requires close reading.
I absolutely loved the author’s attention to Joseph, son of Jacob, patriarch of Israel. Joseph and Jesus are two of the reasons I’m now a Christian, but Joseph gets very little attention from average believers. The author’s revelations about Joseph are stunning to me. A year ago, God gave me a vision of Joseph in Egypt wearing a crown of thorns; that vision deeply perplexed me at the time. I discovered through research that Joseph parallels many aspects of Jesus, but this book took things even further. The author presents arguments, numerical patterns and biblical proof that Joseph is representative of the face of God. He even argues that, like Jesus, Joseph is God. The evidence here is strikingly convincing, especially seeing as it confirms my vision.
Some other revelations involve new ideas about the Trinity, the book of Genesis, and even scientific evolution. The conversation flows through an array of numbers, patterns, charts, and words. There is so much information packed into these pages it’s impossible to describe it all. Some of the author’s proofs are more convincing and constructed more clearly than others, but it’s undeniable to me that his research is sound.
Overall, I loved this book and found very little to complain about. Occasionally, Thomas and Daniel are both arrogant and irritating. Sometimes their interjections distract from the fantastic information presented by the author. The draft I read could also use another round of proofreading. There were punctuation errors quite frequently throughout the text, but they didn’t hinder my understanding and enjoyment. I rate this book a 4 out of 4 stars, and I recommend it to all believers and skeptics interested in ideas that will challenge, stimulate and inspire your faith.
******
Daniel's Secret
View: on Bookshelves
Like Momiji1987's review? Post a comment saying so!