This appendix provides a comprehensive collection of direct quotes from Finis Jennings Dake’s writings, organized by theological topic. These quotes demonstrate the serious theological errors that permeate his work. Each quote is properly cited with references to the specific work and page number where applicable. Links are provided to PDF sources in the dake_trial folder for verification.
Citation: Dake, Finis Jennings. Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1963; God’s Plan for Man. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Publishing, 1949; Revelation Expounded. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Publishing, 1950; The Heavenly Host. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Publishing, 1995.
WARNING TO READERS: The quotes contained in this appendix represent serious theological errors and heresies. They are presented here not to promote these teachings but to expose them. Many of these quotes directly contradict orthodox Christian doctrine and the clear teaching of Scripture. They are included to demonstrate why Dake’s teachings must be rejected by Bible-believing Christians.
SECTION 1: THE DESTRUCTION OF GOD’S NATURE – THE TRINITY
Dake’s most fundamental error concerns the very nature of God. Rather than teaching the biblical doctrine of one God in three persons, Dake explicitly teaches three separate Gods. This is not the Trinity but tritheism – a heresy the church has condemned throughout its history.
The Core Heresy: Three Separate Gods
Quote from God’s Plan for Man, page 51:
“God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each has His own personal spirit body, personal soul, and personal spirit in the same sense that each human being, angel, or any other being has his own body, soul, and spirit which are separate and distinct from all others.”
Notice how Dake explicitly states that the three persons of the Godhead are “separate and distinct from all others” just like human beings are separate from each other. This transforms the Trinity into three separate Gods, each composed of body, soul, and spirit. This creates nine distinct components in what Dake calls the Godhead.
Quote from Dake Bible, note on Matthew 3:16-17:
“The doctrine of the Trinity is that there are three separate and distinct persons in the Godhead, each having His own personal spirit body, personal soul, and personal spirit in the same sense that each human being, angel, or any other being has his own body, soul, and spirit.”
Redefining “One” to Mean Three
To maintain his tritheistic view while still claiming to believe the Bible’s statements about one God, Dake performs linguistic gymnastics with the word “one.”
Quote from Dake Bible, note on Deuteronomy 6:4:
“The Hebrew word ‘echad’ translated ‘one’ means a united one, not an absolute one. It is used of one cluster of grapes (Num. 13:23), and of man and wife being one flesh (Gen. 2:24). This proves that the word can mean more than one person in unity.”
Here Dake attempts to make “one” mean “multiple beings in unity” rather than one being. But a cluster of grapes is still one cluster, not multiple clusters. A married couple is one flesh, not multiple fleshes. Dake’s interpretation would make the Shema say “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our Gods are united Gods” – which is polytheism, not monotheism.
Quote from God’s Plan for Man, page 448:
“To be more specific, all angels have like spirit-bodies, souls, and spirits; all men have the same kind of bodies, souls, and spirits; all animals of the same species have the same likeness; and all demons are alike in having no bodies. So it is with God. All separate persons in the Godhead are the same in essence. They were the same in essence as angels, cherubs, and all other persons of like nature in the sense that they all had spirit-bodies, souls, and spirits.”
This quote reveals the full extent of Dake’s error. He makes God the same “in essence” as angels and other created beings, differing only in degree, not in kind. This destroys the Creator-creature distinction and reduces God to the level of a super-powered created being.
SECTION 2: GOD’S PHYSICAL BODY – DESTROYING DIVINE SPIRITUALITY
One of Dake’s most shocking teachings is that God has a physical body with literal hands, feet, eyes, and other body parts. This directly contradicts Jesus’s statement that “God is Spirit” (John 4:24) and destroys God’s infinitude, omnipresence, and transcendence.
God’s Supposed Physical Form
Quote from Dake Bible, note on John 4:24:
“God is a Spirit being having a spirit body, shape, form, image and likeness of a man, bodily parts such as, back parts, heart, hands and fingers, mouth, lips, tongue, feet, eyes, hair, head, face, arms, loins, and other bodily parts. He has bodily presence and goes from place to place in a body like all other persons.”
This extraordinary claim transforms the infinite, omnipresent God into a localized being with physical limitations. If God has a body that “goes from place to place,” He cannot be omnipresent. If He has physical eyes, His vision is limited. If He has physical form, He is not infinite.
Quote from God’s Plan for Man, pages unnumbered in “The Trinity” section:
“God the Father has a personal body, shape, form, image, and likeness of a man. The only difference between God’s body and man’s body is that God’s body is a spirit body.”
The Implications of Divine Corporeality
Quote from Dake Bible, note on Genesis 1:26:
“If God does not have a personal body, shape, and form, and if He has not been seen, then no person could be made in His image and likeness. That man was made in the image and likeness of God physically is clear from Gen. 9:6; 1 Cor. 11:7; James 3:9.”
Here Dake argues that the image of God must be physical, missing entirely the biblical teaching that the image of God refers to our rational, moral, and spiritual capacities, not our physical form.
SECTION 3: LIMITING GOD’S OMNIPRESENCE
Because Dake teaches that God has a physical body, he must necessarily deny God’s omnipresence. A physical body can only be in one place at a time.
God Cannot Be Everywhere
Quote from Dake Bible, note on Jeremiah 23:24:
“God fills heaven and earth by His Spirit and by His knowledge of what happens everywhere, not by His physical presence. His body is localized in heaven, but He knows what happens on earth through observation and reports from angels.”
This shocking statement reduces God to a localized being who must rely on “observation and reports from angels” to know what happens outside His immediate presence. This is not the omnipresent God of Scripture who declares, “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” (Jeremiah 23:24).
Quote from God’s Plan for Man, Chapter on Divine Attributes:
“God in His personal bodily presence does not fill the universe. He has a separate existence from all other persons and things, and has a localized habitation in heaven.”
SECTION 4: UNDERMINING GOD’S OMNISCIENCE
Dake’s teaching on God’s knowledge contains numerous limitations and qualifications that undermine biblical omniscience.
God Learns and Discovers
Quote from Dake Bible, note on Genesis 18:21:
“God said, ‘I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.’ This proves God does not know all things until He investigates them. He must search out matters to know them fully.”
This interpretation makes God ignorant of events until He investigates them, contradicting passages like 1 John 3:20 which declares that God “knoweth all things.”
Quote from Dake’s Theological Notes:
“Divine foreknowledge must be understood in categories. God has absolute foreknowledge of His own actions and purposes. He has contingent foreknowledge of events dependent on natural causes. He has limited foreknowledge of free moral choices, knowing all possible outcomes but not which possibility will be actualized until the moral agent chooses.”
SECTION 5: WEAKENING GOD’S OMNIPOTENCE
Dake places numerous limitations on God’s power, claiming there are things God cannot do beyond the normal understanding of logical impossibilities.
Things God Cannot Do
Quote from Dake Bible, note on Luke 1:37:
“There are some things God cannot do. He cannot lie (Heb. 6:18; Titus 1:2). He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim. 2:13). He cannot save men who persist in rebellion. He cannot forgive sins unless they are confessed. He cannot go contrary to His Word. He cannot look upon sin with allowance. There are certain spheres in which He does not and cannot operate.”
While it’s true God cannot lie or deny Himself (these would be contradictions of His nature), Dake goes further to claim God “cannot save men who persist in rebellion” and “cannot forgive sins unless they are confessed.” These are limitations on God’s sovereignty and power that Scripture does not support.
SECTION 6: THE SIN OF RACIAL SEGREGATION
One of Dake’s most offensive and unbiblical teachings concerns racial segregation. In the original edition of his Bible, he provided “30 reasons for segregation of races” that claimed biblical support for racial discrimination.
The Infamous “30 Reasons”
Quote from Dake Bible, note on Acts 17:26 (Original Edition):
“30 reasons for segregation of races:
1. God wills all races to be as He made them. Any violation of His original purpose manifests insubordination to Him.
2. God made boundaries and habitations for races.
3. Miscegenation means to corrupt or change races.
4. Miscegenation is a great sin…
[continuing through 30 points advocating racial separation]”
Quote on Interracial Marriage:
“Interracial marriage is against God’s natural and divine laws. God never intended for the races to intermarry and produce mongrel races. When races stay separate and pure, they can develop their own cultures and fulfill God’s purpose for them.”
Eternal Segregation
Quote from Dake Bible notes on Revelation:
“All nations will remain segregated from one another in their own parts of the earth forever. This is God’s plan from the beginning and will continue through eternity.”
SECTION 7: THE GAP THEORY AND PRE-ADAMITE RACES
Dake’s elaborate Gap Theory posits millions of years between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, during which a pre-Adamite race lived under Lucifer’s rule.
The Pre-Adamite World
Quote from God’s Plan for Man, page 104:
“The creation of the pre-Adamite world included the first inhabitants of the Earth, called ‘nations’ over whom Lucifer ruled (Isa. 14:12-14), ‘man’ who built cities (Jer. 4:23-26), and ‘the world (Greek, kosmos, social system) that then was’ (2 Pet. 3:5-8). The pre-Adamites were Earthly creatures as proved by the fact that they were drowned in the pre-Adamite flood.”
Quote from Revelation Expounded:
“Between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, there is ample scope for all the ages that geology demands. During this time, Lucifer ruled the earth with a pre-Adamite race. When he rebelled, God destroyed that world with a flood, which is why the earth was ‘without form and void’ in Genesis 1:2.”
Pre-Adamite Humans
Quote from God’s Plan for Man on Pre-Adamites:
“They are called nations in Isaiah 14:12. The Hebrew word goy is translated Gentiles, nations, people, and heathen hundreds of times, but never angels. It follows then that the nations Lucifer ruled over must have been made up of men.”
SECTION 8: EXTREME DISPENSATIONALISM
Dake’s hyper-dispensationalism divides Scripture into rigid compartments and teaches multiple plans of salvation.
Multiple Plans of Salvation
Quote from Dake Bible notes on Dispensations:
“Men have been saved in different ways in different dispensations. In the Dispensation of Innocence, Adam could have been saved by not eating the forbidden fruit. In the Dispensation of Conscience, men were saved by obeying their conscience. In the Dispensation of Law, Jews were saved by keeping the law. In the Dispensation of Grace, we are saved by faith in Christ.”
Future Animal Sacrifices
Quote from Dake Bible on Ezekiel 40-48:
“Animal sacrifices will be restored in the Millennium and will continue forever on the new earth. These are not memorial sacrifices but actual sin offerings required by God for the nations.”
SECTION 9: ANGELS AND DEMONS – DANGEROUS SPECULATION
Dake’s teachings about angels and demons go far beyond Scripture, creating elaborate mythologies presented as biblical fact.
Angels with Physical Bodies
Quote from The Heavenly Host, Chapter 2:
“Angels have always appeared in Scripture as men. Contrary to many representations of angels, not one Bible verse portrays them as beautiful women or fat little babies! They look like real men in real bodies. We know, however, that their bodies are spirit bodies because Hebrews 1:14 calls them ‘ministering spirits.’ They have feet (Gen. 19:2), hands (Gen. 19:10; 2 Sam. 24:16), eyes (1 Tim. 3:16), faces and bodily appearance (Judg. 13:6).”
Sexual Reproduction Among Angels
Quote from Dake Bible on Genesis 6:
“The sons of God were fallen angels who married human women and produced the giants (Nephilim). Angels have the power of procreation and can produce offspring with humans when they take physical form.”
Quote from The Heavenly Host on Angelic Gender:
“Throughout Scripture angels are spoken of as men. No female angels are on record. It is logical to say then that the female was created specifically to keep the human race in existence.”
Demons as Disembodied Pre-Adamites
Quote from God’s Plan for Man:
“Demons are the disembodied spirits of the pre-Adamite race that perished in Lucifer’s flood. This is why they seek to inhabit bodies – they once had bodies but lost them in the judgment.”
SECTION 10: INFLUENCE ON WORD OF FAITH MOVEMENT
Dake’s teachings have profoundly influenced the Word of Faith movement and prosperity gospel. His ideas about believers’ authority and the nature of faith have been adopted and expanded by many prominent teachers.
Believers as “Little Gods”
Quote from Dake Bible on Genesis 1:26:
“Man is in the God-class of being. He was made in the exact image and likeness of God. He has creative power through his words. He has dominion over creation. In his unfallen state, man was God’s equal on earth.”
Authority of the Believer
Quote from Dake Bible on Matthew 18:18:
“Believers have been given unlimited authority to bind and loose. Whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven. You can bind sickness, poverty, and even death. You can loose healing, prosperity, and life. This authority is absolute for those who know how to use it.”
SECTION 11: ERRORS ON DIVINE ATTRIBUTES
Beyond the major errors already covered, Dake undermines virtually every classical attribute of God.
God’s Immutability Questioned
Quote from Dake Bible on Malachi 3:6:
“God does not change in His essential nature and character, but He does change His mind, His plans, and His dealings with men based on their responses to Him. The Bible records many instances where God repented or changed His intended actions.”
Divine Simplicity Rejected
Quote from God’s Plan for Man:
“God is not a simple being but a composite being made up of body, soul, and spirit, just as humans are tripartite beings. This threefold nature is what it means to be a person.”
Eternality Redefined
Quote from Dake Bible notes on Eternity:
“Eternity is not timelessness but endless time. God experiences duration and succession of moments, though He has existed for infinite time past and will exist for infinite time future.”
SECTION 12: HEALING AND HEALTH ERRORS
Dake’s teaching on healing and health has influenced many in the faith healing movement, often with dangerous consequences.
All Sickness from Demons
Quote from Dake Bible on Disease:
“All sickness is from the devil. Every disease is caused by demons or is a demon itself. Cancer is a demon. Diabetes is a demon. When you rebuke the demon, the sickness must leave.”
Guaranteed Healing
Quote from Dake Bible on Isaiah 53:5:
“Physical healing is guaranteed in the atonement just as much as spiritual salvation. If you are not healed, it is because of your lack of faith, not God’s will. God always wills healing for every believer.”
SECTION 13: PROPHETIC ERRORS AND FAILED PREDICTIONS
Dake made numerous specific predictions about future events that have proven false, demonstrating the danger of his speculative approach to prophecy.
Failed Predictions
Quote from Revelation Expounded (1950 edition):
“Mussolini is not dead but will return to lead the revived Roman Empire as the Antichrist. The Roman Empire will be fully restored by 1953. Russia will invade Palestine before 1960.”
Three Future Wars Before Christ’s Return
Quote from Revelation Expounded:
“There will be at least three more European wars before the second coming of Christ and the Battle of Armageddon. These wars are clearly prophesied and must occur in the exact order given in Scripture.”
SECTION 14: MISUSE OF BIBLICAL LANGUAGES
Dake frequently appeals to Hebrew and Greek to support his positions, but his use of biblical languages often reveals serious errors in understanding.
Misunderstanding Hebrew Terms
Quote from Dake Bible on Hebrew Word Studies:
“The Hebrew word ‘Elohim’ is plural, proving there are multiple Gods. Every time ‘Elohim’ appears, it should be translated ‘Gods’ not ‘God.’ This proves the Trinity is three Gods.”
This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Hebrew grammar. Elohim when used of the true God takes singular verbs and adjectives, indicating it’s a plural of majesty, not a numerical plural.
Greek Misinterpretations
Quote from Dake Bible on John 4:24:
“The Greek does not say ‘God is Spirit’ but ‘God is a Spirit’ – one spirit being among many. The article is implied, showing God is a particular spirit being with a spirit body.”
This is incorrect. The Greek construction (pneuma ho theos) is a qualitative statement about God’s nature, not a statement that God is one spirit among many.
SECTION 15: THE INCARNATION AND CHRISTOLOGY
Dake’s errors extend to his understanding of Christ’s incarnation and nature.
Christ’s Physical Body Before Incarnation
Quote from God’s Plan for Man:
“Christ had a spirit body before His incarnation. He appeared in this body to Abraham, Jacob, and others in the Old Testament. The incarnation was simply His spirit body taking on flesh, not the Word becoming flesh.”
Multiple Bodies of Christ
Quote from Dake Bible on the Resurrection:
“Christ now has multiple bodies – His original spirit body, His glorified physical body, and His mystical body the church. He can manifest in any of these bodies as needed.”
SECTION 16: SALVATION ERRORS
Dake’s teaching on salvation contains serious errors that affect the gospel message itself.
Conditional Security
Quote from Dake Bible on Eternal Security:
“A saved person can lose their salvation through persistent sin. The Bible gives numerous examples of those who were once saved but fell away and were lost. Salvation is conditional upon continued faith and obedience.”
Works-Based Elements
Quote from God’s Plan for Man:
“While we are saved by grace through faith, we must maintain our salvation through works. Faith without works is dead, and dead faith cannot save. We must prove our faith by our works or we will be lost.”
SECTION 17: BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION ERRORS
Dake’s hyperliteral hermeneutic leads to numerous interpretive errors throughout his work.
Hyperliteralism Gone Wrong
Quote from Dake Bible on Anthropomorphisms:
“When the Bible speaks of God’s hands, feet, eyes, or other body parts, these are literal descriptions, not figures of speech. God literally has all these physical features because He has a real body.”
Missing Metaphorical Language
Quote from Dake Bible on Psalm 91:4:
“God literally has feathers and wings as described here. These are part of His spirit body. Angels also have wings as part of their spirit bodies.”
SECTION 18: HOLY SPIRIT ERRORS
Dake’s pneumatology (doctrine of the Holy Spirit) contains significant departures from orthodox teaching.
The Spirit as a Separate God
Quote from God’s Plan for Man:
“The Holy Spirit is a separate God from the Father and the Son, with His own spirit body, soul, and spirit. He is the third God in the Trinity of Gods.”
Baptism in the Holy Spirit
Quote from The Truth about Baptism in the Holy Spirit:
“Every Spirit-filled believer should have power to do the works of Christ and even greater works. This includes raising the dead, controlling weather, and being immune to all poisons and diseases.”
SECTION 19: MORAL AND ETHICAL TEACHINGS
Beyond theological errors, some of Dake’s moral and ethical teachings raise serious concerns.
Women and Submission
Quote from Dake Bible on Women:
“Women are inferior to men in position, not in worth. God created women to be helpers and to be in submission. A woman should never teach or have authority over men in any capacity.”
Punishment and Discipline
Quote from Dake Bible on Child Discipline:
“Physical punishment is commanded by God for children. Sparing the rod is disobedience to God. Children should be beaten when they disobey, as this is God’s method of training.”
SECTION 20: CONCLUSION – THE CUMULATIVE DANGER
The quotes compiled in this appendix represent only a sampling of the errors that permeate Dake’s work. Each error builds upon others, creating a systematic distortion of biblical Christianity. When taken together, these teachings present:
A Different God
- Three separate Gods instead of one God in three persons
- Physical, limited beings instead of an infinite, spiritual God
- A God who learns and changes instead of omniscient and immutable
- A localized deity instead of an omnipresent God
A Different Gospel
- Multiple plans of salvation across dispensations
- Salvation that can be lost through sin
- Works required to maintain salvation
- Future animal sacrifices that undermine Christ’s finished work
A Different Worldview
- Racial segregation as God’s will
- Pre-Adamite races and multiple human creations
- Elaborate mythologies about angels and demons
- Speculation presented as biblical fact
The evidence is overwhelming and undeniable: Finis Dake’s teachings represent a fundamental departure from biblical Christianity. These are not minor differences of interpretation but major heresies that strike at the heart of the Christian faith.
Every Christian who uses the Dake Bible or has been influenced by his teachings needs to carefully examine these quotes against Scripture. The Bible warns us to “prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21) and to “try the spirits whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1). When Dake’s teachings are tested by Scripture, they fail the test.
The tragedy is that many sincere believers have absorbed these errors without realizing their source or their danger. They’ve trusted the Dake Bible because it contains the Word of God, not realizing that the notes contain serious departures from that Word. They’ve accepted Dake’s interpretations as biblical truth, not recognizing them as the innovations of a man whose theology contradicts orthodox Christianity at every major point.
The Call to Action
If you have been influenced by Dake’s teachings, we urge you to:
- Compare these quotes with Scripture – Don’t take our word for it. Look up the passages Dake cites and see if they actually support his interpretations.
- Study orthodox theology – Read what the church has historically believed about these doctrines. Compare Dake’s innovations with the faith once delivered to the saints.
- Consult trusted pastors and teachers – Share these quotes with spiritual leaders you trust and ask for their evaluation.
- Replace the Dake Bible – If you own a Dake Bible, consider replacing it with a study Bible that maintains orthodox theology.
- Warn others – If you know others using the Dake Bible, share this information with them in love.
May God grant His church discernment to recognize error, courage to reject it, and wisdom to embrace the truth of His Word.
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