Chapter 04: A God Who Learns – Denying Omniscience

The Attack on God’s All-Knowing Nature

Of all the divine attributes that make God truly God, few are as essential as omniscience – His complete, perfect, and eternal knowledge of all things. This isn’t just a theological term that pastors throw around to sound smart. It’s the foundation of everything we believe about God’s ability to guide us, protect us, keep His promises, and work everything together for our good.

Think about what this means for your daily life. When you pray, you’re talking to Someone who already knows what you need before you ask (Matthew 6:8). When you read prophecy in the Bible, you’re reading predictions made by a God who knows exactly what will happen because He sees the future as clearly as we see the past. When you face trials, you can trust that nothing has taken God by surprise – He knew it was coming and has already prepared His response.

But Finis Dake, through his Annotated Reference Bible and other writings, launches a devastating assault on this precious truth. While claiming to believe the Bible literally, he actually teaches that God doesn’t know everything. According to Dake, God learns, discovers, investigates, hopes for certain outcomes but is disappointed when they don’t occur, and gains new information as history unfolds.

In his systematic presentation of God’s attributes, Dake explicitly redefines omniscience. He writes: “Omniscient (all-knowing) as far as His nature, plan, and work are concerned (Rom. 11:33). As to free moral agents, God learns certain things about them (Gen. 6:5-7; 11:5-7; 18:21; 22:12; 2 Chr. 16:9; Job 12:22; 24:23; Ps. 7:9; 44:21; 139:1-6; Pr. 24:12; Jer. 17:10; Ez. 11:5; Zech. 4:10; 1 Cor. 2:10-11; Rom. 8:27; 1 Th. 2:4).”⁹ Notice how Dake limits God’s omniscience – God is only all-knowing about His own nature and work, but when it comes to free moral agents, He must learn about them.

Dake reinforces this limited view of God’s knowledge in God’s Plan for Man, where he explicitly states: “We must conclude that it is not so much that God cannot know beforehand all things if He chose to do so, but He does not choose to do this because of the very nature of His plan, and because it was made in conjunction with unpredictable free moral agents.”¹⁵ This makes human choices ultimately unknowable even to God, fundamentally limiting His omniscience.

What the Bible Really Says About God’s Knowledge

Before we examine Dake’s specific errors, we need to establish what Scripture actually teaches about God’s knowledge. The Bible’s testimony is overwhelming and crystal clear – God knows absolutely everything.

Consider Psalm 147:5: “Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.” The word “infinite” means without any limits whatsoever. Not “really big,” not “vastly superior to ours,” but literally without any boundaries or edges. There is nothing outside the scope of God’s understanding.

The New Testament confirms this truth. 1 John 3:20 states simply: “God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” Not some things. Not most things. Not even 99.99% of things. ALL things. The Greek word used here is “panta,” which means the totality without exception.

Perhaps the most beautiful and personal description of God’s complete knowledge comes from Psalm 139:1-6:

“O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.”

David describes God as knowing his every action (sitting down and getting up), his every thought (understanding them before David even thinks them), his daily routines (his path and lying down), and his every word (knowing them completely before they’re spoken). This isn’t a God who’s learning about David as David lives his life. This is a God whose knowledge of David is complete, perfect, and eternal.

Dake’s Direct Attacks on God’s Omniscience

Now let’s examine what Dake actually teaches about God’s knowledge. While occasionally claiming to believe in God’s omniscience, his actual teaching consistently undermines and denies it. This is like someone saying “I believe in honesty” while constantly lying – the claim means nothing when the actions contradict it.

Dake’s actual note on this verse is even more explicit. He writes: “Here we have another proof that God receives knowledge of true conditions and becomes acquainted with existing facts.”¹⁰ According to Dake, the passage literally means God is learning new information through investigation.

Think about what Dake is saying here. According to him, God doesn’t actually know what’s happening on earth at all times. Instead, He receives reports (from angels? from prayers?) and then has to investigate to verify if these reports are accurate. This makes God sound less like the all-knowing Creator and more like a heavenly detective who needs to gather clues and interview witnesses to figure out what happened.

But wait – it gets worse. In his notes on Genesis 6:6, where it says “it repented the LORD that he had made man,” Dake writes:

In Dake’s note on Genesis 6:5, he states: “Divine inspection and dissatisfaction. God learns true conditions the same as man (v 5-6; 7:1; 11:5; 18:21; 22:12; 29:31; Ex. 3:4; Dt. 32:19; 2 Ki. 14:26; 2 Chr. 12:7; Isa. 59:15-16; Jonah 3:10). Cp. the same statements regarding men (3:6; 8:8; 37:14).”¹¹ According to Dake, God learns about conditions just like humans do – through observation and discovery.

According to Dake, God “hoped for better things but was disappointed.” Stop and think about that. How can an all-knowing God hope for something that doesn’t happen? Hope implies uncertainty about the future. Disappointment means things turned out differently than expected. If God truly experiences disappointment, then He didn’t know what would happen. His hopes were based on incomplete knowledge of the future.

The orthodox (correct) understanding of Genesis 18:21 recognizes this as anthropomorphic language. God already knew perfectly well how wicked Sodom was. His “going down to see” was a judicial proceeding – like a judge formally examining evidence before pronouncing a verdict. God was demonstrating His justice for Abraham’s benefit and for the historical record, showing that He doesn’t destroy cities arbitrarily but only after their wickedness is fully confirmed.

The Problem of Future Free Choices

One of Dake’s most serious errors involves his teaching about God’s knowledge of future free choices. Throughout his writings, Dake argues that God cannot know what people will freely choose to do until they actually make their choices. He bases this on a philosophical argument rather than biblical teaching.

In his note on Genesis 22:12, where God says “Now I know” after Abraham offers Isaac, Dake writes: “Here God confirmed what He thought about Abraham, as stated in Gen. 18:19. As a free moral agent Abraham could have disappointed the Lord, but testing him made it possible to say, Now I know. God limits His own attributes to conform to His plan for free moral agents. This makes Him no less omniscient; but makes it possible for Him to respect the will of man. Thus, God does not plan man’s choices or acts, but holds him responsible for them should he choose and act contrary to the best good of all.”¹²

Dake elaborates on this limitation of God’s foreknowledge in God’s Plan for Man: “The word foreknowledge simply means the prescience of God or the knowing beforehand certain events that will happen. If we are to take the Bible for what it says about God we will have to recognize that God gets to know certain things concerning free moral agents just as they get to know some things about each other.”¹⁶ This explicitly teaches that God learns about free moral agents over time rather than knowing their choices from eternity.

This sounds very scholarly and impressive, but it’s simply a fancy way of saying God doesn’t know what you’re going to choose tomorrow. According to Dake, God knows all the possible things you might choose (like knowing all the items on a restaurant menu), but He doesn’t know which one you’ll actually pick until you pick it.

But think about what this means for biblical prophecy. The Bible is full of specific predictions about what people would choose to do:

• Pharaoh’s hard heart: God told Moses in advance that Pharaoh would refuse to let Israel go (Exodus 3:19). If God doesn’t know future free choices, how could He know what Pharaoh would decide?
• Peter’s denial: Jesus predicted Peter would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed (Matthew 26:34). This involved multiple free choices – Peter’s decision to follow at a distance, the servants’ decisions to question him, Peter’s three separate choices to deny Christ. How could Jesus predict this so precisely if God doesn’t know future free choices?
• Judas’s betrayal: The Old Testament predicted the Messiah would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12-13). Jesus knew Judas would betray Him before Judas decided to do it. If God doesn’t know future free choices, these prophecies are impossible.
• Cyrus’s decree: Isaiah prophesied that a king named Cyrus would release the Jews from captivity – 150 years before Cyrus was born (Isaiah 44:28)! This involved countless free choices: his parents choosing to name him Cyrus, his choices to become king, his decision to release the captives.

Either these weren’t really free choices (which would mean Dake is wrong about free will), or God can indeed know future free choices (which means Dake is wrong about God’s knowledge). Either way, Dake’s position crumbles under biblical scrutiny.

The Dangerous Consequences of Dake’s Teaching

Some might think this is just abstract theology that doesn’t affect real life. “So what if God learns a few things? He still knows almost everything, right?” Wrong. The implications of Dake’s teaching are devastating for practical Christian living.

Prayer Becomes Pointless

Jesus taught us that “your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him” (Matthew 6:8). This is why we can pray with confidence – God already knows our needs perfectly and has already prepared His answer according to His perfect knowledge and will.

But in Dake’s system, God doesn’t really know what you need before you ask if your needs depend on future free choices. Can God know you’ll need healing tomorrow if He doesn’t know whether someone will choose to drive drunk and hit you tonight? Can He know you’ll need financial provision next month if He doesn’t know whether your boss will choose to fire you?

Dake tries to explain this away in his notes on Matthew 6:8:

So according to Dake, God is really good at guessing what you might need, but He can be caught off guard by unexpected developments. This isn’t the God Jesus described – it’s a divine fortune teller making educated predictions.

God’s Promises Become Uncertain

The Bible is full of God’s promises about the future. He promises to work all things together for good (Romans 8:28). He promises to supply all our needs (Philippians 4:19). He promises never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). He promises that those who believe in Christ will have eternal life (John 3:16).

But if God doesn’t know future free choices, how can He make these promises? How can He promise to work all things together for good if He doesn’t know what “all things” will include? How can He promise to supply all your needs if He doesn’t know what needs will arise from others’ free choices? How can He guarantee eternal life if He doesn’t know whether you’ll choose to keep believing tomorrow?

In Dake’s system, God’s promises become hopes rather than certainties. He’s promising to do His best with whatever happens, but He can’t guarantee specific outcomes because He doesn’t know what free agents will choose. This transforms the “exceeding great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4) into divine fingers crossed, hoping for the best.

Suffering Becomes Meaningless

One of the greatest comforts in suffering is knowing that God knew it was coming and has a purpose in allowing it. When Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, it looked like meaningless evil. But years later, Joseph could say, “Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 50:20).

Joseph understood that God didn’t just make the best of a bad situation – He knew exactly what would happen and orchestrated events for a greater purpose. God knew the brothers would sell Joseph, knew the famine would come, knew Joseph would interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, and planned it all for the salvation of many.

But in Dake’s theology, God didn’t know any of this would happen until the brothers made their free choice to sell Joseph. He couldn’t have meant it for good because He didn’t know it would happen. At best, He scrambled to salvage something positive from an unexpected tragedy.

Worship Loses Its Foundation

We worship God because He is perfect in all His attributes. His infinite knowledge is part of what makes Him worthy of absolute worship. The psalms repeatedly call us to worship God specifically because of His omniscience:

“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable” (Psalm 145:3). But if God’s knowledge is limited, His greatness IS searchable – we’ve found its boundaries.

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33). But if God is learning as He goes, His knowledge isn’t unsearchable – it’s growing and developing like ours, just from a higher starting point.

Dake’s God isn’t infinitely greater than us – He’s just quantitatively superior. He knows more than we do, but not everything. He’s wiser than we are, but still learning. He’s more powerful than we are, but still limited by what He doesn’t know. This isn’t the God of the Bible who is qualitatively different from His creation – infinite where we are finite, eternal where we are temporal, omniscient where we are limited in knowledge.

Dake’s Mishandling of Biblical Texts

To maintain his position, Dake must explain away or reinterpret dozens of clear biblical passages that affirm God’s exhaustive knowledge. Let’s examine how he handles some key texts to see the interpretive gymnastics required to deny omniscience.

Isaiah 46:10 – “Declaring the end from the beginning”

This verse explicitly states that God declares “the end from the beginning” and announces “from ancient times the things that are not yet done.” This is clear evidence that God knows the future exhaustively – He can declare how things will end because He knows everything that will happen.

But here’s how Dake handles this passage:

Notice the sleight of hand here. Dake changes “declaring the end” into “declaring His plans.” But the verse doesn’t say God declares His intentions or His hopes – it says He declares “the end” and “things that are not yet done.” If God only knows His own purposes but not how humans will choose, then He cannot actually declare “the end” because the end depends on countless human choices.

Imagine a chess player who declares “checkmate in ten moves” but doesn’t know what moves his opponent will make. That’s not a declaration of the end – it’s wishful thinking. Yet this is exactly what Dake reduces God’s declaration to – a hopeful statement about His intentions rather than a certain declaration of what will actually occur.

Psalm 139:16 – “All my days were written in Your book”

David declares that all his days were written in God’s book before one of them came to be. This clearly indicates God’s complete foreknowledge of David’s entire life – every day, every choice, every event was known to God before David was even born.

Dake’s attempt to explain this away is revealing:

In his fuller notes on Psalm 139, Dake makes an even more shocking statement: “These facts declare God’s perfect knowledge of man’s formation and of all his thoughts and acts in the various stages of life, as well as the purpose of such knowledge and His providence over man. Nothing is said of God’s omniscience regarding all men before coming into existence. The extreme concepts of God knowing the minutest details of future persons from all eternity past, of His knowing the entire future of coming generations in detail, and of His knowing the free acts of free moral agents from eternity to eternity are not even hinted at in Scripture.”¹³

This interpretation completely ignores the context. David isn’t just talking about his physical development but about God’s comprehensive knowledge of his entire existence. The phrase “all my days” clearly refers to David’s lifetime, not just his prenatal development. Dake has to force this unnatural interpretation to avoid the clear teaching that God knows all our days before we live them.

1 John 3:20 – “God knows all things”

This verse couldn’t be simpler or clearer. God knows all things. Period. No qualifications, no exceptions, no limitations. The Greek is straightforward and absolute.

But watch how Dake tries to limit even this absolute statement:

This is philosophical hair-splitting of the worst kind. Dake invents a category of “things that are knowable” to limit “all things.” He claims future free choices aren’t really “things” until they happen – a distinction found nowhere in Scripture. John didn’t write “God knows all things that are knowable” or “God knows all actual things but not all potential things.” He wrote simply and absolutely: God knows all things.

The Historical Position of the Church

It’s important to understand that Dake’s limitation of God’s knowledge isn’t just a different interpretation – it’s a departure from what Christians have always believed. Throughout church history, the omniscience of God has been considered an essential, non-negotiable doctrine.

The Early Church Fathers

The early church fathers unanimously affirmed God’s complete knowledge of all things, including future free choices:

Augustine (354-430 AD) wrote: “God knows all things before they come to pass, and we do freely whatever we know and feel to be done by us only because we will it.” Augustine saw no conflict between God’s exhaustive foreknowledge and human free will.

John Chrysostom (349-407 AD) stated: “God knows all things, not only those which have been, but also those which shall be, and how each shall be… He knows our thoughts and our reasonings, and what we shall deliberate, and what we shall decide.”

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) explained: “God knows all things, not only things actual but also things possible to Him and to the creature; and these are infinite in number… He knows future contingent things infallibly.”

The Reformers

The Protestant Reformers, despite their disagreements on many issues, unanimously affirmed God’s exhaustive omniscience:

Martin Luther (1483-1546) declared: “God foreknows nothing by contingency, but He foresees, purposes, and does all things according to His immutable, eternal, and infallible will.”

John Calvin (1509-1564) wrote: “When we attribute foreknowledge to God, we mean that all things were ever present to Him and remain so to His sight; that to His knowledge nothing is future or past, but all things are present.”

Even Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609), who disagreed with Calvin on predestination, strongly affirmed God’s complete foreknowledge: “God knows all things possible, whether they exist or not, from all eternity. Nothing can be concealed from His infinite knowledge. This knowledge extends to all future contingencies, including the free actions of rational creatures.”

Modern Orthodox Position

Every major Christian creed and confession affirms God’s omniscience without limitation:

The Westminster Confession of Faith states: “God’s knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to Him contingent or uncertain.”

The Baptist Faith and Message declares: “God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures.”

Dake’s departure from this unanimous testimony places him outside the boundaries of historic orthodox Christianity. He’s not offering a different interpretation within Christianity – he’s teaching something Christianity has always rejected.

The Connection to Dake’s Other Errors

Dake’s denial of God’s omniscience doesn’t exist in isolation. It connects to and reinforces his other theological errors, creating a web of false teaching that distorts the entire doctrine of God.

Connection to Divine Corporeality

Dake teaches that God the Father has a physical body with hands, feet, eyes, and ears. This physical limitation necessitates a knowledge limitation. A physical being, existing in space and time, cannot know all things simultaneously. Physical eyes can only see from one location. Physical ears can only hear sounds within range.

In his note on Jeremiah 23:24 (“Do not I fill heaven and earth?”), Dake writes:

Notice how physical limitation leads to knowledge limitation. If God’s body is stuck in heaven, He needs angels to report what’s happening on earth. He’s not omnisciently aware of all things but learns through investigation and intermediaries. The physical body Dake gives God necessarily limits His knowledge.

Dake elaborates on this limitation even further, stating: “God sends messengers on innumerable duties to help Him carry on His rulership of all things (Dan. 10:13-21; 11:1; 12:1; Zech. 1:7-11; 6:1-8; Mt. 18:10-11; Heb. 1:14).”¹⁴ According to Dake, God needs angels to help Him govern because He cannot know everything happening everywhere simultaneously.

Connection to Tritheism

Dake’s doctrine of three separate Gods (rather than one God in three persons) requires three separate centers of knowledge. If Father, Son, and Spirit are three distinct beings rather than one God, they must have three separate minds with potentially different knowledge.

This multiplication of divine minds creates massive problems for omniscience. Do all three Gods know everything, or does each know different things? If they all know everything, how are they distinct? If they know different things, none of them is truly omniscient. Dake never resolves this dilemma, leaving his followers with three limited Gods rather than one omniscient God.

Connection to Prosperity Gospel

Dake’s teaching that Christians should always be healthy and wealthy connects to his limitation of God’s knowledge. If God doesn’t know what challenges you’ll face tomorrow, He can’t prepare you for them today. His promises of prosperity become wishful thinking rather than certain guarantees.

This is why prosperity gospel teachers influenced by Dake often blame believers when prayers for healing or wealth go unanswered. If God didn’t know that specific sickness or poverty was coming, He couldn’t have prevented it or promised deliverance from it. The failure must be on the human side – lack of faith, hidden sin, or insufficient giving.

Answering Common Objections

Those influenced by Dake’s teaching often raise certain objections to defend his position. Let’s address the most common ones:

Objection 1: “If God knows everything, we don’t have free will”

This is Dake’s fundamental argument – that exhaustive divine foreknowledge is incompatible with human freedom. If God knows what you’ll choose tomorrow, the argument goes, then you’re not really free to choose differently.

The Answer: This objection confuses knowledge with causation. Knowing something will happen doesn’t cause it to happen. If I watch a recording of last year’s Super Bowl, I know who will win, but my knowledge doesn’t cause the outcome. Similarly, God’s knowledge of future choices doesn’t cause those choices.

Objection 2: “The Bible says God repents and changes His mind”

Dake points to verses like Genesis 6:6, Exodus 32:14, and 1 Samuel 15:11 where God “repents” or “changes His mind” as proof that God doesn’t have exhaustive foreknowledge.

The Answer: These passages use anthropomorphic language to describe God’s consistent character responding to changing human behavior. When humans repent and turn from sin, God’s unchanging justice and mercy mean He relates to them differently – not because God has changed, but because they have.

Numbers 23:19 explicitly denies that God changes His mind like humans do: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent.” 1 Samuel 15:29 states: “The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.” These clear statements must guide our interpretation of the anthropomorphic passages.

Objection 3: “God tests people to see what they’ll do”

Dake argues that when God tests people (like Abraham in Genesis 22), He’s discovering what they’ll choose. If He already knew, the test would be meaningless.

The Answer: God tests people not to gain information for Himself but to reveal character, build faith, and create testimony. When God tested Abraham, He already knew Abraham would pass the test. The test was for Abraham’s growth, Isaac’s education, and our instruction. God even prepared the ram for sacrifice before the test began, showing He knew the outcome.

James 1:13 tells us God doesn’t tempt anyone with evil, and since God knows all things, He never needs to experiment to see what will happen. Tests in Scripture are always for human benefit, not divine information-gathering.

Objection 4: “Jesus didn’t know the day or hour of His return”

Dake cites Mark 13:32, where Jesus says He doesn’t know the day or hour of His return, as proof that even deity can have limited knowledge.

The Answer: This verse actually refutes Dake’s position. It explicitly states that the Father knows the day and hour. If future events involving free choices cannot be known (as Dake claims), then the Father couldn’t know the timing either.

Jesus’ limitation was related to His incarnation and His human nature. During His earthly ministry, Jesus voluntarily limited the use of certain divine attributes. This is part of what Philippians 2:7 calls “emptying Himself.” But this temporary, voluntary limitation during the incarnation doesn’t mean God’s knowledge is inherently limited.

The Problem of Evil in Dake’s System

One of the most serious problems with Dake’s theology emerges when we consider the problem of evil. If God doesn’t know what evil will occur until it happens, He cannot have a purpose in allowing it.

In orthodox theology, God permits evil while knowing exactly how He will use it for greater good and ultimate glory. He knows the end from the beginning and allows only what serves His perfect purposes. Joseph could say his brothers meant evil but God meant it for good because God knew what would happen and planned accordingly.

But in Dake’s theology, God allows evil without knowing what will result. He doesn’t know whether today’s permitted suffering will lead to tomorrow’s greater good or simply to more suffering. He’s experimenting with human pain, hoping for good outcomes but unable to guarantee them.

Consider the implications for specific biblical examples:

• Job’s Suffering: God permitted Satan to afflict Job, knowing the outcome would vindicate Job’s faith and result in greater blessing. But if God didn’t know Job’s future free choices, He was gambling with Job’s life, hoping Job would remain faithful but unable to know for certain.
• The Cross: God permitted the greatest evil – the crucifixion of His Son – knowing it would accomplish redemption. But if God didn’t know whether anyone would believe the gospel, He allowed Christ’s suffering without knowing if it would save anyone.
• Persecution: God allows His people to suffer persecution, promising it will result in glory. But if He doesn’t know how they’ll respond, He’s allowing suffering that might produce apostasy rather than glory.

This makes God either cruel (allowing purposeless suffering) or reckless (gambling with human pain). Neither option reflects the God of Scripture who works all things according to the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11).

The Path Back to Biblical Truth

If you’ve been influenced by Dake’s teaching about God’s knowledge, there is hope. You can reject these errors and return to biblical truth. Here’s how:

Step 1: Recognize the Error

The first step is acknowledging that Dake’s teaching about God’s limited knowledge contradicts Scripture. This isn’t a minor disagreement or alternative interpretation – it’s a fundamental departure from biblical truth and historic Christianity.

Take time to read the passages we’ve examined without Dake’s interpretive lens. Let Scripture speak for itself. Ask yourself: Does the Bible really teach that God learns, discovers, and is surprised? Or have I been reading Dake’s philosophy into the text?

Step 2: Return to Scripture

Immerse yourself in what the Bible actually says about God’s knowledge. Study these key passages:

• Psalm 139 – God’s comprehensive knowledge of individuals
• Isaiah 40-48 – God’s unique ability to declare the future
• Matthew 10:29-31 – God’s detailed knowledge of everything
• Acts 15:18 – God’s eternal knowledge of all His works
• Romans 11:33-36 – The depth of God’s knowledge and wisdom
• Hebrews 4:13 – Nothing hidden from God’s sight

Read these passages repeatedly until their truth displaces Dake’s errors in your mind and heart. Let the clear teaching of Scripture rebuild your understanding of God’s omniscience.

Step 3: Replace Bad Resources with Good Ones

Get rid of the Dake Bible and replace it with a reliable study Bible like the ESV Study Bible, the NIV Study Bible, or the Reformation Study Bible. These provide notes that explain Scripture rather than contradicting it.

Read solid books on the attributes of God:

• The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer
• Knowing God by J.I. Packer
• The Attributes of God by Arthur W. Pink
• None Greater by Matthew Barrett

Step 4: Rebuild Your Prayer Life

Start praying with confidence to the God who knows all things. He knows what you need before you ask. He knows what tomorrow holds. He knows how to work all things together for your good. Let this knowledge transform your prayer life from anxious pleading to confident trust.

Step 5: Find Biblical Community

Connect with a church that teaches orthodox theology. You need to be surrounded by believers who affirm and celebrate God’s omniscience rather than limiting it. Share your journey out of Dake’s errors and let others encourage you in biblical truth.

A Word to Pastors

If you’re a pastor who has been teaching from the Dake Bible, you face a serious responsibility. Your congregation has been learning a deficient view of God that undermines their faith, prayer, and confidence in God’s promises. You must take action:

Pastors who have made this transition report profound transformation in their ministries:

The Beauty of True Omniscience

When we reject Dake’s limitations and embrace biblical omniscience, we discover the breathtaking beauty of a God who truly knows all things. This isn’t just abstract theology – it transforms every aspect of Christian life.

Perfect Providence

Because God knows all things, His providence is perfect. He doesn’t just respond to unexpected events – He orchestrates all things according to His eternal purpose. Every detail of your life, from the greatest triumphs to the smallest setbacks, is known to God and woven into His perfect plan.

This means nothing in your life is meaningless or purposeless. That difficult childhood, that failed relationship, that lost job, that health crisis – God knew each one before you were born and has a purpose in allowing them. He’s not scrambling to make the best of bad situations; He’s working out a plan conceived in eternity past and certain to succeed.

Unshakeable Security

Because God knows all things, your salvation is absolutely secure. He knew every sin you would commit before Christ died for you. He knew every time you would fail, every doubt you would have, every temptation you would face. And knowing all of this, He still chose to save you.

Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:27-28). This promise is only possible because Jesus knows His sheep exhaustively – past, present, and future.

Confident Guidance

Because God knows all things, His guidance is perfectly reliable. When He directs your path, He’s not guessing about what lies ahead. He knows every opportunity, every obstacle, every consequence of every choice. His guidance takes into account not just what seems best now but what will prove best in light of eternity.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” We can trust God’s direction completely because His understanding is infinite.

Powerful Intercession

Because God knows all things, Christ’s intercession for us is perfectly effective. Hebrews 7:25 tells us He “ever liveth to make intercession” for us. Romans 8:27 says the Spirit “maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

This intercession isn’t based on partial information or hopeful guessing. Christ and the Spirit know exactly what we need, what we’ll face, what temptations are coming, what strength we’ll require. Their intercession is perfectly informed and therefore perfectly effective.

The Testimony of the Delivered

Countless believers have escaped Dake’s errors and found freedom in biblical truth. Their testimonies encourage us that transformation is possible:

Prayer: Returning to the All-Knowing God

If you’ve been influenced by Dake’s teaching, let’s pray together for freedom from these errors and renewed faith in the omniscient God of Scripture:

Chapter Summary: Key Points to Remember

Conclusion: Choose the God Who Knows

We stand at a crossroads. Down one path is Dake’s god – powerful but not all-powerful, wise but not all-wise, knowing much but not knowing all. This god learns as history unfolds, discovers things he didn’t expect, investigates to find out truth, hopes for good outcomes but experiences disappointment when they don’t materialize. This god makes educated guesses about the future, does his best with unexpected developments, and tries to bring good out of surprises he didn’t see coming.

Down the other path is the God of the Bible – infinite in all His perfections, including His knowledge. This God knows the end from the beginning, declares things that are not yet done, numbers every hair on your head, knows every sparrow that falls, bottles every tear you cry, records every idle word you speak. Nothing is hidden from His sight. No future is uncertain to Him. No possibility is unknown to Him. His understanding is infinite, His knowledge is perfect, His foreknowledge is exhaustive.

Which God will you serve? Which God will you trust with your eternal soul? Which God will you pray to when crisis comes? Which God will you worship as worthy of absolute devotion?

The choice seems obvious, but millions have been deceived by Dake’s scholarly-sounding limitations on divine knowledge. They’ve traded the omniscient God of Scripture for a cosmic administrator who’s doing his best with partial information. They’ve exchanged the comfort of perfect providence for the anxiety of divine uncertainty. They’ve given up the security of God’s exhaustive foreknowledge for the instability of a god who’s learning along with us.

But you don’t have to remain in that deception. The God who knows all things is calling you back to truth. He knew you would read these words before the foundation of the world. He knows the struggle in your heart as you consider abandoning long-held beliefs. He knows the freedom that awaits you when you embrace His infinite knowledge.

Remember Sarah from our opening story? She eventually rejected Dake’s teaching and embraced the biblical truth of God’s omniscience. When she returned to Emma’s bedside, she could say with confidence, “Yes, sweetheart, God knew you would get sick. And He knows exactly how He’s going to use this for our good and His glory. He’s not surprised or scrambling to figure things out. He’s got this completely under control.”

Emma smiled and said, “That makes me feel safe, Mommy.”

And that’s exactly how the truth of God’s omniscience should make us all feel – safe in the hands of a God who knows all things, controls all things, and works all things according to the counsel of His perfect will.

The prophet Isaiah contrasts the true God with false gods by pointing to omniscience as the defining difference: “Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen… Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods” (Isaiah 41:21-23).

Only the true God knows the future exhaustively. Only the true God can declare what shall happen with absolute certainty. Only the true God possesses omniscience. Dake’s limited deity fails this test – he cannot show us what shall happen because he doesn’t know what free agents will choose. He is not God at all.

But the God of Scripture passes this test perfectly. He declares the end from the beginning. He knows all things. His understanding is infinite. He is the God who knows, and because He knows, He is the God we can trust completely.

Choose wisely. Choose biblically. Choose the God who knows.

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Sources

1. Dake, Finis Jennings. Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1963. Note on Genesis 18:21.
2. Dake, Finis Jennings. Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1963. Note on Genesis 6:6.
3. Dake, Finis Jennings. God’s Plan for Man. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1949. Chapter on Divine Foreknowledge.
4. Dake, Finis Jennings. Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1963. Note on Matthew 6:8.
5. Dake, Finis Jennings. Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1963. Note on Isaiah 46:10.
6. Dake, Finis Jennings. Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1963. Note on Psalm 139:16.
7. Dake, Finis Jennings. Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1963. Note on 1 John 3:20.
8. Dake, Finis Jennings. Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1963. Note on Jeremiah 23:24.
9. Dake, Finis Jennings. Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1963. “22 Attributes of God” section, page 1035, attribute #9.
10. Dake, Finis Jennings. Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1963. Note m on Genesis 18:21, page 24.
11. Dake, Finis Jennings. Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1963. Note q on Genesis 6:5, page 10.
12. Dake, Finis Jennings. Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1963. Note f on Genesis 22:12, page 32.
13. Dake, Finis Jennings. Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1963. Commentary on Psalm 139:1-16, page 693.
14. Dake, Finis Jennings. Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1963. “22 Attributes of God” section, page 1035, continuation of attribute #9.
15. Dake, Finis Jennings. God’s Plan for Man. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1977. Page 62.
16. Dake, Finis Jennings. God’s Plan for Man. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1977. Page 621.

Additional Sources

• Augustine. The City of God. Translated by Marcus Dods. New York: Modern Library, 1950.
• Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Translated by Ford Lewis Battles. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960.
• Tozer, A.W. The Knowledge of the Holy. New York: Harper & Row, 1961.
• Packer, J.I. Knowing God. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973.
• Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994.
• The Westminster Confession of Faith. 1646.
• The Baptist Faith and Message. Nashville: LifeWay Christian Resources, 2000.

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