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Lesson 3
DANIEL--THE
LARGE STATUE AND THE FOUR BEASTS
(Daniel 2, 7)
31"You
looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue--an enormous,
dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the
statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and
thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron
and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock
was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of
iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the
bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time
and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer....But the rock
that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole
earth."
39 "After
you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom,
one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40 Finally,
there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron--for iron breaks and
smashes everything-- and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush
and break all the others. 41 Just as you saw that the feet and
toes were partly baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided
kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you
saw iron mixed with clay. 42 As the toes were partly iron and
partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43
And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be
a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with
clay." (Daniel 2:31-35)
Daniel in a series of four visions throughout his life
equips us with a prophetic account of what will happen from the days of
the Babylonian Empire until the Prince of princes establishes His kingdom
on earth. They add substance and authenticity to the Daniel Template
discussed in Lesson 1. The details foreseen by Daniel of future events are
incredibly accurate. So accurate, in fact, that many liberal theologians
have attempted to claim that Daniel could not have written these accounts
during the time of exile, but instead were authored by someone claiming to
be Daniel around 100 BC. This would make Daniel a historical rather than a
prophetic account. Such efforts are puny attempts by man to limit God's
awesome power. Even-so, there are legitimate differences of interpretation
which can totally change how future events will unfold, depending on which
interpretation is used. To fully describe each one would take a book in
itself, so discussion will be limited to exposing the reader to a brief
discussion of a few of them and their consequences.
Nebuchadnezzar's
Dream--The Large Statue
(Daniel 2)
The date is 603 BC. It is the second year of
Nebuchadnezzar's reign and Daniel is still a very young man of about 20
years. He had just completed his 'Court Training' and had already
demonstrated his faithfulness to God by refusing the rich food required to
be eaten by such trainees (Daniel 1). Night after night Nebuchadnezzar has
the same dream that troubles him so much that he cannot sleep. So he calls
for his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers, not just to
interpret his dream, but to also tell him the very contents of his
dream! Nebuchadnezzar even threatens to "cut them into
pieces" if they cannot tell him what his dream is about
as well as interpret it! Naturally the magicians, astrologers, enchanters
and sorcerers can't describe the King's dream, so they begin to hedge.
This angers the king and he orders their execution.
Daniel and his friends then began to pray for God's
mercy, and in the middle of the night the dream is revealed to Daniel. The
next morning Daniel tells the king two things before revealing the dream:
1) that no wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can 'see' such dreams,
only God in heaven can do it; and 2) that he (Daniel) is not wiser than
anyone else, but that God desired that Nebuchadnezzar would understand.
Daniel once again proves his faithfulness and humility by giving God the
glory rather than seeking it himself! In Daniel 2:31-35 he describes the
dream.
Afterward Daniel interprets the dream for the King (see
Chart 6). Nebuchadnezzar is the head of gold and the God of heaven has
given him dominion and power and that all men and beasts are under his
control (verses 36-38). The chest and arms represent a second kingdom,
inferior to the first, just as silver is inferior to gold. Next, a third
kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally there will
be a fourth kingdom, legs made of iron, that smashes and breaks
everything. The feet and toes are made of a mixture of iron and baked
clay, so this kingdom will be a divided kingdom, having some strength but
also weakness. In a significant break, Daniel pauses, and in verse 42 goes
on to describe the ten toes separately. This is the same fourth kingdom,
but is different from that described in verses 40 and 41. The ten toes of
iron and clay will, as with the feet, be partly strong and partly brittle.
The people would be a mixture and will not remain united any more than
iron mixes with clay.
Daniel concludes his interpretation by explaining that
the rock was not of man's hand, but of God's. God himself would set up a
kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor would it be left to other
people. It will crush all those people and bring them to an end, but it
will itself endure forever!
The First Kingdom
Babylon was the first of the four kingdoms that would
dominate man's history from the time of Daniel until the Messiah
establishes His eternal kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar was the man God selected
to bring His Judgement against Judah and Jerusalem. Jeremiah, in Chapter
25:1-7 details how and why this will happen in a prophesy given in early
605 BC. For over 23 years God had used his Prophets to warn Judah not to
follow other gods, worship or make idols to them.
In Jeremiah 25:8-14 Judah is specifically warned that
God Himself would bring His servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon against them to completely destroy them and force them to serve
Nebuchadnezzar for seventy years. But after
seventy years, God promised that He would punish Babylon for their own
guilt and make it desolate forever. Just as
Judah had to serve Babylon, Babylon would serve other kings.
In 593 BC, Jeremiah again warns Judah that if they do
not resist Nebuchadnezzar God will permit them to remain in their own land
(Jeremiah 27:5-8). On the other hand, if Judah heeds the advice of the
false prophets and mediums who tell them that "they will not serve
the king of Babylon" and resist Nebuchadnezzar, then God will not
only destroy their land but would also remove them from their
lands. Judah did not heed God's warning.
Israel had already been conquered by Assyria and led
away into captivity in 735 BC. The only reason Judah survived longer is
because they had several kings that served the Lord, while Israel did not.
But Judah too slipped into disobedience and God finally, after many
warnings, brought judgement against His people.
The date was early 605 BC when Jeremiah gave the
prophesy outlined in Jeremiah 25. At the same time Nebuchadnezzar finally
defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish, after a two year battle. Within
months Nebuchadnezzar took all of Syria and Palestine. Apparently
Jehoiakim, king of Judah, who had been vassal to Egypt quickly did homage
to Babylon and gave hostages, in which Daniel was included (Daniel 1:1-5).
But Jehoiakim revolted in 597 BC, and was either put to death, or died in
the battle following the revolt. Judah was defeated and Jerusalem taken.
On March 15/16 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar installed
Jehoiakim's uncle, Zedekiah, as the puppet king (Chart
6). Many captives,
including Ezekiel, were taken from Judah, and a heavy tribute was taken
from Jerusalem. Because of Jerusalem's insolence, Nebuchadnezzar sent
repeated expeditions to keep it in line and collect exorbitant tributes.
Ignoring Jeremiah's warning (Jeremiah 27:8-12) to submit to Nebuchadnezzar,
and believing false prophets instead of God's true prophet, Zedekiah
revolted in 588 BC. This time Nebuchadnezzar totally destroyed Jerusalem.
The fifty-second chapter of Jeremiah describes the
tragic and unnecessary fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. No more would
Jerusalem revolt against God's servant Nebuchadnezzar. Even so,
God is true to his word, and in 539 BC, Babylon, (then ruled by king
Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's grandson) was conquered by Cyrus, and the
Medo-Persian Empire was established, just as God had proclaimed. In 536, after
70 years of captivity, Cyrus permitted over 42,000 Jews to return
to Jerusalem to begin rebuilding the Temple (Ezra 1), again, just as
Jeremiah had prophesied!
The
Second and Third Kingdoms--Daniel 2:39
Very little is said about the second and third kingdoms,
perhaps because God would reveal more about them in Daniel's later
visions. The second kingdom was of silver and contained two arms. This
could only be the Medo-Persia Empire because it succeeded Babylonia in
history. The twofold division of the arms suggests the twofold division of
Media and Persia.
The third kingdom must be Greece, which succeeded Medo-Persia
in history. Daniel describes this kingdom as "ruling over the whole
earth" (verse 39), which fits perfectly the empire established by
Alexander the Great. His kingdom was much larger than the previous
kingdoms, stretching from Europe and Egypt, all the way to India. We will
discuss these two kingdoms in greater detail in our discussion of the 7th
and 8th Chapters of Daniel.
The Fourth
Kingdom--Daniel 2:40-43
Conservative expositors agree that the fourth kingdom
has to be Rome. Liberals do not. The latter attempt to put the writing of
Daniel in the latter part of the Grecian Empire to explain Daniel's
prophecy in natural, historical terms. Therefore they place the fourth
kingdom as the Grecian Kingdom and the second and third kingdoms as Media
and Persia separately. To do so, however, violates the description of each
kingdom given by Daniel. These descriptions fit only if the fourth kingdom
is that of Rome.
The Roman Empire was a giant compared to even the
Grecian Empire. Not only did it contain more territory, but it was so
strong and unified that it lasted for half a millennium, far longer than
the other kingdoms. No power could dislodge this giant. It was truly made
of iron and it smashed all opposition, as Israel was to learn in AD 70.
But while this kingdom started out as indestructible iron (pure iron legs)
something would happen to weaken it in its later years. Daniel described
the feet as being a mixture of iron and clay, indicating there would come
a time when this kingdom would be weakened from within.
Rome's downfall didn't come from the outside, but from
the inside. Though militarily still strong, there was a deterioration of
moral fiber among the people. Idleness, luxurious living, dissipation of
character and an increasing fascination with the occult found their way
into, and intermixed with, the still firmly structured aspects of its
government. The fact that the occult theology of the late Roman empire
provides the very roots of new age theology today should not go unnoticed.
The
Second Roman Empire--Daniel 2:42-43
As noted earlier, Daniel makes a point of describing the
ten toes separately from the feet. Indeed, there is a gap of at least 1600
years between verse 41 and 42 which parallels the gap in Daniel 9:26-27
(Chart 1 in Lesson
1)! There must be such a gap, because there is no
period in history that fulfills the description provided by the ten toes
(ten nations). Further, verse 44 clearly describes the establishment of
Christ's Kingdom on earth, and that has obviously not yet happened!
As we will learn in our discussions of Chapter 7 of
Daniel and Chapters 13 and 17 of Revelation, there will be a ten nation
confederacy over which the Antichrist will rule during Daniel's last week
(the Tribulation). The ten toes represent these ten nations. Although the
Antichrist will eventually wield tremendous power, it is based on a
foundation of delusion and deceit. He starts small and will have internal
problems with much dissension within the ranks of nations. In fact, as we
shall study in Revelation, the Antichrist may not readily be apparent
during the initial phases of the seven year tribulation. The unity he
attains will initially be fragile. As we will find later, this information
is critical to properly understanding Ezekiel 38-39, Zechariah and
Revelation!
The
Everlasting Kingdom--Daniel 2:44-45
Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream
finishes with the destruction of man's rule over the earth, and the
establishment of an everlasting kingdom. One that God Himself establishes
which will crush all others and be everlasting!
Some have tried to link this with Christ's first coming.
But the text does not support this. As noted earlier, there is no
historical evidence of a kingdom containing ten subkingdoms. Nor did
Christ rise up and smash the Roman Empire as the text demands. In fact,
the zenith of Rome's power did not come for some time after the
crucifixion of Jesus. Yet, the text also demands that the fourth kingdom
of Nebuchadnezzar's dream be in existence when God destroys it! The only
conclusion is that the fourth kingdom, the Roman Empire, will somehow be
renewed at a time yet future.
One final note before continuing to Chapter 7.
Nebuchadnezzar's dream is of one man. Daniel's later visions and dreams
are depicted by separate animals or beasts. Nebuchadnezzar's dream of four
kingdoms within a single man most likely represents the trail of history
as seen by man. While there are four distinct kingdoms, there is
continuity between them as events lead from one to another. The picture of
such a man in the dream infers man's awe of his own abilities and
accomplishments. On the other hand, the animals or beasts Daniel himself
saw were most likely from God's perspective. Each kingdom is a distinct
entity and is depicted as a beast because of the ugliness of man's
self-will and efforts at self-determination.
The Four
Beasts
(Daniel 7)
Daniel is now 67 years old. The date is 553 BC. It is
Belshazzar's first year as king and Nebuchadnezzar has been dead for nine
years. Daniel was lying on his bed when he had a dream and vision
(Chart 7):
2"In my vision at night I looked,
and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great
sea. 3Four great beasts, each different from the others, came
up out of the sea. 4 The first was like a lion, and it had the
wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was
lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the
heart of a man was given to it.
5 "And there before me was a second
beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and
it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, 'Get up and
eat your fill of flesh!' 6 After that, I looked and there
before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its
back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads,
and it was given authority to rule.
7 "After that, in my vision at night
I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast-- terrifying and
frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and
devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was
different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. 8
While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a
little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were
uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth
that spoke boastfully....
...21"As I watched, this horn was
waging war against the saints and defeating them, 22 until the
Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgement in favor of the saints of
the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom."
(Daniel 7:2-8; 21,22)
Some expositors incorrectly attempt to identify these
animals with contemporary nations. Britain is the lion, Russia the bear,
and so forth because these nations are often referred to as these animals.
Such authors usually attempt to do this to support theories about current
events, or to somehow link contemporary nations to some prophetic theory.
Yet, to do so takes these verses totally out of context and ignores other
prophecies that contradict their ideas. As noted in the introduction
guidelines, Daniel's prophecies must concern the Jews. Attempts to
identify these animals as Britain or Russia without a Jewish connection
fails this critical test.
Daniel's amazing vision does, however, parallel that of
Nebuchadnezzar's dream in several ways. First, verse 17 tells us that
these beasts represent four great kingdoms that will arise on earth.
Second, the fourth beast is a kingdom that has iron teeth and devours the
whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it (verse 23). Third this
fourth kingdom will have ten kings within it (verse 24). And fourth, this
kingdom will be destroyed by God, who in turn establishes His everlasting
kingdom on earth. There can be no doubt that the four beasts in Daniel's
vision represent the four kingdoms in Nebuchadnezzar's dream! The
descriptions of the beasts, however, do reveal more information about
these four kingdoms. Let's take a look.
The First Beast--Daniel
7:4
The first beast was like a lion and it had wings of an
eagle-- the king of beasts and birds. Just as gold is superior to other
metals, the lion and eagle represent the greatest of animals.
Nebuchadnezzar, the gold head, is now likened to a lion with great speed
provided by the wings of eagles. This, in fact, is representative of the
fierceness and speed of Nebuchadnezzar's early conquests. But
Nebuchadnezzar became proud and God "tore off his wings"
(verse 4) to "live with the animals among the plants of the
earth...Let him be given the mind of an animal..."(Daniel
4:15-16). For seven years God gave Nebuchadnezzar over to insanity and he
lived with the animals. When he returned to his right mind, that
experience softened Nebuchadnezzar's heart, and he acknowledged God and
was much more humanitarian in his rule than before. He was given the 'heart
of man'!
The Second
Beast--Daniel 7:5
The second beast is the second in sequence and is not
contemporary with the first. As noted in our discussion of
Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Medo-Persia replaced the Babylonian Empire.
The description of a bear depicts a lumbering, but
powerfully fierce animal. The fact that the bear was raised up on one side
suggests that one of the two nations of the Medo-Persian Empire achieved
greater glory or dominion than the other. This is also supported by the
reference in Daniel 8:3 of one horn of the ram being longer than the
other. Media, in fact was a strong nation contemporary with Babylon. It
even helped Babylonia conquer Nineveh and Assyria in 612 BC. Persia, at
the time, was a small country to the south. But by 550 BC Persia, under
the leadership of Cyrus, succeeded in gaining control over powerful Media
to the north, thereby making Persia the greater of the two. Cyrus, with
both countries combined, moved on to establish the vast Medo-Persian
Empire. He moved across northern Mesopotamia to Asia Minor almost
unopposed, then back to Babylon. Babylon was about to meet her demise.
How Cyrus conquered Babylon is stunning. Babylon was
impregnable. Its walls were 325 feet high and 87 feet wide at the top.
With watchtowers 400 feet high and walls spanning the Euphrates River,
Babylon could withstand the most intense siege for many years. But Cyrus,
in a brilliant move, diverted the Euphrates River through a series of
canals away from Babylon, and the Medo-Persian troops, commanded by
Darius, marched unopposed under the impregnable walls!
Babylon was taken with almost no bloodshed! But that is exactly what God
said would happen nearly 150 years earlier in Isaiah 44:24-28, 45:1-3
24"This is what the Lord says--I am
the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, .
. .26 who carries out the words of his servants and fulfills
the predictions of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, 'It shall be
inhabited,' of the towns of Judah, 'They shall be built,' and of their
ruins, 'I will restore them,' 27 who says to the watery
deep, 'be dry, and I will dry up your streams,' 28 who
says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I
please; he will say of Jerusalem, 'let it be rebuilt,' and of the
temple, 'let its foundations be laid'. 45:1 "This is what
the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open
doors before him so that gates will not be shut: 2I
will go before you, and will level the mountains....3so
that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who
summons you by name."
God had the fall of Babylon planned well in advance--
even before Babylonia was an empire! He even named who would conquer it
150 years in advance! God cleared the way for Cyrus to conquer Babylon.
Why? Because Artaxerxes, Cyrus's appointed Persian king over Babylon, was
going to decree that the Jews could return to Jerusalem to rebuild the
city. This, in turn was critical in establishing the starting point of
Daniel's Seventy Weeks (See Chart
7, and Chart 1, Lesson
1)! When God said
Babylon was going to be conquered by Cyrus, it was as good as done, 325
foot walls notwithstanding! He even said how He was going to do it-- by
drying up the rivers!
Only one more description remains for the second beast.
The three ribs in the bears mouth may safely be taken as conquests of
three major enemies: Lydia, Egypt, and Babylonia--all defeated by Medo-Persia.
Medo-Persia did, in fact, eat its share of flesh. It took over far more
land by conquest than any prior kingdom, reaching all the way from Aegean
on the west to Egypt on the south, to the Indus River on the east.
The Third
Beast--Daniel 7:6
The third beast, the leopard had to be the Grecian
Empire. The description parallels that of the bronze belly and thighs of
Nebuchadnezzar's dream; both accounts refer to receiving great authority
to rule the whole earth. The characteristics of a leopard is its action,
agility and speed. It is a beast of prey and enjoys the kill. The
reference to four wings gives further emphasis to speed. Alexander the
Great stands alone in history for his incredible speed in establishing the
Grecian Empire, more so than even Nebuchadnezzar in founding the
Babylonian Empire.
The four heads of the leopard are mentioned last. Since
heads normally refer to kings or governments in scripture, it should be
assumed that somehow the Grecian Empire would be divided into four
distinct parts. That, in fact, is exactly what happened after Alexander's
unexpected death. His vast empire was divided among his four generals. We
will elaborate on this in the discussion of the four horns when we discuss
Chapter 8 of Daniel.
The Fourth
Beast--Daniel 7:7-8
The fourth beast has no animal comparison. But whatever
it looked like, it was terrifying and frightening to Daniel. It was also
very powerful and had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its
victims (other nations) and trampled underfoot whatever was in its path.
This is almost the exact description of the fourth kingdom of the iron
legs in Nebuchadnezzar's dream.
This description implies, of course, a kingdom of huge
dimensions and enormous destruction of people and property which would
give no quarter, once the people were conquered. Self rule would be
trampled and the people would literally be 'devoured' (totally made part
of) by the kingdom. This description fits the Roman empire exactly. The
Roman Empire extended from Britain to the north and west, to North Africa
to the south, and India to the east. Unlike previous kingdoms that allowed
a certain amount of self-rule, Rome ruled with an iron fist, consolidated
and organized its conquests for lasting control. Its enforcement of laws
and obedience to Rome permitted it to rule for over 500 years!
World
Government--2000!
Can a world government based on the Roman model be
imposed in the near future? Not only can it happen, it is
happening--right now! During an address to the United Nations General
Assembly on July 16, 1997, Secretary General Kofi Annan announced a
top-to-bottom restructuring of the United Nations by proclaiming,
"The global agenda has never been so varied, so
pressing and so complex. Member states face a wide range of new and
unprecedented threats and challenges. Many of them transcend borders. They
are beyond the power of any single nation to address on its own. And I
repeat, any single nation, no matter how powerful.... However, the United
Nations is not working as it should. Our Organization has been slow to
reflect changes in geopolitical realities.... Now is the time for
reform.... Today, we take a momentous step forward. You now have before
you a full programme of measures and recommendations for reforming and
renewing the Organization.... We stand at the threshold of a new beginning
for the United Nations.... This is the age of the United Nations."(1)
The plan outlined in the documents Annan released that
day closely follows the recommendations from the UN Funded Commission on
Global Governance, which issued its report Our Global Neighborhood
(2) in 1995. The fact that there is such a
close parallel between the two documents is not surprising. Maurice Strong
not only helped author Our Global Neighborhood, he wrote and is
now implementing the restructuring plans for the UN!
If one single person had to be identified as the
architect of this emerging world government, it would be Maurice Strong.
Strong, a wealthy Canadian industrialist, came from poor background. He
left home at age sixteen without his high school diploma. At age 18 he was
a security guard at the United Nations headquarters in New York. At age
25, six short years later, he was vice president of Dome Petrochemical,
the second largest corporation in Canada. How did he accomplish this
amazing feat? Through some Canadian contacts, Strong was introduced to
David Rockefeller and his dazzling career in shaping the world government
and religion was launched.(3)
Although Strong is taking direction from the real power
brokers within the Club of Rome, Trilateral Commission and others, this in
no way diminishes the brilliance of what he has accomplished in the past
thirty years. Strong may well be the most brilliant strategist in the past
millennium. He has put together the most incredible non-governmental
(NGO), governmental, and corporate networks
ever conceived by the mind of man. Elaine Dewar, who interviewed Strong
for five straight days, claims of the Earth Summit held in Rio de
Janeiro in 1992,
"Strong had made
meticulous arrangements to put his people on all sides of this negotiation,
on the inside and the outside of events. The aides he selected
drafted documents with input from organizations he created or staffed or
paid for. Governments that refused to deal with his
Summit agenda felt the political heat at home."(4)
(Bold added)
Using taxpayer money (much
from the United States), Strong controls the agenda and the outcome. The
decisions are made before a meeting even starts. His
accomplishments are beyond dazzling, they are supernatural.
Strong has been the head of numerous NGOs, Canadian
government agencies, corporations and international commissions and
agencies in his brilliant career. On the international level Strong was
the Secretary General for the first Earth Summit in Stockholm in 1972,
which led to the creation of the United Nations Environmental Program, of
which he was the first director. At the same time he was the director of
the IUCN the International Union for the Conservation of Nature--the
institution which is responsible for most of the international
environmental/ social treaties and agreements since the 1970s. He
co-founded the World Economic Forum, which gathers the heads of state at
Devos, Switzerland annually to discuss global strategies. It was at the
1987 meeting that it was decided that the Berlin Wall would come
down--three years before the actual event!(5)
More recently, Strong was on the UN Commission on
Sustainable Development, which took the IUCN's recommendations for New Age
sustainability and institutionalized them in Agenda 21, a 40 chapter
document that outlines the reorganization of the world around socialist
and new age principles. These concepts are now being implemented in every
program within the United States through the President's Council on
Sustainability, one-half of whom are IUCN governmental and NGO members!
Strong was also the Secretary General of the second Earth Summit in Rio de
Janeiro in 1992, which spawned a host of international environmental and
socialist treaties that will control every human being on earth, once they
are ratified.
Strong's crowning glory came in 1994, when he as
appointed to the UN funded Commission on Global Governance, whose report, Our
Global Neighborhood, identifies the necessary steps and UN Charter
changes needed to make the UN the world government. Strong was
appointed in January of 1997 as the head of the Secretary General's task
force to restructure the United Nations. Plans for making the UN the
world government are well along as of this writing. And it is all being
justified by deceit, delusion and outright lies--just as prophesied by
Daniel, other prophets and Christ himself.
The Strong/Annan Reform documents(6)
call for a special Millennium Assembly to be held in the year
2000 in which the heads of state will be drawn together to sign a new
United Nations Charter. If the Charter changes reflect the recommendations
in Our Global Neighborhood, the United Nations will become the
world government--the BEAST of Daniel! Using a
host of interlocking international environmental and social treaties as
international law, the UN will have absolute power over the lives of every
man, woman and child in the world!
Among the key restructuring changes to be made to the
United Nations based on either the Commission on Global Governance's
report or Secretary General Annan's report are:
To act as a world government, the UN must be funded
independently through its own taxing powers, The Tobin tax (named after
nobel prize winning economist James Tobin who proposed it) would impose a
0.5 percent tax on all foreign monetary exchanges raising about $1.5
trillion for the U N, or 150 times the UN's existing expenditures
(Recommended by Commission on Global Governance (CCG), now being advanced
through the UN.)
The disarming of all civilians and disarmament of
all nations, along with a UN standing army, is essential to force nations
to comply with UN and treaty mandates. To the author's knowledge, the U.S.
remains the only nation permitting civilians to own firearms. Further,
various nations have committed to maintaining rapid deployment troops for
the U N that would be under UN command like the troops are currently
in Bosnia. Finally, the only apparent reason for the expansion of
NATO, since NATO is no longer needed, is to establish the UN standing
army. (Both CGG and UN Restructuring Plans)
The global commons includes the air that we breath,
water that we drink, fish in, and use in manufacturing, and the ground
that we stand on--i.e. everything. Legal authority would be given by the
Convention on Biological Diversity and other treaties. While ratified by
all other nations, the treaty was miraculously stopped by God in the U.S.
Senate one hour before the cloture/ ratification vote on September 30,
1994.
In a series of miracles, the author and two other
Christians were able to secure from Switzerland, and give to the U S.
Senate, a document called the UN Global Biodiversity Assessment (GBA), a
document that fulfills the requirements Article 25 of the treaty. The UN
was caught in an enormous lie when they had earlier told U.S Senate that
the GBA did not exist nor did they have any intention of writing it.
Among many other things, this anti-human document
calls for, 1) returning to an "agricultural world in which most
humans would be peasants' and/or reducing the earth's human population by
up to 75 percent in the next 30 to 50 years, 2) "reallocating"
all property rights to the UN, who would then issue rights and privileges
using the usufructual concept first developed in the Roman Empire in which
the Caesar owns everything and issues rights and privileges through his
governors, 3) eliminate natural resource oriented recreation, 4) divide
the world up into"bioregions" administered by non-elected
councils and commissions, and 5) set aside up to one-half of the
world's land area into "wilderness reserves" and
"interconnecting corridors," all surrounded by buffer zones to
protect the wilderness areas! It was no wonder the UN did not want the
Senate to see this document!
The author provided maps to the U.S. Senate showing
exactly what the latter plan would look like if fully implemented. When
the document and maps were introduced on the Senate floor by Kay Bailey
Hutchinson (R-TX) an hour before the scheduled cloture vote, the treaty
was immediately pulled from consideration. It was never voted on! Had the
U.S. ratified that treaty, the cornerstone of the New World Order would
have been in place.
The UN restructuring plans include the revamping of
the Trusteeship Council, which had been responsible to oversee the
decolonization of the world, into an entity overseeing the protection of
the global commons. It will be the Trusteeship Council that will hold all
property rights, issuing "usufructory" rights in their place. It
is no accident that the usufructory concept was first developed during the
Roman Empire and means that the Caesar owns everything! The right to build
a house, where it is built, when it is built, where you can grow crops,
what kind of crops can be grown, and so forth are issued as usufructory
permits! Such awesome power, of course, guarantees corruption. Most
astonishing according to the UN documents, the Trusteeship Council will be
staffed, not with scientists or otherwise neutral individuals, but with
representatives from special interest NGOs like the Sierra Club and
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)! (Both CGG and UN Restructuring
Plans)
Most chilling is the realization that the biggest
NGO of all, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (made
up of representatives from the EPA, US Forest Service, US Fish and
Wildlife, National Park Service, Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, National
Wildlife Federation, NRDC, UNESCO, UNEP, and many others), received
diplomatic immunity from lawsuit by President Clinton on January 18, 1996
through Executive Order 12986. The immunity protects any IUCN
representative (including the Sierra Club) from lawsuit by any American
when conducting their work in the U.S. Although as of June, 1998 it has
not yet been done, the natural choice for staffing the Trusteeship Council
is the IUCN! If the IUCN is selected for this responsibility, any of their
members could enter into any property looking for violations of
international law and there is nothing the property owner could do about
it!
As recommended by the CGG, the Economic
Security Council would be structured so that it is equal to
the Security Council in matters over the global economy, economic
development, and human rights. It would house the World Trade
Organization, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the
Trusteeship Council and all the various social and human services
departments and councils It would literally manage the global economy and
would revamp the World Bank into a global central bank (like the U.S.
Federal Reserve) that is owned and controlled by the major international
banks. Although it is only alluded to in the UN documents, it would devise
a one world currency that would eventually become a cashless economy as
they move to a totally computer transacted electronic monetary system. It
is but a small step to then mandate that each person have an ID-bank debit
chip implanted on the back of their (right?) hand or forehead for
identification purposes, thereby fulfilling Revelation 13:16-17. Although
the UN Reform documents did not accept the name of an "Economic
Security Council," it nonetheless seems to be implementing its
concept through a vastly expanded Economic and Social Council having a
brand new Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
The CGG recommended the end of the permanent member
status and the end to its veto power, claiming that such powers
discriminate against other nations. Once the U.S. loses its veto power, it
will have only one vote out of 185, and will be completely vulnerable to
those nations that desire to destroy it. The first step would be to expand
the permanent member class from five to ten, then dropping the permanent
status by rotating the ten nations having a veto amongst all nations.
Eventually, the veto power would be dropped all together. It also
recommended the expansion of the Security Council from 15 to 23 members.
While there is serious discussion on all of these recommendations within
the United Nations, published UN documents only discuss the expansion of
the current number of chairs within the Security Council. (Both CGG and UN
Restructuring Plans, without mention of the loss of the veto power within
the Restructuring Plans)
The need for establishing another parliamentary
body within the UN, called the "People's Assembly,' was emphasized by
both the CGG and the UN Reform documents It would be parallel to the
General Assembly, much like the House and Senate in Congress or our State
Legislatures. While the CGG recommended that the new People's Assembly be
elected from the people of the World, or the nation-states, the
Strong/Annon UN Reform documents strongly implied the representatives to
the new Assembly would be appointed from environmental, socialist and new
age NGOs. Astonishingly, the UN Reform documents claim that such an
approach advances "global democracy" and "empowerment"
of the people of the world! If such a plan is implemented the UN will
have awesome powers with no checks and balances and absolutely no
accountability to the people of the world!
The glue to hold this all together is the new
International Criminal Court that will be ready for ratification in June,
1998. Touted as a treaty with teeth to go after international criminals
and terrorists, there is currently nothing in the treaty that would
prevent the ICC from arresting and prosecuting anyone who
threatens the "global security." Global security has been
redefined in the UN to mean any threat to the people of the world, or to
"the life support systems of the earth" as defined, of course,
by the UN. Since humans exhale carbon dioxide, which is in turn a
greenhouse gas according to the Framework Convention on Climate Change,
every person is technically automatically guilty of committing crimes
against the earth. Further, the treaty allows the Court to have supremacy
over the judicial system of any nation, permitting the UN to arrest any
citizen and that citizen is presumed guilty until they prove themselves
innocent! There is nothing their government can do to prefect them
including U.S. citizens!
The "guilty until proven innocent" is at
the very heart of the treaty. Amazingly, President Bush and senior
officers of the Gulf War were actually found guilty of war crimes against
humanity by a UN War Tribunal after the Gulf War. The verdict was thrown
out only because the war was sanctioned by the UN! Had
the war not received UN sanction, and had the ICC treaty already been
ratified, President Bush and any soldier the UN targeted, could have
technically been arrested and tried for crimes against humanity.
Technically, the U.S. could not even defend its borders without first
securing UN sanction! In other words, our U.S. military are prevented from
taking any action without UN sanction, which in affect, neutralizes our
military ability--thereby fulfilling the disarmament goals discussed
above! Of course this is only true if the U.S. ratifies this very
dangerous treaty!
The power given to the United Nations with these
restructuring and changes to its charter will not only make the UN the
world government, the fact that there are absolutely no checks and
balances, nor accountability to the people's of the world, will make it an
absolutely totalitarian government--the literal beast
described in Daniel and Revelation. It is happening right
before our eyes and the vast majority of Christians are totally unaware of
it.
The
Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast--Daniel 7:7-8
Attempts have been made to explain these horns as
successive kings of the Seleucids(7) (one
of the four heads), but prior to Antiochus Epiphanes--again in an attempt
to force Daniel's visions into a natural historical account. However,
there were only seven kings in this line and they were successive to one
another. The text demands that all ten horns are present during the same
period of time, for the little horn to come up among them and uproot or
subdue three of them. Once again, a liberal, naturalistic interpretation
of Daniel cannot be upheld. God's Word cannot be refuted, and man's puny
attempts to 'explain away' God's supernatural intervention into history
(past or future) fails. The literal interpretation, as always, is found
true! Since there is no historical fulfillment of ten sub-kingdoms within
a larger empire, it can only be concluded that this portion of Daniel's
vision has not yet been fulfilled.
The ten horns, of course, parallel the ten toes of
Nebuchadnezzar's dream. These were made of a mixture of clay and iron,
symbolizing strength, but a lack of complete unity (2:42-43, see
Chart 8).
Daniel is now told additional information about the ten horns:
24
"The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After
them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will
subdue three kings. 25 He will speak against the Most High and
oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The
saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and a half a
time."
26
"But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and
completely destroyed forever. 27 Then the sovereignty, power
and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over
to the saints, the people of the Most High.
His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will
worship and obey him."
Daniel 7:24-26.
Verse 24 makes it very clear that the ten horns are
real kings ruling over nations, and not just spiritual symbols as some
expositors attempt to depict. The little horn is, of course, the
Antichrist, and though he is initially unseen, he eventually grows more
imposing than the others (verse 20). He eventually 'subdues' three of the
ten. The word for uproot or subdue is qar, which means to
replace, not destroy. So these three kingdoms will be 'taken over' by the
little horn. The little horn will also have 'eyes like a man'
(verse 8), suggesting he will have unusual intelligence and cunningness,
able to solve extremely difficult problems. The Antichrist will speak
boastfully and put himself higher than the Most High, i.e. he will attempt
to make himself greater than God!
The
Antichrist will oppress the saints for a time, times and time and a half.
This is commonly accepted to be 3½ years. We will learn in further
discussions that this will occur during the last 3½ years of Daniel's
last week and is termed Jacob's Trouble in Jeremiah 30:7. Jesus called it
the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21). The word for oppression is bela'
which means to 'wear out garments'. The saints at that time will be the
newly converted Jewish Christians and whatever Gentile Christians(8)
remain after the persecution by the harlot church during the first 3½
years. The Antichrist will harass the Jewish Christians continuously until
life becomes a wretched existence. Severe persecution, unheard of in all
of previous history, will be the Jew's fare (Chart
8). But why?
In Revelation 13:9 and 12 we will
learn that in the middle of the Tribulation, Satan will be thrown from
heaven to earth. He will be furious because he knows his time is short.
Daniel 9:25 expands on this by revealing that he will not only oppress the
Saints, but will also attempt to change the "set times and the
law." He knows his days are numbered and will make a final attempt to
change his future by changing the set times and the law ordained by God
designating his demise! It is this attempt, born of Satan's fury, that
likely catapults the Antichrist into the Great Tribulation and Armageddon!
But more on that when we study Revelation.
The
Identity of the Ten-Horned Fourth Beast
The Empire of the Antichrist is
the final phase of both the fourth beast of Daniel's vision, and the toes
of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Therefore, the Roman Empire will somehow be
reformed. Some expositors argue against this, saying the horns are
countries developing after the death of the Roman Empire. However, this
interpretation leads to contextual problems and conflicts with other
prophecies. Revelation makes it very clear that these ten nations rule
together during the tribulation.
The only logical explanation is
that there will be a ten nation confederacy having roots in the old Roman
Empire. Many believe this will be the European Community (previously
called the European Common Market), since this appears to be the next
economic powerhouse of the world. However, the European Community now has
thirteen nations, and nearly all experts believe the number will
increase, not decrease. Therefore, it is unlikely the European
Community will provide the sole basis for the Ten Nation Confederacy.
Many also believe that the
Antichrist will come from the Roman Catholic Church, since the Catholic
Church is rooted in Babylonian Pagan Ritualism.(9)
Perhaps so, but a word of caution is needed here. Although there may be
elements of truth in these theories, such predictions can be very
misleading and potentially dangerous to individual lives if taken
dogmatically. When God is ready to reveal these things, He will. Until
then, it is best not to form rigid ideas.
A
World-Wide Coalition of Nations?
No one has the answers to the ten
nation confederacy. But at the risk of violating the rule of not
interpreting current events as fulfillment of prophecy, there is one
reasonable way which would satisfy most conflicts. It is clear that this
beast involves the entire world (Revelation 13:4,8; and
17:12-13)! Yet, there is no scriptural indication that there are
multi-nations of any importance beyond the ten nation confederacy.
It is only an observation at this
point, but the New World Order has elements of Regional economic
coalitions throughout the world. It doesn't take much imagination to
divide the world into ten such coalitions. The European Unity (Common
Market) is obviously one. NAFTA joined Canada, the United States, and
Mexico into an economic free trade agreement in 1993 similar to that of
Europe. Could South America form the third? Russia and her allies would be
a definite fourth. China and Southeast Asia could be easily seen as
forming a fifth. Where Japan would fit is uncertain at this time, but many
options could be envisioned; perhaps providing leadership of either the
Asian or South Pacific coalition. India, Pakistan, and Indonesia could
form the sixth, while Australia and the South Pacific, the seventh? The
Mid-East Arab countries could logically form the eighth, the seeds of
which are already planted in the Pan-Arab agreement. North and South
Africa could form the ninth and tenth.
New Age leadership has long
discussed the need for such economic blocks. The concept was first
advanced by Alice Bailey in her numerous books describing the coming New
World Order and the Age of Aquarius in the 1950s. In 1973 the powerful New
Age group The Club of Rome founded by Aurelio Peccei actually identified
these 10 political/economic blocks in a report entitled Regionalized
and Adaptive Model of the Global World System.(10)
(See Chart 9) Peccei claimed this "multilevel hierarchical system
(based in theosophy) divides the world into ten interdependent and usually
interacting regions of political, economic or environmental
coherence."(11) (italics added) The
report exhorts that "a world consciousness must be developed.... The
basic unit of human cooperation and hence survival is moving from the
national to the global level."(12)
Club of Rome Directors Aurelio Peccei and Alexander King proclaim:
"Philosophers have, from
ancient times, stressed the unity of existence and the interconnection of
all the elements of nature, man and thought. However, their teaching has
seldom been reflected in political or social behavior....The winds of
change have begun to blow. A keen and anxious awareness is evolving to
suggest that fundamental changes will have to take place in the world
order and its power structures, in the distribution of wealth and income,
in our own outlook and behavior."(13)
Indeed, the winds of change are
blowing. Does all of this seem a little familiar? Like it's on the evening
news? It is, in fact, happening right now.
There are currently six of these
economic regions now established within the United Nations system. Serious
discussion is now being given to expanding both the scope of
responsibility and the number of these regional commissions. During a
press conference in July, 1997, UN Secretary General Kofi Annon released
documents asserting,
"While an increasing number
of regional and sub- regional integration groupings are being established,
the regional commissions remain the bodies which are par excellence
politically neutral and democratic and where each country of the region
has an equal voice. The regional commissions have nonetheless been acutely
aware of the need to redefine their role in response to changing
circumstances and the emergence of these integration groupings."
The subdivision of the world into
ten economic and environmental regions is strongly supported by the UN
Commission on Global Governance,
"The spread of open regional
economic groupings is a comparatively recent trend. It is, however,
increasingly recognized that they could help overcome historic rivalries
and tensions, foster democratic processes, enhance the collective value of
small and fragmented markets in the creation of trade and the expansion of
exports, help develop shared infrastructure, and tackle common
environmental and social problems." (14)
If the ten horns represent a
world confederacy of economic and environmental alliances, Daniel 11:40
and Ezekiel 38 and 39 could provide a partial answer of which three
nations of the ten the Antichrist will subdue. Assuming these prophecies
are properly interpreted (this will be discussed later), Russia and her
allies will invade Israel along with the Arab countries of the Mid-East
and North Africa. God will destroy these armies, allowing the Antichrist
to take over and dominate their governments and economies. They would
literally be subdued by the little horn under this scenario!
The major difficulty with this
hypothesis is how this represents the continuation of the old Roman
Empire. If this worldwide Ten Nation Confederacy is more probable than a
Ten Nation European Community, then the European Union (EU) must at least
somehow initiate it, since Europe is the seat of the old Roman Empire.
Again, the UN funded Commission on Global Governance supports the idea
that the EU is the prototype,
"The spectacular success of
regionalism in Europe and more recently in North and South America is
inspiration to all who strive towards a world beyond frontiers. [The
European Union] has not only fostered cooperation between states, but has
also contributed to stability within states, thus being a force for
conflict prevention. The EU continues to be a strong pole of attraction to
countries outside it and has become a decisive factor in the unification
of the European continent...."(15)
There is nothing in the
description of the beast in Daniel 7 that demands that the exact borders
of the Roman Empire be reestablished. Rather, the four beasts describe the
characteristics of each kingdom. In the case of the
fourth beast, God sees it as a huge creature, made of iron that crushes
and devours everything. Nothing can stand in its way.
Certainly, part of this refers to the old Roman army and iron-fisted
judicial system. The new world government being planned by Maurice Strong
for the UN will technically have absolute power to rule over all the
peoples of the world through the proposed UN standing army, the
International Criminal Court.
But equal to its army, or even
more important, was Rome's strong-arm approach to government and trade. It
demanded complete obedience from its subjects, yet they were free to trade
and conduct other commerce. This is exactly what GATT, the World Trade
Organization and the emerging Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI)
is designed to do. The Roman system of government forced a measure of
unity across all of its conquests that permitted it to survive for over
500 years! Likewise, the MAI will do the same thing. Once ratified after
June 1998, it will force nations to treat foreign investors and
international corporations the same as their domestic ones. At the same
time it allows investors and corporations to sue governments if social or
political instability lower their return on investment, and allows these
investors to sue governments if they impose restrictions that reduces
their return on investment. In other words, the MAI provides the
international marketeers the ability to trump governments, just as
described in Revelation 18. The system of interlocking international
treaties, judicial system and domination by the economic community creates
a forced unification of the world as never before.
Notice now what God has to say
about unity when Nimrod attempted to build a tower to reach the heavens
(Genesis 11):
4"Then
they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches
to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be
scattered over the face of the whole earth.' But the Lord came down to see
the city and the tower that the men were building. 6The Lord
said, 'If as one people speaking the same language have
begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible
for them.'"
Unity, even-though it was an imposed unity, was the key to Rome's success.
Unity is what ultimately provided
the iron to Rome's strength. It was disunity (the clay) that brought the
demise of the first Roman Empire. It was unity that crushed Saddam
Hussein's forth largest army in the world. It is unity that forms the
basis for the New World Order. It is unity and oneness with the earth that
new age leadership strives to create.
At the same time it is a unity
based upon lies, delusion and deceit. The environmental holocausts used to
justify the world government are out and out lies. Global warming, for
instance is supposed to raise the earth's temperature by 0.5o F
by 2000, when in actuality, the temperature between 1979 and 1997 actually
dropped by 0.018oC, or about 0.03oF. Between 1987
and 1997 the earth's temperature plummeted by a third of a degree. During
1998 the temperature skyrocketed, but not because of greenhouse gases
emitted by man, but because of record solar storms and flares as the sun
enters a four year cycle of extremely high solar activity. In spite of
this clear evidence, it is being reported as if the warming is caused by
greenhouse gases--an absolute lie! (See Chart
10)
The entire New World order is
based on deceit, the clay feet of Daniel 2:41-43. While appearing to be
united, the emerging beast is already decaying from within.
This new age concept of a New
World Order is now taking solid form. Although it will suffer setbacks, it
could be Rome's world unity that is reborn in the new European Union,
thereby restoring the life of the fourth beast! If so, it is no small
coincidence that the proposal is initiated by one of Rome's offspring: the
United States. It is even less of a coincidence that the first economic
alliance that would form the blueprint for the needed economic unity will
be the European Union--the very heart of the old Roman Empire!
Is this too far-fetched? Perhaps.
There is no intention of being dogmatic on this theory, but it tends to
resolve more conflicts than does the European Union (Common Market) theory
alone. And it is happening right now! In any event, the future holds some
interesting surprises for the world!
Troubled
Times Ahead
Regardless of the form the Ten
Nation Confederacy takes, there will be a world-wide economic upheaval or
collapse before or at the time the seven year Tribulation begins. This is
not idle speculation. Such an upheaval or even collapse is freely
discussed in newspapers and magazines today. Although the 'experts' think
it can be avoided, they acknowledge that it 'could' happen. It almost did
with the collapse of the Asian financial markets in early 1998. A number
of factors contribute to this instability.
One of the big factors is the
increasing military confrontations that have become so common in the last
few decades. Such 'wars' create instability in regional and global
economies. Wars also create other problems. Civil wars in Africa almost
precipitated a devastating famine in Africa unheard of in all of history.
It was feared that up to 24 million people could have died from starvation
and ensuing epidemics of disease. Such an event would shock the world.
|
Chart
10 |
 |
| Global warming is
being used to scare people into giving up their
freedoms by ratifying a UN treaty that would
impose unneeded, yet economy breaking regulations
on the US. In key areas it would give control over
our economy to the UN. |
Since the counterculture days a
blizzard of new regulations have swamped America's economy creating
tremendous instability. The number of pages in the Federal Register for
new laws and regulations went from 20,000 pages annually in the 1960s to
nearly 100,000 today! No business or organization can keep up with it.
Numerous studies show that unneeded regulations cost each
American family between $8,000 and $15,000 annually!
Such regulations are sucking the
life-blood out of our economy. Not surprisingly, most of these new
regulations are forced into law by new age groups. Unknown to most
Americans, most environmental leadership have new age beliefs which they
use to scare the pants off Americans with contrived ecological
catastrophes that have no basis in science. In a state of panic,
outrageous laws and regulations have been passed that have been used to
gain control over citizen's actions. Americans have actually gone to
prison for placing clean fill on a home site upon which the family is
building their home. This is after the family has secured all the
necessary permits!
Many prophecy students believed
that the Asian economic collapse was the start of the predicted global
economic meltdown. But the global economic elitists, rather than
encouraging it, stopped its spread to the West. Why?
The
False US Economy
Most Americans are unaware that
the Federal Reserve Bank is a private corporation.
Therefore, the Board of Governors appointed by
Congress has no authority over the leasing of gold by
the Federal Reserve. Because the U.S. dollar has not
been backed by gold reserves since 1972, and since
remaining gold reserves technically belong to the
stockholders of the Federal Reserve Corporation, these
stockholders can lease gold reserves to intermediary
banks at their discretion.
While it is not
known who the stockholders of the Federal Reserve are
because of its proprietary nature, it is widely
accepted that they include the larger banking
interests controlled by the Rockefeller, Morgans and
Rothchild empires. It is estimated that over 10,000
metric tons of the 14,400 metric tons of gold held
within all Federal Reserve Banks worldwide has been
leased out to intermediary banks. These banks have
then sold the gold for cash that is in turn loaned out
to investors and consumers. As collateral on the gold
taken in loan, intermediary banks have procured
derivatives with gold mining companies for gold to be
mined at some time in the future.
The practice of gold
leasing has pumped additional trillions of dollars of
credit into the economy and stock market. Since these
are loans, they must be repaid. But there is a major
problem. Not only do the banks not have physical
possession of the gold, there is currently more gold
on paper than there is actual supply of the commodity,
either today or in the foreseeable future. This
practice has left the U.S. banking system extremely
vulnerable. Should some catastrophic event occur such
as Y2K or the escalation of conflict in Korea, Taiwan
or Russia, central banks could call in their gold
reserves causing a possible collapse in the U.S.
banking system.
That may be about to
happen. Gold analyst Reginald Howe warned on December
9, 1999 that "European central banks are in a
panic mode." They are "cobbling
together another bailout of the Fed," claimed
Howe. "The day of reckoning is rapidly drawing
near for both the Euro and the bullion banks,"
he concluded.
Unprecedented levels
of consumer debt, corporate leveraging of assets, and
gold leasing by Federal Reserve Banks have left the
American economy in an extremely perilous position. If
allowed to continue, our overextended economy will
correct itself through skyrocketing hyperinflation,
severe depression or complete collapse. This
administration’s economic policies have led this
nation to a cliff overlooking poverty and global
vulnerability if drastic measures are not taken soon.
As Earnest Hemingway once stated, "Ask not for
whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee."
It is noteworthy that the U.S. economy could
be deliberately collapsed at any time. Should
that happen, tens of millions of homeowners would
default on their mortgages, precipitating cascading
bank failures in the resulting cash flow crunch. The
ownership of the homes and property would then default
eventually to the Federal Reserve Corporation. The
Rothchilds, Rockefellers and Morgans would finally own
most of the property of the U.S. and probably the
world—making world domination a reality.
If something like a world
economic upheaval were to occur, the world would be ripe for global
solutions. Calling for an international
military force, monetary system, and global governance, a brilliant leader
with tremendous charisma would amaze the world with his solutions to the
crisis. Revelation 13:1 suggests that such a man will come from a European
country bordering the Mediterranean Sea (the old Roman Empire). This
argues against Maurice Strong who is a Canadian, but whoever it is will
brilliantly orchestrate the world government through deceit and delusion.
Daniel 7:8 strongly implies the
beast (Antichrist) will be very intelligent and able to solve complex
world problems and somehow keep squabbling nations in line. He will also
be a master of deceit and intrigue (Daniel 8:23), and will initially
succeed by diplomacy (Revelation 6:2), but with a military to back him up
(Daniel 11:38). World peace would necessarily be one of its cornerstones.
A peaceful solution would be found to the Palestinian problem, Israel
would sign a peace treaty, and the last seven years of the world would
begin.
Will events occur exactly this
way? Most of these prophecies are being fulfilled right now, although
there will undoubtably be some twists and turns along the way. Regardless,
something will happen that destabilizes the world in a
way that the old Roman Empire is reformed, probably either through the
European Union, or with it at its head.
God's
Everlasting Kingdom--Daniel 7:9-14
As with Nebuchadnezzar's dream,
Daniel's vision in Chapter 7 reveals how God will be victorious over the
fourth beast and establish His everlasting kingdom:
11"I
continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I
kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown
into the blazing fire. 12(The other beasts had been stripped of
their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.)
13"In
my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a
son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He
approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14
He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations
and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never
be destroyed."
This astonishing prophecy spells
out in detail God's Judgment of the Nations, the final deposition of the
Antichrist, the Second Coming of Christ in the Clouds, and Christ's
Millennial Reign (Chart 7). The description of fire in verses 9 and 10
reflect both the purity of God, and the judgement issuing from Him to burn
all impurity from the earth.
Verse 13, as in Matthew 24:30,
Mark 13:26, Luke 21:27, and Acts 1:9-11, describes Jesus (one like the son
of man) coming with the clouds of heaven. In Revelation 19:15 we find that
Jesus strikes down the nations with a sharp sword (the Word of God) from
His mouth. Though the Antichrist assembles the largest army in the history
of the world, they are no match for Jesus, and are downed by mere words
from his mouth! Daniel 7:11 tells us that the fourth beast will be
destroyed and thrown into the fire. According to Revelation 19:20 this
will be the Lake of Fire.
Jesus is given all authority, and
all peoples, nations and men of every nation will worship Him. His kingdom
will never be destroyed! Best of all, for those that accept Jesus as their
Lord and Savior, we are promised that we will receive this kingdom, and
will possess it forever and ever (Daniel 7:18, 22 and 27)!
The
Goat, A Little Horn,
and the Stern
Faced King
Daniel 8
In the third year of King Belshazzar, 551 BC,
Daniel has his second vision (Charts 5,6). He is now 69 years old, and
sees himself in Susa, a region about 230 miles east of Babylon, and 120
miles north of the Persian Gulf:
3 I
looked up, and there before me was a ram with two horns, standing beside
the canal, and the horns were long. One of the horns was longer than the
other but grew up later. 4 I watched the ram as he charged
toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against
him, and none could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became
great.
5
"As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn
between his eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without
touching the ground. 6 He came toward the two-horned ram I had
seen standing beside the canal and charged at him in great rage. 7 I
saw him attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering his two
horns. The ram was powerless to stand against him; the goat knocked him to
the ground and trampled on him, and none could rescue the ram from his
power. 8 The goat became very great, but at the height of his
power his large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns
grew up toward the four winds of heaven. (Daniel
8:3-8)
This amazing prophesy provides an incredibly
accurate picture of the defeat of the Medo-Persian Empire by Alexander the
Great. Daniel leaves no doubt that the two horned ram represents the kings
of Media and Persia, and the goat is the king of Greece (verses 20-21).
The longer horn on the ram is Persia, who gained dominance with the rise
of Cyrus as discussed earlier. The description of the goat having only one
horn is significant because they normally have two. One king would
dominate the Grecian Empire, and that king was Alexander the Great.
Alexander
the Great and the Grecian Empire
The date is 336 BC. Daniel has been dead for nearly
200 years, and Alexander has just succeeded his murdered father, Philip of
Macedon, as king. Philip was planning a campaign against Persia when he
was murdered, and now his son Alexander, at age 20, continues that plan.
He moves with incredible speed and passion against the Persians a year and
a half later, in 334 BC. This passion was born of Greek hatred for the
Persians since the days Cyrus conquered Grecian cities. Tensions and
quarrels had been mounting through the decades ever since that time.
Though outnumbered by much larger Persian forces,
Alexander leads his forces at a frantic pace from one battle to another,
and in three years totally defeats the Persians! He figuratively moves
through the entire Medo-Persian Empire without 'touching the ground',
just as Daniel's vision decrees. The Medo-Persian Empire is literally 'shattered',
'knocked' to the ground and 'trampled upon' by
Alexander.
Alexander extended his empire all the way to beyond
the Indus River and south to the Indian Ocean. There is no telling what
Alexander would have accomplished, but his career as a conqueror had
barely gotten underway when it was cut short. On his return from India he
was taken with a severe fever, and in June, 323 BC died at the age of 32!
The 'horn was broken off' at the 'height of its power'
(Chart 6). At the
time of his death, Alexander's four generals fought over, and divided his
kingdom into four parts: Cassander receiving Macedonia and Greece;
Lysimachus, Thrace and much of Asia Minor; Seleucus,
Syria and vast regions to the east; and Ptolemy, Egypt.
The four winds in verse 7:8 represent the four directions in which the
kingdom was divided.
The successive seven Seleucid and Ptolemy kings of
Syria and Egypt fought over the control of Palestine and Jerusalem for the
next 148 years. These are the respective kings of the North and South in
Daniel 11:5-20. The Jews were pawns, used and discarded by these two
kingdoms until 175 BC, when in another of Daniel's prophecies (Daniel
8:9-12), the story picks up once again:
9
"And out of one of them came forth a rather small horn which grew
exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the
Beautiful Land. 10 And it grew up to the host of heaven and
caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it
trampled them down. 11 It even "magnified itself to be
equal with the Commander of the host; and it removed the regular sacrifice
from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down. 12 And
on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along
with regular sacrifice; and it will fling truth to the ground and perform
its will and prosper.
This horn started small but 'grew until it reached
the host of the heavens.' Much disagreement exists over the identity of
this horn. Some expositors believe it represents the Roman Empire, perhaps
is the same as the little horn (Antichrist) of Daniel 7:8. Interestingly,
the description in Daniel 8:10-12 does fit the abuses of the Roman Empire
in Judea during their occupation of Palestine, with one important
exception. Verse 9 clearly asserts the horn comes out of one of the four
horns, i.e. it originates out of one of the four Grecian kingdoms. That is
not what happened with the Roman Empire-- it started completely
independent of that of the Grecian Empire. Therefore, this prophecy still
represents the third beast, the Grecian Empire.
The question then arises, is there an equivalent
event in history that fulfills this prophesy, yet is a remnant of the
Grecian Empire? The answer is a resounding yes! The eighth Seleucid king,
Antiochus Epiphanies, ruled from 175 to 164 BC (Chart
6). His
rule of horror and terror is further explained in Daniel 8:23-25,
23 In the
latter period of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a
stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise. 24 He will
become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding
devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the
mighty men and the holy people. 25 He will cause deceit to
prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he
will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he
will be destroyed, but not by human power.
Antiochus Epiphanes' exploits against the Jews in
Palestine correspond with the descriptions of the horn of Daniel 8:9-12
and 23-25. Most prophesy scholars agree that these passages refer to
Antiochus. In fact, Antiochus Epiphanes is sometimes called the antichrist
of the Old Testament! He brought suffering to the Jews in a pattern of
what the real Antichrist will do during the Great Tribulation.
Antiochus entire reign was based in deceit and lies
(a master of intrigue, cause deceit to prosper), attempted to
force the Jews to become Grecian in their thinking and ways (the truth
thrown down). The Jews, of course, resisted which resulted in severe
persecution (trampling the host, cause astounding devastation and
destroy the mighty men and the holy people). Antiochus
prohibited the daily sacrifice at the Temple and instead built an alter of
Jupiter (Zeus) Olympius and reportedly sacrificed pigs--an abomination to
the Jews.(16) The Grecian religion was the
only one permitted in Palestine thereby exalting his own religion as equal
to the God of the Jews. He prospered greatly at the expense of the Jews.
Antiochus brought enormous havoc to the Jews and
their Temple! The desecration of the Temple was the last straw, and Julius
Maccabee led the Jews into the Maccabean Revolt in 168 BC, in which
Antiochus was ultimately defeated. The story of Daniel's stunning
prophecies of Antiochus Epiphanies will continue in the next Lesson when
we study Chapter 11 of Daniel.
The parallel between the actions of Antiochus and
the Roman Empire cannot be coincidental. Certainly Antiochus portended
Rome. It is interesting that Daniel 8:25 says "he" will take a stand
against the Prince of Princes, which must be Jesus Christ. However,
Antiocus could not do this since he predated Christ, unless the
desecration of the temple is loosely interpreted to mean this. Rather, it
is likely this prophesy is a double prophesy applicable to both Antiochus
and the Antichrist.
Antiochus Epiphanes was the literal archetype to
the Antichrist. The Antichrist will cause astounding devastation; to God's
people, to the truth, and to God's land itself during the Great
Tribulation. During his reign, the world will no longer exist as we know
it today. He will have incredible success at whatever he does and will
bring unbelievable persecution to the Holy Ones (the Jews), and many of
them will be destroyed (martyred). His ability to deceive the world will
be so great that he will proclaim himself as God! But in his attempt to
establish himself as God, he will meet the true Prince of princes, Jesus
Christ, and be destroyed by a mere word from Christ's lips (Revelation
19:15)!
QUESTIONS
1. What about Daniel's character did God hold in
high esteem?
- What are some of the similarities between
Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's large statue and the four
Beasts?
- What is so shocking about the prophecy given by
Isaiah 44:24-44:3? What does this tell us about God's prophets and
God's faithfulness to His word?
- Why did the Roman Empire last so long? Is there
any indication in these verses that its reign is merely interrupted
and that it will once again dominate our world?
- What do Daniel's 10 toes (of the large statue)
and 10 horns (of the fourth beast) tell us of the latter days? What
are some of the ideas currently held by scholars as to how this ten
nation confederacy might originate?
- Is their any evidence that the 10 nation
confederacy may be forming today? How should Christians respond to
such news?
- Why couldn't Antiochus Epiphanies have been the
Beast described by Daniel in Dan 9:27?
- What are some of the characteristics of the
fourth Beast and what will he do during his reign of terror as
revealed by Daniel's visions so far?
- Who will defeat the beast and why does that give
us hope?
1. Secretary General's Comments on UN Reform to the
General Assembly. UN Reform, Track II Documents. July 16, 1997. http://www.un.org/reform/.
Click on the Track II Documents.
2. Our
Global Neighborhood, United Nations Commission on Global Governance
(NY Oxford University Press, 1995)
3. Dewar,
Elaine, Cloak of Green, (Toronto, James Lorimer & Co., 1995),
pg 249-300. This outstanding book is the result of an intensive 5 year
investigation by Dewar in which she was able to interview Maurice Strong
for five days.
4. Ibid,
Pp 326
5. Ibid,
Pp 309
6. UN
Reform, Track II Documents. July 16, 1997. http://www.un.org/reform/.
7. The
Seleucids were the decedents of Seleucus, one of the four generals
dividing Alexander the Great's vast empire. These Greek decedents
controlled Syria and vast regions to the east.
8. If
the church is raptured before the tribulation, these are the Christians
saved through the efforts of the 144,000 Jews in Revelation 7.
9. For
further discussion on this interpretation see Wood, L. 1990. A
Commentary on Daniel. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. Page 200.
10. David
J. Smith, "Ten Kingdoms Along With the Beast," Newswatch
Magazine, March-April 1984, pgs 12 - 15.
11. Mihajlo
Mesarovic and Eduard Pestel, 1974, Mankind at the Turning Point--The
Second Report of the Club of Rome, (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co.,
Inc./Readers Digest Press, pgs 203, 205. As quoted in Gary Kah, En
Route to Global Occupation, pp 40 -41.
12. Ibid,
pg 143, 147; Quoted by Gary Kah, En route To Global Occupation,
pg 43.
13. Ibid,
pg 206; Quoted by Gary Kah, En Route To Global Occupation, pg 44.
14. Our
Global Neighborhood, The Report Commission on Global Governance, (NY,
Oxford Press, 1995), pp 286.
15. Ibid
16. See
1 Maccabees 1:20-24;41-50
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