Daniel #10

            (Daniel 4:4-18 KJV) ¶ I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace: I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof. But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and before him I told the dream, saying, O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof. Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven; He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches: Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth: Let his heart be changed from man’s, and let a beast’s heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him. This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. This dream I king Nebuchadnezzar have seen. Now thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation thereof, forasmuch as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known unto me the interpretation: but thou art able; for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee.

            God showed it to Nebuchadnezzar in such a dream a long ago. Through Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, God showed him what will happen in the future to let us know that God’s will will be fulfilled in the future. And by interpreting this dream through the Spirit of God, Daniel, who has the Holy Spirit, He lets us who live in the end times know what is ahead of us. When the Holy Spirit comes to this earth, He leads us into all the truth and also teaches us what will happen to us in the future. Since the future is contained in the Bible, we cannot see the future unless we read the Bible. Many people say they have visions and are able to see the future when they pray and set dates and whatnot. This is Satanic deception. Nothing can be known without studying the Bible, because only the Word of God written by the Holy Spirit shows us the certain future. The whole Bible is prophecy. The Old Testament is all prophecy. Although we have already learned through the book of Ezekiel, everything all connect to each other. From Genesis to Revelation, it is the same word. So if you don’t read the Bible, Satan also being a spirit, he will absolutely deceive people into believing anything other than what is recorded in the holy Bible. Since only the words of the Bible given by God are the words of the Spirit given by God, you cannot understand them unless you read them thoroughly. People of the world read and go through business contracts like a fine toothed comb before putting down their signatures, much less should I just carry the Word of God, the Word on which my eternal blessing depends. Hearing a sermon once a week is insufficient. If we keep engraving these words on the tablet of our hearts, the Holy Spirit will inform us. Then we are not in darkness and are called children of light because the Word is light. Therefore, without the Word, we can only live in darkness. Nebuchadnezzar has no choice but to worry because he has no knowledge. He has no clue how God is using him. And he didn’t know how interpretations would come through Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar said he saw a dream which made him afraid. A nightmare. I bet all sort of things flashed before his mind. He was a man with nothing to envy in his time as he was the king of the world of his time.

            Do you think Babylonian civilization was archaic compared to our modern technology? Do you also believe civilization in Noah’s time would be worse than it is now? With computer technology from decades ago a mini-computer would fill an entire server room. It has taken decades and now that mini computer can be held in the palm of your hand. Such developments are the feats of modern times. In the past, people were smarter, environments were cleaner, and people lived longer, so they were able to discover more things in their lifetime. If Steve Jobs of Apple had lived longer, more advanced things would have come out. But that was limited due to the human life span of only 70 or 80 years. The ancient civilization had to have been great. Nevertheless, Nebuchadnezzar was afraid and troubled. So they called in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers and asked for an interpretation, but no one knew. Since it was a dream given by God, only Daniel, who has the Spirit of God, can understand it. Magicians and astrologers of that time held the highest office in the palace. Just as the eunuchs of ancient Orient empires advised the king in the royal palace, so did these Babylonians while serving foreign gods. They can be seen as special advisers to the modern day president. But the kings so-called advisers didn’t know anything. Nebuchadnezzar lived by relying on these people. However, God sent Daniel into the royal palace this way to tell in advance the events of the future 7 years of tribulation. Even though Daniel was in captivity, he trusted God, so he never complained and was always thankful. So was Joseph. Just as Joseph was sold as a slave in advance to ultimately have God lead the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan, those who know God’s will always give thanks no matter what. Ah, that’s my role in God’s script. Now it is my role to suffer. Now it’s my role to be insulted. Now it’s my job to be cheated. I am grateful because I trust God and not people. This is a true man of God. People who think that God hates them have misunderstood God. God showed Joseph how the sun and the moon worshiped him and how eleven sheaves of grain bowed down to him. Because he knows that God will use him in such way, and because he knows the conclusion, he is grateful to God no matter what. Likewise, our conclusion is that because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are definitely saved, so it doesn’t matter what happens.

            A man named John Bunyan wrote a book called The Pilgrim’s Progress in which Christians have many trials and tribulations on their way to heaven after being born again. People don’t know this, and they just think that believing in Jesus means doing well, making money, and having children. It’s the same with shamans. People who preach like that are no different from shamans. There are many shamans wearing suits and ties in churches. That’s why people who are truly saved trust the Lord no matter what. It is faith that overcomes the world. This faith is believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. According to the conclusion of the Gospel of John, the reason why the Gospel of John was written was to give eternal life to all who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Although there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, John suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written (John 21:25 KJV) But only this record is the Gospel of John, which Jesus Christ recorded to have the reader believe that God is the Son, to believe that He is God the Creator, and to believe in His blood which gives eternal life. That is why the Gospel of John is so important. We distribute the Gospel of John whenever we go to mission trips in Central and South America. Back in the day, missionaries who came to Korea also gave out many gospels as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Pastor Song remembers those days when he was in elementary school.

            (Daniel 4:8 KJV) But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and before him I told the dream, saying, The name Belteshazzar was given by Nebuchadnezzar after the god he worshiped. It didn’t matter since the Hebrew men didn’t eat the food offered to the pagan gods of the king. Name change wasn’t a big deal. The same goes for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Nebuchadnezzar had his own god that he personally worshiped. Babylon is polytheistic. Like Hinduism. Each of them had a different god that they worshiped. But these gods are gods that cannot  save from death. So, through Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Nebuchadnezzar only proclaimed that the God they serve is the Almighty God, but he did not worship Him. It’s the same today. Many call upon God but they worship their own gods. There are people whose god is money, their children, and athletes. When the Apostle Paul recorded the Book of Romans, he introduced himself as a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Romans 1:1 KJV) meaning I serve only Jesus Christ. Therefore, born again Christians must be able to confess they are servants who only serve Jesus Christ like the Apostle Paul. If you are not serving Jesus Christ, you are serving something else. Many so-called Christians worship other gods and are servants of others. They became enslaved to alcohol, to drugs, to gambling, to people, and enslaved to pastors. You are serving another god. That’s exactly what the Ten Commandments warned about serving no other gods besides the God of Israel. There are tons of other gods even today. Every idea is a god. Self-centered beliefs are also gods. The Word of Jesus Christ, trusting only Jesus Christ, believing only His Word 100% is the true servant of God. That’s why the apostle Paul first called himself a servant of Jesus Christ instead of apostle, and there is difference between being a servant in the Old Testament era vs the New. Some pastors misapply the Old testament dispensation unto modern Christians, saying even saved servants can be cast out like in the days of the prophets. Which is a nonsense. You can’t mix up the Old Testament and the New Testament. We have escaped from the Old Testament law. We have received a new commandment because Jesus Christ has already removed us from the sin of the law. A new commandment, not the Ten Commandments: Because born again children now have the Holy Spirit, we have received a simple commandment: Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40 KJV) There are nine fruit of the Holy Spirit, note it’s singular, not plural. 1 Corinthians 13 says charity without the Holy Spirit is impossible. A person without the Holy Spirit may confess to love between husband and wife and between father and son, but that’s not charity. It is self-love, not God’s love. A selfless love. Donating million dollars can be a great thing in people’s view, but in God’s eyes, it’s nothing without charity. Divine love gives eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV) It is not human love. There are four kinds of love. Storge – empathy bond. Philia – friend bond. Eros – romantic love. Agape – unconditional “God” love. Look at Job for example, when he was rich, many people came to the banquet, but everyone left him later on after seeing the calamities on him.

            Roman Catholicism is the religion inherited from the Babylonian paganism. There are many different idols. They don’t just worship images, they worship dead saints as they’ve all become gods. Such is the Babylonian religion. That is why Roman Catholicism will become Babylon the Great during the Great Tribulation. And the Lord is warning those within to come out of there. Babylon the Great has now revealed herself, joined forces with the United Nations leading an ecumenical movement that unites all religions. So all those who are in the ecumenical denominations of the WCC must come out from there because they are already Catholic. It’s all revealed these days. (Apart from the Bible-believers), most of the Protestants belong to it centered around the Catholics. Sooner or later churches will not be recognized as a church without having a UN flag in the congregation, and our church will have to go underground like China. But I believe the Lord will come before all that happens.

            How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation. (Daniel 4:3 KJV) He exalts the God of Daniel while saying this. Just like today, many come to church, sing hymns, pray, and listen to the Word. However, they simply cannot leave behind the gods they worships. Once they walk out the building they’re right back to following their gods. Some follow money, while some follow women, alcohol, cigarettes. All done by so called people who believe in God. Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged, but he couldn’t give up his god. Today’s churchgoers do all kinds of things. The same goes for pastors, people just don’t see it. When we read the Bible and receive the light, we can clearly see what has happened not only in this world but also in Christianity. It’s sad to hear that 9 out of 10 young people are caught for DUI. What’s more shocking is they are the sons and daughters of pastors or elders. That is why we must rightly divide and teach the word of God unto our children. Like John Wesley, many people study the Book of Romans, understand the gospel, and are born again.

            Nebuchadnezzar ultimately couldn’t forsake his God. He called Daniel master of the magicians (Daniel 4:9 KJV) Nebuchadnezzar sensed some sort of divinity figure was within Daniel. So from his point of view, Daniel is also a magician. because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee In other words, some of Nebuchadnezzar’s gods are not holy. So now he begins to talk about the great tree that he saw in his dream. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: (Daniel 4:11 KJV) It’d be impossible in reality but anything is possible within a dream. The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. (Daniel 4:12 KJV) Let’s turn to Matthew 13. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. (Matthew 13:31-32 KJV) Most seminaries call this church revival. A mustard seed looks like dust. But when it grows, it becomes a tree. It’s not a tree, it’s an herb, a vegetable. When it grows too much, the branches become hard and the leaves become thick. This is abnormal. Actually, local church was created for regional people to attend easily. But as it got bigger, it got so big it became an organization, as many people, birds started nesting there. These are people coming to do business. Businessmen showing up to churches to do business. A worldly religion that does not attract the children of God, but the children of the devil. What is the mystery of Kingdom of heaven? Had the chosen people obeyed the words of Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 3:2 KJV) at the First Coming of Jesus, the King himself, that very Kingdom of Heaven would have been fulfilled right then and there. Instead they beat, crucified and killed their King. Postponing the arrival of that Kingdom.

            After being postponed, the gospel entered the Gentiles during the Age of Grace for the past 2000 years. What happened to the mystery of the kingdom of heaven for the past 2000 years? The descendants of the Pharisees and Sadducees who killed Jesus created a religion and attracted many people by pretending that this is the kingdom of heaven. This deception makes the pope the king of the holy kingdom of heaven. He reigned for a thousand years under the title of Vicar of Christ, and then once that thousand years went by, they removed that title from the pope’s headgear. Otherwise their deception of false millennial reign would be exposed. So they began altering the Bible, creating what is known as the Revised Standard Version Bible, the RSV to fit their teachings. It slithered its way into Chinese language and once arriving to Korea, the Bible Society of Korea removed, altered, and added to make a fortune from revisions. But when the real thing The King James Bible showed up, many people realized other versions were fake and rejected them. Catholics claim to be the Big house, the main church. There are all kinds of idols in that house. If you look at the Ten Commandments in their Bible, they left out the second commandment and divided the tenth commandment into two making a different Ten. A certain Catholic believer from a Catholic household gave a testimony after he noticed this and came out of the Roman Catholic belief. Because their job is to worship their Catholic idols, they left out the 2^nd commandment and divided the tenth commandment into two, thus creating a new 10 commandments. This is how they alter the Bible. Roman Catholicism is Babylonian religious ideology. Baal. They hold up the round wafer during communion, representing the image of the sun god. It all trickled down from Baal worshipers. The descendants of tribe of Dan came there through Phoenicia. People have no clue about this because they don’t teach that in the seminary. You will be thrown out, and the seminary will have to close if you did. You can’t learn proper church history. Pastor Song learned church history again through Bible Believers. The Holy Spirit leads to the truth. Anyone who is born again of the Holy Spirit is still led by the truth. As we learned in the book of Ezekiel, the cedar of Lebanon: Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth. All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations. (Ezekiel 31:5-6 KJV) The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chesnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. (Ezekiel 31:8 KJV)     

Notice the fowls of heaven in the passage. What did the Lord Jesus say about them from the parable of the sower And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: (Matthew 13:4 KJV) He himself explained it to his disciples that the birds, the fowls are the devil. In other words, these people who seek the lust of the flesh are not people who serve God. This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. (Matthew 15:8 KJV) It’s the same today. Now, this tree, the fact that the devil is the ruler of this world, the god of this world, and all the great nations of this world are still living within his realm. However, in the future, all the great nations and peoples will fall under the control of the Antichrist, and the Roman Catholic Church will become the false prophet and Babylon the Great, uniting with the United Nations to rule together. The United Nations HQ is located in America. After the rapture, the Vatican will move to Washington DC. Strange enough, the Washington Monument looks exactly like the one in the Vatican. Everything is ready, and the name of the street is the same as the name of the street in the Vatican. If you look at the satellite picture, DC looks eerily like the Vatican. That’s why the United Nations headquarters is there and the Statue of Liberty is there. According to a book titled ‘As America has don’t to Israel’ by John McTernan, the author has precisely studied the relations between the major hurricanes of America throughout history and the persecutions performed by the United States government unto Israel, and has listed how significant political affairs against God’s chosen people brought on His wrath within a short time frame in a form of major hurricanes devastating America. God cursed America whenever she cursed Israel. For reference: A week before Katrina hit New Orleans, President Bush urged to forcibly remove all Israelis from Gaza district by funneling hundreds of billions of dollars. And within a week, hurricane Katrina struck. The book shows in detail how America was blessed when she blessed Israel, but curses arrived whenever Israel was cursed by America. It goes to show that God repaid what America did to Israel. God always makes it rain or not when he judges. then pestilence. Then the sword, war. God brings down judgment with these three. As Bible Believers we can’t call this a natural disaster. Israel is continually under unspeakable distress even to these days. Since it is recorded in the Bible, God is clearly fulfilling His will. Iran will then be devastated and all Iranian people are scattered. Then, when the Lord comes later, they will be restored again. Jeremiah 49 says the throne of the Lord would stand there. Elam is the region where Iran sits, ancient Persia. That’s enough for today, and we’ll continue from verse 13 next time.

            Let us pray. Father God, thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit and giving us the privilege of prophesying as we read these words. The people of the world may see us as soothsayers, but when we speak what is written in the Bible, we want the works of unbelievers to come to their senses and return to the Lord. Like Nebuchadnezzar, when he heard the words of Daniel, he came to his senses. We are also learning this word given through Daniel, the word God gave us, help us engrave this word on our hearts and let the people of the world know in advance about the impending future events. Help us to  become the watchmen who can warn them that they cannot escape the judgment without believing in Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, as long as we speak, while the Holy Spirit dwells in us, may many people return to God the Father as we testify to the Word of God. In particular, please help us to bring about the work of repentance and return to the Lord among those who serve other gods even while attending church. Help many English-speaking young people to come, realize the gospel, repent, forsake all other gods and serve only the Lord Jesus Christ. Let all the powers that hinder them leave in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth! Father, please save them from alcohol, drugs, and all their idols. Father, please make them your disciple. We earnestly pray and desire that You send workers and help young people to repent and come back to you. From your work of drunks being born again, people like the Phoenician woman at the well being born again, saying, “Come and See!” May you receive all glory from their joyful praises resonating around the world. We thank and pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.