Sept 20

Meanwhile back at the ranch.......back to Daniel! I'm glad that the author included that little bit of history about who the rulers were. He lasted through a lot of rulers!

I had what I thought was a pretty good idea for a blog today. I've seen lots of great charts and graphs that explain these two chapters quite well and compare them to the beasts in the Revelation etc. While the charts themselves were good, the remainder of the these sites had very questionable material. Actually, this may be a good place to put in some warnings. When I got interested in prophecy (I don't get that deep into because my brain does not retain it-but I am interested) I watched a long series of videos on the internet by Doug Batchelor. Things go along great for a looonnng time and he sounds theologically sound until you get a really into and you start going 'whaaat??'. Nowhere does it disclose that it is from the Seventh Day Adventists. A LOT of the prophecy websites out there are run by Seventh Day Adventists. If you find a site, often (but not always) if you look under 'about us' or something similar it will disclose it but not always. Everything can sound VERY plausible. But unless you believe that Pope is going to be the anti-christ (I'm over simplifying because I don't remember all the details- but their interpretation of prophecy has a LOT to do with the Catholic Church) then don't go down this road. Other common prophecy sites are associated with the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Christ (which I tried to read their doctrinal statement because I thought that I remembered that they instist on baptism for salvation and I came away so confused that I didn't know what they believe). Just a word of caution. Google is not an 'easy fix' to figuring these things out.

Trying to figure all this out can be a headache! Poor Daniel, who was known to be a gifted interpreter of dreams was clueless, ill and exhausted! So if you are confused- give yourself a break. Even after Gabriel explained it, Daniel was said it was beyond understanding. We now have the benifit of seeing how history played out and how it fits absolutely perfectly with the vision. 

Most of the prophecies that we have read about have aready come to pass. Of course, each of these animals represent a kingdom. For example, the goat with the large horn is Alexander the Great who swiftly conquered the known world. The horn that breaks into 4, represents the four generals that his kingdom was given to when he died at the age of 33. The tricky part is that it seems to also be refering to the time of the end, so this may have just been a little preview of 'coming attractions'. Also the 4th kingdom has not been fully realized. Most people believe that this will be a revived Roman Empire or that it has something to do with the European Union. Another theory is that it is a confederation of Islamic states and the long awaited Islamic Messiah (the 12th Imam) will be the eventual anti-christ. Everything that I have heard about this theory is very compelling and actually makes the most sense to me (for what that is worth).

For further info on Daniel's visions I suggest watching Perry Stone on you tube. I haven't watched them all, but I have watched enough of him over the years to feel confident in his theology. He is a 'revived Roman Empire' guy however.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QLX5AMZJwk  This is the link for the first video, there are 8 all together.

Keep in view a very important point when trying to figure all this out- desite all the beasts and other craziness: "BUT THE SAINTS OF THE MOST HIGH WILL RECEIVE THE KINGDOM AND WILL POSSESS IT FOREVER, YES, FOR EVER AND EVER. Daniel: 7:18 (Bottom line- if you are on Jesus team- you win!)