Episode Transcript
Has the world gone crazy? International diplomats are frantically negotiating to try and stop ISIS, immigration and suicide bombers. But it often seems so futile. What are we missing? Welcome to the three ABN Australia radio book reading program.
Julian Archer's booklet, The History of Tomorrow reveals the last 2600 years through the eyes of kings, prophets, popes and presidents. It unveils a pattern in the timeline of history and exposes an event that will soon permanently alter the face of our planet. Listen now, as Julian Archer reads the history of tomorrow.
We could breathe easily enough, but taking a single small step or even falling to the ground was impossible. More than a quarter of a million people pilgrims, atheists, clergy, diplomats, media and tourists were compressed into St. Peter's Square in Rome.
The magnificent architectural surroundings, crowned by crosses and saints were a public display of both wealth and religion, two powerful factors that have had a greater impact on national and global security than any others in history. We stood there, all eyes gazing upwards to a tiny balcony, to witness the last public blessing of Pope Benedict XVI, the first pope in almost 600 years to resign from his position as the Bishop of Rome and sovereign of Vatican City. It was a globally significant event that had drawn scores of media from every continent.
Eight years earlier, the funeral of Benedict's predecessor, pope John Paul II, was attended by an unprecedented number of kings, presidents, prime ministers and other political leaders, causing many commentators to question whether the passing of a pope was still primarily a religious occasion or an event with growing political significance. Two weeks after Benedict's unexpected resignation, it was announced to anxiously waiting world that Pope Francis would be the 266th pope of the Catholic Church. Francis became the first ever Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, the first from the southern hemisphere, and the first non European pope in more than a thousand years.
History was unfolding right before our eyes. Yet it was just one of thousands of significant events that have shaped the history of Europe and indeed the world over millennia events underwritten by wealth and displayed through religion. And yet we live in an age when religion is becoming an increasingly dirty word and there's no lack of reasons.
As religious people grossly misrepresent the faiths that they claim to serve through pedophilia, embezzlement, terrorism and the like, the world turns away in disgust. Secularism, materialism and atheism are growing at an ungodly rate and their dominance of the media is almost complete. To be fair, very few religious people are actually sword wielding extremists, dreadlocked holy men or placard waving fanatics.
However, news corporations make more money reporting on the atrocities committed by perverted individuals and small groups of religious extremists than by revealing the far reaching benefits of the Mother Teresa types who have genuine faith and selfless characters, regardless of whether they're Christians, Muslims, Hindus or followers of some other faith. It's no wonder that we so easily lose sight of the significant roles that religions still play in global security and geopolitics. For better or worse, political analysts debate endlessly.
Will China be Earth's next superpower? Will the Vatican and the United States form some sort of a holy alliance to rule the world? How much will religious terrorism and immigration destabilize Europe? To gain a thorough understanding of geopolitics and global security, we need to study insights far beyond today's sensationalist news headlines to comprehend the often veiled operations of the powers seeking to control the economics and security of our planet. Today, we need to turn our attention to what can best be described as the history of tomorrow. Looking Back to the Future the noble looking front cover model for this book is the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
He made the following insightful statement almost 2000 years ago. He said, look back over the past with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too. History reveals countless reasons for the wholesale transfer of military and economic supremacy from one power to another.
However, an in depth study of world history reveals that time after time, the downward spiral of empires actually follows an eerily similar set of circumstances. I invite you to come with me on a journey back through time. Together, we will witness the beauty, passion and ferocity of the rise and fall of empires.
Not just for our entertainment, but in order to see our own future. Before we set off, I must state very clearly that I am not a prophet. However, in my years of travel through more than 60 countries, I have had many opportunities to study the history and authenticity of one intriguing ancient prediction.
Regardless of your worldviews on topics such as capitalism and communism, god, and atheism environmentalism and industrialization, there is one chain of historical events that every person ought to consider at least once in their lifetime. It is actually a geopolitical prediction that is recorded, as strange as it might seem in the ancient Jewish scriptures. And yet it is a timeline of history that directly impacts today's global economics and security.
Based exclusively on archaeological and historical evidence. This prophetic timeline's predictions and their accurate fulfillment are simply astounding. In fact, the timeline is so amazing and its predictions so relevant and life changing, that literally millions of people across the planet are now restudying it in detail.
Let's take a look. In the 6th century BC. That's about 2600 years ago, a man named Daniel wrote a little book with just twelve short chapters.
Daniel was a Jewish prisoner of war. Yet he so greatly impressed his captor, the King of Babylon, that he was rapidly appointed to a high political role. Daniel became the overseer of all Babylon, an ancient city that was located about 85 Baghdad in Iraq.
Today, it was the capital of the mighty Babylonian Empire. The second chapter of Daniel's book has been described as the atomic bomb of prophecy. And just like today's conflicts in the Middle East, its fallout has billowed into every corner of the globe.
Daniel's written account describes some dreams that Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar had in about 603 BC. In the main dream, the king saw an awesome and excellent image a statue of a man. The statue's head was of fine gold.
Its chest and arms were made of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze. Its legs were a vine, its feet made partly of vine and partly of clay. In describing King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Daniel said, the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this.
The dream is certain and its interpretation is sure. In that sure interpretation, Daniel explained to King Nebuchadnezzar that the statue's head of gold represented his own kingdom, Babylon, a fact that would have made the king very happy. But Daniel continued, he said, after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours, then another a third kingdom of bronze which shall rule over all the earth.
And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything. And like iron, that crushes that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.
If this was the end of Daniel's description, then Skeptics could rightly say that it was just some sort of a riddle and that there was nothing prophetic about Nebuchadnezzar's dream. After all, history had already shown that kingdoms overthrow one another. Nebuchadnezzar would have been left to guess which of earth's empires were represented by each metallic portion of the statue, and Daniel's name would have passed unnoticed from history.
However, Daniel continued with his interpretation of the dream, and by his 8th chapter he clearly predicted the precise names of the next two empires. He then went on to accurately describe the geopolitics of the region right down to today. 26 centuries have come and gone since the night of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and the geopolitical history of Europe and the Middle East leaves no question about the accuracy of Daniel's interpretation.
Babylon and each of these successive empires rose and fell in perfect predicted harmony. And today, as Nebuchadnezzar's dream also predicted, europe stands firmly united in many ways, yet still divided and fearing for its future. That which should interest us most about this mighty rolling clash of civilizations is the disturbingly common factors that caused each of the empires to fall and how clearly those same destructive factors are seen in our own world today.
Clash of Empires babylon, as represented by the head of gold on the statue, was the golden kingdom of a golden age. When Daniel was taken captive from Jerusalem, he was marched through the towering gates of Babylon city's impregnable walls. King Nebuchadnezzar sat firmly on his throne, a wise, accomplished ruler who lived according to the moral light that shone into his heart.
However, after a 43 year reign, his son, Evil Meredak, took the reins and sadly lived up to his name. King followed king in rapid succession. Four in seven years until Babylon had fallen into comparative recklessness and immorality.
And yet Babylon's socioeconomic indicators, military prowess and security remained unmatched. In fact, it was Babylon's feelings of security and impregnability that led to her fall. Such was the pervading sense of invincible security in the Babylonian Empire that its king, Belshazza, held a drunken feast in October 539 BC, all the while knowing that his enemies armies were camped right outside the great city's impregnable walls.
During the feast, Belshazzar, in a state of intoxication, called for the previously pillaged sacred vessels from the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem so that he and his comrades and concubines might drink wine from them. It was his last drink. While they were partying within the peace and safety of the supposedly secure but immoral Babylon, king Cyrus of Persia marched his men into the city, overthrew the army and murdered Babylon's.
King Cyrus'attack was a rapid and permanent end to what is remembered as one of the most mighty, proud and luxurious empires of history. And in many ways, it was a template for the fall of the empires still to come. It also perfectly fulfilled the first prediction of Daniel's prophecy for the next two centuries the statue's chest and arms of silver that's the Medo Persian or archimeded empire, ruled the then known world.
In fact, they ruled so much of it that they're celebrated today in the Guinness World Records as ruling a greater percentage of the Earth's population, 44%, than any other empire in history. It was during their rule that zoroastrianism became widely accepted, leading to a broad mix of spiritual practices, including worship of the sun, moon, stars, earth, fire and water. In 335 BC.
Darius II became the reigning medopersian monarch. And as the avid historian Humphrey Prudeau said, scarcely was he warm upon the throne before he found his formidable enemy, Alexander, at the head of the Greek soldiers, preparing to dismount him from it. And dismount him from his throne they did.
In 331 BC. At the Battle of Arbella. The battle wise, compact and lightning fast Greek army led by Alexander the Great, took on the huge and haughty but less effective Medopersian forces and bid them farewell, just as Daniel predicted they would more than 250 years before the event.
After fleeing from the battle and being hidden in a small ox cart, darius II was mortally wounded by two of his own men and left to die. Alexander soon caught up with the Persians, only to find Darius already dead. In the macabre scene before him, alexander had opportunity to witness the fleeting nature of earthly grandeur.
Little time had passed between Darius'status as the ruler of a proud and seemingly invincible world empire and his becoming a betrayed and murdered corpse in a dusty oxcart. It was another lightning fast fall for an apparently secure and invincible empire. Writing almost 2000 years ago, the Roman historian Flavius Josephus recorded that Alexander the Great knew he was destined for victory after having been shown the prophecies in Daniel's book that so clearly foretold his success.
No single ruler changed the ancient world to the same extent as Alexander the Great. His mighty Greek empire, represented by the statues belly and thighs of bronze in Daniel's second chapter rose rapidly. But pride and immorality continued unabated throughout Alexander's short rule.
He took on culturally divine honors by claiming to be a son of the Greek god Zeus. That's Rome's Jupiter and said he was also the brother of Hercules. He murdered his friends and relatives and handed over entire conquered cities.
To the violence and depravity of his armies. Alexander was given leadership, military and political skills beyond his youthful years. To many he appeared to be supernaturally gifted.
In describing Alexander, the Roman historian and military commander Lucius Flavius Arianus wrote there seems to me to have been some divine hand presiding both over his birth and actions. However, in despite of this divine hand, or maybe because of it, in 323 BC, at the height of his glory, alexander led his men in a drunken feast and died. He was just 32 years of age.
Ironically, Alexander took his last breath inside King Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon, the very location from which Daniel had prophesied Alexander's rise and fall centuries earlier. Daniel's prophecy continued to hit home runs when Alexander's successors warred amongst themselves for 40 years before the empire settled into four regions of power the Ptolemies in Egypt, the Seleucids in Mesopotamia and Central Asia, the Atalids of Anatolia and the Antigonids in Macedon. This division perfectly fulfilled Daniel's prediction in his 7th chapter where he stated that after Alexander, the Greek Empire would have four heads.
So far we have witnessed the 100% accuracy of Daniel's predictions throughout the histories of Babylon, Medopersia and Greece. Are you willing to place a bet on the accuracy of his next prediction? Daniel described the next empire as dreadful, terrible and exceedingly strong. After scores of battles across the realm, the last of the Greek empire's four heads fell to the next great empire in 168 BC.
It most certainly was an empire that matched Daniel's descriptions of dreadful, terrible, exceedingly strong, devouring, breaking in pieces and trampling the residue with its feet. It was, in a word, Rome. Space does not allow description of the details of either the beauty or the tyranny of the Roman Empire's rule as represented by Daniel's statues legs of iron.
Suffice to say that it has gone down in history as one of the most civilised yet immoral, religious yet apostate, peace loving, yet blood soaked powers of all time. The famous english historian Edward Gibbon wrote, the images of gold, silver and brass that might serve to represent the nations and their kings were successively broken by the iron monarchy of Rome. Gibbon was often scathing of Christianity and he hated organized religion.
Yet he still acknowledged that the timeline of these kingdoms, as outlined in Daniel's book in the Christian Bible, is historically accurate. This might also be an appropriate time to remind ourselves that Jesus Christ, who lived in Palestine under the reign of this Roman Empire, also regularly spoke out against organised religion. This was especially the case whenever Jesus saw that the religious leaders had perverted the love and compassion of God into a self serving, hierarchical, money and power focused institution.
In Roman times, many religious leaders acted in ways that appeared to reveal their humility and generosity. But inside, their hearts were full of pride, greed and selfish ambition. Jesus called these religious leaders whitewashed tombs because they looked beautiful on the outside, but inside they were full of dead men's bones.
He went on to say to them, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Ouch. While the religious leaders paraded their religiosity amidst a facade of extravagant temples, priceless artifacts and awe inspiring worship services, for more than six centuries, rome paraded its seemingly indestructible strength of iron.
Yet, like all the empires before it, rome also saw its claim to immortality fail. Over time, the Iron Empire began to rust. It lost its steely grip on its territories and by 476 Ad, the year officially recognized as the end of the Western Roman Empire, it had fragmented into ten dominant kingdoms, just as represented by Daniel's statue's, feet and toes of iron and clay.
It is important to note that the iron legs of the statue that is the Roman Empire, though weakened and divided, still maintained a significant presence down in the feet and toes. Respected German historian Alexander Demand Alphabetically listed 210 different theories on why the Roman Empire lost its power. From abolition of gods to vulgarization.
New ideas are still presented today, but few have described Rome's fall more poetically and probably accurately than the American author and inventor Uriah Smith, who penned these words. Luxury, with its accompanying effeminacy and degeneracy, the destroyer of nations as well as individuals, began to corrode and weaken its iron sinews and thus prepared the way for its subsequent disruption into ten kingdoms. So what did Daniel's predicted? Fragmentation of the Roman Empire into ten kingdoms actually look like? Well, geopolitically, many of those ten kingdoms, or tribes as they were sometimes called, went on to become what we know as today's Europe.
The Franks became the French, the Goths became the Germans and the Britons. Angles and Saxons became Britain, England and Saxony. Religiously pagan Rome gave its power to Papal Rome, also known as the Holy See, which today is the government of the Catholic Church.
A key event in the transferring of this power from pagan to papal Rome was the 533 Ad decree by the Roman Emperor Justinian, in which he declared the pope, Pope John II at the time to be the chief bishop of all churches. The Emperor sought the peace that a Pope might bring as a moral compass for society. And the Pope sought the Emperor's military security to achieve the Church's goals.
Pope John II's reply to Emperor Justinian's declaration included this statement there is nothing which prevents destruction as true religion does. Ironically, this alliance of power between the Emperor, a political leader, and the Pope a religious leader as an attempt to establish a common law, peace and security across the known world actually brought about a period of bloody religious persecution. Any history text on the period will report that during the 1000 years from the middle of the 6th century through to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, this religiopolitical partnership led to tens of millions of civilians being tortured, beheaded, burnt at the stake, or forced to become refugees.
Sadly, this sort of tyranny is all too common when any religion accesses the military alliance of a political power. Today, Papal Rome reveals itself through the Catholic Church and has an estimated 1.2 billion members, many of whom are some of the most beautiful, caring servants of humanity on the planet.
Their involvement in grassroots humanitarian service through a massive international network of hospitals, refuges, schools and aid agencies is outstanding. With its own nation, Vatican City, and a network of more than 110 foreign embassies across the globe, the Catholic Church remains an often underestimated and increasingly powerful entity in modern times. Being a religio political entity led by a Pope rather than a president or prime Minister, also gives the Catholic Church an influence that transcends all national borders.
Let's look further at the statue's feet and toes of iron and clay, the European powers of today. Daniel accurately predicted that this mixture of iron and clay also shows that these kingdoms will try to strengthen themselves by forming an alliance with each other through intermarriage. But they will not hold together, just as iron and clay do not mix.
Ever since the unifying efforts of Charlemagne in the 9th century, we've seen Louis XIV, Charles V, Napoleon and others each trying to unite Europe, even England's. Queen Victoria was known as the grandmother of Europe due to her orchestrating the intermarriage of Europe's ruling families to try and unite the continent. Every attempt failed repeatedly, fulfilling Daniel's prophecy.
One of Queen Victoria's grandchildren, Kaiser Wilhelm II, was the Emperor of Germany in World War I. It is believed that the Kaiser understood Daniel's predictions, but said that Daniel's prophecy did not fit with his plans and that where Charlemagne and others had failed, he would successfully unite Europe. He wrote that the end result of his rule would be a United States of Europe.
In a 1940 letter to his sister, Princess Margaret of prussia, Wilhelm wrote, the hand of God is creating a new world and working miracles. We are becoming the United States of Europe under German leadership. A united European continent.
In the late 18 hundreds, the Kaiser funded some renovations for Metz Cathedral in France. A statue of the prophet Daniel was included. But instead of the statue bearing Daniel's face, the Kaiser's own face was sculpted there.
That's a bold move indeed. However, history shows that the Kaiser died in exile, and that Daniel's prophetic timeline withstood yet another attack. Next came Hitler, with an army of more than 15 million, and he promised to do what the Kaiser could not.
He promised to unite Europe and build an empire that would last a thousand years. The story is told that Hitler gave orders for the Kaiser's face to remain on Daniel's statue during World War II, but that Hitler's own face was to be carved there after he ruled all of Europe history records that Hitler took his own life. The Kaiser's face remained, and again, Daniel's prophecy held true europe did not unite.
Ultimately, the Kaiser's mustache was shaved off by sculptors, and today Daniel stands there confidently awaiting another attempt to destroy the 100% accuracy of his predictions. After World War II, the uniting of Europe was seen as a way of avoiding the extremes of nationalism that had all but destroyed the continent. Alliances delicately arranged around the goals of peace and security through unity led to what we now call the European Union, an entity that some media commentators prefer to call, well, the Europe Project, because true unity is proving a serious challenge amidst the constant flurry of European Union politicking.
I can imagine Daniel looking down from the cathedral and saying, just as iron and clay do not bind together, europe will never be truly united as a single empire. The EU's two biggest members, Germany and France, work tirelessly to strengthen and fortify the Union. But its fractures and imbalances are visibly growing.
In Franz Olivier Gibair's biography of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, he wrote of an exchange between Sarkozy and Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel. Sarkozy said, we are made to get on. We are the head and legs of the European Union.
To which Merkel replied, no, Nicholas, you are the head and legs. I am the bank. Were they just playing a tune for the media? Or does neither nation realize that they're actually not the head or the legs, but just the toes? Less than 30 years since the hope filled signing of the Mastricht treaty that officially birthed the European Union, europe's fragile harmony is under phenomenal strain.
A number of its once open borders are being walled up literally to stop unwanted immigration. Social and religious phobias are dividing parliaments, boardrooms and playgrounds. Economic inequality, rising unemployment and political extremism are gaining ground.
The iron and the clay just aren't mixing. Even though most of Europe's population long ago forgot about their roles in the fulfillment of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, they still cling to a future hope of peace and security. And rightly so.
These are all wonderful virtues, and naturally, human nature, European or otherwise, doesn't like the insecurity of living in the divided toes of the statue. We want to try to somehow reverse the course of history, maybe even recreate the legs of iron or even the mighty head of gold. Daniel's prophetic history of tomorrow has been proven 100% accurate across 2600 years.
And while his predictions don't actually end with the divided toes, we've been living down in those toes of history for a worryingly long time. Daniel's next predicted event is imminent. So here it is that you and I stand, 26 centuries after the dream and its very clear interpretation were given to the great Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.
And it is from this point, right near the end of the great timeline of our planet, that Professor Glenn Bauersock did his research. The author of more than a dozen books and over 300 published articles on Greek, Roman and Near Eastern history and culture, bauersok identified a fundamental reason for our fascination with the fall of empires, particularly that of Rome. He said, from the 18th century onward, we have been obsessed with the fall of Rome.
It has been valued as an archetype for every perceived decline and hence as a symbol for our own fears. Fears? What fears? Aren't many nations of the world enjoying the benefits of democracy, wealth, political and military alliances, technological advances and the lifestyle comforts that we all desire? Don't the UN, the EU, the US and the Vatican have it all under control? Isn't this another great empire that we are building? Surely, even if there are a few cracks in the system, our combined creativity, goodwill and ingenuity should help to avoid any real catastrophes, shouldn't they? Looking at our collective assets, we certainly appear to have the brains and resources to build a whole new world order. This climate of brotherhood, unity and future focused thinking is a perfect time to implement what we have learnt from the empires that have gone before us and to see what Daniel's prophecy so clearly says about what will actually happen on Earth in the very near future.
False security, dead ahead. History has a way of leaving single words that encapsulate tectonic shifts in social, economic and political direction. Glasnost, perestroyka, 911, apartheid.
Each word represents an ideological tsunami that has changed modern history, for better or worse. As we move our gaze towards the sobering but exciting events that are about to take place on Earth, daniel also gives us a single word that is loaded with powerful meaning. His word is shalvur.
Allow me to explain it. In Daniel's 8th chapter, we see a description of a proud, cunning and deceptive worldwide power that will exist in the last days of Earth's history. In the time of the statue's toes, it will prosper and thrive and display mighty power.
But its power will actually come from others. Daniel also says that this powerful entity which already exists in our world today will cause deceit to prosper, and by peace shall destroy many. How on earth can peace be used to destroy? Aren't peace and prosperity the ultimate protectors of humanity? If we dig deeper, we find that the original Hebrew word that Daniel used and is translated here as peace, is actually the Hebrew word Shalvor.
Most Hebrew language scholars agree that the word Shalvor, in Daniel's 8th chapter, verse 25, is describing peace or prosperity, but in very deceptive and destructive forms. In fact, the widely respected, strong's, exhaustive Concordance, which provides definitions for ancient Hebrew words, lists the very first definition of Shalvur as security. Genuine or false.
In light of our study so far, this definition should raise our eyebrows. We have clearly seen in the histories of Babylon, Medo, Persia and Greece that false security parading as true security is one of the most deceptive and destructive forces in history. According to Daniel's writings and a clear study of history, this deceptive form of Shalvo peace and security has already repeatedly and will soon once again destroy many nations.
Today, nations dread insecurity above any other fear. World leaders run to and fro across the face of the planet, frantically trying to negotiate deals that will ensure economic and military security for their people. As Shakespeare famously penned, all the world's a stage.
As an audience of citizens, we watch as new laws are rapidly passed to improve security. Yet they simultaneously remove our collective freedoms and undermine morality and ethics. And it's all done under the pretense of delivering world peace and providing us with increased economic and personal security.
Or is it all just shalvo, false peace and false security? We are surrendering our once cherished morality and freedoms for an apparition a false sense of security, because there's more to being secure than having robust borders, economic prowess, employment, health care, and a formidable military. That's not to say that these benefits aren't wonderful or that our security forces are not both necessary and powerful. They are.
In fact, our armed forces are more powerful than at any prior time in Earth's history. But they won't be enough. The coming crisis will not be won by the kingdom with the highest walls, the fastest armies, the most skilled generals, the best technological weapons, or the farthest reaching economic sanctions.
Nor will the outcome hinge on political alliances, stock markets, gold reserves, or even the ability to print more money. Ultimately, it won't even be about nations and borders, as Daniel presents so simply and without any room for error. The next empire is not of this world.
It should be no surprise that Daniel's prophecy, which so accurately mapped out the rise and fall of all the great empires of the Middle East and Europe, also spoke of the very last empire, the one that unmasks the false security, the Shalvur, the last. Empire. Daniel pulled no punches when he announced his literally earth shattering conclusion.
Daniel said, you, O king, were watching, and behold a great image. This great statue, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you, and its form was awesome. This image's head was of fine gold, that's Babylon its chest and arms of silver.
Medo persia its belly and thighs of bronze greece its legs of iron rome its feet partly of iron and partly of clay, that's the divided kingdoms you watched king while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Daniel continued, and in the days of these kings, that is, the kings, presidents and prime ministers of today, the God of Heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold. The great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.
A thorough study of history reveals that ultimately the prophecies of Daniel have been fulfilled according to God's timetable. Regardless of how kings, presidents and parliaments have chosen to act, we have seen how accurately God, through Daniel, was able to foretell the history of empires centuries before the events took place. We can know that he really is an allpowerful God who knows the history of tomorrow and that the next events that he predicted will also occur.
Who will lead? Now that we've overviewed the past 2600 years, let's focus our attention on today's religiopolitical alliances, alliances that were also clearly predicted in the ancient writings. It is during the days of these alliances, our days today, that the last empire will be established, with many modern wars being fought over religious differences rather than geographical or political quarrels. It was no surprise when the recently retired Israeli president Shimon Perez visited Pope Francis at the Vatican and, as the media reported, presented to the pontiff his plan to create a sort of United Nations for religions.
Shimon Perez, a Jew, was reported as saying to Pope Francis, given that the United Nations has run its course, what we need is an organization of United Religions as the best way to counteract these terrorists who kill in the name of their faith. What we need is an unquestionable moral authority who says out loud, no, God doesn't want this and doesn't allow it. Perez said that he wanted to establish an international body representing the world's major religions as a moral force able to intervene in conflicts.
That's an interesting choice of words. Would this new religiopolitical United Religions be both a moral force and a security force? If so, where would it get its force to be able to intervene in conflicts? Or would it be a power broken alliance between a political power with its own military force and a religion, just like the 533 Ad alliance between pagan and papal Rome? Perez said that Pope Francis would be the best person to lead such a global entity because, he said, perhaps for the first time in history, the Holy Father is a leader who's respected not just by a lot of people, but also by different religions and their representatives. Just one month after Perez's visit to the Vatican, new York Times columnist Roger Cohen, in an apparently unrelated article, voiced the thoughts of a growing portion of humanity.
He wrote, Many people I talk to, and not only over dinner, have never previously felt so uneasy about the state of the world. The search is on for someone to dispel, foreboding, and embody again the hope of the world. Pope Francis'grandfatherly Face has quickly become an icon for magazine covers, including Rolling Stone, Life, America, Fortune, Vanity Fair, The Advocate, Esquire, and even National Geographic.
Time magazine ran a story titled Pope Francis and the New Roman Empire, in which the question was asked, can Francis, with no army or global financial clout, leverage his popularity in the developing world to influence the great powers, especially the United States? Based on Daniel's predictions, the answer is very clearly yes. The papacy's moral megaphone is on full volume, and the Pope's messages are being applauded. Across the globe, Francis has met cordially with key leaders of every major religion on Earth, and all of the world's most influential presidents, prime ministers and diplomats have created every opportunity to visit him inside the opulence of the Vatican.
His address to the entire United States Congress, the first ever for a pope, and his speech at the United Nations summit in New York were received with multiple standing ovations as the megastar pope expanded his globe encompassing ministry. It all adds up to a hectic but very powerful schedule for the monarch of the smallest nation on earth an apparently humble clergyman. Unholy Alliances so history rolls on in repetitive, wave after wave.
Again, just as in the days of Emperor Justinian and Pope John II, the world seeks a leader to be a moral compass for our fracturing society. We hope for some sort of global alliance that can give us peace and security, or at least deliver us some feelings of peace and security. Space doesn't permit a detailed overview of all the precisely predicted alliances and geopolitical and religious events that are currently unfolding in our world.
If you want to understand the specific details of past, present, and future religiopolitical alliances and events, please read the book The Great Controversy by Ellen White. But it's suffice to say here that powerful players like the United States government, the Vatican, Islam and Protestant America are all heavily though in some cases not necessarily knowingly involved all four of these entities and their imminent actions are clearly identified in Daniel's prophecies and elsewhere. In the near future, our news screens will report the often united but ultimately ill fated efforts of these powers as they attempt to combine the strengths of religion and government in order to legislate a return to selected moral commands of their scriptures.
To historians and foreign policy analysts, it will be no surprise that the key reason given for the creation of these coming church and state alliances and their accompanying changes to our laws will be the desire to improve national and global security to bring peace on Earth. Other reasons will include protection of the environment, reducing the rich poor divide, and safeguarding the family structure. However, the very same prophecy that so accurately predicted the construction and destruction of Babylon, Medo, Persia, Greece, Rome and our own divided Europe clearly states that we cannot rely on the security or the morality of human alliances to save us.
There is no military, political or religious leader on Earth who can successfully orchestrate world peace, global security or an end to the all pervasive immorality that is sweeping our planet. Based on Daniel's historically accurate timeline, today we are living in the toes of the statue, maybe even in the toenails. Humanity has almost run its course.
Daniel's stone, cut out without hands, is about to smash into history. God is about to set up his kingdom and no empire, alliance or religion will stand against it. Over 1900 years ago, a Roman citizen who is best known today as the Apostle Paul predicted that the arrival of the very last empire would come as a great surprise to many people on Earth.
He said it would come like a thief in the night. Paul foresaw a time when Earth's inhabitants would be calling for peace and security, but sudden destruction would come upon them and they would not escape. The establishment of this very last Empire will be a literal, personal, visible and global event.
It's a rock solid fact, a history of tomorrow as unavoidable as the evidence for the rise and fall of Babylon, Medo, Persia, Greece and Rome. As Daniel looked down through time to our day, he saw that we would be running backwards and forwards between the nations and that knowledge would be increasing at a phenomenal rate. Today technology allows instantaneous reporting of global events.
Yet when we see the reports of the world's deteriorating political, economic, social, environmental and moral conditions, we can't avoid seeing evidence of rapidly escalating last day events. These are the very events that were predicted to happen in the time of the end. That is the time of the toes.
Edward Carr, foreign editor for The Economist magazine, recently wrote a classic weather forecast for the state of the world. He described how the foreign policy experts fear that the international fabric is fraying. The world is coming apart at the seams.
And that whilst some sense of order will be restored, the sense of impending chaos will endure. In a brilliant moment of classic understated writing, Carr wrote just now, the world seems uncommonly hard to manage. How true that is.
Today, the prophet Daniel is respected across the world by Jews, Christians, Muslims and even many people who claim no faith at all. In the ominous darkening shadow of current world events, millions are turning back to his writings to find guidance and hope for the future. Some things never change.
Politics and religion will continue to be the undefeatable drivers of national and global security and insecurity until Earth's final day. Yet the rapidly unfolding 100% fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy is allowing us to see media reports through new eyes and to rethink our worldviews about economics, security, morality and faith. As the daily news rolls, we see pessimistic reports of doom and gloom.
But Daniel brings hope. He reveals the strategies of a loving God who is about to make a worldwide announcement. Game over.
Yet there is one important question that remains to be answered. That question is, am I ready? Am I personally ready for God to set up his eternal kingdom? Is my conscience clear and my heart pure? Am I prepared to confess my sins and turn from them and to accept God's offer of his son Jesus as my savior? Or is my heart filled with the distractions of busyness entertainments and selfish desires of this world? Have I let my moral compass wander in my pursuit of financial security and a comfortable lifestyle? The very same God who gave the dream to King Nebuchadnezzar and revealed its meaning to Daniel still offers genuine hope to every person and even to every nation that has turned its back on Him. When the people who followed Jesus around Israel asked him, jesus, who can be saved? Jesus replied, with men it is impossible, but not with God, for with God, all things are possible.
And in those eternal words of hope, jesus gave the key to true peace and true security. It's the word with. Am I with God? Are you with God? Is our nation with God? Are we truly on his side? If we aren't, then we're going to lose.
But if we are, our future is very bright. Daniel's God, who never changes, says to us, I know the plans I have for you. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Daniel's prophecy shines like a light in an increasingly dark world. It gives me and all of us real hope for tomorrow and an absolute certainty of the amazing future that is just ahead. Nobody knows how much longer Earth's history will last.
Even Daniel's prophecies don't give an exact day or hour for the establishment of the last empire. And with the increasing prevalence of natural disasters, transport, accidents, disease, terrorism and crime, we can't even be absolutely sure that any one of us will be alive tomorrow. Yet we can take control of our own future.
We don't need to rely on the rise and fall of nations, armies or politicians. We can individually control our own destiny. That's good news.
Really, really good news. I humbly present this prophecy to you and encourage you to consider its importance in your life. The greatest rescue event in Earth's history is soon to take place.
The last empire is about to be set up, and it's out of this world. Daniel's history of Tomorrow points us again and again to that one important question, the most important question of our lives. Am I ready? So where to next? If you know that you're not right with God and you want to get to know him better, make sure you read the Book of John in the Bible and ask God to help you to understand what you read.
If you have an interest in world history and current events and would like to know the specific details of the fast approaching religio political showdown, I very highly recommend The Great Controversy by Ellen White. This book has been described as a book of history, mystery, crime and intrigue, and its latter chapters go into great detail of the world events that are soon to take place. These books can lead you into a life of true hope, true peace and true security, both now and for eternity.
You have been listening to the book reading program here on three. ABN, Australia. Radio this concludes the history of tomorrow written by Julian Archer.
From all of us at three. ABN, Australia. Radio we wish you God's blessing you you have been listening to a production of Three ABN, Australia Radio.
