A video transcript
The apostle Paul urged the Corinthians to keep their priorities in order, no matter whatever situation they found themselves, married, unmarried, rich, or poor, so as not to be so absorbed in human affairs. And why not? Because, as the apostle stated, “the scene of this world is changing.”
That axiom is more relevant now than ever before. Just in the span of two centuries, the world has gone from the horse and buggy to bullet trains and satellites. And change is rapidly accelerating. And so is uncertainty.
While many of these changes and developments have been beneficial to mankind, there is a dark side.
Not only has the means been developed to enslave humanity in what some observers warn is an intentionally designed, digitally-driven, techno-tyranny, where our every move and thought is monitored and we will be graded and either rewarded or punished by the degree of our compliance. But even more disconcerting, the power to annihilate every living creature is possessed by nations that are seemingly being irresistibly driven by unseen forces into outright conflict. It is hard to imagine, but the world can literally be incinerated in a matter of minutes simply by someone pushing a little red button.
Yes, indeed, the scene, or stage of this world, is changing.
Hello. My name is Robert King. I have been studying the Bible most of my adult life, with a particular interest in prophecy.
Having spent nearly 30 years as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and a minister of the good news, these past 25 years the spirit has led me in a slightly different direction. Now my message is not so much intended for the general public, but for Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The reason being, the underlying foundation of the Watchtower organization—yes, its core message—is that Christ has already come—that the Kingdom of God is already ruling and Jesus is invisibly present, as he said he would be during the conclusion of the system. And this core message of the Watchtower is simply not true. In fact, it is a satanic delusion.
I have written much about this, and even posted a few videos, but in a nutshell the inspired apostle foretold this very thing when he warned the Thessalonians not to be quickly shaken from their reason by seemly inspired expressions, whether written or verbal messages, delivered with apostolic authority, announcing that the presence of Christ has begun and the day of the Lord is here.
The apostle assured us that the presence of Christ will not occur unless the apostasy comes first.
The Watchtower has been the sole source of a distinct message, heralded worldwide, declaring that the day of the Lord and an invisible parousia—or presence—is here and that it began in 1914.
My mission as Jehovah’s Watchman is to clear away the falsehoods—to uproot and tear down, and to plant and rebuild— to prepare the minds of those who are receptive to anticipate the authentic coming to power of the Kingdom of Christ in the very near future.
We are talking about a profound, earth-shaking change that will find most of Earth’s 8 billion inhabitants wholly unprepared.
Although fast-paced changes are occurring, some things have not changed. Although there are many and varied customs and languages, human nature is the same as it always has been. For example, did you know that the first child born in this world grew up to be a murderer? Cain, he was called. And he murdered his own brother. Now murder and slaughter in warfare is just apart of life.
Certainly, there have been various different forms of government over mankind—many different kinds of rulers and political systems, and yet, the same underlying problems persist. The problems are so numerous that time would fail me if I were to innumerate them.
The book of Daniel consists of a series of prophecies that all conclude the same way. Although composed over 25 centuries ago, the book of Daniel is a divinely inspired message for people living now. What is that message? Human governments are only a temporary arrangement. Ultimately, they will be found wanting, unsatisfactory, and at odds with God.
The Creator intends to replace modern civilization entirely, utterly destroying it, and give to mankind—the survivors anyway—a fresh start under the reign of a government provided by Heaven—the Kingdom of God.
In 1999, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society published a book entitled Pay Attention to Daniel’s Prophecy. That exhortation is more timely now than 26 years ago. With that exhortation in mind, this video is the first of what I intend to be a series of programs offering an in-depth exploration of Daniel’s prophecy. I expect in the immediate future that the developments outlined in the extraordinary prophecy of Daniel to begin to unfold.
While the Watchtower’s publication provides helpful historical information and context, the interpretations of Daniel’s prophecies have proven to be inadequate—even misleading. And even that was foretold in prophecy.
The problem of interpretation arises because of what an angel stated to Daniel in the closing words of the prophecy. He said: “As for you, Daniel, keep the words secret, and seal up the book until the time of the end. Many will rove about, and the true knowledge will become abundant.”
Daniel did not literally seal up the book he wrote 25 centuries ago. How could he have? The book of Daniel was part of the original Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus even cited Daniel and urged the reader to use discernment to understand its meaning.
However, the truth of the matters recorded in Daniel, which is history before it occurs—will not be fully understood until events foretold therein take place. Then, something extraordinary will occur. Daniel 12:3 states: “And those having insight will shine as brightly as the expanse of heaven, and those bringing the many to righteousness like the stars, forever and ever.”
Jesus alluded to this phenomenon is the 13th chapter of Matthew in an illustration of the harvest of the wheat and the weeds during the time of the end. After the weeds are uprooted, bundled up and burned in the fire, Jesus said the chosen ones will shine as brightly as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.
In spite of the dearly-held belief of Jehovah’s Witnesses that the foretold time of the end began in 1914, the challenge for would-be interpreters of Daniel—myself included—is because the time of the end has not begun. By the way, some Evangelical sects also believe the end times have already begun, anchoring it to the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948.
In reality, the time of the end, or final part of the days, or the conclusion of the system of things, as Jesus called it, is a relatively short period. It is not decades long and certainly not a century. In fact, the duration of the time of end is cryptically revealed in the book of Daniel. But the discussion of that sacred secret is for another episode.
There is another aspect to Daniel besides the series of prophecies that he recorded. Daniel, as well as his three Hebrew companions, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, play a prophetic role.
When Nebuchadnezzar first laid siege to Jerusalem he did not then destroy the city. Instead, he looted the temple and took some of the golden utensils as booty and also captured some of the young princes among the Jews. Daniel was one. So were Hannaniah, Mishael, and Azariah. The prophet/priest, Ezekiel, was also among those taken into exile in far away Babylon.
Daniel and his three companions were sent to school for three years to learn the wisdom of Babylon and the Chaldean language and writing, which at that time was Aramaic. They were to serve as government ministers, perhaps envoys and emissaries in the vast Babylonian empire that encompassed 120 jurisdictional districts. However, God had another assignment for the Jewish exiles—especially Daniel.
The King of Babylon dreamt a series of dreams. The dreams were so vivid they greatly disturbed his mind. He was so agitated he could not sleep. He summoned all the magic-practicing priests, the conjurers, and sorcerers and tasked them with the impossible. Nebuchadnezzar did not ask them to interpret his dream. He ordered them to tell him what he had dreamt. They rightly responded that no man could do what the king demanded. Only the gods, who do not dwell among mortals, could do such a thing.
In a rage, the king ordered all of the so-called wise men of Babylon, including Daniel, to be immediately killed. When hearing of this, Daniel requested a stay of execution to give him time to petition his God to reveal to him what Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed.
The Chaldean conjurers were half right. Only the gods could reveal what the king had dreamt. But not just any god. Marduk, the chief god in the Babylonian pantheon, could not do what his devotees demanded. The conjurers and sorcerers were powerless because their gods were impotent. Only the true God could do what the king demanded. So, it was a test of authenticity. A test of godship.
After Daniel thanked the God of heaven for revealing the dream to him, he was hurriedly escorted before Nebuchadnezzar. This is why Daniel was taken to Babylon. This is why he learned the writing and the language of Babylon—so that he could take his place on center stage before the king of the world and give a witness concerning the Revealer of secrets—Jehovah.
In this, Daniel was playing a role in a prophetic drama. How so? Because Jesus explained to his disciples that during the time of the end, they would be made to stand before governors and kings and give them a witness. And Jesus gave explicit instructions that they were not to rehearse beforehand what they would say. What they would say to the rulers of the world the would be given them in that very hour—just as it was in the case of Daniel before the king of Babylon.
As for the dream itself, even casual Bible readers are aware of it. Nebuchadnezzar had a vision of a frighteningly large and radiant statue composed of various metals. But as he gazed at the towering image a stone cut out of a faraway mountain came hurdling like a meteor and it struck the image on the feet and toppled it and crushed it into dust, that the wind blew away.
Daniel was inspired by the holy spirit not only to tell the king what he had dreamt, but to explain what it meant. Nebuchadnezzar himself was the head of gold. After him would come another kingdom symbolized by the silver. Then another kingdom represented by the copper. Then another iron-like kingdom. Then the feet of the iron and clay.
Daniel did not explain to Nebuchadnezzar what the silver and copper would be in reality. But in a subsequent prophecy, Daniel foretold the rise of Persia and Greece.
We are aware that the book of Revelation is complementary to Daniel’s prophecy, which will be examined in detail in another episode. But for simplicity, the 17th chapter of Revelation foretells the rise of the last king, called an eighth king that springs from the seven previous kingdoms.
Oh, by the way, the reason Nebuchadnezzar only envisioned five successive kings, whereas Revelation depicts a wild beast with seven heads, representing seven kingdoms, is because two of the kingdoms had already come and gone before Babylon ascended; namely, Egypt and Assyria.
But what about the eighth king? Since there are only five metals in the immense image and we know that the gold, silver, copper, iron and the feet of iron and clay represent the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, Roman and Anglo-American empires, in that order, why did the Revealer of secrets neglect to portray the eighth king as part of the image? Is the last kingdom of man unimportant? Is it of such little consequence that God did not see fit to include it?
Keep in mind that Daniel informed the king that the God of heaven had revealed to him what was to occur in the final part of the days.
Obviously, the statue represented various empires that had not even come into existence when Nebuchadnezzar dreamed it. And it would be 25 centuries before the feet of iron and clay, upon which the statue stands, would come into existence in the form of the present Anglo-American dual world power.
But since the final part of the days have not begun, and to press the point, what is represented by the image did not even exist until the Anglo-American dyad began ruling the world, what does the statue itself symbolize?
The answer is, the immense shining image represents the eighth king, the last king. And the last king has not come onto the world’s stage—yet. It will, though, in the final part of the days.
What is recorded in the second chapter of Daniel is merely the first in a series of prophecies that depict the same thing in greater detail and complexity. And they all reveal the same thing, which is the tumult that brings down the present ordering of nations—also known as the Westphalian nation-state system—and give rise to the last kingdom.
To be sure, the world is about to suddenly change in ways that are unimaginable. The present system is going to be violently swept away and replaced with a totalitarian world government. And then the final confrontation will occur at the place known as Armageddon.
The scene of this world is changing fast. Indeed, we should all follow the Watchtower’s exhortation to keep paying attention to Daniel’s prophecy.
