See, when it comes to taking a stand for God, it starts with one person.
There's a purposing in the heart where one man decides, "I'm not going to do it."
One person takes a stand, three other people say, "We're not going to do it either."
There will be people who are beheaded for the cause of Christ.
Like Daniel.
We better decide right now not to compromise, not to give in, not to bow down to whatever
the devil demands of us, even now.
If they can't take a stand now, how in the world could they ever take a stand during
the tribulation?
Who will live God, the imprised Jesus, shall suffer persecution?
We need to pray for boldness.
You say, "I can't help it.
I'm scared.
I'm a coward."
God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind,
and we ought to pray for boldness.
Oh God, give me the boldness.
And for you.
Give us the Daniel series, Paul.
Give us the Daniel series.
Thanks for joining us for the season finale of the Baptist Bias podcast.
Of course, we're going to be continuing though with the Daniel series, one episode every
week.
It's a super highly anticipated series that's going to be released.
In fact, we've been waiting years for this.
You can see that there was some pent up anticipation there with Pastor Jimenez was pretty funny,
but thanks so much to Paul Wittenberger and Framing the World for helping us.
We were able to work with them to get this Daniel series finished to the finish line.
A lot of people donated.
A lot of people were excited about this project and we're finally here.
We're going to be airing episode one of the Daniel series tonight at 9 p.m.
So in less than one hour, we're going to be releasing it and you don't have to go anywhere.
It's going to be on this stream.
We were thinking about previously streaming on the Steadfast Channel, but we're actually
just going to put the show here on the Baptist Bias.
So this is where you can watch it.
Also next week at 8 p.m. and every Tuesday at 8 p.m. we'll be releasing each one of those
episodes.
Now, main editor for this film is our co-host, Ben the Baptist.
How's it going?
Going great.
And yeah, I'll reiterate what you said and just give a shout out and a thank you to Framing
the World and Brother Wittenberger for doing the camera work and some of the other work
that he did on this film.
Great camera work.
I liked it a lot, high quality.
For those watching, when you check out the Daniel series when it debuts, just understand
the camera work was done by Brother Paul and he set up this cool railing camera on a rail
and other different angles, action shots, all kinds of different angles.
So that was really great and made my life a lot easier.
Yeah, he's very professional, so it's great to get footage from Brother Paul.
We actually have the star of the show who's going to be joining us for a quick preview
of this series, Pastor Steven Anderson from Faithward Baptist Church.
How's it going?
Going great.
Thanks for having me on.
I'm really excited about this thing finally coming out.
At the time, I put a lot of thought into the sermons.
I did a lot of study, especially on some of the more difficult chapters toward the end
of the book.
And so I really wanted it to be a high quality series that would last for a long time and
that it would be up there with the Revelation series as far as helping people's understanding
and that people would enjoy it and love it for many, many years to come.
And so I was a little disappointed when years went by without it really happening.
And so this is super exciting for me to see this come out.
It's really important because it seems like lately there have just been a lot of goofball
teachings on End Times and even independent fundamental Baptists and even people that
we are maybe loosely friends with having some strange views and things being influenced
by things like preterism or all millennialism or postmillennialism and things like that.
And I feel like this series is the cure to that disease simply because it really addresses
one of the biggest misunderstandings in Bible prophecy, which is this tension between futurism
and preterism when in reality the answer is dual fulfillment and with the abomination
of desolation, even triple fulfillment. And I go to great pains in this series, especially
in the sermons on chapter seven, chapter eight, and the sermon on rightly dividing the book
of Daniel in just proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that there are multiple fulfillments
in view. And so it seems like the futurist crowd just totally ignores the fulfillments
that have already happened. And then the preterist crowd just foolishly acts like, oh, it's all
over, it's all done, nothing more to see here, folks. So yeah, figure out that, you know,
there's a middle path that's correct. One of the great things about this series is even
though it was preached in 2018, it's more relevant than the newspaper that's coming
out tomorrow. And in fact, we've been watching it and working on it and editing it. And you
can tell occasionally that this was, you know, something you're referencing things from that
time period. But generally speaking, it feels fresh. It feels fresh off the iron. And it's
kind of incredible to see how it's just aged so well. And it's going to continue to age
well. I'm excited for people to see it. It goes in tandem really well. Fries and ketchup
with the Revelation series and elaborating further and kind of showing how those things
fit together. There's no contradictions and that they tell the same story about the future,
which what's interesting is our first real Baptist bias podcast. We had you on as a guest
doing Daniel chapter number nine, where you kind of went. We went in detail and we talked
about that. And so it's kind of fitting that a few years later, we're now going to release
the Daniel series. Very exciting, exciting to hear that chapter expounded again. And
of course, chapter 11 was a great sermon. I actually got to be there for all of those
sermons. Ben, do you think you know the book of Daniel a little bit better now? It would
be sad if I didn't, considering I've watched each sermon like 12 times, if I didn't get
it by then. But so you're like the hundred and forty four thousand, twelve, twelve, not
so sure about that. But no, I mean, obviously I appreciate the opportunity just from a personal
a personal standpoint. Like when I worked on the Preserved Bible, it helped me immensely
on understanding the topic of, you know, King James only is in Bibliology, whatever you
want to call it. And the same thing occurred here with this project. So that was really
cool. But I want to echo what you're saying. It is an evergreen production, if you want
to call it that, in the sense that don't get scared by the fact that this was recorded
in 2018. It is still very relevant. And in fact, take away the desert theme inside the
building of Faith Forward Baptist Church. The auditorium is a little smaller, but you
take that away and you would think that this was preached, I mean, recently, maybe even
last year or something like that. It really doesn't feel like something from that time.
And the reason why is because all the things that were going on back then are happening
now. In this series, for those of you who haven't seen it yet, which is everyone, unless
you've watched the unedited version, Pastor Anderson rips face - I won't spoil anything,
but I will say this - he rips face on the fags, on the homos. Well, guess what? There
were homos in 2018. There were homos before that. There's homos today. So obviously it's
still relevant, the things that he was talking about.
Yeah, a lot of current events were able to be used in the broadcast because what you
were saying is a timeless truth. And of course, with prophecy, it's just those things are
going to come to pass. And so we see them coming to fruition. And of course, the doctrines
here are everlasting doctrines. And so it's really important for people to understand
the book of Daniel, even today in 2024 America. And these are timeless truths. And of course,
the Bible itself is going to be better understood the closer we get to the end. But everything
that was in that series is great. I kind of wanted to ask of the sermons that you preached,
is there one particular episode that you're looking forward to the most Pastor Anderson
as far as watching or that you are kind of interested how it came out?
I would probably point to chapters seven and eight, just because I think that those are
the most interesting chapters in the book of Daniel. You know, the cool thing about
the book of Daniel and the way that it's laid out is that it starts out with the first
six chapters, which are Bible stories. And it's really some of the most bottom shelf
scripture in the whole Bible as far as just for a little child or a new believer to just
read some fun stories from the Bible. That's the first half, the first six chapters. But
then the latter six chapters of the book are some of the most difficult chapters in the
Bible, super heavy prophecies. It's kind of interesting how Daniel balances that which
is really easy on the surface with that which is really difficult toward the end. I think
that chapter 11 may be the most difficult chapter in the whole Bible. And I put a lot
of study into that sermon because it was super hard to just, you know, wrap my mind around
everything that's going on in that complicated chapter. So, you know, obviously coming from,
you know, my place as being a pastor who's been preaching for 20 some years and everything,
you know, the really difficult, heavy prophetic stuff toward the end of the book, chapter
seven, chapter eight, chapter 11 is, is what I'm looking forward to the most. But I think
that for the average viewer, they're probably really just going to love the first six chapters
just because it's going to be more just fun, practical, just good stories. You know, I
think about my daughter who just turned eight years old and she just loves the book of Daniel.
You know, she's got her little Bible and she reads those stories. And I remember as a kid
just loving the first six chapters of Daniel. When it comes to the prophetic aspects of
the book, you know, I consider it to be a strong meat of the word. And I think that
obviously the New Testament should always take precedence in our understanding of end
times prophecy because it's going to be the most clear. The stuff in the Old Testament
is a little bit more through a glass darkly, if you will. And so the New Testament, the
book of Revelation is really the starting point. And then this is sort of the graduate
studies in Bible prophecy, you know, kind of going to another level with strong meat.
So for people who are into prophecy and they've digested the Revelation series, you know,
if you want to think of an Old Testament book that deals with the second coming of Christ
and end times prophecy, obviously Daniel is the big one.
And so I think there's something in this series for everyone because, like I said, the first
six chapters, I think are pretty bottom shelf.
And then hopefully by the time people get through those first six chapters, they're
going to be hooked on the series and glean as much as they can from the difficult sections
toward the end.
And, you know, they're difficult sections, but I hope the sermons are difficult because,
you know, my whole goal as a preacher is to take that which is difficult and complicated
and make it easy.
So my hope is that even someone who's newly saved or doesn't have a huge amount of knowledge
is going to be able to watch all 12 of these episodes and not be scratching their head
and walk away feeling like, "Okay, yeah, I got something out of this.
I get it."
I appreciate as a listener, Pastor Shelley, and Pastor Ederson, you share this attribute
as well, that you guys get up and you preach on difficult sections of scripture.
We talked about the strong need of the word, and you're able to break it down and make
it palatable for the listener, rather than getting up and using flowery, intense, difficult
theological terms that no one in the congregation is understanding simply to show off, or acting
like that brain-dead idiot from the Flat Earth debate who used a bunch of big words out of
context that he himself probably didn't even understand.
But my point is, I appreciate that you guys are able to break down the information for
us and make it easier for those who aren't as familiar with the Scripture.
Well, anticharpuscular rays and magnetic declination is really common, so if you don't understand
that, you should probably go back to school.
There's something wrong with me.
I've got to read some more.
From your perspective, Ben, what episode are you kind of looking forward to people watching?
You've put a lot of these together, you've seen them, you were able to add a little bit
of the b-roll, mostly a lot of just the verses and the screen shots.
But from your perspective, what episode do you think people are going to really resonate
with or what was the episode that you really enjoyed the most?
I'm going to say chapter nine for me personally.
I'm fascinated with verses 26 and 27 in particular, just as a, I guess you could say prophecy
nerd if you want to call it that.
There's a lot of misinformation about what those verses are about.
Many point to them being about Jesus Christ himself when it's not at all.
And so specifically in reference to the Antichrist, when it's talking about the Antichrist coming
into the midst of Daniel's 70th week, the explanation of what Daniel's 70th week actually
is, the events that will occur during that time period.
So I think for me, that's probably the chapter that I would be most looking forward to if
I was simply just a viewer.
Well, it does seem like Daniel's 70th week is, there's a lot of viewpoints out there.
There's a lot of differences of opinion out there and it's kind of crazy to me to see
how much variation, how much splitting seems to be happening on those sections and a lot
of people just kind of don't want to believe in a final seven year period.
There's all these metaphors or it already happened or a lot of interesting views.
But when I grew up, I grew up believing there was always a seven year period towards the
end.
So I was probably in an echo chamber a little bit, I guess, to this viewpoint.
But I mean, when you were growing up, Pastor Anderson, did you hear a lot of difference
of opinions on Daniel's 70th week?
Not really.
I grew up as an independent fundamental Baptist.
And so I would say that pretty much all the churches that I grew up in were probably pretty
similar.
Every millennial, they all erroneously held to the pre-tribulation rapture position.
Obviously, they were wrong about that.
But in general, everything was futurist.
Everything was Daniel's 70th week is coming in the future.
And yeah, you talk about it already having happened.
Well, you know what?
It did already happen.
And that's one of the things that we cover in the series is that both already happened
and is going to happen because dual fulfillment is really just prophecy 101.
I mean, if somebody doesn't understand dual fulfillment, I don't even see how they can
even read the Old Testament at all because it's just, it's so prevalent of a theme from
Genesis to Revelation.
I mean, it's huge.
And not only that, but it also kind of even echoes the style of the Hebrew Bible itself
because of the fact that the key feature of Hebrew poetry is parallelism, which is stating
the same thing twice or stating two contrasting things.
And obviously we think of the poetic books, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song
of Solomon, and they are just chock full of doublets, couplets, parallelisms, everything
twice.
But even beyond that, the vast majority of the Old Testament books contain poetic sections.
I think there were only like three books in the Old Testament that contain no poetry.
I mean, it's just a massive percentage of the Old Testament that is written in poetry
rather than prose.
When you're reading books like Isaiah and Jeremiah, they're packed with poetry.
And again, the theme or excuse me, the primary poetic device of Hebrew poetry is parallelism,
these little couplets.
And so, you know, on the macro scale, you also have double tellings of Bible stories
all throughout the Bible.
And then beyond that, you have dual fulfillments of Bible prophecies, right?
In the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die, right?
They die spiritually the day that they eat it, but that's only the shadow fulfillment.
The real fulfillment is when they ultimately physically die.
Yeah.
You know.
Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14, the Bible says, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you
a sign.
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel, butter
and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.
For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that
thou pourest shall be forsaken of both her kings."
So if I read that, Isaiah chapter 7, of course that was fulfilled.
That there was this child born and that did happen in the past.
But then that would be extremely wrong to then not realize that that was a reference
to the Lord Jesus Christ who was coming down the line and how it was going to be fulfilled
with him.
I think what's interesting is like you said and I've watched the series again recently
but you bring up a lot of times even how the book of Daniel itself has a mirroring where
chapters within the book of Daniel mirror other chapters or have parallels with other
chapters and it almost makes me wonder if one aspect of that is just to kind of give
you a hint that this has more than one application.
This has more than one fulfillment of prophecy, the fact that it was mirrored, the fact that
it was doubled because there was visions that were specifically mentioned in the Bible like
saying this was doubled unto you as a significance, like there's a significance attached to the
idea of something being doubled in the Bible and so we should recognize that there's going
to be a multiple fulfillment here.
Plus the whole book of Daniel just has an overtone of end times.
All of the different stories of tribulation and persecution that are brought up with Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego and the trials of Daniel and them having to stand strong on their faith.
I think what's cool to me is as a young child I also love the book of Daniel and I think
for children they like this book because it's talking about children and how they take stands
and how they're willing to take bold steps in the faith.
And I think as a child I may have thought well you know I'm not going to get this opportunity
but the reality is coming down the pike there could be these great opportunities for Christians
to take stands just like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and how we do need to
take bold stands today against opposition.
I know that our persecution is very light in comparison to being thrown into a fiery
furnace literally but do you feel like we've already or you or your church or some of our
friends have kind of seen some of the beginning of sorrows in a sense of like going through
some levels of persecution that are indicative of what the future beholds?
Well you and I have talked about this many times and I'm always trying to tell you how
little persecution I've endured but you never believe me.
Honestly you know to me when I hear you talk like that I just think like nah not really
because you know I just don't feel like I've really been through much persecution at all.
I mean I've been pretty blessed and obviously all that will live God the in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution.
I've gone through some stuff but yeah but I mean let's just be honest because with Daniel
in the in chapter one he's refusing to eat the king's meat and there's a lot of tension
there but in reality he kind of just asked the captain if he can have a different diet
and they're just like sure and then they try it.
So like on the surface it didn't end up escalating into something like really extreme but it
was a level of testing of just where is your faith are you willing to take a bold stand
even if it doesn't end up becoming very extreme you're willing to take that stand and to me
seeing you go like to countries like Botswana or going to some of these places and going
on the radio and just boldly proclaiming what the Bible says not necessarily knowing where
that's going to take you and literally getting deported.
I think that that is some level of persecution that's at least worth mentioning.
I get it that sure you're not thrown in the fiery furnace but not everybody has that specific
trial.
We all have our own trials and our own levels of moments where we have to take a stand or
we may have to say something uncomfortable and maybe that's even on a micro scale you
know standing up to your parents on biblical issues or standing up to your boss or standing
up to friends or standing up to you know people that are protesting your church.
I think you have a very positive outlook on life and that's great I love that but you
know I think for the average person they still would if they went through your life and I
talked to the average person they wouldn't say I've had no persecution or no suffering
or anything.
I mean you're literally like the most banned person in the world so how is that I mean
at least from country's perspective.
Yeah obviously you're right and I think that obviously we all go through things in our
life that are like Daniel chapter one where we're forced to make decisions about how to
handle situations that are thrown at us and what's the right thing to do and we have to
take the risk of going through persecution or facing negative repercussions for our Christian
walk you know obviously these messages in the book of Daniel are really relevant because
they are the types of things that we go through because if you think about the whole story
that's going on in these first six chapters you've got the Israelites that are in captivity
in Babylon and what this represents is us as Christians we're like foreigners in this
world right we're strangers and pilgrims in this world our citizenship is in heaven and
so just like Daniel and the three children they're foreigners in this worldly sinful
place Babylon well that's kind of what all of us are as Christians you know in a sense
we're all Daniel we're all Shadrach Meshach and Abednego because we are foreign to this
world and we don't necessarily fit in we want to excel and do the best we can and obviously
they did that and they worked hard at their job they worked hard at their studies and
they excelled in the world's system but they also took a stand for what was right and had
a huge impact on the people around them obviously Nebuchadnezzar ultimately is sending out a
letter to this whole realm just praising the true God as a result of their testimony and
so obviously this book is super relevant to every Christian who is interested in taking
a stand and and yeah obviously we've all gone through what the Bible calls light affliction
you know the in the book of what first Peter second Peter it says you know our light affliction
I guess that's just the way I choose to look at it just yeah even even the apostles and
even the apostles are kind of looking at it that way comparison to Christ right and some
of us are literally foreigners living in Babylon like Ben so you know he gets to tell us exactly
what that's like so foreign I was born in New Jersey but what I thought you were born
like on a camel or something in the Middle East you could if you want to think that that's
okay okay I don't want to rain on your parade I thought you grew up being taught that America
was the great Satan yeah yeah you got it what was it like being born you know in the desert
as a foreigner well I mean obviously you don't know what it's like to I mean in all seriousness
I lived in Lebedon for like five six years so wasn't you yes granted no not that but
you didn't like I didn't have a language wasn't Lebanese when I was a child I had an accent
when I spoke English so you learned English as your first language yes it was my surprise
by that but anyway you really you take for granted what it's like to be the first world
country I feel like a lot of the time but you guys have a great conversation one thing
I want to point out because with this series obviously the goal is let's see if we can
maybe reach someone new you bring up the revelation series for a lot of people that was perhaps
their introduction to you pastor Anderson in your church and maybe even end times Bible
prophecy as a subject and so the idea is well how are we going to do that with the
Daniel series given the fact that we're not allowed to be on YouTube and all the rest
of it but we are now on band.video and we thought hey let's go ahead and put this series
on band.video and reach that entirely new audience and there's a lot of them on that
platform and I'm hoping that in doing so they'll be introduced for the first time to our movement
and come aboard well and again I think just because so many people online nowadays there's
so many channels and so much streaming you know it also helps that our audience shares
it you know share it mirror it like it weed it make shorts out of it do anything and everything
you can because I know a lot of people I've talked to said the Revelation series is one
of the first things they were ever introduced to when it comes to new IFB style preaching
or even just hearing an alternative view to the preacher rapture I think a lot of people
learned that the preacher rapture was false in the Revelation series specifically and
it seems like whenever I was at faithful word a lot of people talked about the Revelation
series as maybe one of their first introductions that's what caused them to even move out
there or get plugged in or start going soul-winning do you have a lot of people that have come
up to you through the years and kind of brought up the Revelation series absolutely and even
to this day when I ask people hey how'd you hear about our church how'd you find out
about us the number one answer is the Revelation series I mean even though a lot of other
films that we've done with framing the world like After the Tribulation, New World Order
Bible versions, Marching to Zion, Babylon USA obviously those got tons of views some
of them got tens of millions of views but still probably the big one is the Revelation
series as far as just the most common answer to how people found out about our church even
to this day I mean even within the last 12 months multiple people have told me hey I
just found out about you I just found your Revelation series and and so hopefully this
Daniel series will do the same thing because again I think it's it's probably pretty accessible
even for people that are not super into Bible prophecy especially the early chapters and
hopefully it's simple enough all the way through I think it will be but yeah I really like
the fact that this is getting put on a place like man.video which is kind of a new platform
new audience for us and there are just so many people out there that still haven't been
reached that haven't heard about this stuff and also you know even the old IFB that maybe
isn't really too pleased with the end times preaching that I've done you know a lot of
those people eventually I think are going to come around because if they're honest if
they're reading their Bible every day if they're indwelled by the Holy Spirit you know they're
only going to be able to kick against the pricks so long when they just start realizing
how Zionism is such a fraud the pre-tribulation rapture is such a fraud and you know I just
think that in the future a lot of people are going to come around because you know if you
think about it the dispensationalists have this big story that they've been telling my
whole life about how God brought the Israelites into the promised land in unbelief but then
once they're in the promised land he's going to give them a new heart they're going to
get saved all these things that's the story that they were telling in the 60s and 70s
and in the 80s and even in the 90s they kept telling that story but that story at this
point has become absurd they are twisting scripture and have made up this fiction about
how God brings them into the land in unbelief then you know they get saved because we're
always saying like well the children of Israel you know didn't get right with God so why
would God bring them back into the promised land I mean he scatters them throughout history
for their wickedness and then when they get right with God he brings them back I mean
you know there's so much biblical evidence for that but they had this big story where
they're twisting stuff in Ezekiel and no no no he brings them back and unbelief well
the problem is that the year is 2024 and so when are they gonna get saved all of
those people that came to the land in 1947 1948 that whole era virtually all
of them are dead yeah and very few of them an extremely small number of them
got saved like such a small number that it really doesn't even factor in it's
just it's so much less than 1% you might as well just round it down to 0 I mean
praise God for every single individual who receives Christ as Savior praise
God for every Jew that that he even gets saved to this day but let's face it they
came into the land in unbelief they lived in unbelief they died in unbelief
they are burning in hell right now so when are we gonna realize that this bill
of goods that the dispensationalists have sold us just didn't happen it just
isn't a thing right eventually people are gonna say wait a minute this was
supposed to happen and it didn't happen because if it's just their kids or their
grandkids what good is that hey let me bring you into the land so you can go
to hell and your kids can go to hell but you know maybe your grandkids will
magically all get saved even though they're the most unreceptive demographic
on the planet when you got a wonder to you know under the Zionism umbrella you
have people like John Hagee who's not even trying to evangelize that group so
this idea of them converting is even kind of foreign to some of these people
or we had a debate with a couple people on the Red Heifer one was an actual Jew
and one was just kind of a Judaizer but the Judaizer and a lot of these
Judaizing types they don't even believe that these individuals need to be saved
they're still under their first covenant or something and so there they're on no
plan to get them saved and so you've got to wonder the people that actually
believe the gospel and believe that the gospel needs to go to the Jew and to the
Greek if they will kind of wake up I feel like the younger generation though
who hasn't experienced they don't know anything about 1948 they don't really
know a lot about dispensationalism they're not necessarily resonating with
this message and I feel like a lot of this preaching the Zionism preaching and
dispensational preaching is not bringing in the youth it's not bringing in the
next generation and I kind of wonder if these pastors are gonna have to kind of
do what politics does where when the whole culture changes you kind of just
have to be like well yep I'm gonna just accept it just because if I want to
bring people in my church or the vast majority of my church already believes
this you know we're kind of trying to win the masses so that the leaders will
just finally acquiesce to the truth on these issues because there's still great
men out there that believe the gospel and are saved doing so many but they're
just wrong on some of these end times issues and it'd be great for them to
even if they didn't even change but at least to just accept like okay maybe
you're right or it's not as big a deal because they kind of act like we're
these black sheep of Christianity like you can't even have fellowship with us
for having alternative prophetic views whereas while we think they're dead
wrong too we're not holding that against them in a sense like we can't call them
brethren or hang out with them or do works with them or something and so it's
kind of frustrating how the division on this issue has caused the people and
individuals and churches to not even want to fellowship or associate or the
even pray for or be supportive of when they're going through difficulty because
we need more like-minded brethren as the end approaches and as more persecution
is ramped up rather than us all being divided on the timing of the rapture I
mean it just seems silly and pedantic to not support a fellow Baptist because of
you know the preacher rapture or something like that you've experienced
that been have you experienced churches kind of being hostile with that
viewpoint well just once and I told the story on the stream already at a
wedding of all places where I was pulled into the pastor's office to you don't
preach every trip pre-trib at weddings or post-trip no not necessarily I didn't
plan on it at that time but pastor Anderson I isn't the post-trib wraps
rapture or the wrath or whatever that's like after the honeymoon or something
like that no I do I do believe that Daniel 70th week though and a woman's
labor process are explain that again analogous well when a woman begins to go
through the her first what are they called how do I labor pains the labor
pains thank you contractions thank you Tim I had a brain freeze yes when she
first begins the contractions that's like the beginning of sorrows then when
the water breaks that's the abomination of desolation which kick-start 75 days
of great tribulation and that is also the hardest part of the labor right I
mean typically is you know when that the labor process begins to become the most
difficult and then of course the baby comes out that's the rapture and then
after that whole process is over is God's wrath which makes perfect sense
because then you have postpartum but I'm excited about you know a lot of these
episodes Daniel chapter 9 verse 27 being expounded really I like all of the
series I have to admit that I always enjoyed the first half of Daniel a lot
more but I think as time goes on and you kind of want something new to study
some of these other chapters become more appealing they're more interesting I also
think Dana chapter 11 is just as hard never preached like I don't know that
I've ever heard a sermon on it except for your one sermon have you even heard
other people preaching on this chapter you know I don't think I ever have no
it's I mean you didn't have much to go on right I don't blame preachers for not
preaching it because it's it's super difficult so I you know it took me a
long time to figure it out I put a bunch of work into it and so hopefully you
know since I did the heavy lifting you know the viewers at home can just sit
back and and benefit from you know a clear expounding of it but yeah I agree
with you 100% obviously you know we don't break fellowship with people or
look down on people or or make a big deal out of the fact that there are
people who are wrong on and times but the other side is really hostile toward
us they're really emotional about it whereas for us these are non-essential
doctrines although we obviously are passionate about them we care about them
at the end of the day you know we're not gonna just you know tear down or decide
that we don't like another pastor because he's pre-trib you know I'd be
glad to be friends with pastors even if they're wrong on end times and have wrong
views in these areas you know when it comes to the preaching that has been
done by the Zionist pre-trib crowd it was never biblical to begin with and it
was very much tied to current events and it has become extremely outdated it
doesn't make any sense anymore so it's kind of funny to hear these guys still
spouting off the same talking points even though none of it panned out in
real life the the world has changed and like I said it was never biblical to
begin with but it was heavily leaning on hey look what's happening in the world
well here we are it's 2024 and the story played out nothing like they said it was
going to you know you made the point that some of these Zionists are so over
the top that they're not even trying to evangelize Jews but let's face it
independent fundamentalist Baptists who are Zionists they all want to
evangelize Jews you know no I've never heard an independent fundamental
Baptist say that Jews are going to heaven without believing in Jesus that's
more of these like charismatic weirdos but like when it comes to evangelizing
Israel I think that the old IFP has sent a ton of missionaries to Israel because
back when I was in the missionaries to Israel would come through all the time
and we would watch slideshows of missionaries who were preaching in
Israel I had a friend who I was I was trying to get to to you know go to a
certain mission field because he was trying to go to Israel and I'm telling
him no man don't get surreal and you know thankfully he ended up you know I
don't know if it was because I talked to him but he ultimately ended up you know
following my advice not necessarily because I said it but just he wised up
and realized that yeah that was better than being a missionary to Israel
another I'm thinking of another guy that was serving God doing a great work as a
missionary in a certain country that was receptive and then you know after
decades of service Oh God's calling him to Israel it's just so many of these
guys they're so into that Zionist preaching and Zionist doctrine which is
a bunch of baloney that they just get super fired up about going and
evangelizing Israel and obviously I'm for witnessing to anybody but I just
rather see people going to places that are more receptive that already haven't
been evangelized a bunch of times and the thing is there have been tons of
missionaries sent to Israel there have with the right gospel there have been
tons of Baptists who have made a point to give the gospel to Jews as much as
they could and yet we still see just a ridiculously small amount of results and
so why would we just believe that this is going to be magically different in
the future okay I am NOT a Calvinist I do not believe that God just uses who
goes to heaven goes to hell and that there's irresistible grace I don't
believe in irresistible grace and so but therefore why would I believe that these
people are all just gonna magically get saved in the future when it hasn't
happened in our generation it didn't happen in the previous generation
there's no indication of them softening toward the gospel at all wake up people
you've been sold a bill of goods and it's you know it's just it's over man
just put a fork in it it's done it's just it's time to let it go how many
generations how many Jewish generations have to die and go to hell before the
Zionist crowd begin to ask some questions here that's the question I
have I mean it's one after the other and you know what it is though it's just
this clinging to their out-of-context and twisted interpretation of Romans 11
and verse 26 that it's like you got to you got to pry it away from them with a
crowbar or something like that and help them understand that passage it seems
yeah and I understand the point that you're making because we've done a lot
of foreign missions trips and there's a lot of people out there that want to get
saved and you know to me I have options I don't have to go to Israel I can go
wherever I want you kind of made me think of a meme I ended up I don't know
if we can get this on the screen or not but it's it's it's just kind of sad that
we're sending all of these resources to someone that's not very interested when
it's possible we could be giving it to other individuals so I made you a meme
here based on what you were you were describing there perfect you just made
that yeah it's just it's just it's sad because you'll see a guy he's a bunch of
souls he's doing a great work and now it's like I'm going into is like what a
waste of talent right you know it's like God has put us on this earth we've got
one lifetime why would we go beat our heads against the wall in a place where
it's already been tried it's already been done nobody is succeeding you know
and whenever you hear about these Oh revival at Israel there'll be like a fake
news about just all these Jews in Israel getting saved or whatever it's just no
now that we have the internet to fact-check things we know it's not real
like when I was a kid here these vague rumblings about these major rules in
Israel and all this stuff but then like now that we have the internet you can
actually look at the data look at the statistics fact-check these things and
find out that it's a complete fraud it's not an exist and then even when you do
find these so-called messianic Jews I've never met one of them that believed
that salvation was by faith alone it was always a workspace salvation but even
that is not happening in Israel you know that that might be happening different
places throughout the world but you know there's no big revival happening in
Israel there isn't a major conversion to Christianity at all and even when they
do quote unquote convert to Christianity it's always this works based salvation
and if anything it just seems like they're just infiltrating Christianity at
that point and maybe we're a little off topic yeah I wanted to make one more
comment because it seems like there's no new thing under the Sun because in the
book of Acts you have Israel getting a disproportionate amount of Apostles all
dedicated to Israel and it's like the world just gets Paul but hey Paul did a
lot of work and so you know there's a lot of work to do out there and you know
with the book of Daniel series it's it's a great opportunity for people to share
you know share this content with other people it's it's really palatable I know
sometimes people get nervous about sharing new IP content but this is really
palatable well chapter 4 has a face ripping don't worry about that don't
worry about chapter 4. But by the time they get to chapter 4 they've already been softened up by chapters 1 through 3.
So is chapter 1 pretty safe? Yeah of course it's great and I mean you make a lot of
modern-day parallels and challenges and you really relate it for children and us
also to talk about different challenges when we go through so I think that
people are gonna love episode 1 and they're gonna love all of the episodes
because they're all great and they're all different you know they all have a
lot of differences I will say I'm a big fan of when you pastor Anderson go on
this like epic rant and you end it with okay beloved and let us continue our
sermon this evening and I'm like that is a great transition I like it going from
a 10 to a 2 real quickly but no I mean look all kidding aside there really is
a lot of great fiery preaching in this but there's also some practical
applications that I think people will find to be not just useful but maybe
even life-changing I know when you talk about in this series the importance of
being a hard worker how to deal with your boss while also maintaining your
Christian integrity as well using Daniel obviously as an example so
there's a lot of practical application there's the anti-fag stuff which is
great but then there's also that meat of the word that end times Bible prophecy
we brought up Daniel chapter 11 arguably one of the hardest if not the hardest
chapters in the entire Bible you're gonna get it explained to you line by
line leaving no stone unturned in this series coupled with b-roll coupled with
seeing the verses on the screen as well to help you absorb it so you're getting
a whole lot of different content in the series well and even though there was
some items that might be seemingly time-capsuled they still rear their ugly
head the day how about Trump isn't that something that still relevant today yeah
Trump gets mentioned and it's like you preach the sermon yesterday when you
bring him up because he's still obviously relevant he's running for
president again this year what do you think about Trump yeah I don't great
answer I don't really follow politics anymore I've kind of been there done that sure but you know
another thing to say about the series is that it's you know it's verse by verse
preaching through the Bible yeah it's expository preaching and it's not just a
glazing over or a glossing over of anything it's it's actually you know
dealing with everything so it's not like I skipped the hard parts or so I mean
we're going line by line verse by verse you do a great job explaining the chapter
yeah yeah so I breaking it's it's teaching in that the series gets pretty
cerebral at times and goes deep and and and doesn't shy away from the difficult
issues but at the same time they're in full sugar to make the medicine go down
where I you know I try to keep it entertaining and there's a lot of
practical cation and so it's it's it's education in below exhortation it's not
one or the other so it's not dry full course also not
innocuous well one thing I was curious about and this is for both of you when
it comes to Bible passages that deal with a dual fulfillment and something
that had a historical film it fulfillment and an end-time fulfillment
for example Antiochus Epiphanes being a picture of the Antichrist and then you
have the end times Antichrist. Do you have a go-to source that you would appeal to
to learn about the historical events that happened that act as pictures of
the end times? Is there one place that you go to or multiple places that you go
to? How do you do that kind of research because when it comes to history there
is so much misinformation out there. Pastor Shelley is there anything you
would point to? Libraries? Books? I mean where do you get, where does one get
this kind of information to know more about the seven-year Roman-Jewish war or
Antiochus Epiphanes, Titus, whatever these these different historical figures?
I mean I think that you know this is a skill in and of itself a little bit just
because people need to learn the importance of primary witnesses and
firsthand accounts and even just secondary witnesses and trying to track
down source documents also biases that may exist and there's a lot when it
comes to history. History is in some ways just a story and so you kind of have to
take it for what it is but I think you know just trying to do your best to check
sources read original documents and some things it's hard just because English
hasn't always been existed so sometimes you're even reading someone else's
translation of something and you know I think when it comes to history you kind
of look through a glass darkly a little bit so I'm not to the point where you
say we don't know anything about history but at the same time we always have to
take it in my opinion with a grain of salt the Bible is really the only
history that we can rely upon and know that it's factually correct and so I do
think that it's important to take all historical documents with a little bit
of scrutiny but at the same time you know I think there is good resources out
there libraries I think archive org I believe maybe is actually a pretty good
resource I've found a lot of original documents that have been scanned by
libraries and then they put them on archive org we used it for the preserved
Bible yeah and then you can read like you can actually find the exact quotes
because even when people put quotes in there I like to sometimes find the
original and still read all the context and kind of make sure like they're not
even twisting things because boy there's a lot of gaslighting and fake news out
there but I don't know if you have any other suggestions they're passing on or
something well first of all you know I just agree with everything that you said
there I mean when it comes to history obviously there's the level of
historical research of just buying a book about something that is sort of
designed for popular consumption right so you just go to the history section
down at Barnes & Noble or online or whatever and you purchase a book that
just tells the story in a nice clean narrative fashion whether it's about the
Roman Jewish Wars whether it's about Alexander the Great or the generals that
took over his empire after him and all that aftermath and the different history
leading up to the Roman Empire the time of Christ and and all those things
obviously there are a lot of great books on those subjects that are just easy to
read but at the end of the day when you're reading a history book you can't
just believe that it's all gospel because what you have there is a
historian who has looked at the primary sources he's digested them all and he's
come to certain conclusions and usually he's just kind of giving you those
conclusions hopefully if you're reading a good history book things will be
backed up with source citations and you know he'll point to the actual evidence
from which he's drawing his conclusions and so if you want to go to the next
level of historical research you have to start dealing with the original
documents themselves and a lot of people don't understand the difference
between a primary source and a secondary source you know primary source is
something that is written at the time of the events or very close to the time of
the events whereas secondary sources are people writing many many years later
like like a book that was published 20 years ago about the Roman Empire or
something you know that's a secondary source a book published 500 years ago
you know about the Roman Empire is still a secondary source right because only
things that are you know from the time when those things took place are primary
sources and then you know another level of historical research is when you can
actually start reading things in the original languages Greek Latin whatever
obviously most people are never gonna go that deep on these things and look I
still think you can learn a lot and it's great to just pick up even just you know
starting at that first level where you just grab a history book that's just
written for popular consumption and read it that's gonna get you to first base
it's gonna help you understand a lot just so long as you realize that you
can't necessarily just take everything as absolute gospel okay right you know
and then obviously other people are gonna go deeper they're gonna go to the
second level they're gonna go to the third level but at the end of the day
the only thing we can trust 100% is the Bible I've done a lot of historical
research about ancient history I have read a lot of stuff in the original
Greek and Latin sources and everything obviously I still have a lot more to
learn we all do but at the end of the day the history that I'm covering in the
Daniel series isn't really disputed it isn't really controversial there's
nothing that I bring up historically that that I think that any historians
would really argue with I mean it's it's pretty much common knowledge pretty
pretty you know solid ground I'm on whenever I talk about history in the
series right well folks you don't have to wait much longer we're only about
three minutes away and we're really excited about releasing this thanks
again pastor Anderson for allowing us to work on this project thanks again to
Paul Wittenberger and framing the world for shooting this film and giving us the
work to continue and thanks again to Ben so much for editing this we're excited
to release this we're hoping that we can reach some new people of course you
don't share it on the Baptist bias you know tweet it like it put it out there
and share it for us because that really helps and you know share it with
co-workers share it with friends we want to make sure that a lot of people get to
see this get to hear this and what I love about these series is even the
onset it's not over these things last for years and sometimes even decades
people keep sharing them so continue to share it and put it out there do you
have any final thoughts you have for us there pastor Anderson no I just want to
thank you guys for for doing this because you know I've really been
looking forward to this thing coming out and you know I would say also just you
know I pray that everybody will be blessed by this and that Christians will
be able to live a better life for Christ that people will be saved as a result of
finding this series and finding other preaching that we've done about the
gospel and I hope that Christians are just edified and that they'll be able
to live a more solid Christian life understand the Bible more you know
that's that's why we do what we do so then do you have any final words for us
one other thing that the viewer will notice with this series is that the book
of Daniel accurately predicted historical events that came afterward and
that will make you fall out of your chair and prove even more that this book
is the Word of God of course we already believe it but this substantiates that
fact even further truly incredible stuff you don't want to miss out on the
Daniel series Tuesday nights 8 p.m. Central Time watch everyone yeah of
course get your King James Bible out open it up to Daniel chapter number one
get ready we're about to release it and of course next week Tuesdays at 8 p.m.
you want to check it out we're gonna take a break for our podcast happening on
Tuesdays at 8 and we're gonna replace it with the Daniel series so that's we
believe in replacement theology so we're replacing the Daniel series with our
podcast I may still do some special episodes I have some other guests and
some other shows that we may do I believe I might pick up the sword drill
podcast as well on Fridays and so you can check that out or at lunchtime noon
we'll be doing some other streams make sure to check out the Baptist bias
because look folks everyone's got a perspective but you need to get the
Baptist bias and roll now Daniel is the most important book of the Old
Testament when it comes to Bible prophecy and the second coming of Jesus
Christ it's like the book of Revelation of the Old Testament and it covers a lot
of subjects like the tribulation the Antichrist the abomination of
desolation the millennial reign mystery Babylon and a lot of other things that
we read about in Revelation and one of the main features of the book of Daniel
is that it's actually split in half right down the middle chapters one
through six are a lot different than chapter seven through twelve and the
book of Revelation is the same way the best way to understand the book of
Revelation is to take chapters one through 11 and realize that they're in
chronological order and then when you get to chapter 12 what happens we back
up to the birth of Christ and then we go through all the same things that we saw
in the first half of Revelation we go through them again from another angle we
see the tribulation again the rapture again the wrath of God being poured out
again well Daniel is like that too where it's cut in half right down the middle
because if you remember Daniel chapters one through four deal with the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar and then chapter five deals with the reign of his son Belshazzar
and the story actually takes place at the very end of his reign when he sees
the handwriting on the wall and then in Daniel chapter six it's King Darius so
it's all in chronological order there up to that point but then if you look at
Daniel chapter 7 verse 1 the Bible says in the first year of Belshazzar king of
Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed then he wrote
the dream and told the sum of the matter so now we've backed up in time to
Belshazzar's reign look at chapter 8 verse 1 and it says in the third year of
the reign of King Belshazzar so in chapter 7 we were in the first year in
chapter 8 we were in the third year go to Daniel chapter 9 verse 1 and the
Bible says in the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus of the seed of the
Medes which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans so here this would be
parallel with what we saw in Daniel chapter 6 where Darius is be forced to
put Daniel into the lions and so forth and then if we flip over to chapter 10
verse 1 the Bible says in the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was
revealed unto Daniel and Daniel 10 11 and 12 they all go together it's one
vision that just goes over the course of three chapters so the point is that
chapters 1 through 6 are in chronological order and then chapters 7
through 12 are in chronological order now two halves of the book of Revelation
are also very different from one another just like the two halves of Daniel are
different from one another the second half of Revelation is harder to
understand it's more cryptic and figurative the first half of
Revelation is pretty easy to understand well Daniel is similar to that in the
sense that chapters 1 through 6 are very easy to understand I remember when I was
a child I loved reading Daniel 1 through 6 that was one of my favorite portions of
the Bible because we love the stories about Shadrach Meshach and Abednego
going to the fiery furnace we all know the story of Daniel and the lion's den
the handwriting on the wall all these great stories from the first half but I
remember when I would get to chapter 7 and then especially when I got into
chapters 8 and 9 I started to get lost a little bit as a kid because the second
half is a lot harder to understand the second half is all the deep Bible
prophecy stuff so chapters 1 through 6 are the stories chapters 7 through 12 are
the deep Bible prophecy stuff so when it comes to understanding the second
coming of Christ and understanding the book of Revelation at an even deeper
level you know the second half is just a goldmine of information on that subject
even though it's a little tougher hopefully as we go through it verse by
verse we're gonna be able to make it a lot easier by just breaking it down and
comparing scripture with scripture so let me just give you a quick overview of
what the various chapters in Daniel are about Daniel chapter one is gonna cover
the story about Daniel Shadrach Meshach and Abednego when they're first taken
captive by the Babylonians how they don't eat the king's meat and they will
not drink the wine that he drinks and how God blessed them for that and how
they excelled that's what we're gonna be talking about in tonight's sermon on
chapter 1 okay chapter 2 is where Nebuchadnezzar dreams the dream and it's
of a giant image that's in four sections and those four sections represent the
four kingdoms of Babylon Persia Greece and the Roman Empire then in chapter
3 we have the famous story about Shadrach Meshach and Abednego chapter 4
is where Nebuchadnezzar loses his mind and is given the heart of a beast and
has his fingernails grow like bird claws and his hair becomes like like
bird feathers like he gets a dreadlocks going on and he's out eating grass in
the field for seven years then in chapter 5 we get to the story about his
grandson Belshazzar and he sees the fingers of a man's hand writing on the
wall and then of course Daniel chapter 6 is about Daniel and the lion's den
right so those are the familiar chapters then in chapter 7 we get into something
that's pretty similar to chapter 2 because in chapter 7 we have these four
beasts that represent the same four kingdoms from chapter 2 and we have
that great vision of the ancient of days and then we have even the Son of
Man coming with the clouds of heaven so it's a wonderful prophecy of the second
coming of Jesus Christ very graphic in fact for being an Old Testament passage
so it's a really interesting chapter Daniel chapter 7 then in chapter 8 we
have the vision of the ram and the goat the ram representing the Medo-Persians
the goat representing Greece then in chapter 9 we have the chapter where
Daniel prays and confesses the sins of his people and then where we get into
the famous 70 weeks of Daniel anybody who's heard a lot of preaching on Bible
prophecy is of course familiar with the term Daniel 70th week well that comes
from Daniel chapter 9 then in Daniel chapter 10 we get into that final
trilogy of chapters 10 through 12 which is a very in-depth complicated prophecy
chapter 11 is probably the hardest chapter in the whole book of Daniel by
far chapter 10 sort of just introduces that subject where the angel comes and
talks to Daniel and everything is set up chapter 11 is the meat of that
prophecy and let me emphasize the word meat because that's a very deep heavy
chapter Daniel chapter 11 and then chapter 12 is a wrap-up chapter and
again chapter 12 is very relevant to end times it gets very explicit about the
resurrection of the dead and about the second coming of Christ the
tribulation the Millennium things like that and it even gets into some really
specific numbers of the 1,290 days and the 1,335 days so that's a great
chapter as well so that gives you a basic overview of the book of Daniel and
before I get into chapter one also I just want to give you an important
principle for studying the book of Daniel go to Daniel chapter 12 and this
is a great principle for studying the Old Testament in general but this is
specifically said of the book of Daniel itself and this is where a lot of people
go wrong when they study Bible prophecy they don't understand this principle
that I'm about to show you here and that is that the New Testament is clearer
than the Old Testament the New Testament is more explicit the Old
Testament is darker and more difficult to understand therefore we should always
take the clear teachings of the New Testament and use them to interpret the
Old Testament now a lot of Bible teachers who teach false doctrine they
would do the opposite they'll ignore clear teachings in the New Testament and
then they'll try to take things from Daniel and twist them around to try to
somehow trump Revelation and they'll basically say oh Daniel's the main book
no the main book is Revelation the clear book is Revelation even its very name
Revelation should show how it's making things clear it's exposing the truth so
anything that we see in Daniel we should look through the lens of
Revelation we have the privilege of sitting here thousands of years later
with the whole Bible in our hands and we've already read the whole book of
Revelation so when we take that knowledge back to the book of Daniel we
can understand the book of Daniel very well we don't want to read Daniel
pretending like we don't know what Revelation says why not well because
Daniel himself didn't even understand the book of Daniel because he'd never
read Revelation look what the Bible says in Daniel chapter 12 verse number 8
and I heard and what did he hear the vision that he received over chapters
10 11 and 12 and I heard but I understood not then said I oh my Lord
what shall be the end of these things and he said go thy way Daniel for the
words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end so notice he doesn't
explain it to him Daniel says I don't understand what I've just heard I mean
I'm writing it down in the book of Daniel but I don't understand it and
instead of being given an explanation he's told well just seal it up because
it's not gonna be for a long time so don't worry about it some of these
things are over your head because they're way off in the future and they're
not for you they're for people that will later get these prophecies people like
us they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come
as it says in first Corinthians 10 the Bible says in verse 10 there chapter 12
many shall be purified and made white and tried but the wicked shall do
wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand but watch this but the wise
shall understand now Daniel didn't understand but God's saying that in the
future the wise will understand that's what we want to be amen we want to be
the wise people in the 21st century that have the Bible we have revelation we have
the four Gospels we could put it all together and we can understand what
Daniel didn't understand now compare what we just read with Revelation 22 10
flip over to Revelation chapter 22 verse 10 in Daniel he said I heard but I
understood not and he was told seal up the sayings he said Daniel the words are
closed up and sealed till the time of the end Revelation says the exact
opposite look at chapter 22 verse 10 and he saith unto me seal not the sayings
of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand so Daniel was told well
this is for the time of the end it's sealed up it's closed Revelation says the
opposite seal it not the time is at hand so that proves that Revelation is the
clear book Daniel is the more difficult darker obscure book but with the
flashlight of Revelation we can illuminate everything in the book of
Daniel and understand it very well so let's dig into Daniel chapter 1 now with
all that in mind let's go to Daniel chapter 1 verse 1 the Bible reads in the
third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon unto Jerusalem and besieged it and the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of
Judah into his hand with part of the vessels of the house of God which he
carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his God and he brought the
vessels into the treasure house of his God and the king spake unto Ashpenaz
the master of his eunuchs that he should bring certain of the children of
Israel and of the king's seed and of the princes so this is where Nebuchadnezzar
and the Babylonian army take over they defeat Jerusalem they take over the
kingdom of Judah they rule over them and they take the people into captivity
this is one of those waves of captivity where the people are transported into a
far land this is what God had prophesied would happen to them over and over again
in the book of Jeremiah he told them that this was coming that the king of
Babylon was going to come and wipe them out and that they were going to be
scattered into all nations and carried away captive into Babylon this is the
fulfillment of that and in verse 3 the master of the eunuchs Ashpen as is to
bring certain of the children of Israel and of the king seed and of the princes
so get the picture here the children of Judah are going into captivity and this
specific man Ashpen as who's the master of the eunuchs is supposed to select
certain people for a certain task now what kind of people is he looking for
look at verse 4 children so not adults not old men but children children in
whom was no blemish, but well favored and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge,
and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace,
and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans."
So what kind of young people is he looking for?
He's looking for the ones that are the children of the princes, the children of the king.
He's looking for the ones that are the smartest, the ones who understand science, the ones
who are skillful and knowledgeable.
Specifically they want the best and the brightest so that they can indoctrinate them in the
language and the learning of the Chaldeans, the heathen.
They're false gods.
They're wicked ideology.
So they're taking God's people and they want to take the children, and specifically they
want to take the most promising children and they want to indoctrinate them in the ways
of the heathen.
Now, this is the devil's plan, even in 2018, he would love to get our children.
He would love to get the best and the brightest and the smartest and the most godly and the
most righteous and the ones with the best work ethic and the ones with the most character.
And he would love to use them for his purposes, not to serve the Lord, but to serve his agenda.
And not only that, but this is the prince of the eunuchs.
What is a eunuch?
A eunuch is a man who is emasculated, who is castrated, who is neutered.
And so the devil would love nothing more than to take our Christian young men and not only
to make them worldly, not only to brainwash them with his ideology and his wicked mentality,
but he would love to also feminize them and emasculate them and castrate them.
And we see that going on today in the United States of America.
He would love to get us to drop our kids off at the public school system where Nebuchadnezzar
could educate them and where he could teach them his learning and his tongue, instead
of them being reared by God's people and trained in the Bible.
Now look what the Bible says in verse 5, "And the king appointed them a daily provision
of the king's meat," this is their school lunch program, "and of the wine which he drank,
so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king."
Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
So remember, all the children of Judah end up eventually going captive.
They all end up being removed.
But this is one wave of that removal.
And then among those who are removed, they take the children.
And they specifically take the best and the brightest and the most skillful.
And we don't know how many were in that group.
But we know that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are just part of that group.
They're not the whole group.
So there are a whole bunch of other young people from Judah.
And among this great crowd that Ashpenaz sets aside, there are four in particular whose
names are Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
The verse 7 says, "Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names, for he gave unto Daniel
the name of Belteshazzar, and to Hananiah of Shadrach, and to Mishael of Meshach, and
to Azariah of Abednego."
Now, we know Daniel by his Hebrew name of Daniel.
That's how he's referred to throughout this book, and that's the name that we tend to
know him by.
We don't often talk about him as Belteshazzar, but for some reason, we tend to know Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego by their Babylonian names.
So that's how we're going to refer to them tonight and in the future, just because that's
the common way of referring to them, we've got Daniel, which is the Hebrew name, and
then we've got Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, which are the names that they're given, but
their real names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
Those are the names that were given them by the prince of the eunuchs.
And then it says in the next verse, verse 8, "But Daniel purposed in his heart that
he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which
he drank."
And notice, it doesn't say that the four of them made that decision.
It says that Daniel singular purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with
the king's meat.
You see, when it comes to taking a stand for God, it starts with one person.
It starts with one guy.
Everybody else is just going with the flow.
Everybody else is just doing what's popular.
Everybody else is just compromising their beliefs and not following the word of God.
But one guy decides in his heart, and before anything is ever said, before any action takes
place, there's a purposing in the heart where one man decides, "I'm not going to do it.
I'm not going to do it."
And that's Daniel.
And then when that one person takes a stand, the result of that is that three other people
say, "We're not going to do it either."
But it takes that one person to break the ice and then three more will pop up.
But notice, not everybody got on board with their program.
Out of all the captives, and we can assume that it was a lot more than four people if
we read the story, but four of them decide that they're going to take a stand through
Daniel's leadership.
They're not going to defile themselves with the king's meat and with the wine which he
drank.
Now you say, "Well, what's wrong with the king's meat?"
Well, it's possible that it could have been an unclean meat because of the fact that this
is when the children of Israel and Judah are under the Old Covenant and they have dietary
restrictions and they're not supposed to be eating things like pork, et cetera.
But probably a more likely explanation is that it was meat offered and sacrificed unto
idols because if you remember, all the way back to when the children of Israel came out
of the land of Egypt and were in the wilderness, they were tempted to commit fornication and
to eat things sacrificed unto idols through Balaam, the false prophet.
And so that was a problem for them back then.
And then even in the New Testament, we see multiple scriptures, especially in Revelation
chapter 2, about the sin of eating meat sacrificed unto idols.
So that's probably what this was, but either way, it was some kind of a sinful meat.
And then they also were abstaining from the wine which he drank, so we can assume that
that's probably an alcoholic beverage would be the reason why they wouldn't drink the
wine that he drank because it's alcoholic.
And so the Bible says in verse number eight, "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he
would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which
he drank.
Therefore, he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself."
Now, notice the difference there.
It starts out very strong saying he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself
with the king's meat.
But then in the second half of the verse, it says he requested of the prince of the
eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
Now, this has nothing to do with Daniel's resolve.
I mean, the first verse is clear.
He'd already made the decision that he was not going to do it.
And we know from the rest of the book of Daniel that when Daniel says he's going to do something
and when Daniel takes a stand for God, he's willing to follow it through all the way unto
death.
And so are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
They're willing to follow through unto death.
So why did he then request and why did he say, you know, that he might not?
I'll tell you why, because when you go to an authority figure in your life, when you
go to your boss at work or when you go to someone else who's a legitimate authority,
you don't want to just go in there guns a-blazing and rudely demand that they allow you to follow
your conscience.
It's better to be polite, respectful.
In your heart, you know you're not going to do it, but you don't have to go in there
and say, "I'm not going to eat this meat.
I'm not going to drink this.
There's no way.
You're just going to have to kill me."
Instead, he just said, "Hey, is there any way that we could not do this?
Is there some way around this?"
See, we're supposed to try to live peaceably with all men if we can.
When we have a legitimate authority over us, whether it's our parents, whether it's a wife
with her husband, whether it's an employee with his boss at work, we need to try to obey
the authorities in our life that are God-given, legitimate authorities.
And so this is a good lesson in how to be tactful and respectful and to still get what
you want.
Now the Bible says that he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile
himself.
And then verse 9 is key.
"Now God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs."
This will help you when you're trying to take a stand for what's right on the job, or taking
a stand for what's right at school, or taking a stand with other authorities in your life
like your parents, or whatever, is that you have a good rapport with those people beforehand.
You see, if you're a lazy worker, and you're one of the worst workers on the job, and now
all of a sudden you want to take this big stand for God, and you have to have time off
for church, and you're not going to lie, and you're not going to serve alcohol and everything
like that, you know, your boss might not be willing to bend any rules or make exceptions
for you because of the fact that you're not worth it.
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were worth it.
And so therefore, Melzar, Ashkenaz, he's also called, was willing to bend the rules for
them and help them out.
And you know what?
If you're a great worker on the job, if you're given it 110%, that's going to help you get
the Sundays off.
That's going to help you get Wednesday night off.
That's going to help you be able to follow your conscience and not have your boss trying
to pressure you to do things that are wrong.
You've got to have a boss that loves you because you're a great worker.
You know what bosses love? To make money.
That's what the owner of the company started the company for.
To make money.
Unless you're working for some kind of a non-profit organization, then chances are your boss is
in it to make money.
And so if you work hard and make him money, he likes you.
He doesn't care what color you are.
He doesn't care what your personality is like if you're making him money.
That's the way most bosses work.
So you know what?
If you work hard and you do your job and you're a diligent worker, you'll find that your boss
is willing to work with you on these issues of the conscience.
The Bible says in verse 10, "And the prince of the eunuch said unto Daniel, I fear my
lord the king who hath appointed your meat and your drink.
For why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort?
Then shall you make me endanger my head to the king."
Now when he talks about his head being endangered to the king, he means like being removed from
his body kind of danger.
He's not saying I'm worried I'm going to get fired.
He's talking about I'm worried I'm going to get my head chopped off for doing a bad job.
Because these kings of the East at this time, they were pretty serious.
In the next chapter, he's going to talk about just killing all kinds of his employees and
making their houses into dung hills.
And so this is a boss that doesn't just fire you.
He kills you.
He cuts off your head and destroys your home.
So he said, "I'm just afraid."
So basically, the supervisor at work wants to help out Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, but he's just afraid that he's going to get in trouble.
But he wants to help him.
So Daniel makes the suggestion, verse 11, "Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince
of the eunuchs had said over Daniel, Hananiah, Michelle, and Azariah, 'Prove thy servants,'"
that means test us, "I beseech thee ten days, and let them give us pulse to eat and water
to drink."
Like beans, lentils, legumes, other sources of protein other than meat.
"Then let our countenances," or our faces is what that means, "be looked upon before
thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat.
And as thou seest, deal with thy servants."
So he consented to them in this matter and proved them ten days, and at the end of ten
days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which
did eat the portion of the king's meat.
Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat and the wine that they should drink and
gave them pulse.
So they said, "Give us a ten-day trial period.
We'll show that we'll be healthier and we'll look better so that the king won't look at
us and say, 'What's wrong with these bunch of soy boys?
You know, give these guys some meat for crying out loud.
Who's been feeding these guys?'"
Now I personally believe that this is a miracle.
I think that God stepped in and allowed it to be a miracle.
Now some people have made the case that, you know, it's just that that's what we should
be eating anyway.
You know, we should all be vegetarians, we should all be eating pulse, we should all
get rid of meat.
Well, first of all, there's a lot in the Bible that that doesn't jive with.
And in fact, you can even prove from the book of Daniel, later in the book of Daniel, that
Daniel didn't eat this way for the rest of his life.
He ends up talking about later in the book of Daniel in chapter 10, a time when he fasted
for three weeks.
And he says, "During that time, I didn't eat any flesh during that time.
I didn't eat any pleasant bread."
Well, he wouldn't even be bringing that up if he'd been vegan since chapter one.
Okay, he obviously went back to eating meat later on, and only during a fasting period,
he went on like a bread and water type fast in Daniel chapter 10, leading up to that great
prophecy that he gets at the end of the book of Daniel.
But either way, if he did just get great nutrition from the lentils and beans, because lentils
and beans and pulse are good for you, and so maybe he just got the right mix of protein
and just naturally looked fine, or God stepped in.
But either way, after 10 days, he came out looking better.
I believe it was the blessing of God.
I believe it was a miracle of God.
That makes a lot more sense.
So then in verse 16, Melzar took away the portion of their meat and the wine that they
should drink and gave them pulse.
So again, this is a great lesson on how to deal with authorities in your life that are
trying to get you to do something that's wrong.
First of all, you could be polite, be respectful, and then come up with a solution that makes
sense where everybody comes out okay.
Hey, I want to be off on Wednesday night, but here's where I'm willing to work extra
over here.
Here's where I'm willing to give you something, a quid pro quo, where I'll do a little extra
over here and then you help me out over here.
And that's what I used to do through the years when I had a secular boss and he would try
to get me to work on Wednesday night.
I would just get it all done before then and tell him, "Hey, I already took care of that.
I don't need to do that on Wednesday night because I took care of it by working late
Tuesday night," or whatever the case may be.
So Daniel finds a solution where everybody comes out okay.
Now there's a little bit of symbolism here with the tribulation as well because of the
fact that they're tested for how long?
Ten days.
And when we get to Revelation chapter 2 verse 10, what does it say?
"You shall have tribulation ten days.
Be thou faithful unto death, and I'll give thee a crown of life."
Why does Daniel start out with this story about taking a stand for what's right and
refusing to give in to the devil's requirements or refusing to do things that are wicked when
you're being forced to?
I'll tell you why.
Because Daniel's a book that's all about Bible prophecy.
And when we think about the second coming of Christ, when we think about the events
leading up to it known as the tribulation, it's going to be a time of trials and testing
for God's people because there will be persecution unlike anything that the world has ever seen.
So what more fitting to have in chapter one of Daniel than a test of the resolve of God's
people to not defile themselves?
Why?
Because in the end times, there's going to be pressure to stop preaching the word of
God, to stop preaching hard on sin, to stop preaching the whole Bible because it'll be
called hate speech and it'll become illegal and you could be fined or imprisoned for just
preaching what the word of God says.
There's going to be persecution that intensifies and once we get into the great tribulation
itself, there will be people who are beheaded for the cause of Christ.
And so in Daniel chapter 1, we have an example of God's people refusing to bow down, refusing
to give in, refusing to defile themselves.
And then we're going to see another example of this in chapter 3 where they refuse to
bow down to the great image which pictures what?
The Antichrist's great image, the image to the beast in Revelation 13 where the whole
world is going to be required to bow down and worship that image and God's people are
going to have to be like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and refuse to bow down.
So this story in the book of Daniel itself is very relevant to end times.
But here's my question, if you can't take a stand now when things are easy, when we're
not even in the tribulation, when you haven't even been kidnapped and taken to a foreign
country, how are you going to take a stand when things really get difficult?
Now I've preached the Word of God for 12 years now, completely uncensored, completely unfiltered,
and I've suffered persecution very lightly, a very light affliction.
I have not had to endure any serious persecution or affliction over the last 12 years.
It's very light relatively to what people went through in the Bible and what other people
have gone through throughout history or even right now in other parts of the world as we
speak but yet today there are many, many Baptist preachers who believe exactly like I believe
on certain issues but they will not speak up because they're afraid of the persecution.
They're scared to take a stand and if they can't take a stand now, how in the world could
they ever take a stand during the tribulation?
Oh but I forgot they made up their fake pre-tribulation doctrine that gives them a get out of tribulation
free card, get out of persecution free card, get out of all the trials free, no the Bible
says yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
It doesn't say they might suffer persecution, they shall suffer persecution.
But this doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture is a convenient doctrine for people who don't
take a stand now and certainly won't take a stand then.
You see the Bible tells us in Jeremiah 12-5, "If thou hast run with the footmen, and they
have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses?
And if in the land of peace wherein thou trustest they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do
in the swelling of Jordan?"
I mean if people can't take a stand for God right now, if preachers can't get up in the
United States of America where we have the first amendment protecting our freedom of
speech and our freedom of religion, if they won't get up now and preach boldly the word
of God and not care what the outcome is, not care what the persecutions are, how in the
world are they going to do it when it's illegal?
You say well someday in America it might become illegal to preach against the sodomites or
to preach this or to preach that, well you know what most pastors won't have to change
a thing.
Most pastors won't even have to change a thing, it won't even affect them.
They're not even preaching it now while it's legal.
You think they're going to preach it when it's not legal?
No way.
They won't even risk offending people.
They won't even risk a little dent in their 401(k).
You think they're going to risk going to prison?
You think they're going to risk having the church shut down and the IRS putting a padlock
on the front door or whatever the case may be?
I mean, now the biggest persecution is what?
Oh, our YouTube channel is shut down.
Well, you know what?
I can handle that.
That's easy, right?
And I can handle more than that.
And you know what?
We as God's people are supposed to be faithful to what point?
What point?
Death!
Be faithful unto death and I'll give thee a crown of life.
These people aren't even to first base when it comes to persecution.
But they talk big like they're going to make it all the way to home, oh yeah, I'm willing
to die for Christ.
Look, if you're not willing to live for Christ, you're not willing to die for Christ.
I mean, it's easier to live for Him than it is to die for Him.
Oh yeah, you know, I'm ready to die on that hill.
I'm ready to be beheaded for Christ.
But they can't even preach the whole Bible now because they're a coward.
It doesn't make any sense, folks.
Now, the Bible tells us in the end times that there's going to be intense persecution.
And it talks about how people will betray one another and cause people to be put to
death even.
Mark chapter 13 is one of the most famous passages on the second coming of Jesus Christ
that covers the rapture, it covers the tribulation, it covers those events.
Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 are the three big ones in the four gospels there.
And in Mark 13 verse 12 it says, "Now the brother shall betray the brother to death,
and the father, the son, and children shall rise up against their parents and shall cause
them to be put to death."
That's pretty chilling that the Bible tells us that children would rise up against their
parents and cause them to be put to death.
How could that happen?
How could a child cause their own parents to be put to death?
I'll tell you how, because someone else must have raised them.
Because if a child was raised up by his parents and loved his parents and had a right relationship
with his parents, you think he's going to betray his parents even unto death?
But when a child is indoctrinated in a government institution for seven, eight hours a day,
getting a completely different ideology than what their parents believe, you could see
that child being brainwashed and indoctrinated to the point where they would think that their
parents are the enemy.
Their parents just aren't progressive enough.
Their parents just don't understand the New World Order, and they don't understand the
way things are going, and so I have to do my civil duty, my patriotic duty, and turn
in my own parents that they might be put to death.
Think about that.
And so isn't it fitting that Daniel chapter one, a story about persecution, about trials,
about people standing up for the things of God, even when their own life is on the line,
it's also a story about children being indoctrinated in beliefs other than what their parents have.
Now notice what the Bible says in verse number 16.
It says, "Then Melzar took away the portion of their meat and the wine that they should
drink and gave them pulse."
As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom,
and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince
of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar, and the king communed with them.
And among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Ezrael.
Among whom all?
Among all of the captives from Judah, right?
They all came from homes that supposedly worshiped the Lord.
They're all put into the government indoctrination camp here, and among them all, there were
none like these four.
You know what that tells me?
That most children who are put into the government's indoctrination are not going to turn out
right.
Four of them will.
You know, I don't know what the number was that turned out wrong, but there were none
other that were like them.
And when it came down to bow down to the great image in chapter three, it's only these godly
young people that are standing.
It's not a whole bunch of the children of Judah.
No, because most of your public school kids are going to get indoctrinated to that ideology
to some degree.
You say, "Well, you know, I went to public school and I turned out great," or, "I know
children who go there and they turn out fine."
Well, you know what?
That's true.
Daniel was like that.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were like that.
But you know what?
That's not what I want to bank on.
Those kind of odds, that kind of a percentage where a small minority can turn out right
in spite of being in the public fool system.
And listen, if your kids are in public school, you better make sure to do everything that
you can to build a relationship with those kids and to teach them the Bible and to get
them in church as much as you can and to try to counteract the teachings that they're getting
down there in the public school system.
But I strongly believe that your children should be homeschooled simply because they
need to be raised by God's people, not by an atheistic institution.
You know, I was listening to an old sermon from back when I used to actually vote.
And I talked about in that sermon how when I saw the ballot and I saw the part that said
superintendent of schools, I never really knew who to vote for.
And you see the signs up all around town, right?
This person for superintendent of public schools.
And I'm thinking to myself, I don't believe in the public school system.
I'm not going to put my kids in public school.
And so I don't really have a dog in this fight.
And I don't really know who these people are or what sets them apart.
So I decided to not vote for any of them, but to do a write in candidate.
And I decided to write in Satan for the superintendent of public schools.
And you say, well, what, you know, what if he gets elected?
Well then nothing's going to change.
In fact, I was saying we should put up a sign that says reelect Satan for superintendent
of public schools.
Experience, you can trust.
He's got the experience.
Why?
Because he's been running it for decades.
And so we as Christians, we don't want to just willingly put our kids in a situation
where they're being indoctrinated into the devil's ways.
Now, these people in Daniel chapter one, they didn't have a choice.
They're kidnapped.
And there are some countries in this world, Germany comes to mind, where children will
literally be kidnapped and taken to the public school, where homeschoolers have the police
come and take the kids to school at gunpoint.
But thank God we're not there in America.
We're not there in Arizona.
California is not there.
They have the freedom.
We have the freedom to homeschool our children.
Let's take advantage of that and make sure that we can raise up a godly generation.
You say, "Oh man, that's hard work."
Well, I'd hate for you to have to do anything hard.
But the Bible says that God gave these young people knowledge.
You know where real knowledge comes from?
God.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
You say, "Well, I just want them to go to the public school to get a great education."
And then, "I want them to go to Devil State University so they can further their education."
Well, you know what?
These young people who were brainwashed into what the Chaldeans had to offer, they were
already understanding science.
They were already the best and the brightest.
And they were trained full-time in this boarding school of the Chaldeans.
They were the top of their class.
They got all the training that the world had to offer.
They got all the education.
But you know who was smarter?
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Why?
Because the Bible says that God gave them knowledge.
See, God-given knowledge will allow you to excel beyond what the world can do mentally.
You see, the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.
God can give you knowledge.
You say, "Well, I just, I need knowledge.
I need wisdom.
I need skills."
God can give you those things.
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall
be added unto you."
The Bible says in verse 17, "As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and
skill in all learning and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
Now, at the end of the days that the king had said that he should bring them in, then
the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar, and the king communed
with them, and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
Therefore, they stood before the king."
These are the top students.
These are the top workers.
And the Bible says in verse 20, "And in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the
king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers
that were in all his realm."
So all of the devil's crowd had less wisdom than God's people.
Why?
Because the Word of God and training in the things of God is the ultimate in education.
And it will allow you to even excel in science and English and history and all the other
disciplines of learning.
Why?
Because God's Word makes wise the simple, takes the simple one and it gives him knowledge
and understanding.
I've noticed that people who I've seen get saved who weren't very intellectual, weren't
that bright, as they begin to read the Bible over and over again, I've just watched that
person get smarter in all areas of life.
Understanding the Word of God, listening to Bible preaching, understanding the doctrines
of the Word of God, actually makes you a smarter person in all areas of life, it can actually
help you succeed at your job, if you're a doer of the Word and not a hearer only.
And the Bible says in verse 21, "And Daniel continued even under the first year of King
Cyrus."
And we know that he even continued beyond that, because at the beginning of chapter
10, it talks about him receiving a vision in the third year of Cyrus.
So what the Bible's saying when it says that he continued under the first year of King
Cyrus, it's saying he continued working for the King of Babylon until what?
Until there was no more King of Babylon, because Cyrus the Persian came in, he continued all
the way.
Basically, he worked for the company until the company got bought out in a hostile takeover.
And after that hostile takeover, he was kept on.
The new management kept him on.
Now, you know how long that is?
70 years.
70 years later, when Cyrus takes over, Daniel is still working the same job, and he gets
taken on by the new king.
And he continues in that position.
So he was an old man at that point.
We don't know how young he is here, but he must have been an 80-some year old man at
that point.
Still serving God, still praying, still preaching, still a prophet unto the Lord.
And so Daniel's a great example of what we need to be like if we end up being the generation
that goes into the great tribulation itself.
If we are the generation that's living in the very last days, we better be like Daniel.
We better be like his three friends here.
We better decide right now not to compromise, not to give in, not to bow down to whatever
the devil demands of us, even now.
You say, "Well, when it comes to the mark of the beast and the Antichrist, that's a
no-brainer."
Okay, well, you know what?
There are a lot of things that are a no-brainer right now, but yet we see churches giving
in, compromising, and not standing up for what's right because they're nothing like
these people.
They're cowards.
And we need to pray for boldness, say.
You say, "I can't help it.
I'm scared.
I'm a coward."
God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
The Apostle Paul kept praying for boldness, and we ought to pray for boldness.
Oh God, give me the boldness to stand for you at all times.
Give me the boldness to do what's right, no matter what happens.
And so this is a great chapter to start out the book of Daniel.
Yeah, we're going to get into the heavier Bible prophecy stuff, but before we get into
the heavier Bible prophecy stuff, in chapters seven through 12, you know we need to get
us some character.
We need to start out in chapter one and learn how to be the best worker on the job, how
to stay with the company, how to be brought into tender love with the supervisor where
he wants to help us serve God and serve the company, and we need to get some backbone
to stand up to the devil and his minions when they want us to compromise our beliefs.
That's where it begins.
It's all fine and dandy to have your doctrine all straight on when the tribulation happens.
How about actually being ready for the tribulation instead of just knowing the doctrine?
How about practicing it and being a doer of the word?
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for this great chapter, Lord, and we thank you for this great
example of Daniel Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Give us knowledge and wisdom and understanding as we go further into this great book, Lord.
In our eyes, that we may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.