Dan 2:
31 "You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you: and its form was awsome.
32 "This image head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, it belly and thighs of bronze,
33 "its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
34 "You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.
35 "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found.
And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
36 "This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king.
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37 "You, O king, are the king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory;
38 "and wherever the children of man dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all - you are this head of gold.
39 "But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.
40 "And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and that iron that crushes, that kingdom will brake in pieces and crush all the others.
41 "Whereas you saw the feet and the toes, partly of potters clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.
42 "And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
43 "As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.
44 "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
45 "Inasmuch as you saw the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold - the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain and its interpretation is true."
46 Then king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded, that they should present an offering and incense to him.
The dream and its interpretation relates to the dominion of the angels, who guide their nations and kings.
We remember: At the Tower of Babylon mankind has been guided by one angel: Lucifer.
"And because men would be possible to do anything" God divided the power of Lucifer among his followers, who then characterize the cultural identity of the peoples.
The Bible speaks here of "confusion of languages". In Psalm 82 their reign is said to be unjust.
Here we can see, that the angels did not get the whole power of Satan. Because they did not get the wickedness of Satan. Satan is not only simply unjust. He is of wicked character.
This part of his power has been given to the False Prophet. In Revelation 13 he is named the "Beast from the Earth".
( He is not Teitan, whose name has the sum 666. "Teitan" is the human name of Satan. "Lucifer" is his spiritual name. "Satan" is his title: the "attorney", the "accuser". But the False Prophet is Teitan's character. )
Later - at the time of Abraham - nations are founded by famous men. ( Jacob, Esau, Ismael, e.g. ) Not only angels achieve nations then, but also God becomes the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob".
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Then - at the time of Nebuchadnezzar - the reign of the angels has been changed: From now on the gods of the nations have to respect different cultural identities.
The background is as follows: Because Israel does not care any more for the guidance by its God, He gives his people into the charge of other nations. But, of course, Israel shall keep its national identity, and therefore they have to be tolerated as "guests". This is the theme of the Book Esther.
This theme includes the believers from the nations, the Christians. Christians, too, are citizens of Israel (Psalm 87), and they should be allowed to keep their new identity in the nations.
This would have been possible in a friendly way, if not the false prophet, tolerated by the angels, would become active.
By him Hitler became strong, he initiates the terrorists of the Islam and also the terrorists of the Hindus.
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Clay and iron.
Christians in the nations. Since Constantine Christianity has become the official religion of the Romans.
Christians are guided by the Holy Spirit. - The state, however, is managed by an angel of Lucifer. Therefore: The cultural identity is christian - given by an angel of Lucifer!
Now, if an emperor wants to become a christian - is this possible? The historians could not recognize, that Constantine was a Christian. But he has been baptized at the end of his life.
Clay and iron do not combine. "God is the potter, we are the clay", we read in the Bible. Iron is the character of the Rome.
It is not possible to be guided by the Holy Spirit and by the angel of Rome, Jupiter. We have to choose.
But the emperor of Rome has no choice.
Let's turn to Charlemagne. His acting on the Saxons is really not "christian". That the Saxons under the rule of Widukind have become Christians, is not his merit.
How should Christians behave in respect of the country they live in? Jesus gives an answer in a comparable situation: "Give Cesar, what is Cesar's, and God, what is God's."
And so it is: Christians respect the laws of their country, which is normally possible. Only if they have to deny their God, they disobey the directives.
Frederic the Great from Prussia followed the motto: "I am the first servant of the state". Is there the solution of the problem? Maybe, yes. But Frederic the Great did not follow the Holy Spirit in his wars against Austria.
( However: Joseph in Egypt. The Pharaoh has been blessed by Jacob. And, there was no disturbance in the country. This is only possible, when the angel of Egypt, an angel of Lucifer, has become an angel of God.)
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In Christian times there were various attempts to combine "clay and iron".
The "Tiara", the crown of the Popes, is such a attempt. They wanted to rule over the nations of the earth, they wanted to determine the way to honor God, and they wanted to represent Jesus on earth. ( The Popes now do not use this crown any more.)
Another attempt was "The Holy Roman Empire of German Nation". But this empire was never holy.
"Ruler by grace of God." This title is correct. God enthrones the rulers. But he did also enthrone the angels of Lucifer.
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Indeed, there have been servants of the state, who have been guided by the Holy Spirit. And who - in obedience of the Spirit - did the state business.
There is an example in the Old Testament, 2.Kings 5, 17-19:
It is the General Naaman from Syria. We know he has been healed from leprosy.
Naaman said to Elisa:
17 " ... for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods, but to the Lord.
18 "Yet in this thing may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon - when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord please pardon your servant in this thing."
19 Then he ( Elisa ) said to him: "Go in peace." .....
Indeed: Elisa confirms: In obedience of his duties Naaman may kneel down in the temple of Rimmon. And this is - for him - no expression of honoring the divinity.