Absolute Proof of God: Part I

[Enoch]

The Book of Daniel

The Prophet Daniel is considered to be one of the greatest prophets
of ancient Israel. His unblemished character as a man of God and the
unparalleled revelations God gave him so he could see through the veil
of time to describe the future have influenced the prophetic views of
both Jews and Christians for the past 2000 years. The great physicist,
Sir Isaac Newton, was so fascinated by the prophecies of Daniel that
he wrote an entire book discussing them. Newton wrote “To reject
Daniel is to reject the Christian religion”.
The Book of Daniel quite possibly provides the strongest evidence a
person could ask for when questioning the divine inspiration of
Scripture, and for this reason, has sustained more attacks over the
centuries than any other book of the Bible.
The author of Daniel declares that he received the prophetic visions
from God while advising the Kings of Babylon (606-537 B.C.). The Book
of Daniel began with God’s judgement upon apostate Israel. Israel
was to be delivered into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon as
prophesied by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 27:6-8), after the Israelites had
ignored God’s commands and openly indulged in licentious worship for
centuries, despite continuous warnings from the prophets. God
declared that he would place all of the nations under the yoke of the
Babylonian Empire, which would be the first of four gentile empires
destined to rule the earth until the Messiah comes to establish his
eternal kingdom. The sovereignty of the world was transferred from
Israel to the Gentiles, commencing a period Luke called “the times of
the gentiles”, which continues until the return of the Messiah.
Daniel was taken captive as a young man when the armies of Babylon
captured Jerusalem in 606 B.C. He was taken by the Babylonian
general, Prince Nebuchadnezzar, who was acting under the order of his
father, King Nabopolassar. Daniel, being descended from the princely
blood of Israel (Daniel 1:3,5), was trained as a future advisor of the
royal court, as it was customary to do so. Within years of the
captivity, Daniel and his friends became major officials in the
kingdom of Babylon.

The Vision of Nebuchadnezzar

In the second chapter of Daniel, we are given a glimpse of the end
times. Daniel records that King Nebuchadnezzar was dreaming about what
would be the fate of his kingdom after his death, when he suddenly
received an incredible prophetic vision from the Lord, displaying an
image that perfectly described the empires that would rule the earth
from the time of the Babylonian king until the end of the world. When
he awoke, he was disturbed because he could not remember the details
of the dream, so he decreed that if his magicians, astrologers, and
sorcerers could not reveal his dream and its meaning, they would be
“cut into pieces” and their houses turned into “piles of rubble”. The
wise men of the King’s court went as a group before Nebuchadnezzar and
declared that there was “no other who can tell it, except the gods…”
(vv. 10-11).
When Daniel heard of the king’s threat, he asked the king “to give
him time, that he might tell the king the interpretation” (v. 16).
The Bible states that “the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night
vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven” (v. 19). Daniel went
before the king and proclaimed the dream unto him:

“You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great
image, whose splendor was
excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. This image’s
head was of fine gold, its
chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of
iron, its feet partly of iron and
partly of clay. 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. 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. This is the
dream.” (Dan. 7:31-36)

Next, Daniel gives Nebuchadnezzar the interpretation:

“Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. You, O
king, are a king of kings. For the
God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory;
and wherever the children of
men 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.
But after you shall arise
another kingdom inferior to yours, then another, a third kingdom of
bronze, which shall rule over
all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron,
inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces
and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom
will break in pieces and crush all
the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s
clay and partly of iron, the
kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in
it, just as you saw the iron mixed
with ceramic clay. 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. 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. 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. Inasmuch as
you saw that it broke in
pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the
great God has made known to
king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its
interpretation is sure.” (Dan. 2:36-45)

Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of a gigantic human figure composed of four
distinct metals (a head of gold, both arms and chest of silver, thighs
and torso of bronze, legs of iron, and feet and ten toes composed
partly of iron and partly of clay) symbolized the course of worldwide
gentile rule for the next 2,500 years. The progression of the metals
from gold to silver to bronze to iron indicated that each of the
empires would be progressively stronger in military power but of
lesser value as they degenerated from a monarchy to military rule and
finally ended with democracy and dictatorship (10 toes of iron mixed
with clay). Mankind has progressed from weak weapons such as spears
and cudgels to smart bombs, scud missiles, and thermonuclear devices
that could one day leave this planet a graveyard spinning through
space.
So far history has proven Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s
dream to be accurate. As Daniel prophesied, Babylon (the head of
gold) was supplanted by the Medo-Persian Empire (the breastplate of
silver). The Medo-Persian empire was destroyed by Alexander the Great
of Greece (the loins of brass) and the Greek Empire eventually fell to
the Roman Empire, which eventually divided into eastern and western
empires (the 2 legs of iron). What remains to be seen is the revival
of the Roman Empire in its form of “ten toes of iron mixed with clay”
which I shall address shortly. The conclusion of Nebuchadnezzar’s
dream revealed a “stone” that “was cut out without hands, which struck
the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces”
(Daniel 2:34). This stone then becomes a great mountain that fills
the entire earth. Daniel reveals to the king that this represents the
Messianic kingdom of Christ that will replace the pagan gentile
empires of the world.
The interpretation of the various metals is NOT merely drawn from the
fact that Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome were, incredibly, the
only 4 kingdoms to conquer the known world and persecute the Jews from
the time of the vision until this day. The identities of these
kingdoms to come were revealed in a later vision granted to Daniel,
repeating the same scenario, using animals rather than metals because
animals have abilities and dispositions that vividly portray the
profile and personality of coming kings and their kingdoms. In this
regard, it is significant that a number of nations have chosen wild
beasts as their national symbols: Britain—the lion; Greece—the
leopard; Russia—the bear; America—the eagle; Austria—the double-headed
eagle; Italy—the wolf.

Daniel’s Dream of the Four Beasts

In the seventh chapter of the Book of Daniel, years after
Nebuchadnezzar’s vision, we are told of a vision that the prophet
received. Four Beasts are shown unto him, which coincide with the
four metals of the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, and hence, further
reveal the nature of the kingdoms that will rule after Babylon:

“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream
and visions of his head while
on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts.
Daniel spoke, saying, ‘I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the
four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea. And four great
beasts came up from the sea, each different from
the other. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings.’”
(Dan. 7:1-4)

The winged lion was the national emblem of Babylon. This first beast
corresponds to the “head of gold” in Nebachadnezzar’s dream which
Daniel clearly identifies as Babylon. Despite the overwhelming wealth
and power of the Babylonian Kingdom, and the fact that God had allowed
Babylon to hold the Israelites captive and rule over them, it was
doomed to failure. Jeremiah had prophesied that after the 70 years of
the Babylonian captivity were over, Babylon would be made desolate.
“Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I
will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the
Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the LORD; and I will make it a
perpetual desolation” (Jeremiah 25:12). Exactly 70 years after the
captivity had begun, in 539 B.C., King Cyrus of Persia moved to
capture the Babylonian empire and defeated Babylon’s army on the
Tigris River just south of modern-day Baghdad. The Babylonian
Chronicle reports that the army of Cyrus entered Babylon without a
battle. Daniel’s vision continues:

And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up
on one side, and had three
ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it:
‘Arise, devour much flesh!’ (Dan. 7:5)

This second beast corresponds with the “chest and arms of silver” in
Nebachadnezzar’s dream. This lopsided bear (distributed unevenly as
the Medes were more prominent than the Persians), represents the
Medo-Persian Empire that supplanted Babylon. The three ribs in the
bear’s mouth graphically illustrate the three prominent conquests of
the empire: Lydia in 546 B.C., Babylon in 539 B.C., and Egypt in 525
B.C. This second world empire would be stronger than the golden
Babylonian Empire as silver is stronger than gold, but at the same
time, it is of lesser value. After only 207 years, Alexander the
Great of Greece destroyed the Medo-Persians at the climactic Battle of
Arblea in 331 B.C. The Greek Kingdom is the next Beast seen in
Daniel’s vision:

After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had
on its back four wings of a
bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it”
(Dan. 7:6)

This third beast corresponds to the belly and thighs of bronze in
Nebuchadnezzar’s vision and represents Greece under Alexander the
Great. The Greek kingdom was stronger than that of Medo-Persia just
as bronze is a stronger metal than silver. The leopard is a swift
animal, symbolizing the blinding speed with which Alexander’s military
juggernaut attacked its enemies. In only a few years young King
Alexander conquered the whole known world from the Mediterranean Sea
to India with only 32,000 men, utilizing revolutionary new tactics of
rapid attacks, well-trained troops, and brilliant military strategies.
Through the scope of history, the significance of the many wings and
heads is clear. The 4 wings represent dominion and the 4 heads
represent generals under which the Kingdom of Alexander was divided
into 4 parts. At age thirty-two, Alexander died in Babylon in 323
B.C. At his death, his four leading generals divided his kingdom:
Ptolemy I took Israel and Egypt, Seleucus I reigned over Syria and
Mesopotamia, Lysimachus chose to rule Thrace and Asia Minor, and
Cassander took charge of Macedonia and Greece.

So far, we have witnessed the use of the lion, leopard, and bear as
symbols of gentile nations that God uses to bring judgement upon
Israel. Hundreds of years before Daniel, the prophet Hosea declared:

“I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I
observe them: I will meet them as
a bear.” (Hosea 13:7-8)

“Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?…” (Hosea 14:9)

The historian Flavius Josephus wrote in his history, Antiquities of
the Jews, that the precision of Daniel’s awe-inspiring, prophecies
actually saved the Holy City from being destroyed by Alexander the
Great. After Alexander conquered the ancient seaport of Tyre in 332
B.C. he moved south to destroy Jerusalem when he learned of the Jews
refusal to surrender their city as he had demanded. Miraculously, as
Alexander approached the city with his army, the Jewish high priest
came out of the city, wearing beautiful white Temple robes, to meet
the young conqueror. The high priest proceeded to tell him that
Jewish scriptures had foretold his invasion and military success. The
high priest told Alexander that God had revealed to the prophet Daniel
some 300 years earlier that a great king would arise from Greece and
subdue the entire world. When the priest showed Alexander the exact
prophecies in the ancient Scriptures, Alexander was so moved that he
worshiped in the Temple and gave orders not to destroy Jerusalem or
the surrounding countryside (Antiquities 11.5)
Continuing with Daniel’s vision:

“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast,
dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it
was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its
feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and
it had ten horns” (Dan. 7:7).

This next beast, more terrifying than its predecessors, represents of
course, the Roman Empire, and according to Daniel, is the final form
of Gentile power on the earth before the Messiah returns. It
corresponds with the strong legs of iron in Nebuchadnezzar’s vision
that were prophesied to “break in pieces and crush all the others”.
Rome consolidated the various nations of the huge empire into an
enormous military machine that was virtually invincible. Its
incredible military might, which combined with an efficient police and
judicial system, completely supplanted the preceding kingdoms. The
Caesars virtually ruled the entire known world by the time of Christ.
Exactly as the vision of Nebuchadnezzar foretold, the Roman Empire
divided into two kingdoms following the reign of Emperor Constantine.
The western empire was based in Rome, and the eastern empire set up
its capital in Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey). This iron kingdom
ruled the known world far longer than any other, crushing every nation
beneath its deadly feet, destroying existing cultures and replacing
them. The western empire finally ceased to exist as a major force
when barbarians defeated Rome in A.D. 476. However, the eastern
empire, known as the Byzantine Empire, continued for another 1,000
years until its defeat by the Turks in A.D. 1453.
Within the first 500 years following the visions given to Daniel, all
four of these empires appeared in the exact order predicted. One of
the most fascinating aspects of Daniel’s prophecy is that it foretold
that no new kingdoms would appear on the on the scene after the fall
of the Roman Empire. Despite repeated efforts by various conquerors
over the last 1,200 years, including Mohammed, Genghis Khan,
Charlemagne, Frederick Barbarossa, Napolean, the British Empire,
Adolph Hitler, and Joseph Stalin, no one has succeeded in establishing
a fifth world empire to replace the fourth world empire of Rome.
There is, however, a portion of Daniel’s prophecy that remains to be
fulfilled.
The most important feature of the 4th Beast (Rome) is that it has
“ten horns”. These ten horns correspond to the ten toes of
Nebuchadnezzar’s vision (which are also the SAME 10 horns on the
seven-headed dragon of Revelation—discussed later), and represent 10
kingdoms who are yet to come, and who will rise from the 4th great
world kingdom. These 10 kingdoms do not represent the division of
Rome as it weakened with age and they are not a separate Beast or
Kingdom, but represent an extension and revival of the Roman beast.
It is out of this revived Roman Empire that the Antichrist is
prophesied to come and exercise his authority over the entire world.
As prophecy scholar Dwight Pentecost says, “The ten kingdoms are to
exist at one time, not through a period of several centuries, and all
are to form one confederation. There is nothing in the past history
of the kingdoms of Europe that answers to this.”
After Daniel observed the ten horns of the Roman beast, another
sprang up in their midst:

“I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little
one, coming up among them,
before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots.
And there, in this horn, were
eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words” (vs.
8)

This “little horn” is the Antichrist who will arise from the 10
kingdoms, supplant 3 of them, and control the entire federation of
nations. Later on in this chapter, we read:

I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed
against them;
until the Ancient of days [Christ Jesus] came, and judgment was given
to the saints of the most
High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,
which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole
earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:
and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the
first, and he shall subdue three kings.
And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear
out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws:
and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the
dividing of time.
But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to
consume and to destroy it unto the end.
And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under
the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the
most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions
shall serve and obey him (Dan. 7:21-27).

The Ten Toes of Iron and Clay—Ten Nations of the Revived Roman Empire

The ten-fold division of the Roman Empire describes the embryonic
power base of the Antichrist’s world government which will eventually
span the entire globe. Instead of creating the revived Roman Empire,
Daniel prophesied that the Antichrist would only appear on the world
scene after it has come to existence in its final form. He revealed
that the “Prince of Darkness” would rise after 10 nations rooted in
the former Roman Empire confederate together into a massive political
and military alliance dominating Europe and the Mediterranean in the
last days. This confederation will be composed of both strong and
weak nations—part iron and part clay, partly authoritarian and partly
democratic. The ancient Jewish sage, Malbim, stated that the ten horns
(ten toes) of Daniel’s vision are ten kingdoms that will develop in
the last days as major powers within the outlines of the ancient Roman
Empire. The Book of Zerubbabel, an apocalyptic book of late Jewish
origin, indicates that the False Messiah will come out of Rome.
Early Christian writers also taught that the Roman Empire would be
divided into ten kingdoms when it reappeared in its final from at the
end of the age. Iraneus was a Christian writer (A.D. 120 to 202) who
studied the Gospels under Polycarp, who was a disciple of the Apostle
John. He clearly identified the ten toes and ten horns of Daniel’s
vision as 10 kings of a revived Roman Empire, out of which, the
Antichrist would rise. Tertullian, a contemporary of Irenaeus, wrote,
that “the disintegration and dispersion of the Roman State among the
ten kings will produce Antichrist, and then shall be revealed that
Wicked One, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of His
mouth and destroy by the brightness of His manifestation.”
Hippolytus was one of the most brilliant of the early Christian
writers and also a follower of Irenaeus. He wrote of the ultimate
division of the Roman Empire into ten nations at the end of the age in
his Treatise on Christ and the Antichrist (about A.D. 250): “The legs
of iron and the beast dreadful and terrible, expressed the Romans, who
hold the sovereignty at present; the toes of the feet which were part
clay and part iron, and the ten horns, were emblems of the kingdoms
that are yet to rise; the other little horn that grows up among them
meant the Antichrist in their midst.” Another key theologian,
Lactantius (A.D. 310), wrote:

The Empire will be subdivided, and the powers of government, after
being frittered away
and shared among many, will be undermined. Civil discords will then
ensue, nor will
there be respite from destructive wars, until ten kings arise at
once, who will divide the
world among themselves to consume rather than govern it.

Bishop Cyril, the head of the Jerusalem church in A.D. 350, quoted
from Daniel’s vision about the future revival of the Roman Empire and
its tenfold division, implying this teaching was widespread throughout
the churches. The Christian theologian of the fourth century, Jerome,
declared that “at the end of the world, when the kingdom of the Romans
is to be destroyed, there will be ten kings to divide the Roman world
among themselves.” Theodoret and others during the fifth century were
unanimous in their view that, in the future, the Roman Empire would
revive as ten confederate nations, out of which the Antichrist would
come.
Over the last 2,000 years, many have tried to revive the glorious
Roman Empire without success. Charlemagne tried to reunite the
nations of Europe in a Holy Roman Empire in A.D. 800 but failed. A
thousand years later, in A.D. 1800, Napolean conquered half of Europe
but failed to unite the nations into a cohesive empire that would last
longer than his own lifetime. Montesque, the French philosopher,
noted, “Whenever in the past Europe has been united by force, the
unity lasted no longer than the space of a single reign.” Adolph
Hitler and Mussolini both tried and failed to recreate the Roman
Empire. If anyone doubts the intents of these dictators, they should
consider the wording of Mussolini’s Fascist Creed, taught in his
Balilla, the young boys’ training centers, which were organized
throughout the cities of Italy. The Fascist creed consists of twelve
articles:

1. I believe in Rome Eternal, the mother of my Fatherland.
2. And in Italy, her first-born;
3. Who was born of her virgin womb by the grace of God;
4. Who suffered under the barbarian invader, was crucified, slain and
buried;
5. Who descended into the sepulchre, and rose again from the dead in
the nineteenth century;
6. Who ascended to Heaven in her glory in 1918 and 1922 (by the
Fascist march on Rome);
7. Who is seated at the right hand of mother Rome;
8. Who will come thence to judge the quick and the dead;
9. I believe in the genius of Mussolini;
10. In our Holy Father Fascism and in the Communion of its martyrs;
11. In the conversion of the Italians; and
12. In the resurrection of the Empire. Amen.

Now, in this century, we are witnessing the fulfillment of Daniel’s
prophecy concerning the
revival of the Roman Empire. The formation of the European Common
Market and the unification of Europe are the beginning of the
ten-nation confederacy predicted by Daniel and the Book of Revelation.
The Treaty of Rome, signed in Rome on March 25, 1957, accelerated the
move to gather the nations of Europe together into a multinational
superstate. A confederation of economic and trade relationships was
formed under the title, the European Economic Community (EEC), which,
since 1990, has been known simply as the European Community (EC).
Jean Monnet, one of the inspirers of this union, revealed the ultimate
objective of the union when he said, “Once a common market interest
has been created, then political union will come naturally.” Henri
Spaak, Belgium’s foreign minister who signed the Treaty of Rome,
admitted that these leaders were consciously recreating the Roman
Empire. It is almost as if the God has set back the hands on the
clock to the historical situation as it existed two thousand years
ago. Today, as then, Rome was allied with or had conquered all of
Europe and the nations surrounding the Mediterranean but was unable to
conquer the Parthian Empire, the area of present-day Iraq, Iran,
Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia.
In June 1979 Europe held its first election for the European
Parliament (the first directly elected, multinational assembly in
history), which was set up to deal with European community problems.
One of the most startling indications of the new state of affairs in
Europe was that on January 1, 1993, all internal border controls were
eliminated for European Community citizens. A European Community
citizen can now travel from Greece to Italy to France and Britain
without ever being asked about his identity or facing questions from
customs agents. The Treaty of Rome calls for the “free movement of
people” and has served to create a sense of being a European rather
than a Frenchman or German.
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher revealed the truth
about the merger when she said that “it would be the greatest
abdication of national and political sovereignty in history.” She was
forced out of office by her party because she resisted the surrender
of British sovereignty to the European Community.
On December 10, 1991, members of the EC signed the Treaty of
Maastricht vastly expanding the powers of the European Parliament and
the EC itself, moving Europe beyond the economic and political sphere
into the area of complete monetary and military union. Margaret
Thatcher warned about the dangers in an article in the European
newspaper on May 24, 1992, “The Maastricht Treaty passes colossal
powers from parliamentary governments to a central bureaucracy. A
dispassionate observer could perhaps be forgiven for wondering whether
it is we in the West who are trying to convert the East to democracy
or they who are converting us to bureaucracy.” She also revealed the
community “is committed to the creation of a single currency no later
than 1999 [the “euro”]. A single currency means a single interest
rate, a single monetary policy and the supply of money to the
executive is at the heart of parliamentary democracy.”
Thatcher called the Maastricht Treaty “the worst abdication and
voluntary transfer of political sovereignty and power in western
history.”
The EC expanded their economic and political union once more on
January 1, 1993 with the European Free Trade Association’s (EFTA)
inclusion of seven nations that previously formed their own common
trading area outside the EC: Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Austria,
Finland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein. These EFTA nations agreed to
create an enlarged European Community uniting nineteen European
nations. This new economic colossus now accounts for over 46% of
world trade, making the EC the largest trading block in the world.
The emerging European Super state now has:

1 European Citizenship and Passport
1 High Court
1 Central Bank and Currency
1 Foreign Policy and European Army
1 Political, Economic, and Military Control

Just as the Bible prophesied thousands of years ago, during the
generation that the nation of Israel was reborn (May 14, 1948), the
Roman Empire will arise again. This confederated super state is
destined to rule the world under the dictatorial control of the coming
Prince of Darkness. Christian groups in Norway and other countries
have expressed concerns about the EC. Arthur Berg, former editor of a
Norwegian Christian newspaper warned, “There is a chance that the
European Community is making the throne on which the Beast could sit,
covering not only Europe, but the whole world.” Derided by the media
and politicians, concerned Christians continue to warn the people of
the dangerous direction of Europe.
The Bible predicts that when the dust settles, the revived Roman
Empire will be in the form of a ten-nation confederacy. Some
prophetic scholars insist that this will involve an inner ring of 10
fully integrated permanent member nations of the EC, committed to
relinquishing their sovereignty, arising out of the nations of the
former Roman Empire. Others assert that the kingdoms will not be of
Rome in a physical or geographical sense, although some may have been
part of the Ancient Roman Empire, but will be countries which are the
depository of the people, culture, and tradition of Rome (which covers
almost the entire globe). One thing is for certain. When these
kingdoms are in place, The Antichrist will arise out of this revived
form of Rome, supplant 3 of these kings, and institute his global
government. His reign will last 7 years and toward the latter half of
this period, he will have established a one-world religion, and even
go so far as to proclaim himself a god. The prophet Habakkuk
described the Antichrist, saying:

“He is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire
as hell, and is as death, and
Cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth
unto him all people.”
(Habakkuk 2:5)

The push for global government (which shall be discussed at length)
is also a sign of the end of this age. The unification of Europe is a
huge step in the direction of what the globalists in North America
call the “New World Order” and the Europeans openly refer to as the
“World Government.” Joseph Lonz, former Secretary General of NATO
said, “The slowly but steadily advancing unity of Europe is the most
promising guarantee of our ideals of one world government.” It is
more than interesting to note that globalist organizations such as the
Club of Rome, the Trilateral Commission, and the Council on Foreign
Relations each use a “ten kingdom” administrative model for the coming
world government.
The Club of Rome (COR) was formed in 1968 as a European “think tank”
to study various issues involved in preparing the nations for the
coming New World Order. Aurelio Peccei, closely connected with the
Bildberg Group, brought together leaders of ten nations to study the
problems. Their studies, such as “The Limits to Growth,” the “RIO
Report” and “Mankind at the Turning Point,” all present massive new
world problems and offer the surrender of our national sovereignty to
world government as the only possible solution. “In searching for a
new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the
threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would
fit the bill,” declared members of the Club of Rome in a sweeping 1991
report on global governance. “All these dangers are caused by human
intervention…the real enemy, then, is humanity itself.”
In his book “Mankind at the Turning Point”, Club of Rome President
Aurelio Peccei described “their world model, based on new developments
of the multi-level hierarchical systems theory, divides the world into
ten interdependent and mutually interacting regions of political,
economic or environmental coherence.” He proposed a goal whereby
these ten regions of the world would be consolidated into a one-world
government by the year 2000.

The Ten Regions of the New World Government

Region 1—Canada and the United States of America
Region 2—European Union—Western Europe
Region 3—Japan
Region 4—Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, and Pacific
Islands
Region 5—Eastern Europe
Region 6—Latin America—Mexico, Central and South America
Region 7—North Africa and the Middle East
Region 8—Central Africa
Region 9—South and Southeast Asia
Region 10—Central Asia

Shockingly, Peccei has even gone so far as to call for a world
dictator:

“A charismatic leader—scientific, political, or religious—would be
the world’s only salvation
from the social and economic upheavals that threaten to destroy
civilization. Such a leader
would have to override national and international interests as well
as political and economic
structures to lead humanity away from the maladies that afflict
it….Only a revolution, the
substitution of a new world economic order can save us.”

The Roman Empire had its religious, political, military, and economic
roots in ancient Babylon, which in turn had its own in the Tower of
Babel. In the Bible, the Tower of Babel represents man’s first
rebellion against God after the Flood. It was an enormous tower,
built by the wicked King Nimrod (whom Freemasons claim is the first
Mason), who ruled the land of Shinar (ancient Sumer in Southern
Mesopotamia). Nimrod was the first king. He established a one-world
government with a one-world religion where everyone spoke one
language. The people of ancient Babylon gathered together in their
sinful pride and attempted to build a tower that reached to the
heavens. The Bible states that, from the time of Adam and Eve, up
until an act of God caused a confusion of languages and the dispersion
of the population at the Tower of Babel, "The whole earth had one
language and one speech…And the LORD said, “Indeed THE PEOPLE ARE ONE,
and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do…”
(Genesis 11:1-6). Many have concluded that the Tower of Babel was a
ziggurat used to observe the heavens for astrological purposes.
Whatever it was used for, it greatly angered God, and Moses recorded
the subsequent judgment and destruction of the Tower of Babel.
Genesis 11:8 says, “So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over
the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.” The
Tower of Babel was left unfinished.
EU trade and promotional symbols strike the observant as
openly prophetic. Offering no apologies and showing no shame, the
modern European Union has depicted this very tower under construction
below twelve inverted stars (dare I say pentagrams?). The caption
reads “Europe, many tongues, one voice” and the poster is copied from
The Building of the Tower of Babel, a 1563 painting by the Flemish
artist Pieter Brueghel.
The emerging EU is depicted in Newsweek magazine as a completed Tower
of Babel. On the inside, the European Union is drawn as if it were an
eight-headed eagle. The combs on the heads of the eagle betray its
identity. It is actually a phoenix which, in the Far East, is depicted
as a winged dragon. The 8 heads are reminiscent of Revelation 17
where we are told about a 7-headed dragon, each head representing a
king, and then an eighth king representing the Antichrist. In the
apocryphal book of Second Esdras, used for centuries by the Roman
Catholic Church, Ezra is said to have a dream about a many-headed
eagle. Ezra specifically identifies this creature as the “fourth
beast” of Daniel. All of these symbols are coming straight out of the
Bible. The E.U.’s purpose is to preside over the construction of a
final “Babylon project” or the much heralded New World Order. You’ll
see this same message conveyed on the masonic seals on our U.S.
one-dollar bill, which was first printed in the 1930s at the
insistence of President Roosevelt, a Mason, and his vice president
Henry Wallace (a fellow Mason who later ran for president as a
Socialist). The all-seeing eye of Horus hovers over the pyramid with
its cap-stone missing. The phrase “Novus Ordo Seclorum” underneath
translates “New World Order” and the phrase “E Pluribus Unum”
translates “out of many, one.” The Council of Europe began to show
its true colors early on, when the president of its Consultative
Assembly from 1941 to 1951, Paul-Henri Spaak, proclaimed, “What we
want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the allegiance of all
people, and to lift us out of the economic morass in which we are
sinking. Send us such a man and, be he god or the devil, we will
receive him.”
In 1957, six countries signed the Treaty of Rome, in Rome, laying the
foundation for what is now an economic, political, and potentially,
military colossus that will dominate world events in the near future.
Former secretary-general of NATO, Henri Spaak, admitted in a BBC
documentary on the European Union that “we felt like Romans on that
day….We were consciously re-creating the Roman Empire once more.”
Daniel received a revelation from God that made it very clear that
Christ would return and
establish his kingdom in the lifetime of the leaders who would
reestablish the Roman Empire.

“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….God has made
known…what will come to pass
after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure”
(Daniel 2:44, 45)
The Roman Empire had its religious, political, military, and economic
roots in ancient Babylon, which in turn had its own in the Tower of
Babel. In the Bible, the Tower of Babel represents man’s first
rebellion against God after the Flood. It was an enormous tower,
built by the wicked King Nimrod (whom Freemasons claim is the first
Mason), who ruled the land of Shinar (ancient Sumer in Southern
Mesopotamia). Nimrod was the first king. He established a one-world
government with a one-world religion where everyone spoke one
language. The people of ancient Babylon gathered together in their
sinful pride and attempted to build a tower that reached to the
heavens. The Bible states that, from the time of Adam and Eve, up
until an act of God caused a confusion of languages and the dispersion
of the population at the Tower of Babel, "The whole earth had one
language and one speech…And the LORD said, “Indeed THE PEOPLE ARE ONE,
and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do…”
(Genesis 11:1-6). Many have concluded that the Tower of Babel was a
ziggurat used to observe the heavens for astrological purposes.
Whatever it was used for, it greatly angered God, and Moses recorded
the subsequent judgment and destruction of the Tower of Babel.
Genesis 11:8 says, “So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over
the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.” The
Tower of Babel was left unfinished.
EU trade and promotional symbols strike the observant as
openly prophetic. Offering no apologies and showing no shame, the
modern European Union has depicted this very tower under construction
below twelve inverted stars (dare I say pentagrams?). The caption
reads “Europe, many tongues, one voice” and the poster is copied from
The Building of the Tower of Babel, a 1563 painting by the Flemish
artist Pieter Brueghel.
The emerging EU is depicted in Newsweek magazine as a completed Tower
of Babel. On the inside, the European Union is drawn as if it were an
eight-headed eagle. The combs on the heads of the eagle betray its
identity. It is actually a phoenix which, in the Far East, is depicted
as a winged dragon. The 8 heads are reminiscent of Revelation 17
where we are told about a 7-headed dragon, each head representing a
king, and then an eighth king representing the Antichrist. In the
apocryphal book of Second Esdras, used for centuries by the Roman
Catholic Church, Ezra is said to have a dream about a many-headed
eagle. Ezra specifically identifies this creature as the “fourth
beast” of Daniel. All of these symbols are coming straight out of the
Bible. The E.U.’s purpose is to preside over the construction of a
final “Babylon project” or the much heralded New World Order. You’ll
see this same message conveyed on the masonic seals on our U.S.
one-dollar bill, which was first printed in the 1930s at the
insistence of President Roosevelt, a Mason, and his vice president
Henry Wallace (a fellow Mason who later ran for president as a
Socialist). The all-seeing eye of Horus hovers over the pyramid with
its cap-stone missing. The phrase “Novus Ordo Seclorum” underneath
translates “New World Order” and the phrase “E Pluribus Unum”
translates “out of many, one.” The Council of Europe began to show
its true colors early on, when the president of its Consultative
Assembly from 1941 to 1951, Paul-Henri Spaak, proclaimed, “What we
want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the allegiance of all
people, and to lift us out of the economic morass in which we are
sinking. Send us such a man and, be he god or the devil, we will
receive him.”
In 1957, six countries signed the Treaty of Rome, in Rome, laying the
foundation for what is now an economic, political, and potentially,
military colossus that will dominate world events in the near future.
Former secretary-general of NATO, Henri Spaak, admitted in a BBC
documentary on the European Union that “we felt like Romans on that
day….We were consciously re-creating the Roman Empire once more.”
Daniel received a revelation from God that made it very clear that
Christ would return and
establish his kingdom in the lifetime of the leaders who would
reestablish the Roman Empire.

“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….God has made
known…what will come to pass
after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure”
(Daniel 2:44, 45)

1). Above—EU promotional symbol featuring a well known painting of the
Tower of Babel, notice the 12 stars (symbolism from Revelation 12)
positioned “horns up”
2). Top Right—Newsweek, Nov. 1998, EU represented as completed Tower
of Babel
3). Bottom Right—8 headed phoenix representing the EU inside of
Newsweek, symbolism stolen from the Apocalyptic books of 2 Esdras and
Revelation. In both books, it is a representation of the 4th beast of
Daniel’s vision which is the Roman Empire.

The reunification of Europe, in light of the prophecies of Daniel and
the writings of the early Jewish and Christian writers, certainly
should serve as a sign to Christians regarding the imminent return of
Christ. And in accordance with Ezekiel 33: 2-6, we should indeed
“blow the trumpet” and let the rest of the world know the “sword is
coming”.

Daniel’s Vision of the 70 Weeks

Towards the end of the 70 years of the Babylonian captivity of the
Jews, Daniel began to pray and ask God to further reveal to him the
future of the Jewish people. Daniel’s prayer was answered and the
Angel Gabriel was sent to give him “skill and understanding”. He
received one of the most amazing and accurate visions ever given to
man. This vision consisted of a total of 70 weeks of years (seventy
“sevens”, meaning 490 years). It predicted the precise time at which
Israel would reject the Messiah and, in addition, looked forward over
2000 years to the time in which the Messiah would return.

Seventy weeks [490 years] are determined upon thy holy city, to
finish the transgression, and
to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and
to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint
the most Holy. Know
therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to
build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven
weeks, and sixty-two weeks: the
street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
And after sixty-two weeks
shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the
prince who is to come shall
destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end thereof shall be with a
flood, and till the end of the
war desolations are determined. And he [the “prince who is to come”,
Antichrist] shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in
the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to
cease (Daniel 9:24-27).

This prophecy is extremely unusual because the time frame give is so
specific. The first thing we must establish is the meaning of the
word “week” in these verses. The word “weeks”, or the Hebrew
“shabuim”, referred to a seven-year period. “Shabuim” meant “seven”
or “week” of years, while the word for a “seven” of days was “yamim”.
This method of counting time was as common with the Jews as decades
are with us because God commanded Israel to keep a yearly Sabbath of
the land. God declared that they must not only rest on the Sabbath
every seven days, but also must let the land lie dormant every seven
years as a Sabbath of the land. When Daniel refers to a “shabuim” or
“week” of years, this was easily understood by his Jewish readers as a
seven-year period.
Next, in order to calculate the weeks of years, we need to know the
length of the Jewish year during biblical times. The solar year
(365.25 days), which we use, was unknown to the nations in the Old
Testament. According to the articles on chronology in the
Encyclopedia Britannica and Smith’s Bible Dictionary, Abraham
continued to use the 360-day year of his original Chaldean homeland
when he migrated into Canaan. The account of the Flood in Noah’s days
tells us that the waters abated from the earth during a 150-day
interval. The 150 days began on the seventeenth day of the second
month and ended five months later on the seventeenth day of the
seventh month (Genesis 7:11, 24 and 8:3-4). In other words, the five
months consisted of 30 days each; therefore, twelve months would equal
360 days
(12 x 30 = 360 days). The book of Esther (1:4) tells us that the
6-months-long feast of King Xerxes continued exactly 180 days, also
revealing the 30-day month of the lunar calendar. Furthermore, the
book of Revelation (12:6 and 13:5-7) tells us that the latter half of
the 7-year reign of the Antichrist will last a period of 3 ˝ years or
42 months. Elsewhere in the same book, we are told that 1260 days is
equivalent to 42 months. Again this implies each month has 30 days
(42 x 30 = 1260). Sir Isaac Newton relates that
“all nations, before the just length of the solar year was known,
reckoned months by the course of the moon, and years by the return of
winter and summer, spring and autumn; and in making calendars for
their festivals, they reckoned thirty days to a lunar month, and
twelve lunar months to a year, taking the nearest round numbers,
whence came the division of the ecliptic into 360 degrees.” The
failure to recognize and utilize the biblical lunar-solar year of 360
days has prevented a clear understanding of Daniel’s 70 weeks and many
other prophecies containing a time element.

Now, we are ready to calculate. At the start of the Babylonian
captivity, Nebuchadnezzar’s armies had destroyed the first Jewish
Temple in 586 B.C. Now that the captivity was ending (which was
prophesied by Jeremiah), the Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem
and begin rebuilding the Temple. Daniel’s vision starts with this
command and gives the EXACT amount of days that will transpire between
this command and the coming of the Messiah. The prophecy of the 70
weeks (above) begins with, “From the going forth of the commandment to
restore and build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven
weeks [sevens], and sixty-two weeks [sevens]”. All we need is the
date of that decree to rebuild. Its that simple. We know that this
decree of the Persian King Artaxerxes Longimanus was given to Nehemiah
“in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year” of his reign (Nehemiah
2:1). According to the Talmud (a collection of writings that
constitute Jewish civil and religious law), the “The first day of the
month Nisan is the New Year for the computation of the reign of kings
and for festivals.” The 1st of Nisan in King Artaxerxes’ twentieth
year was computed by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, United Kingdom,
as March 14, 445 B.C.
Now, the prophecy tells us that “from the commandment to restore and
to build Jerusalem” given on March 14, 445 B.C., there will be a time
period of seven “weeks” (7 x 7 = 49 years), in which the Temple was
actually rebuilt, and sixty-two “weeks” (62 x 7 = 434 years) which
bring us to a combined total of 69 weeks of years or 483 years (69 x 7
years = 483 biblical years). This period of 69 weeks of years or 483
biblical years is equal to exactly 173,880 days (483 x 360 days =
173,880 days).
At the end of these sixty-nine “weeks” (483 years), or 173,880 days,
we are told by Daniel that the “Messiah will be cut off.” We simply
add these 173,880 days to March 14, 445 B.C. (command to rebuild)
which brings us to the tenth day of Nisan, April 6, A.D. 32. On this
EXACT day, now known as our Palm Sunday, Jesus Christ entered
Jerusalem and presented Himself as “the Messiah” fulfilling this
prophecy. As a reminder, in calculating the duration in years between
any date B.C., to any date A.D., one year must always be omitted. The
time lapse between Passover in 1 B.C. and the next passover in A.D. 1
is only one year, not two, because there is no 0 B.C.
For those who want to confirm these calculations for the period of 69
“weeks” by working back from our calendar dates, there is another way
to calculate. Follow these computations with a calculator. From
March 14, 445 B.C. (the date of the command to rebuild Jerusalem) to
March 14, A.D. 32 is 476 years of 365 days each, or 173, 740 days.
Add the 24 days from March 14, A.D. 32 until April 6, A.D. 32 (Palm
Sunday, the “cutting off” of the Messiah). Then add the 116 leap days
that occurred during this period (calculated by the Royal Observatory,
Greenwich, United Kingdom). These numbers added together (173,740 + 24
+ 116 = 173,880) total 173,880 days, the exact duration of Daniel’s 69
“weeks” of years. For the complete details and astronomical evidence
regarding this time period, read “The Coming Prince”, by the brilliant
scholar Sir Robert Anderson, former head of Scotland Yard.
These first 69 weeks were fulfilled to the very day. On that
significant day, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a foal
(Matt. 21:1-7) fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah made 500 years
earlier:

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of
Jerusalem! Behold, your
king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble,
and mounted on a donkey,
even on a colt, foal of a donkey” (Zech. 9:9)

The disciples of Jesus recognized Him as the Messiah and proclaimed,
“Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord…”. However,
the Pharisees and most of the Jewish people rejected Him and advised
that He “rebuke thy disciples”. Jesus knew exactly what day this was.
He knew that the Jews would reject Him because they did not heed the
prophets and he knew that the next part of Daniel’s prophecy of the
69th week would be fulfilled shortly thereafter: “and the people of
the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary”.
As he approached Jerusalem,

“He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, if though hadst known,
even thou, at least in THIS
THY DAY, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are
hid from thine eyes. For
the days will come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench
about thee, and compass thee
round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with
the ground, and thy children
within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another
[referring specifically to
Daniel’s prophecy of 70 weeks]; BECAUSE THOU KNEWEST NOT THE TIME OF
THY
VISITATION” (Luke 9:41-44).

Five days later, this rejection culminated in the crucifixion of Jesus
and the postponement of the promised Kingdom for now almost 2000
years. At this point in time, after the 69th week of Daniel’s vision
of 70 weeks, God stopped the cosmic clock for over 19 centuries to
invite the gentiles (non-Jews) into the Kingdom of God on the
condition that they would believe in the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. This gap between the 69th and 70th week of the prophecy
is the “Church Age”. The “gospel of the kingdom” was to be preached
to all the world, and then would come the dreaded 70th week of
Daniel’s vision which shall be fulfilled in our generation. Prior to
his crucifixion, Jesus explained this in the Parable of the Wedding
Banquet:

“The reign of God may be likened to a king who gave a wedding banquet
for his Son.
[the Heavenly City in the Book of Revelation, which Christ has
received, is said to be the Bride of Christ and the faithful are
invited to dwell in it and attend what is called the “Marriage Supper
of the Lamb”] He dispatched his servants [the prophets], saying:
‘Tell those who were invited [Jews], See, I have my dinner prepared!
My bullocks and corn-fed cattle are killed; everything is ready. Come
to the feast.’ Some ignored the invitation and went their way, one to
his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants,
insulted them, and killed them. At this the king grew furious and
sent his army to destroy those murderers and burn their city [Roman
invasion and destruction of Jerusalem, discussed below]. Then he said
to his servants [the apostles]: ‘The banquet is ready, but those who
were invited were unfit to come. That is why you must go out into the
byroads and invite to the wedding anyone you come upon [preach the
Kingdom unto the gentiles and outcasts of the Jews] The servants then
went out into the byroads and rounded up everyone they met,…This
filled the wedding hall with banqueters” ( Matthew 22:1-10)

Again, Jesus addresses the slaying of the prophets, the preaching of
the Gospel unto the gentiles,
and even his own crucifixion while teaching the Parable of the Tenants
to the Jews:

“Listen to another parable. There was a property owner [God] who
planted a vineyard [Jerusalem], put a hedge around it, dug out a vat,
and erected a tower. Then he leased it out to tenant farmers and went
on a journey. When vintage time arrived he dispatched his slaves
[prophets] to the tenants to obtain his share of grapes. The tenants
responded by seizing the slaves. They beat one, killed another, and
stoned a third. A second time he dispatched even more slaves than
before, but they treated them the same way. Finally he sent his Son
[Christ] to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ When they saw
the son, the tenants said to one another, ‘Here is the one who will
inherit everything. Let us kill him and then we shall have his
inheritance! With that they seized him, dragged him outside the
vineyard, and killed him [Jesus was crucified outside the walls of
Jerusalem]. What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard
will do to those tenants when he comes?” They [Jews being spoken to]
replied, “He will bring that wicked crowd to a bad end and lease his
vineyard out to others who will see to it that he has
grapes at vintage time.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in
the Scriptures,

‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the keystone of the
structure. It was
Lord who did this and we find it marvelous to behold’? [prophesied of
Jesus hundreds
of years earlier in Psalm 118:22]

For this reason, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away
from you and given to a nation
that will yield a rich harvest [gentiles of the world]…”
When the chief priests and Pharisees heard these parables, they
realized he was speaking
about them. Although they sought to arrest him, they had reason to
fear the crowds who regarded him as a prophet (Matt. 21:33-45)

This parable reveals that the religious and political leaders of
Israel at the time of Jesus quite possibly recognized that he was the
rightful heir of the throne of David and “…the one who will inherit
everything”.
Literally hundreds of details about the birth, ministry, and death of
Jesus were given foretold by the prophets (all of which shall be
covered in a later paper) even as early as Moses. The Jews truly had
no excuse for being unfamiliar with the prophets, and it was for this
reason that even the resurrection of Jesus did not convince the
majority of them.

“…’If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be
convinced even if one
should rise from the dead.’” (Luke 16:31)

“For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did
not know Him, nor even
the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have
fulfilled them in condemning Him”
(Acts 13:27)

When various Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus to tempt Him,
demanding a sign from Heaven, He replied, “When the evening arrives,
you say, ‘Clear weather—for the sky is red;’ and at morning, ‘Today,
there will be a storm—for the sky is red, being overcast.’
Hypocrites! Indeed, you know how to discern the face of the sky, but
you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous
generation seeks a sign…” (Matt. 16:2-4). The Greek word used here
for “hypocrites”
most literally means “actors” or “pretenders.” Although it may sound
unnecessarily insulting, according to Jesus, those who actually claim
that they are God’s “well-informed” servants, but who are unable or
unwilling to discern the signs of the times, are in reality
“pretenders” or disingenuous. The above verses should serve as a
warning to Christians in these last days. Many point to the mistakes
of the past concerning the second coming, but anyone who truly knows
the signs that precede the second coming of Christ, also knows that
prior to 1948 (the rebirth of Israel, prophesied by almost every major
prophet in the OT), the prophecies COULD NOT have been fulfilled.
Jesus specifically says that the main fault of the Jews was that they
knew not the “time of their visitation”, which was predicted, even to
the exact day, in Daniel. We are to “heed the SURE WORD of prophecy
as a light that shineth in a dark place.”
Immediately after the 69th week of Daniel’s prophecy the Messiah was
predicted to be “cut off” and then, “the people of the prince who is
to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary [the Temple].” Jesus
reiterated this next event while riding into Jerusalem on the back of
the foal: “…and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another.”
In A.D. 70, less than 40 years after the prophecies of Christ’s
crucifixion, the Roman army besieged Jerusalem, killing more than one
million of its inhabitants. The Temple was burned to the ground on
the 9th of Av, the exact same day of the destruction of the first
Temple (Solomon’s) by the Babylonian army! The historian Flavius
Josephus, an eyewitness, pointed to this as proof of the Hand of God
in these events. The Romans leveled the city of Jerusalem. As they
burned the Temple to the ground, the tremendous heat of the fire
melted the sheets of gold that covered much of the Temple building.
The molten gold ran down into every crack between the foundation
stones. When the fire finally died down, the Roman soldiers used
wedges and crowbars to overturn every stone to search for this gold,
fulfilling Christ’s prophecy to the smallest detail.
In A.D. 71, again, on the 9th of Av, the Roman army plowed the Temple
Mount and the city of Jerusalem with salt to destroy any vegetation
necessary to support a population. This was a complete fulfillment of
the prophecy of Micah, given over 800 years earlier: “Therefore shall
Zion for your sakes be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become
heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest”
(Micah 3:12).
Daniel’s prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple,
after the 69th week, by the “people of the prince who is to come”
reveals that the people (the Roman Soldiers) would be responsible for
the destruction, not this “prince who is to come”. The “prince who is
to come” is identified as the Antichrist in later verses dealing with
the 70th week, and this is yet another reference to the fact that he
arises out of a form of the Roman Empire.

The Final Week of Years—The Tribulation

An analogy of the postponement of the promised Kingdom of the Jews
can be found in the parallel situation some fifteen hundred years
earlier when Israel stopped at the very edge of the Promised Land they
were about to receive from God (Exodus ch. 13 and 14). The Promised
Land was a type of the Kingdom of God. The Israelites sent 12 scouts
to reconnoiter the land and among those 12 was a man named Joshua.
The name Joshua (Yoshiah) means “He will save”, and is a Hebrew
equivalent name for Jesus (Yeshua), of who Joshua was a type. Joshua
scouted out the Promised Land and returned to deliver the message that
it was ready for the taking, just as Jesus entered Jerusalem and
proclaimed, “the kingdom of Heaven is at hand” on the 10th of Nisan.
The Jews rejected the Word of God and the testimony of Joshua,
threatening to stone him, just as they rejected Jesus. This rejection
by the people led to the forty years in the wilderness and the loss of
that entire generation who died without seeing the fulfillment of the
original conditional promised possession of the land of Canaan. The
entry into the Promised Land was postponed until a new generation had
grown up in the wilderness and were ready to believe God’s promises
and and receive the prophesied Kingdom. In Deuteronomy 1:38-39, Moses
declared that the rejected Joshua would someday accomplish what that
generation rejected, just as Jesus shall return as Israel’s Messiah:

“But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go
in thither: encourage him:
for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
“Moreover your little ones,…which in that day had no knowledge
between good and evil, they
shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall
possess it” (Deuteronomy 1:38-39).

After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites were
finally ready to miraculously cross the Jordan River into the Promised
Land. Joshua told the people, “Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the
Lord will do wonders among you” (Joshua 3:5). On the 10th of Nisan
(!), Joshua, accompanied by 12 men (1 from each tribe, analogous to
the 12 apostles of Christ) finally led the children of the Israelites
who had rejected the promise, into the Promised Land. Is it mere
coincidence that this occurred on the exact same day, the 10th of
Nisan, Jesus and the 12 apostles entered into Jerusalem to offer the
Jews the Kingdom of God? Could the 40 years that the Israelites
wandered in the desert after rejecting God’s promise and Joshua’s
testimony, be analogous to the 40 Jubilee years (Jubilee=50 yrs., 40
Jub. yrs.=2000 yrs.) that have passed since the birth of Christ?
As explained in the parables, after the 69th week of years, Jesus was
rejected and the prophesied Kingdom of God was postponed so that the
gospel could be preached to all the world during what is referred to
as the Church Age or the “fullness of the Gentiles”. The final 70th
week or 7 years of Daniel remains to be fulfilled. Christ said that
“this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a
witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew
24:14). As Jesus approached Jerusalem and wept, he said “…If thou
hadst known, even thou, atleast in this thy day, the things which
belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes” and Paul
later re-affirmed that “blindness in part is happened to Israel, until
the fullness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans 11:25-26).
Jesus knew about the gap between the 69th and the 70th week of
Daniel’s prophecy, which concludes with His return. Jesus began his
public ministry in the synagogue in Nazareth by reading the great
Jubilee prophecy of Isaiah 61:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed
Me to preach good tidings
unto the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord…”
(Isaiah 61:1-2).

However, this was not the entire prophecy. Jesus left out the
concluding prophetic phrase. After reading the above portion of
Isaiah 61, Jesus “closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant,
and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were
fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture is
fulfilled in your hearing’” (Luke 4:18-21).

Jesus ended with “the acceptable year of the Lord” while the actual
prophecy states that “…the Lord has anointed Me….to proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord, AND THE DAY OF VENGEANCE OF OUR
GOD.” This remarkable passage reveals that Jesus knew fully that the
last part of Isaiah’s prophecy—“the day of vengeance of our God” would
not be fulfilled in His first advent.
The final seven years of Daniel (70th week), also known as “the
tribulation” and the “time of Jacob’s trouble”, leading up to the
Battle of Armageddon, will be a time in which the wrath and judgement
of God will be poured out upon the unrepentant sinners of the world.
The 7-year Tribulation is the focus of the apocalyptic Book of
Revelation (discussed at length in later paper). These seven years
are yet to be fulfilled and will culminate with the return of Christ.
Jesus describes this 7-year period as the greatest time of distress
man has ever or will ever know:

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the
beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be (Matthew
24:21)

This 7 year period begins with a 7-year peace treaty made between
Israel and the “prince who is to come” (Antichrist) arising out of the
revived Roman Empire (European Union):

“Then he (Antichrist) shall confirm a covenant with many for one week
(7 years); but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to
sacrifice and offering…” (Daniel 9:27).

We see this prophecy approaching fulfillment in this generation. The
Arab-Israeli peace
process will eventually leave Israel without the strategic depth
provided by military control of the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan
Heights. The prophet Ezekiel predicted that in the latter years, when
Israel was secure in her land, she would be invaded by an
Arabic-Russian alliance in what is called the “War of Gog of Magog”.
In a later paper, we shall discuss how every single Arab country in
this prophecy is aligned against Israel today. This coming war with
Israel will most likely set the stage for the final 7-year treaty with
the European Antichrist. The European Union is getting more and more
involved with the Arab-Israeli peace process every day. As Arabic
News reported on July 29, 1999: "The European Union's Middle East
peace process special envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos has asserted the
intention of the EU to continue exerting all-out efforts for moving
the Middle East peace process forward. During his meeting on Tuesday
in occupied Jerusalem with Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy, the EU
envoy called for reviving the Middle East peace process and reiterated
the EU's backing for pushing negotiations forward...". The prophet
Isaiah warned that this treaty, that will look so promising to a
war-weary Israel, will prove to be a “covenant with death.”
Some time between now and the mid-point of the Tribulation period the
Jewish Temple will be rebuilt. Recent archeological research has
concluded that the Temple can be rebuilt over the original site of
Solomon’s Temple without disturbing the Muslim Dome of the Rock.
Orthodox Jews have trained 500 young Levites for their role as priests
in preparation for the new Temple. The Jerusalem Temple Institute has
constructed more than seventy of the Temple vessels and objects that
are needed to resume worship. Researchers estimate that the basic
Temple structure can be built in one to two years. A group called
Netemanai Har Habayit, the Faithful of the Temple Mount, has built a
detailed model of the Temple, and a fund has already been set up for
donations to rebuild. Millions of dollars have been set aside by many
Jews, in wills and trusts, to aid in financing the reconstruction.
Even some secular Jews support rebuilding the Temple. Arutz 7,
Israeli radio reported: "’With Causeless Love We Will be Rebuilt.’" So
reads a new bumper sticker being distributed by an organization named
‘Secular Jews for the Temple,’ whose goal it is to promote Jewish
awareness of the Temple and the Temple Mount…”
Daniel 9:27 states that 3.5 years into this 7-year treaty, the
Antichrist violates it, stops daily sacrifices in the re-built Temple,
and enters the Holy of Holies. The Apostle Paul warned about this
“man of sin” who “…opposes and exalts himself above all that is called
God or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the temple of God,
showing himself that he is God” (Thessalonians 2:4). Many say that
the prophecies of Daniel indicate that the Antichrist will also set up
an idol in the Holy Temple.

Jesus gave a warning to all Jews, that when they see this abomination,
they should literally flee to the hills, abandoning everything:

“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by
Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place’(whoever reads let him
understand) ‘then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of
his house’” (Matthew 24:15-17)

This crisis will commence the latter half of the Tribulation, which is
known as the Great
Tribulation. From this point unto the end of the 7 years, the
Antichrist will be supernaturally empowered by Satan, and he will
fight against the “holy people”, demanding that the inhabitants of the
earth worship him as a God. We will discuss the details of the reign
of the Antichrist in a later paper on the Book of Revelation.
Though some Christians choose to believe that the 70th week of Daniel
was somehow fulfilled and even that the second coming of Jesus has
already occurred, spiritually, they do so directly opposing the
writings of early Church Fathers. Irenaeus, who knew the men taught
by the apostles, Jerome, Hippolytus, and Ephraem the Syrian, all had
knowledge of the gap between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel’s
prophecy as well as the fact that the 10 kingdoms of Daniel’s vision
represented a form of the revived Roman Empire.
In light of the fulfillment of the first 69 weeks of Daniel, even to
the exact day, there can be no question about whether or not the
remaining week of years will be fulfilled with equal precision. The
rise of the European super state should serve as a warning to
Christians and non-Christians alike, as this generation has seen and
will continue to see more prophecies relating to the second coming of
Jesus Christ fulfilled than any other since the destruction of
Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The great scientist and writer Isaac Newton was
fascinated with prophecy. He wrote of his belief that in the last
days God would raise up men who would devote their efforts to the
study of prophetic portions of Scripture and “insist upon their
literal interpretation in the midst of much clamour and opposition.”
This paper has merely scratched the surface, addressing some of the
prophecies contained within one of the Bible’s sixty-six books.
According to an analysis by J. Barton Payne, out of the Bible’s 31,124
verses, 8,352 contain predictive material. Over one-fourth of the
entire Bible consists of prophecy, and we shall continue to examine
these prophecies in later papers.

“And I heard but I understood not: then said I, O 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. Many shall
be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do
wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall
understand…”
(Daniel 12:8-10)

[Clive Tooth]

Off-topic crap.

[dann...@here.com]

On Mon, 4 Oct 1999 16:44:01 +0100, "Clive Tooth"
<cl...@pisquaredoversix.force9.co.uk> wrote:

>Off-topic crap.
These morons really don't deserve a reply and are best ignored. Let's
save space. The DEL key works just great!

Dan.

[Clive Tooth]

dann...@here.com wrote:

You may wish to ignore them. I am a beneficent person and decided to do
them the kindness of delivering unto them my considered opinion on there
closely argued posting. I will continue to respond in any way I see fit
to posts to this ng.

--

Clive Tooth
http://www.pisquaredoversix.force9.co.uk/
End of document

[carel]

Dear Sir

You use the Bible to prove God?

The two are bound together, you can not use the one to prove the other.

Can you pull yourself up by your bootstraps?

God can not be proven, you have to believe in Him and then the Word will be
reveiled to you.

If you can prove Him, then He is not Him.

Carel

Enoch <Taur...@fcc.net> wrote in article
<z66e4x...@forum.swarthmore.edu>...

[Fred Galvin]

On Mon, 4 Oct 1999, Clive Tooth wrote:

> Off-topic crap.

It may be crap (I didn't read it), but I don't see how it can be off
topic, as the existence of God has consequences for the foundations of
mathematics. For instance, if God exists--I assume we're not talking about
Mercury or Thor here, but the omnipotent omniscient God of Christian
theology--then the axiom of choice must be true, as the God would be
capable of choosing an element from every nonempty set, well-ordering the
universe, etc.; and questions such as the true size of the continuum would
have a definite answer known to the Almighty. Historically, great
mathematicians from Euler to Goedel have offered proofs of the existence
of God (all right, maybe Euler was just kidding), and theological
considerations are said to have played a role in Cantor's thinking about
infinite sets.

[Dave Rusin]

In article <Pine.LNX.4.10.991005...@titania.math.ukans.edu>,
Fred Galvin <gal...@math.ukans.edu> wrote:

>[...] the existence of God has consequences for the foundations of

>mathematics. For instance, if God exists--I assume we're not talking about
>Mercury or Thor here, but the omnipotent omniscient God of Christian
>theology--then the axiom of choice must be true, as the God would be
>capable of choosing an element from every nonempty set, well-ordering the
>universe, etc.; and questions such as the true size of the continuum would
>have a definite answer known to the Almighty.

Not so -- no more than s/he can answer the question of whether or not,
in geometry, there is a unique parallel to a given line through every point
not on that line. No deity can answer this because the answer depends on
what is meant by "line", etc. -- the standard Euclidean axioms do not
uniquely determine the model one might intend, and so cannot be used
to prove the Parallel Postulate. Likewise, the object of your worship
can only respond that your intuition of "set" is incomplete and allows
more than one answer to the Continuum Hypothesis.

Whether or not "omnipotent" means "able to perform the logically impossible"
seems a little unclear, and so whether or not an omnipotent being should
be able to "choose" items from "sets" I cannot really say. Besides I "seem"
to be "talking" in "quotes", a sure sign that the discussion has gone
over the edge.

I don't know what "the universe" is, but it may be countable, hence is easily
well-ordered. I "observe" only a finite number of particles within every
ball of radius n around me. (But I'm not really qualified to comment on
physical reality. By occupational training I operate sort of perpendicularly
to physical reality :-) )

dave

[Steve Leibel]

In article
<Pine.LNX.4.10.991005...@titania.math.ukans.edu>, Fred
Galvin <gal...@math.ukans.edu> wrote:

> On Mon, 4 Oct 1999, Clive Tooth wrote:
>
> > Off-topic crap.
>
> It may be crap (I didn't read it), but I don't see how it can be off

> topic, as the existence of God has consequences for the foundations of
> mathematics.

Oh please. Whose concept of God? Yours? Mine? Pat Robertson's?

For instance, if God exists--I assume we're not talking about
> Mercury or Thor here, but the omnipotent omniscient God of Christian
> theology

Why would you assume that? Omnipotence is a logical contradiction anyway,
ie can God make a stone so big She can't roll it.

--then the axiom of choice must be true, as the God would be
> capable of choosing an element from every nonempty set,

Can God create a collection of sets for which the Axiom of Choice is
false? Probably, since modern set theorists can. If not, that's
something God can't do.

> Historically, great
> mathematicians from Euler to Goedel have offered proofs of the existence
> of God (all right, maybe Euler was just kidding), and theological
> considerations are said to have played a role in Cantor's thinking about
> infinite sets.

Yes, and Isaac Newton spent the majority of his working life concerned
with matters of theology and alchemy. What of it?

Steve Leibel

[Steve Leibel]

In article <7tdu95$qop$1...@gannett.math.niu.edu>,
ru...@vesuvius.math.niu.edu (Dave Rusin) wrote:

> I don't know what "the universe" is, but it may be countable, hence is easily
> well-ordered.

The universe contains the real numbers, hence can not be countable.

However if you were to say that the universe is only the "physical" stuff,
and that mental constructs such as the reals are not part of it, you would
be in big trouble philosophically, because then I'd ask you how you can
determine which of the objects of your perception -- tables, MTV, money,
numbers, Usenet -- are part of the physical universe, and which are purely
mental constructs. Eventually you would be forced to admit that
everything you know you know in your mind, and that you have no awareness
whatever of the physical universe. (This argument would be courtesy of
George Berkeley, a philosopher who was a contemporary of Newton, who was
a merciless critic of the careless bandying about of infinitesimal
quantities.)

Steve L

[Fred Galvin]

On Tue, 5 Oct 1999, Steve Leibel wrote:

> In article
> <Pine.LNX.4.10.991005...@titania.math.ukans.edu>, Fred
> Galvin <gal...@math.ukans.edu> wrote:
>
> > On Mon, 4 Oct 1999, Clive Tooth wrote:
> >
> > > Off-topic crap.
> >
> > It may be crap (I didn't read it), but I don't see how it can be off
> > topic, as the existence of God has consequences for the foundations of
> > mathematics.
>
> Oh please. Whose concept of God? Yours? Mine? Pat Robertson's?

You seem to be repeating the point I alluded to in the sentence quoted
below, that the foundational consequences (if any) of the existence of God
would depend on what kind of god It was. One would have to examine the
existence proof to see what properties it entailed.

> For instance, if God exists--I assume we're not talking about
> > Mercury or Thor here, but the omnipotent omniscient God of Christian
> > theology
>
> Why would you assume that?

Why not? As a mathematician, I can assume anything I want.

Omnipotence is a logical contradiction anyway,
> ie can God make a stone so big She can't roll it.

That's a good one! You got me there.

> --then the axiom of choice must be true, as the God would be
> > capable of choosing an element from every nonempty set,

> Can God create a collection of sets for which the Axiom of Choice is
> false? Probably, since modern set theorists can. If not, that's
> something God can't do.

Anybody can create a collection of sets for which "the Axiom of Choice is
false"; this seems irrelevant to the question whether the axiom of choice
is true in the universe V of all sets.

[Fred Galvin]

On 5 Oct 1999, Dave Rusin wrote:

> In article <Pine.LNX.4.10.991005...@titania.math.ukans.edu>,
> Fred Galvin <gal...@math.ukans.edu> wrote:
>

> >[...] the existence of God has consequences for the foundations of
> >mathematics. For instance, if God exists--I assume we're not talking about

> >Mercury or Thor here, but the omnipotent omniscient God of Christian

> >theology--then the axiom of choice must be true, as the God would be
> >capable of choosing an element from every nonempty set, well-ordering the
> >universe, etc.; and questions such as the true size of the continuum would
> >have a definite answer known to the Almighty.

> Not so -- no more than s/he can answer the question of whether or not,
> in geometry, there is a unique parallel to a given line through every point
> not on that line. No deity can answer this because the answer depends on
> what is meant by "line", etc. -- the standard Euclidean axioms do not
> uniquely determine the model one might intend, and so cannot be used
> to prove the Parallel Postulate.

You didn't mean to say "Euclidean" there, did you?

> Likewise, the object of your worship
> can only respond that your intuition of "set" is incomplete and allows
> more than one answer to the Continuum Hypothesis.

If I ever get a chance to ask Him/Her/It/Them, I will try to phrase the
question carefully, so it's clear that I don't want the answer for any old
model of ZFC, but just for models containing *all* real numbers and *all*
sets of real numbers. (That should be enough to make the answer unique; at
any rate, there's no need to go all the way up.)

> Whether or not "omnipotent" means "able to perform the logically impossible"

No, of course it doesn't mean that.

> seems a little unclear, and so whether or not an omnipotent being should
> be able to "choose" items from "sets" I cannot really say.

Are you saying it's logically impossible to choose items from sets?

> Besides I "seem"
> to be "talking" in "quotes", a sure sign that the discussion has gone
> over the edge.
>
> I don't know what "the universe" is, but it may be countable, hence is easily
> well-ordered. I "observe" only a finite number of particles within every
> ball of radius n around me.

Oh, *that* universe! I have no idea if that one is countable or not. I was
thinking of Cantor's universe, which is uncountable, to say the least.

[Mike Oliver]

Fred Galvin wrote:
>
> On 5 Oct 1999, Dave Rusin wrote:
> > Likewise, the object of your worship
> > can only respond that your intuition of "set" is incomplete and allows
> > more than one answer to the Continuum Hypothesis.
>
> If I ever get a chance to ask Him/Her/It/Them, I will try to phrase the
> question carefully, so it's clear that I don't want the answer for any old
> model of ZFC, but just for models containing *all* real numbers and *all*
> sets of real numbers.

Why would you need to phrase your question carefully when talking
to God? God knows what you mean, right? In fact God should know
how to answer the question you *should* have asked, which may
have nothing at all to do with CH.

[Fred Galvin]

We could posit a Superior Being who is omniscient and truthful but also a
tad malicious and/or literal-minded. As for the God of the Bible, the book
of Job shows that it is hard to get a straight answer from Him.

[Mike Oliver]

Hmm, you'll have to remind me; I don't remember that clearly in Job
(but it's been a long time). What I remember was Job rejecting two
wrong options: His wife's advice to blame God, and his friends' advice
to blame himself when he'd done nothing wrong. The second point is
such an unusual note that I didn't understand it when I read it; I was
expecting the message to be "when you think you're guilty you are, and
when you think you're not, you're probably even worse". But that
might have been my own projection.

I concede that God was a little cagey with Jonah, but that was in
response to Jonah's appalling petulance when God pardoned Nineveh --
a pardon in which Jonah had no little part. Of course if I'd spent
three days in a fish I might not be that sweet-tempered either.

[Keith Ramsay]

In article <Pine.LNX.4.10.991005...@titania.math.ukans.edu>,

Fred Galvin <gal...@math.ukans.edu> writes:
|Historically, great
|mathematicians from Euler to Goedel have offered proofs of the existence
|of God (all right, maybe Euler was just kidding),

The story about Euler and Diderot is known to be a fiction.

Goedel's argument has assumptions which imply other
interesting consequences, like "everything which is true
is necessarily true".

Keith Ramsay

[Mike Mccarty Sr]

In article <stevel-0510...@192.168.100.2>,
Steve Leibel <ste...@coastside.net> wrote:
)In article <7tdu95$qop$1...@gannett.math.niu.edu>,
)ru...@vesuvius.math.niu.edu (Dave Rusin) wrote:
)
)> I don't know what "the universe" is, but it may be countable, hence is easily
)> well-ordered.
)
)
)The universe contains the real numbers, hence can not be countable.

Please bring me a real number. I would like to hold it in my hand.

)However if you were to say that the universe is only the "physical" stuff,
)and that mental constructs such as the reals are not part of it, you would
)be in big trouble philosophically, because then I'd ask you how you can
)determine which of the objects of your perception -- tables, MTV, money,
)numbers, Usenet -- are part of the physical universe, and which are purely
)mental constructs. Eventually you would be forced to admit that
)everything you know you know in your mind, and that you have no awareness
)whatever of the physical universe. (This argument would be courtesy of

You some kind of solipsist? Or are you a Platonist who claims that
anyone who disagrees with you is forced to be a solipsist?

)George Berkeley, a philosopher who was a contemporary of Newton, who was
)a merciless critic of the careless bandying about of infinitesimal
)quantities.)

Frankly, what you wrote looks pretty shallow.

Mike
--
----
char *p="char *p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
I don't speak for Alcatel <- They make me say that.

[Mike Mccarty Sr]

In article <19991006222016...@ngol03.aol.com>,
Keith Ramsay <kra...@aol.commangled> wrote:
)In article <Pine.LNX.4.10.991005...@titania.math.ukans.edu>,
)Fred Galvin <gal...@math.ukans.edu> writes:
)|Historically, great
)|mathematicians from Euler to Goedel have offered proofs of the existence
)|of God (all right, maybe Euler was just kidding),
)
)The story about Euler and Diderot is known to be a fiction.
)
)Goedel's argument has assumptions which imply other
)interesting consequences, like "everything which is true
)is necessarily true".

Fits right in with

The optimist believes that this is the best of all possible worlds.
The pessimist is afraid the optimist is right.

[oho...@my-deja.com]

In article <19991006222016...@ngol03.aol.com>,

kra...@aol.commangled (Keith Ramsay) wrote:
> In article
<Pine.LNX.4.10.991005...@titania.math.ukans.edu>,
> Fred Galvin <gal...@math.ukans.edu> writes:
> |Historically, great

> |mathematicians from Euler to Goedel have offered proofs of the
existence

> |of God (all right, maybe Euler was just kidding),
>

> The story about Euler and Diderot is known to be a fiction.
>

> Goedel's argument has assumptions which imply other

> interesting consequences, like "everything which is true

> is necessarily true".
>
> Keith Ramsay

'The number of planets is nine' is true.
'The number of planets is nine' is necessarily true, is false.

> Goedel's argument has assumptions which imply other

> interesting consequences, like "everything which is true

> is necessarily true".

:. This claim is false.
Either you made an error or Godel did.

Owen

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

[Mike Mccarty Sr]

In article <7tv1md$fmb$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, <oho...@my-deja.com> wrote:

)'The number of planets is nine' is true.

Is false. Pluto was recently demoted from planet status.

[Jay Belanger]

jmcc...@sun1307.ssd.usa.alcatel.com (Mike Mccarty Sr) writes:
>
> )'The number of planets is nine' is true.
>
> Is false. Pluto was recently demoted from planet status.
>

Actually, they ("they" being whatever astronomers get to decide things
like this) thought quite a bit about demoting Pluto, but in the end
kept it as a planet. (I wish I could remember which science magazine
I read this in.) For sentimental reasons, as I recall.

Jay

[Fred Galvin]

This was discussed at great length in sci.astro.

[james d. hunter]

Jay Belanger wrote:
>
> jmcc...@sun1307.ssd.usa.alcatel.com (Mike Mccarty Sr) writes:
> >
> > )'The number of planets is nine' is true.
> >
> > Is false. Pluto was recently demoted from planet status.
> >
>
> Actually, they ("they" being whatever astronomers get to decide things
> like this) thought quite a bit about demoting Pluto, but in the end
> kept it as a planet. (I wish I could remember which science magazine
> I read this in.) For sentimental reasons, as I recall.

No, I believe scientists have a law of consistency which
prevents any sort of error correction to ever occur.

[Mike Mccarty Sr]

In article <m3so3gz...@vh213601.truman.edu>,
Jay Belanger <j...@vh213601.truman.edu> wrote:

)jmcc...@sun1307.ssd.usa.alcatel.com (Mike Mccarty Sr) writes:
)>

)> )'The number of planets is nine' is true.
)>
)> Is false. Pluto was recently demoted from planet status.
)>
)
)Actually, they ("they" being whatever astronomers get to decide things
)like this) thought quite a bit about demoting Pluto, but in the end
)kept it as a planet. (I wish I could remember which science magazine
)I read this in.) For sentimental reasons, as I recall.

That is not what I read. OTOH, what you are saying is that Pluto
actually was demoted, but then repromoted. IOW, "They" decided that it
"really" isn't a planet, but decided to pretend it is.

:)

[Nico Benschop]

Fred Galvin wrote:
>
> On Mon, 4 Oct 1999, Clive Tooth wrote:
>
> > Off-topic crap.
>
> It may be crap (I didn't read it), but I don't see how it can be off

> topic, as the existence of God has consequences for the foundations of
> mathematics. ...[*]

> For instance, if God exists--I assume we're not talking about
> Mercury or Thor here, but the omnipotent omniscient God of Christian
> theology--then the axiom of choice must be true, as the God would be
> capable of choosing an element from every nonempty set, well-ordering the
> universe, etc.; and questions such as the true size of the continuum would

> have a definite answer known to the Almighty. Historically, great

> mathematicians from Euler to Goedel have offered proofs of the existence

> of God (all right, maybe Euler was just kidding), and theological
> considerations are said to have played a role in Cantor's thinking about
> infinite sets.

Indeed, in fact George Boole in his "Laws of Thought" (1854),
[ where he introduces his (set-) algebra as an idempotent branch of
[ arithmetic (for properties x, y of an object: x^2=x, so x(x-1)=0 -->
[ with roots x=1, x=0; and commutative xy = xy : no order dependence)
mentions that a main motivation for him to develop this binary logic
was to formalize & simplify the age-old logic of Aristoteles, as
employed
by Spinoza (17-th century phylosopher) and more recent Clarke
(spelling?)
for their God_existence 'proofs' -- And to check these proofs (IIRC:
Boole
himself was son of a clergyman/minister in Ireland).

His conclusion: those arguments were 'circular' (the result was in the
premises;-) No surprise... Nowadays we use Boolean algebra for more
practical purposes, like the optimal design of combinational logic
circuits,
after Claude Shannon in 1938, as a student in MIT, noticed the
isomorphism
between Boolean(+,.) and switch_connection(parallel,series). That took
some
85 years ! (BTW: how long after 1928 Shuchkewitch' paper on the
detailed
structure of finite simple_semigroups will it take to develop
associative
function composition algebra (=finite semigroups) for optimal sequential
logic synthesis in computer_engineering / digital network theory ?-)
..[2]

--
Ciao, Nico Benschop - http://www.iae.nl/users/benschop ..ref[2]