THE COMING WORLD GOVERNMENT

To those longing for the coming of the Kingdom of God upon earth, today's march of history-making events has special interest. Milleniums ago ancient prophets saw our times, prophesied the rise and fall of world empires, revealed the frantic efforts for global peace and détente in the last days, and finally outlined clearly and unmistakably the last great world empire of all. The Spirit of God has revealed the course of human history today. He shows the finale of the effort made by mortal men to resolve their differences and live peacefully, every man beneath his own fig tree and by his own vineyard.

In the days of Daniel the prophet, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had a dream in the night. He awoke disturbed, perplexed. "Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcercers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king" (Dan. 2:2). The king shared with them his problem. He was certain the dream he had had was a significant one. But now he could not remember any of it! So he called upon the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcercers, and the Chaldeans to tell him the dream and to give him the interpretation of it. It was common practice for these men to give the king fanciful, colored-up interpretations of his dreams. They were usually twisted to please the king and build his ego. But now there could be no guessing! They were called upon to not only interpret the dream but to provide the dream. They were left speechless. They pled with the king to at least tell them the dream; then they would give the interpretation. But try as he might, the king was unable to remember his dream. In wrath the king ordered their execution.

Numbered among the wise men in Babylon was Daniel. He, along with others, had been taken into captivity when Nebuchadnezzar invaded and destroyed Jerusalem. The first he knew of the king's disturbance - and drastic action -was when Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, came to take him to the place of execution with the rest of the wise men. The record states: "And Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon: He answered and said to Arioch the ki ng's captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known unto Daniel. Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation. men Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven" (Dan. 2:14-19).

You see, God has promised "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). God will not leave His people in darkness about the future. God is in control! In the annals of human history the rise and fall of empires appear to be dependent on the will and power of man. But by the Word of God the curtain is drawn aside, and we behold, behind, above, and through all the play and counterplay of human interests and power and passions, the workings of the great God, silently, patiently working out the counsels of His own will.

King Nebuchadnezzar's question to Daniel was to the point: "Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and the interpretation of it? Daniel answered the king, The secret which the king has demanded neither the wise men, enchanters, magicians, nor astrologers can show the king; But there is a God in heaven Who reveals secrets, and He has made known to king Nebuchadnezzar what it is that shall be in the latter days - at the end of days. Your dream and the visions of your bed are these" (Dan. 2:26-28, Amplified Bible).

And then came the dream, one of the most dramatic revelations of all history, in which God outlined the rise and fall of global empires, moved beyond to our day and its detente among the great powers to the setting up of earth's last great world empire. The dream accurately portrayed the events now transpiring before our very eyes. "God... has made known to king Nebuchadnezzar what it is that shall be in the latter days" (Dan. 2:28, Amplified Bible).

Dan. 2:29-39

"Thou, O King, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; And the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king" (Dan. 2:31-36).

Now it all came back to Nebuchadnezzar. This, indeed, was the dream he had dreamed in the night! And Daniel informed the king concerning the significance of the dream: "As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and He that revealeth secrets MAKETH KNOWN TO THEE WHAT SHALL COME TO PASS" (Dan. 2:29). This was a dream whose interpretation was to reveal the FUTURE. Painted dramatically, unforgettably, unmistakably, was a precise outline of world history - the rise and fall of world empires and the exact events which would lead to the establishment of the last great empire of all.

FIRST KINGDOM OF GOLD

With what interest and astonishment must the king have listened as Daniel began his interpretation of the dream and informed the king that his own kingdom was the golden head of that magnificent image. Gold, the king of metals, represented the Babylonian Empire. Daniel informed the king that the God of heaven had given him his kingdom, and made him ruler over all. The character of the Babylonian Empire is indicated by the head of gold. It was indeed the golden kingdom of a golden age. A natural center of trade and commerce, Babylon was immensely wealthy. Site of the ill-fated effort of Nimrod to erect the tower of Babel centuries before, it boasted one of the seven wonders of the world, the hanging gardens, which tradition says Nebuchadnezzar built to console his Median wife who missed the mountains of her homeland. The city of Babylon itself was another and still mightier wonder which there is neither time nor space in this article to recount. There, with the whole world prostrate at her feet, a queen in peerless grandeur, drawing from the pen of inspiration itself this glowing title, ''The glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency," stood this magnificent city, fit capital of that great World Kingdom which was represented by the golden head of this great historic image.

SECOND KINGDOM OF SILVER

The Babylonian Empire was not to stand forever. It was to give way to another. Interpreting the dream, Daniel added: "And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee" (Dan. 2:39 . The breast and arms of silver represented the Medo-Persian Empire (538-331 B.C. . Fulfilling a word of the Lord (see Isa. 45:1), Cyrus damned up the river Euphrates flowing through Babylon, marched his armies beneath the two-leaved gates, and through this stratagem overthrew the Babylonian Empire. Across the banqueting hall of Belshazzar appeared the dreadful words: "Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin," ("thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting"). Before the night was over, blood flowed in the streets as Belshazzar and his thousand lords perished at the hands of the Medo-Persian armies.

Medo-Persia, inferior to Babylon in some ways, was nonetheless a great empire. The king had two capitals, one at Persepolis and the other at Susa. The one he occupied in summer, the other in winter. Medo-Persia had the first organized mail system. While it did not launch the Pony Express, it did have the Dromedary Express - camels carrying messages throughout the empire. Its great armies are said to have numbered in the millions.

THIRD KINGDOM OF BRASS

Great as was the Medo-Persian Empire, it too, was to topple. Daniel declared: "And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth" (Dan. 2:39).

Alexander the Great assumed the leadership of the Grecian armies at the age of 20, and marched with lightning rapidity to conquer the then-known world by the time he was 33. From the beginning of his military career he was a marked man - a man of destiny. Ambassadors came to Alexander almost from all parts of the world: some to congratulate his victories, others to tender his crowns, others to make leagues and alliances with him. However, Alexander could conquer cities but not his own spirit. With contemptible arrogance, he claimed for himself divine honors. He gave up conquered cities, freely and unprovoked, to the mercy of his bloodthirsty and licentious soldiers. He often murdered his friends and favorites in his drunken frenzies. He encouraged such excessive drinking among his followers that on one occasion twenty of them died as the result of their carousal. Finally, having sat through one long drinking spree, he was immediately invited to another, when, after drinking to each of the twenty guests present, he drank twice, history records, incredible as it may seem, the full Herculean cup containing six of our quarts. He was seized with a violent fever and died eleven days later while he yet stood only at the threshold of his life and career - for he was only 33 years old ! His kingdom was divided among his four generals.

FOURTH KINGDOM OF IRON

What kingdom succeeded Greece as the empire of the world? Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar: "And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: foreasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise" (Dan. 2:40). One kingdom did this and only one. Rome. Rome conquered Greece; it subdued all things; like iron, it broke in pieces and bruised. Rome - everywhere victorious. Rome with its universal language, Latin; its universal highway system, of which the Appian Way is a surviving example; Rome with its invincible armies moving undefeated to the outposts of the globe. Its years of power were from 168 B.C. to A.D. 476.

A logical deduction would be that after Rome another world empire would emerge. Not so!

TEN KINGDOMS EMERGE Dan. 2:43

It should be noted that at first the fourth kingdom is described unqualifiedly as strong as iron. This was the period of its strength, during which it has been likened in a history to a mighty colossus bestriding the nations, conquering everything, and giving laws to the world. But this was not to continue.

Daniel went on to say: "And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters clay, and part of iron, the kingdom SHALL BE DIVIDED; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, foreasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom SHALL BE PARTLY STRONG AND PARTLY BROKEN" (Dan. 2:41-42). The decline and fall of the Roman Empire was a gradual thing. Luxury, vice, an almost total moral breakdown, disintegration of the family - it culminated in A.D. 476 when the barbarian hordes overthrew the Roman Empire.

Ten kingdoms, represented by the ten toes of the image, emerged. The ten peoples which were the instruments in breaking up the Empire were the Alamanni, Ostro-Goths, Visigoths, Franks, Vandals, Suevi, Burgundians, Heruli, Anglo-Saxons, and Lombards. The kingdom was indeed divided! These barbarian peoples not only overran the Roman world, but planted themselves within the territory of the Empire and thus became the Empire! The connection between these and the modern nations of Europe is clearly discernable in such names as England, Burgundy, Lombardy, France, etc. The geography of Europe today is determined by the ethnic identities of these ten peoples!

Dan. 2:43

The earth was never again to see the cohesive strength of the Roman Empire welded into the superstructure of one great World Empire. For Daniel, in one of the most significant prophecies of all time, declared: "And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they (the ten toes) shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay" (Dan. 2:43). It is important that we take more than a mere casual perusal of these words of the prophet, for in them is contained the KEY to, and the UNDERSTANDING of events that shall unfold in this our day.

Many are loudly proclaiming a "revival" of the Roman Empire under the antichrist. Some speak of a "One World Beast Government" which they believe to be even now arising in the earth. Preachers declare to us that the European Common Market will give birth to a political alliance in the United States of Europe which is to be the coming last great revived Roman Empire through which the antichrist, or the beast, shall rule the world and universally enforce the "mark of the beast." Nearly everyone is looking for a world government under the beast to arise out of a UNITED EUROPE. And right here, before going any further, I want to speak a word against that. I will say plainly that IT SHALL NOT COME TO PASS. And I am perfectly willing to have my prophecy placed along side all the other voices that dare prophesy in this hour. I do not hesitate to say that I am willing for the sands of time to declare who are the false prophets. One brother said in a meeting with us in 1971 that the "Beast Government" would rise up in the earth and take over the United States within three or four years. And now, four years later, he is still preaching and declaring that the beast government will rise up and take over the United States in three or four years. One wonders when "three or four years" will end!

One of the problems today is that men read too much trash. People read all kinds of politically oriented literature telling about the Illuminati, the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, the conspiracy on the part of the Rothschilds, Rockefellers and others who control great financial empires and international money systems, much of which is spurious, some of which is theory, and a little which is truth. They take this information and try to harmonize it and put it All together with what they imagine to be the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation and they come out with all kinds of speculations in the name of the Lord. A while back the Spirit spoke to me and showed me that all those kinds of "revelations" are false because, in reality, they are NO REVELATION AT ALL! At best, they are only unholy unions of flesh and spirit, mixture of men's ideas, theories, speculations, and lies with the Word of God. Most of the originators of these articles and books on the great money conspiracy, the Illuminati, the Council on Foreign Relations, etc. are not Christians at all. Grant you, there are many Christians promoting these things, but they are not the ORIGINATORS of it. Any time you take the political theories and speculations of unregenerated men and mix it with the Word of God and then call it a REVELATION you are treading on dangerous territory. All of the true, proven, prophetic voices that I know across the land are not prophesying those things at all. And those who are will live to see their prophecies come to naught!

The church today is full of energetic and sincere preachers and teachers who are just full of and bubbling over concerning things that are going to happen. Sixty years ago men were telling how the Kaiser was the antichrist and was going to upset the world. Then when that failed to materialize, they frittered away much time and wasted much good paper and printer's ink telling what the next war was going to be like, and how it was going to be fought. There were to be death rays, and a hundred and one other horrible devices, which would wipe out whole cities and peoples in an instant. There were to be rays that would melt a gun in a soldier's hand even as he held it. But the next war came. There were no death rays. It was fought in much the same manner as the last one had been, except that there was very little or no poison gas used, and equipment and methods were much more effective, particularly on the Allied side. And yet, even after this next war had actually begun, certain religious periodicals published these blood-curdling articles telling of the awful inventions which were ready to be used against mankind. The actual battles which were being fought at the time the articles were published made a lie of the articles. And the unbelievable reality is that many of God's people are so gullible and so susceptible to this kind of sensational trash, that they have no better sense than to glory in it, even though the statements are proven false by actual events then transpiring before their very eyes.

Then Mussolini arose, and he was to be the future superman who would revive the Roman Empire and do this, that, and the other. Then Hitler formed a deceitful alliance with Russia, and the false prophets loudly predicted that they would soon fight side by side. But we now know the answers to all these predictions. They were nothing more than the presumptous guesses of idle shepherds who were destitute of truth. Other men, now that the Kaiser, Mussolini, and Hitler, and other hoped for candidates for the office of antichrist have passed out of the picture, are pinning their hopes on Henry Kissinger, or believe the beast to be a computer over in Brussels, or think Nelson Rockefeller and the World Banking System represent the beast that is preparing to take over the world. Others are loudly proclaiming that the millenium will begin in 1978-79 according to the revelation of the Great Pyramid in Egypt. I want to go on record as saying that the millenium WILL NOT BEGIN in 1978-79 and I make a standing offer to buy all your books on Pyramidology for 1¢ each in 1980. I'll even pay the postage on them!

My prayer is that God will deliver his people, especially those who have caught a revelation of Sonship and God's great end-time purposes, from all this carnal and soulish sensationalism. I fear that even many of God's precious end-time saints haven't progressed far beyond Dr. Scofield's footnotes when it comes to their system of end-time events as regards the antichrist, the beast, and the anticipated world government with its mark of the beast.

Before proceeding further, let us examine the prophecy of Daniel 2:43. There are two important statements in this prophecy. Says Daniel: "And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay,

1. They shall MINGLE THEMSELVES with the seed of men:

2. But they SHALL NOT CLEAVE ONE TO ANOTHER, even as iron is not mixed with clay."

Hear it! " They shall NOT cleave one to another!" This reference is to the ten divisions of the old Roman Empire which remain with us unto this day in the nations of modern Europe. But if these ten toes must yet be formed into the superstructure of a World Empire of antichrist, where is the signification of that COMING WORLD GOVERNMENT Daniel revealed that there would be FOUR great World Empires of man. The fourth would be divided into ten parts and brought into a condition of weakness and fragmentation. Then, in the days of those kings, in their weakness and fragmentation, the God of heaven would set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. If there is to be a World Government here at the end of the age then God left something out! God was wrong! There was an oversight on His part. Perhaps there really was to be a FIFTH WORLD GOVERNMENT in between the fourth world empire and the Kingdom of God - but in His haste to reveal to Nebuchadnezzar the plan of the ages God momentarily overlooked that fifth kingdom!

Furthermore, if these ten toes were to united into a fifth World Empire, they would have to be symbolically joined together in a sort of webfoot. Men do not have webfeet, and this image of Daniel being the image of a-man, therefore signifies no joining of the toes. If God had wished to give such a signification, He would necessarily have given Nebuchadnezzar a dream of an aquatic animal, such as a muskrat. He did no such thing. Furthermore, if there were to be this union of the empires of the toes, then Daniel, in his explanation of the vision, surely would have said something about it. Instead, he stated the exact opposite: in speaking of these toes he said: "but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." If these toes still have to be joined to form a kingdom for the antichrist to rule, then they must cleave one to another, and that would make Daniel a false prophet. I leave my readers to judge who are false: Daniel, or those who contradict him and thus contradict the Word of God.

With Rome fell the last of the world's universal empires. Heretofore it was possible for one nation, rising superior to its neighbors in prowess, bravery, and the science of war, to consolidate them into one vast empire. But when Rome fell, such possibilities forever passed away! The iron was mixed with the clay, and lost the power of cohesion. No man or combination of men can again consolidate the fragments. No other human kingdom was to succeed it, as it had the three which went before it. It was to continue, in this tenfold division, until the kingdom of the stone smote it, upon its feet; broke them in pieces, and scattered them as the wind does the chaff of the summer threshingfloor!

THE TESTIMONY OF HISTORY

In the afterglow of a thousand battlefields, in the shattered dreams of would-be world conquerors, in the light of two world wars, the words stand invincibly true... "they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay."

CHARLEMAGNE TRIES IT

In A.D. 800 Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. Voltaire, an able French writer and intellectual, observed-wittily and sarcastically that while the coronation had plenty of pomp associated with it, as for the empire, it was "neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire." Charlemagne grasped for world empire, came close, then found himself defeated by the words of the great God! "They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay."

LOUIS XIV TRIES IT

Louis the Fourteenth was a vain And pompous Frenchman. He sent his armies into Holland and the Low Countries, to no avail. At death he, too, had failed. Before him, Charles the Fifth had marched his armies across much of Europe, then found himself unable to achieve world empire. The words still stood: ''They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay."

NAPOLEON TRIES IT

From the ashes of the French Revolution arose Napoleon Bonaparte. "I will tear the heart out of glory," he promised a friend. In Marengo, Ulm, and Austerlitz - everywhere Napoleon's armies were victorious. Then came the invasion of Russia. Due to a set of circumstances Napoleon made a fateful decision. He would return to France. The retreat that followed was the most disastrous of all history. Literally hundreds of thousands of soldiers fell in the ice and snow as the coldest winter of Russian history struck. Napoleon was captured, and escaped, and returning to France rallied his troops for one last great effort to unite the nations of earth under his control. June 15, 1815, as the sun sank on the third day of the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon's career sank with it. In captivity Napoleon wrote his memoirs. And he gave what he felt was the reason for his failure: "God Almighty has been too much for me!"

"They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay."

KAISER WILHELM TRIES IT

For decades prior to the outbreak of World War I, the world had been at peace. Men anticipated the Golden Age. On the fateful night when the ultimatum delivered by the British Empire to the Kaiser had been rejected, Sir Edward Grey stood with his military aide looking out over the London skyline. It was late. Lights in the buildings of the city were winking and going out. Pondering the implications of the outbreak of the first World War, Grey turned to his aide and said: "The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."

Kaiser Wilhelm's armies met allied forces in No Man's Land in France. For a time it appeared victory would be his. The horror of trench fighting had demoralized the allied armies. Then came the battle of the Marne. From every standpoint, German armies should have been victorious. But up and down allied battle lines the slogan went, "They shall not pass." Victory went to the allied armies! Before the war was over 60,000,000 casualties had been sustained on the land, in the sea, and in the air. Armistice day cameo Kaiser Wilhelm had failed as had all the others before him. He too, had come face to face with the words of our God: "They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay."

HITLER TRIES IT

In the 1930's, fed by the injustice of the Versailles Treaty, the storm clouds of war began to gather. September 5, 1939, Hitler's panzer divisions swept through flimsy barriers that separated Poland and Germany. World War II had begun. Unstable and mercurial, Hitler deceived and misled the Germans, a people with a proud and ancient heritage. He sought absolute power for himself. He held out the promise of a thousand-year Reich.

Five weeks, and Poland was defeated. The Low Countries were quickly conquered too, with Blitzkrieg, a new lightning war technique that utilized the mightiest mechanized army the world had ever seen. Bypassing France 's "invincible" Maginot Line, Hitler plunged through France to Dunkirk. Military experts gave England a few weeks - at the most a few months - before she too would be crushed beneath Hitler's mighty military machine. Nazi armies at that point seemed to be unstoppable. But Dunkirk was a turning point. For when the picture appeared hopeless and the logical course for Britain to follow was surrender, Winston Churchill, British prime minister, announced the course England would take. "We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight in the seas and oceans, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."

Had Hitler at this point launched a massive invasion of England with paratroops and air cover supporting, there is little question the British Isles would have fallen. Possibly, eventually, the whole world. But curiously he did not. He was sure England would sue for peace. So he waited - for an event that never came. Then, too late, after England along with refugee troops from Europe had had opportunity to rally, Hitler launched the Battle of Britain. Hitler invaded Russia, making the same mistake of Napoleon before him. Later came D-Day, June 6, 1944, and the invasion of continental Europe by the allies. Hitler died a suicide in a Berlin Bunker. Like military leaders before him who had dreamed of world conquest, Hitler was defeated. But he was not defeated by military might - this he had in superabundance. Rather, it was the fateful words of our never-failing God that doomed him to failure: "And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another even as iron is not mixed with clay."

WORLD GOVERNMENT IN OUR TIME?

Time and again men have dreamed of rearing on these ten fragments of the fourth kingdom ONE mighty empire. A single verse of scripture was stronger than all their hosts... "Partly strong, and partly broken ," was the prophetic description. And this is exactly the history of these ten kingdoms ! "They shall not cleave together!" God announced. And yet men have tried to mold them together. And men of God, who ought to know better, predict that they shall unite and form a FIFTH WORLD EMPIRE - a WORLD GOVERNMENT in our time! "This shall not be," says the Word of God. "This has not been," replies the book of history.

But in the light of history's dramatic chapters and the current move toward a united Europe - a UNITED STATES OF EUROPE - what of the future? Will the elusive mirage of world peace based upon a trust in European solidarity, the result of wishful thinking, again cause men to forget the counsel of the Word of God, "They shall not cleave one to another"? Let me say that alliances may come, even a strong-man may arise, and it may appear that the iron an d the miry clay of the feet and toes have finally fused, but the Word of God still stands: "They shall not cleave one to another." It may seem that old animosities have disappeared and the, the "ten Kings" shall become one empire, but "the scripture cannot be broken!' (Jn. 10:35).

THE COMING WORLD EMPIRE

Dan. 2:35,44-45; I Peter 2:9; Rev. 12:5; Rev. 14:1-20; Rev. 2:26-27; Gen. 11:4-9

The awe-inspiring vision of Nebuchadnezzar did not end with the vision of the feet and toes of iron and clay. The greatest event of all was yet to come, for he saw a stone cut out of a mountain without hands which smote the image on its unsteady feet. The blow fell upon the feet because they represent the ruling power at the time of the end when these events take place and the vision is fulfilled. The moment that blow was struck by the stone from the mountain, the whole Babylonish system fell and crumbled to dust beneath its own weight. It became like the dust of a summer threshing floor and the wind blew it away. m en the little stone cut from a mountain itself became a great mountain and filled the whole earth (Dan. 2:35,44-45). This, of course, is the beginning of the Kingdom of God which will eventually fill the whole earth!

God's own nation on earth must take up the scepter. This kingdom SHALL NEVER BE DESTROYED. "Never"' covers a long time. This kingdom of God "shall not be left to other people." The four preceding kingdoms were left to others. Babylon became a prey to Medo-Persia, which in turn was seized and held by Greece, which in turn was left to Rome to subject and dominate. Rome has fallen into ten fragments which in turn shall be subjected to the kingdom of God. It is God's kingdom which must "break in pieces and CONSUME A-L-L these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever!" (Dan. 2:44). Furthermore, this is no fiction or fairy tale: "the dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure" (Dan. 2:45).

As the fourth kingdom, or the Roman Empire, was represented in a two-fold state, first strong and flourishing, "with legs of iron," and then weakened and divided, "with feet and toes, part of iron and part of clay,'' so this fifth kingdom, or Christ's kingdom on earth, is likewise described in two states. But while Rome passes from strength to weakness, from iron to iron mixed with miry clay, the fifth kingdom begins small, merely a stone, and advances to become a great mountain. First it is cut out of a mountain to become the kingdom of a stone. The final phase is when itself becomes a mountain, "and filled the whole earth."

The great majority of commentators have missed the truth here assuming this stone to be Jesus Christ, when God says it is A KINGDOM. The text does not state that God sets up the Christ, Who shall never be destroyed. Furthermore in verse 45 we find this atone "cut out of a mountain." Christ was not cut out of a mountain. But this fifth kingdom was cut out of a mountain. And the next verse definitely states that this kingdom is set up by God, "in the days of these kings," that is, in the days of the kingdoms of the toes.

Peter, when writing to the CHURCH, says: "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, AN HOLY NATION, a peculiar people'' (I Peter 2:9). He calls the church A NATION. He also calls them a RACE, for the word "generation" is from the Greek word "genea" which means "race." The Amplified Bible renders this: "But ye are a chosen race." Nations are generally built up after ethnic lines. The church is both a race and a nation because it is composed of people who have been BEGOTTEN and BORN OF GOD! God is thus the head of an entirely new ETHNIC GROUP which is HEAVENLY! Born of the Spirit! The off-spring of GOD! And God has formed this new race of men into a NATION. It is God's nation. He is the king. And in the scriptures mountains are used to denote kingdoms or nations. So when we read in Dan. 2:45 of a stone CUT OUT OF A MOUNTAIN, it is a stone cut out of a kingdom out of a NATION! And that nation, or mountain, is GOD'S CHURCH! The stone is, therefore, Christ with all the elect Sons of God.

The very same analogy is drawn in John 's vision of a woman bringing forth a manchild. The woman is the church. The true church. The manchild, born out of the woman, is that company of God's overcoming Sons who are to "rule all nations with a rod of iron" (Rev. 12:5). So the WOMAN of Revelation 12 and the MOUNTAIN from which the stone is cut in Dan. 2:45 ARE ONE AND THE SAME - the church. The MANCHILD out of the woman and the STONE out of the mountain are the very same thing -they are the 144,000 overcoming Sons of God who come to Mount Zion to reign! Immediately following the marvelous description of this 144,000 Sons of God in Rev. 14:1-7, John saw an angel fly through heaven saying, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen." If you read the remainder of the chapter, you will see vividly the process of the destruction of this Babylonish system by the stone which was cut out of the mountain without hands. Furthermore, the manchild, the stone, the 144,000 on Mount Zion are all the same as the OVERCOMERS out of the churches in Rev. chapters 2 and 3. Of these OVERCOMERS it is written: ''And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers" (Rev. 2:26-27). Daniel says of the STONE: "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. For as much as thou sawest that the STONE was cut out the mountain without hands, and that IT brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter; and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure."

So the stone RULES and breaks in pieces all these kingdoms. The overcomers RULE and break the nations into shivers. The manchild RULES "all nations" with a rod of iron. The 144,000 are RULING from Mount Zion, that Mount of kingship and dominion. And each one of these "comes out" of something else - out of a larger group of God's people! They are ALL fulfilling the same function - smashing the kingdoms of this world and bringing the Kingdom of God to pass in the earth! This is God's GOVERNMENT. And THIS IS THE NEXT WORLD GOVERNMENT After Rome, the NEXT WORLD EMPIRE IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD!

Press on, saints of God, for we are on the winning side! We are on the way up, the kingdoms of this world are on the way down! All of the distress and perplexity among the nations today does not indicate the imminent rise of a world dictatorship under the antichrist. Rather it heralds the hour for the final collapse and destruction of this present evil system of things and the victory of God's glorious kingdom. The kingdoms of puny and unregenerated men are growing old and wearing out like a garment. Communism cannot stand. Democracy cannot stand. They are all time worn and threadbare, faded and dilapidated - ready to be rolled up like a worn-out garment and replaced by a new order.

But men - under satanic inspiration - boast and plan for a One World Government. But it matters not what the Fabian Socialists or the International Financiers have planned. Satan is the god of "this world." And Satan is a liar! Don't you believe what HE SAYS! Just because he plans to take over the world and form it into a world empire under his headship doesn't mean that he shall succeed. Oh yes, he has it planned. And how many christians believe him! He says he is going to do it so we believe him. me confession of many of God's people corresponds with what the devil is promoting. Remember saints - milleniums ago Satan was promoting the same idea. "And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth" (Gen. 11:4). But GOD had other plans! "And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad... and they left off to build the city" (Gen. 11:5-8).

The effort to World Government today is just as contrary to the will and word of God as was Babel of old. And the whole world, including the people of God, must yet again, one more time, come face to face with the word of the Lord: "They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay."

The present nations of the earth, and most of the christians of the world today, will be surprised... shocked... when God steps in again and derails the well laid and proud and boastful plans of the great men of the earth - and brings forth a company of unknown and unrecognized Sons of God - who shall become the instrument of God to establish in the earth HIS OWN WORLD GOVERNMENT.

"But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even forever and ever... the Ancient of days came, and judgement was given to the SAINTS of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom... 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. 7:18, 22, 27). Hallelujah!