Dan3

Dan 3:1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits and its width six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
Dan 3:2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
Dan 3:3 Then the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
Dan 3:4 Then the herald loudly proclaimed: "To you the command is given, O peoples, nations and men of every language,
Dan 3:5 that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up.
Dan 3:6 "But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire."
Dan 3:7 Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
Nebuchadnezzar has committed the ungodly sin that is common to this very day, he has set up a false god of his own invention. A cubit is the distance of about 18 inches or the distance from the Elbow to the Tip of the Extended Middle Finger. This make the statue about 9 foot wide and about 90 foot high by my calculation. Any follower of God will find their-selves in serious trouble.

The life application here is to be careful of what and whom you worship. When I purchased my first new car I did everything I could for that car. I kept the interior and the exterior clean and polished. I dressed the tire with Tire Black and replaced them long before they were worn out. I worshiped my car. It wasn't 90 foot tall and it wasn't layered with Gold but most of our gods, today, aren't.
Dan 3:8 For this reason at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and brought charges against the Jews.
Dan 3:9 They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king: "O king, live forever!
Dan 3:10 "You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe and all kinds of music, is to fall down and worship the golden image.
Dan 3:11 "But whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.
Dan 3:12 "There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. These men, O king, have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up."
Hatred of the Jewish People and of the true Christian Followers of God has always prevailed and today the nation known world wide as “The Christian Nation,” the US and the nation of Israel are scheduled for extinction. And here, we find the Chaldeans working a plan of hatred to remove three of the very men, responsible for the very air in their lungs and still they hated these, awful, Honest Jews. It is possible, because of their positions in Government, that they helped write this law and planed this from the beginning.

Now, this is really easy to apply to our lives but most do not wish to learn this lesson and are continually amazed when persecuted. This trouble will even come from folks calling themselves Christian. In one of my jobs as a driver I had the knife of a Baptist Sunday School Teacher in my back, over and over, for better than 9 years. I was not taken to relieve the company of supplies and according to him caused him to lose a good deal of money when we wou8ld co-drive a run.

He stabbed all he could with the lies and I prayed for him every day. In the end of it he took a stance that backed him into a corner and he was fired for it. But I'll give some strong advice here, never pray for God to bless your enemy because if the LORD tires of the lack of response, the coals of fire God pours over him will break your heart.
Dan 3:13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego; then these men were brought before the king.
Dan 3:14 Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?
Dan 3:15 "Now if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, very well. But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?"
This is the life application where we learn who the sheep and who the goats in the Church are. Just like these young Jewish men, if we live until the Rapture, we in the US will experience the same persecution of Christians found in China, all the Arab nations, India and many other nations of the world. If you are in the Church to be safe, forget it. When the Anti-Christ is revealed, just after or about the same time as the Rapture, we will have run through the mill, attempting to move us away from the One God and into Satan's Camp.
Dan 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter.
Dan 3:17 "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
Dan 3:18 "But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."
There are many thoughts on why Nebuchadnezzar was so enraged but what I see is that the King is about to lose, in his thoughts, ¾ of the honest and wise men in his government. These young believers were fully aware f their Saviour and they were refusing to worship any other gods, not even the king's personal invention
Dan 3:19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath, and his facial expression was altered toward Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. He answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.
Dan 3:20 He commanded certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in order to cast them into the furnace of blazing fire.
Dan 3:21 Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps and their other clothes, and were cast into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire.
Dan 3:22 For this reason, because the king's command was urgent and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fire slew those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego.
Dan 3:23 But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up.
Dan 3:24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he said to his high officials, "Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?" They replied to the king, "Certainly, O king."
Dan 3:25 He said, "Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!"
Now you can see why I think that Nebuchadnezzar was more mad at the idea of killing these men than at their violation of the law he had proclaimed. He heated the furnace so as to kill them fast and he, carefully, watched over them. He has lost, at least, three of his best fighters and now 5 men are walking around in the furnace. I see the Saviour, Jesus, walking with and rescuing them in and from the fire. And our life lesson here is to be very careful as we look upon and rationalize the working of God.

Nebuchadnezzar was almost correct and yet, as far as Heaven is from Hell, wrong. During a recent Hurricane two trees were felled at my house by the storm and yet, the one between my house and the shop, hit neither building. With about 18 foot between the two and a storage shed about 25 foot from the tree at the end of the clear space sits a new storage shed and neither building was struck by the tree, about seventy foot tall. The wind broke the tree in half and hung the top of the tree on a branch with the tip top of the tree about two foot from the ground. A miracle? I believe so!
Dan 3:26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the furnace of blazing fire; he responded and said, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come here!" Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego came out of the midst of the fire.
Dan 3:27 The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king's high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them.
Dan 3:28 Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king's command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God.
Dan 3:29 "Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation or tongue that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way."
Dan 3:30 Then the king caused Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego to prosper in the province of Babylon.
Even Nebuchadnezzar must admit thaqt the God who had given Daniel the knowledge of his dream had protected Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego when even the King's most potent and powerful warriors had expired as they carried these men in to the fire. The most delicate part of man, his hair, had not been affected by the fire and they were untouched, except, maybe, for the bindings on their arms and legs.

Life lesson? There is nothing that can over power our Saviour and that being true, we must tie the Old Testament, the Bible Jesus taught from, directly to the New Testament. A few, not many, have had a problem with my view of the Testaments because as I read the scriptures I find Jesus, Paul and the others referencing the Old Testament making the New Testament a Life Application Commentary of the Bible the first Saints and Jesus taught from.

Once I had submitted my will to the will of God, as directed by the indwelling Holy Spirit I began to see this and my entire view of God began to expand and to grow in leaps and bounds. Not bad for a man with an Eighth Grade Education and a GED. If you will submit your life to the will of God you will not be just saved, you will be the Bride of Christ. (See Matt. 22:1-14) I see no good reason to arrive in Heaven, just, to be a guest at the wedding feast.

The reference of the Matthew passage here requires more input, so, here it is. Jesus is speaking in this passage and teaches us that this parable is a Word Picture of Heaven. We know that anyone in the First Rapture is saved but what I see here is that not everyone thaqt is saved is a member of the Bride of Christ. Be well grounded here if you ever choose to teach this because you will be seen as stepping on the toes of many of those in attendance. It is a very common belief that anyone going to Heaven is a member of the Bride. I find this to be true because of the lack of Matt. 22:1-14 not being taught and we must remember the, single, most important rule of understanding scripture, “No scripture, nor any group of scripture can ever be fully understood without the light of all other scripture.

God Bless.
 
I, so wholeheartedly agree that the OT is as important to understand as the NT.
It is a sad thing but there are many that are being taught a couple of new theologies that completely disregard the Old Testament and they teach that all one need know to be in the Bride is the New Testament and one, locally, has informed me that all he needs is the Sermon on the Mount and that he has led a sinless life for years now following just that passage.

This gentleman is a Hot Shot Driver and the one thing a Hot Shotter does is speed. One day I pointed that out to him and he got fighting mad and screamed at me for being so stupid as to believe it a sin to break man made laws. My prayer for hm is that he is or will be saved. The world is full of Ear Ticklers today.
 
What worries me, I guess, is when we deceive ourselves about such things as you say in your post and feel complacement about our own salvation
 
EEk. I hit send before I was finished. I'm not saying Hot Shot isn't saved (nor are you as it happens :)) but I think that God wants his children to keep learning and not stop at the first rest stop, thinking we have made it back to him. Unsure how clear I'm being, so I'll close.
 
Bill...........Who was the angel in the furnance with the 3 lads?
Until I cross the Spiritual Jordan I'll not be absolutely certain but the Spirit in me has not moved to change my opinion and my opinion is that ole Neb got it right and the Saviour of all mankind, "The" Son Of God, a.k.a. Jesus. I am informed, often, that folks cannot see Christ in the Old Testament and that makes me very concerned about their walk. I would not go so far as to tell them they are not saved because of the Matthew 22:1-14 parable of Heaven, illustrated by the Wedding Feast. But at the same time there is the command not to quince the Spirit in 1Thes. 5:19 and it is the single most common sin of the Saved Man today. But I digress, it was Jesus before His human birth.
 
EEk. I hit send before I was finished. I'm not saying Hot Shot isn't saved (nor are you as it happens :)) but I think that God wants his children to keep learning and not stop at the first rest stop, thinking we have made it back to him. Unsure how clear I'm being, so I'll close.
None here can declare salvation nor the lack there of but we are commanded to judge the fruit and as I told Major, the lack of some fruit, really, concerns me.
 
Gosh, the Lord knows I am not always the brightest chip in the computer but I knew immediately who the fourth being was. I think Major also knew, which is why he asked. If peeps don't think Christ is in the OT, why do they think the prophecies are fullfilled in him?
 
Until I cross the Spiritual Jordan I'll not be absolutely certain but the Spirit in me has not moved to change my opinion and my opinion is that ole Neb got it right and the Saviour of all mankind, "The" Son Of God, a.k.a. Jesus. I am informed, often, that folks cannot see Christ in the Old Testament and that makes me very concerned about their walk. I would not go so far as to tell them they are not saved because of the Matthew 22:1-14 parable of Heaven, illustrated by the Wedding Feast. But at the same time there is the command not to quince the Spirit in 1Thes. 5:19 and it is the single most common sin of the Saved Man today. But I digress, it was Jesus before His human birth.

Yep! I also believe that it was the pre-incarnant Christ that spent the night with Dan in the lions den.
 
Gosh, the Lord knows I am not always the brightest chip in the computer but I knew immediately who the fourth being was. I think Major also knew, which is why he asked. If peeps don't think Christ is in the OT, why do they think the prophecies are fullfilled in him?

You be thinking right girl!
 
If you believe that Christ is divine - isn't every time God is mentioned in the OT about Christ as well?

Ephesians 3:9 ..........And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
 
This is why I come to this Forum. Not to agree or disagree but to learn - to think on things in a new way. Not that I am not opinionated but it sometimes is a good feeling to see something in a new light with wonder.
 
This is why I come to this Forum. Not to agree or disagree but to learn - to think on things in a new way. Not that I am not opinionated but it sometimes is a good feeling to see something in a new light with wonder.
You have a seeking mind... the mind of a Christ Follower. Major and I respect one another because of the closeness of our experiences but put aside he is also one of the best Christian Teachers I've run across. I do not know when he converted and began to study, in earnest, but I began my study in January of 1990 and there is still an eternity left to study.

There is a member here now that exemplifies a group of folks that frequent the Internet Forums and they are, all of them, sad. In 2Tim. 2:15 we are commanded to study to show ourselves approved but that seems to fly in the face of human nature. I began, being led of the Spirit, this Computer Ministry in '95 and from the time of my conversion, God has been revealing the truth of His Living Word ever since.

As I have read and reread the Bible through, the LORD has continued to reveal new truth, over and over. The new truths never are in conflict with what I have already learned but, rather, they expand on that truth. The same has been true of my association with people like Major. Major and others on the Web and in my Church Family are often found to have a different "bent" on a passage I may have read as many times as twenty or more and when I receive what they have to contribute, it just expands the Living Word further.

But the other folks, some of them saved, are so in conflict with what the Holy Spirit is teaching me that I fear we will never agree, this side of Heaven. I joined the Army at the age of seventeen, having, one class short, graduated the Eighth Grade. I have been guilty of correcting Bible Teaching Professors and have even had one Seminary Bible Proff. curse the very idea of the Holy Spirit. This gentleman has taught for more than fifty years and Pastored for more than thirty. There is a great deal of heresy taught in the churches today and all of these believe themselves to be members of "the Church."

The rules I believe and teach are really simple;
1. The Bible does not contain the Word of God, it is, all of it, the Word of God.
2. The Holy Scriptures were penned by about forty men but there is only one author and He is Jesus.
3. The Bible is of one context all the way from "In the beginning..." through the very last "Amen" of Rev. 22.
4. No scripture nor any group of scripture, no matter how assembled, can ever be understood without the light of all other scripture shinning on them.

The Holy Spirit overcame me as I sang in the New Year at Porky's Bar in Humble for 1990 and except for in church and in Prison churches, I have not been seen on stage since that night. I would give a lot to see a good many people love and to seek after the LORD the way you are.

God bless young lady.
 
This is why I come to this Forum. Not to agree or disagree but to learn - to think on things in a new way. Not that I am not opinionated but it sometimes is a good feeling to see something in a new light with wonder.

Gob bless you my little angel and may you always be in the palm of God's hand!
 
You have a seeking mind... the mind of a Christ Follower. Major and I respect one another because of the closeness of our experiences but put aside he is also one of the best Christian Teachers I've run across. I do not know when he converted and began to study, in earnest, but I began my study in January of 1990 and there is still an eternity left to study.

There is a member here now that exemplifies a group of folks that frequent the Internet Forums and they are, all of them, sad. In 2Tim. 2:15 we are commanded to study to show ourselves approved but that seems to fly in the face of human nature. I began, being led of the Spirit, this Computer Ministry in '95 and from the time of my conversion, God has been revealing the truth of His Living Word ever since.

As I have read and reread the Bible through, the LORD has continued to reveal new truth, over and over. The new truths never are in conflict with what I have already learned but, rather, they expand on that truth. The same has been true of my association with people like Major. Major and others on the Web and in my Church Family are often found to have a different "bent" on a passage I may have read as many times as twenty or more and when I receive what they have to contribute, it just expands the Living Word further.

But the other folks, some of them saved, are so in conflict with what the Holy Spirit is teaching me that I fear we will never agree, this side of Heaven. I joined the Army at the age of seventeen, having, one class short, graduated the Eighth Grade. I have been guilty of correcting Bible Teaching Professors and have even had one Seminary Bible Proff. curse the very idea of the Holy Spirit. This gentleman has taught for more than fifty years and Pastored for more than thirty. There is a great deal of heresy taught in the churches today and all of these believe themselves to be members of "the Church."

The rules I believe and teach are really simple;
1. The Bible does not contain the Word of God, it is, all of it, the Word of God.
2. The Holy Scriptures were penned by about forty men but there is only one author and He is Jesus.
3. The Bible is of one context all the way from "In the beginning..." through the very last "Amen" of Rev. 22.
4. No scripture nor any group of scripture, no matter how assembled, can ever be understood without the light of all other scripture shinning on them.

The Holy Spirit overcame me as I sang in the New Year at Porky's Bar in Humble for 1990 and except for in church and in Prison churches, I have not been seen on stage since that night. I would give a lot to see a good many people love and to seek after the LORD the way you are.

God bless young lady.

Well bless your heart Bill. If I had known all that I would have sent you some flowers.

You have my complete agreement on your listed items 1-4.

To answer your questions, I was saved as a young man of 14 years old at a tent revival held by the late Rev. E.J. Daniels in 1964.

Before serving in the Army, I attended Presbyterian University and have a degree in Business Admin. and later undergraduate studies at Dallas Theological Seminary and even later from Liberty University(Thank God for the internet).
 
I thought I knew the Bible pretty well, being raised that way. In my youth, I read it many times but stopped, pretty much, as an adult. I consulted from time to time but nothing to speak of. I had an experience in 2011 where I was brought back to reading it, and I was astounded by all the things I had missed. I was reading with "new eyes". I am faster than most speed reader teachers and have literally read thousands of books but I am not even through the Old Testament. I have reread Matthew and Mark because of this Forum. But I realized today, from another thread, I need to be more disciplined, and "exercise daily." :) You know what astonished me the most? During the exodus, in the desert, the people could all hear God. Can you imagine it?? But they were afraid and preferred to get the word thru Moses. We cannot hear God out of our own choice?? Why does no one ever mention this in their biblical rambunction? I guess God, in his love for us, brings us to the level of undertanding that we are able to handle. But you are right, Bill, we have to work to keep our salvation in sight, and many don't seem to realize this.
And thanks for the blessings, I can use all that I can get. (grin)
 
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