Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon says the name Nebuchadnezzar means “may Nebo protect the crown.” As we have seen in the past, an in-depth examination shows it to be compounded from the three words, naba: make self a prophet; kiyd: destruction; and nezar: crowned or consecrated. We have understood it to mean the lies the false prophets set up in God’s place, which caused the desolation of God’s people (nation and church).

This abomination, Nebuchadnezzar, is what rules over Babylon, which we understand speaks of the confusion that dominates all the world, destroying all truthful discourse, removing all understanding, and with these destroying the ability to properly identify problems, and develop and implement appropriate solutions. In cases where problems are properly identified and an appropriate solution is presented, this same confusion steps in to destroy the strength and vigilance necessary to conclude the remedy and ensure the same problem doesn’t reoccur.

As we know, the title is Daniel 3:1 which goes on to tell of the edict that says all people must worship the abomination these false prophets have set up, and if not, those refusing are to be thrown in the fiery furnace. In our time, the abominations are ideas, the lies that dominate all preaching and teaching about God and Jesus Christ, fables set in the place of the holy. In the nation, they are the fake news spewed from all secular sources of teaching and information dissemination, which have removed rational thinking and replaced it with ideological fantasies.

Please suffer me for a moment while I digress: One of my sons, I, and several others, had a discussion last night about AI. My ideas about it always begin with the premise that there is no such thing: it is either intelligent or it isn’t. After the conversation ended I continued to think about it and came to the same conclusion that many have: that it will eventually destroy us. As with the human mind, it always comes down to programming. Systems capable of processing information and developing solutions, if without awareness of self, or if self is programmed as the ultimate priority, will disregard the consequences of their conclusions as they affect the general welfare, of self and society. A good conscience, proper programming, is the only control, and understanding consequences is a necessary element that produces a willful self-governing against actions, the extensions of ideas, that have ill effects on self and community. The problem we face with the development of AI is it will mimic that which is now manifesting itself in the same confusion and chaos now looming over and menacing the world. Men, lacking conscience, due to rejecting its mandates, alter reality and teach, program, with invalid ideas that don’t work in their application. These same men, under the pressures of a culture now having driven itself into insanity, will program AI to be governed by the same deficient formulas and will produce machines equally as insane and without the ability to self-govern. The men of Babylon, worshipping the ideas that have destroyed us, will continue to force their ideas on the world, even while we are in the midst of the experiences that show us they are flawed and worthless.

Friends, just as we read in Daniel 3, the places we should look for leadership and our example, is to those who refuse to surrender and are willing to be thrown into the fires, who believe and trust in the one seen therein walking with them.

Daniel 3
1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura [all the inhabited places of the earth], in the province of Babylon.
2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
3 Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
4 Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,
5 That at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up:
6 And whoso falls not down and worship shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
7 Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
8 Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews.
9 They spoke and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever.
10 You, O king, have made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image:
11 And whoso falls not down and worship, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
12 There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded you: they serve not your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.
13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king.
14 Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not you serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
15 Now if you be ready that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer you in this matter.
17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
18 But if not, be it known unto you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.
19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
20 And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
22 Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flames of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spoke, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.
27 And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
28 Then Nebuchadnezzar spoke, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.
29 Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.
30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.

We know, because we have seen, many of the things these men set up and force others to worship, are for no reason other than to gender strife, to create a premise for an attack. As we also see, these same wicked men care nothing about the underlying idea or the effect on those they make their pawns and cannon fodder. Their priority is power, and what they gain from the agitation. (Again I digress: They will create machines in their own image and likeness, as they now create man.)

Isaiah 1 speaks (in verse 23) of the same princes spoken of in Daniel 3:2 & 3 above, all those we saw in the prior post as the archon, those in whom is embodied a legion of wicked and demonic spirits, which is the power now at work in the children of disobedience. These are the same gods of this world Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 4, who have blinded the minds of all the world to the truth, “lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Isaiah’s vision is his seeing that to which the world is blinded.

Isaiah 1
1 The vision of Isaiah [of those Jah {Jehovah} has saved] the son of Amoz [born of and into the strength of God], which he saw concerning Judah [the leaders of His people] and Jerusalem [those taught and become founded on the ways of peace and security – civilization] in the days of Uzziah [when His people said, “my strength is in Jehovah”], Jotham [who saw Jehovah is perfect], Ahaz [when He caught us up to Himself], and Hezekiah [when Jehovah made us strong], kings of Judah [the leaders of His leaders – kings of kings and lords of lords – Christ in us].
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD has spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib: but Israel does not know, my people do not consider.
4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
5 Why should you be stricken any more? you will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant [an elect remnant], we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah.
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? says the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
12 When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
15 And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land:
20 But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
22 Your silver is become dross, your wine mixed with water:
23 Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loves gifts, and follow after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come unto them.
24 Therefore says the LORD, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:
25 And I will turn my hand upon you, and purely purge away your dross, and take away all your tin:
26 And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning: afterward you shall be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.
30 For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water.
31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

When verse 27 above tells of those who are redeemed by judgment, and converted by righteousness, the Hebrew word rendered “converts” is shuwb, meaning to return. It is speaking of those who recover their understanding, their sight, by turning again to the LORD. We know from our studies, this is what Paul is describing in 2 Corinthians 3, when he speaks of the blinded minds of those he later, in 2 Corinthians 4:4, says have been blinded by the gods of this world. Therein 2 Corinthians 3:16 he tells us this is as a vail upon their eyes, which is remove when they turn, convert, to the LORD, who is seen as the glory in the face of those He sends, appears in, to redeem us from the power of these men’s darkness (lack of understand/sight – the blind leaders of the blind).

Again – 2 Corinthians 3
12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
13 And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remains the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the LORD, the vail shall be taken away.
17 Now the LORD is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the LORD, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD.

2 Corinthians 4
1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the LORD; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Verse 18 of 2 Corinthians 4 says, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” The word here rendered four times as “seen” is the Greek word blepo. It is the same word used in 1 Corinthians 13 telling of how we see in part, until that which is perfect comes, as in Isaiah 1:1 above, which Paul says is face to face. We know it is telling of understanding the LORD is the one speaking to us, face to face.

1 Corinthians 13
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see [blepo] through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

As we have seen in previous discussions, this is speaking of when we turn to the LORD, understanding it is Him speaking, from behind the vail that is now removed. We understand this is what Paul is saying about the vail over Moses’ face, which kept the people from seeing this truth, that it was the LORD in him, Christ speaking to them face to face.

We have seen the word “turn” in 2 Corinthians 3:16, the Greek word epistrepho, meaning to revert, is the word John uses twice in Revelation 1:12 as he describes hearing a voice behind him which sounded like a trumpet, and turning he saw it was the LORD speaking, and his voice was as the sound of many waters.

Revelation 1
10 I was in the Spirit on the LORD’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What you see [blepo], write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
12 And I turned [epistrepho] to see [blepo] the voice that spoke with me. And being turned [epistrepho], I saw [eido – understood] seven golden candlesticks;
13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle [the truth].
14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shines in his strength.
17 And when I saw [eido – understood] him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
18 I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

We have also seen epistrepho as the word used in 1 Thessalonians 1:9 to tell of those who “turned” to God from idols. We know these are the same people Paul says in chapter 2 have received his word as the word of God, as they are, and are thereby in the presence of the LORD at His coming.

1 Thessalonians 1
5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
6 And you became followers of us, and of the LORD, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost.
7 So that you were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia [the houses of dead flesh, who were without the Spirit of God] and Achaia [the places of trouble – strife and agitation].
8 For from you sounded [as a trumpet] out the word of the LORD not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.
9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you turned [epistrepho] to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

1 Thessalonians 2
10 You are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:
11 As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father does his children,
12 That you would walk worthy of God, who has called you unto his kingdom and glory.
13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe.
14 For you, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
15 Who both killed the LORD Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
16 Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles [those who don’t know God – even though they may claim to] that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.
17 But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.
18 Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan [the spirit in these men who resist and oppose God] hindered us.
19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even you in the presence of our LORD Jesus Christ at his coming?
20 For you are our glory and joy.

Friends, per the title in the prior post, those claiming they are preaching Jesus Christ and the Father being liars and thieves – it is because they are not telling you it is the Father and the son in them, Himself preaching and teaching. If they are telling you their churches are the house of God, they are likewise thieves and liars, building houses, kingdoms, of brick and material things, instead of building men into becoming the habitations of the Father and the Son.

John 14
19 Yet a little while, and the world sees me no more [because they have been blinded by the gods, the archon, of this world]; but you see me: because I live, you shall live also.
20 AT THAT DAY YOU SHALL KNOW THAT I AM IN THE FATHER, AND YOU IN ME, AND I IN YOU.
21 He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
22 Judas said unto him, not Iscariot, LORD, how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode [habitation] with him.
24 He that loves me not keeps not my sayings: and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
28 You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, you might believe.

I tell you again, Christ in me speaking, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me.” This is our hope and glory, the mystery revealed, Christ in us.

These false teachers and false believers say these words while they deny Him in their works, worshipping idols, the ideas and the creations of men’s hands. They deny He is the truth, while saying He is the way but not following His leading. They follow men preaching their own words, the kings and princes (archon) of this world, building their own kingdom.

Daniel 2
44 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 for ever.
45 Forasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God has made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

Acts 17
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is LORD of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he gives to all life, and breath, and all things;
26 And has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27 That they should seek the LORD, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men every where to repent:
31 Because he has appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; whereof he has given assurance unto all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.

Psalms 127
1 Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he gives his beloved sleep.
3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
5 Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.