This morning let’s take a look at one of the more quoted incidents in the life of the gentleman named Daniel. He was a political appointee who rose to very great heights in the real politik of ancient Babylon. Babylon was a global power. What America is to the world today Babylon was to ancient world. Daniel would end up serving under three successive administrations. He was noted for his intelligence and executive capacity.
The records state he was a man devoted to excellence. That means he set high standards in whatever he did: “Daniel was distinguished above the presidents and the satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him.” And there we see the apparent basis of Daniel’s promotions – dedication to the spirit of excellence.
Daniel negates the notion that high level political appointment and faith don’t mix. His faith and integrity remained intact and untarnished despite serving under extremely powerful pagan kings. Daniel never negotiated his faith, refused to negotiate it. Surprisingly it’s the reason we celebrate him today.
Faith is not inconsistent with power. Power is not inconsistent with faith. Both terminate in Jehovah. Daniel wasn’t a priest; yet he sought a deep understanding of scriptures – wanted to know the mind of God on political issues. You don’t have to be a pastor to seek an understanding of scriptures, or to seek the mind of God. It is God’s desire for everyone irrespective of calling to seek understanding of scriptures. So profound was Daniel’s faith that he saw into the future. Foresaw the rise of the Roman Empire for instance. It is also believed that he foresaw the formation of the European Union as well as the rise of the Antichrist. It is for these apocalyptic visions Daniel is called a prophet. He did serve in a prophetic role but not in the temple. His visions were extremely detailed, his understanding of mysteries so profound some events took place in real time.
Now in chapter 10 of the book named after him, Daniel receives a visitant – a being from another dimension – “A man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze… and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude.” Sounds like a character from X-Men the Future Past movie doesn’t it? Only profounder. Daniel fainted, as would anyone faced with the such a creature. His associates took off in fright, understandably. And I think that’s where X-Men the movie got it wrong. The humans never fainted at the sight of strange creatures!
There are realities beyond our reality. Were God to open our eyes there will be many fainting spells! This luminiferous visitant spoke to Daniel: “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia and I came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days.”
From this passage we see that high above us is a spiritual, militarised political sphere controlled by Satan. The Bible calls him the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). There’s an air-force above us. This air-force deploys advanced energy systems – technological exploitation of elemental atmospheric forces. “Power of the air” refers to the political military industrial complex in the firmament above us, as well as energy systems. “Power of the air” also references air waves technology – exploitation of electromagnetic forces – radio, TV, telephone… When you combine Lucifer’s title of “prince of the power of the air” with his other title, “god of this world” you’ll understand the bicameral system he established to control Planet Earth.
There are spiritual superintendent colonial authorities that are synced with our political systems on Earth. That’s what the being from outer space was explaining to Daniel. There was a physical Prince of Persia. But there was also a spiritual Prince of Persia! Funny that we tend to see Lucifer in moral terms – you know, good versus evil, and not in political terms. The moral categorisation will not suffice because Satan is capable of doing good and does good though towards nefarious ends. Evil is a device. It is also a political philosophy.
Every political ideology has an operating philosophy. The class of political ideologies under the intellectual control of Lucifer is under-guarded by the philosophy called Evil. Evil is the official title of the philosophy behind Satan’s political system. Satan is a political power.
Now the strong purport of the passage we’re reading is so easy to miss or overlook. What we must see is the extent to which Satan and his minions would go to block the transmission of information. Satan is very much concerned about information control, especially for political purposes. For twenty one days political and military forces were deployed to prevent the courier of information to Daniel. Why would Satan deploy political and military forces against transmission of enlightenment? The answer is simple: Information is the most valuable resource. It’s not for nothing Jesus is called the “Word”. He called himself Truth. Truth and knowledge are variants and qualities of information.
Tyrannical rulers throughout history have always sought to control people through restriction of access to information. They’re also particular about information substitution – propaganda. Think Nazi Germany, Soviet Union, North Korea. All this is in line with Satan’s maniacal dedication to restriction of access to liberating information. The Bible contains the most powerful form of information – truth. Truth is powerful, truth is clinically invasive. Truth is a quality of information with liberating properties. Jesus said knowledge of the truth sets people free: “You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.” (John 8.32).
You’ve got to SPEND TIME studying the Bible. It has liberating properties, gives you freedom from fear. I do hope you’ve learnt a lot this very Sunday.
© Leke Alder | talk2me@lekealder.com