THE WINGS OF ABOMINATION

 

AN EXAMINATION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL

Copyright Ó 2004 by

D. MICHAEL BINGHAM

Dream Image

 

This study guide does not pretend to do justice to the Book of Daniel, rather it is intended to focus attention on events prophesied by Daniel to be fulfilled in our lifetime, at the end of the world, and to assist the reader as he attempts to unravel this enigmatic work.  Recommended is a book by the Reverend Clarence Larkin, first published in 1929, called “The Book of Daniel”.  Also recommended is a book written by the author of this paper, “A White Stone and a World Church...”, available through the White Stone Foundation, P.O. Box 93, Centerville, Utah 84014, for a suggested donation of $20.00, plus $2.00 postage.  To avoid confusing Larkin’s book with the Book of Daniel, any references to Larkin’s book will be designated “Larkin” with a page number.  The reader should be cautioned that Larkin interprets Daniel without the benefit of an understanding of ‘prophetic types’ and without the advantage of a testimony or understanding of the gospel restored through God’s prophet, Joseph Smith Jr.  Larkin’s book does, however, have excellent history and some worthwhile insights.

 

Chapter One

Daniel in Babylon

 

Daniel was, most likely, forcibly made a eunuch and was of royal descent (v. 3,7. See also Larkin, p.22)

 

“5.  Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:

6.  Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon:  nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.

7.  And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.          (Isaiah 39:5-7)

 

Daniel probably did not want to eat the “King’s meat” (v.5) because it would violate the Mosaic law; note that the word “defile” appears twice in verse 8.  For this reason Daniel devised a plan to obey Jehovah without offending Nebuchadnezzar.

 

“But unto him that keepeth my commandments I will give the mysteries of my kingdom, and the same shall be in him a well of living water, springing up unto everlasting life.”  (D&C 63:23)

 

Daniel had understanding in “all visions and dreams” (v.17).  Note in verse 21 that Daniel “continued” until the first year of Cyrus the Persian, yet it is not recorded that Daniel died.

 

Chapter Two

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

 

The Book of Daniel is written in Hebrew up to verse 4, then shifts to Aramaic until chapter 8, whereupon the text reverts to Hebrew (Larkin, p.15).  Daniel’s Aramaic text focuses primarily upon contemporaneous events and future events which relate to the kingdoms of the world.  When the text of the Book of Daniel was recorded in Hebrew, its emphasis was more upon God’s covenant people, both Israelite and Gentile.

The King had a dream and wanted both the dream and the interpretation, yet, if he remembered the dream, he refused to recount it to the sorcerers and Chaldeans because he feared they would “gain the time” or invent some distant future interpretation (v.8, 9).  The sorcerers were unable to comply, so the King sentenced all of the “wise men of Babylon” to death, including Daniel and the three Hebrews.

NOTE VERSES 16-23

Much is said of Daniel’s courage, yet what of his charity?  One cannot begin to imagine the competition, ‘boot-licking’, intrigue and treachery of the sorcerers, Chaldeans and eunuchs in the court of Nebuchadnezzar; each seeking the King’s favor above his competitors.  Surely Daniel had been wounded in this lion’s den, yet Daniel sought to save his enemies.

NOTE VERSES 24-27

Much is said of Daniel’s wisdom, yet what of his humility?  Here was a chance for Daniel to boast of his great wisdom to the King, and to gather throngs at his feet, yet he glorified God, as he should.

NOTE VERSES 28-30

For the “sake” of those condemned the matter is revealed.

NOTE VERSES 31-45

Much has been written of Nebuchadnezzar’s ‘metal man’ dream and interpretation.  The precision and clarity of the dream leaves little to conjecture about.  A discourse by Orson Pratt is recommended (J.D.,vol.15:71); the reader is also referred to the image depiction and world kingdom chart at the end of this paper.  Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold (v.38).  “Whom he would he slew”; the King was not restricted by law, he was the law.

The Medes and Persians (a combined kingdom) comprise the next inferior kingdom of silver.  The decrees or laws of this kingdom had precedent over its king’s whims as Daniel could attest, since he landed in a lion’s den by a decree and not by the King’s will.  The chest of silver is connected to two silver arms:  Medea and Persia.

The third and continually inferior kingdom, the belly and “thighs”, is Macedonia (Greece).  Larkin states (p.46-47) that “thighs” is mistranslated (v.32) and should read “thigh part” or lower abdomen or lower torso.  This is significant because Macedonia yielded to Rome, which subsequently split into two legs.  Also of note (v.39) is that Alexander the Great was prophesied by Daniel to “rule over all the earth”.  Should we stone Daniel because Alexander did not, in fact, conquer the whole earth?  The third kingdom conquered the whole “prophetic earth” which is that portion of the earth pertaining to God’s covenant people, as foretold by the prophets.

Moving westward across the earth; downward on the metallic image and downward through time, we come to the powerful, yet inferior, fourth kingdom of iron, Rome.  Rome was one, yet in time divided into the eastern Byzantine Empire and western Holy Roman Empire.  Those who have come to disdain the Roman legacy of “law” and “religion” which we have inherited will appreciate Larkin’s suggestion that the imagery would have been clearer if Rome were designated as “thigh parts and legs”, showing this division.  Larkin renders “thigh parts” as “buttocks” (p.47) and has aptly defined Rome as the tin-man’s southern exposure, so to speak.

Lastly, westward to Europe and the United States, the image followed behind Israel ever westward and northward, down through history to the feet of iron and clay: ten “toes” (v.42), “ten horns”, “ten kings”.  This inferior kingdom is many United Nations, which are divided by war, intrigue and shifting alliances, yet held together by conspiracy.  Much is made of the number ten; ten kings reigned at the time of the gospel restoration; European common market countries once numbered ten and had ten stars on their flag.  I find nothing more significant to the number ten than counting one’s toes.

Much more important than the number 10 is the number 2.  The image has two feet.  Many will agree that the legacy of Rome went to London then to New York, yet the image has two legs and feet, so let us not forget that the “soul” of the Byzantine empire migrated (figuratively speaking) to Russian Orthodox Moscow.  The King of Assyria (Russia, the King of the North) is the big toe on the left foot, if you will, and the King of Egypt (the United States, the King of the South) is the big toe on the right foot.  These opposing toes have inferior kings lined up behind them on either side.

Most fundamentalist Christians have banded together and erroneously agreed that the “New World Order” is the one world government that will force the whole earth to receive a “mark in the right hand”, yet in this they err because they forget to count their toes.  This incorrect assumption is derived from a lack of understanding of Revelation, chapter 13.  There will never be a monolithic, one-world dictator like Nebuchadnezzar again.

The King of Egypt has unfenced cities and boasts of his “new world order” while his strength diminishes.  The King of Assyria feigns weakness yet has many ships, chariots and horsemen.  The King of Assyria conspires also.

___________________________________

 

Remember,

We bade our brothers, Isaac’s sons, adieu.

We left them in the lands of Assyria with embracing and tears;

So many years ago.

We set out for what must be better country and better years;

Towards the sun where it sets, and sends its golden hue.

__________________________

 

“12.  And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.”  (Genesis 21:12)

 

The ten kings are strong yet broken (v.42).  Half wear gray flannel and are easily deposed on election day; they are not gods, but lawyers and bean counters, “mingled with the seed of men”.  Their counterparts have clubbed their way to the top of ruthless communist bureaucracies; those left standing after the battle-royal.

 

“35.  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 threshing-floors; 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.”  (Daniel, chapter 2, v.35)

 

God’s kingdom is His work, His strange act; He will cut His stone out without hands, out of these mountains of Joseph.  We sing the song “Ye elders of Israel” and it is more a prayer than a song, for God will set His hand the second time to recover Israel to these desert “mountains of Ephraim”, yet Joseph had two sons, and they are Manasseh’s mountains also.  Joseph went first to Egypt, for his brothers despised him, yet he brought them down to Egypt and saved them all from famine, and so “all Israel shall be saved”; yet Joseph had two sons; and the mountains blessed Joseph.

 

“29.  And the Lord blessed Levi, and the Angel of the Presence, me; the powers of glory, Simeon; the heaven, Reuben; the earth, Issachar; the sea, Zebulun; the mountains, Joseph; the tabernacle, Benjamin; the luminaries, Dan; Eden, Naphtali; the sun, Gad; the moon, Asher.

30.  And ye shall be the people of the Lord, and have one tongue; and there shall be there no spirit of deceit of Beliar, for he shall be cast into the fire for ever.” (Testament of Judah, 4:29,30, “Forgotten Books of Eden”)

 

Our capricious King Nebuchadnezzar praised Daniel’s God as the god of gods and a revealer of secrets.  He then gave Daniel and the three Hebrews great authority in his kingdom (v.47-49).

 

Chapter Three

The Image of Gold

 

The image that the King of Babylon set up in the plain of Dura for all to see was a “Man of Sin”, because it is sin to worship an idol.  Larkin concluded that this ninety-foot ‘Oscar’ standing on a pedestal for all to see was made of wood and gold leaf.  The image was:

60 cubits high and 6 cubits wide

 

Larkin concluded (p.58) that the number of this image was 66, arriving at it by adding:

60 + 6 = 66

 

One method of reducing the dimensions of the idol (said to have been 60x6x6) to an essential number is to use the cabalistic technique of discounting the zero in 60, rendering 60 by 6 by 6 into 6 by 6 by 6 or 666.  This number can be further reduced by adding the numbers together, making 18, which reduces to 9, which is the Hebrew letter Teth: the serpent.  The image in Revelation, chapter 13, was given life or breath.  The “false prophet” is a man (man’s number is 6; short of perfection, which is 7; 7 is God’s number).  This “false prophet” in the book of Revelation is the “man of sin” of 2 Thessalonians and is a living object of worship; hence his number is 666.

 

FALSE GOD                        A MAN                    MAN OF SIN

66  ------------------------------------->  6                  =            666        

“Abomination”                        NOT A GOD                   FALSE PROPHET

 

666:  The “Man of Sin” or living idol, “standing where it ought not” “in the temple”, “showing himself that he is God”; standing to intercede for God as though he were Christ, is the anti-Christ.  The anti-Christ is not atheist, he does, however, stand up in opposition to Christ; the anti-Christ is a false Christ.

LUCIFER

Nebuchadnezzar obviously had a surprise party planned at the unveiling of his abomination (idol).  Daniel was possibly away or detained with affairs of state, yet unfortunately the three, now famous, Hebrews were suddenly faced with a choice:  obey God and be burned alive or disobey God and live.  The punishment for obeying God was not to lose the right to vote or to lose property or at worst to be put in a cell and fed, rather to die a horrible death.

What could Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego do?  What have God’s true servants always done?  The Hebrews had negotiated their way out of eating b.l.t. sandwiches and lobster, yet standing in the plain of Dura with the idol, the furnace and the enraged and capricious king with all his chief officials on their knees, there would be no negotiation.

NOTE VERSES 16-25

The three Hebrews would not bow to the image, they were “not careful” and instead spoke plainly that God could save them yet might not; their concern was to obey God, let the king do what he will, let God do what He will.  Is this not the obligation of any who would serve God?

The United States is Egypt, yet it is also Babylon (Rev. ch. 18).  Just as there was a fire kindled in a furnace in Babylon “seven times more than it is want to be heated” so will all Babylon be in a furnace, hotter than seven days.

 

“26.  Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.”  (Isaiah 30:26)

 

Israel will be saved by fire.  In the midst of Nebuchadnezzar’s fire one will walk like unto the Son of God, for He will plead with us face to face in the desert.  The mountains blessed Joseph, and all Israel will be saved on Mount Zion; for if the Lord had not left us a small remnant we should have been burned as Sodom and we should have been even as Gomorrah.

NOTE VERSES 26-30

God’s capricious “servant” Nebuchadnezzar once again decides to revere the God of the Hebrews and issues a decree that God should not be disdained, for after the trial by fire comes the peace.

 

CHAPTER FOUR

Nebuchadnezzar Humbled

 

The king declares a dream he had through verse 18.  Daniel is reluctant, yet, with the king’s assurance, Daniel interprets the king’s dream through verse 26.  Daniel advises the king that his sanity may not depart from him if he repents of his sins, especially his inattention to the poor, thereby “lengthening thy tranquillity” or sanity.  Here again we have a glimpse of Daniel’s nature.  He, no doubt, has any and every available necessity and luxury yet he pleads the cause of the poor whom the king has neglected.

After a year (v.29) Nebuchadnezzar boasts of his greatness and power and is stricken with insanity and is driven off to live like an ox for seven times or years.  The Lord’s wrath passes, the king’s sanity returns and we find him again eloquently praising God.  We learn from the king’s lessons that men ‘learn obedience by the things which they suffer’; better to obey God and not suffer or count temporary suffering as praise; this is the patience and faith of the saints.

 

CHAPTER FIVE

The handwriting on the wall

 

P       T       M     M

 

R      K      N      N

 

S       L       A      A

 

The above is a depiction of how the handwriting on the wall might have appeared (though in Aramaic).  Larkin informs us that this depiction comes from the Talmud (Larkin, p.89).  MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN (vertically from right to left) translates:  “Numbered”, “Numbered”, “Weighed”, “Division”.

 

Daniel’s inspired interpretation (Daniel had already had the 4 beasts and ‘willful’ king visions):

 

MENE “God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.”

TEKEL “Thou (Belshazzar) art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.”

PERES (singular of upharsin) “Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.”

King Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson (?), King Belshazzar, (Jeremiah refers to him as a son, Jer.27:7 [see Larkin p.82]) profaned the vessels in worship to pagan gods, Marduk, Baal, Tammuz: gods of wood and stone (v.23).  Belshazzar’s pride was lifted in profaning the God whom his grandfather had come to revere:  Jehovah.

Babylon was celebrating its victory over Cyrus the Persian because he had thus far been unable, through siege, to overthrow the double-walled city of Babylon: the “fortress of munitions”.  Cyrus, therefore, had part of his army divert the Euphrates river, and the rest came in by night under the walls through the lowered river channel from two directions and then in through the “two-leaved” inner brazen gates that had been left open as the victory celebration raged in Babylon.

 

“27.  That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:

28.  That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure:  even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.”  (Isaiah 44:27,28)

“1.  Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

2.  I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight:  I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

3.  And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.”  (Isaiah 45:1-3)

 

The stone masons, (typified as Hyrum Abif) sent by Hyrum of Tyre to assist in the construction of Solomon’s temple, stole the endowment and perverted it and initiated Philistines (Canaanites) into the endowment stolen from the House of the Lord.  The King of Tyrus is Lucifer (Ezekiel 28:12-17).

The son of the King of Tyrus is the Prince of Tyrus (Ezek. 28:1-11); he is “the son of perdition” “in the temple”; he has perverted the endowment and initiated Canaanites into the House of the Lord.  As in the days of Daniel, the vessels of the House of God have been filled with a drink-offering to Baal.

Tyrus is the United States; Tyrus will burn first.

 

“18.  Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.”  (Ezek. 28:18)

 

Babylon is the United States; Babylon will burn first.

 

“6.  For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.

8.  And he cried, [as] A lion:  My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights:

9.  And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen.  And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.”  (Isaiah 21:6,8,9)

 

CHAPTER SIX

The lions’ den

 

“5.  Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”  (Daniel 6:5)

 

The saints have always been tested by the kingdoms of the world concerning the laws of their God.  This is the patience and faith of the saints; to obey and go into the lion’s den.

After the tribulation and the trial comes the decree of peace, the millennium.

 

“25.  Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.

26.  I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel:  for he is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.”  (Daniel 6:25,26)

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

Four beasts from the sea

 

Daniel’s vision of the four beasts parallels the dream that both he and Nebuchadnezzar had had earlier; please refer to the kingdoms of the world chart at the end of this paper.

The sea from which these kingdoms emerged was the Mediterranean Sea.  The reason there are not 5 beasts is because the feet of the metal image correspond exactly with the ten horns upon the fourth beast.  Larkin’s reference to “buttocks” and Daniel’s legs of iron are Rome; the influence of these Roman legs carried over into the feet and ten toes of iron and clay, ten horns, ten toes, ten kings.  The horns on the fourth beast are the fifth kingdom.

 

1.  Babylon:  The lion is the king of beasts and the eagle the king of birds.  Nebuchadnezzar received the heart of a man (verse 4, also Larkin p.120).  Babylon moved with the speed and at the great distance of an eagle, and seized its prey like a lion.

2.  Medo-Persia:  Huge lumbering armies, like a bear devouring much flesh, symbolize the Persian hordes.  Larkin understands the bear raising up on one side to show that, of the two, Persia was the stronger “side” and more deadly; and that the three ribs in its teeth were a representation of the “triple alliance” of Lydia, Babylon, and Egypt which Medo-Persia crushed (verse 5, Larkin p.121, 122)

3.  Macedonia:  The next inferior kingdom going down through time is also an inferior beast as a bear is inferior to a lion.  The four-winged leopard of Alexander the Great represented his lightning-fast, yet outnumbered, army.  The four inferior wings of a fowl were sufficient to carry his conquest to the four points of the compass of the whole “prophetic earth”.  The leopard had four heads because Alexander the Great’s kingdom was short-lived after his untimely demise, and divided into Thrace, Macedonia, Syria and Egypt (verse 6, Larkin p.122, 123).

4.  Rome:  Although iron is inferior to gold, silver or brass, yet it can break them all to pieces.  Just as the iron (envisioned in the metal idol) survives into the feet of iron and clay, the 10, 3, and 1 horns from this fourth beast survive until God destroys all kingdoms except His.  Today we are afflicted with the legacy of Rome, both in law and religion.  If I may, I will suggest that you picture this fourth beast with five horns on the east side of his head and five on the west (verse 7).

         a.  10 Horns:  No more significance need be applied to the number ten than that it carries through the imagery of the feet and toes of the dream image.  Remember that these ten kings are in ostensibly opposing camps represented by what have been called NATO and the supposedly defunct Warsaw Pact.

         b.  3 Horns:  These three horns are discovered by learning the identity of a latter-day government referred to as the “little horn” (verses 8,20,24).  These three are:

                            1.  England

                            2.  France

                            3.  Spain

         c.  1 Horn (Little Horn or Stout Horn):  The United States of America displaced England, France and Spain in its quest for “manifest destiny” here in this “promised” and “choice” land of North America.  The three kings were uprooted as the U.S.A. conquered “from sea to shining sea” (verse 8).  The appearance or “look” of the U.S.A. is “stout” because it imagines that it is the greatest military power on the face of the earth now that communism has “fallen” in this present year (A.D. 1993).  The U.S.A. allowed the saints (the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) to be driven and persecuted, allowed Governor Boggs to issue an extermination notice, allowed Joseph Smith, Jr. and Hyrum Smith and other saints to be martyred.  The U.S. at first sent Johnson’s army, followed by marshals and carpetbaggers to enforce Edmunds-Tucker (anti-polygamy laws).  The U.S. spoke against the God who inspired its very founding and thought “to change times and laws” by denying the saints freedom of religion (verse 25).

The gentile saints were “worn out” or forced to capitulate on the “law” of plural marriage (verse 25); they were “prevailed against” or lost their “war” with the U.S.A. (verse 21).  The gentile saints (L.D.S.) were removed from the control of the U.S.A. when the majority of them eventually capitulated and complied with the Manifesto and thereby disobeyed God by bowing to the golden image; at which time they were no longer “given into his (the horn’s) hand”; they escaped his hand, for now, by disobedience to God.

Daniel was even given the year of this capitulation in code.

 

TIME

     TIMES

  DIVIDING

(one prophetic year)

    (2 times)

  OF TIME

360

       720

      180                        1260

 

 

    

1260  x  1½  years for each day  =  1890 years A.D.

 

One should ask from what point in time the years are to be counted.  Daniel gave three different numbers of days which all begin at the same time:  1260, 1290, 1335.  All three begin “from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away” (see Daniel 12:11). The daily sacrifice was that of a spotless lamb (one in the morning, one in the evening).  Christ is the daily sacrifice who was “taken away” into Egypt in His infancy, and because the Jews rejected Him they lost their priesthood, their kingdom and their temple not to mention the ability to perform a ritual no longer required, Christ is the daily sacrifice, and the time at which these three numbers of years begin is the time of His birth.

If one old testament prophet has counted time, commencing at Christ’s birth, then there must be others, and there are; Ezekiel has (this is covered in this writer’s other books), and so has Hosea.  Recall when you read the following verse in Hosea, that a thousand of man’s years are but a day with the Lord.

 

“15.  I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face:  in their affliction they will seek me early.

1.  Come, and let us return unto the LORD:  for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

2.  After two days will he revive us:  in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.”  (Hosea 5:15; 6:1-2)

 

 

1890 A.D. is the year of the saints’ capitulation; the year God’s law was transgressed or changed.  The times were also changed; the times of the gentiles were fulfilled.

 

“11.  I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake:  I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.

12.  As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away:  yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.”  (Daniel 7:11,12)

 

The U.S.A., the heir of the Roman beast, burns first, and the rest will follow.  One might rightly ask how it is that “the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom” if they were “worn out” and “prevailed against” and “given into his (the horn’s) hand”.  Daniel is shown, in one chapter, about 2,540 years of world events and he does not clearly show the transfer of God’s kingdom from the gentile “saints” to the children of Israel.  The seizure of the kingdom, the talent and the priesthood from the gentiles by the outcasts of Israel is the Lord’s “strange act”.  This differentiation is not covered in chapter seven, except perhaps for one cryptic line of verse:  “...the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High” (v.27); the people among the saints, Ephraim within the gentiles and then to “all Israel”.

 

“36.  For, verily I say that the rebellious are not of the blood of Ephraim, wherefore they shall be plucked out.”  (D&C 64:36)

 

The “Ancient of Days” in verses 9, 10 and 13 is Adam, or Michael the Archangel, who takes dominion from the USA and gives it to Jehovah’s earthly kingdom in preparation for the coming of the “Son of Man” or Christ “with the clouds” (v.13).

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

The king of fierce countenance

 

It is important to remember that the Book of Daniel has now discontinued Aramaic text and has reverted to Hebrew.  The Book of Daniel uses this technique to change focus from the kingdoms of the world to the covenant people, be they gentile “disciples” or the seed of Jacob.  By writing in Hebrew, Daniel now focuses on the covenant people.

Daniel is taken in vision from Babylon to Shushan, the capital of Persia and is shown that Babylon will fall to Persia.  He is shown much more.  He sees the Babylon of John’s day—Rome, and he is shown events within the last Babylon: the United States.  Daniel is shown a latter-day king, yet we are not told what he is the king of.  It will be shown that he is an ecclesiastical king and not a secular one.

The two-horned ram in verses three and four is the joined Medo-Persian kingdom; the shorter horn is Darius the Mede, the taller, Cyrus the Persian.  The taller horn compares to the Bear rising upon one side in chapter seven, one side being stronger (see verse 20).

The he-goat (rough goat, v.21) is the “king of Grecia” (v.21) or Greece or Macedonia.  The notable horn (v.5) is Alexander the Great who dies when young and at the height of his power; the horn is broken (v.8).  The four kingdoms emerging from Macedonia are the four horns replacing the one: Thrace, Macedonia, Syria and Egypt (v.22).

 

“9.  And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceedingly great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land” (v.9).

 

The little horn in chapter seven is the United States; this little horn is Rome.  Rome came to power after Macedonia, as the iron followed the brass.  Rome was merely a crude, yet even more brutal, copy of Grecian civilization.

 

“10.  And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.” (v.10)

 

Rome stamped on the host of heaven (“host of the stars”) because this starry host is a type for Christ’s Church in His day; the host is Christ’s Church.  Rome crucified Christ and persecuted and perverted His Church (host) off the face of the earth.  Rome eventually destroyed Christ’s church by becoming “His church”.  Rome conquered east and south and took the pleasant land (Jerusalem).  The fact that Daniel’s visions use the same symbol (the little horn) for Rome and the United States is quite significant.  Rome persecuted and subjugated the church and killed Christ (or allowed his crucifixion).  The United States persecuted and subjugated the restored church and killed Joseph Smith, (or allowed his martyrdom).  The U.S.A. changed “times and laws” by changing the L.D.S. Church.  This is why John used Babylon as a figure for Rome as well as for the United States.  Babylon subjugated and perverted the Lord’s people.

 

THE FIRST BABYLON:                     BABYLON

THE SECOND BABYLON:                         ROME

THE THIRD BABYLON:                             THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

 

A cursory reading of verses 11-14 might lead one to believe that the topic is Rome and the second abomination with the destruction of the temple by Titus in 70 A.D., yet this is not the case.  This vision covers roughly 2,540 years to the ending of the world and there is a large historical leap between verse ten, which pertains to events transpiring in the reign of the second Babylon (Rome), and verse eleven, which shifts to events transpiring during the reign of the third Babylon, (the United States).  Gabriel (Noah) is instructed to explain the vision.  He explains, “at the time of the end shall be the vision”.  How can Gabriel say that the vision is at the end of the world (right now) when it comprehends civilizations from 500 B.C. long turned to dust and carried off by the wind?

 

VISION PHASE

PRELIMINARY EVENTS

verses 2-10

9 verses

LATTER-DAY VISION

verses 11-14

4 verses

 

EXPLANATION PHASE

PRELIMINARY EVENTS

verses 20-22

3 verses

61 words

LATTER-DAY VISION

verses 23-26

5 verses

131 words

 

Notice from the “vision phase” of the preceding chart that there are twice as many verses of preliminary events leading up to the latter-day vision than the actual vision itself.  In the “explanation phase”, however, there are more than twice the words dedicated to explaining “latter time” events than the number of words used to explain preliminary events.  Although called “preliminary events”, all of these events were in Daniel’s future.

World events from distant ages echo what happens at the end of the world, clarifying Gabriel’s emphasis on the “time of the end”.  We shall look at Gabriel’s “latter time” explanation first (v.23-26) so as to eliminate conjecture about verses 11-14.  We jump from Macedonia and Rome right to some sort of king, not a king of Grecia or Media or Persia, not a king of a province or land at all, but the king of the covenant.  This king is none other than...

 

“THE SON OF PERDITION”

“IN THE TEMPLE”

(spoken of by Paul in Second Thessalonians).

 

VERSE 23

 

1.  “the transgressors”:  The fallen L.D.S. Church, who “transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant” (Isaiah 24:5) by issuing the Manifesto of 1890, thus binding the law and sealing the testimony (Isaiah 8:16), which “fulfilled” “the times of the gentiles” (D&C 45:28-30).

2.  “come to the full”:  This denotes our time when the fallen saints (transgressors) have filled their cup of wrath by allowing themselves to be led by this son of perdition.  This is the “fulness” of the gentiles.

3.  the “king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up”.  Recall that Daniel understood “hard sentences” (Dan. 5:12) or difficult passages or texts.  This “king” without a true country (whom Daniel describes in Hebrew because he is of the covenant) understands “dark sentences”; this king understands evil texts and chants and oaths to Lucifer, as did Cain and perhaps Judas.  His standing up signifies that he will take over the L.D.S. Church, or come to power over these “transgressors”.

 

VERSE 24

 

1.  Mighty power, “but not his own power”:  The fierce king’s power is not direct political or military power, but the authority granted him by the “saints” who raise their right hand to sustain him and receive the “mark of the beast” (and the power later granted this fierce king by the ten kings who conspire with the beast and with this king, who is also called the false prophet; [Revelations 17]).

2.  “destroy wonderfully”:  The way the king of the covenant destroys the “holy people” (L.D.S.) is truly a wonderment because he will destroy not by war, but by “peace” (v.25).  The “holy” people are called “mighty” because of their great political power in the intermountain west and their growing financial, political and media power throughout the world.  It must have been a wonderment for Daniel to hear of and see a king who was not able to merely send a small detachment of soldiers out to kill anyone who opposed him; a king with no tax collectors who, nonetheless, rakes in billions of shekels each year.

 

VERSE 25

 

1.  “cause crafts to prosper in his hand”:  Through the king’s controlling hand he will recruit some of the “holy people” to his “dark” or evil “craft”:  witchcraft.  He will also bring practitioners of his “craft” here to the pleasant land.  Since he is both a secret sorcerer (who understands dark sentences) and a priest, he will cause priestcraft to prosper also.

2.  “magnify himself in his heart”:  As in II Thess. 2:1-4, he will secretly say that he is god until God reveals him (Ezek. 28:1-12).

3.  “by peace (prosperity) shall destroy many”:  Through his association with the third Babylon he will sway all the “holy people” into upholding secret works of darkness (abortion, secret combinations — conspiracies to disarm and enslave).  He will assure that his people do not resist evil governments and are at peace and have prosperity.

4.  “shall stand up against the Prince of princes”:  To stand up to, and face as equal and especially in opposition, is to be “anti”.  He is the anti-Prince or anti-Christ.  The fierce king is the metaphorical son of Lucifer.

5.  “he shall be broken, without hand” or by God in the latter time, although he does not believe it because he supposes that he is “wiser than Daniel” (Ezek. 28:1-12).

 

 

 

VERSE 26

 

This vision and its true meaning have been shut up until now; “the time of the end”.  If you refuse to believe it now, you can wait with bloody hands until God reveals the “man of sin” “in the temple”, as Paul promised so many years ago.  If you refuse to believe it then and still uphold him, and refuse to repent, then you will go into the lake of fire.

 

VERSES 11 AND 12

 

These verses pertain to the fierce king and the transgressors; the son of perdition in control, and the L.D.S. Church.  It is written with the preferred translation (from the margin of the 1977 Oxford King James L.D.S. missionary Bible) inserted in place of portions of the existing text and shown in bold.  Commentary appears in brackets; please compare with the King James text.

 

11.  Yea he (the fierce king) magnified himself even against the prince of the host (Christ), and from him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down (Salt Lake Temple destroyed — thus taking away the daily sacrifice).

12.  And the host (L.D.S. Church) was given over for transgression against the daily sacrifice, and it (host or church) cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced (priestcraft, witchcraft), and prospered (became wealthy and powerful).

 

The son of perdition will live to see the Salt Lake Temple cast to the ground, thus taking from him the ability to perform the “daily sacrifice”.  Subsequent to that, the host or church will be annihilated because it profaned the temple and despised the truth.  “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:12)

 

“14.  Behold, thus saith the Lord unto my people — you have many things to do and to repent of; for behold, your sins have come up unto me, and are not pardoned, because you seek to counsel in your own ways.

“15.  And your hearts are not satisfied.  And ye obey not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness.”  (D&C 56:14,15)

 

VERSES 13, 14

 

These verses will be given in the same manner that verses eleven and twelve were, please compare the King James.

 

13.  Then I heard the wonderful numberer speaking, and another saint said to (this) numberer of secrets which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary (Salt Lake Temple) and the host (L.D.S.) to be trodden under foot?

14.  And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred (evening morning) days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed (justified, meaning destroyed).

 

The “prophet like unto Moses” was Christ.  The revelations of Ezekiel, Daniel, John and Hosea all used the birth of Christ as a starting point for some of their prophecies.  It is therefore possible that the birth of Moses is a starting point for the 2300 days.  If Moses (Dan. 9:2,11) is the “wonderful numberer”, who received the numerically encoded Torah and recorded the book of Numbers, and if the 2,300 days commence from his birth (which date is contested), we can then arrive at the following by using Daniel’s multiplier of a year and a half for a day:

 

2,300 days x 1.5  =              3450 years

 

                                             3450

Birth of Moses?                -1442 B.C.                    (subtract B.C. component

                                                                                         to arrive at A.D. date)

                                             2008

+1 year                              +0001                            (correction for crossing

                                                                                             from B.C. to A.D.)

2,300 days ends          2009 A.D.?

 

The date of 2009 A.D. for the treading down of the L.D.S. Church (the temple falls before the “saints” are annihilated) is most likely too great a figure.  Of note, the date for the crucifixion of Christ by strict application of the seventy weeks (Ch.9) is too long by about five years.  Larkin states that there may be one or two years’ error in B.C. profane history.  At present this writer is unable to resolve this prophecy to a year.

Daniel calls the defilement of the temple by the L.D.S. Church “the transgression of desolation” (v.13).  This temple defilement is both literal and symbolic.  It is literal because, like Israel, the gentile saints have allowed the inhabitants of Canaan into the temple and have mingled their seed; they have allowed women and men who have participated in abortion into their temples; they have excommunicated people for attempting to live up to their covenants made in the temple endowment (the new and everlasting covenant of marriage) and the Church has cut out significant portions and has modified portions of the endowment.  The L.D.S. Church has symbolically defiled the temple by breaking God’s commandments and by changing the ordinances.  The innocent blood of all the children slaughtered as a result of the change in official church policy allowing abortion is on the hands of every “saint” with a temple recommend or who raises their hand to sustain the hierarchy of the church “as constituted”.  Everyone who, in the temple, raises his hands up to God has blood on them!—Innocent blood!

 

“15.  And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you:  yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear:  your hands are full of blood.”  (Isaiah 1:15)

 

Daniel foretold the three abominations in reverse order:

 

3.      The third abomination of desolation:

Destruction of L.D.S. Temple

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