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 ome
years ago I
was asked to teach the book of Revelation to a group of students
involved in a Bible Club at a public school. They asked me to
speak during lunch on two different days. At first I could not
imagine teaching the book of Revelation in only two one half-hour
sessions, but I agreed. I decided to give an overview of Revelation
and emphasize Jesus Christ. After I finished teaching the last
session, a woman approached me and told me that Satan had sent
her to tell me that he wanted me to stop teaching. I was surprised
at first, but finally told her to inform Satan that I had finished
the last session. I was done for now. Then I asked her if I
could talk to her. She agreed and over several months she described
her involvement in the occult and the powers which she had.
One day I stopped to talk with the school dean about her and
before I did, I looked up and down the long hall to see if anyone
was near. There was no one. So I turned and asked my question.
Immediately, he asked if I was talking about the woman standing
behind me. I turned and there she was. Later I asked him where
she had came from. He did not know. She had just appeared -
the power of the occult.
Introduction.
The occult pulses with power like an electric power line. It
is not friendly like Casper the friendly ghost. The occult is
about invisible, powerful aliens whom we call ghosts and demons.
They are opposed to God, His holy angels and to Christians.
In this study, we will discover an important spiritual truth
that is not illustrated anywhere else in scripture - only here.
In our last study, we found that
during the first year of King Darius (also the first year of
Cyrus) the prophet Daniel had been reading in the scrolls of
Jeremiah and discovered that Israel’s 70 years of captivity
would soon end. As a result, he confessed the sins of his fellow
captives and asked God to return them to the land of Palestine.
God answered Daniel’s prayer
with a “yes.” Sometimes He answers with a “no”
but not this time. The book of Ezra records the decree given
by King Cyrus allowing some Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild
the temple (Ezra 1:1-4). When we arrive at Daniel 10, two years
have slipped by and it is now the third year of Cyrus’
reign.
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It is now 536 B.C. and the prophet
Daniel has received another vision. Three years have gone by
in the white space between chapters nine and ten. The vision
will start in chapter eleven and end in the last chapter of
Daniel.
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In
the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed
to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the message
was true and one of great conflict, but he understood
the message and had an understanding of the vision. In
those days I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire
weeks. I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine
enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all, until
the entire three weeks were completed. And on the twenty-fourth
day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the
great river, that is, the Tigris . . . NASB) Dan. 10:1-4
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