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As I write this commentary, this morning of the tenth day of August, 1999, I must tell you that I am once again amazed; because God, the Revealer of Secrets, has done it again, by showing me something in this morning's news, which I am now sure He clearly revealed to me a short time ago. Allow me to share with you, the reader, a little background information, so that you will better be able to understand why I am so excited by this latest development in the Russian political arena, in which Sergei Stepashin -- who just became the new Russian Prime Minister not even three months ago -- has just been ousted from office by President Boris Yeltsin.

As some of my readers and close online friends may recall, when my daughter was young -- she is now a grown, adult woman who lives apart from me -- she and I used to engage in the regular practice of having a nightly Bible devotion time just prior to her bedtime. This is an excellent way to fall asleep, as one's heart and mind continue to ponder God's Word even while one may be asleep.

While this thought may surprise some of you, I can testify to the fact that on certain occasions, I have fallen asleep at night, only to wake up the next morning, feeling as if very little time has passed, and finding myself in a kind of semi-conscious state; caught between being fully alert and in a sort of dream state, and engaged in a conversation with someone who has been apparently teaching me throughout the night. This has happened to me, although not all that often; or perhaps it is simply that, more often than not, I just don't remember such spiritual experiences. I am reminded of the following verses written by King David and the Patriarch Job:

"I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons."


"Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters. For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man."


This method of communication is very similar to the way in which I will receive some of my little personal revelations during the daylight hours as well. It is as if someone is talking with me at some sub-conscious level of my being. Whether you wish to refer to it as the Voice of the Spirit, or as a Spirit Helper, or whatever, it is a reality which I simply cannot deny. It isn't an actual audible voice, such as some mentally-disturbed people claim to hear; it is an intangible voice deep within; kind of like an impression you might say. I don't consciously strive to make this happen; it just does. For example, sometimes I will be busy in the bathroom, or perhaps in the kitchen washing the dishes; and without even realizing it, I will temporarily slip into this different mode of consciousness; still fully aware of what I am doing physically; yet at the same time, in communication with this Inner Voice which is instructing me. Again, there are Scriptural examples which clearly confirm this work of God's Spirit. Please consider the following:

"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."


"And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice."


"As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them."


Sometimes I am given an inspiring piece of information, such as certain verses from the Bible, or perhaps an interesting parallel which easily explains a certain Biblical concept, which just so happens to fit into an article I have written, or perhaps into a series on which I am working at the time. As I stated a moment ago, when these experiences occur, the overall impression I have is that I am being instructed by someone; and they leave me feeling very inspired; because the information I receive, or the example I am given, is so clear and so powerful; and it is not something which I can concoct on my own. In fact, quite often, after receiving such things, I will rush to my computer, in order to enter them into a text file before I forget them. I just know that these things do not come from myself. They are just beyond my normal capabilities as a human being.

I am simply not that intelligent of a man. I am only a high school graduate with an average grade level; and that was quite a few years ago. In addition, I have never attended any college, university or theological seminary. I am not familiar with all of their theological jargon, neat labels and catch phrases with which they stuff their heads over a period of years. Neither am I a priest, pastor, or ordained minister. I am basically a stupid, uneducated person as far as the ways of the world are concerned; and oft times, I don't think that I have used very much common sense during my lifetime either. But I won't get into that.

It is for this reason that I wrote such articles as "The Only Credentials You Need!", "The Wisdom of God vs The Philosophy of Men", etc. It was my desire to inspire those of you who may feel that God can't use you, because you have been made to feel totally inadequate by the children of the world. Remember, God actually tends to use those people who are looked upon as being the lowliest by mortal men. That is why we find verses such as the following in the New Testament:

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus."


"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God . . . For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe . . . Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men . . . But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence."


"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."


"For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness."


"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."


"For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;"


To continue then, as difficult as this may be for some of you to accept, I simply don't know how else to describe these experiences in my life, except to say that they must come by Divine Revelation. I must give all credit to the Lord my God, because He alone is the Revealer of Secrets. Well, for reasons which should be obvious to you, I normally steer away from discussing such things. I am sure that some of you will understand, and possibly even identify with what I have written. Perhaps you are even saying, "Yes, yes! I have experienced the very same kinds of things! I thought that maybe there was something wrong with me. I have always felt so different from everyone else."

Believe me; looking back over the years, I too have always known that I was different, and that I did not fit in with normal, worldly society, ever since I was a little boy attending elementary school. I was the quiet, shy, lonely, very introverted type. I kept to myself, and did things in which other boys my age found no interest; like reading books, and taking long walks in the forested area behind our home, in order to observe God's wonderful wildlife. I was not involved in sports or dating.

You see, as I explain in other articles, even before we were born, God our Father had set us apart. He had called us, and in fact predestinated us, to be His adopted children; and I believe that He placed it deep in our hearts to know this, even before we may have reached a point in our lives where we confessed His Son. While I have already amply covered this topic in other articles, please consider the following verses:

"For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them."


"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you . . . If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."


"So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen."


"For many are called, but few are chosen."


"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father . . . For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."


"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,"


"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love . . . Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will . . . In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:"


"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;"


"But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:"


"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity."


"Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?"


"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:"


"These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful."


How inspiring it is to know that we have been personally chosen by the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, to be a member of His Royal Household! While I am sure that some of you reading this will receive my message with great gladness of heart, there will be others, reprobates and unbelievers, who will undoubtedly view me as being a little delusional, or perhaps mentally-unbalanced; if not an outright whacko. The Apostle Paul clearly wrote about such people who do not understand the things of the Spirit, when he said the following:

"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."


To backtrack in our discussion, as I was explaining earlier, at that time, my daughter and I were reading through the four Gospels again; so last night -- that is, the night before I actually wrote the original version of this article in 1999 -- being as we had just finished the Gospel of John the night before, we were discussing what to read next. I wanted to read another Gospel. However, I left it up to my daughter to decide for us; and she chose the Book of Daniel. Thus, she proceeded to read the first several chapters of the book, which include King Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great image. I discuss this vision in more detail in such articles as "The Kings of the North and the South", as well as in the series "The Seven Heads".

Quite often, I encouraged my daughter to do the reading for us; as by nightfall, my eyes are very tired and sometimes my vision is blurry from working so long on the articles, or on other work related to this online ministry. As I used to tell her, not only did I like her reading to me, but it also helped her to concentrate more, and to get more out of what she was reading without letting her mind wander. Of course, if there was something which she didn't quite understand, I explained things to her; which often lead us into little Biblical history lessons, and sharing interesting parallels and other verses scattered throughout the Bible. She greatly enjoyed these times together; although I began to encourage her to dig out God's Golden Nuggets for herself, by spending more time reading my articles, where I have explained some of these things in much more detail.

What really inspired my heart, is that sometimes -- as occurred on that particular night, for example -- I would try to explain certain words or events to her, thinking that maybe she didn't understand them fully; and whenever I did, she would keep saying, "Daddy, I know". She didn't say it to be proud or boastful. It is just that she really did already know and understand what she was reading. Maybe not as much as I did in certain cases, but certainly much more that I expected of her. One thing I knew for certain, is that she was much more knowledgeable than me when it came to the specific details of some of the Old Testament stories. Why? Because she normally listened to her KJV tapes several hours each day. As the Book of Proverbs tells us:

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."


If you want to know what happens when Christian parents do not properly train their children in the ways and knowledge of the Lord, please read my timely article entitled "The Plight of the Children: School Gun Violence!". It clearly exposes the tragedy which is happening in modern, so-called, "Christian" America.

To continue then, during our evening devotion that night, at one point I wanted to emphasize how Daniel was quick to give God the credit for revealing things to him, and did not try to take the credit upon himself. Let us take a look then at Daniel chapter two. As you may recall, the problem which is encountered by the various participants who are involved in this event, is that not only does King Nebuchadnezzar not understand the dream, but he has also forgotten it as well by the time he wakes up. Despite this fact, he still expects his court soothsayers to interpret the dream for him. In the following verses, we read how the Babylonian wise men and astrologers plead with the king; telling him that he has asked something of them which is clearly impossible for mortal men; at least for those who do not possess the Spirit of the true God of Heaven and Earth:

"They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it. The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me. But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof. The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh."


As some of you will already know, because of this display of a clear lack of spiritual power on the part of his court magicians, astrologers and sorcerers, the king becomes very enraged. Thus, he orders that all of the wise men of Babylon be slain. This includes Daniel and his three young friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah -- whom the Babylonians had renamed Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Mishach and Abed-nego -- as we see by the following verses:

"For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain."


It is then that Daniel arranges an audience with the king, after being informed by Arioch -- the captain of the royal guard -- of the king's decree to kill all of the wise men. King Nebuchadnezzar grants Daniel the time that he requests; and the Lord is faithful to reveal to Daniel the king's night vision, in a dream of his own; after which Daniel and his friends thank the Lord for being the true Revealer of Secrets, as we see by these verses:

"Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter."


When Daniel again presents himself before Nebuchadnezzar, please notice that just as he was quick to thank the Lord in private for revealing the king's dream to him, along with the proper interpretation therof, he is also quick to give God the credit in front of the king, instead of trying to take the credit upon himself. This is the true sign of a humble servant of the Lord. As John the Baptist would say almost seven hundred years later, "He must increase, but I must decrease." And as the Apostle Paul would later also be inspired to write "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Thus Daniel said:

"But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass."


After Daniel has both revealed the king's dream, and given him the interpretation thereof, because he has been such a good example of humility, it also results in this proud, pagan king glorifying the one true God of Heaven as well when he says the following:

". . . Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret."


How could the king possibly deny the power of Daniel's God after his own court soothsayers had failed him so miserably? Centuries before, the power of the royal magicians in the courts of the Egyptian pharaoh likewise paled when they were challenged by the Power of the Almighty God, El Shaddai, through His humble servant, Moses. Consider the following verses:

"And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast. Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said . . . And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians."


In like manner today, when the Lord reveals anything to any of His servants, we must make sure that we seek not our own glory, but only the glory of Him who is truly the Revealer of Secrets. As the Apostles Paul and James were also inspired to write in their Epistles:

"But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth."


"But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."


"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."


To continue then, in addition to the fact that my daughter and I were discussing this issue of God being the One who reveals secrets to men only the night before, what also added to my excitement that morning when I read the news, is that during the past several days, I had been busy updating and expanding the series "Lying Wonders of the Endtime", in which I also discuss the topic of recognizing true and false prophets by the actual fruit of their ministries. Please be aware of that fact that these two incidents are not related. In other words, my daughter did not decide to read the Book of Daniel because I was working on this series. In fact, she hadn't even read the series yet, so was not aware of its full contents. Thus, through these two separate incidents, it seems to me that perhaps the Lord was preparing my heart for the surprise He had in store for me when I read the news that day.

Now, as some of you who know me well will realize, I would never dare suggest, or hint in any way, that I am some kind of a Prophet of God. In fact, some time ago, when the Lord revealed to me that Sergei Kiriyenko would not last long as the Prime Minister of Russia, and then it came to pass only a few months later, one of my dear readers quickly began to suggest that I might be a Prophet. Well, I flatly denied her claim. Lord forbid that I should ever be so boastful so as to make such a proud claim!

I am just a sinful man like the rest of you. I have my share of shortcomings and weaknesses. Furthermore, I tremble to think of the day when it will be my turn to appear before the Judgment Seat of the Lord. I think my face will be as low to the ground as it can possibly go. Like the rest of you, I have made some serious mistakes in my life; nothing criminal mind you, but nevertheless, things of which I am ashamed, which were not done in real love, but which were motivated by pride or selfishness. The point is, I am no better than anyone else. I am an unprofitable servant who depends solely upon the Grace of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, for my Salvation.

In spite of myself, I cannot deny that, for reasons of His own, the Lord sometimes chooses to give me little glimpses of the future. These "spiritual peeks" usually come in the form of strong impressions, and not actually in words, like the experiences I described earlier. As I explained a moment ago, the Lord gave me the impression that Sergei Kiriyenko, the former Prime Minister of Russia, would not last; that he was too weak; and that Yeltsin should get rid of him before the Russian presidential election drew any closer. I wrote this in the article "Alexander Lebed and the Year 2,000 Russian Presidential Race", and then confirmed that it had happened in "Communism: Is the Dead Beast Really Dead?".

There is no other way that I could have known this. God did it! I was just looking at Kiriyenko's picture, and that was the immediate impression I received; one of weakness, and that he wouldn't last very long. I can't deny that God must have revealed it to me. I am not a real political analyst. Most of what I write is on-the-spot inspiration. In other words, I don't prepare drafts or outlines. As they say today, I just "go with the flow"; but in this case, with the flow of His Holy Spirit, I hope.

Please go to part two for the conclusion of this article.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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