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The Book of Daniel - Chapter 3

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King Nebuchadnezzar created a statue of gold 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide and had it placed in the plain of Dura  (in Babylon).  Now imagine the scope of that even today, a statue of gold 90 feet high and 9 feet wide.  He fashioned it as an idol, to be worshipped. He called upon all the various government officials under him to appear for the dedication of this massive creation. This was a test of obedience.  When all the advisors, magistrates, judges and all the rest had arrived and assembled before the idol, they were given a command. "All nations, and all people!  When you hear the sound of a horn or flute, or harp or pipe or all kinds of music, you will fall down and worship this image of gold.  If you do not follow this order to fall and worship, you will be immediately thrown into a blazing furnace!" Now we can assume one of two things. Or maybe both. First, the King had a fairly bad inferiority complex. He needed the reassurance of people falling i
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The Book of Daniel - Chapter 2 (part 2)

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Upon returning home, Daniel explained the situation to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah and suggested that they all pray to God for an answer to the problem. That night, Daniel had a vision in which the whole of the king's dream was revealed to him. The whole shebang. Daniel was deeply grateful and gave thanks to God for giving him wisdom and showing him dream of the king. Daniel went back to the executioner and said "Hold tight for a bit and take me to the king, I can do this interpretation now for him." and so he was brought back before Nebuchadnezzar. This was the moment of truth. The King said "Ok, spit it out. Whats the dream and whats the deal with it?  You got this, right?" Daniel explained that what the astrologers and magicians had told the king was correct - no person could do what the king was requesting....BUT.... there is a God in Heaven, and he reveals mysteries. "What you saw was days to come - and I don't know thi
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The Book of Daniel - Chapter 2 (part 1)

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So at this point,  Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are all working at the palace for King Nebuchadnezzar.  They're being trained in the language and it is the second year of the king's reign. The King has troubling dreams and he is losing sleep over them. Not only do the dreams interrupt his sleep but he is mightily concerned about the dream content and purpose. He demanded all the magician's, sorcerers, enchanters and astrologers to appear before him and when they arrived he commanded they tell him the meaning of his dream. The only problem was that he didn't tell them what the dream was - making it slightly trickier to interpret of course.  They uncomfortably avoided eye contact, stubbed their sandal toe in the dirt, and said, "Soooo...uhhh, yeah. We can certainly interpret your dream, but we need to know what it was first." Well, the King wasn't having any of this, after all, these folks are supposed to have mystical powers and foresee t
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The Book of Daniel - Chapter 1

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So let's start our journey! The Book of Daniel. Chapter One - Nebuchadnezzar, who was the king of Babylon came and took control of Jerusalem. The implication here is that he was supported in this takeover by God himself since it says the Lord delivered King Jehoiakim into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar decided that he would bring some of the royal family and nobility into his service. He wanted young men,  handsome,  without physical defects.  He wanted them to be intelligent and quick to learn anything he might instruct them to study.  Basically the King wanted the palace to be a place of knowledge and insight. He could make use of the human resources he had gained through his conquest of Jerusalem, but he'd need to assimilate them into the King's environment. After all, they'd be serving in the palace and since Nebuchadnezzar was the King of Babylon, they would have to learn the language and literature of these Babylonians.  This wou
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My Knowing Smile - A Place to Think and Watch As Others do the Same.

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Hi, welcome to My Knowing Smile . I am starting this blog, today, Aug 21, 2017, as a 60 year old man. "To what end?" you might ask.  Fair enough question. In my life, I've always longed for being "that guy".  One of those guys who can, out of thin air, grab an appropriate Biblical reference, story, or verse, that applies perfectly to the subject matter at hand. We all know those folks. We've all met them.  They often have some contribution that offers us a bit of insight or that seems to speak to our inner guidance systems. But there is one thing to keep in mind.   The fact that they can chew up and spit out Bible references with the best of them, does NOT mean they have the "correct" answers for your life. Don't get me wrong here, they are far more likely to have the answer than someone relying on personal experience, or a good guesstimate of guidance or strategy.  The thing is, that they are still only human beings. Even with th
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