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Earlier we highlighted the emergence of a major global empire as the time of "end" approaches. It would seem that the tide toward a socialistic, centralized, "New World Order" is setting the stage. It has become fashionable—especially in the U.S. and in Europe—to deem the sovereign "nation-state" as obsolete, to promote multiculturalism over any traditional heritage, and to assume that the ultimate destiny of the planet Earth is for a unified global governance. The reader will recall that one of the primary messages given to alien contactees is that mankind must unify into a one world government. While the Bible is clear that this global unity will ultimately be brought about by the Coming World Leader, all over the world hundreds of millions of people look to the arrival of highly advanced benevolent alien entities to accomplish this goal. Could there be a connection here? In Daniel 2, Daniel interprets a troubling dream of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. (Fortunately, the interpretation of this strange dream is quite explicitly laid out for us in the text. The reader is encouraged to review this very readable chapter for himself.) In this dream there was a large, shiny metallic image with a head of gold, arms and chest of silver, belly and thighs of brass, and legs and feet of iron. The feet were further notable in that there the iron was mixed with "miry clay" A stone "cut without hands" struck the image at its feet, it crumbled, and then the stone grew into a mountain which filled the whole earth. Strange dream, indeed. Fortunately, Daniel interprets this for us. In fact, later in Daniel's life, he received another series of visions (recorded in Daniel 7) which, although using entirely different idioms, covered the same subject matter. These visions yield much of the essential background which illuminates the book of Revelation? The large metal image turns out to be a time line of the sequence of four major empires which will dominate the planet Earth until the time when God sets up his own government. The era covered is referred to as "the times of the Gentiles."" The head of gold represented Babylon under the rulership of Nebuchadnezzar.*" This was the empire extant at that time. The silver portion of the image referred to the empire which would conquer Babylon, that is, the Persians.**° The fall of Babylon is detailed in Daniel 5. (Daniel himself rose to prominence in the Persian Empire. The magi visiting Bethlehem some centuries later would reflect Daniel's tutelage.) The brass portion of the image represented the empire that would subsequently conquer the Persians, namely the Greeks.**’ (Alexander the Great's career was so detailed in Daniel 8 that when that passage was presented to him upon entering Jerusalem, he spared the city.**) The iron of the image represented the empire which would ultimately conquer the Greeks, namely the Romans.**” It is interesting that the Roman Empire ultimately split 159 THE RUSH TOWARD GLOBALISM KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S REMARKABLE DREAM