1. We call clay covered iron “Enamel”

   Many appliances are made this way, certain types of dishware and so on. A well known, low tech, process.

   The process makes the iron so it does not rust, ie preserves it across time. (ie a long term fraud, since Roman times, at least.)

   The process makes it pretty, so it looks nice. (Doesn’t democracy look nice? Seducing, even, to the crowds.)

   The plastering process on Ebal and Gerizim is similar, baked by the sun instead of iron in an oven, and there are textual parallels to that story from Daniel.

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2. So,the iron & clay don’t have anything to do with Islam or Sharia Law,or Muslims.

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   • Not from what I understand the prophecy to mean.

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3. I have two comments regarding the image of Daniel 2. First, the stone that is cut out without hands. Numerous New Testament references to Jesus as the Rock upon which the Church is built indicate that the “cut” stone should be depicted as a cut stone in your illustration. In 1 Corinthians 3 Jesus is referred to as the foundation stone in the temple and his followers are depicted as other “cut” stones in the temple. John’s gospel refers to the body of Christ that is the “temple” of God that would be raised up after three days, which is a metaphor for the church according to Ephesians 2. The phrase “without hands” is used several times in the New Testament in reference to the temple of God in heaven (made without hands Hebrews 8 ) and the believers in Ephesians 2 are said to be “circumcised” without human hands indicating that their conversion to God’s side in the struggle is solely by the operation of the Spirit of God (without the “will of man” as John 1 clearly states). Very Calvinistic! My second observation is concerning the Iron and clay. You are quite right in observing that Rome continues to the end of time. But the new element of “clay” surely is the new element introduced by Constantine in the operation of his kingdom. The operation of “religion” in the affairs of state was not a new phenomenon in Rome. It had operated in the Roman political system even during the “republic” history of Rome. It was only intensified during the Imperial period with Emperor worship. That did not stop with the “conversion” of Constantine. He maintained his role as “Pontiff” of the state religion. Now he was the “Pontiff” of the Christian religion. He took the place of Christ. That “role” was transferred to the “Bishop of Rome” in the Justinian Law Code two centuries later and was the rule in Europe until the French revolution which toppled most of the monarchies of Europe and made a “death wound” to the papacy as Revelation 13 predicted. So in this historical scenario the new element that is brought to view in the “clay” is the Catholic Church (Eastern and Western). That condition lasted until the tenth century when Eastern Orthodoxy split away. Later splits happened in England and Germany and Switzerland during the Protestant reformation. The relationship between the Iron and Clay are represented as “mingled together” and some translations depict it as “marriage.” This relationship is depicted in Revelation 17 as a “whore” riding on the beast with the name of Babylon written on her forehead. In Ezekiel 16 and 23 Israel and Judah are depicted as whores because of their treaties with Assyria and Egypt respectively. At Sinai Israel made a covenant with God. That covenant was broken when they made treaties with other countries for their protection rather than depending on God. That is and has been the relationship between the Catholic Church (and any state run church) ever since Constantine. So I believe the Clay in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is the Catholic Church as it is depicted in Revelation 17 riding on the back of the beast. The last iteration of the beast is found in the second beast of Revelation 13 which looks like a “lamb” but will eventually speak like the “dragon” and cause the whole world to worship the first beast. The Dragon of Revelation 12 and the first beast of Revelation 13 are said to rule for 1260 days but the second beast of chapter 13, although it comes up after the 1260 days (1798) does not have a time limit assigned to it, but according to chapter 17 it is a time when their are no crowns on the heads or the horns of the beast (the “crowns” were overthorwn by Neopolian where the beast still ruled in 1798). He was not successful in Russia and England at the time because the Pope did not rule there. Remember the retreat from Russia and his defeat at Waterloo! The atheist “Revolution” eventually toppled the monarchy of Russia but has not yet succeeded fully in England, but not for the lack of trying. It might yet be a “bloodless” event, in contrast to the Neopolianic wars or the Russian event. The European Common Market (republics not monarchies at present) just recently saw England pull out. It likely will not be compatible until the monarchy is gone. But the prophecy that the whore will ride the beast (without crowns on its horns) for a time but predicts that they will receive “crowns” some time in the future. That will be the last iteration of the beast, the seventh head, but it will last a short time.

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   • In discussing “the feet and toes of the image” and “stone cut out of the mountain without hands” I should have commented on them one at a time. The last shall be first. The “cut stone” is interpreted by Daniel to be the everlasting “kingdom of God.” When Jesus began his ministry, he came preaching the “Kingdom of God” and that it was about to break upon the world. His claims were that he was “the Son of David,” the legitimate heir to the throne. The reason why this kingdom should not be pictured as you have in your illustration is that it is said to be a “cut” stone, and corresponds to the New Testament affirmation that Jesus is the “chief cornerstone” in the “house of God” and the “apostles and prophets are other foundation stones in that temple (1 Corinthians 3:16) and Paul declares that we (if we have been born again of the Spirit) are built up in that temple. So the first coming of Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom age in which the citizenship in that kingdom is being made up. The completion of that “building project” will end at Christ’s return at which time the “stone” will demolish the Image, striking it on its feet, and obliterating it ( it becomes like the “chaff of the summer threshing floor and the wind drives it away.” There is nothing left of Babylon in any of its iterations. It is important to understand that the “Kingdom of God” has already begun. We are in the “cutting out” phase. Jesus is King and he was “cut out” without human hands. This terminology “without human hands” is intended to convey his heavenly origin, even his “virgin birth.” We, however who receive Him as Lord, are said to also have a “new birth” that is of heavenly origin. That is how we become part of the “stone that is cut out without human hands.” The apostle Paul uses terms like “in Christ,” or “Christ in you the hope of glory,” or “nevertheless I live, but Christ lives in me.” These terms are meant to convey the close relationship between Christ and his disciples or followers. The apostle Paul also speaks of the true believers as being “circumcised without human hands.” Circumcision in the flesh was the “sign” of inclusion in the family of Abraham (Genesis 17) but it was to be just an outward sign of inner renewal of the heart. The outward sign “in the flesh” lost it’s significance when the Jewish nation rejected their King. The sign of circumcision like the rest of the Mosaic code was designed to keep God’s people together and identifiable as a group until “the seed” of Abraham came. When the “seed” appeared on the scene, believing that Jesus is Lord (i.e. King) and confessing it with your mouth (Romans 10) is sufficient to identify you as part of the “people of God.” You could be Jew or Gentile, male or female, rich or poor, slave or free. You are all “one” in Christ Jesus.(Galatians 3) Finally, if you have visited the “wailing wall” at Jerusalem you will realize how formidable the “cut stones” that made up walls of Jerusalem were. Jews mourn there over the destruction of their temple that happened in 70 a.d. Although the temple mount was scraped clean of the temple by the forces of Rome as Jesus predicted (Matthew 24), a visit to Solomon’s quarry (a huge man made cave not far away from the “wailing wall” will give one an idea of the “stones” that were cut with human hands. They were huge, and were indeed an engineering marvel for their time. They were so perfectly “cut” that a knife blade can not be put between them. Some of them were 20 to 30 feet long. They were a “type” of the perfectly “cut” stones that Daniel predicted would make up the spiritual temple predicted by Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and Daniel’s interpretation. The perfectly cut stone symbolize the perfection of Christ (as the chief cornerstone) and the perfection of the “saints” covered by Christ’s righteousness. The cornerstone was predicted to be “rejected by men, but chosen by God.” It was the “first” stone laid in the temple, from which all other stone had to line up with.
     James: The “iron and the clay,” what do they represent? If the “Iron” represents the Roman Empire in the legs, it would seems as the “vision” indicates that feet and toes represent a divided Roman Empire and that condition would last until the image is demolished by the stone Kingdom that is said to be the Kingdom of God. Therefore to determine when the “kingdom is divided” is important to this study historically. Scholars put the “fall of Rome” at 476 A.D. The “causes” of the “fall of Rome” must therefore be what is indicated in the prophecy when it is said that it would be a divided Kingdom. What scholars mean when they speak of the “fall of Rome” is the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The Eastern Empire, with Caesars ruling from Constantinople, lasted for another 600 years. But the division of the Empire was precipitated by by the “invasion” of the Germanic tribes in the West and by the Muslims in the East. But the “glue” (or clay) that held the Empire together was the Christian religion established as the religion of the Empire by Constantine. By 538 A.D. (Justinian’s reign) the West was lost to the invaders and Justinian made a last ditch “strategic move” in transferring the “high priesthood” of the church (which the Emperors had held since Constantine) to the Pope in Rome. It probably was a move to hold as much as possible of the West in allegiance to the “Empire.” What he did was “create” the first “beast” of Revelation 13 just as John had seen it in his vision 400 years earlier. The story of how the Pope in Rome created a system held together by “concordants” in which the several states of Western Europe agreed to have the Roman Catholic religion be the sole religion of the state is a 1260 long history in which all dissenters were persecuted or driven out. That of course was the same as happened in…

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4. This is very insightful, James, thank you. I am glad that Tess inspired you to post it once again.

   I want to check my books to see how its been viewed by others. Though whatever they might say, I am inclined to think you are right about this. Especially in light of the emergence of technocratic forms of government which are basically the exercise of dictatorial powers by elites who use the techniques of social persuasion to create an illusion of democracy to cloak themselves. The beginnings of this, I believe, goes back to the Enlightenment and the subsequent formation of Weishaupt’s Illuminati which which brought the Jesuit model of organizing society into the political sphere.

   The investigative journalists Paul and Phillip Collins have an excellent article on this:
   https://www.conspiracyarchive.com/2014/07/20/panoptic-age-entering-the-pupil-of-the-all-seeing-eye/

   I understand however, you may not have time to follow this line of investigation, amongst all the many things you look into.

   I noticed that Richard Hirsch responded to this years ago, though I am having trouble putting his argument in a logical framework. Did you ever respond to him?

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   • Richard Hirsch writes me very long messages with lots of information. I didn’t respond to his two comments on this article, but I appreciate all comments unless they are in an adversarial tone. I responded to him on his comments on other articles.

     If Richard says that the clay of Daniel 2 is the Catholic church, well, that’s his interpretation and not something I wish to debate with him on. My interpretation is just an idea that came to me, but I’m not saying it was inspired by the Holy Spirit. It’s just a thought that intrigued me as a possibility.

     I’m a simple guy and like to stay simple about Bible doctrine. Some things are just over my head. I’ll get dogmatic only about teachings that I absolutely know to be false and unbiblical.

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