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Flame Thrower |
 It
has been said that God must like beetles a lot because he made so many of
them. That must be true because scientists have found about 400,000
different kinds. They have also estimated that there are between 2 million
and 20 million altogether. Obviously if that is true, we have not found
most of them yet.
God must have a great imagination. If you or I were asked to design
even 100,000 different beetles, we would probably run out of ideas very
quickly. However, God never runs out of ideas. You would probably never
think of putting a flamethrower in a beetle, but God did. The bombardier beetle is an amazing little creature that has a unique method of defense. Like this cannon it can throw fire. But unlike the cannon, it is extremely fast and able to throw it in any direction lifting its leg in time not to be burned. It is able to spray irritating chemicals at almost boiling temperatures. It can spray them in any direction. That way if an ant grabs his front leg, he can spray it. The ant will immediately let go and the beetle can run away. |
 The
beetle has chemical storage compartments inside of its body. There is a
mixture of these explosive chemicals there. There is no way that the
beetle could make these chemicals by accident. |
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| When the beetle needs to use some of these
chemicals for its defense, it squirts a little of this mixture into the
combustion chamber. There are enzymes there that cause those chemicals to
explode. The hot irritating chemicals then shoot out the rear end of the
beetle.
The beetle shoots these chemicals in pulses about 20 times a second. |
 Can
you imagine what an ant would feel like if it got sprayed with those
chemicals? Can you imagine what that toad felt like when it tried to eat
the bombardier beetle? Well, there are some scientists that found
out.
Isn't God wonderful to be able to design such complex things into something the size of a little 3/4 inch beetle? God is not limited by size huge or tiny. He is able to form things that are smaller than you can focus on. It takes a special microscope to see the tiniest forms of life that God has made. He pays attention to every detail of your life. He even knows how many hairs you have. Now, did you know that God is not limited by time either? He can see the future as easy as the past. I cannot do that. No human can see into future events, unless God shows them. Satan and his angels can not either. There are interesting rocks and metals and clay in our Bible story for today. |
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Song: The Stone that hit the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Daniel 2:3 Daniel writes the story of his boss having a dream. King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that he forgot. When He awoke he was so upset he asked for all his counselors and wise men and wanted them to tell him what he forgot. It is good he forgot because they could have made up stories about what it meant. For some reason, Daniel and his three friends were not called. The first they heard about it was when the king's soldiers stood at their door with orders to kill all advisors to the king. They asked for time to pray and were granted that time. They sent up some serious prayers for help. In the night, God gave Daniel the same dream and the meaning of it. We would like to offer you a free specimen of mica. Mica is a type of mineral that used to be used for windows and lamp shades. It comes in several colors and sometimes you can see rainbows in it. You can find the details for getting this rock when you read this lesson down to the 10 commandments. |
 In the dream king Nebuchadnezzar had seen a big tall man made out of
different metals. As he watched this big man, a rock came out of the east
and knocked it down. It broke in pieces.
Daniel made sure the king knew that none of this information came from him. Only the true God in heaven knew what Daniel was about to explain. God had chosen to share some information about the future with the king. He next began to explain the image was describing the future nations to take over this world ruling empire. The king was proud of ruling the world and wanted his kingdom to continue on forever. |
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 The
gold head represented the kingdom of Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar ruled
this Babylonian empire from 605 to 539 BC. It bothered him that
Daniel said there was an end coming to his kingdom. He wanted to change
this part of his dream. Have you ever had a dream you wanted to change?
Well, so did this king. He later built a huge image all of gold and asked
all to worship him. His efforts failed. He ended up admiring God's power.
His furnaces were not hot enough to burn up God's faithful servants. NO
FURNACE IS HOT ENOUGH. No hole is so deep but God is deeper still. |
 The
silver arms and chest pointed to the kingdom Medo-Persia which would take
over Babylon but not be as powerful. It would be as much less as silver is
to Gold in value. In Isaiah 44:27, 28; 45:1 the Bible predicted that
Cyrus, general of Medo-Persia would attack and overthrow Babylon allowing
God's people freedom. This was prophesied over 100 years before it
happened. They ruled from 539 to 331 BC. |
 The
brass stomach and thighs represented the kingdom of Greece which would
take over Medo-Persia. It would be inferior to the first two kingdoms.
This was fulfilled when Greece conquered Medo-Persia and ruled from 331 to
168BC. This prophecy was made 200 years before it happened. |
 The
legs were of iron. They showed that Rome would be a strong
kingdom that would rise up to rule the world next. Iron is not as
valuable as gold, silver or brass. Notice that each kingdom was worse than
the one before. Rome ruled from 168BC to 351AD. History tells us that the
Bible predictions were true. Rome was divided just as the Bible said it
would be.
The decreasing value in metals shows a deterioration of wealth and power. It also shows a decrease in strength in religion and morality among the people. Most of the people in these nations broke the 10 commandments. As nations forget God they become weak in morality and then weak in power. They break the commandments of God in all areas. There is lying, stealing, and adultery in high places. We hear of this in the news of our day. |
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the feet were explained as having part mix of clay and iron. These two
things do not mix well. It showed that iron representing Rome was still
present everywhere but all was not unified. It was divided. It is a weak mix. The ten toes
showed that there would be ten main divisions of this mixture of clay and
iron. Notice a VERY IMPORTANT POINT. From this point you can tell the
future. After this mixture there is not one solid ruler of the
world. Hitler did not know or believe this prophecy or he would not have
tried to conquer the world.
The mix of clay and iron is a representation of mixing church
business with politics. The business of ruling countries must not be mixed
with church religion business. When the country tries to force people to
do what the church wants, it gets very weak. Mixing clay and iron makes a
weak structure. If the church is given the power It is in this weak state of trying to mix church and state that the rock comes into the picture. |
 The
rock was cut out of the mountain without hands. Notice, it had
been cut out of the mountain. When no hands cut out something that
shows it is not done by man on this earth. Can
you think of another time in the Bible that a rock is cut out of a
mountain without hands? Look at Exodus 24:12
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 This
rock ruled the world for ever after that. This Rock is Christ Jesus. His
kingdom is ruled by the same law He wrote on stones on mount Sinai.
There was an end of the kingdoms ruled in this world. This is a drastic change. Nothing looks the same in the image after that. Imagine how Nebuchadnezzar would have been disturbed by this dream. Daniel explained it all to him. Nebuchadnezzar thought he was ruler of everything but now he saw that God was RULER OVER HIM. He saw that God would rule forever. |
 When
this world ends, whose team will you be on? Your choice for that team
starts today with action to obey the law of the kingdom which will last
forever.
Let your prayer be: "Take me, God, I am all yours. Let me play on your team today. Forgive me for my mistakes and help me to obey your law. I want to always stay on your team." Amen
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law will last forever. God's kingdom will last forever.
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 THE LAW OF GOD'S KINGDOM WHICH WILL LAST FOREVER AND EVER
Exodus 20:3-17 I. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." II. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."
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IV. "REMEMBER the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the SABBATH of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." |
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VI. "Thou shalt not kill." VII. "Thou shalt not commit adultery" VIII. "Thou shalt not steal." IX. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." X. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor anything that is thy neighbor's." For your free piece of mica, email me at tetracha@aol.com. Please give me your name & address and where to send the mica specimen. Limit, one per family. |
 QUIZ Time. Put your thinking cap on.
I. What was the king's name who had the dream and what country did he rule? 2. What metal and what part of the body of the image did this kingdom have? 3. What did the iron legs represent? 4. What did the feet represent? 5. What metal and world power was represented by the shoulders and arms? 6. What metal and world power was represented by the stomach and thighs? 7. What happened to the image? 8. Who and what power was represented by the rock that knocked down the whole image? 9. Can you think of where in the Bible it talks about another rock cut out of a mountain without human hands? 10. What did these rocks have to do with the rock in Daniel 2? 11. Is it important to obey the law of the Leader of all worlds? 12. Animal questions: What is the name of the flame throwing beetle? 13. How often can he fire? 14. How does he keep from burning his legs with this fire? 15. How did scientists discover this beetle's ammunition? 16. What is the trigger that sets off the reaction in the combustion chamber that already had hydrogen peroxide and hydro-quinones? 17. How many kinds of beetles are known to exist? 18. What does this huge variety tell you about God's mind? |
Video clip by Kyle age 13
The train stopped for water. While
it was stopped, the two men went out into the field to collect beetles.
One of them had a beetle in each hand when the train whistle blew telling
them to come back to the train. By the time they got there, the train was
moving away slowly. In order to get on the train, the men had to grab the
rail. But one man had his hands full. Without thinking, he popped one
beetle into his mouth in order to grab the rail. The bombardier beetle did
not like being in the man's mouth and fired at him. He wrote in his
journal that he immediately felt a very hot burning sensation in his
mouth. He was very glad when he was able to spit it out.
The
Big Rock
The
rock cut out without hands and given to Moses had two parts to it. It was
written on by God's finger. Actually, it had the law of GOD'S kingdom on
it. Moses was up on a mountain when God gave him the written law. This law
had been spoken and known before. But it was written out for the
Israelites and kept inside the ark of the covenant.
If you want to read this law again, go to Exodus 20. I like to read it
from the King James Version. God wrote on the stone with his own finger.
III. "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain,
for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in
vain."
V. "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long
upon the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee."