“Astrology was one of the four classes of the occult which Nebuchadnezzar relied on for guidance in helping him to make decisions,” informs Bible teacher Noah Hutchings in his 1990 book, Daniel the Prophet. “Astrologers were also called stargazers and they were very much like the astrologers today.

“They would come in to the king and tell him whether he would be positive that day, and win friends and influence people, or whether he should go back to bed and pull the covers over his head. In other words, they provided his daily horoscope.

“Next came the sorcerers. In ancient manuscripts, they are called the ‘mutterers of magic formulae.’ They used drugs and potions to deceive the mind. The root word for sorcery is the same word from which pharmacy or drugs is derived.

“It would appear that the magicians or wizards of those days corresponded to the male counterpart of the witch. They performed all kinds of magic including consultations with the dead.

“The Chaldeans were from the province of Chaldea, located in the southern part of Babylonia along the Euphrates River. As best as Bible scholars can determine, they were the remnant of the Tower of Babel society who did not experience a change in language. They composed a priesthood that continued to commune with the gods of Babel.”

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Nebuchadnezzar’s dream represents one of the key passages in all of prophetic Scripture for revealing the details of the political reign of the Antichrist.

My pastor, Richard Jordan, gives the account like this: “Nebuchadnezzar has this big dream. It really bothers him so he calls in his religious muckety-mucks; the Chaldean magicians and all that business.

“He says, ‘I have this dream and I need you to interpret it for me.’ It’s obviously important enough to him that he wants to get the real skinny on the thing, and since he doesn’t really trust these guys, he says, ‘I’ll tell you what, what you’re gonna have to do is, first, you’re going to have to tell me the dream, and then give me the interpretation.’

“The thinking is, ‘If you tell me the dream, I’ll know you really got something beyond just the little Psychic Network kind of stuff.’ I mean, those guys make you think they’re reading your mind and all that stuff, but you really told them what to tell you. They just keep doing that little song and dance with you and that kind of thing.

“As soon as Nebby said, ‘You gotta tell me the dream first,’ they argued, ‘Nobody ever required this of us!’ and he says, ‘Well, I am, and, by the way, if you don’t do it, it’s your throats and I’m going to go out and get me some new guys!’

“Well, they couldn’t do it, of course, and so then Daniel steps forth and says, ‘I can do it.’ He explains, ‘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. . .’ (Dan. 2:28)

“You see, that’s the difference between prophecy in the Bible and Nostrodamus, or Jeanne Dixon, or Madame Blavatsky. It’s like what God says to Isaiah: ‘You go tell them.’ He’s saying, ‘The difference between me and all these guys who tell you they’re gods—from all these religions out there—is I can tell the future. I’ll tell you now what’s going to happen and you just turn the calendar and watch it come to pass exactly like I said.’

“Nebby had the vision, but nobody could tell him the vision, so God supernaturally revealed it to Daniel. And when Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar what the dream was, Nebby said, ‘Yep, that’s exactly what I dreamed!’

“So you have independent correlation about the interpretation because Nebby was the only one who knew the dream. The fact that these (astrologers) don’t lose their heads means the dream was what Nebby really dreamed. So, the interpretation of it is validated by the circumstances.

“Realize, you don’t ever have to just say back to someone, ‘Well, it’s God’s Word.’ No, the circumstances make it obvious that it’s true. That’s the fascinating thing about the Bible. The claims of the Scripture are not claims that are just sucked out of the end of somebody’s thumb. They’re things that were obviously demonstrated at the time.

“Had this not been true at the time, there was ample opportunity historically in the record to contradict it. Instead, as Daniel 2:47 reports, ‘The king answered unto Daniel, and said, 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.’ ”

(Editor’s Note: To be continued. . . )