Page 87 - Racing Toward Judgement

kingdom. Over four million people were about to wit-
ness the swift judgment of Almighty God. Their king,
Belshazzar, was victimized by a sense of false security.
It was the eve of judgment, and the city went wild.
The festival held at the very hour of judgment was
called saca, in honor of the goddess Shat. The entire
city went on a wild, drunken binge. It was an adulterous
carousal. Just like the American Mardi Gras with all its
filth and provocation. "Belshazzar the king invited a
thousand of his officers to a great feast where the wine
flowed freely" (Daniel 5:1 LB).
God made one final attempt to warn these drunken
people that the party was over. A strange and forebod-
ing finger appeared in the great government banquet
hall where the king and leaders of the nation were
drinking from the sacred temple goblets. It wrote a mes-
sage only Daniel the prophet could interpret. "This
night, judgment!" was the content of the message.
Evidently the party continued, after the initial scare
wore off. Back to the festival and fun. "Judgment? So
what? We all have to die sometime. Live it up."
"That very night Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was
killed, and Darius the Mede entered the city and began
to reign . . ." (Daniel 5:30,31 LB).
So it is in this, America's hour of judgment. A pros-
perous, ease-loving nation frolics its way toward the
end. The epitaph God will place on our society is the
same He placed on Noah's: "And they knew not until
the flood came, and took them all away . . ." (Mat-
thew 24:39 KJV).

4. Spiritual Wickedness in High Places
God help those men in high places who pretend to be
righteous but whose fear of God is not according to
truth. They claim to be children of the Most High God,
yet they show themselves to be liars. They are ashamed
of their God. They appease the wicked and exalt the
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