Terry Dashner…………………..Faith Fellowship Church PO Box 1586 Broken Arrow, OK 74013

One gentile ruler down and here comes another one. Just like God allowed it, no doubt.

Here comes Daniel’s leopard to pounce on world. (The leopard is one of four gentile powers to rule over Israel throughout world history as stated in Book of Daniel.) His name was Alexander. Let me tell you a little bit about him.

His father was Philip of Macedonia. He brought all of Greece under his rule just before he was assassinated in 336 BC. The great philosopher Aristotle tutored young Alexander. At 20 Alexander succeeded his famous father. Alexander defeated Darius III (558-486BC) in Battle of Issus in 333 BC, Persian Empire crumbled. By time Alexander was 33, he ruled 50 times as much land and 20 times as many people as had existed in empire he inherited from Philip. The territory included Greece, Egypt, all of former Persian Empire and all of what we think of today as Middle East.

Now question I raise is this: How could a man (a young man at that) conquer that much territory in just 13 years if he had been guided simply by luck? He was not just fortuitous in his exploits. God allowed him to move swiftly across world just like Daniel’s “leopard” because it was in His plan. (I hope I’m not being too dogmatic for you. Once again having survived 50 years on this planet, I’m convinced, more than ever, that God rules over affairs of men.) “Even today” says Bill Yenne, “…almost two dozen centuries later, he [Alexander Great] has barely half a dozen rivals to this achievement.

“However, true importance of Alexander’s empire was that for first time, there could be a free exchange of ideas between two different cultures. Unlike most other victorious leaders, Alexander was not only receptive to ideas of his conquered peoples but adopted ideas he learned from Persian political organization. On other hand, Greek art influenced art of India. Before his untimely death of natural causes at age 33, Alexander also built city of Alexandria in Egypt, whose great library survived for a thousand years and which evolved into greatest center of learning in world.”

Terry Dashner…………………..Faith Fellowship Church PO Box 1586 Broken Arrow, OK 74013

May I share several more significant historical events that didn’t just happen by luck. I believe that hand of Providence was behind them to serve God’s purpose. Let me start with Charles Martel grandfather of Charlemagne.

Charles Martel (Charles Hammer) defeated Spanish Muslims at Battle of Tours in 732-733 AD. His grandson, Charlemagne would later be crowned “Emperor of Romans” by Pope Leo III (751-816 AD) on Christmas Day 800 AD. Thus, Western Roman Empire, which had not existed for 325 years, was back in business, this time as Holy Roman Empire. Had not Charles Martel defeated Spanish Muslims at Battle of Tours, there would have been no revived Roman Empire in 800 AD. As a matter of fact, West would have been dominated by Islam, and Christianity would have had little impact on Western culture. Was God behind this balance of power? I believe so. But, then again, I believe that God rules as Sovereign over affairs of men.

As recent as 20th century dictators have tried to invade England by force, Hitler being most recent one. He failed. Napoleon tried but met his Waterloo. The last invading force which succeeded was led by William of Normandy (1027-1087 AD). William gathered an army of Normans and Frenchmen, crossed English Channel from Normandy and invaded England. King Harold II (1027-1066 AD) met William on October 14, 1066, at Battle of Hastings.

Says author Bill Yenne in his book entitled, 100 Events that Shaped World History (Bluewood Books 1993), “With Norman conquest, England was opened to influences of European art and literature. Although England retained its English language, it filtered and adopted best that Europe had to offer. It was this basic building block of English civilization which would in turn create and define that of North America.”