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It can be frustrating when we feel like we've been struggling with the same problem our entire life. The Scriptures are repetitive too, and they reflect the reality that so much of life seems to repeat itself. Our job is to find one way to defeat our enemy, then use that strategy again and again as we win over our temptations and dig deeper into ourselves to take the evil out at its root.

(References: Daniel 4:10-37)

Nebuchadnezzar was a powerful king of the Babylonian empire. His fiery furnace and his dreams of the great tree and the statue are all told in the first four chapters of the book of Daniel. He is also mentioned in 2 Kings 24, and in Jeremiah 27 -- 39 where he destroys the kingdom of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar represents the kind of church that starts out well but then degenerates into a lust of power that demands obedience to human leaders. Such a church comes to believe that it has the power to to save or condemn, thus falsely claiming a power that belongs only to God.

(References: 2 Kings 24:1, 24:8, 24:10, 24:11, 25:1; Jeremiah 27:6, 27:8, 27:20, 39, 39:5; The Apocalypse Explained 650 [29], 652 [16])