Dear Friend, the brothers and sisters who have been studying with you undoubtedly mean well. No doubt they are sincerely concerned about your spiritual welfare and eternal life. But, sometimes Jehovah’s Witnesses make certain blanket statements that are ill-advised—a sort of one-size-fits-all approach to salvation.

Certainly, though, it is God’s Will for everyone to take in accurate knowledge of him and his Son. It is Jehovah’s Will that we get baptized. And it is Jehovah’s Will that we meet together with fellow Christians. But, Jehovah also understands our limitations and individual circumstances. For example, how reasonable is it to expect a person with a broken leg to get up and walk normally? Surely, none of us would be so unreasonable. Yet, sometimes we expect people who are crippled by depression to carry on and function normally. Jehovah is not so unreasonable.

Paul counseled the Thessalonian Christians to “speak consolingly to the depressed souls.” But, in order for you to be consoled by the Friends in your locale, they must first be aware of your condition. Have you told them of your limitations and asked them for their support and understanding? That might be a first step.

At any rate, our real Comforter is God. The 94th Psalm states; “When my disquieting thoughts became many inside of me, your own consolations began to fondle my soul.”

Isn’t that a wonderful thought? Jehovah knows what is going on inside our minds and he offers his own consolations through his Word and spirit! “Disquieting thoughts” can make us feel depressed and vice-versa: depression generates disquieting thoughts. And certainly, the suggestion that God is going to destroy us because we are not measuring up only adds to the burden. But, Jehovah is able to impart hope, faith and comfort to us, so as to dispel disquieting thoughts of hopelessness and despair.

Try as best you can to draw close to God and do what you can to do his Will and leave the rest in God’s capable hands. That’s all any of us are expected to do.

The term “earthly hope” is sort of a misnomer in terms of the way you are using it. Jehovah has always purposed for humans to live on earth. For example, the criminal who was executed next to Jesus professed his hope that Jesus would remember him when he got into his kingdom. But, according to Paul, even unrighteous people are going to receive a resurrection regardless of whether they hoped for such a thing or not.

Really, the expression “earthly hope” that Jehovah’s Witnesses use has reference specifically to the great crowd who are destined to survive the great tribulation. Their “hope” is not the hope of a resurrection so much, but it is the unique hope of not dying at all. And since the great tribulation that they hope to survive is a future event, the so-called earthly hope is not a thing of the past. In fact, it is just now becoming relevant.

The book of Daniel and Revelation contain a series of complimentary visions, which foretell in advance the unbroken succession of world empires from Pharaoh’s Egypt to the last king. The book of Daniel does not concern itself at all with the Egyptian or Assyrian empires that had already had their heyday. From Daniel’s perspective Babylon is the first world power. Following Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon, the book of Daniel names the succeeding two empires in advance—the Medo-Persian and Grecian powers.

As regards your question, “How can two entities compose one king?” The 8th chapter of Daniel has the answer. There we read in the 4th verse: “When I raised my eyes, then I saw, and, look! a ram standing before the watercourse, and it had two horns. And the two horns were tall, but the one was taller than the other, and the taller was the one that came up afterward.”

The angel went on to specifically state that the two horns stood for the two kings of Media and Persia, who, combined, formed the Medo-Persian Empire. We read in the 20th verse: “The ram that you saw possessing the two horns stands for the kings of Media and Persia.”

So, the angelic interpretation of the two-horned ram establishes an interpretive precedent which allows us to legitimately interpret the two-horned beast (described in the 13th chapter of Revelation) as also symbolizing an empire composed of two individual political entities. And indeed, modern world history recognizes no other political partnership except the Anglo-American dual world power. Since World War II the political alliance between Great Britain and the United States has been called the “Special Relationship.”

As for Spain, there is no question that at one time Spain was a major world power—but not any more. Spain is not even a nuclear power, which would seem to be a pre-requisite for maintaining supremacy in the Nuclear Age. Spanish dominance began to wane in the later part of the 18th Century and it is generally recognized by historians that the British Empire became the most dominante power on earth from the time of Napoleon’s defeat.

Interestingly, though, the Watchtower Society believes that Spain is actually represented in prophecy by one of the supplanted horns of the 11-horned beast of Daniel. Daniel 7:8 reads: “I kept on considering the horns, and, look! Another horn, a small one, came up in among them, and there were three of the first horns that were plucked up from before it. And, look! there were eyes like the eyes of a man in this horn, and there was a mouth speaking grandiose things.”

Under angelic interpretation we read concerning the beast: “This is what he said, ‘As for the fourth beast, there is a fourth kingdom that will come to be on the earth, that will be different from all the other kingdoms; and it will devour all the earth and will trample it down and crush it. And as for the ten horns, out of that kingdom there are ten kings that will rise up; and still another one will rise up after them, and he himself will be different from the first ones, and three kings he will humiliate.”

It is a given that the fourth beast in succession from Babylon is the Roman Empire. Whereas, historians speak about the fall of Rome as occurring sometime in the 4th and 5th centuries, the Roman imperial system lived on for over one thousand years in the form of Christendom’s political system. Eventually, though, several competing empires emerged from feudal Europe. Among them, where the Hapsburgs; the French; the English; the Dutch; the Spanish; the Portuguese; and others. So, in that way it can rightly be said that the fourth beast extended its rule from the time of the Caesars all the way to the present age. Spain, indeed, was one of the colonial standard bearers in her turn.

The Watchtower has made a fairly convincing case that the “small horn” represents the British Empire and the three horns that “were plucked up before it” and humiliated were the Spanish, French and the Dutch powers. The Watchtower cites the defeat of the Spanish Armada in the Anglo-Spanish War of 1585-1604 as a decisive turning point that eventually led to Spain’s being usurped by Great Britain. However, there is even some debate among historians as to the significance of the loss of the Spanish Armada. For that and other reasons, the identity of the ten horns and in particular, the 11th ascending small horn, remains open to interpretation.

Nevertheless, as regards the Anglo-American dual world power being foretold in prophecy, it is interesting that the prophecy in the 7th chapter of Daniel referred only to a “fourth beast,” counting from Babylon; whereas, the 13th chapter of Revelation foretells of “another wild beast.” Revelation 13:11 describes it as a two-horned lamb, saying: “And I saw another wild beast ascending out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb, but it began speaking as a dragon.”

So, the two-horned lamb is actually a 5th beast counting from Babylon, and including the pre-Babylonian empires of Egypt and Assyria the lamb is the seventh kingdom. That is why Revelation describes a seven-headed political beast.

The reason Revelation introduces us to “another wild beast” is because the dragon-mouthed lamb plays a significant role leading up to God’s judgment of the world. We are told at Revelation 13:14-15: “And it (the two-horned lamb) misleads those who dwell on the earth, because of the signs that were granted it to perform in the sight of the wild beast, while it tells those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the wild beast that had the sword-stroke and yet revived. And there was granted it to give breath to the image of the wild beast, so that the image of the wild beast should both speak and cause to be killed all those who would not in any way worship the image of the wild beast.”

In this vision, the two-horned beast, which is itself the slaughtered and revived seventh head, is depicted as mandating the worship of an image of the beast. In the 17th chapter of Revelation it is revealed that the image is itself an 8th king—but that it “springs from the seven.”

Given the rapacious and animalistic impulses of all governments and particularly empires, it is very extraordinary that any ruling kingdom would advocate another entity as ruler other than itself. Yet, that is exactly what Revelation is foretelling the two-horned beast does! This can help us identify the two-horned entity.

There can be no disputing the fact that the present world is dominated culturally, militarily and economically by the Anglo-American dual world power. For example, English is considered the universal language. The American dollar is more-or-less a universally accepted currency. (Don’t ask me why we use the word “universal” in reference to affairs on this tiny blue speck in the universe) And no nation can rival the United States for military supremacy.

Yet, in spite of the unchallenged Anglo-American domination, there has been an ongoing relentless conspiracy, well-documented by historian Carroll Quigley, and others, emanating from within the present establishment, intended to subvert national authority and establish, first the League of Nations, and now the United Nations, as the political center-piece of globalization. Modern history verifies that London and Washington are the creators and main supporters of the United Nations. In effect, Great Britain and the United States promote governance by the United Nations as well as their own government—just as Revelation depicts.

While Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the beast received the foretold sword-stroke as a result of the First World War, there is every reason to believe that it is a future event—now imminent. In that eventuality, we are talking about the sudden catastrophic collapse of the Anglo-American dual world power and its seemingly miraculous recovery from its death-like crash. Given the century-old drive to subvert the democratic form of government, we may anticipate that the revived beast that promotes the worship of the image will be more totalitarian in nature—as will the 8th king it breathes life into.

Unfortunately, it is presently unclear to me too. There is no question but that the seven-times drama played out with Nebuchadnezzar has a larger application. All of the prophecies of Daniel apply to Christ’s kingdom in some respect. So, it is simply not reasonable that the fourth chapter of Daniel is an exception. But what does it signify? In view of the fact that it does not appear that Jesus intended for us to apply the so-called “times of the Gentiles” to the period following Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Jerusalem, we are indeed left with solving a mystery.

However, the entire book of Daniel is officially sealed up until the time of the end, and Ironically, Nebuchadnezzar’s tree dream may have an application to that period. Seeing that the time of the end is apparently still future, as unsatisfying as it may be to us, it may not be possible right now to solve the riddle of the seven times.

“And as for you, O Daniel, make secret the words and seal up the book, until the time of the end. Many will rove about, and the true knowledge will become abundant.”

Regrettably, Jehovah’s Witnesses have succumbed to not only group-think, but to group-look as well. The official policy of the Watchtower, though, is that wearing a beard or goatee is a matter best left up to each individual’s conscience considering what is locally acceptable. However, in practice the Watchtower is staunchly against men with whiskers. (Other than mustaches) That is evident from the fact that the Watchtower has never published a picture of one of Jehovah’s Witnesses wearing a beard or goatee in any of its literature.

The irony is that the Founder of the Watchtower Society, C.T. Russell, wore a beard, as did many of his associates. Yet, if he were to walk into a kingdom hall today looking as he did a century ago, he would not even be allowed on the platform to teach.

The bottom line is that we cannot judge a person’s quality of spirituality by their appearance. Jehovah states in his Word that he does not look at the outward appearance of people—but at what they are inside. Unfortunately, the elders do not always imitate Jehovah in that regard and as a result they succumb to making Pharisaic judgments based on their own superficial prejudices.

The solution to the problem is the same solution to all the problems presently griping Jehovah’s Witnesses. God intends to lift his protection from us and allow us to experience a flood of persecution and hardship that will scour away all pettiness and pretext.