After Christ has appeared from heaven in the guise of a warrior, and vanquished the antichristian world-power, the wisdom of the world and the devil, those who have remained steadfast in the time of the last catastrophe, and have given up their lives for their faith, shall be raised up, and shall reign with Christ on this earth as a royal priesthood for one thousand years.
The absence of all mention of one great oppressing world-power seems most natural before the westward march of Assyria involved Israel in the general politics of Asia.
Four horns, representing the hostile world-power that oppresses Israel and Jerusalem, are cast down by four smiths.
Stoic loyalty to a belief in responsibility based on freedom of choice appeared difficult to reconcile with a belief in an all-pervading Anima Mundi, a world power directing and controlling actions of every kind.
Why take a moral position that will draw the ire of a world power?
