Earthly powers enslave us...
Earthly powers enslave us. The media makes us its puppets in dictating to us what we (think we) want. Society puts us in racial and gender straitjackets. We fight wars because government tells us to, and society largely keeps us in the social class in which we are born. These earthly powers are the four beasts of Daniel's dream. But Daniel's dream makes clear that insofar as the holy ones of the Lord (perhaps the Messiah) will be the one(s) to possess the kingdom, we have the assurance that the ways of the world will not ultimately prevail.