Many of these would become menial slaves in the kingdom, but some of the choicest of the young men were chosen to be put through 3 years of higher Babylonian Education in which the students would have any and all of their past religious faith and loyalties erased from their hearts and minds and replaced with the faith of the false gods of the land. During this first raid Nebuchadnezzar captured several of the choice people and youth of the nation and took them as captives back to Babylon. About two years later and approximately 22 years into Jeremiah's ministry, King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian Army made their first of three raids on the Nation of Judah. One of these 6 was the Prophet Habakkuk, who was called by the Lord to publish a written warning to the nation about 20 years after Jeremiah began his preaching ministry. It is more than likely that Jeremiah may not have even realized that his ministry had influenced this hand full of people, four of which were just teenagers, who would rise to become great heroes of the Faith His repeated warnings to his nation fell on deaf ears and hard hearts, but in the midst of this Apostasy the Scriptures tell us of at least 6 different people who Jeremiah must have influenced, (Baruch, Jeremiah's personal secretary, the Prophet Habakkuk Daniel and his 3 Hebrew fellow captives) which kept the torch of Faith lit for the coming generations. The Prophet Jeremiah was called by the Lord to warn the nation to repent and return to the Lord or face severe judgment at the hands of the Babylonian Armies and for 40 years he was faithful to his heavenly calling.

Daniel, like many of the young people in America today, was born in a time when his nation had turned its back on the Lord and were serving false gods and living godless lives.

Sermons on the book of daniel