There's  a really interesting story in the Old Testament that richly illustrates how God sometimes uses people who do not necessarily belong to him to further his goals for the human race. The book of Isaiah, chapters 44-45, talks about the restoration of the nation of Israel after its 70-year Babylonian exile, which Yahweh had decreed because of Israel's idolatry.  For centuries, the prophets delivered Yahweh's pleas to his chosen people to abandon their idolatrous ways or face serious consequences. The Jews refused to listen, and judgment came. They lost everything: their temple was razed, their land was confiscated, and their right to exist as a free and independent people was revoked. However, in one of the most remarkable passages in the Old Testament, Isaiah, the "prince of prophets," identifies Cyrus II (aka "Cyrus the Great"), creator of the largest empire the world had yet seen, by name 150 years before the prophesied...(Read Full Article)