Iraq war generates predictions of Apocalypse

Book of Revelation's references to Babylon, Euphrates cited as basis 

By Bill Broadway

Washington Post

Since Jesus said that only God knows the hour or day of the Second Coming, preachers and self-appointed doomsayers have been trying to predict when it will happen -- and watching the sun rise on another generation.

Now the prophetic interpreters have been citing a new reason they believe the end is coming: the U.S.-led war with Iraq. Anxious discussions have arisen recently on prophecy Web sites, in Bible study groups and churches, and at such gatherings as last month's 20th International Prophecy Conference in Tampa, Fla.

Many see evidence of Iraq's significance in end-time scenarios in key passages of the apocalyptic New Testament Book of Revelation.

Chapter 16, which includes the only mention of Armageddon in the Bible, carries a direct reference to the Euphrates River, which runs through modern-day Iraq.

``The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East,'' writes John -- possibly the apostle -- of a container of God's anger emptied on the ancient land of Babylon, now Iraq. The kings will move their armies through the Euphrates valley en route to Har Megiddo (Armageddon) in northern Israel.

The Euphrates appears a second time, when one of seven angels whose blaring trumpets warn that Judgment Day is near is commanded: ``Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.'' The angel's compliance unleashes agents of death who ``had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year and were released to kill a third of mankind.''

Then comes the clincher. In Chapter 9, Verse 11 -- yes, that's 9:11 -- John says the leader of an army of locusts released to fight humankind is named Abaddon in Hebrew, Apollyon in Greek. Both words mean Destroyer, one of several meanings for the name ``Saddam,'' as in Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

World War III seen

``Iraq fits like hand in glove,'' said Irvin Baxter, founder of Endtime magazine and pastor of Oak Park Church in Richmond, Ind. He believes the country will play a key role in world-ending events.

Baxter, a lifelong student of Old and New Testament prophecies, said casualties will be tremendous, not only of combatants in Iraq but also of people in neighboring countries hit by retaliatory missiles of mass destruction and Americans who fall victim to terrorists armed with portable nuclear weapons.

And other countries will take the opportunity to pursue their interests -- China trying to retake Taiwan, or India making an all-out assault on Kashmir -- leading to World War III, he said. The result, Baxter concludes, could be a nuclear holocaust that takes the lives of 2 billion people, the ``one-third of mankind'' stated in Revelation.

Critic of interpreters

Such talk bothers Craig Hill, professor of the New Testament at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., and one of many biblical scholars who say that end-time interpreters distort Scripture to fit their point of view.

Most end-time interpreters say that they read the Bible ``literally'' yet take bits and pieces from books written centuries apart under different circumstances, he said.

Ezekiel, one of the most popular end-time texts, was written in the sixth century B.C. by a Judean priest exiled in Babylon who dreamed of the Jews' return to Israel and the restoration of the temple. Revelation was written 600 years later by an exiled Christian leader encouraging churches in Asia Minor to persevere under the hardships of Roman control.

Yet prophetic interpreters will take verses from each and combine them to create a reading that justifies their point of view, said Hill, author of In God's Time: The Bible and the Future.

``In trying to create one overarching interpretation, they are not allowing for the complexity of the biblical witness to come through,'' he said. ``The irony is, in their quest for accuracy, biblical literalists are forced to misread the Bible.''

More problematic is the fatalistic worldview of apocalyptic thinking, Hill said. Many who obsess about the end of the world fail to enjoy the life they have or to reach out to help others in an effort to improve society.

Those criticisms are of little concern to millions of Americans who were caught up in end-time fever long before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks fueled even greater speculation on how the world might end.

New `Left Behind' book

One of the greatest indicators of that interest has been the phenomenal success of the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. Since 1995, when their first book appeared, LaHaye and Jenkins have sold more than 38 million copies of 10 novels set in the end-time period known as the Great Tribulation. The 11th novel, to be released April 8, is titled Armageddon and is set partly in Baghdad.

``Readers tell me they're dying to know who survives Armageddon for the Glorious Appearing,'' Jenkins said in a statement. ``And I can't wait to see what they think when they get to the end.''

Interest in prophecy increases at times of great instability, said Mark Hitchcock, author of several books on prophecy and pastor of Faith Bible Church in Edmonton, Okla. ``People want to know what's going to happen,'' he said, ``that there's an end (to the turmoil), that someone's in control.''

Hitchcock is a member of a prophecy study group run by LaHaye and generally supports the sequence of events on which the Left Behind story is based: the Rapture, the Antichrist's rise to power and seven years of ``hell on Earth,'' Armageddon, and the return of Jesus in the Glorious Appearing -- all occurring before Jesus' 1,000-year reign on Earth.

He said he and other ``pre-trib guys'' -- those who believe Jesus will ``rapture'' believers before the Great Tribulation -- are convinced that the Antichrist will rule the world from a restored Babylon. That's why Hitchcock, too, thinks an invasion of Iraq will be a catalyst for end-time events.

According to biographers and news reports, Hussein fancies himself a modern Nebuchadnezzar, the sixth century B.C. king who conquered and enslaved the Israelites and brought great prosperity to the land. And he has begun fulfilling prophecy by rebuilding the ancient city of Babylon, Hitchcock said.

But he won't be around to enjoy it.``Once the U.S. gets Saddam out of the way,'' sanctions will be lifted, oil wells will flow again at full capacity, and Iraq (Babylon) will regain its power, allowing the Antichrist to mount an army for an assault on Israel,'' Hitchcock said.

The stage would thus be set for the Rapture, Armageddon, the Glorious Appearing and the other events.

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