BABYLON TO RISE AGAIN
From the "Jewish Voice Today" magazine - Jan/Feb. 2013
MY ANSWERS - Keith Hunt
Prophecies found in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Revelation indicate that Babylon the country and Babylon the city will, in fact, be resurrected and rebuilt in the last days, much as Israel and Jerusalem have been resurrected and rebuilt in recent decades. Indeed, the Bible indicates that the city of Babylon will not only be fully rebuilt but will actually become the wealthiest and most powerful—and eventually the most corrupt and wicked— city on the face of the planet. That maybe difficult for many to picture or accept, but it was also difficult for many to picture the "dry bones" of Israel being rebuilt until it happened in the twentieth century.
ANSWER: WELL FIRST THE DRY BONES [EZEK.37] IS FOR THE END TIME BY THE CONTEXT, NOT SOMETHING ALREADY TAKEN PLACE LIKE MANY CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIAN-JEWS TEACH. THE CONTEXT IS THE KEY AND THEY MISS THE CONTEXT. THE BABYLON OF REVELATION IS NOT THE OLD ANCIENT BABYLON. IT IS THE HEIGHT OF SILLINESS TO THINK OLD BABYLON CAN BECOME LIKE LONDON, OR NEW YORK, OR BERLIN, OR PARIS, WASHING D.C. THOSE CITIES TOOK HUNDREDS OF YEARS TO BECOME LARGE AND FAMOUS AND INFLUENTIAL WORLD CITIES. THE WRITER DOES NOT TELL YOU ABOUT THE SECULARISM AND HATE BETWEEN PARTIES IN WHAT IS LEFT OF IRAQ. IT WILL BE MANY YEARS BEFORE ANY STABILITY WILL EMERGE IN IRAQ; THEY NOR THE USA WILL HAVE THE MONEY TO SPEND ON TRYING TO BUILD THE OLD ANCIENT BABYLON BACK TO COME CLOSE TO MATCHING THE HUGE CITIES OF THE WORLD, IN BUILDINGS, INDUSTRY, MODERN SPACE AGE MATERIALISM, AND ALSO MATCH THE CORRUPTIONS AND EVIL OF THE LARGE CITIES OF THE PRESENT WORLD. IT IS A PIPE DREAM TO SAY ANCIENT BABYLON WILL BECOME "THE WEALTHIEST, AND MOST POWERFUL, AND EVENTUALLY THE MOST CORRUPT AND WICKED CITY ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH." THE WRITER IS HAVING WILD FANCIFUL DREAMS THAT PROVE HIS ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND END TIME BIBLE PROPHECY IS FIRST-GRADE MENTALITY. HE SHOULD BE IN SOME OTHER BUSINESS THAN TRYING TO TEACH BIBLE PROPHECY. MAYBE HE SHOULD BE A FARMER. I'M BEING VERY BLUNT, BUT MARK MY WORDS WELL.....WHAT HE IS TEACHING IS UTTER GARBAGE AND LAUGHABLE, IF IT WAS NOT SO SERIOUS A MATTER.
[What's fascinating to me is that such prophecies are already beginning to come to pass in our lifetime]
ANSWER: THEY ARE? I THINK NOT. WHAT IS COMING TO PASS IS THE FORMING OF THE LAST HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE IN EUROPE, AND THE FREEDOM OF SOME ARAB NATIONS TO EVENTUALLY FOR THE "KING OF THE SOUTH" LED BY EGYPT.
In my 2006 book, Epicenter; I wrote an entire chapter on Saddam Hussein's efforts in the 1980s to begin rebuilding the ancient city of Babylon and on the new Iraqi government's plans to continue and dramatically expand the work that Saddam set into motion. I quoted a story that appeared on the front page of the New York Times on April 18, 2006, saying that "Babylon, the mud-brick city with the million-dollar name, has paid the price of war. It has been ransacked, looted, torn up, paved over, neglected, and roughly occupied, But Iraqi leaders and United Nations officials are not giving up on it. They are working assiduously to restore Babylon, home to one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and turn it into a cultural center and possibly even an Iraqi theme park."1 I also cited my interview with then-Iraqi finance minister Ali Ab dul Ameer Allawi, who told me, "Cultural, religious, archaeological, and biblical tourism is a big opportunity for Iraq. I think rebuilding Babylon is a wonderful idea., as long as it is not done at the expense of the antiquities themselves."2
ANSWER: WHAT MAY SEEM LIKE A GOOD IDEA, DOES NOT ALWAYS COME ABOUT; IT WOULD TAKE A STABLE GOVERNMENT, WHICH IS YEARS AWAY FROM COMING ABOUT, IT EVER. IT WOULD TAKE HUGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY, IRAQ DOES NOT HAVE AND THE USA WILL NOT GIVE, CONSIDERING THE MONEY THEY NEED TO GET BACK TO ECONOMIC VIBRANT POWER. AND THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOME FANCY PARK KIND OF CITY, AND BECOMING THE WEALTHIEST AND MOST EVIL CITY IN THE WORLD. AGAIN YOU ARE LOOKING AT 3 OR 4 GENERATIONS IF IT IS POSSIBLE AT ALL.
Since Epicenter was published, much more has been done to rebuild Iraq arid establish peace and security in the once and future Babylon. I have had the opportunity to travel to and minister in Iraq four times since the fall of Saddam Hussein, and each time the country was safer and more prosperous than the time I went before. Just as remarkable is that more steps have been taken to rebuild the actual city of Babylon as well, even with American assistance.
ANSWER: I THINK HE HAS FAILED TO NOTICE THE RECENT [WELL HE WROTE THIS EARLY 2013] VIOLENCE IN IRAQ - THEY HAVE RELIGIOUS GROUPS THAT HATE EACH OTHER, AND THE VIOLENCE IS HORRIFIC AT TIMES. IT WOULD BE DECADES BEFORE ANY KIND OF EVEN "NICE" CITY OF BABYLON COULD COME INTO BEING, AND THEN NEVER AS A LEADING CITY OF THE WORLD IN WEALTH AND CORRUPTION AS THE AUHTOR WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE.
[THE BIBLE INDICATES THAT THE CITY OF BABYLON WILL NOT ONLY BE FULLY REBUILT BUT WILL ACTUALLY BECOME THE WEALTHIEST AND MOST POWERFUL - AND EVENTUALLY THE MOST CORRUPT AND WICKED CITY ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET]
ANSWER: BUNCH OF SILLY GARBAGE, BASED ON A HUGE MASSIVE MISUNDERSTANDING OF END TIME BIBLE PROPHECY; ONE OF THE BIGGEST FALSE DREAMS OF A WAY OUT MIND-SET OF SOMEONE WHO HAS NO CLUE ABOUT BIBLE PROPHECY.
On February 14, 2009, I wrote a blog post under the headline "U.S. to Help Rebuild City of Babylon in Iraq."
ANSWER: YES THAT WAS 2009; A LOT HAS HAPPENED SINCE THEN. THE USA DOES NOT HAVE THE MONEY NOR THE STUPIDNESS TO BOTHER GIVING PRECIOUS TAX PAYERS MONEY TO HELP REBUILD SOME ANCIENT CITY, THAT WOULD HAVE LITTLE OR NO RETURN FOR THE USA. AND OIL TO RUN AMERICA IS LESS AND LESS DEPENDENT ON ARAB NATIONS.
The government of Iraqis moving forward with plans to protect the archaeological remains of the ancient city of Babylon, in preparation for building a modern city of Babylon. ... The Obama administration is contributing $700,000 toward "The Future of Babylon" project through the State Department's budget. "Officials hope Babylon can be revived and made ready for a rich future of tourism with help from experts at the World Monuments Fund (WMF) and the U.S. embassy reports the Reuters news agency. '"The Future of Babylon project launched last month seeks to map the current conditions of Babylon and develop a master plan for its conservation; study and tourism, the WMF says. 'We don't know how long it will take to reopen to tourists said Mariam Omran Musa, head of a government inspection team based at the site. It depends on funds. I hope that Babylon can be reborn in a better image.
ANSWER: THE MONEY WILL NOT BE THERE FOR DECADES. MAYBE A VERY SMALL TOURIST TYPE OF SHOWING SOME ANCIENT ARTIFACTS MAY COME ABOUT; FOR BEING THE WEALTHIEST AND MOST CORRUPT CITY AND POWERFUL CITY IN THE WORLD, YOU ARE LOOKING AT LEAST 100 YEARS, IF IT EVER COMES EVEN CLOSE TO FULFILLING THIS DREAM OF THIS WRITER.
Two years later, in January 2011, I pointed readers of my blog to another New York Times story, headlined "A Triage to Save the Ruins of Babylon." "The Babylon project is Iraq's biggest and most ambitious by far, a reflection of the ancient city's fame and its resonance in Iraq's modern political. and cultural heritage," the article reported, noting that "in November, the State Department announced a new $2 million grant to begin work to preserve the site's most impressive surviving ruins "4
ANSWER: I DOUBT THAT $2 MILLION WAS EVER GIVEN, BECAUSE OF THE AMERICAN NEEDS FOR GETTING ITSELF BACK INTO VIBRANT JOBS AND ECONOMY ONCE MORE. IT SURE WAS NOT ON THE NEWS IN 2012 OR 2013 SO FAR. I THINK OBAMA HAS MUCH MORE PRESSING THINGS ON HIS MIND THAN SOME OLD BROKEN DOWN ANCIENT CITY THAT IS JUST RUINOUS BRICKS AND DECAY.
The article also reported that "the American reconstruction team has refurbished a modern museum on the site, as well as a model of the Ishtar Gate that for decades served as a visitors' entrance. Inside the museum is one of the site's most valuable relics: a glazed brick relief of a lion, one of 120 that once lined the processional way into the city. The museum, with three galleries, is scheduled to open this month, receiving its first visitors since 2003. And with new security installed, talks are underway to return ancient Babylonian artifacts from the National Museum in Baghdad."5
ANSWER: AND A HUGE AMOUNT OF STOLEN ITEMS HAVE DISAPPEARED OR BEEN VANDALIZED. FROM WHEN THIS AUTHOR WROTE THIS ARTICLE IN JAN/FEB 2013 THERE HAS BEEN NO NEWS ON ANY SIGNIFICANT REBUILDING OF ANY NEW MODERN BABYLON. IF WOULD TAKE DECADES AND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS. BUT MAYBE THE AUTHOR THINKS GOOD OLD BILL GATES WILL THROW IN 10 BILLION DOLLARS OR SO. DO NOT HOLD YOUR BREATH FOR THAT GIFT.
Clearly, Bible prophecies are coming to pass. Babylon is rising again.
ANSWER: YES IT IS RISING - IN EUROPE - THE MODERN LAST RESURRECTED HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE - GOVERNED BY THE WHORE CHURCH - THE MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT. NOW THAT IS INDEED FORMING RIGHT BEFORE YOUR EYES WITH THE ASSYRIAN GERMANS LEADING THE WAY, AND SPEARING-HEADING, WHAT ONE DAY WILL SHAKE, RATTLE, AND ROLL, SOME ARAB NATIONS, AND THE NATIONS OF THE WEST. IT'S THE END TIME BABYLON WITH ITS FALSE PROPHET AND MILITARY BEAST, WHO WILL USHER IN THE GREATEST TRIBULATION PERIOD OF HISTORY THAT MAN HAS EVER SEEN.
Excerpt taken from Implosion © 2012 by Joel C. Rosenberg.
Joel C. Rosenberg is a New York Times bestselling author with more than 2.5 million copies in print. An evangelical Christian, he is the cofounder and president of the Joshua Fund, providing humanitarian relief in Israel.
I.Jeffrey Gettleman, "Babylon Awaits an Iraq Without Fighting" - New York Times, April 18,2006.
2. Ali Abdul Ameer Allawi (Iraqi finance minister), interview with the author, April26,2006.
....................
No comments:
Post a Comment