Why Does Barack Obama Want to Rebuild Babylon?
Posted: Sunday, March 01, 2009
by Joel Kontinen
http://joelkontinen.blogspot.com/
For over two thousand years, the ancient city of Babylon lay in ruins, hidden under the desert sand.
Its downfall was expected as the Bible predicted its destruction. The prophet Jeremiah, for instance, prophesied:
Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals,
an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives (Jeremiah 51:37).
But interestingly, the New Testament Book of Revelation, written over 500 years after the destruction of Babylon, also describes the fall of the city.
Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! 'Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!' (Revelation 18: 1, 9).
Many if not most Bible scholars see Revelation as an eschatological book, a prophecy of the last phases of earth history. Indeed, it culminates with the establishment of a new heaven and a new earth. The symbolic language of the book has given rise to several schools of thought. Some prominent Bible scholars have interpreted Babylon spiritually as referring to a political and religious system that attempts to resist God and His purposes.
Babylon is an interesting case since once again there is a literal place called Babylon. The ancient city is being rebuild partly with U.S. funds.
Saddam Hussein began rebuilding Babylon before the first Gulf War of 1991. He saw himself as a new Nebuchadnezzar who needed a new capital. The Iraqis carried on the reconstruction project even after Saddam's death. Recently the Obama administration pledged to contribute 700 000 U.S. dollars towards "The Future of Babylon Project" to help realise Saddam's dream of building a lucrative tourist attraction and a mighty Iraqi city.
It is a mystery why U.S. taxpayers should help rebuild Nebuchadnezzar's capital at a time of financial instability.
You're welcome to read more about the issue on my blog: http://joelkontinen.blogspot.com/2009/02/rebuilding-biblical-babylon-with-us-aid.html
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Top-level comments on this article: (8 total)Mr. Joel,Your article was an eye opener. Yes we need to be aware of the curent world news and tally with what the Bible says about it. Thank you for this article.SwapnaThanks for reading, Swapna. The building project suggests that the events prophesied in Revelation will soon be fulfilled. The King of kings is coming back .We don't know when that will happen, but it's good to be ready.God bless you,JoelMr. Joel, I am excited about HIS coming too. So lets coninue to prepare ourselves to meet the KING. with regards, SwapnaAmen. God bless you.Joel
I have asked that very question, Joel. It is a strange thing for an American leader to have such a direction. like 300 million for Hamas? I don"t get it.Thanks, Ken. It does sound strange. I'm not sure how much president Obama really knows about this project but someone in his administration must have approved the use of money. Perhaps he just wants to keep the Iraqis happy?Regards,JoelTHE QUESTION IS....WHAT KNOWLEDGEABLE BIBLE BELIEVING CHRISTIAN WOULD SUPPORT BUILDING A RUIN THAT IS AGAINST GOD'S WORD?
let that sink deeply in your thoughts. If Babylon is not to be re-inhabited, then why tempt God by supporting something against HIS will? Why do you think Iraq was stopped in the 1st place? WHAT COULD HAPPEN TO ANY COUNTRY THAT WOULD SUPPORT ANYTHING AGAINST HIS WILL ?
GOD used the Babylonian King on Israel for going against Him. What will HE use on those that support funds 'against His Will'? Maybe ruin their FUNDS? Bankrupt them?Thanks. I think Obama (or someone close to him) tried to please the Iraqis, helping them to rebuild their country. However, from Genesis to Revelation, Babylon is a symbol of rebellion against God, so rebuilding it is probably not a very wise decision in the long-term.
Even stranger, when you consider who it was that propped up this "neo-Nebuchadnezzar" to begin with, and it happened long before Obama entered the picture (but, maybe you don't care about the details, because they obfuscate your fantasy). As for rebuilding Bhagdad, I'm sure it has something to do with Bush having first destroyed on pretense. That man really made a mess of thngs, didn't he? Just like his father before him, makes a mess of the kitchen (Somalia), leaves the cleanup for whoever comes after.Hi anon, the interesting thing is that the Obama administration wants to fulfil Saddam Hussein's dream. Perhaps it is just Obama's way of wanting to please the Iraqis, but nonetheless Babylon is rising from the desert sand with the help of US money.
babylon must not be rebuilt in the bible it says in revelations that the ancient city will be rebuilt by the anti-christ =/Thanks for reading. Actually, the Bible does not disclose who will rebuild Babylon. Anyhow, I think that the current plans aim to make the city into a tourist attraction, The Revelation connection is interesting, though.
The Muslim's should take heed of Bible prophecies, as the Islamic religion is the main cause of warfare throughout the world, and apparently Obama is a secret Muslim himself, with no knowledge of prophecies of the Torah or The New Testament of the Gospels of Jesus Christ
There is undeniable evidence that Allah is not the same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, therefor considered a Pagan religion, and the Muslim's are unaware of this fact as they do not study the Bible.
Proof of these can be observed by the symbols of the crescent moon on Muslim mosques amd minarets.
John 3:36 states that Whoever believes in the Son(Jesus) has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not have life, but will remain under God's punishment. So Muslim friends you have to decide- Jesus the Son of god or Mohammud-respond to thisThanks, Stephan. I mostly agree with you. The Christian God is certainly not the Muslim deity since Islam rejects the Divinity of Jesus Christ. I'm not too sure about Obama being a Muslim, however. He seems to be too liberal for that (think about his attitude to homosexuals, for instance).
If this article is accurate, then it serves as another reason why taxes shouldn't go up but down instead. Money is being spent in a very irresponsible manner. It will continue to be spent this way until someone or people as a whole fight against it through votes and other means.Thanks. As far as I know, the figure is reliable but I don't know where the money is supposed to come from.
What the hell are we doing building more iraqi crap. haven't we spent enough money on these assholes. we need to worry about the US not evreyone else.Good question. Thanks for reading.
The question i have would be, if the Bible tells us that there is no longer Jew or Gentile, and that those in Christ are the heirs of the promise (Gal 3:26-29), and that they are not all Israel that are of Israel (Rom 9:6-8) And that it is not a physical Jew but Spiritual (Rom 2:28-29) why would literal Babylon matter? Is 13:19-21 says that it will never be inhabited, so it would seem very likely that it is not very important. There are many things taking place under the nose of the citizens in this country right now, but many are concerned about a rebuilding of a literal temple in Jerusalem, or Babylon. Seems Satan is keeping people distracted into not seeing what is truly taking shape. If you have some kind of BIblical evidence supporting a literal rebuilding of a literal kingdom of Babylon i would be most interested to look at it. I hope this is not coming across as an attack, these are serious comments and questions, not meant to belittle or put down anyone's beliefs. Just honest seeking. God bless you.
Brian AtwellThanks for reading. As Babylon is mentioned in Revelation (not an easy book to interpret), we can’t be too dogmatic about whether it will be literally rebuilt or not. Time will tell. Some would say that by Babylon the writer of Revelation (John) meant Rome – as Rome persecuted Christians at the time and the historical Babylon was in ruins - but nothing seems to preclude the rebuilding of a literal Babylon.
Blessings to you.
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