Joel Kontinen

Why Does Barack Obama Want to Rebuild Babylon?



Posted: Sunday, March 01, 2009

by
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).

And so it happened. The once mighty Neo-Babylonian empire of Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled over it from ca. 604 BC to 562 BC, soon shared the fate of all superpowers. It was defeated by a rival empire. The Persians under Cyrus the Great brought an end to the Neo-Babylonian empire in 539 BC.

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

Joel Kontinen is an author and translator currently living in Finland. His bacground includes an MA in translation studies and a BA in Bible and Theology. He mostly writes about origins issues.
 
Blog:. http://joelkontinen.blogspot.com/
 
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Top-level comments on this article: (7 total)
» left by swapnananda
from India
2 years 342 days ago.
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.
 
Swapna
» left by Joel Kontinen 2 years 342 days ago.
42 fans.
Thanks 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,
Joel 
» left by Swapna Nanda from India 2 years 342 days ago.
Mr. Joel, I am excited about HIS coming too. So lets coninue to prepare ourselves to meet the KING. with regards, Swapna
» left by Joel Kontinen 2 years 342 days ago.
42 fans.
Amen. God bless you.
Joel
» left by Ken McCreless
2 years 338 days ago.
85 fans. Follow Ken McCreless on twitter!
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.
» left by Joel Kontinen 2 years 338 days ago.
42 fans.
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,
Joel
» left by Anonymous
2 years 120 days ago.
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.
» left by Joel Kontinen 2 years 120 days ago.
42 fans.
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.
» left by daniel
from pomona, CA
1 year 143 days ago.
babylon must not be rebuilt in the bible it says in revelations that the ancient city will be rebuilt by the anti-christ =/
» left by Joel Kontinen 1 year 139 days ago.
42 fans.
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.
» left by Stephan from South Africa 1 year 70 days ago.
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 this
» left by Joel Kontinen 1 year 70 days ago.
42 fans.
Thanks, 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).
» left by miller from raleigh nc 1 year 70 days ago.
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.
» left by Joel Kontinen 1 year 70 days ago.
42 fans.
Thanks. As far as I know, the figure is reliable but I don't know where the money is supposed to come from.
» left by Kevin Klein
from US
1 year 13 days ago.
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.
» left by Joel Kontinen 1 year 13 days ago.
42 fans.
Good question. Thanks for reading.
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