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End-time
interpreters see Biblical prophecies being fulfilled in Iraq
(source of informatio: The Washington Post Mar. 11, 2003 06:11 PM)
Ever 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. Even those who chastise date-setters nearly
always say, "God's final judgment is coming soon, probably in our
lifetime, so get ready."
In recent weeks, the prophetic interpreters have been citing a new
reason they believe the end is coming: the impending U.S. war with
Iraq. Anxious discussions have arisen 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. Its
title: "Shaking of Nations: Living in Perilous Times."
Many see evidence of Iraq's significance in end-time scenarios in
key passages of the apocalyptic 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 with one of seven angels whose
blaring trumpets warn that the Final Judgment is near. "Release
the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates," a
voice commands the sixth angel of God, whose 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."
"Iraq fits like hand in glove," Irvin Baxter, founder of Endtime
magazine and pastor of Oak Park Church in Richmond, Ind., said of
the role he believes the country will play in world-ending events
if U.S.-led forces invade Iraq.
Baxter, a lifelong student of Old and New Testament prophecies,
said casualties will be tremendous, not only of combatants in Iraq
but 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 own
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.
Such talk bothers Craig Hill, professor of New Testament at Wesley
Theological Seminary in Washington and one of many biblical
scholars who say end-time interpreters distort Scripture to fit
their own point of view. Most claim to 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 6th 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, about A.D. 95, 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 reach out to help others in an
effort to improve society, he said. They become "morally
complacent."
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 and the explosion of the shuttle Columbia
fueled even greater speculation on how the world might end.
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 during the end-time period known as the Great
Tribulation. The 11th novel, to be released April 8, is titled
"Armageddon" and 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, 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 the 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, Saddam fancies himself
a modern Nebuchadnezzar, the 6th-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 is
thus set for the Rapture, Armageddon, the Glorious Appearing and
the other stages.
Hitchcock said he supports the war because the world will be a
better place without Saddam Hussein, not because - as some
prophecy aficionados have said - it will be a catalyst for the
final days.
US attack Iraq
because of they want the alien technology?
(Source of
information: Hal McKenzie, COSMIC TRIBUNE.COM)
With war in Iraq going on, the news networks have been full of
stories about the high-tech weapons the United States will use
against the forces of Saddam Hussein, from “smart” bombs to
pilotless aircraft to electromagnetic pulse weapons. If persistent
rumors are true, much of the technology behind this futuristic
weaponry was obtained from alien spacecraft held by the U.S.
government in secret laboratories and bases.
The Russian newspaper Pravda treats this rumor as an established
fact. The Jan. 1 English-language edition reports that Saddam
Hussein even has his own crashed saucer, creating an “alien
technology” race with the United States.
“On December 16, 1998 … a video clip aired on CNN showed a UFO
hovering over Baghdad; it moved away to avoid a stream of tracer
anti-aircraft fire. At that time we all thought it was another UFO
sighting, although captured on videotape. But now, ufologists
think it was much more than a mere incident,” Pravda reports.
“Jack Sarfatti reported that Friday evening, December 6, 2002,
‘someone called the Art Bell radio show, claimed his connection
with the military and informed that a UFO crashed in Iraq several
years ago. The USA is currently searching for any pretext to
invade Iraq. In fact, the USA is motivated by the greatest fear
that Saddam will reverse-engineer the crashed alien spacecraft.’”
Pravda adds, “The USA is currently reverse-engineering the Roswell
craft and fears that Saddam’s scientists may become even more
successful …”
Reputable news organizations would never consider an anonymous
phone caller at a talk show a reliable source. At least two other
sources in the United States, however, claim independently that
the transistor invented by Bell Labs was reverse-engineered from
the famous flying saucer that reportedly crashed in Roswell, New
Mexico, in 1947. The transistor is a key element in the
microelectronics revolution, replacing the unwieldy, hot and
inefficient vacuum tube.
The late Col. Philip J. Corso (Ret.) with William J. Birnes
published a book in 1997, The Day After Roswell, in which Corso
says he delivered pieces from a boxful of Roswell debris to
various civilian labs while working for the Foreign Technology
Office of Army Intelligence. He said that not only the transistor,
but integrated circuits, fiber-optic technology and night vision
equipment (all of which play a prominent role in modern warfare)
were spun off from the alien debris. He also devotes a chapter to
the “Star Wars” missile defense system, which he claims was not
really aimed at Soviet missiles, but at possible invaders from
outer space, ironically turning their own technology against them.
In a postscript, Corso says a website sponsored by American
Computer Company of New Jersey came out with a similar story after
the hardback edition of his book was published. The website claims
they learned of Corso’s book after the site was published.
The site features a cartoon of an alien mourning Corso’s 1989
death. After clicking on the alien to access the message, a pop-up
box appears with a welcome from the “Orion Galactic Federation.”
The message then says, “Nuclear Powered Engines and Advanced
Communications and Computing devices, all of which were a hundred
years beyond post-World War II technology, were taken from the
Alien wreck and purportedly made their way to The Bell System's
‘Bell Laboratories,’ then located in Murray Hill, New Jersey -- it
has been alleged. … One piece was supposedly found to have unique
potential, an alien switching device composed of Silicon and
Arsenic, arranged in a microscopic array much more complicated
than even now have been assembled by humankind, hundreds of years
ahead [original capitalization and punctuation].” The article goes
on to say the switching device, originally called a “transfer
resistor", became known as the transistor.
Bell Lab spokesman Adam Grossberg said, “While we agree that Bell
Labs' achievements are out of this world, Bell Labs has always
relied on the organic and earthly talents of its human workforce.
The transistor was certainly not developed as a result of an Alien
technology transfer.”
Phantom Dancers
Seen by Hundreds in Iraq
(Source of
information: From: UFO ROUNDUP Volume 4 number 32; December 2,
1999. Islamic UFO files, by Alfredo Lissoni, Italy's National UFO
Center.)
"Ghost stories are pretty common around the old Iraqi city of
Haditha. Still, when the ghosts start dancing naked in front of
oncoming motorists, it creates quite a stir."
According to the Iraqi weekly newspaper, Al-Alwan, "drivers
passing through the Horan Valley outside the town of Haditha, 135
miles (216 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, were reporting that
'ghosts appeared next to the bridge, naked and doing some
acrobatic moves.'"
"The ghosts were causing the drivers to panic, the paper said."
"Alwan quoted motorist Shawki Sabar as saying, 'they were almost
human--although I could not concentrate on their looks because I
was so scared and it was dark.'"
"The ghosts were so lifelike that one motorist thought he'd hit a
person and reported the accident to police." (See the weekly
newspaper Al-Alwan for August 21, 1999. See also the Charlotte,
N.C. Observer for August 22, 1999, "Iraqi drivers see 'dancing
ghosts' on road." Many thanks to Lou Farrish of UFO Newsclipping
Service for this news story.)
(Editor's Note: Haditha is the legendary birthplace of Lilitu, the
Sumerian goddess of darkness.)
(Editor's Comment: First this, and next that weird 12-hour dance
opera planned for the Great Pyramid on New Year's Eve. Is this the
Millenium? Or the Second Coming of Ginger Rogers?)
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