Babylon

The name Babylon or "babilu" means "the gate of god." It is an ancient city in the plain of shinar on the Euphrates River, about 50 miles south of Modern Baghdad. Babylon was founded by Nimrod of Gen. 10, who developed the world's first organized system of idolatry which God condemned (Gen. 11). It later became the capital of Babylonia and the Babylonian Empire.

Nebuchadnezzar (Nabu-kudurri-usur II) was the real genius and builder of Babylon. Of its 70 years in existence he ruled 43 years. He was the most powerful and longest-reigning king of the Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) dynasty. His name means "may (the god) Nebo protect my boundary." As the commander of Nabopalassar’s armies he was unstoppable. Soon after he became king.

In 1971, UNESCO announced that it would help Iraq completely restore the ancient city of Babylon. The reconstruction would be under the general supervision of Saddam Hussein, who made his appearance in 1969 as the Iraqi strongman by hanging eight Jews on the streets of Baghdad as a warning for others to hit-the-road elsewhere. In 1978, I led a Southwest Radio Church tour of 103 to Iraq. One of the sites we visited was Babylon. There was a four-lane highway between Baghdad and Babylon with brick factories along the way turning out bricks for this tremendous reconstruction project. On one end of the brick was the name Nebuchadnezzar, and on the other end was the name Saddam Hussein who, then and now, envisions himself as a modern Nebuchadnezzar to restore the glory that was once Babylon´s.

"In spite of the 10-year suicidal war with Iran which began in 1980, Hussein continued the restoration project. In 1987 the rebuilding of the temples, the palaces, and the gardens had proceeded to a point where a month´s Babylonian festival was set to declare to the world that Babylon had been restored to its former glory, and a new Nebuchadnezzar has been resurrected, or at least his spirit now lived in Saddam Hussein.
"...In any event, the long war with Iran left Hussein short of funds to complete the rebuilding process, so in 1990 he invaded oil rich Kuwait...
"President Bush based his hopes on a combined alliance of nations to stop Saddam Hussein. He announced on an international television network on September 11, 1990: A new partnership of nations has emerged...Out of these troubled times, a New World Order can emerge...

"Babylon will be destroyed in an overwhelming judgment of fire, but it will be in the Tribulation, which may be near, but not now. This is why we see Saddam Hussein continuing to be such a problem today, and also why it defies reason, human or inhuman, as to why the job was not completed in 1991. Now why would, from a New World Order viewpoint, this reconstructed city be destroyed, perhaps by an H-bomb?
"A news report from Jerusalem titled ´Saddam Hiding Bio-Weapons Under Babylon?´ dated March 9,1998, is interestingly related to our subject: German newspapers this week published new disclosures on Iraq´s military capabilities. The Daily Bild reported that Saddam Hussein has hidden a large supply of nerve gas and biological weapons beneath the ruins of ancient Babylon, on the assumption that the United States would not dare to bomb the archaeological and historical site...
"The biblical scenario in Isaiah 13 and Jeremiah 50-52 specifically state that God uses the nations to bring judgment against Babylon. Could Israel, the United States, or some other nation drop nuclear bombs and missiles on Babylon if it meant saving other nations? Yes! Would this fulfill the biblical prophecy that Babylon will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah? Yes!" - 480
"This ´battle of the New World Order was some kind of manufactured crisis with a hidden agenda,´ wrote conspiracy researchers Jonathan Vankin and John Whalen after careful study of the events leading to this conflict.
"Bush and Saddam Hussein had had a close relationship for many years. In his role as CIA director, and later as vice president, George Bush had supported Saddam through his eight-year war against Iran following the ouster of the Shah in 1979.
"Kuwait had been carved out of Iraq by Britain, who in 1899 took control of Kuwait´s foreign policy under an agreement with the dictatorial Sabah family.