I remember vividly when I first read, in Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins' 1999 book entitled "Are We Living in the End Times?", the following:
"As sure as there is a God in heaven who keeps His word, Babylon will live again as "the seat of Satan.""
And...
"Babylon will again become Satan's headquarters for a short time, serving as the governmental and commercial capital of the world during the first half of the Tribulation Period. Then, after the kings of the earth destroy religious Babylon near the middle of the Tribulation Period, Satan will move his religious headquarters from Rome to Babylon, setting the stage for the second three-and-one-half-year period, called "the Great Tribulation."
How could ancient Babylon, Iraq of all places, become a governmental and commercial capital of anyplace? I wondered. Truly, I did.
As a fan of Dr. Lahaye's non-fictional writings on the end times, I have always held him in high esteem, but, on this one point, I struggled to see how it could ever come to pass.
Not only has Dr. Lahaye indicated he believes ancient Babylon is going to enter into the end times mix, respected eschatologist Chuck Missler does as well, as revealed in the following excerpt from an article on his site (which can be read in its entirety by clicking HERE):
Clearly Babylon, as a literal city on banks of the Euphrates, has a climactic destiny yet ahead of it. The destruction described in both the Old and New Testaments has never happened , and if we take the Bible seriously then Babylon is destined to rise again to power to receive the judgment that Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Apostle John have described.
We also need to recognize that during the successive empires, the "mystery religions" that began in Babylon were subsequently transported to the various world capitals: to Pergamos under the Persians and subsequently to Rome, where they became the foundation of all that was (and still is) pagan in that city.
And, of course, when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire under the second successor after Constantine, Theodosius II (A.D. 378-398), many of these idolatrous trappings were repackaged with "Christian" labels.
Many of these traditions are still very visible in the practices of the Roman Catholic Church, but are also visible, in more subtle forms, in many other denominations as well.
Like Dr. Lahaye, Chuck Missler is someone whose insights I find to be remarkable on any number of topics, but I have struggled in the past to see how the revived Roman empire, a new world order if you will, would ever be able to find any useful purpose for modern day Iraq, the absolute mess that it presently is. Even so, there is scriptural reason to suspect this may come to pass.
Chuck Missler once used the following passage of scripture, in an article of his I read long ago, to demonstrate how scripture seems to point toward the end times world finding a use for Shinar, the location the tower of Babel was once built upon:
Zechariah 5:9-11:
Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind [was] in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.
Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.
Everything - every last word - you just read I originally wrote on 4-22-06, almost two years ago to the very day! And why did I write it? Because something mysterious in the eyes of many was underway in Iraq.
The following is an excerpt from what MSNBC discovered in 2006:
The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River here will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq’s turbulent future.
The new U.S. Embassy also seems as cloaked in secrecy as the ministate in Rome.
“We can’t talk about it. Security reasons,” Roberta Rossi, a spokeswoman at the current embassy, said when asked for information about the project.
I have to admit that, in light of Bible prophecy's teachings, what Dr. Lahaye and Chuck Missler had written, I literally had chills run down my spine as I read the comparisons between the Vatican and this embassy in relation to its size, self-reliance, grandeur and, most of all, its secrecy. Could this gigantic compound play a future role in what is referred to in Zechariah 5:9-11?
Fast forward to today...
World Tribune is reporting that the largest U.S. embassy in the world, sitting on a 104-acre, 27 building compound complete with restaurants, 619 apartments, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, a volleyball court, and an indoor Olympic-size swimming pool is completed and will be opening soon.
There is no other U.S. embassy like this one. It is, as embassies go, what Mall of America is to your local shopping mall.
What I am left wondering is what the grand vision behind this monstrosity of an embassy was at the outset - and what its purpose may be today. After all, the United States isn't highly thought of in Iraq and most of our leaders, it seems, are dying to wash their hands clean of U.S. involvement in the land of Shinar - at least that's what we're being led to believe.
Another end times sub-plot for us to keep in mind
Time will tell whether or not this gigantic embassy will play a role of any sort in the last days but it's enough to make one pause for a moment in light of what some of our most respected Bible prophecy teachers believe may be in the works - ancient Babylon becoming the "seat of Satan" once again.
Keep looking up! Our redemption draweth nigh!
