I've been reading Tim LaHaye's non-fiction book
Are we living in the End Times, published in 1999, and it has some very interesting things to say about Iraq and Saddam.
LaHaye, best-selling author of the Left Behind series is one of the leading proponents of the pretribulation rapture scenario, which more or less goes like this:
- Regathering of Jews in the Holy Land their becoming the nation of Israel
- Rapture of true believers (evangelicals) -- they will be suddenly physically transported directly to heaven
- The Tribulation, a seven year period when many very bad things happen, including attack on Israel, rise of the Antichrist, day of God's wrath, Armageddon. (Note: the best part of this from the pretribulation rapture believers' perspective, is that they get to sit in heaven and watch all the action, including the destruction of all the non-believers.)
- God's intervention and the Second Coming of Christ
- Christ's 1000 year kingdom on earth
- End of time, or eternity
Some believe that Bush's foreign policy is guided by his belief in the rapture scenario.
Here is where Iraq and Saddam come in. The prophecy requires the rise and fall of Babylon. Here are some quotes from LaHaye:
Long before Saddam Hussein became a household name, he was busy fulfilling Bible prophecy. As early as 1971, he was given 30 million dollars by an oil-rich citizen of Iraq to commence the rebuilding of the ancient city of Babylon...The main reason for believing that Babylon must be rebuilt depends on some unfulfilled prophecies concerning the city's destruction.
In other words, Saddam started rebuilding Babylon in 1971, so that it could be destroyed, or as Lahaye says, "utterly destroyed, never to rise again."
More from LaHaye's book:
Saddam, The Servant of Satan
It is difficult to explain the bizarre behavior of Saddam Hussein without thinking him quite possibly demon-possessed...
Many Westerners still don't understand what Hussein was doing when he invaded Kuwait and triggered the Gulf War...the meglomaniac of Iraq sees oil as his ticket to restoring "the glory of the Chaldean's excellency," the days when Babylon ruled the world. He planned to control that oil, thus enabling him to rule the world and make Babylon his capital...there is a strong indication that he is actually a satanist...
Saddam Hussein's abnormal hatred for the Jews, Jesus Christ, His followers, and anyone else who would stand in the way of his goal to conquer the world, might best be understood by demonic possession -- a virtual foretaste of the Antichrist to follow...
As sure as there is a God in heaven who keeps his word, Babylon will live again as "the seat of Satan."
Remember, this was written in 1999. Is it any wonder that Bush came into office obsessed with Saddam and Iraq, or that he has constantly called Saddam an "evildoer?"