Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem
In a previous chapter, we read how God sometimes uses nations more wicked than another to chastise and correct the People of the One True God. Everybody loves to live in a blessed state, but blessings will not continue if that people turns from God. We see it over and over again in history.
However, what seems to be the triumph of the wicked (and SO unfair!!!) is not the end of the story. The wicked may seem to prosper for a season, but they too are brought down eventually. And, while the People of God learn from their chastisement, and often experience revival as a result, the wicked nation that defied God and was used for the chastisement ends up being conquered by someone even more wicked than they were, and are then become a part or archaeological oddity somewhere in the desert.
Among Saddam Hussein's crimes(which were many, and too heinous to list here) he did what is considered in Archaeology to be an unpardonable sin. He attempted to rebuild the ruins of Babylon as a monument to HIMSELF. Now, it is not unusual for Archaeologists to rebuild an ancient ruin. But here is the difference: When rebuilding, it is an accepted rule to draw a clear line between the REAL ancient stones and the new construction. This preserves the past while clearly stating that the new part is a reconstruction based on speculation, and is not part of the original. Every "Tel" and "Dig" that I have visited in Israel follows this rule.
Saddam, however, was not interested in History, Science, or Truth. His goal was to build a new city in the form of the old one, as the capital of a new Babylonian Empire, with himself (of course!) as the King. Well we all know how that ended up.
What many people don't remember though, is that Saddam had a ten-year WAR with Iran years before the Invasion of Kuwait and U.S. involvement. Iran's real name is Persia, and it just so happened that it was the Medes and Persians that defeated the original Babylon centuries ago. Saddam's use of chemical and biological weapons against the "Persians" and the Kurdish minority were an international scandal at the time, and was one of the factors that led to the belief that Saddam was busy making other even more poisonous and powerful weapons.
That's all in the past now, but Iraq and Iran are STILL an unholy mess. The few Christians and even fewer Jews left in the region are under incredible stress, in the very towns mentioned in the Book of Isaiah. And Saddam's phony Babylon descends into ruin once again.
Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.
God Bless America!
Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.
This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.
Hallelujah and Amen
ML/LTOS