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APOCALYPSE SOON: IRAQ WAR FUELS VISIONS OF ARMAGEDDON END TIMES

Whatever the final resolution of the war in Iraq, many Christian
fundamentalists see the drama now unfolding on the sands of that
ancient land as a harbinger of prophetic Biblical fulfillment about
the end of the world and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. In books,
lectures, web sites and even movies, the word is out -- TEOTWAWKI --
"The End of The World As We Know It" -- is here.

Or so many believe.

There is considerable speculation about whether George W. Bush, a man
who has infused his domestic agenda with a muscular religious
rhetoric, incorporates that religious belief into foreign policy.
More obvious, though, is how many Bush supporters on the religious
right perceive the events taking place in Iraq as prophesy come to
fruition. A recent piece in the Washington Post by Bill Broadway
notes that world events, especially the U.S.military move into Iraq
has p[rovided believers with new reasons for interpreting the latest global
events through the lens of apocalyptic ideology.

"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.," writes Broadway.
"Many see evidence of Iraq's significance in end-times scenarios in
key passages of the apocalyptic book of Revelation."

There and in other prophetic books of the Old and New Testament, the
vocabulary of ancient times resonates with the headlines in today's
real-time coverage of the war in Iraq. The final Biblical book
(excluded in some early versions), Revelation, is considered by some as a
roadmap to events now taking place. Chapter 16 includes the mention
of Armageddon, the ancient site of Har Megiddo in northern Israel as
well as the Euphrates River recently foraged by coalition tanks.

"John," possibly the writer of Revelation tells of dramatic events,
including one vision where an angel "poured out his bowl on the great
river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the
kings of the East." Other angels blow trumpets, as armies gather for
the final confrontation between good and evil.

Many doomsayers say that the formation of the modern State of Israel
initiated the prophetic countdown to the "end of days" complete with
the rise of a sinister Antichrist, global discord and the persecution
of the Christian church, the rise of a "false religion" and the
penultimate battle at Armageddon. Depending on how you interpret the
obtuse Biblical text, Jesus arrives in time to usher in a one thousand
year reign of peace before the Final Judgment, or only after his
followers establish a millennial kingdom -- more likely a theocracy --
to welcome him. Within this cosmic drama is the Tribulation, a
seven-year period when the Antichrist is unleashed to carry out a
horrific persecution of Christians. Some predict that during this
time true believers will be transported to heaven in an event known as
the Rapture, possibly to return later with the Messiah as part of a
conquering army.

It is a prophecy fueled by developments in the Middle East,
particularly the war against Saddam Hussein.

"Rev. Jerry Falwell believes fully, and unequivocally that we must go
to war with Iraq to set in motion the cataclysmic events that will
ensure the second coming of Jesus Christ," says Dr. Morgan Strong,
former professor of Middle East History at State University of New
York and a consultant to news programs and magazines. "War with Iraq
will lead to the end of the World, as we know it ... Israel will be
no more. Israel will be destroyed during the apocalypse. Any Jews
that survive anywhere will be converted to Christianity."

Strong adds that according to this eschatology (the study of ultimate
end-times things), Moslems, Buddhists, Hindus, Catholics, Animists and
everyone else will either perish in the conflagration or convert to
fundamentalist Christianity.

Not everyone swept up in the fever of end times ideology, though,
believes that the war in Iraq is a major benchmark in the apocalyptic
countdown.

"My basic take is that stuff going on over there is no direct
fulfillment of prophecy," said Pastor Mark Hitchcock of the Faith
Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma. "Some people will say that this is
the beginning of Armageddon ... but my whole view is more of a
stage-setting kind of scenario."

Hitchcock is the author of nine books on the weighty topic of Biblical
prophecy, and says that the war in Iraq is more of a warm-up or
catalyst for the severe and dramatic events yet to come.

At Bob Jones University, a hotbed of apocalyptic fundamentalism, Dr.
Stephen Hankins is fully convinced that while the war in Iraq is not
the "endgame" of prophecy, humanity will soon face the events
described in books like Revelation.

"Armageddon isn't going to happen in Iraq in the next three months,"
Hankins tells reporters. Still, he maintains that humanity is on the
doorstep of a battle pitting Jesus against a coalition of nations led
by the Antichrist, to be followed by seven years of Tribulation and
catastrophe.

Other Bible watchers agree with Irvin Baxter, a pastor in Richmond,
Indiana and the founder of Endtime magazine. He says, "Iraq fits like
hand in glove" with prophecy from the New and Old Testament. Baxter
also predicted high casualty rates from the U.S. military invasion,
and warned that other countries will look upon the fight in Iraq as an
opportunity to settle their own political accounts. China might try
to occupy Taiwan, for instance, or India and Pakistan could wage
full-scale war over the volatile Kashmir region. It's a precursor,
says Baxter, to World War II and the holocaust predicted by John in
the Book of Revelation.

Apocalypse Pop-Culture: Left Behind, Tim LaHaye

If there is any indication that belief in the end times is thriving in
America, it is the phenomenal success of the "Left Behind" series of
books authored by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

The latest installment appears in bookstores this Tuesday. Whereas
most books dealing with Bible prophecy are confined to religious
outlets, the "Left Behind" series has reached a wide secular audience
and sold a total of more than 50 million copies. The last four even
reached the number one slot on the coveted New York Times bestseller
list.

LaHaye is a former pastor, Bob Jones University graduate and religious
right activist who helped Jerry Falwell organize the now-defunct Moral
Majority organization. Wife Beverly founded the Concerned Women for
America. Falwell recently opened the Tim LaHaye School of Prophecy at
his Liberty University, a strong signal of the popularity of end times
belief in the nation's thriving fundamentalist subculture.

LaHaye provides the theological doctrine underpinning the "Left
Behind" series, while co-author Jerry Jenkins plays the role of
wordsmith, fleshing in the plot and providing the characters. The
storyline begins on the eve of the Rapture, as the horrors of the
Tribulation descend. The installment "Armageddon" depicts Satan
ruling the planet from his capital at New Babylon, Iraq.

"Iraq is right where old Babylon was," says Rev. Elva Martin, head of
the Word of Truth Assembly of God in South Carolina. She told the
Greenville News that Saddam Hussein considers himself to be the
reincarnation of King Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of Babylon when the
ancient Israelis were pressed into servitude. Believers like Martin
also point to other passages from Biblical texts, including the
reference to a "whore of Babylon" found in Revelation, who sits on
seven hills. While some insist that this refers to the ancient city
restored by Saddam on the banks of the Euphrates River, others say
that it could also point to the Roman Catholic Church.

Bloody Prophecy?

The fatalistic views of many fundamentalist doomsday believers coupled
with the horrific events said to be prophesied in Revelation disturb
even some Christians.

Dr. Melanie McAlister, associate professor of American Studies at
Georgetown University said that the theology presented in the "Left
Behind" books and movies may lead people to accept the inevitability
of military conflict and other violence. She told the Washington
Post, "LaHaye and Jenkins join a chorus of fundamentalist commentators
who, despite their protestations to the contrary, have expressed a
perverse enthusiasm for the spilled blood and millions of dead that
will signal the Second Coming."

McAlister added that many end timers will perceive events in the
Middle East as "part of a divinely sanctioned plan," and "Because of
that, there's both less we can do to stop them and perhaps less we
should do."

At the recent "Left Behind: What's It All About?" Bible conference in
Amarillo, Texas, 1,200 seekers listened to a battery of speakers
including Tim LaHaye discuss the events unfolding in the Middle East.

Gary Frazier, who delivered a presentation on "Signs of the Second
Coming," said that "Everybody is incurably curious about the future."
He emphasized the role that Israel and other countries in the region
are playing in the fulfillment of end times prophesy, and warned that
events like terrorism and the formation of the European Union were all
predicted in the Bible.

"The whole world's in crisis," Frazier told the Amarillo Globe-News.
"It's just not the conflict with Iraq. There's the war on terrorism,
which is becoming a global conflict, and there are soldiers all over
the place.

"People everywhere know something's happening, and those with
knowledge of Scripture know it's things that the Bible has
prophesied."

Frazier added that Christians will play a special role in the horrific
events predicted in revelation.

"It's thrilling to see God's plan unfold. But for the nonbeliever,
they ought to be terrified."

The Globe noted that many attending the prophesy conference were
animated by what they were hearing. One church member said that
current events proved the Bible's "divine nature." Speaker Ed Hindson
agreed, and told his audience, "The message of salvation runs through
the Book of Revelation."

"Hallelujah!" Hindson declared. "The Lamb has cried out, 'Jesus is
king!' and the good news is, we win!"

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Iraq War Fuels Visions Of Armageddon End Times

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