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Saddam Hussein the Antichrist - - Not
Still, consider the possibilities - - -
Saddam
Hussein on trial While it is highly unlikely
that Saddam Hussein could have ever been (or ever will be) the great end
times Antichrist prophesied in scripture, some lessons about the future
Antichrist can be gleaned from Saddam's career. In particular, what if Saddam had been a different sort of man? Much is written in the Bible of
the Beast - - the Man of Sin - - the great end times Antichrist. Scripture suggests he will arise as the
leader of a ten-nation confederation in the Middle East (ancient Mesopotamia)
and will make a seven-year peace treaty with Israel, setting off the events
of the Seven-year Tribulation and the run-up to the Second Coming of Christ. The Middle East today is a
region of predominantly Muslim Arab nations squabbling among themselves and
with others (especially America) while many yearn for the revival of the
great Muslim unity of the past (the Caliphate). In particular, there are more than 200 million Arabs in 21
countries, and Arabs constitute the overwhelming majority of the population
in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and (possibly)
Palestine, as well as in Egypt and other North African nations. These nations, as well as many others,
were once part of a vast Arab-Muslim Empire that, from 632 A.D. to 750 A.D.,
spread the Arab language and culture, as well as the Islamic religion, from
Spain in the West to what is modern-day Pakistan in the East, under the rule
of the Caliphate, or Caliph, the term or title for the Islamic leader of the
Ummah, or community of Islam (the Khilafah).
Should someone of great charismatic and diabolical talent ever manage
to once again unite these nations (something that many Muslims believe is
prophesied in the Quran), the stage would indeed be set for the End of the
Age. Given these factors, it is
intriguing to speculate what could have happened if Saddam Hussein had been a
different sort of man - - a man of cunning vision rather than of blind
ambition. Decades of intrigue and
cronyism brought Saddam to power as the supreme leader of arguably the most
powerful nation in the Middle East (Iraq).
Years of self-aggrandizement, paranoia, cruelty, miscalculation and
self-delusion bought him to trial for crimes against his own people in his
own country. Still, consider the lost
possibilities - - of a different kind of Saddam rising to power along a
different path, one that appealed to the great yearning among many Arabs for
the lost Caliphate and the reestablishment of the great Khilafah of the
past. What if Saddam had managed to
inspire Arab unity across international boundaries, instead of only the
loyalty of the Sunni Arabs of his homeland?
What if he had inspired the loyalty of the Kurds and Shi'a Muslims
that comprise the (formerly) disenfranchised majority of Iraqis, rather than
suppressing them with murder, mayhem and mustard gas? Under different circumstances,
Saddam might have used Iraq's vast oil wealth to modernize his country, successfully
complete his ambitious weapons programs and win his war with Iran. He might have ridden into Kuwait as a
liberator (rather than a robber), and swept the Arabian Peninsula (including
Saudi Arabia and its oil reserves) into his pocket like so much change. And he could have done it before the West
(including America) could have done anything about it. Indeed, scripture suggests that, if Saddam
had been a different sort of man, he would have had the blessing and support
of the West in all these endeavors (as he had during his ill-fated war with
Iran, and until his ill-fated invasion of Kuwait). And what does all of this have
to do with the great end times Antichrist?
Nothing. And everything. Consider the lost
possibilities. They may not be lost at
all - - just waiting for the right man. |
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