is babylon being rebuilt today

Private homes have been multiplying within the perimeter of the site. When we say "Whaaaaaaaaat"!, that is not what my eyes see", we're told "not to believe our lying eyes". But as has so often been the case for Babylon over the years, the biggest threats to the fragile site are human-made. According to the Book of Revelation, the city of Babylon has to be rebuilt once again. A new World Monuments Fund (WMF) project in Babylon, funded as part of a $3m donation by the US embassy in Baghdad first bestowed in 2018, aims to repair and restore the famed Ishtar Gate by this summer. True, neither the city nor the country is what they will one day be. While Babylon itself is mainly a ruin, it's located just a few miles from the modern city of Hilla (or al-Hillah) which has a population of about 500,000 people. The elements and damaging reconstruction have left walls crumbling, and construction and fuel pipelines threaten. With 148 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, Iraq is now the fifthlargest producer of oilin the world. Because Babylon is being promoted as being the city of the future, and of the most advanced technology, wicked corporations & individuals such as . For that reason, many Bible students believe that the ancient city of Babylon will be resurrected to power during the Antichrist's end-time, world reign. Mike Gendron, Proclaiming The Gospel Ministries. Brick reliefs of bulls and dragons, referencing Marduk the supreme god of Babylon and facing incoming visitors to protect the city from evils, look on as repairs to a dangerous staircase make the area a safer experience for tourists. 2. Jesus will come at the end of this 7 years to claim His throne and begin His 1000 year millennial reign. Eroded by dried salt from the water, some of the sun-baked bricks literally crumble to the touch. The nonprofit funds Future of Babylon project, financed partly by the United States State Department, has shored up walls in danger of falling and stabilized the iconic Lion of Babylon statue. Once the wealthiest and most powerful cities in the world indeed, a wonder of the ancient world Babylons empire was defeated by the Persian monarch, Cyrus the Great, in 539 B.C. In 2006, I wrote my first non-fiction book, Epicenter,in which I explained that according to Bible prophecy, the ancient and long-forgotten city of Babylon will one day be literally rebuilt. It's so well-defined it looks like it might have been made yesterday instead of more than 2,000 years ago. But things are changing and its time for an update. Most of Babylon was rebuilt by Saddam Hussein on its old foundations, but pictured here is the original Ishtar gate Credit: Getty - Contributor 10 The Palace, which is adjacent to the remains. During the reign of Saddam Hussein, major reconstruction was carried out at Babylon and an opulent palace was built on a hill overlooking the ancient city, parts of which were reconstructed. But many of the bricks are crumbling, and as the water table rises, entire walls are in danger of falling. 18 July 2019. . History carving of Hammurabi Though traces of prehistoric settlement exist, Babylon's development as a major city was late by Mesopotamian standards; no mention of it existed before the 23rd century bce. It is a clue to God's timetable because when the Temple is rebuilt the Antichrist will be set to confirm the covenant with Israel and begin the last 7 years of history for this age. The Great Pyramid of Giza was built in 2570 BC and is still standing today. Allen calls training local technicians to conserve the site the future of Babylon. "And they will not take from you even a stone for a corner, Nor a stone for foundations, But you will be desolate forever," declares the LORD. Terrorist insurgencies. Abdullah Dhiaa Al-deen for The New York Times. Skeptics and cynics abound, but there is growing evidence the Iraqi government is serious about rebuilding this ancient wonder of the world. Has Babylon of Chaldea (Iraq) been Replaced?4. It has a rich past. He also ordered parts of Babylon reconstructed, leading to most of the current conservation problems. But it's never been listed as a modern World Heritage Site by the United Nations. WMF also assisted SBAH with the completion of a World Heritage nomination for Babylon, holding workshops in 2017 to advance the research and writing necessary to achieve this goal. But they were hardly the first encroachment. Why is the city of Babylon uninhabited? This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Evil Babylon, the antithesis of Jerusalem, the good city, prompted its own literature in the 1990s, and [Tim] LaHayes tens of millions of readers praised his series as making the Bible and its supposed predictions come alive, sniped Phillips in his own 2006 book, American Theocracy,in which he mocked prophecy believers who accept the biblical view that Babylon will one day actually be rebuilt on its ancient ruins.. With the war and insurgencies finally finished, and the ISIS caliphate destroyed, Iraq is finally turning itself around. Think of what life was like only 30-40 years ago. They certainly have long had a difficult time imagining the rebuilding of the ancient Iraqi city of Babylon, at least on the scale described in the Left Behindnovels about the End Times (written by Evangelicals Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, and which sold more than 60 million books in the 1990s), or any of my novels or non-fiction books. A visitor now to the site about 50 miles south of Baghdad sees a mostly reconstructed outline of a small part of the city including the walls that once supported the Ishtar Gate. NOT YET! Site Management Plan Excerpt: Babylon Cultural Landscape and Archaeological City, Friday Fun Facts: Ancient City of Babylon, Iraq, Iraqi Heritage in Danger: An Expert Meeting at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam, Remarks by Bonnie Burnham, President of World Monuments Fund, at the Press Conference on Heritage and Conflict in Iraq and Syria at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday, September 22, Heritage Management Course Opens in Erbil, Iraq, The New York Times Covers WMF's Role in Babylon, WMF Supports Capacity Building in Data Management and Collection for Babylon Staff, In Beleaguered Babylon, Doing Battle Against Time, Water and Modern Civilization, Using Laser Scanners to Preserve Antiquities in ISIS Cross Hairs, Race in Iraq and Syria to Record and Shield Art Falling to ISIS, Babylon's Undiscovered Treasures Threatened by New Oil Pipeline, Le Site de Babylone Nouveau Menac, Cette Fois par un Oloduc, Efforts Under Way to Restore Babylon's Glory, After Ravages of Time and War, Triage to Save Babylon, After Years of War and Abuse, New Hope for Ancient Babylon, Guests to World Monuments Fund 55th Anniversary Gala Traverse The Globe From Home. Cement floors trapped water while a cement roof on one of the ancient temples pushed down the entire structure. It was great and terrible Nebuchadnezzar II who rebuilt Babylon as a magnificent paean to the creator god Marduk. According to the SBAH archaeologist Ammar Altaee, although Hussein-era interventions did use some mud and straw-baked bricks, which allowed for proper drainage, the concrete bricks they used that absorb but cant expel moisture have caused significant damage. Prophecy scholars are divided in their opinion as to whether or not the city of Babylon will literally be rebuilt again. The organisation also assisted with a Unesco World Heritage nomination for Babylon that culminated in its inscription in July 2019 and helped with the conservation and stabilisation of the Lion of Babylon. This is the heritage of Iraq, and we need to save it, said Mr. al-Taee, 29. FACT #6-- After the FINAL FALL of Babylon there will never again be any "PASSERS-BY", Her cities A land in which no man lives, And through which no son of man passes. For more than a decade, WMF has continued to implement the Babylon site management plan, undertaking conservation work at specific sites within the archaeological park such as assisting with the conservation and stabilization of the Lion of Babylon. Some of the walls, with their 2,500-year-old clay reliefs of dragons and bulls associated with the gods still stand. An Iraqi worker chiseling out modern concrete that was used in Babylon between the ancient brick and is now damaging it. Workshops for SBAH members both on- and off-site through WMFs Iraq Cultural Heritage Conservation Initiative helped develop local capacity toward the future preservation of Babylon and sites across Iraq, working with local stakeholders to support their continued stewardship of these treasured places. Is Babylon inhabited today? Dr. Reagan: One argument against Babylon comes from the book of Isaiah. Prophecies about Babylon in Jeremiah (and the entire Old Testament) specify "Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans" (Jer 50:1; Isa 13:19, etc.). Among those who accept a tradition (Jeremiah 29:10) that the exile lasted 70 years, some choose the dates 608 to 538, others 586 to about 516 (the year when the rebuilt Temple was dedicated in Jerusalem). PHOTOGRAPHIC PROOF of Visitors "passing through" Babylon 1. EDITORS NOTE: These early-stage photographs were not taken in pursuit of a Biblical agenda, but by secular sources-- explorers, archaeologists, and travelers-- with a focus on documenting the Middle East. Fall of Babylon In 539 B.C., less than a century after its founding, the legendary Persian king Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon. Husseins interventions, neglect resulting from 12 years of draconian UN sanctions that bankrupted the country, and subsequent damage by military vehicles in the wake of the 2003 invasion all contributed to Babylons demise. He concerned himself with food distribution and public safety in a city that represented something entirely new the intermingling of hordes of people from wildly different cultures. Although Babylon was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019, there isn't much left to see of the once-unstoppable empire that dazzled Greek historians and enslaved its rivals, most famously the biblical Kingdom of Judah. Now, Babylon, like many of Iraqs archaeological sites, has fallen into disrepair. Jeff Allen has been working on the Babylon site since 2009. As NPR's. Although some of the recreations were damaged during the prolonged occupations of the Iraq War (2003-11), many of the gaudily painted buildings remain and are open to the public, including Saddam's Babylonian palace. I also explained that the once-so-powerful nation of Babylon the country which we now call Iraq will one day rise to become the most wealthy and powerful nation in the world, according to Old and New Testament prophets and apostles. The goal: to relaunch art, culture and even the economy of Iraq by making Babylon a showcase of a new Iraq,a must-see tourist attraction for visitors from all over the world, said one participant. What my eyes do see--literally-- in both photographs and historical accounts, is human habitation and vibrant life far removed from Isaiah's description of post-'Final-Fall' Babylon. ISIS-led genocide. Everywhere you look goes back to the history of some of the earliest civilizations. All Arab News Along the way, Middle East trade routes shifted, and Babylon and its glorious history was abandoned and forgotten. Babylon was the capital city of the ancient Babylonian Empire, which itself is a term referring to either of two separate empires in the Mesopotamian area in antiquity. Isaiah 13:19. Just north of Mecca, is the city of Jeddah, where they are actively building what will be the tallest building in the world. Ancient sources attributed the Garden to King Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th century BC as a gift to his wife, Amytis. Meanwhile at the temple of Ninmakhthe Sumerian goddess said to have created man from a mixture of mud and the blood of a murdered godurgent repairs are underway to secure damaged walls before the next winter rains cause them to collapse. Now, Ham admits that "this structure might seem like an odd addition for a ministry devoted to upholding the authority of God's Word and spreading the gospel through its many outreaches." But he assures us that his motives are "diametrically opposed to the reasons of the original builders over 4,000 years ago." Well, that's a relief. As a result of WMF and SBAHs partnership, Babylon was officially inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on July 5, 2019. Babylon's ruins, reconstructed in part by Saddam Hussein, lie about an hour and a half's drive south of today's Baghdad. The 2,500-year-old dragon relief behind him is related to Marduk, the patron deity of Babylon. Babylon was in fact a system and it is where Nimrod became the leader of all people at the time and gathered them for the purpose of building the ziggurat known as Babel. Is Babylon, Iraq, that "great city" of "Babylon" mentioned 5 times in Revelation 18? To his credit, his budget for upkeep was much higher than the one currently managed by the Iraqi government, but his labour of love and self-aggrandisementhe had stones inscribed with his name as in other ancient sitesalso involved much heavy-handed reconstruction in the 1980s and 90s, often using cement bricks and other inappropriate building materials. Babylon, the iconic ancient city, is once again rising from the ashes, just as Bible prophecy predicts - here is the latest. It is usually risky to interpret the Bible in light of current events. https://allisrael.com/five-killed-and-15-wounded-in-alleged-israeli-airstrike-in-syria. In the early 20th century, German archeologists recovered remnants of the Processional Way and reconstructed its blue-glazed tile murals at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. In 2009 CE, the local government of Babylon opened the city to the public. Nebachadnezzar was the most famous of Babylon's rulers, but he wasn't the first. Just a few short decades after Nebuchadnezzar's death, Babylon was taken by the Persian conqueror Cyrus II, who reduced the city to just another outpost in his vast, Iran-based empire. They comfort my soul.. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. "And he will make a firm covenant [peace treaty] with the many for one week [week of years = 7 years], but in . The Babylon festival was revived last year and the 2022 edition is taking place this month and features the famous Iraqi singer Ali Jasim Photo: Hadani Ditmars The new initiative is part of the. 162.214.125.20 That new 'Tower of Babel' now exists in the form of the UN, but once again, the God of Creation has been excluded. Some researchers proposed that . This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. But what makes it, for the most part, inconspicuous, unnoticed, and therefore "out-of-mind", is its "growth-creep" for a millennium! Mecca, it is both a "city" and a "tower": It will be a place for creatures of the night. The Bible says that at its FINAL FALL Babylon will be "Utterly Destroyed" as Sodom. 3. Iraq is making a new effort this year. Discover Babylon in Hillah, Iraq: Celebrated as a center of civilization, the remains of the ancient city have been nearly destroyed by greed, egoism, and war. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were sometimes referred to as the Hanging Gardens of Semiramis after the semi-legendary and semi-divine female Assyrian ruler thought by the Greeks to have extensively rebuilt Babylon in the 9th century BCE. Advocates of Mystery Babylon being a rebuilt Babylon will often claim Babylon wasn't destroyed in the same way as Sodom. But no one has ever touched them. In 1927, the British ran a railway line through the site, and in the 1980s Hussein built a highway through part of it, along with a palace for himself, complete with a helipad. The ancient site of Babylon in Iraq has undergone a lot of damage in recent years but archeologists hope it will still get special status. What is the Place & Time of Babylon's Ultimate Destruction?5. It's part of the history of the monument. It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; Isaiah 13:20DID THAT HAPPEN? Suddenly, however, we are seeing a change in the wind, yet few people have noticed. OLOF PEDERSEN: We know the names of the different temples and approximate where they should be. Babylon was once the pet project of Saddam Hussein, who envisioned himself as a neo-Nebuchadnezzar, and often referred to a Quranic passage linking the ruler of the Babylonian Empire to the liberation of Palestine. Unfortunately it has no Scriptural validity and contradicts the plain statements of God's Word. Iraq is making a new effort this year. THEREFOREBabylon of Chaldea Must Rise Again. Rev 16:19 - The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. Not only did this famous king successfully conquer or forge alliances with Babylon's fiercest enemies during his 43-year reign, but he also built Babylon (which comprised southern Mesopotamia and part of Assyria, now northern Iraq) into a showplace for innovations in engineering and criminal justice. 4. then Literal Babylon must Rise Again to meet its Final Fall in the future. Widely known for its legendary Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Babylon today is home to national treasures such as Ishtar Gate and the Lion of Babylon. At the height of its glory in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C.E., the ancient city of Babylon was the largest and wealthiest in the world. Universal peace will follow the destruction. Iraq is now the fifthlargest producer of oil, Babylon was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tel: +1 646 424-9594. After years of Iraqi effort, Babylon was inscribed two years ago as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognizing the exceptional universal cultural value of what was considered the most dazzling metropolis in the ancient world. With support from the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Embassy Baghdad,, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Annenberg Foundation, and the J. M. Kaplan Fund. As NPR's Jane Arraf reports, archaeologists working in the ruins of Babylon in present-day Iraq are hoping to change that. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. People have lived there and are still living there today. Follow. ARRAF: This latest project, funded by the U.S., has Allen training local residents of Babylon to replace the mud mortar between the ancient bricks in the Ishtar Gate, the city's grand entrance. Yet, in every case, there exists PHOTOGRAPHS. Nebuchadnezzar II, the most powerful king of the Neo-Babylon Empire, rebuilt Babylon into a magnificent city. 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