Roman catholic leaders: christians will not leave Iraq

Al Jazeera English posted a youtube video reporting on the funerals of the christians killed in an al Qaeda in Iraq attack on a Roman Catholic church in Baghdad earlier this week. In the video, the Roman Catholic prelate presiding over the memorial service is reported to have said "Iraqi's Christians are not going anywhere."



This blog is exploring the question, are the present events in Iraq the fulfillment of Jeremiah's ancient prophecy of doom on Babylon as found in chapters 5o and 51 in his book in the hebrew bible? If they are, his warning to the people of God is clear: "Flee from the midst of Babylon, and each of you save his life!" (Jer. 51:6).

Seventh Day Adventists, an 18th century protestant uniquely American 'historicist' sect, for decades have interpreted this passage metaphorically as Babylon referring to the Roman Catholic Church and those who are to flee from it the protestants who do not meet for services on Saturday, as they do. That interpretation is a wild flight of imagination having no basis in any extant revelation from the written word.

Literal dispensationalists, like myself, assert we read prophecy from a grammatically and historically literal perspective. From this point of view, Jeremiah's admonition is to real people living in the real land of the Chaldeans who claim to be people of God to flee from that land so as to escape the coming judgments brought on by God himself as punishment on the land.

To say, "we aren't going any where" is to ignore Jeremiah's warning, and to take upon one's self the consequences for that choice.