"Until the myth dies, people are going to show unnatural fear of his (Saddam) return," advised Lieutenant Colonel Steve Russell (Time, 7/23/03), noting why some Iraqis seem nervous about Saddam's ultimate demise.

They know Saddam is wily as a coyote and unconscionably merciless. Some Iraqis have personally experienced the maiming and murder of close relatives by Saddam, his sons, and his henchman.

"Time to find Saddam," said a top Republican operative last week. "We get nothing if we do nothing," says Russell. "It's just a matter of waiting for Murphy's Law to kick in," says another official. "He needs money and trusted friends to move around and we're scooping up both." For instance, in the end of June, the brigade intercepted Saddam's nephew who just happened to be carrying $800,000 in a briefcase.

Saddam and a few trusted supporters are like ghosts, seldom staying longer than a few hours in any one house. The Saddam myth remains until this poster boy for Satan is caught, dead or alive!

Where do such obscene, heartless human butchers come from, and when will such tyrannies end? The Bible provides the answer to both questions. Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin rate at the top of a historical list of more recent cruel and heartless tyrants. So many books have been written about Hitler and Stalin, so much verifiable historical data has been recorded for posterity, that it's a foregone conclusion they rank at the top of the list of despicable demagogues. Both are responsible for the deaths of millions of people. Now Saddam has joined their infamous ranks.

Though the list of sickening, revolting tyrants is long, only one being is behind them all: Satan the devil.

"You're trying to tell me that the devil made them do it?," you might ask. Not entirely. They unwittingly cooperated with the god of this world in joining the ranks of the most heartless humans on earth. Understand this: God will not allow Satan the devil to directly take human lives (see Job 1:12; 2:6). But Satan can influence human beings to do his dirty work, and he does (Job 1:17).

Jesus Christ, countering the ignorant accusations of self-righteous Pharisees, placed the blame squarely on Satan's head: "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it" (John 8:44, emphasis added throughout).

People today blithely stumble along in their lives, ignorant of the fact that there is a "god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4), Satan the devil, who is in control behind the scenes and behind much of what happens on earth (see Matthew 4:8-9). Although most human beings either ignore or deny this truth, God doesn't. He has a plan to resolve this greatest of problems.

God's plan is to send Christ Jesus to earth to remove and incarcerate the god of this world (Revelation 20:1-3). Early in the history of mankind, Satan hijacked humanity, beginning with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3) and since that time, he has held humankind captive through his counterfeit religious teachings (2 Corinthians 4:4; 11:13-15).

Except for a tiny few, all men, women and children are, albeit unknown to them, constrained in a religious straightjacket of deception. But God has promised humanity freedom from the influence of Satan and the demons. That will happen only after they are removed and constrained. And they will be!

Both the prophet Isaiah and Jesus Christ clearly reveal that Satan will be incarcerated—prevented from continuing to deceive all of humanity—for 1,000 years when Christ establishes His Kingdom on earth (Isaiah 24:21-22; Revelation 20:1-3).

Saddam, like Hitler and Stalin, is an unwitting pawn of Satan the devil; all three human tyrants have ignorantly and slavishly obeyed him. When Satan is removed from power on earth and Christ sets up His sovereign rule, even the notion of tyrannical despots will disappear from our thinking.

As Micah 4:4 foretells, ". . . Everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken."

(If you'd like to learn more about these subjects, request or download our free booklets Is There Really a Devil? and The Gospel of the Kingdom.)