By James Donahue

In our quest for stories about contemporary “prophets” we came upon numerous reports, mostly from Christian oriented publications, about Dumitru Duduman, a Romanian pastor who worked in Christian service for years under the shadow of Communism.

Duduman pastured a small country church, smuggled thousands of Bibles into Russia to be handed out during the 1980 Moscow Olympics, got arrested, thrown in prison and tortured and eventually was expelled with his wife, Maria to the United States. He later wrote Through Fire Without Burning, a book about his conversion to Christianity while living under Communism, and later having visions of America aflame after an obvious nuclear attack by Russia.

It is interesting to note that this “prophetic” vision occurred in 1984, prior to the collapse of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic that held dominion over the Baltic countries, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and a warming of relationships between Russia and the United States.

In Chapter 10 of his book, Duduman told of a vision he had when he couldn’t sleep and went for a walk. As he was sitting on a rock, he said a light came to him and he heard a voice that had spoken to him during his time in a Soviet prison. The voice, apparently that of an angel, then showed Duduman visions of America.

“He showed me all of California and said, ‘This is Sodom and Gomorrah! All of this, in one day it will burn! Its sin has reached the Holy One.” Then he took me to Las Vegas. ‘This is Sodom and Gomorrah. In one day it will burn.’ Then he showed me the state of New York. This is Sodom and Gomorrah! In one day it will burn.’ Then he showed me all of Florida. ‘This is Florida,’ he said. ‘This is Sodom and Gomorrah. In one day it will burn.’”

The dialogue between Duduman and the angel continues on until the Romanian asks “How will America burn? America is the most powerful country in this world?”

To this the spirit explained: “The Russian spies have discovered where the nuclear warehouses are in America. When the Americans will think that it is peace and safety – from the middle of the country, some of the people will start fighting against the government. The government will be busy with internal problems. Then from the ocean, from Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico. . .they will bomb the nuclear warehouses. When they explode, America will burn.”

The angel told Duduman that America was blessed because of the seven million Jews who live there. But the Jews have failed to recognize Jesus Christ as Lord. “When America burns, the Lord will raise China, Japan and other nations to go against the Russians. They will beat the Russians and push them all the way to the gates of Paris. Over there they will make a treaty, and appoint the Russians as their leader. They will then unite against Israel. When Israel realizes she does not have the strength of America behind her, she will be frightened. That’s when she will turn to the Messiah for deliverance. That’s when the Messiah will come. Then the church will meet Jesus in the air, and He will bring them (the church members) back with him to the Mount of Olives. At that time the battle of Armageddon will be fought.”

Duduman died in 1997, but his book, and especially the prophecy that appeared in the Tenth Chapter, has been promoted by the Christian church and can easily be found on a variety of Christian-oriented web sites. The story is a clever description of a way in which the prophetic end-times events, as portrayed in the Book of the Revelation, might be carried out in contemporary times.

We find serious flaws in the Duduman prophecy. It just ain’t gonna happen that way.

The problem with his scenario is that there has been a reshuffling of players in the world, and the power figures he saw in 1985 are no longer the same. Today the United States has become the aggressor that is stirring the pot in the Middle East, under the guise of a “war on terrorism.” The attacks on both Afghanistan and Iraq were clearly designed to claim dominion over the oil reserves in that part of the world. Russia and China are both actively working to prevent American forces from bringing war into Iran, where all three nations have an interest in rich and untapped oil reserves known to still exist under Persian soil.

While Russia and the United States have agreed to disarm many of the nuclear missiles we once aimed at one another during the Cold War years, it is believed that many weapons are still in place and still aimed at key places. Thus a nuclear missile attack by Russia is still possible, although not as probable as it was in Duduman’s day. China also has joined the ranks of nuclear super powers, as have numerous other countries including India and Pakistan.

Duduman’s vision of China and Japan joining forces to fight Russia is also highly unlikely. Those two nations are only now beginning to break through some of the bitter sentiments carried over from the events of World War II.

The vision of Americans thinking they are in “peace and safety” also is unrealistic following the 9-11 attack, the Bush fear campaign, the “war on terrorism” and all of the saber rattling between the United States, Iran, China and other parts of the world that have occurred since. The change of leadership in both Cuba and Mexico has altered the picture of what has been going on there, and the war between the Nicaraguan Contras and the Sandinistas that was raging when Duduman’s prophecy was written has been long ended. It is interesting to note that Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista junta coordinator during that war, now serves as the elected president of Nicaragua.

We suggest that the Duduman prophecies that appeared in his book were nothing other than an opportunistic attempt to predict just how the Christian rapture of the church and final world war would be triggered. World leaders are working hard at assuring that there never will be another world war, and the concept of thousands of Christian followers of Jesus getting picked up magically in the clouds is a fairy tale that just is not going to happen. We believe it is a twisted version of a looming enlightenment of humanity that the ancient prophets foresaw, but failed to understand.

Duduman is not the first, nor will he be the last person to try to fit Bible prophecy into the contemporary political scheme of probable events.