WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com)�Armageddon. The very mention of the word evokes images of soldiers armed to the teeth in a fierce battle where blood flows up to "the horse�s bridle."

Today that word is on the minds, if not the tongues, of religious and political leaders as the United States dispatches one of its largest military build-ups in history to the Middle East preparing for a strike against Afghanistan and other "supporters of terrorism."

But is the concern of the scholars warranted. Could the response of Mr. Bush to the attacks to the World Trade Center and Pentagon draw the United States into that dreaded war?

"I have always understood Armageddon was a war that God and the forces of evil would engage in, but would come on God�s timetable, not on the timetable of men in government�s military temper tantrums on the social floor of humanity," said Reverend Al Sampson, pastor of Chicago�s Fernwood United Methodist Church and minister ordained by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Rev. Sampson told The Final Call that the proper response at this time should be America coming before the world via the United Nations and presenting its evidence against the accused Osama bin Laden to the world. If the evidence is solid, not one nation would have a problem supporting proper redress, he said.

Pres. Bush ordered deployment of U.S. troops, warships and bomber planes throughout the Mediterranean as early as Sept. 19. At Final Call press time, 10,303 Army Reservists were activated for duty.

Armageddon, according to religious scholars, is the ultimate war between good and evil, or God and Satan. Commonly referred to as the end-all of wars, the winner, God, rids the earth of wickedness forever. It is a war that engulfs the earth, scholars say.

The reason its called Armageddon is because it is in a place called the valley of Megiddo. Armageddon means mount of Megiddo in Hebrew. The valley of Megiddo is located near Haifa in Israel.

The way that Pres. Bush is staggering into a confrontation with Arab and Muslim governments, by not presenting the requested evidence that would warrant the arrest and persecution of Mr. bin Laden and his associates, the United States and its military build-up in the Arab world could produce such a conflict that would engulf all nations, observers warn.

"Mr. President, I plead with you that this war that you intend could trigger that war that all the scientists of religion and of war have desired to escape, the war that could end all wars, the War of Armageddon," said the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in an unprecedented news conference aired world wide via satellite and Internet on September 16. A horrible and escalating violence in the Middle East is a potential trigger of that war, Min. Farrakhan appealed.

On Sept. 20, Secretary of the Army Thomas E. White told reporters that its military stood ready to decisively conduct sustained land warfare campaigns in support of President Bush�s war on terrorism and that it had, in fact, deployed soldiers joining the wave of planes and crews already deployed by the U.S. Air Force the day before.

"I would remind you that the president and the secretary of defense have made it clear that we are in a campaign, that this is a multi-faceted campaign, aimed at destroying international terrorism from a number of different perspectives�economic, political, military, operational (and) communication," Mr. White said. He spoke of the Army�s transformation to handle ground warfare and introduced the new Interim Brigade Combat Teams (IBCT) that will receive newer ground vehicles to go along with their state of the art weapons of war. An upgrade, Mr. White insists, became "totally relevant to the post-Sept. 11 environment we face."

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a televised C-SPAN interview said that terrorism is a weapon of stealth and that America has to look beyond the type of devastation it witnessed on home soil and wipe out the states he believes support these actions. He charged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat with leading terror campaigns, and the nations Lebanon, Iran and Iraq specifically as terrorist states.

"When you are fighting malaria, you don�t go after the mosquito, you go after the whole swarm," he said.

An international public opinion poll of 31 countries conducted by the Swiss polling firm Isopublic on Sept. 21 concluded the majority of those polled are against a massive U.S. military strike in retaliation for attacks on America. People questioned elsewhere preferred to see suspected terrorists extradited and put on trial.

"Around 80 percent of Europeans and around 90 percent of South Americans favor extradition and a court verdict. By European comparison, calls for a tough military response were above average among the French (29 percent) and the Dutch (28 percent)," the firm said. Only in Israel and the United States did a majority favor a military response against states shown to harbor terrorists, the survey found.

White House officials said their plan consists of well-targeted early attacks in Afghanistan that they hope will not only disrupt the Al-Qaeda network of Mr. bin Laden, but will also help convince other nations to stop aiding or harboring terrorists. "Our goal is to alter the behavior of the countries that are sponsoring ... and in some cases directing ... terrorism," said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "We must get them to change," he said.

Meanwhile Arab and Muslim communities worldwide are fiercely working to overcome the broad stroke of terrorism placed on them, leaving the public to assume that terrorism is indigenous to them.

"Literally, jihad means to strive, struggle and exert effort. It is a central and broad Islamic concept that includes struggle against evil inclinations within oneself, struggle to improve the quality of life in society, struggle in the battlefield for self-defense (e.g., having a standing army for national defense), or fighting against tyranny or oppression," said Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Director Ibrahim Hooper.

Mr. Hooper told The Final Call that there is no such term as "holy war" in Islam as it (jihad) is often carelessly translated. "It is rather a loaded medieval concept that did not arise from within the Muslim community. Because of this myth�s frequent repetition, most people in the West accept it as if it were a fact.

"The problem is that we don�t know where this war on terrorism is going and it could have serious implications for the entire world. America must base any response on rational thinking and not emotionalism, on American interests and try to avoid any unintended consequences down the road," he said.

Some in the U.S. military agree.

"Considering what a lot of the Islamic states and nations have said, we are teetering on dangerous, very dangerous territory here," said a high-ranking officer of the Armed Forces to The Final Call, speaking on conditions of anonymity. "We have gone abroad and we do not know completely yet who is responsible. We don�t have a conclusive case as of yet and that brings with it a lot of instability and uncertainty about what exactly we are supposed to be doing when we don�t know who it is that we are going to strike," the official said.

"The military is one arm of our national instruments of power. Those people in the military are reflecting on all the possibilities this action can bring. I personally would be at peace in the pursuit of justice once knowing the hard facts would put the military in the proper mode spiritually and morally in its pursuit," the official said.

"At first, I thought this was Armageddon myself," commented Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds of Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church and Radio One talk show host of Barbara�s BEAT in Washington, D.C. "But I now see this as a wake- up call for a chance for people to turn towards God."

"Since the tragedies of Sept. 11, more and more Americans are searching for answers in religion," noted Dr. Robert Franklin, president of Atlanta�s Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC). "The president and other elected officials have been conspicuously pious. Congressional leaders resembled a local choir as they soulfully rendered �God Bless America.� And, firemen and rescue workers sought and received blessings from the clergy.  During times of stress and sorrow, many who wear their religious faith loosely, wrap themselves more tightly in it. But there is another dimension of authentic religious faith that should not be ignored.  It is the challenge of reckoning with individual and national sin," he said.