“Who opposes, and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” 2 Thes. 2:4

If you are keeping an eye on Israel or prophecy in general, in order to see what God is doing to implement His plan for the World, you may be interested in some things that are not being broadcast on the nightly news. Some of these things are available to the discerning eye, but they must be uncovered and held up to God’s Word to determine their significance and properly interpret their meaning. One sleepless night I happened to turn the TV on and caught an ad for a program entitled “The Miracle of Israel.” The show was on a regular network station, but running at one of those odd times when infomercials appear, on a Sunday morning at 1:00 a.m. Even though my curiosity at that time of the morning is usually confined to what I need to do to get back to sleep, I was grabbed by what the speaker was declaring in earnest. The third Jewish Temple, he was saying, was certainly about to be rebuilt and that it would rest precisely on the site where the Islamic Dome of the Rock now sits.

This is a very bold statement, I thought, since the site has been a hot button in the region for some decades and any suggestion of this has been fiercely resisted by the entire Islamic world. Though it remains a universal belief among orthodox Jews and also coincides with prevailing prophetic Christian thought, it seems far off into the future, if at all. The Dome of the Rock is considered the third most holy site in Islam. Of course, Jews are forbidden, both by Muslims and the Jewish Government, to breach the area around this holy site where Mohammed is fabled to have ascended above on his faithful horse through the seven levels of heaven. So why would any Jewish organization boldly declare such hopes in the face of so much opposition?

First of all, the religious orthodox in Israel have had their heart set on building the new temple ever since their return. Fervor for the Temple was fueled of course when Israel won the war in 1967 and again defeated the local Muslim powers of Egypt, Syria and Jordan in the Six-Day War. When Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stepped foot onto the mosque site it caused an international furor that nearly led to war, but it gave the temple faithful more reason to hope in the immediate restoration of the temple on the exact site the Dome of the Rock now occupies on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

The faithful presumed that Sharon was resolved to cast the Muslims out and begin the rebuilding of the third temple. But their hopes were dashed and their fury was little vented by prophecies about Sharon’s eminent judgment and death for acquiescing to the triumvirate powers of Jewish traitors, Muslim threats, and world political pressure. The movement was not deterred and plans for construction of the temple on the mount were accelerated. In late 2011, The Temple Institute (the ‘official’ unofficial organization to rebuild the temple) unveiled elaborate architectural plans that had provisions for housing the Knesset, as well as the expected religious provisions. After Sharon had fallen into a coma in 2006 it gave the temple-ists impetus and fervor for their cause, and his recent death after never awakening has given all aspects of the movement in Israel and around the world greater reason to believe that God is stepping up plans to rebuild the temple on the site of the Dome of the Rock itself. The very place where it is believed that Abraham had laid Isaac before he was stopped from offering him on that stone altar.  

While things in recent history seem to always settle down in Israel and the Middle East with just words being exchanged, one might think that things are fairly static in a global sense. There is still no peace treaty with the Palestinians, Iran still wants to annihilate them, and Israel continues to be a “burdensome stone” to the world, as was prophesied in God’s Word (Zech 12:3). Should you take a closer look and choose to see it through the full Gospel (meaning: applied from the New Testament, including Revelation), you will see that there are things afoot that should be duly noted and understood.

Both Zionism and Ecumenism, while furthering God’s plan prophetically, are also blinding the Jews to the real interpretation of His prophetic word and will ultimately serve not only the rebuilding of the third temple, but ironically, the cause of the Antichrist too.

How so? There is no question that there are separate movements within and without Israel right now that will do whatever it takes to ensure the Temple is rebuilt and that Jerusalem is the capital and place of worship of the Jewish people. You can find updates regularly on the Temple rebuilding progress on Zionist websites. They have reinstated many offices of the Levitical priesthood, complete with new priestly garments and other tools for use in the Levitical practices.

But we are informed in 2 Thessalonians and the Book of Revelation that the sacrifices and oblations will be reinstated in Israel in the Third Temple during the Tribulation. The Antichrist will sit on the throne there declaring himself to be the one true God. It is no surprise that Zionists and orthodox Jewish groups are forging ahead with the necessary preparations to have the law of God re-instituted. But it is not generally realized, by Christians especially, that the Jews Temple movement is also looking for the Messiah to come to said temple. Never mind that the Jewish orthodox are buzzing with the news that the late Rabbi Yitzhak Kadhuri’s prophecies about the death of Ariel Sharon and the coming of the now living Messiah, who he said was none other than Jesus Christ. He said he knew where he was and that he would make himself known only after a certain Jewish leader died.

As one can see there are a  number of organizations, religious leaders and movements, such as ecumenism, working for these stated goals. Some have different ideas of how to work things out, but they have a common goal, which is to get the temple built. A greater idea of the vastness of the movement and its increasing strength can be seen at templemountfaithful.org.

Concerning the building of the Ecumenical movement among the Jews, I had the opportunity to see a film recently, put out by National Geographic. The film, entitled Jerusalem, gives a view into the lives of three young women who live in Jerusalem. One woman was a Muslim, one woman a Christian, and one woman a Jew. They all reside in the same city where they see and experience the various religious festivals and celebrations of all three religions, almost on a daily basis. Each religion considers Jerusalem an important place of pilgrimage and worship for all three faiths and the residents recognize that they must respect the practices of their counterparts. The film acknowledged that differences exist and that they come from different points of view but ends on the desire of the young women to see the different factions put aside their differences and coexist together in true peace, rather than in an uneasy tolerance. As I watched the film, I could see that the people who live in Jerusalem are highly motivated to see this come to pass. It is the only hope the residents have to dwell in any sort of real peace. Or so it would seem.

What one has to do to come to a real understanding of the situation is to seek out God’s prophetic word and find out what He has planned for the residents of Jerusalem, Israel, the Middle East, and the World. The foremost Books of the Bible to rely on in this search are Daniel and Revelation, along with Zechariah and Isaiah and of course, Ezekiel.

What we know from these books is that you will not see any real or lasting peace in Israel, or for that matter anywhere else in the World, until Jesus returns with His faithful saints to rule the nations with a “rod of iron.” In fact, it is Ecumenism in Israel that will promote the covenant which Israel will enter into with the Antichrist and the Ten Kings, which will then usher in the Tribulation. To a believer, it is good news to see the fulfillment of these things, for they move the world toward the end and the coming of the Messiah.

“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
   Know therefore and understand that the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
   And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
   And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Dan 9:24-27

Ecumenism is not a holy thing; rather, it is an unholy blasphemous thing, because it dulls people of faith into accepting a false gospel and promotes false christs. It is one of the tools used by the Antichrist to ultimately gain worship for himself and be able to dominate the souls of men. It is a movement and a spirit of satanic origin that harkens all the way back to ancient Babylon. Consider what God had to do when Nimrod built the tower of Babel- “And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech” (Genesis 11:6-7). This citation will give one insight about why God considers the false peace of Ecumenism an abomination. Do not be fooled by Christian churches and organizations that promote Ecumenism and everyone laying aside doctrine for the sake of getting along. At any rate, it does not conform to the Gospel of Jesus Christ because it disregards truth in favor of doing what the masses want. Following the crowd does not work out well in life, nor does it do right by God.  

“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36). Jesus alone will usher in the true unity, at the God-appointed time. Because of these things the Third Temple will be on a mound of sand, a rock of offence, as the Bible puts it.  

I discovered further evidence of these growing movements in a Messianic Jewish organization called The Jewish Voice. They are committed to getting the Gospel message to Jews all over the world and to searching out the lost tribes of Israel in the hope of converting them to Jesus Christ and encouraging the return of the lost tribes to Israel. This may sound like a very righteous mission, because the Jews need to be enlightened to who Jesus is. And God promised to re-gather a remnant from all the lost tribes in the last days. However, just as God used World War II to bring the Jews back to Israel, God certainly has those He has chosen to be sealed- 144,000 of all the tribes of Israel- in the palm of His hand, and they will emerge at the appointed time.

God doesn’t need men to do the re-gathering or to convert His chosen people. The people will be converted when God chooses to open their eyes to their Messiah, as His word says.

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” Rom 11:25

The Jewish Voice is the organization behind the movie I originally mentioned, and I obtained their companion book of the same name “The Miracle of Israel.” They are a Messianic Jewish group committed to the goals mentioned. They hope to convert Jews to Jesus and to re-gather lost tribes. Despite all they have said about what a miracle it is that the Jews were restored to Israel against all odds, their conclusion tells me that they have not fully comprehended God’s plan for His chosen people. They believe it is all about getting the lost tribes reassembled in Israel and restoring the Temple, along with all the ordinances and statutes. They cannot see or comprehend that the Antichrist must have the temple before he can sit in it and declare to be God himself. This must be. It is written in the book. Then, and only then, will the true Jesus come back from heaven. Not from Peoria, Ill, or Timbuktu.  He must be revealed for all to see in all His glory. These things are needed to usher in the reign of Jesus from Jerusalem and to prove that Man is not only incompetent, but foul-spirited and unfit for ruling the earth.

I do not get the idea they believe in the rapture of His church, nor most of the prophecy from Revelation. The only bit I heard about the Antichrist was an assertion that he would almost certainly be a Muslim, referencing prophecies from Ezekiel 38. This does not at all conform to prophecies in Daniel and Revelation concerning the last days. It is quite possible that the Antichrist will be a Jew, as a strong advocate for the covenant with the ten kings and other nations re-instituting the sacrifices in the Temple in Jerusalem. The King of the South, which even they agree is Egypt, will oppose the Antichrist and be a real thorn in his side (this is not to say they are instruments of good, as they will be competitors for power). It could be some confederation of Muslim countries, but in the Bible, the King of the South does refer to Egypt. Therefore, it does not make sense that the Antichrist is a Muslim or a confederation of Muslim states because Revelation states that the King of the south will oppose the Man of Sin.

Even as a Jew who recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah and is waiting for his return, it appears there is a wrong take on what must occur for God’s plan for Israel to be fulfilled. Therefore, I believe that God is allowing these movements so that the covenant will be made between the Antichrist and Israel, ushering in a return to the former Levitical practices in Jerusalem and setting up the Temple for the Antichrist to reign from there. Do not be dismayed; this must happen for God’s plan of redemption to be fulfilled.

A Definition of Zionism
(Taken from the Jewish Virtual Library) The term “Zionism” was coined in 1890 by Nathan Birnbaum. Its general definition means the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel.  Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Zionism has come to include the movement for the development of the State of Israel and the protection of the Jewish nation in Israel through support for the Israel Defense Forces. From inception, Zionism advocated tangible as well as spiritual aims. Jews of all persuasions – left, right, religious and secular – formed the Zionist movement and worked together toward its goals. Disagreements in philosophy has led to rifts in the Zionist movement over the years and a number of separate forms have emerged, notably: Political Zionism; Religious Zionism; Socialist Zionism and Territorial Zionism. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

For more information, you can visit these sites at: www.thejewishvoice.org and www.themiracleofisrael.com.

If you would like a copy of our book, “Revelation Pure & Simple” written by Pastor T. M. Smith, you can find a free copy in our library http://www.elishasoutcasteagles.com/library/books/

It would greatly assist any student of Revelation and the prophecies contained therein.