Will a Temple Soon
be Built in Jerusalem?
Palestinian Arabs are bitterly aware of plans by Jewish sects to build a temple in Jerusalem. What infuriates them, and many Arab governments throughout Islam, is that two of the holiest places to all Muslims, the Al Aqsa and Dome of the Rock Mosques, are located on the site of the former Jewish temples. During our recently-completed visit to Jerusalem, we interviewed Gershon Salomon, leader of the "Temple Mount Faithful." His attempt, only a few months ago, to lay a symbolic cornerstone for a new temple created a riotous stone-throwing response from Arabs, resulting in the shooting deaths of 21 Arab youths. Perhaps no issue in the Arab-Israeli conflict is more volatile than the move toward building a temple in Jerusalem.
by Garner Ted Armstrong [printer-friendly] [pdf format]
Why should Jerusalem be such a boiling trouble spot?
Why should this city of biblical history, the city of
David, the "city of peace," be such a perennial bone of contention a city
of violence, riot, and murder? Why should the question of who controls
Jerusalem be at the root of WAR?
Think of it. Israel, one of the smallest nations on earth,
sandwiched between hostile Arab neighbors in the Middle East, wants only
one thing: peace.
When the true horrors of the Holocaust became known, a
conscience-stricken United Nations finally passed a resolution allowing
the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, on May 14, 1948. For
years, frantic refugees from Europe, from ports in Southern France, tried
to emigrate to Palestine. Many shiploads were turned back by the British.
Wretched escapees from Hitler’s extermination camps were forced to remain
aboard their overcrowded ships, to cry helplessly as they saw Haifa fading
into the distance as their ship sailed for Cyprus, or back to Europe.
Finally, in May of 1948, the British occupying forces
with-drew from Palestine. The very next day came the unilateral
declaration of independence of the state of Israel.
Immediately, combined Arab armies from Lebanon, Jordan,
Syria, Iraq and Egypt attacked the fledgling little Jewish state. In a
bloody war, Israel managed to hang on to a narrow strip of land between
Haifa and Gaza which included the city of Tel Aviv, and which featured a
huge double bulge of territory on the West Bank of the Jordan, extending
up into the mountains and down across the maritime plain to within only 10
kilometers of the Mediterranean, occupied by Jordan.
The map of Israel from 1948 to 1967 shows clearly the
terrible vulnerability of the little country to attack from the Golan,
Gaza and Egypt, and from the West Bank.
Yet, in those 19 years, Israel, though building a powerful
citizen army, never attempted to dislodge the Jordanian Army from the West
Bank bulge, nor from the old city of Jerusalem.
During those 19 years, bloody terrorist atrocities took
place from one end of Israel to another; from the Golan, Southern Lebanon,
Gaza, and the West Bank, guerrilla bands infiltrated Israeli farms and
towns, killing men, women, and children.
Israeli farmers had to weld sheets of metal on their
tractors as they farmed fields along the narrow eastern shores of the Sea
of Galilee.
During this protracted 19-year period, there was never any
suggestion on the part of Jordan that its prime tourism centers of
Jerusalem and Bethlehem should become part of a "separate Palestinian
state." There was no political move on the part of indigenous Palestinians
to force the Jordanian government to set up a Palestinian state.
Syria never mentioned any attempt to set up a Palestinian
state in the Golan. Lebanon never mentioned any desire to see a
Palestinian state in southern Lebanon. Egypt did not mention, or attempt
to set up, a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip.
But following the Six-Day War, a war Israel did not want
and did not start, Israel emerged victorious and in possession of these
territories. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs fled the West Bank
and the Old City. Shortly after the war in 1967, the outcry began.
The outcry was not for the return of the West Bank to
Jordan, the Gaza Strip to Egypt, but for the creation of a separate
Palestinian state!
Only in the case of the Golan was there an exception. To
this day, Syria demands the return of the Golan Heights.
During the 19 years that Jordan occupied the Old City of
Jerusalem, earning tens of millions each year from the tourist trade, Jews
were denied access to their holy places. Christians could only visit their
holy places by going to Jordan, staying in Jordanian hotels. They could
not go to Israel and cross into Jordan. Any American, or nationality of
any other country whose passport bore a stamp from the state of Israel
(which the Arabs refused to admit existed, or had the "right" to exist)
was denied entry to that Arab country.
Immediately following the war in the Gulf, a U.S. senator
was initially denied entry to Saudi Arabia because his passport bore the
stamp of Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport! No matter that Israel had absorbed
vicious SCUD attacks and refrained from responding, Saudi Arabia and all
other Arab states, with the exception of Egypt, are not yet prepared to
admit Israel "has the right to exist"!
Why should Jerusalem be the catalyst for continued strife?
First and foremost, because it is the "holy city" to the
three great "monotheistic" religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
Each religion claims specific "holy places" exist in Jerusalem places
where events of great spiritual and historical significance took place.
Each religion reveres these "holy places," and believes any
intrusion by members of other religions into them is a "desecration."
Christians know Christ taught in the temple, and that the
temple that stood in Jerusalem during Christ’s time was the second temple,
a structure often called "the Herodian temple," which was built over the
centuries after Nebudchadnezzar destroyed Solomon’s temple more than five
hundred years before Christ.
The second temple was destroyed by Titus and his Roman
legions in 70-71 AD.
Between 685 and 691 AD, the "Dome of the Rock" was built by
the caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. Originally, it was not intended to be
a mosque, but merely a pilgrims’ shrine. Muslims claim it sits over the
rock from which Mohammed supposedly ascended to heaven, while Jews claim
it sits exactly on the site of Solomon’s temple, which itself sat on the
site where God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.
Thus, Jews revere the site from an event which has
everything to do with the very existence of the Jewish people: the saving
of Isaac, who was the father of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel,
and who was the progenitor of the 12 tribes.
The Jews also recognize that both the temple of Solomon,
and the later Herodian temple stood on this same rock. They know all
Jewish spiritual life revolved around the daily sacrifices offered by the
Levitical priesthood; that great annual Sabbaths, like Passover, the Feast
of Weeks, Atonement (Yom Kippur), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth)
featured special offerings in the temple.
Christians revere the site because of events in the life of
Christ: His teaching of the doctors of the law inside the temple; His many
parables and examples delivered there; His overthrowing of the
moneychangers, and reference to the temple as "My Father’s house."
Is Another Temple to be Built?
If one takes literally what Jesus Christ
said, and what Paul wrote, it appears a temple is yet to be built in
Jerusalem! Jesus said, "See ye not all these things [indicating the
Herodian Temple with all its associated columns and walls]? Verily I say
unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall
not be thrown down" (Matthew 24:2).
His startled disciples asked Him to tell them when this
great calamity would occur, and what would be the sign of His coming to be
crowned as King, and the sign of the "end of the age."
Among all His prophecies of disaster, calamity and war,
Christ once again specified events to take place within the temple. He
said, "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken
of by Daniel the prophet, stand IN THE HOLY PLACE (whoso readeth, let him
understand:) then let them which be in Judaea flee into the
mountains...for then shall be GREAT TRIBULATION..." (Matthew 24:15-22).
When Christ delivered this warning, His disciples could
look across from the top of the Mount of Olives and see the temple of
which He spoke. There was no doubt in their minds what Christ meant. He
meant the temple, and the "holy of holies" inside the temple, where the
high priest entered only once each year on the Day of Atonement; the room
which contained the Ark of the Covenant, the original Ten Commandments,
written with the finger of God, the original "Torah" or "book of the law,"
contained in the side of the ark, and Aaron’s "rod that budded," together
with the stone jar of manna.
Christ specifically stated that when the world would see a
despicable, detestable, hated IDOLATROUS thing, or person, set up inside
this holy place then GREAT DESTRUCTION and desolation would occur.
The "abomination of desolation" merely means a hated,
idolatrous thing which is detestable to God which will cause destruction,
or desolation.
The destruction of Jerusalem and the Herodian temple by
Titus’ armies in 70-71 AD was but a forerunner of what is yet to occur.
Many prophecies are dual in nature, having a former, or
"typical" fulfillment, and a later, or literal fulfillment. >From reading
Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21, the parallel accounts of the "Olivet
Prophecy," it becomes clear that, even though there were horrifying
calamities wrought upon the Jews in Jerusalem by Titus (Josephus, the
famous Jewish historian, writes graphically of the slaughter of thousands
of Jews, including burning and impaling), the heavenly signs did not
occur, Christ did not return, the Day of the Lord did not come.
Yet, Christ specifically said all these signs were to lead
toward His return to this earth, and the setting up of the Kingdom of God.
Therefore, there is a yet future fulfillment of Matthew 24
which must occur.
When Paul wrote of the "man of sin" sitting "as God,"
sitting "in the temple of God," the temple yet stood! Some have begun to
believe this scripture means the church. It is true the analogy of a
temple, or a house, or a body, or a bride, is used to connote the church.
But Paul was not using analogies when he wrote plainly of a building which
yet stood in Jerusalem.
Must a temple yet be built in Jerusalem to satisfy these
prophecies? It certainly seems so. Would a temporary structure, even a
pavilion of some sort, over a symbolic cornerstone, suffice? No one can
say with any certainty. However, it appears there must be a "third temple"
completed, with a priesthood established, sacrifices begun, and the entire
ritualistic pattern of Judaism restored before the "man of sin" can claim
to be God and move into this temple thus fulfilling the prophecy of the
abomination of desolation.
Remember, Paul warned, "Whether there be prophecies, they
shall fail" (1 Corinthians 13:8). This is not to say prophecies generally
fail, or that all prophecies shall fail. It reminds us of Christ’s warning
that no man knows the day and hour of His return; that we are to watch so
that we are not unaware; that we are to be alert, and not spiritually
asleep.
Also, God plainly says He will "cut short" the time!
Painstaking charts, graphs, cycles, and chronological and historical
scenarios notwithstanding, Christ will return to this earth to RULE it
with a rod of iron!
Since Christ Himself laid special emphasis on the
"abomination of desolation," it behooves us to watch for such a
development!
Now, think of the enormous geopolitical impact upon all the
world, especially the Islamic nations, if a temple were to be built on the
temple mount. Remember, before any such structure could be built, the
famous Dome of the Rock, and the Al Aqsa Mosque would either have to be
moved, or destroyed!
For the Israelis to so much as touch those buildings is
considered BLASPHEMOUS and a terrible desecration to the Arabs!
Not too long ago, I was reading the Jerusalem Post in my
room in Jerusalem’s Hyatt Regency Hotel. A letter from an indignant
citizen took issue with Arab charges that the "Jews had tried to burn down
the Al Aqsa mosque" many years earlier when considerable damage was done
by an arsonist.
The writer pointed out that a "deranged Australian," not a
Jew, and certainly not a citizen of Israel, had torched the mosque. The
reason for the letter? Because Palestinian Arabs are still smarting over
attempts by the "Faithful of the Temple Mount" to build a temple in
Jerusalem!
Just prior to the outbreak of war in the Gulf, the
rock-throwing, shooting incident described above created an international
incident; caused wailing, emotional demonstrations by thousands of
Palestinians as they buried 21 youths, shot by Israeli security forces.
The other day, I interviewed Faisal Husseini, one of the
leading intellectuals of the Palestinians in Jerusalem, only three days
after he had met with Secretary of State, James Baker III. On Mr.
Husseini’s wall was a bizarre painting. It appeared to be 21 individual
gouts of blood over a black background, each spattering of blood oozing
down toward the door of the Al Aksa Mosque. The title was "The Massacre,"
giving the date of the occurrence.
This grotesque painting had been presented to Mr. Husseini
in the wake of the shootings of youthful stone-throwing Arabs in the Old
City.
My interview with him once more demonstrated how little
real progress has been made between the state of Israel and its Arab
neighbors in the search for peace. Mr. Husseini reiterated his firm
loyalty to the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinians in the
West Bank and Gaza; rejected my suggestion that an "alternative
leadership" among Palestinians would be more acceptable to both the U.S.
and Israel.
For their part, the Israelis point out there was never any
attempt on the part of the Palestinians to achieve a "separate Palestinian
state" until after the Six-Day War, when Israel ended up in possession of
the West Bank (including the Old City of Jerusalem), Gaza, and the Golan
Heights.
When I interviewed Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem the
previous night, at his eleventh hosted convention of Mayors, and asked him
if the Israeli government would ever consider allowing the Old City to
become a national capitol for a Palestinian state, he said, forcefully,
"Absolutely not!"
When I mentioned to him the U.S. media was hyping the
suggestion that the Israeli government was ready, in the wake of the war
in the Gulf, to "swap territory for peace," he retorted, "As for
Jerusalem, we shant give an inch."
Mayor Kollek orchestrates the "unified, peaceful city of
Jerusalem," which he says has been restored as the historical, religious,
cultural and political capitol of the Israeli nation. Continually, he
cited the policy of the government, and his own policy as Mayor of the
city, to permit free access to all religious faiths to their holy places.
During the Jordanian occupation of the city, it was a
different story. According to Mayor Kollek, the Palestinian Arabs not only
denied Jews access to the wailing wall (the west wall of the Herodian
temple), but they demolished fifty-eight synagogues in the area. As
illustrated by the Crusades, when zealous religionists capture a "holy
place" belonging to another religion, they consider it "pagan"!
Invariably, Muslims have destroyed Christian and Jewish
"holy places." Through the centuries, "Christians" would destroy Islamic
and Jewish holy places, substituting for them structures of their own. It
is no accident of history that Islamic holy places now occupy the
"holiest" of all places to the Jews, for it was done deliberately, not
only as an insult to the Jews, but as a proud statement that the "one true
religion" of Islam had now removed the "false religious artifacts" of the
Jews.
The Temple Mount Faithful
The day following my interview with Mr.
Husseini, my son, Mark, interviewed Gershon Salomon, whose march to the
temple mount precipitated the riot and killings. Here are major excerpts
from that interview:
Question: "When was the Temple Mount Faithful movement
started?"
Answer: "The Temple Mount Faithful movement was founded
immediately after the Six-Day War when the Israeli army the heroes of the
Israeli army liberated the temple mount in Jerusalem after two thousand
years of the diaspora [the dispersion of the Jews] and the destruction of
the temple mount in Jerusalem, and the historical belief that the dreams
of the Jewish and Israeli people were fulfilled.
"Unfortunately, the Defense Minister of Israel, Moshe Dyan,
decided to give back the temple mount to the Arab occupiers this very,
very holy place of the Jewish people."
Question: "When you say give back,’ do you mean allow them
access and control over the Dome of the Rock?"
Answer: "Yes. Gave them back the temple mount...the heart
of our history...a symbol, more than a symbol; a symbol of every feeling
of our people a religious symbol, a spiritual symbol, a morality symbol, a
national symbol.
"And this place on the temple mount was [where] the
prophets of Israel, [in] the Bible [taught].
"The temple mount [represents]...all the history of the
Israeli people, more than four thousand years, and now after the
liberation of the temple mount in the Six-Day War, everyone, every Jew
from every corner of the world and [here in] Israel feel that an
historical dream a dream of two thousand years of terrible diaspora...was
fulfilled and Moshe Dyan broke this dream in one moment.
"He gave back the temple mount to the enemies of yesterday
and the enemies of tomorrow."
Question: "But Israel still controls this section of the
city, still occupies it militarily. So, in a sense, it has not really been
completely returned; it’s just been allowed to be used for worship is that
right?"
Answer: "No. It is not exactly because the day after the
Six-Day War the gates of the temple mount [were] closed to Jews who wanted
to come to this very holy place and most holy place to the Jews. The gates
were closed before the Jews. They were not allowed to pray. Jews can pray
today in New York, London and Paris, Tokyo and every place, even in the
Red Square in Moscow, but not in the most holy place the only one most
holy place of the Jewish people of the temple mount."
Question: "And that’s up on top of the wailing wall where
the Dome of the Rock sits?"
Answer: "Yes. The wailing wall, or the western wall, is not
for us so holy. It [represents] a memory of the diaspora, the destruction;
the land of Israel the Jews were thrown out from the temple mount and they
prayed here because they had not another choice. [Meaning, "here," at the
wailing wall]. But our hearts, our feelings, everything in our life is up
on the temple mount. To us, the Arab occupation of 1,300 years which was
made by an Arab Colonialism Coalition, when they...the temple mount in the
second century. They built a mosque and the Dome of the Rock on the place
of the temple, as you can see them just now. They did it in many other
countries which they occupied in imperialistic occupation, like in
Istanbul they changed their church which was the eastern center of eastern
Christianity. They built, in [a] very holy place for Christians, a mosque.
They did it in Spain; they did it in North Africa, the Balkans, every
place.
"To give legitimization to the Arab imperialistic
occupation of those countries, they did the same thing on the temple
mount. You must know that Arab occupation of the temple mount was finished
after the Six-Day War and the memories of this Arab imperialistic
occupation of the temple mount must be finished."
Question: "So you feel that the opportunity to reclaim the
temple mount for Jewish people, for the Jewish religious people, is past
since Moshe Dyan gave it back?"
Answer: "I can’t say past temporarily."
Question: "Tell me, how many Temple Mount Faithful members
are there?"
Answer: "We have thousands of members. We have, let’s say
we feel, and we know, that most of the Israeli people are with us."
Question: "When you say with us,’ what is the goal of the
Temple Mount Faithful?"
Answer: "The goal of the Temple Mount Faithful is first of
all to liberate again the temple mount from Arab occupation. It means that
Jews must come and can come again to the temple mount to pray and worship
God."
Question: "Can the Dome of the Rock be there? Can it sit
where it does under those circumstances?"
Answer: "The temple mount must be again as it was this is
the will of God and the will of history. The temple mount must be again a
religious, national and a spiritual and moral symbol of the Israeli
people. And of the next...to be a place of strength for all the world, but
first the temple mount must be again a place of worship. The temple must
be built on this place."
Question: "Where the Dome of the Rock sits?"
Answer: "Yes. The Dome of the Rock, as I told you is a
result of Arab imperialistic occupation. The Al Aqsa mosque, the Dome of
the Rock."
Question: "And the al Aqsa Mosque as well?"
Answer: "Yes."
Question: "The al Aqsa Mosque is also in the way?"
Answer: "Yes. They are here in this place as a result of
the Arab imperialistic occupation. I want to ask you a question. What
would be the Arab reaction if one day in Mecca Christians would build a
church in the middle of Mecca in the most holy place for Muslims? Would
they live with such a situation? Or if we were to build there a synagogue.
I can understand, they will fight against it. In the same way, I ask the
Muslims, I ask Christians, everyone in the world to understand, the temple
mount is a symbol of one place, a symbol of the Jewish people, of the
Israeli people. This is a place of the temple, of the third temple.
"This was the prophecy of the prophets which says that
after the Israeli people will come back one day from the diaspora to the
stolen country...the land of Israel, by the will of God, the third temple
will be built. Those days came just now we are living now in those days.
The foundation of the state of Israel [was] in 1948. From this day until
now, God helped us to win all the wars that Arabs made against us with one
goal, to destroy the land of Israel to push us to the sea, and to continue
the Arab imperialistic occupation of Jerusalem and the temple mount, by
the will of God, as I told you, it was finished. We came back to our
country forever. And I cannot imagine an Israeli state, this country,
without the temple mount and the third temple in the middle of it; without
Jerusalem as the capitol of this Israeli country.
"I wish to tell you another thing. You know we live now in
a world without peace. Not only in the Middle East. Peace will come to the
world only in one condition. When the terrible suffering of the Israeli
people will be finished. When the Israeli people will live in its original
historical country the land of Israel forever.
"We cannot give one piece of our country to our enemies.
Not the temple mount, not Jerusalem, not Judaea, not Samaria, not Gaza.
Because this country, including all those places and even trans-Jordan,
was given, was offered us by God, by Abraham, he told him this country I’m
going to give you and your people forever. No one can take the country,
the land which God gave us forever. The Arabs are waging a war against us.
It is a war against the will of God, against the will of Israel to win,
the will of the people to succeed. And I ask them to keep up...but to do
it in a way of peace. Because this little country is a country of the
Israeli people. They have 22 countries [the Arabs] as they have 14 1/2
million square kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf. We
live in this little, very little country including 25 thousand square
kilometers only, including Judaea, Samaria and Gaza."
Question: "So it is the wish of the Temple Mount Faithful
that Jordan also be reclaimed as part of greater Israel?"
Answer: "You must know the Arabs asked of us to give up
this side of the Jordan. Anyone that will open the Bible and read it and
know that even trans-Jordan was a part of the land of Israel..."
Question: "Is it the goal of the majority of the Israeli
people that Jordan and possibly Syria...be reclaimed as part of greater
Israel?"
Answer: "Not Syria but trans-Jordan is a part of the land
of Israel. But at least we ask to leave us to live in this part of the
Jordan which is the little part of the historical land of Israel which in
the past was including the trans-Jordan, Sinai and other parts. Now we
have in our hands only this little part of our historic country. I mean
from Jordan to the sea. The Arabs have so many countries, so many
territories. If you take the world map you almost cannot see the state of
Israel, it is so little."
Question: "From a political standpoint, how far is your
organization from achieving their desire to remove the Dome of the Rock
and construct a third temple on the temple mount?"
Answer: "We believe and we know it that it must happen."
Question: "When?"
Answer: "Soon. It can happen today, it can happen
tomorrow."
Question: "By what means? By political means? By force?"
Answer: "It will happen by the decision of our
government... our government must decide and we believe that it must
happen soon."
Question: "What do you think the reaction of the Arab world
would be?"
Answer: "I think they will leave it after all, they know
better than everyone that their presence on the temple mount in Jerusalem
is a temporary presence. That they hold this very holy place to the Jewish
people..."
Question: "From a practical point of view you’ve seen in
the Gulf War how Saudi Arabia and Syria, very unlikely partners in the
coalition, came together for a common cause. What do you think would
become of relationships between those countries and the United States,
between those countries and Israel, and between Israel and the United
States, if Israel were to force the rebuilding of the third temple where
the Dome of the Rock and the al Aqsa Mosque, two of the holiest sites of
Islam, sit on the temple mount?"
Answer: "First of all about Syria; I must tell you. Saddam
Hussein and Assad are the same figures. The difference between them is
only the name. This Assad [is] the same dictator [as] Saddam Hussein. He
is a dictator which rules by force against his people on his people and he
never gave up his very old dream to destroy Israel and make Israel the
southern territories of Syria."
Question: "Do you believe he still holds the dream of
conquering Israel?"
Answer: "Sure. For him to be in the coalition against
Saddam Hussein was opportunity to fight against his Arab enemy. You must
know we live in the Middle East we are surrounded by Arab countries
which...is a culture of cruel violence. See what they are doing to each
other...in the Persian Gulf, in Kuwait, in Iraq. See how Saddam Hussein is
killing now his own people. See what Assad did in Hama (An entire Syrian
city entirely destroyed by Assad's army following a public outpouring of
dissent). Arabs are killing each other in Lebanon. They are doing the same
in Sudan in other Arab countries. We must survive between those cruel
peoples and continue our biblical culture which means peace, morality and
a mission for all the world. A new order not a new order which will
destroy Israel which will divide Israel make Israel a little land which
cannot continue and survive this terrible area. A new order means the
fulfillment of the prophecy of the prophets. Which means morality
principles of the Bible which will be a part of all the world in the base
of every line and every corner of the world. This means a new order."
Question: "Do you think that the implementation of your
goals would affect relations between the United States and Israel?"
Answer: "I believe and I know it, that America, the United
States of America felt a special mission, an historic mission for this age
and in the future. I believe that God founded the United States of America
special for this mission. This mission means, first of all to help the
people of Israel and we believe that we and Americans are brothers. God
gave the mission to help us to live again in our historical biblical
country in our original land, the land of Israel. We have the same
principles of morality and peace the right peace not the wrong peace but
the right peace. The spirit of the Bible. The same spiritual principles.
Our religious principles are very close, very close. We and you together
are taking our principles from the Holy Bible, and for our common mission
for good. So America has a very important task to fulfill these
principles. To help the people of Israel to live this life in this
country."
Question: "From a practical point of view, though, what do
you think the United States’ public reaction would be? Have you ever
tested your plans or your goals on any leadership of the United States in
order to get a reaction?"
Answer: "In the last years I met many, many leaders,
Christian leaders, political leaders from the United States of America. I
had with them very long and deep conversations about those goals for our
people. I believe that our goals are the goals of the Israelis. And they
showed me very strong support. I know that many, many millions of American
Christians support the goals of...coming of the Israeli people to his
historical country. The big goal of rebuilding of the third temple from
this holy place of the temple. They came here, they told me they are ready
and they want it they ask to help us in any way to fulfill this big goal
of God and the history. They support our feelings toward Jerusalem. They
support our very good feeling that Jerusalem must be again the capitol of
the people of the Bible. I was very excited to hear it. I felt that very
strong connections more than connections I can say by the brotherhood of
connections between us and America, will be the power, first of all a
power of morality which will fulfill this historical presence which the
prophets offer to the Israeli people for one thousand nine hundred and
twenty-one years when this place, the second temple, was destroyed by the
Romans. Our going through the diaspora was very temporary. We came back
here by the will of God and thanks to God that we have so an wonderful
ally like America which push America to...the principles, spiritual
principles and the very deep belief which comes from the very Holy Bible
which is common to us together."
Question: "The events of last August could you tell me a
little bit about that? What was it all about? What was the purpose of your
coming here on that day?"
Answer: "What happened last
August was a result of Arab hostility. You must know the last 23 years..."
Question: "I would like to know first...I’m aware of their
reaction, but I would like to know the purpose of your coming here and
exactly what that mission was all about."
Answer: "It was the holy of Succoth. We came here to
celebrate this very holy day and very natural in our most holy place on
the temple mount."
Question: "That’s not been accepted here before, has it?"
Answer: "What do you mean?"
Question: "For a religious Jewish ceremony to take place up
on top of the temple mount."
Answer: "Yes, yes. We came here with the very deep support
of every Israeli. We came here by a very act of peace to celebrate this
very holy day...we did it together with the police, very carefully."
Question: "And were you planning to lay was it a symbolic
cornerstone?"
Answer: "Yes. We planned to put a cornerstone for the third
temple. We tried a year before one year before in Succoth."
Question: "What were the means of transporting it up to the
temple mount?"
Answer: "If we had the permission, it would be very
simple."
Question: "Were you trying to transport it on that day last
August?"
Answer: "No, because we had not the permission of the
police or the permission of the government. Not because they are
against...."
Question: "Do you believe this stone that you’ve chosen
will be the eventual cornerstone of the third temple?"
Answer: "Sure, sure. This corner is the first cornerstone
which Israelis and Jews brought to this holy place to the temple mount
after two thousand years and it will, very soon, be the first cornerstone
for the third temple. We came here, you know, with a voice of peace and
spiritual act. And the Arabs reacted with hostility and violence. We had
not the permission as I told you to lay the cornerstone. Not because the
government or the police are against it the feelings, the principles. But
because of only one reason. Not to bring the Arabs to an action of
violence. Now, according to my feelings, it is an act of weakness for our
government, I’m sorry to say. Because the Israeli government must be
strong and continue to fulfill our historical principles, our Zionist
historical principles."
Question: "But the practical outcome that day was a blood
bath. Don’t you think that there will be future blood baths that there
will be one ongoing blood bath if in fact an attempt is made to destroy
the Dome of the Rock or to dismantle and move it and the al Aksa Mosque?"
Answer: "No I don’t think the Arab reaction was because of
us. When this violence happened on the temple mount we were far from here.
The police informed the Arab leaders on the temple mount...that they would
not allow us to go in there. Even without the cornerstone, they knew that
this day we will not be on the temple mount. They attacked very silent
Jewish prayers near the western wall."
Question: "So you weren’t here when that took place?"
Answer: "We were not here we were far from here down in the
Shiloah Pool river which is from here one kilometer and they attacked
these people."
Question: "Because they heard you were coming?"
Answer: "No, I don’t think so. Maybe we were the alibi for
their activities. Their intention was to bring again the public
international attention of the Persian Gulf...back to here, back to
Jerusalem. To bring the attention of America, of the U.N. Security Council
and say the problem is not in the Gulf, but here. There is a...linkage
between the Gulf and here. So no one made provocation they made the
provocation. They started to throw stones from the temple mount to the
western wall."
Question: "And the stones came down over the western wall
and fell on...?"
Answer: "Thousands of stones I was here when...I came back
after it started...I saw what happened here. Thousands of stones, big
stones, sharp stones, which could kill hundreds of Jews here near the
western wall. It is a miracle that only 20 was wounded, but none were
killed. No one started to throw stones from the western wall to the temple
mount. They started it."
Question: "Are you well known among the local Palestinian
population?"
Answer: "If I am very well known, I think that they know
that I am a man of principles."
Question: "Do they recognize you here?" (In vicinity of
temple mount.)
Answer: "I think that they honor my feelings even [though]
they are against them...is a just way they feel that it is the will of
God, the will of history. Very deep in their hearts...real goals, real
principles of the Bible and maybe of their own belief...."
Question: "You don’t fear for your safety amongst the local
Palestinian population?"
Answer: "No. I’m afraid only from one big God, not from any
special Arabs, you know I feel that I have a very important special
mission. God is with me. God helps me, God defends. So I’m not afraid of
the Arabs. I think that they are afraid of me...maybe not physically...but
they feel that what I am doing is the right thing which God wants."
Question: "How can they believe that when they believe in a
different god altogether?"
Answer: "It was a few days before the Six-Day War. I was an
officer of the Israeli army. And I defended the Israeli villages which was
attacked again and again by the Syrian army. They tried to kill me in
those days and they did not succeed. They are trying today to do it again
and they don’t succeed. I told you when we started to speak the Arabs are
fighting today, not only against the Israeli people, first of all they are
fighting against good, against the will of God and against the will of
history. They have no chance to succeed in such a war. So you can see
again and again they are failing in the wars against Israel. Not because
by physical presence in this world. I feel very strong because what I am
doing is principles of the prophets. It is a mission of God. The God of
Israel. And as I told you, what I am doing is in the mission. They are
rebuilding again for our historical biblical country, the land of Israel.
They build it again the...temple. Finish the Arab occupation,
imperialistic occupation from the temple mount. Finish the Arab
imperialistic presence, violence by...as you can see...trying to kill Jews
here in Jerusalem and every place of Israel Judaea and Samaria and Gaza.
Every Christian here and Muslim knows and if he don’t know, please, I ask
him to open the Bible which is holy for them and see that it was the city
of King David...our kings, it was the city of the prophets and will be
again the future as in the past. We are living now in a special
danger...but not less the history of all the world. I can see that every
event in the world today is connected to this little, but big country, the
land of Israel. The attention of all the world is here, sometimes by
supporting, sometimes against the people of Israel. Little people today in
Israel four million. Against us we have enemies of 250 Arab millions which
want to destroy us. No power can destroy us and stop the fulfilling of
this historical mission of our people to fulfill their vision of the
prophets rebuilding again this historical country for our people...to be
again the country and the people which will bring to all the world the
spirit of peace, belief, and biblical principles."
Question: "So you’re saying that in order to fulfill your
movement’s goals, the Dome of the Rock and the al Aqsa Mosque would have
to be destroyed to make room for the building of the third temple?"
Answer: "Not destroyed. We are not barbarians. No, the
Arabs, they occupied Jerusalem before the war...they destroyed all the
synagogues...we are not barbarians. What we are saying, we shall, by the
will of God, we shall dismantle very carefully, with a very big respect,
those two buildings, the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque, and rebuild
them again in the right place, Mecca."
Gershon Salomon’s organization has not only gained
international attention, it has directly contributed to a major
international incident the massacre mentioned earlier and managed to
inflame Arabs the world over.
Turbulent Times Ahead
Like a boiling kettle, the Middle East
continues to steep and seethe with age-old animosities. Unfortunately, the
war in the Gulf, though ridding America of the "Vietnam syndrome," proving
to the world America’s technology is second to none, and displaying to the
world that America is truly the world’s major superpower, did not produce
lasting peace in the Mideast. Not between Israel and its hostile Arab
neighbors. Not in Iraq. Not in Kuwait. Not in Lebanon.
Today, It appears Saddam Hussein’s brutal extermination of
his political foes in Kurdistan and the Shiite south has allowed him to
cling to power in war-ravaged Iraq.
Western concerns run a wide gamut. The White House does not
want to see a fundamentalist Shiite revolution, backed by Iran, overtake
the country; prefers to see the Sunni minority, minus Saddam Hussein, in
power. But the wishful thinking of Washington will probably not prevail.
With Syria, Turkey and Iran all hoping to slice off a significant piece of
the war-torn country; with ongoing massacres of helpless civilians from
the north to the south, the future of Iraq is by no means sure.
Kuwait is continually threatened by Iraq and harbors a restless
populace ruled by an inefficient ruling family in Kuwait which may not be
able to maintain its grip.
Syria receives of a Chinese-made weapons and SCUDS. Against
whom, ask the Israelis, would Hafez al-Assad use such indiscriminate
terror weapons?
Lebanon is in chaos, mostly occupied by Syria.
With wide spread political and economic unrest in the
region, what real chance is there for a settlement of the "Palestinian
Question"?
As I have been writing and saying for over 40 years, we
need to watch the Middle East watch Jerusalem! The Bible is written from
the perspective of Palestine. It looks out at the world from the vantage
point of this ancient land.
Christ is to return to Zion, the city of Jerusalem!
The "abomination of desolation" that triggers the beginning
of the Great Tribulation is to be set up in the holy place in Jerusalem!
It is because of the incredibly important place Jerusalem
occupies in history, in geopolitics, in the major world religions, that I
recently went there with our crew to conduct interviews with leaders on
both sides of the volatile "Palestinian Question." I did
not find any so-called "window of opportunity." I found, instead, hatred,
implacability, unforgiveness, self-justification. I found, instead of
opportunities for peace, the seething hatreds and narrow-minded racial,
political and religious points of view that will, sadly, lead to yet other
wars in the Mideast.
In the months and years ahead, we will begin to see who is
the "king of the South" of Daniel’s prophecy (Daniel 11:40-45); who is the
"beast"; the super dictator over a 10-nation combine in Europe; who is the
"false prophet," the "man of sin," who will move into a temple which is
yet to be built.
We need to watch for these things, and be busy in God’s
work, doing the work of the watchman (Ezekiel 33).
Will a temple soon be built in Jerusalem? If The Temple
Mount Faithful had their way, work would have begun yesterday! The present
right-wing Israeli government seems determined to pursue continual
building of settlements; immigration of thousands of newly-arriving Soviet
Jews and other Israelis into the West Bank, which is "defacto annexation,"
to continue to say they are "ready to talk," while agreeing to no
concessions as prior conditions to talks.
The Israelis have accepted the PLO as the "legitimate"
representatives of the Palestinian people, although Syria, Jordan and
other Arab states have yet to fully admit Israel has a right to exist in
the region, to "recognize" that Israel exists.
They still say, "Let’s talk."
Though the media, quoting Secretary of State James Baker,
seemed to indicate a "window of opportunity" existed in the immediate
aftermath of the war in the Gulf for settling, once and for all, the
"Palestinian Question," my interviews with Israeli and Palestinian leaders
alike strongly indicate there never was any such "window."
Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin indicated to me he
would be flexible, if he were in a position to influence events, in
discussing Palestinian autonomy. He envisions Palestinian self-rule
without "statehood," or a national security force (read: Army).
Time will tell. Meanwhile, since Jesus Christ of Nazareth
tells us to watch and pray always so we might be accounted worthy to
escape the terrible things that are to come to pass (Luke 21:36); since He
specifically said we would know the Great Tribulation was to begin just as
we saw an abomination of desolation set up; since we know the Temple Mount
Faithful are determined to see a temple built it is obvious much is in
place for major prophetic events to occur in the months and years ahead.
The war in the Gulf did not mean an end to hostilities in the Middle
East. Unfortunately, Jerusalem, the "city of peace," continues to be a
city of global contention; a city where violent religions, racial and
political emotions come into direct confrontation. Again I say, watch
the Mideast! Watch Jerusalem!
-End-
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