Blow up the mosques or an expired visa?
Consul General's letter to Representative Marcy Kaptur
The former worthless Consul General in Jerusalem, Edward Abington, Jr., (who must be investigated for working for the PLO while getting paid by the American tax-payers) testifies twice (on this first of two pages) to Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur that I was not accused of being in any plot to blow up the mosques (as I was interrogated about) but for another lie: AN EXPIRED VISA!
Mr. Ben-Ariel was held at the Jerusalem jail from January 4, 1996 to until February 1, 1996 when he was deported by the Israel government for OVERSTAYING HIS PERMISSION TO STAY IN ISRAEL...
Mr. Ben-Ariel was not arrested on political charges, but rather for overstaying his visa to Israel.
Notice Jr.'s letter refutes the BIG LIE that I was involved in any "plot" against the mosques and that I am on public record in the Jerusalem Post for clearly stating it is the Israeli government's responsibility to remove the mosques. Just as I've said all along, consistent and persistently true.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Temple Mount Faithful newsletter
Temple Mount Faithful newsletter
This past pdf edition of the Temple Mount Faithful newsletter remains most relevant with its important articles on the location of the Holy of Holies on the Temple Mount and a letter to the last pope and articles about the Temple treasures.
This past pdf edition of the Temple Mount Faithful newsletter remains most relevant with its important articles on the location of the Holy of Holies on the Temple Mount and a letter to the last pope and articles about the Temple treasures.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Why the PLO is Tunneling Under The Temple Mount
Why The PLO Is Tunneling Under The Temple Mount
By Barry Chamish
http://www.thebarrychamishwebsite.com
1-27-01
The following is a brief extract from very long article I completed for Fate Magazine. I wish I could send the full text but I have a hard copy career to preserve. Nonetheless, in light of the revelation that the PLO is tunneling under the Holy Mount, I'd like to give my faithful readers at least a clue as to why.
Let us begin with a compelling history of the Knights Templar written by two Freemasons, Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, called The Second Messiah. Summarized is their history of the organization:
The Templars were a poor chivalric order which disdained materialism until their arrival in Jerusalem in the early twelfth century on a papal crusade. Eleven knights dug under the ruins of Solomon's Temple for nine years and hit paydirt. Under the Temple Mount the Templars discovered a network of tunnels where the Jewish priests hid their treasures from the marauding Romans in 70 AD. The knights not only uncovered some of the gold and silver described in the Copper Scroll of the Dead Sea Scrolls but the records of the first Jerusalem church of Christianity. This according to Knight and Lomas is precisely what they went digging for.
The first Bishop of the Jerusalem Church was Jesus' brother James. He was aided by Jesus' other siblings, five brothers and two sisters. After the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and dispersed the Jews, James and his family fled to France, a fact confirmed by the bestselling book Holy Blood, Holy Grail. These descendants of the holy Davidic line had the wherewithal to gain wealth throughout Europe and buy vast properties. Over time they constituted a good chunk of European royalty.
While professing whatever religion the state demanded, first worshiping the pantheon of Roman Gods and later papal Christianity, they secretly practised the Christianity of the early Jerusalem church. These descendants of the priestly line, now called themselves Rex Deus, and passed on their traditions throughout the royal courts of Europe where they ruled. The original Celt church was founded by the Rex Deus, and St. Patrick of Ireland was a Jew. Other Rex Deus included the Habsburgs, the Stuarts of Scotland and today's King Juan Carlos of Spain, who includes among his titles, Protector Of The Holy Places Of Jerusalem.
The Templars returned from their Crusade with vast wealth uncovered under the Temple Mount and initiated a monumental building program in Europe, which ultimately resulted in the construction of over 250 castles and Gothic churches. They now challenged the papacy for political control of Europe, yet the usually jealous Vatican allowed their power to grow unabated. Knight and Lomas insist this is because the Templars had a huge advantage over Rome.
According to their version of events, the Knights uncovered the original records of the Jerusalem Church and they proved that the Vatican was not practising Christianity as its founders intended. For example, a pope with exclusive rights of divine interpretation was not part of G-d's plan. If the scrolls were made public, they would jeopardize Rome's legitimacy.
In the fourteenth century, the French king known as Philip the Fair coordinated a purge of the Templars in coordination with the Holy See. Their properties were seized and their leader, in fact the last Templar leader, Jacques de Molay was brutally tortured by crucifixion until he confessed to the alleged sins of his Order. He survived the first round of torture and a linen cloth was placed over him to absorb his blood and keep him warm. This cloth became known as the Shroud of Turin and the authors arguments for this claim are superbly grounded in fact.
A group of Templars led by the St. Clair clan escaped the French siege by ship and landed in Scotland, a safe port since it was ruled by the Rex Deus member, Robert the Bruce. It must be noted that at his death, Robert the Bruce's heart was transported to Jerusalem for burial. Two versions of what happened to it exist. The first says the deliverers of the heart were captured in Spain, the second insists they made it and the heart lays buried in Jerusalem to this day.
According to Knight and Lomas, the French Templars brought with them the damning scrolls from under the Jerusalem Temple Mount and built a chapel in Rosslyn, near Edinburgh to house them. The chapel, built by William Sinclair (1415- 1482), which exists today, was built according to the specifications of the Herodian Temple and an exact duplicate of the Western Wall was constructed alongside it. To hide their now-banned Templar roots, the Knights formed a new organization, Freemasonry, whose rites were precisely those set down in the scrolls recovered from beneath Jerusalem's Temple Mount.
Scottish rite Masonry spread throughout Europe and according to Knight and Lomas, much to the chagrin of the Vatican. In their version of events, in 1717, the pro-Catholic Hanoverian dynasty took over the British crown and ordered vast changes in Masonic rites. The 33 Scottish degrees were reduced to just four in the new English rites and all the secrets within the Jerusalem scrolls were eliminated from lodge ceremonies. However, other writers share a different version of events, insisting the Templars and the Vatican remained partners throughout their public trials. F. Tupper Saussy in his excellent book, Rulers Of Evil writes:
"On March 22, 1312, Clement V dissolved the Knights Templar with his decree Vox clamantis. But the dissolution proved a mere formality to further appease Philip (the Fair). More importantly, it permitted the Templars, in other manifestations to continue enriching the papacy...A subtle provision in Vox clamantis transferred most Templar estates to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. In Germany and Austria, the Templars became "Rosicrucians" and "Teutonic Knights." Six centuries later, as the "Teutonic Order," the Knights would provide the nucleus of Adolph Hitler's political support in Munich and Vienna."
There is no question whatsoever that the Vatican wants Israel off the Temple Mount and that the Israeli leadership is accommodating its desire. But the PLO has plans of its own. By the summer of 2000, they began digging under the Temple Mount in earnest. Originally they claimed they were simply expanding a mosque under Solomon's Stables, beneath the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem's walled Old City. However, the huge mounds of earth and artifacts from the Second Temple that were being dumped in nearby wadis betrayed a much more extensive plan.
On January 26, 2001, the Israeli government's television outlet, Channel One, broadcast a video clip secretly filmed under the Shrine of Omar, the 7th century Islamic building which may have been deliberately constructed over the Holy of Holies, the most sacred prayer room of the ancient Temple. The video revealed a new and massive tunnel aimed directly at the most sacred core of Solomon's and later, Herod's Temples.
The PLO is after not only the treasures buried beneath the Temple to deplete their morally and financially bankrupt regime of terror but must be looking for more scrolls that can be used to blackmail the Vatican and thus get their way in world diplomacy. This is why PM Barak is willing to cede the surface on the Temple Mount to the PLO but insists on keeping Israeli sovereignty below ground.
The Vatican is terrified that the Jews will uncover the truth under the Temple, whatever it may be. It is essential for them that Israel is removed from the Holy Mount. And they are not alone in this desire.
On Jan. 4, 2001, Colin Grant published a full front page article in the Glasgow Sunday Post. He revealed that the Knights Templar, as descendents the Davidic line believe they have the right to reclaim the Temple Mount as their true heritage:
"A spokesman for Militi Templi Scotia, the Scottish Knights Templar admitted to the Sunday Post, 'We are currently involved in an attempt to remove control of the holy sites from the Israeli government. We believe they should be administered by the United Nations and are working with the UN and NATO to achieve that goal.'"
A secret Medieval battle over the Temple Mount is being conducted in Israel today and unless it can be stopped, this skirmish has the potential of dragging the whole planet into war.
************
The Vatican and its Friends are Not Your Friends
Beware Babylonian envoys from Rome!
By Barry Chamish
http://www.thebarrychamishwebsite.com
1-27-01
The following is a brief extract from very long article I completed for Fate Magazine. I wish I could send the full text but I have a hard copy career to preserve. Nonetheless, in light of the revelation that the PLO is tunneling under the Holy Mount, I'd like to give my faithful readers at least a clue as to why.
Let us begin with a compelling history of the Knights Templar written by two Freemasons, Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, called The Second Messiah. Summarized is their history of the organization:
The Templars were a poor chivalric order which disdained materialism until their arrival in Jerusalem in the early twelfth century on a papal crusade. Eleven knights dug under the ruins of Solomon's Temple for nine years and hit paydirt. Under the Temple Mount the Templars discovered a network of tunnels where the Jewish priests hid their treasures from the marauding Romans in 70 AD. The knights not only uncovered some of the gold and silver described in the Copper Scroll of the Dead Sea Scrolls but the records of the first Jerusalem church of Christianity. This according to Knight and Lomas is precisely what they went digging for.
The first Bishop of the Jerusalem Church was Jesus' brother James. He was aided by Jesus' other siblings, five brothers and two sisters. After the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and dispersed the Jews, James and his family fled to France, a fact confirmed by the bestselling book Holy Blood, Holy Grail. These descendants of the holy Davidic line had the wherewithal to gain wealth throughout Europe and buy vast properties. Over time they constituted a good chunk of European royalty.
While professing whatever religion the state demanded, first worshiping the pantheon of Roman Gods and later papal Christianity, they secretly practised the Christianity of the early Jerusalem church. These descendants of the priestly line, now called themselves Rex Deus, and passed on their traditions throughout the royal courts of Europe where they ruled. The original Celt church was founded by the Rex Deus, and St. Patrick of Ireland was a Jew. Other Rex Deus included the Habsburgs, the Stuarts of Scotland and today's King Juan Carlos of Spain, who includes among his titles, Protector Of The Holy Places Of Jerusalem.
The Templars returned from their Crusade with vast wealth uncovered under the Temple Mount and initiated a monumental building program in Europe, which ultimately resulted in the construction of over 250 castles and Gothic churches. They now challenged the papacy for political control of Europe, yet the usually jealous Vatican allowed their power to grow unabated. Knight and Lomas insist this is because the Templars had a huge advantage over Rome.
According to their version of events, the Knights uncovered the original records of the Jerusalem Church and they proved that the Vatican was not practising Christianity as its founders intended. For example, a pope with exclusive rights of divine interpretation was not part of G-d's plan. If the scrolls were made public, they would jeopardize Rome's legitimacy.
In the fourteenth century, the French king known as Philip the Fair coordinated a purge of the Templars in coordination with the Holy See. Their properties were seized and their leader, in fact the last Templar leader, Jacques de Molay was brutally tortured by crucifixion until he confessed to the alleged sins of his Order. He survived the first round of torture and a linen cloth was placed over him to absorb his blood and keep him warm. This cloth became known as the Shroud of Turin and the authors arguments for this claim are superbly grounded in fact.
A group of Templars led by the St. Clair clan escaped the French siege by ship and landed in Scotland, a safe port since it was ruled by the Rex Deus member, Robert the Bruce. It must be noted that at his death, Robert the Bruce's heart was transported to Jerusalem for burial. Two versions of what happened to it exist. The first says the deliverers of the heart were captured in Spain, the second insists they made it and the heart lays buried in Jerusalem to this day.
According to Knight and Lomas, the French Templars brought with them the damning scrolls from under the Jerusalem Temple Mount and built a chapel in Rosslyn, near Edinburgh to house them. The chapel, built by William Sinclair (1415- 1482), which exists today, was built according to the specifications of the Herodian Temple and an exact duplicate of the Western Wall was constructed alongside it. To hide their now-banned Templar roots, the Knights formed a new organization, Freemasonry, whose rites were precisely those set down in the scrolls recovered from beneath Jerusalem's Temple Mount.
Scottish rite Masonry spread throughout Europe and according to Knight and Lomas, much to the chagrin of the Vatican. In their version of events, in 1717, the pro-Catholic Hanoverian dynasty took over the British crown and ordered vast changes in Masonic rites. The 33 Scottish degrees were reduced to just four in the new English rites and all the secrets within the Jerusalem scrolls were eliminated from lodge ceremonies. However, other writers share a different version of events, insisting the Templars and the Vatican remained partners throughout their public trials. F. Tupper Saussy in his excellent book, Rulers Of Evil writes:
"On March 22, 1312, Clement V dissolved the Knights Templar with his decree Vox clamantis. But the dissolution proved a mere formality to further appease Philip (the Fair). More importantly, it permitted the Templars, in other manifestations to continue enriching the papacy...A subtle provision in Vox clamantis transferred most Templar estates to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. In Germany and Austria, the Templars became "Rosicrucians" and "Teutonic Knights." Six centuries later, as the "Teutonic Order," the Knights would provide the nucleus of Adolph Hitler's political support in Munich and Vienna."
There is no question whatsoever that the Vatican wants Israel off the Temple Mount and that the Israeli leadership is accommodating its desire. But the PLO has plans of its own. By the summer of 2000, they began digging under the Temple Mount in earnest. Originally they claimed they were simply expanding a mosque under Solomon's Stables, beneath the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem's walled Old City. However, the huge mounds of earth and artifacts from the Second Temple that were being dumped in nearby wadis betrayed a much more extensive plan.
On January 26, 2001, the Israeli government's television outlet, Channel One, broadcast a video clip secretly filmed under the Shrine of Omar, the 7th century Islamic building which may have been deliberately constructed over the Holy of Holies, the most sacred prayer room of the ancient Temple. The video revealed a new and massive tunnel aimed directly at the most sacred core of Solomon's and later, Herod's Temples.
The PLO is after not only the treasures buried beneath the Temple to deplete their morally and financially bankrupt regime of terror but must be looking for more scrolls that can be used to blackmail the Vatican and thus get their way in world diplomacy. This is why PM Barak is willing to cede the surface on the Temple Mount to the PLO but insists on keeping Israeli sovereignty below ground.
The Vatican is terrified that the Jews will uncover the truth under the Temple, whatever it may be. It is essential for them that Israel is removed from the Holy Mount. And they are not alone in this desire.
On Jan. 4, 2001, Colin Grant published a full front page article in the Glasgow Sunday Post. He revealed that the Knights Templar, as descendents the Davidic line believe they have the right to reclaim the Temple Mount as their true heritage:
"A spokesman for Militi Templi Scotia, the Scottish Knights Templar admitted to the Sunday Post, 'We are currently involved in an attempt to remove control of the holy sites from the Israeli government. We believe they should be administered by the United Nations and are working with the UN and NATO to achieve that goal.'"
A secret Medieval battle over the Temple Mount is being conducted in Israel today and unless it can be stopped, this skirmish has the potential of dragging the whole planet into war.
************
The Vatican and its Friends are Not Your Friends
Beware Babylonian envoys from Rome!
Worship on the Temple Mount
Worship on the Temple Mount
by David Ben-Ariel
Category: Religion
URL of Interest: http://templemountjerusalem.blogspot.com
Creation Time: Fri, Oct 28, 2005 01:52 PM
(36 Responses)
Should Israel guarantee Christian and Jewish religious rights upon the Temple Mount against Muslim wishes?
Click to Vote here!
These percentages indicate the percent of poll voters who selected these particular options.
69% selected:
Yes! It's a holy site to Christians and Judaism's holiest site.
30% selected:
No! The Muslims would riot and lives would be lost.
by David Ben-Ariel
Category: Religion
URL of Interest: http://templemountjerusalem.blogspot.com
Creation Time: Fri, Oct 28, 2005 01:52 PM
(36 Responses)
Should Israel guarantee Christian and Jewish religious rights upon the Temple Mount against Muslim wishes?
Click to Vote here!
These percentages indicate the percent of poll voters who selected these particular options.
69% selected:
Yes! It's a holy site to Christians and Judaism's holiest site.
30% selected:
No! The Muslims would riot and lives would be lost.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Restore the Temple treasures to Jerusalem!
The Jews have prayed for 2,000 years to again see the Temple upon the Temple Mount. It's past time for prayers alone: ACTION is necessary to put faith into practice!
Let the Muslims submit to the Word and Will of God concerning the Temple Mount. It's sole purpose is to House the Temple of the God of Jacob-Israel, that all nations may come to know, love and obey the God of Abraham.
May they agree the Rock of Abraham has been preserved by the "Dome of the Rock," and that it was created for the Jews to continue their worship upon the site of Israel's Temple. It has served its purpose and now it's past time to restore spiritual sovereignty to the Jews upon the Temple Mount that they may build the House of Prayer for all peoples to come and worship.
May the Jewish leaders repent of their woeful neglect of the Temple Mount and end Jerusalem's abomination of desolation - a Temple Mount without a Temple!
May the pope encourage Judah to obey God and build His Royal House, His Heavenly Embassy, in the noble spirit of King Cyrus, and restore the Temple treasures to Jerusalem.
May the Vatican release the silver, release the gold, that Rome stole from Jerusalem!
May they immediately return the Menorah to stand again where it belongs: upon the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, within the Temple! The Vatican chambers will have served their purpose of protecting and preserving such consecrated items for this time.
Let construction begin and may all nations and men seek and find the Great Creator God of the Bible, the God of Israel, and learn of His Word and ways and be blessed!
Let the Muslims submit to the Word and Will of God concerning the Temple Mount. It's sole purpose is to House the Temple of the God of Jacob-Israel, that all nations may come to know, love and obey the God of Abraham.
May they agree the Rock of Abraham has been preserved by the "Dome of the Rock," and that it was created for the Jews to continue their worship upon the site of Israel's Temple. It has served its purpose and now it's past time to restore spiritual sovereignty to the Jews upon the Temple Mount that they may build the House of Prayer for all peoples to come and worship.
May the Jewish leaders repent of their woeful neglect of the Temple Mount and end Jerusalem's abomination of desolation - a Temple Mount without a Temple!
May the pope encourage Judah to obey God and build His Royal House, His Heavenly Embassy, in the noble spirit of King Cyrus, and restore the Temple treasures to Jerusalem.
May the Vatican release the silver, release the gold, that Rome stole from Jerusalem!
May they immediately return the Menorah to stand again where it belongs: upon the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, within the Temple! The Vatican chambers will have served their purpose of protecting and preserving such consecrated items for this time.
Let construction begin and may all nations and men seek and find the Great Creator God of the Bible, the God of Israel, and learn of His Word and ways and be blessed!
Har HaBayit - The Temple Mount
Har Habayit - The Temple Mount
At the time of King Solomon this mountain was 500 x 500 cubits. It had 5 points of entry:
South - Two Chuldah gates.
West - The Kiphonus gate.
North - The Tadi gate.
East - The Shushan gate.
(King Herod, who extended the Temple Mount area, added 3 additional gates to its western side.)
The focal point of the Temple Mount was a central courtyard containing the structure of the Bet Hamikdash. The rest of the Temple Mount area contained various rooms and buildings, including:
• House of Study, in which the Talmudic law was taught and discussed.
• Lounge for minor Temple officials.
• Weapons room, in case of enemy invasion.
• Tool room for repair work.
• Trumpet place. The shofar (ram's horn) was sounded from the roof of this building before the onset of the Sabbath to let the people know when they must refrain from work.
Chuldah Gates
These were the main doorways used to access the Temple mount, one gate was used as the entrance, while the other gate served as an exit.
The Prophetess Chuldah, would sit near this area during the final years of the first Temple, admonishing Jewish women to give up their idolatrous ways. When the Second Temple was built, these gateways were named after her.
Kiphonus Gate:
This gate took the visitor through a tunnel which led to the top of the Temple Mount. Near the outside of the gateway was a magnificent garden with many types of roses used in the compounding of the Temple incense - hence the name Kiphonus - rose garden in Greek.
Tadi Gate:
All the Temple gateways shared the same basic rectangular design. The Tadi gate, however, had a unique triangular shape. The name Tadi comes from the Greek word meaning "high". The angle formed at the top made this doorway higher or taller than the others.
Shushan Gate:
The Eastern Temple Wall had one gateway called the Shushan Gate. The Persian emperor Darius II, the child of Achashverosh and Esther (Xerxes), gave the Jews permission to rebuild the Second Temple. As a token of indebtedness (or at the insistence of the emperor), the Jews placed a carving of the city of Shushan, the capital of the Persian Empire, above the gateway.
Engraved onto the wall outside the Shushan Gate were two markings indicating the length of a cubit. One marking was to the right of the gateway, one to the left. The marking on the wall to the right was half a "fingers' width" (etzbah) smaller than a true cubit. The marking on the left wall was a full "fingers' width" larger than a true cubit. Workers, who were paid in lengths of wood, were paid according to the smaller marker. Workers hired to cut a certain length of wood would measure it according to the larger marking. Whoever pledged a length of inexpensive material to the Temple would measure it according to the larger marking, while those who pledged a length of expensive material, such as a precious metal, would use the smaller marker.
continue the Temple tour
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Deported for plot to blow up the mosques, an "expired visa" or persecution?
Once again, an attempt to spread DISinformation (on a popular forum) about my unjust deportation from Israel, only provides me with another opportunity to clearly state my case and continue to highlight the plight of the Temple Mount suffering under a Nazi-Muslim occupation:
"You had only been in Israel for 9 months... and you're telling me it had already EXPIRED?!?!?!"
IF you knew anything about Israel, and those who do can vouch for this FACT, one usually receives a visa for three months, after which time such visa must be renewed. Mine was renewed time and again, but they don't permit you to renew it after a year's stay in the Holy Land. You have to leave the country for awhile, even if just to Egypt or Cyprus.
Since the Israeli government office of the office of the interior, misrad hapanim, was working on my application for resident alien or temporary residence (since I'm not Jewish according to halacha, they rarely grant citizenship to non-Jews) status, they give you a piece of paper, a strip of paper with the date on it and an offical stamp which authorizes your continued stay in the country. The two ladies I frequently met concerning my case were Anat and Yochi.
When the Israeli authorities detained me, they took that piece of paper and never returned it, knowing they had predetermined to deport me to try and silence my outspoken articles (all legal and aboveground), read in Jerusalem and throughout all Israel, from Dan to Beersheva, against the illegal Muslim religious discrimination against Jews and Christians daily, illegally forbidding Christians and Jews their religious rights to pray and worship upon the Temple Mount that is destined to host the House of Prayer for All Peoples. Such an unjust deportation from the Holy Land I love only "encouraged" me to "cry aloud and spare not" and further expose their complicity with the Nazi-Muslim occupation of Judaism's holiest site!
When I attempted to return the same year of my unjust deportation I was detained at the airport and refused entry. In 1997 I petitioned Senator Mike DeWine to inquire about a visa for me and he received an initial reply from Itzhak Oren, Minister for Congressional Affairs, March 7, 1997, that read, in part:
"It is our understanding that Mr. Ben-Ariel will not be granted a tourist visa at this time...The Ministry of the Interior...has made the decision not to grant the visa and does not offer any information behind their decision."
That was in regard to the requested visa, NOT to my former unjust deportation! Note the difference. Consequent correspondence informed Senator DeWine that I would not be "eligible for a tourist visa until 2005." That's why this year I petitioned Senators DeWine and Voinovich to help me to obtain my visa, especially since Israel is the custodian of Christian holy sites and allegedly guarantees "freedom of access" to make holy pilgrimage to them in their 1967 Law for the Protection of the Holy Places. Such guaranteed "freedom of access" is impossible unless one is granted freedom of entry into the Holy Land.
Regarding my unjust deportation, that political prostitute, former Consul General in Jerusalem, Edward Abington, Jr., wrote the Honorable Marcy Kaptur, my Congressional representative, June 28, 1996:
"On June 6, 1996 the Consulate General in Jerusalem received your letter of May 6, 1996 about the deportation of David Ben-Ariel.
On April 2, 1996, we responded to an earlier query of yours about Mr. Ben-Ariel. In that letter we noted that Mr. Ben-Ariel was held at the Jerusalem jail from January 4, 1996 until February 1, 1996, when he was deported by the Israeli government for overstaying his permission to stay in Israel.Consular staff visited him twice while he was in jail. He reported no mistreatment while in jail..." (emphasis mine).
My strong response to his incompetence, to his pro-Nazi-Muslim and anti-Jewish and anti-Christian stance, has been made very public, since my letter to Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur is available for all to see and read: Edward Abington: political prostitute.
The United States State Department, Senators DeWine and Voinovich, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur and the Israeli authorities among many others, know I was never deported from Israel for anything other than "an expired visa." Which is just another lie, since it was not expired as I had that special piece of paper from the Ministry of the Interior, but they used that lame excuse to cover themselves since the plain truth was, as Gershon Salomon, chairman of the Temple Mount Faithful stated, "this is a clear cut case of politico-religious discrimination."
May Israel right the wrong and lift the ban against my entry to the Promised Land of Israel, the Holy Land to Christians and Jews, as recorded in our sacred writings.
"You had only been in Israel for 9 months... and you're telling me it had already EXPIRED?!?!?!"
IF you knew anything about Israel, and those who do can vouch for this FACT, one usually receives a visa for three months, after which time such visa must be renewed. Mine was renewed time and again, but they don't permit you to renew it after a year's stay in the Holy Land. You have to leave the country for awhile, even if just to Egypt or Cyprus.
Since the Israeli government office of the office of the interior, misrad hapanim, was working on my application for resident alien or temporary residence (since I'm not Jewish according to halacha, they rarely grant citizenship to non-Jews) status, they give you a piece of paper, a strip of paper with the date on it and an offical stamp which authorizes your continued stay in the country. The two ladies I frequently met concerning my case were Anat and Yochi.
When the Israeli authorities detained me, they took that piece of paper and never returned it, knowing they had predetermined to deport me to try and silence my outspoken articles (all legal and aboveground), read in Jerusalem and throughout all Israel, from Dan to Beersheva, against the illegal Muslim religious discrimination against Jews and Christians daily, illegally forbidding Christians and Jews their religious rights to pray and worship upon the Temple Mount that is destined to host the House of Prayer for All Peoples. Such an unjust deportation from the Holy Land I love only "encouraged" me to "cry aloud and spare not" and further expose their complicity with the Nazi-Muslim occupation of Judaism's holiest site!
When I attempted to return the same year of my unjust deportation I was detained at the airport and refused entry. In 1997 I petitioned Senator Mike DeWine to inquire about a visa for me and he received an initial reply from Itzhak Oren, Minister for Congressional Affairs, March 7, 1997, that read, in part:
"It is our understanding that Mr. Ben-Ariel will not be granted a tourist visa at this time...The Ministry of the Interior...has made the decision not to grant the visa and does not offer any information behind their decision."
That was in regard to the requested visa, NOT to my former unjust deportation! Note the difference. Consequent correspondence informed Senator DeWine that I would not be "eligible for a tourist visa until 2005." That's why this year I petitioned Senators DeWine and Voinovich to help me to obtain my visa, especially since Israel is the custodian of Christian holy sites and allegedly guarantees "freedom of access" to make holy pilgrimage to them in their 1967 Law for the Protection of the Holy Places. Such guaranteed "freedom of access" is impossible unless one is granted freedom of entry into the Holy Land.
Regarding my unjust deportation, that political prostitute, former Consul General in Jerusalem, Edward Abington, Jr., wrote the Honorable Marcy Kaptur, my Congressional representative, June 28, 1996:
"On June 6, 1996 the Consulate General in Jerusalem received your letter of May 6, 1996 about the deportation of David Ben-Ariel.
On April 2, 1996, we responded to an earlier query of yours about Mr. Ben-Ariel. In that letter we noted that Mr. Ben-Ariel was held at the Jerusalem jail from January 4, 1996 until February 1, 1996, when he was deported by the Israeli government for overstaying his permission to stay in Israel.Consular staff visited him twice while he was in jail. He reported no mistreatment while in jail..." (emphasis mine).
My strong response to his incompetence, to his pro-Nazi-Muslim and anti-Jewish and anti-Christian stance, has been made very public, since my letter to Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur is available for all to see and read: Edward Abington: political prostitute.
The United States State Department, Senators DeWine and Voinovich, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur and the Israeli authorities among many others, know I was never deported from Israel for anything other than "an expired visa." Which is just another lie, since it was not expired as I had that special piece of paper from the Ministry of the Interior, but they used that lame excuse to cover themselves since the plain truth was, as Gershon Salomon, chairman of the Temple Mount Faithful stated, "this is a clear cut case of politico-religious discrimination."
May Israel right the wrong and lift the ban against my entry to the Promised Land of Israel, the Holy Land to Christians and Jews, as recorded in our sacred writings.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Debate over whether God commands Israel to build the Temple and the Church's role, if any, in it
Below are excerpts from a forum discussion with a brother in the Sabbath-keeping Church of God:
It is interesting how God uses Duality in the scriptures, but isn't it always true that the "physical" type always precedes the "spiritual" fulfillment?
That's true, but are you denying the "Elijah" prophecy has been relevant more than once? By your human reasonings it could've only been used once, the "Elijah" of John the Baptist only, which our critics contend, and Mr. Armstrong or the Two Witnesses (the leader of the two) couldn't be "in the spirit and power of Elijah."
You would again be limiting how layered the prophecies of God can be when Antiochus Epiphanes defiled the Temple and later in the Ephesus era the great apostasy began and culminated in a pagan pope pretending to be God, yet you don't deny that such an evil attitude, a polluted person hasn't defiled God's Church in these latter days, so why would you try and deny that there can't be a Temple with Europe's wannabe divine emperor proclaiming himself God? I say DUALITY can be as often as God chooses it to be applicable and the prophecies clearly show it's happened time and again.
I confess, I do not know what God wants physical Israel to do now.
I confess I do: "Remember the Law of Moses" (Malachi 4:4). God restored Judah to the Land, liberated Jerusalem and expects them to follow through with their divine duty to build God's House upon His Temple Mount.
I do know what Stephen said to the Jews in the book of Acts:
Act 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet
Who said He did? I do know you need to remember CONTEXT. He was speaking to that generation who had literally seen and rejected Yashua, "God with us."
Have you forgotten that Yashua called the Temple "My Father's House?" That it was only after THAT GENERATION rejected Him that God rejected, for the most part, THAT GENERATION?
Did God dwell within "God's House," Ambassador Auditorium? Have you missed where Jesus made clear reference to the Temple, speaking against those who would be where they ought not? trespassing in the MOST HOLY PLACE? Some professing Christians would say there's no such place, that the Church is the only "holy place" and important "Temple" and they would be dead wrong! Blind to duality and the God-ordained role for the physical and the spiritual, each important to God.
Have you forgotten Solomon's dedication prayer at the Temple God ordained him to build?
1 Kings 8:27-29
27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! 28 Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O LORD my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today: 29 that Your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place.
The true servants of God have always known that the House of God, the Temple of God, is merely like an "Embassy of the Eternal" as I refer to it within Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. And, as such, it deserves our respect and honor as is due, even as Daniel continued to face Jerusalem in his prayers, turned purposely towards the Temple Mount.
What has a Temple to do with us who are the Temple of God????
Are you no longer a physical Israelite now that you've become a spiritual Jew? Are you no longer a man because spiritually in Christ we're neither male or female, Gentile or Israelite? Paul was a physical Israelite and a spiritual Jew and didn't forget it! He went out of his way to go up to Jerusalem, according to the Law, to keep the biblical festivals at the Temple! Do you deny this? Read the Book of Acts and see for yourself, and see what a great difference in attitude the early Church had towards fellowshipping and worshipping in the physical Temple! They didn't consider themselves so superior and spiritual that they shunned it!
If you're part of the Temple of God then you should rejoice that God has been faithful to physical Israel and Judah, and rejoice that Judah is prophesied to remember the Law of Moses (that will bring them this time to Messiah, since God will soon lift the blindness as He has prophesied) and repent of their woeful neglect of the Temple Mount that is presently under a Nazi-Muslim occupation, a disgrace to the God of Jacob and a shame for us (physical Israelites and Jews).
What physical Israel does will be God's will but He has shown us nothing in His word that would indicate that we should rebuild a temple devoted to physical sacrifices before He comes again.
Read the title of this thread: God's Church must understand that God commands ISRAEL to build the Temple! I never said the Church is supposed to, some have jumped to that faulty conclusion. It's a great start if God's Church would at least recognize that God has given this biblical responsibility to our Jewish brethren, to the NATION of Israel, but I would hope that we would at least, in attitude if not in actions, support such a holy endeavor. It's sad and interesting, quite telling, most revealing, that such an uproar never occurred when Mr. Armstrong taught THERE IS A PHYSICAL PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF A MESSIAH, as well as a spiritual! Where were all the "spiritual" brethren hiding out when Mr. Armstrong was excited about the City of David archaeological digs in Jerusalem, Israel in cooperation with Hebrew University? Where was the outcry about that's none of our business, we're past that now since we're so spiritual? What hypocrisy!
God's Word calls for the NATION (I never said the Church) to build His House of Prayer for All Peoples, and Jesus said He did not come to destroy the Law and the Prophets - that command is still in effect since His generation of Jews were punished with Jerusalem and the Temple's destruction and their dispersion, but this is a NEW GENERATION, a generation of Jews who are prophesied to welcome King Messiah, for Yashua said He wouldn't return and the Jews and Jerusalem wouldn't see Him again until they had this change of heart and attitude that's coming, the Temple is part of it, saying "Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!" JESUS CHRIST IS FOCUSED ON JERUSALEM AND HIS PHYSICAL BRETHREN THE JEWS, while working simultaneously with the Church. But mind you that we're going to Jerusalem! They're not coming over here or to any of the many Church headquarters - but to JERUSALEM! I guess that physical location is still important to God and it should be to those who claim to belong to Him.
You know it is a dangerous thing to get ahead of God in a thing. Zionism has to do with God bringing His people back to their land and God rebuilding their Temple and God ruling over the entire world, NOT Judah!
Read your Bible again and see how God brings Judah back and works with them once they're back in the Land, and that God brings them back through people, human instruments, not on a magic carpet, and that God build His Temple through His Jewish hands, just like He always has, since God is consistent. And in the World Tomorrow, converted Judah will be the leader as God has ordained under the Kingdom-Family of God.
The New Covenant will be made available to physical Israel when God is ready but it is available to us RIGHT NOW!
In principle, but it will not take full effect until the Resurrection to perfection, when God's LAW is truly written upon the tablets of our hearts and minds forever.
No Temple built today will carry over into the new world in any case. The destruction will be far to great for that.
That is human reasoning. There isn't any mention of the Third Temple (that God reveals in Revelation 11:1) being destroyed. Malachi gives every indication it will be standing and in need of cleansing and a purification of the priesthood, which Christ NEVER did when He came before. Think about that, and don't try and spiritualize away the Levites and sacrifices and all, because the Church will have already been made ready, as the spiritual Temple, for Christ's coming! Malachi shows the Messiah - who is more than a man - comes to HIS Temple! Again, God claims the physical Temple as His own.
If the Jews build a new Temple what design do you think they will use? Solomon or the description in Ezekiel?
They'll use everything God inspires them to, as God has given this responsibility into their hands, not the fickle and Gentilized Israelites. They'll prayerfully take everything into consideration and get it right, and God puts His seal of approval on it since He refers to it as the "Temple of GOD."
Interesting. If the sacrifices could be made without a temple why aren't the Jews doing so?
For the same reason they haven't built the Temple YET. The Feast of Tabernacles is over and the traditional books to read are Ezra and Nehemiah. I encourage all to read them. They reveal the sacrifices were restored BEFORE the foundation of the Temple was laid!
Christ told the Samarian women that we would no longer be looking to a physical place of worship but we would Worship the Lord in Spirit and TRUTH.
He was making a point and not disrespecting the most holy place on Earth, the Temple Mount, especially since HE is the God who said that place ALONE is where He would place His Name and have HIS House! God doesn't contradict Himself. Jesus also said "salvation is of the Jews and we know who we worship," and all the Jews knew they could pray anywhere, as the NT reveals they prayed in places other than the Temple, but for OFFICIAL NATIONAL WORSHIP they gladly met where God had placed His Name: the Temple Mount.
Please note that in answer to the direct question about WHERE she should worship God Christ, in essence, told her it did not matter. We would worship God in Spirit and did not need a place to do so.
I've explained this above, but will continue to say that if you're worshipping God in spirit and in truth, "thy Word is Truth" and the Word of God reveals that Christ will command all nations to come up to Jerusalem, to worship the King of Israel, and learn Torah at THE TEMPLE! Maybe Jesus just doesn't get it and isn't as spiritual as some think they are!
Again, I said it would be great for God's Church to at least recognize that God has commanded ISRAEL to build the Temple, but hopefully God's Church would have this same holy and excited attitude:
Isaiah 2:2-3
2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the [Temple] mountain of the LORD’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
3 Many people shall come and say,
“ Come, and let us go up to the [Temple] mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Please remember that the reason given for doing that, David, was to try and stop the Jews from killing him. (Paul's literal sacrifice at the Temple with other Jews)
May you refresh your memory and read it again and see that was not the reason! His reason, listening to the Jewish Church elders, was to PROVE that he still kept the Law and the Jewish customs, unlike all the lies against him were saying.
David, the only one who seems hostile here, to me, is you. I do not care if the temple is rebuilt.
That is a casual attitude that is most selfish. We should hope and pray the Jews repent of their woeful neglect of the Temple Mount and build the Temple since God has commanded THEM to do so. Are you only concerned about yourself and not our nation and peoples?
You seem to be blending them in some way I do not find in the bible.
Ever heard of Paul the Benjaminite?
We have God's Holy Spirit within us. He is Tabernacling with us even now, David. This is not something national Israel has available.
The Law and the Prophets prove otherwise. Our Israelite and Jewish brethren are sanctified as the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and God's spirit in times past was only in our prophets, but through them was in and with the NATION.
A physical temple is not something God's church should be involved with at all, in this age.
But teaching English to Thai people is? Or buying gifts of Steuben crystal for world leaders or being involved in other different physical projects? What a corner-Church mentality that I would hope God's people would break free from who haven't already!
Again, God has commanded ISRAEL to build His Temple and I'm excited they soon will, and I would hope the Church would at least encourage them to obey God as they're given to understand Him at this point in time - not carp from the sidelines like those evil men you'll encounter (who opposed God's Work in Judah and Jerusalem) in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Those who truly are Children of Light will see and recognize the fulfillment of prophecy taking place, recognizing the Temple as a magnificent SIGN of how close we are to the Two Witnesses' worldwide ministry from Jerusalem, with a special message to the cities of Judah, and rejoice knowing King Messiah is on His way!
It is interesting how God uses Duality in the scriptures, but isn't it always true that the "physical" type always precedes the "spiritual" fulfillment?
That's true, but are you denying the "Elijah" prophecy has been relevant more than once? By your human reasonings it could've only been used once, the "Elijah" of John the Baptist only, which our critics contend, and Mr. Armstrong or the Two Witnesses (the leader of the two) couldn't be "in the spirit and power of Elijah."
You would again be limiting how layered the prophecies of God can be when Antiochus Epiphanes defiled the Temple and later in the Ephesus era the great apostasy began and culminated in a pagan pope pretending to be God, yet you don't deny that such an evil attitude, a polluted person hasn't defiled God's Church in these latter days, so why would you try and deny that there can't be a Temple with Europe's wannabe divine emperor proclaiming himself God? I say DUALITY can be as often as God chooses it to be applicable and the prophecies clearly show it's happened time and again.
I confess, I do not know what God wants physical Israel to do now.
I confess I do: "Remember the Law of Moses" (Malachi 4:4). God restored Judah to the Land, liberated Jerusalem and expects them to follow through with their divine duty to build God's House upon His Temple Mount.
I do know what Stephen said to the Jews in the book of Acts:
Act 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet
Who said He did? I do know you need to remember CONTEXT. He was speaking to that generation who had literally seen and rejected Yashua, "God with us."
Have you forgotten that Yashua called the Temple "My Father's House?" That it was only after THAT GENERATION rejected Him that God rejected, for the most part, THAT GENERATION?
Did God dwell within "God's House," Ambassador Auditorium? Have you missed where Jesus made clear reference to the Temple, speaking against those who would be where they ought not? trespassing in the MOST HOLY PLACE? Some professing Christians would say there's no such place, that the Church is the only "holy place" and important "Temple" and they would be dead wrong! Blind to duality and the God-ordained role for the physical and the spiritual, each important to God.
Have you forgotten Solomon's dedication prayer at the Temple God ordained him to build?
1 Kings 8:27-29
27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! 28 Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O LORD my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today: 29 that Your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place.
The true servants of God have always known that the House of God, the Temple of God, is merely like an "Embassy of the Eternal" as I refer to it within Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. And, as such, it deserves our respect and honor as is due, even as Daniel continued to face Jerusalem in his prayers, turned purposely towards the Temple Mount.
What has a Temple to do with us who are the Temple of God????
Are you no longer a physical Israelite now that you've become a spiritual Jew? Are you no longer a man because spiritually in Christ we're neither male or female, Gentile or Israelite? Paul was a physical Israelite and a spiritual Jew and didn't forget it! He went out of his way to go up to Jerusalem, according to the Law, to keep the biblical festivals at the Temple! Do you deny this? Read the Book of Acts and see for yourself, and see what a great difference in attitude the early Church had towards fellowshipping and worshipping in the physical Temple! They didn't consider themselves so superior and spiritual that they shunned it!
If you're part of the Temple of God then you should rejoice that God has been faithful to physical Israel and Judah, and rejoice that Judah is prophesied to remember the Law of Moses (that will bring them this time to Messiah, since God will soon lift the blindness as He has prophesied) and repent of their woeful neglect of the Temple Mount that is presently under a Nazi-Muslim occupation, a disgrace to the God of Jacob and a shame for us (physical Israelites and Jews).
What physical Israel does will be God's will but He has shown us nothing in His word that would indicate that we should rebuild a temple devoted to physical sacrifices before He comes again.
Read the title of this thread: God's Church must understand that God commands ISRAEL to build the Temple! I never said the Church is supposed to, some have jumped to that faulty conclusion. It's a great start if God's Church would at least recognize that God has given this biblical responsibility to our Jewish brethren, to the NATION of Israel, but I would hope that we would at least, in attitude if not in actions, support such a holy endeavor. It's sad and interesting, quite telling, most revealing, that such an uproar never occurred when Mr. Armstrong taught THERE IS A PHYSICAL PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF A MESSIAH, as well as a spiritual! Where were all the "spiritual" brethren hiding out when Mr. Armstrong was excited about the City of David archaeological digs in Jerusalem, Israel in cooperation with Hebrew University? Where was the outcry about that's none of our business, we're past that now since we're so spiritual? What hypocrisy!
God's Word calls for the NATION (I never said the Church) to build His House of Prayer for All Peoples, and Jesus said He did not come to destroy the Law and the Prophets - that command is still in effect since His generation of Jews were punished with Jerusalem and the Temple's destruction and their dispersion, but this is a NEW GENERATION, a generation of Jews who are prophesied to welcome King Messiah, for Yashua said He wouldn't return and the Jews and Jerusalem wouldn't see Him again until they had this change of heart and attitude that's coming, the Temple is part of it, saying "Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!" JESUS CHRIST IS FOCUSED ON JERUSALEM AND HIS PHYSICAL BRETHREN THE JEWS, while working simultaneously with the Church. But mind you that we're going to Jerusalem! They're not coming over here or to any of the many Church headquarters - but to JERUSALEM! I guess that physical location is still important to God and it should be to those who claim to belong to Him.
You know it is a dangerous thing to get ahead of God in a thing. Zionism has to do with God bringing His people back to their land and God rebuilding their Temple and God ruling over the entire world, NOT Judah!
Read your Bible again and see how God brings Judah back and works with them once they're back in the Land, and that God brings them back through people, human instruments, not on a magic carpet, and that God build His Temple through His Jewish hands, just like He always has, since God is consistent. And in the World Tomorrow, converted Judah will be the leader as God has ordained under the Kingdom-Family of God.
The New Covenant will be made available to physical Israel when God is ready but it is available to us RIGHT NOW!
In principle, but it will not take full effect until the Resurrection to perfection, when God's LAW is truly written upon the tablets of our hearts and minds forever.
No Temple built today will carry over into the new world in any case. The destruction will be far to great for that.
That is human reasoning. There isn't any mention of the Third Temple (that God reveals in Revelation 11:1) being destroyed. Malachi gives every indication it will be standing and in need of cleansing and a purification of the priesthood, which Christ NEVER did when He came before. Think about that, and don't try and spiritualize away the Levites and sacrifices and all, because the Church will have already been made ready, as the spiritual Temple, for Christ's coming! Malachi shows the Messiah - who is more than a man - comes to HIS Temple! Again, God claims the physical Temple as His own.
If the Jews build a new Temple what design do you think they will use? Solomon or the description in Ezekiel?
They'll use everything God inspires them to, as God has given this responsibility into their hands, not the fickle and Gentilized Israelites. They'll prayerfully take everything into consideration and get it right, and God puts His seal of approval on it since He refers to it as the "Temple of GOD."
Interesting. If the sacrifices could be made without a temple why aren't the Jews doing so?
For the same reason they haven't built the Temple YET. The Feast of Tabernacles is over and the traditional books to read are Ezra and Nehemiah. I encourage all to read them. They reveal the sacrifices were restored BEFORE the foundation of the Temple was laid!
Christ told the Samarian women that we would no longer be looking to a physical place of worship but we would Worship the Lord in Spirit and TRUTH.
He was making a point and not disrespecting the most holy place on Earth, the Temple Mount, especially since HE is the God who said that place ALONE is where He would place His Name and have HIS House! God doesn't contradict Himself. Jesus also said "salvation is of the Jews and we know who we worship," and all the Jews knew they could pray anywhere, as the NT reveals they prayed in places other than the Temple, but for OFFICIAL NATIONAL WORSHIP they gladly met where God had placed His Name: the Temple Mount.
Please note that in answer to the direct question about WHERE she should worship God Christ, in essence, told her it did not matter. We would worship God in Spirit and did not need a place to do so.
I've explained this above, but will continue to say that if you're worshipping God in spirit and in truth, "thy Word is Truth" and the Word of God reveals that Christ will command all nations to come up to Jerusalem, to worship the King of Israel, and learn Torah at THE TEMPLE! Maybe Jesus just doesn't get it and isn't as spiritual as some think they are!
Again, I said it would be great for God's Church to at least recognize that God has commanded ISRAEL to build the Temple, but hopefully God's Church would have this same holy and excited attitude:
Isaiah 2:2-3
2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the [Temple] mountain of the LORD’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
3 Many people shall come and say,
“ Come, and let us go up to the [Temple] mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Please remember that the reason given for doing that, David, was to try and stop the Jews from killing him. (Paul's literal sacrifice at the Temple with other Jews)
May you refresh your memory and read it again and see that was not the reason! His reason, listening to the Jewish Church elders, was to PROVE that he still kept the Law and the Jewish customs, unlike all the lies against him were saying.
David, the only one who seems hostile here, to me, is you. I do not care if the temple is rebuilt.
That is a casual attitude that is most selfish. We should hope and pray the Jews repent of their woeful neglect of the Temple Mount and build the Temple since God has commanded THEM to do so. Are you only concerned about yourself and not our nation and peoples?
You seem to be blending them in some way I do not find in the bible.
Ever heard of Paul the Benjaminite?
We have God's Holy Spirit within us. He is Tabernacling with us even now, David. This is not something national Israel has available.
The Law and the Prophets prove otherwise. Our Israelite and Jewish brethren are sanctified as the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and God's spirit in times past was only in our prophets, but through them was in and with the NATION.
A physical temple is not something God's church should be involved with at all, in this age.
But teaching English to Thai people is? Or buying gifts of Steuben crystal for world leaders or being involved in other different physical projects? What a corner-Church mentality that I would hope God's people would break free from who haven't already!
Again, God has commanded ISRAEL to build His Temple and I'm excited they soon will, and I would hope the Church would at least encourage them to obey God as they're given to understand Him at this point in time - not carp from the sidelines like those evil men you'll encounter (who opposed God's Work in Judah and Jerusalem) in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Those who truly are Children of Light will see and recognize the fulfillment of prophecy taking place, recognizing the Temple as a magnificent SIGN of how close we are to the Two Witnesses' worldwide ministry from Jerusalem, with a special message to the cities of Judah, and rejoice knowing King Messiah is on His way!
Shrine of the Prophets or Temple of God?
"In LOOK magazine, for January 16, 1962, David Ben-Gurion, the then Prime Minister of Israel stated his prediction for the next 25 years: "The image of the world in 1987 as traced in my imagination: The Cold War will be a thing of the past. Internal pressure of the constantly growing intelligentsia in Russia for more freedom and the pressure of the masses for raising their living standards may lead to a gradual democratization of the Soviet Union. On the other hand, the increasing influence of the workers and farmers, and the rising political importance of men of science, may transform the United States into a welfare state with a planned economy. Western and Eastern Europe will become a federation of autonomous states have a Socialist and democratic regime. With the exception of the USSR as a federated Eurasian state, all other continents will become united in a world alliance, at whose disposal will be an international police force. All armies will be abolished, and there will be no more wars. In Jerusalem, the United Nations (a truly United Nations) will build a Shrine of the Prophets to serve the federated union of all continents; this will be the seat of the Supreme Court of Mankind, to settle all controversies among the federated continents, as prophesied by Isaiah." (emphasis mine)
Isaiah didn't prophecy of any such godless scheme that is a dangerous counterfeit of the Temple of God - not a "shrine of the prophets." How humanist! The prophet Daniel does expose the Third Temple will be polluted by Europe's wannabe divine emperor until King Messiah returns from Heaven (in full view of all mankind) and destroys such demonic activities, purifies Jerusalem and cleanses the Temple!
Isaiah didn't prophecy of any such godless scheme that is a dangerous counterfeit of the Temple of God - not a "shrine of the prophets." How humanist! The prophet Daniel does expose the Third Temple will be polluted by Europe's wannabe divine emperor until King Messiah returns from Heaven (in full view of all mankind) and destroys such demonic activities, purifies Jerusalem and cleanses the Temple!
Israel must remove the mosques!
On June 7, 1967, shortly after East Jerusalem was liberated by the God-sent Israelis, Rabbi Shlomo Goren told General Uzi Narkiss: "Now is the time to put 100 kilograms of explosives into the Mosque of Omar so that we may rid ourselves of it once and for all." His biblical request was shamefully denied. Later that year, in a speech to a military convention, he stated: "Certainly we should have blown it up. It is a tragedy for generations that we did not do so. ... I myself would have gone up there and wiped it off the ground completely so that there was no trace that there was ever a Mosque of Omar there."
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
God-fearing Jews to build the Temple of God
God-fearing Jews, according to their God-given level of understanding, will soon love and obey God and build the Third Temple upon the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel!
Revelation 11:1-2
Revelation 11
1 Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood,saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.
The apostle John, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, testifies that it's the TEMPLE OF GOD (not just the Jews) and that Jerusalem is still the "HOLY CITY" contrary to those who have become more "spiritual" than God and vainly dismiss everything physical like the Gnostics. Not a single word of condemnation of the Temple, the altar (sacrificial system restored) or the worshipers, and yet some not speaking under inspiration of the Holy Spirit dare criticize it all! What chutzpah!
Revelation 11:1-2
Revelation 11
1 Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood,saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.
The apostle John, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, testifies that it's the TEMPLE OF GOD (not just the Jews) and that Jerusalem is still the "HOLY CITY" contrary to those who have become more "spiritual" than God and vainly dismiss everything physical like the Gnostics. Not a single word of condemnation of the Temple, the altar (sacrificial system restored) or the worshipers, and yet some not speaking under inspiration of the Holy Spirit dare criticize it all! What chutzpah!
Monday, October 24, 2005
Plot to blow up the mosques on the Temple Mount?
The Jerusalem Post had a front page story about how the GSS sought my deportation for alleged involvement in a "plot to blow up the Al-Aksa mosque" (see story at link).
And for the rest of the story:
STILL AT LARGE!
IF the Israeli authorities truly suspected me of being involved in such a dangerous activity, they would have NEVER RELEASED ME with only my passport in their hands. As for those others allegedly involved in some plot, that were "still at large" - THEY'RE STILL AT LARGE to this day, NINE YEARS LATER, because they don't exist! And, just like nine years ago I protested my innocence, I continue to this day doing the same, consistent, honest and true, as God knows, and as they very well know.
They had a computer disk with Beyond Babylon on it back then, and now Beyond Babylon is professionally published, and it says now, as then, that it is the GOVERNMENT of Israel's responsibility to remove the mosques and prepare for the Temple.
Gershon Salomon, chairman of the Temple Mount Faithful, has been stating that fact publicly since he helped to liberate the Temple Mount in 1967 during the Six Day War. What we say is LEGAL and BIBLICAL, although some would trample our rights to express ourselves and practice our religion, in a vain attempt to appease the Nazi-Muslim beasts.
Thankfully, the Temple will soon be REALITY upon the TEMPLE Mount and the mosques will be history!
And for the rest of the story:
STILL AT LARGE!
IF the Israeli authorities truly suspected me of being involved in such a dangerous activity, they would have NEVER RELEASED ME with only my passport in their hands. As for those others allegedly involved in some plot, that were "still at large" - THEY'RE STILL AT LARGE to this day, NINE YEARS LATER, because they don't exist! And, just like nine years ago I protested my innocence, I continue to this day doing the same, consistent, honest and true, as God knows, and as they very well know.
They had a computer disk with Beyond Babylon on it back then, and now Beyond Babylon is professionally published, and it says now, as then, that it is the GOVERNMENT of Israel's responsibility to remove the mosques and prepare for the Temple.
Gershon Salomon, chairman of the Temple Mount Faithful, has been stating that fact publicly since he helped to liberate the Temple Mount in 1967 during the Six Day War. What we say is LEGAL and BIBLICAL, although some would trample our rights to express ourselves and practice our religion, in a vain attempt to appease the Nazi-Muslim beasts.
Thankfully, the Temple will soon be REALITY upon the TEMPLE Mount and the mosques will be history!
THE MOSQUES MUST GO!
I am a Christian-Zionist, but I recognize biblical truth when I see it and support it. The Church has its responsibility and the NATION has its duty. I endorse the following articles, two titles I give from the webpage and one complete article I share. This is most appropriate considering the Temple was built during the Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot and the biblical books of Ezra and Nehemiah are traditional to read after these biblical festivals.
"CLEANING UP THE MOUNT BEFORE BUILDING THE TEMPLE"
Weekly Parsha Commentary by Binyamin Zev Kahane
Translated by Lenny Goldberg
The Grandest Mitzvah of Them All Faces Total Blackout
Removing the Mosques: Part One of the Mitzvah of Building the Temple
Weekly Parsha Commentary by Binyamin Zev Kahane
Translated by Lenny Goldberg
On the verse, "and you shall make me a sanctuary", the Ohr HaChaim writes: "And by saying, 'you make shall me a sanctuary' - it is a mitzvah for all times". The Rambam writes in Chapter 1 of "Hilchot Bet HaBicheira": "It is a positive commandment to construct a House for G-d, as it is written, 'and you shall make me sanctuary..." We have discussed this subject on numerous occasions, and we will continue writing about how the mitzvah of building the Temple is an unconditional commandment, not dependent on Moshiach, and not on the nation's "level". Certainly we will continue to address all the other arguments and lame excuses that have enabled Jews to dismiss themselves from this vital mitzvah.
But in this article, our goal is not to deal with the different arguments which oppose the building of the Temple in our days. A reason for this is that in recent years, more and more people have become aware of the Temple and the Temple Mount. The irrelevant arguments preventing Jews from building the Temple and entering the Temple Mount have been refuted in the hearts of many, as heightened awareness of the subject has caused Jews to study the subject in halachic depth. More and more people are beginning to understand that unless we are absolutely under compulsion (as was the situation for 1800 years when we did not have sovereignty in the Land of Israel), there are no excuses for canceling any mitzvah from the Torah, including the grand mitzvah of building the Temple, of which another 200 mitzvot are dependent upon. The moment the opportunity to build the Temple returned to us, then the mitzvah, "and you shall make me a sanctuary" also returned to become an obligation, no different than laying tefilin.
But before we can pick up the mortar and bricks to start fulfilling the awesome mitzvah of building the Holy Temple, there is a problem. It is on this problem we shall now concentrate, for it certainly is a precondition for building the Temple.
We are talking about the terrible "Hillul Hashem" (Desecration of G-d's Name) that is created by the existence of the Moslem Mosques on the Temple Mount, precisely upon the place where the Holy of Holies once stood. We are speaking about the fact that while Jews are forbidden to pray or to exhibit signs of sovereignty there, the Arab jackals desecrate the site, blasting their loudspeakers five times a day, turning the place into their national and spiritual center, the hotbed for incitement and Jew-hatred.
Let us not make the same tragic mistake concerning the Temple Mount that the YESHA settlement leaders made. What mistake are we referring to? Since the very beginning of the Gush Emmunim settlement movement, Rabbi Kahane, HY"D, warned and pleaded that if we do not deal with the other ("negative") side of the mitzvah of "Yishuv HaAretz" – that is if we do not expel the gentiles, than G-d forbid, the settlements will not last, as the Torah explicitly says. But his warnings fell on deaf ears. The settlement leaders preferred dealing in the "positive" aspects of "Yishuv HaAretz", not wanting to jeopardize public support by discussing the Arab threat. The results we see today: The Arabs arose, the left labeled all the settlers as "extremists" anyway, etc., etc.
It appears that the exact same mistake is in danger of being repeated concerning the Temple Mount. The desire to be accepted by larger segments of the public and to expand existing circles has prevented all talk about the removing of the terrible reproach that is represented by the mosques on the Temple Mount. There is a difference, though. On the subject of "Eretz Yisrael", the settlers were able to settle the land, and temporarily ignore (with the help of their illusions) the Arab powder keg that laid planted beneath the entire settlement enterprise. But regarding the Temple Mount, even this is impossible. What will they do? Build the Temple on the second floor of the mosque??
The removal of the mosques is an obligation that precedes the obligation of building the Temple. First, one must "remove from evil" ("Sur MiRah"), before he can "do good". ("Ase Tov") And so, we must speak about removing the mosques just as we speak about building the Temple. What are we afraid of? They will label us as fanatics? They do it anyhow!
"CLEANING UP THE MOUNT BEFORE BUILDING THE TEMPLE"
Weekly Parsha Commentary by Binyamin Zev Kahane
Translated by Lenny Goldberg
The Grandest Mitzvah of Them All Faces Total Blackout
Removing the Mosques: Part One of the Mitzvah of Building the Temple
Weekly Parsha Commentary by Binyamin Zev Kahane
Translated by Lenny Goldberg
On the verse, "and you shall make me a sanctuary", the Ohr HaChaim writes: "And by saying, 'you make shall me a sanctuary' - it is a mitzvah for all times". The Rambam writes in Chapter 1 of "Hilchot Bet HaBicheira": "It is a positive commandment to construct a House for G-d, as it is written, 'and you shall make me sanctuary..." We have discussed this subject on numerous occasions, and we will continue writing about how the mitzvah of building the Temple is an unconditional commandment, not dependent on Moshiach, and not on the nation's "level". Certainly we will continue to address all the other arguments and lame excuses that have enabled Jews to dismiss themselves from this vital mitzvah.
But in this article, our goal is not to deal with the different arguments which oppose the building of the Temple in our days. A reason for this is that in recent years, more and more people have become aware of the Temple and the Temple Mount. The irrelevant arguments preventing Jews from building the Temple and entering the Temple Mount have been refuted in the hearts of many, as heightened awareness of the subject has caused Jews to study the subject in halachic depth. More and more people are beginning to understand that unless we are absolutely under compulsion (as was the situation for 1800 years when we did not have sovereignty in the Land of Israel), there are no excuses for canceling any mitzvah from the Torah, including the grand mitzvah of building the Temple, of which another 200 mitzvot are dependent upon. The moment the opportunity to build the Temple returned to us, then the mitzvah, "and you shall make me a sanctuary" also returned to become an obligation, no different than laying tefilin.
But before we can pick up the mortar and bricks to start fulfilling the awesome mitzvah of building the Holy Temple, there is a problem. It is on this problem we shall now concentrate, for it certainly is a precondition for building the Temple.
We are talking about the terrible "Hillul Hashem" (Desecration of G-d's Name) that is created by the existence of the Moslem Mosques on the Temple Mount, precisely upon the place where the Holy of Holies once stood. We are speaking about the fact that while Jews are forbidden to pray or to exhibit signs of sovereignty there, the Arab jackals desecrate the site, blasting their loudspeakers five times a day, turning the place into their national and spiritual center, the hotbed for incitement and Jew-hatred.
Let us not make the same tragic mistake concerning the Temple Mount that the YESHA settlement leaders made. What mistake are we referring to? Since the very beginning of the Gush Emmunim settlement movement, Rabbi Kahane, HY"D, warned and pleaded that if we do not deal with the other ("negative") side of the mitzvah of "Yishuv HaAretz" – that is if we do not expel the gentiles, than G-d forbid, the settlements will not last, as the Torah explicitly says. But his warnings fell on deaf ears. The settlement leaders preferred dealing in the "positive" aspects of "Yishuv HaAretz", not wanting to jeopardize public support by discussing the Arab threat. The results we see today: The Arabs arose, the left labeled all the settlers as "extremists" anyway, etc., etc.
It appears that the exact same mistake is in danger of being repeated concerning the Temple Mount. The desire to be accepted by larger segments of the public and to expand existing circles has prevented all talk about the removing of the terrible reproach that is represented by the mosques on the Temple Mount. There is a difference, though. On the subject of "Eretz Yisrael", the settlers were able to settle the land, and temporarily ignore (with the help of their illusions) the Arab powder keg that laid planted beneath the entire settlement enterprise. But regarding the Temple Mount, even this is impossible. What will they do? Build the Temple on the second floor of the mosque??
The removal of the mosques is an obligation that precedes the obligation of building the Temple. First, one must "remove from evil" ("Sur MiRah"), before he can "do good". ("Ase Tov") And so, we must speak about removing the mosques just as we speak about building the Temple. What are we afraid of? They will label us as fanatics? They do it anyhow!
Pagan holidays or God's Holy Days - Which?
Soon when the Third Temple shines upon the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel, representatives from all nations will gather to learn more about the God of Jacob and His ways and biblical festivals, having trashed their former vain traditions. Other than our Jewish brethren, some Christians are now pioneering in celebrating these glorious days of the wonderful World Tomorrow!
PAGAN HOLIDAYS—OR GOD'S HOLY DAYS—WHICH?
By Herbert W. Armstrong
Does it make any difference which days we observe-or whether we keep them? Does the Bible establish whether we are to keep certain days holy to God? Were these days given to ancient Israel only? Are they binding today only on the Jewish people, while Christians are commanded to keep holidays such as Christmas?
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Which Days Should We Keep?
Chapter 2 What You Should Know About Pentecost
Chapter 3 Feast of Trumpets
Chapter 4 Feast of Tabernacles
PAGAN HOLIDAYS—OR GOD'S HOLY DAYS—WHICH?
By Herbert W. Armstrong
Does it make any difference which days we observe-or whether we keep them? Does the Bible establish whether we are to keep certain days holy to God? Were these days given to ancient Israel only? Are they binding today only on the Jewish people, while Christians are commanded to keep holidays such as Christmas?
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Which Days Should We Keep?
Chapter 2 What You Should Know About Pentecost
Chapter 3 Feast of Trumpets
Chapter 4 Feast of Tabernacles
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Modern "money changers" rule Israeli courts
Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 20:22:16 +0200
From: Shmuel HaLevi rfi
Subject: Temple Mount
To: David Ben Ariel
Organization: RADIO FREE ISRAEL
Dear friend and co traveler,
The unJews are not better that the "money changers" 2000 years ago. Trash.Untrustworthy, renegades, cowardly, sold out to the present day Romans and murderous just as they were then.There are no logical reasons to appeal to the garbage for anything other than if those petitioning to them want to suffer more pain.Surely the following "news" item did not get to the US.A candidate in the Mayoral race of Nahariah, a town you well know up north, was given front page coverage, full front page, as she expanded on her platform...a. Jews will not be allowed to lay "tefilin" in the town's outdoors.b. Synagogues may only be open for two hours... a week...etc.That filth is also in the "courts". Anyone relying on the post modern... israeli garbage is bound to be harmed, here or overseas.
SHmuel
From: Shmuel HaLevi rfi
Subject: Temple Mount
To: David Ben Ariel
Organization: RADIO FREE ISRAEL
Dear friend and co traveler,
The unJews are not better that the "money changers" 2000 years ago. Trash.Untrustworthy, renegades, cowardly, sold out to the present day Romans and murderous just as they were then.There are no logical reasons to appeal to the garbage for anything other than if those petitioning to them want to suffer more pain.Surely the following "news" item did not get to the US.A candidate in the Mayoral race of Nahariah, a town you well know up north, was given front page coverage, full front page, as she expanded on her platform...a. Jews will not be allowed to lay "tefilin" in the town's outdoors.b. Synagogues may only be open for two hours... a week...etc.That filth is also in the "courts". Anyone relying on the post modern... israeli garbage is bound to be harmed, here or overseas.
SHmuel
Israeli authorities enable Muslim discrimination against Jews and Christians upon the Temple Mount
The Israeli authorities have again rewarded terrorism by refusing to abide by Israel's 1967 Law for the Protection of the Holy Places that allegedly guarantees FREEDOM OF ACCESS to holy sites, upholding the religious right of Jews and Christians to pray upon the Temple Mount and not just visit as paying tourists!
The Nazi-Muslim occupation of Judaism's holiest site continues with the shameful complicity of Jewish authorities who break both biblical and Israeli law.
Supreme Court Quickly Retracts Permission to Pray at Holy Site
12:40 Oct 23, '05 / 20 Tishrei 5766
By Hillel Fendel
The Supreme Court has ordered a change to its ruling allowing Jews to pray on the Temple Mount on the Sukkot holiday. The Jews may visit, but not pray there.
A ruling had been issued allowing members of the Temple Mount Faithful to ascend to Judaism's holiest site and pray there during the weeklong Sukkot holiday. The ruling went a step further than previous rulings of this type, and permitted the Jews to actually pray there - until it was noticed by the alert State representatives.
The Moslem Waqf, which controls the holy site's day-to-day operations, has long objected to Jewish prayer at the site. Israel's police, government and courts, unwilling to take a chance of violence breaking out, have gone along with the Waqf's dictates.
The Temple Mount Faithful petitioned the Court on the eve of the holiday, asking to be allowed to conduct a "cornerstone laying" ceremony. The Court permitted the group to ascend to the holy spot for a limited time, in a manner that would not clash with Moslem commemorations of the month of Ramadan. The ruling specified that the Jews could pray there.
When the "mistake" was noticed, very shortly after its issuance, representatives of the government asked Deputy Chief Justice Mishael Heshin to replace the word "prayer" with the word "ascent." Justice Heshin wrote in response, "The State claims that several 'mis-writes' were noted in the ruling, and it therefore asks that we correct that which needs to be corrected. We read the claims of the sides, and after having become convinced that in fact several 'mis-writes' had occurred, as the State claimed, we will correct that which needs correcting."
Thus, instead of reading, "...enable Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount," the ruling now states, "...enable Jewish ascent to the Temple Mount." Further on in the ruling, the words, "permission to the Jews to pray on the Temple Mount" was replaced by "permission to the Jews to ascend to the Temple Mount."
"It was clear from the beginning that it was a mistake," said Yehuda Etzion, a leader of the Temple Mount Faithful group and a veteran of many court struggles for the right of Jewish presence and prayer there. "We never thought for a moment that they meant to permit us to pray at our holiest site."
The Temple Mount was open for Jewish visitors only from 7:30-9:00 this morning, and will be open at the same hours tomorrow, the eve of the last day of the Sukkot-Simchat Torah holiday.
Ynetnews has video inside the Temple Mount
Ynetnews has an exclusive video of inside the Temple Mount which is currently closed to Jews, after Israeli able to sneak camcorder into Mount. Prominent archeologist who watched video says Muslim renovation did not damage shrine
Ynetnew Temple Mount video
Such an assertion is challenged:
Look for TALKBACKS (read under the article and click on this informative letter) -
2. nice video showing nothing I haven't seen before.
Ynetnew Temple Mount video
Such an assertion is challenged:
Look for TALKBACKS (read under the article and click on this informative letter) -
2. nice video showing nothing I haven't seen before.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
It's the Temple of God - not just the Jews.
Both the apostle Paul prophesied of the Temple of GOD (not just the Jews) and the apostle John in the Book of Revelation testifies it's the Temple of GOD (not just the Jews). The Jews need to be warned not to trust Europe's imminent wannabe divine emperor who would pollute the Temple just like Antiochus Epiphanes did, although after it was cleansed, it was rededicated and Yashua referred to that cleansed, rededicated Temple as "MY FATHER'S HOUSE."
As far as the commanded sacrifices go (even though Yashua fulfilled their meaning, they're still commanded for now), prayerfully consider:
The Ezekiel Temple
By Jan Willem van der Hoeven
Director: International Christian Zionist Center
As far as the commanded sacrifices go (even though Yashua fulfilled their meaning, they're still commanded for now), prayerfully consider:
The Ezekiel Temple
By Jan Willem van der Hoeven
Director: International Christian Zionist Center
A House of Prayer for All Peoples?
On Simchat Torah (Festival of the Rejoicing of the Law/Last Great Day) I went up to the Temple Mount with my Bible to pray. Although I do not usually wear a kippa (skull cap), I took one with me.
My first challenge was to pass the guards near the Temple Mount entrance; if they saw me with my Bible they would not let me enter. I silently prayed all the way up to the site where God's Temple stood twice, and will be rebuilt for a third and final time, that I would be able to go in. I got past the guards.
You say Jewish guards prevent Christians and Jews from exercising their religious right to pray on the Temple Mount? That's right! Only Muslims have unlimited access to Judaism's most holy site. Only the Koran is permitted within. The Tanach (Jewish Scripture, known to much of the world as the "Old Testament") and Christian Scriptures (the New Testament) are forbidden. Yet Israel claims to respect the religious rights of all people.
Israel has no law against Christians and Jews praying or reading scriptures on the Temple Mount. However, it does have an unwritten agreement with the Wakf (Muslim religious authorities) prohibiting this. No sign is posted, stating: "Warning! Christian and Jewish prayers are forbidden! Bibles not allowed inside by Muslim religious authorities. Proceed with caution!"
I do not accept that Moslems have the authority to forbid me from reading appropriate Psalms or the New Testament account of Jesus celebrating the Water Libation Ceremony (Psalms 120-134, John 7:37). My question was, where should I read those passages? I ended up between the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aksa mosque, just to the right of the place where Moslems wash their hands and feet. I was on the other side of the raised platform there, if you face the Mosque of Omar.
First, I nervously sat and read. Then I put on my black kippa, stood up and started to read for a few minutes until I became distracted by fears of being attacked by the Moslem guards. I sat down, took off my kippa, and continued to read. Then one of the Wakf guards noticed me and asked what I was reading. I replied, "Yes, it's my book." He took it from me and saw that it was a Bible. He demanded to know if I was a Christian or a Jew. When I told him I was a Christian, he asked me why I was wearing a magen David (Star of David).
I did not feel obligated to explain that it was a gift from my mother and youngest sister, and told him, "Give back my Bible." He ordered, "You have to leave now!" Again I said, "Give back my Bible." When he refused, I demanded its return more loudly. He raised his fist as if to hit me and warned me not to raise my voice. This attracted the attention of some passing tourists, who gathered around us. I told them, "This thief has stolen my Bible!"
The Wakf guard told me to leave again and threatened to hit me. He said he would give me back my Bible outside. Since there was no reason for him to confiscate it in the first place, I told him to return it to me then and there and I would go. At this point he radioed an Israeli policeman, who came running. The Israeli handcuffed my right hand, which I raised and showed to the assembled tourists, saying, "This is Israeli democracy!" I asked the Israeli repeatedly, "What law have I broken?" knowing that I had not broken any law, yet was being treated like a common criminal.
I am shocked that Jewish police in the Jewish State help maintain Moslem domination of the Temple Mount by suppressing Christian and Jewish religious rights there. Is it the Temple Mount or the Mosque Mount?
An Israeli policeman led me away. I told the bewildered tourists, "This is what happens to a Christian or Jew who wants to read the Bible where the holy Temple stood. This is what happens to Christians and Jews who want to pray where our prophets and patriarchs prayed, and where Jesus and his disciples taught."
Why the exclusive religious rights for Moslems? And Israel wants to hand over control of Rachel's Tomb, Bethlehem and Joseph's Tomb to Moslem religious authorities?! Are they crazy or what?
In the police station at the Western Wall Plaza, the officers wanted to know who else was with me. They were relieved to find that I was alone. (They should have known I was performing a mitzva [religious commandment]). The police said they arrested me for my own protection. I told them they should have arrested the Wakf guard who threatened me! Why not remove, once and for all, the threat of Moslem violence? Why reward Moslem extremists?
The police laughed in disbelief when I told them I am a Christian and that my Bible includes the New Testament, which they returned to me. A Druze officer said, "But you must respect other religions." He remained silent when I asked, "Where was their respect for mine?" I explained that our Biblical goal is to enable everyone to come and pray on the mountain where God's Temple stood, and in the Temple when it will be rebuilt. It is prophesied to become a "House of Prayer" for all nations.
The police told me I could return to the Temple Mount as a tourist - without my Bible. I said that I do not want to go up there only as a "tourist;" I want to pray there. When they asked me how many times I had been up there, I said "a thousand." They wrote that down in their report. They said I could make a short statement for the record. I said something to this effect: "Is it too much to ask during this 3,000th anniversary of King David's Jerusalem to peacefully read his inspired words on the Temple Mount?"
When I left the police compound, one of the policemen told me I did a good thing. Once outside, I was met by some Jews who saw the incident and congratulated me.
I pray that this unfortunate encounter will raise awareness of Israel's religious discrimination against Christians and Jews. The situation must change. It will when enough people cry "Basta!" (Italian for "enough!").
May the day soon come when Christians, Jews and Moslems can say: "My House shall be called a house of prayer for all Peoples." (Isaiah 56:7). The Bible says
"Moreover, concerning the stranger, who (is) not of Your people Israel, but comes out of a far country for Your Name's sake. For they shall hear of Your great Name, and of your mighty hand, and of Your outstretched arm, and will come and pray toward this house. Hear you in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to You for, that all peoples of the earth may know Your Name, to fear you, as (do) Your people Israel, that they may know that Your Name is called upon this house that I have built." (I Kings 8:41-43)
"And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to serve Him and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants - everyone who observes the Sabbath - I will bring them to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon My altar, for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." (Isaiah 56:6-7)
"And it shall come to pass at the end of days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established at the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and peoples shall flow to it. And many nations shall go, and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord...and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths,' for out of Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Micah 4:1-2)
(This article was published in the Jerusalem-based, Root and Branch Association newsletter, January 1996.)
My first challenge was to pass the guards near the Temple Mount entrance; if they saw me with my Bible they would not let me enter. I silently prayed all the way up to the site where God's Temple stood twice, and will be rebuilt for a third and final time, that I would be able to go in. I got past the guards.
You say Jewish guards prevent Christians and Jews from exercising their religious right to pray on the Temple Mount? That's right! Only Muslims have unlimited access to Judaism's most holy site. Only the Koran is permitted within. The Tanach (Jewish Scripture, known to much of the world as the "Old Testament") and Christian Scriptures (the New Testament) are forbidden. Yet Israel claims to respect the religious rights of all people.
Israel has no law against Christians and Jews praying or reading scriptures on the Temple Mount. However, it does have an unwritten agreement with the Wakf (Muslim religious authorities) prohibiting this. No sign is posted, stating: "Warning! Christian and Jewish prayers are forbidden! Bibles not allowed inside by Muslim religious authorities. Proceed with caution!"
I do not accept that Moslems have the authority to forbid me from reading appropriate Psalms or the New Testament account of Jesus celebrating the Water Libation Ceremony (Psalms 120-134, John 7:37). My question was, where should I read those passages? I ended up between the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aksa mosque, just to the right of the place where Moslems wash their hands and feet. I was on the other side of the raised platform there, if you face the Mosque of Omar.
First, I nervously sat and read. Then I put on my black kippa, stood up and started to read for a few minutes until I became distracted by fears of being attacked by the Moslem guards. I sat down, took off my kippa, and continued to read. Then one of the Wakf guards noticed me and asked what I was reading. I replied, "Yes, it's my book." He took it from me and saw that it was a Bible. He demanded to know if I was a Christian or a Jew. When I told him I was a Christian, he asked me why I was wearing a magen David (Star of David).
I did not feel obligated to explain that it was a gift from my mother and youngest sister, and told him, "Give back my Bible." He ordered, "You have to leave now!" Again I said, "Give back my Bible." When he refused, I demanded its return more loudly. He raised his fist as if to hit me and warned me not to raise my voice. This attracted the attention of some passing tourists, who gathered around us. I told them, "This thief has stolen my Bible!"
The Wakf guard told me to leave again and threatened to hit me. He said he would give me back my Bible outside. Since there was no reason for him to confiscate it in the first place, I told him to return it to me then and there and I would go. At this point he radioed an Israeli policeman, who came running. The Israeli handcuffed my right hand, which I raised and showed to the assembled tourists, saying, "This is Israeli democracy!" I asked the Israeli repeatedly, "What law have I broken?" knowing that I had not broken any law, yet was being treated like a common criminal.
I am shocked that Jewish police in the Jewish State help maintain Moslem domination of the Temple Mount by suppressing Christian and Jewish religious rights there. Is it the Temple Mount or the Mosque Mount?
An Israeli policeman led me away. I told the bewildered tourists, "This is what happens to a Christian or Jew who wants to read the Bible where the holy Temple stood. This is what happens to Christians and Jews who want to pray where our prophets and patriarchs prayed, and where Jesus and his disciples taught."
Why the exclusive religious rights for Moslems? And Israel wants to hand over control of Rachel's Tomb, Bethlehem and Joseph's Tomb to Moslem religious authorities?! Are they crazy or what?
In the police station at the Western Wall Plaza, the officers wanted to know who else was with me. They were relieved to find that I was alone. (They should have known I was performing a mitzva [religious commandment]). The police said they arrested me for my own protection. I told them they should have arrested the Wakf guard who threatened me! Why not remove, once and for all, the threat of Moslem violence? Why reward Moslem extremists?
The police laughed in disbelief when I told them I am a Christian and that my Bible includes the New Testament, which they returned to me. A Druze officer said, "But you must respect other religions." He remained silent when I asked, "Where was their respect for mine?" I explained that our Biblical goal is to enable everyone to come and pray on the mountain where God's Temple stood, and in the Temple when it will be rebuilt. It is prophesied to become a "House of Prayer" for all nations.
The police told me I could return to the Temple Mount as a tourist - without my Bible. I said that I do not want to go up there only as a "tourist;" I want to pray there. When they asked me how many times I had been up there, I said "a thousand." They wrote that down in their report. They said I could make a short statement for the record. I said something to this effect: "Is it too much to ask during this 3,000th anniversary of King David's Jerusalem to peacefully read his inspired words on the Temple Mount?"
When I left the police compound, one of the policemen told me I did a good thing. Once outside, I was met by some Jews who saw the incident and congratulated me.
I pray that this unfortunate encounter will raise awareness of Israel's religious discrimination against Christians and Jews. The situation must change. It will when enough people cry "Basta!" (Italian for "enough!").
May the day soon come when Christians, Jews and Moslems can say: "My House shall be called a house of prayer for all Peoples." (Isaiah 56:7). The Bible says
"Moreover, concerning the stranger, who (is) not of Your people Israel, but comes out of a far country for Your Name's sake. For they shall hear of Your great Name, and of your mighty hand, and of Your outstretched arm, and will come and pray toward this house. Hear you in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to You for, that all peoples of the earth may know Your Name, to fear you, as (do) Your people Israel, that they may know that Your Name is called upon this house that I have built." (I Kings 8:41-43)
"And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to serve Him and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants - everyone who observes the Sabbath - I will bring them to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon My altar, for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." (Isaiah 56:6-7)
"And it shall come to pass at the end of days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established at the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and peoples shall flow to it. And many nations shall go, and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord...and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths,' for out of Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Micah 4:1-2)
(This article was published in the Jerusalem-based, Root and Branch Association newsletter, January 1996.)
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