Giving the headline, "Holy War: red cows, Gaza and the end of the world," Newsweek magazine reported yesterday:
"The (Israel-Gaza) war has increased religious tensions and given new impetus to a group of Jews and their evangelical Christian allies who are set on rebuilding an ancient temple where millennium-old Islamic shrines now stand—a suggestion that arouses the horror not only of Palestinians and Muslims worldwide, but of many Jews in Israel and around the globe as well as that of would-be Middle East peacemakers.
"Third Temple advocates have been preparing for the day when the temple can be rebuilt, complete with rabbinically-certified red cows shipped from Texas for use in sacrificial purification rituals. The architectural designs are all ready, along the lines of the detailed Biblical descriptions. Robes have been woven and utensils assembled to Biblical specifications for ceremonies at the planned temple.
"Messianic Jewish supporters believe the rebuilding of the temple, rather than being divisive, would fulfil Biblical prophecy to bring an era of peace with the temple as 'a house of prayer for all nations.' Christian backers, meanwhile, believe it would be an important step towards the Second Coming of Jesus and an apocalyptic last battle with the Antichrist."
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Here are a few notes taken on this subject from this evening's study at my church, given by Richard Jordan:
Talking about the Antichrist, Daniel 9:27 says,
[27] And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
An oblation is a religious offering. He's going to cause it to cease. So prior to the middle of the week, it's started. In other words, temple worship will begin again in the 70th Week of Daniel, and in the midst of the week, the Antichrist's going to stop it. He'll sit there and say, "Stop that. Worship me."
Yes, there will be a third temple. Yes, the Antichrist will set it up; he'll set it up for his own use, but it will all be UNBELIEVING Israel . . .
The temple mount where the mosque is--that's not the proper location of things as far as God's concerned. In the Lie Program it might be an issue. There will be a tabernacle and so forth before they get the temple built, etc. . . .
Even if somebody's going to try to go sacrifice the red heifer, so what? What's it going to accomplish? God's not going to do anything with it because that's just doing something He's set aside. Satan's not going to do something with it. The way he's going to set this Antichrist up hasn't anything to do with sacrificing a red heifer.
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A study from last year made the point there is a great lack of understanding about end-times events due to applying a Western mind-frame to Bible prophecy:
"When studying Revelation 17, try to avoid understanding or reading it from a Western perspective. That's what the church has done," advises Alex Kurz.
"They study Revelation 17 and 18, for that matter, with a Western frame of reference and that is a mistake. It's to be understood from a land of Shinar (Middle East) perspective. It has to be understood from an Eastern frame of reference and then, 'Hey, now we can kind of see what's going on and what's happening.'
[7] And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
[8] The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
[9] And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
"Who or what are the seven heads? The first head of that satanic monstrosity is Egypt. The second's Assyria, the third's Babylon, then Media-Persia and Greece.
[10] And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
"So No. 6 is the northern kingdom. The other that's 'not yet come' is going to be No. 7. That's the Antichrist but he's the Antichrist manifested as 'the man of the sin.'
[11] And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
"What happens to No. 7? He 'was, and is not.' He's killed; he dies. But then, all of a sudden, something is going to ascend as verse 11 tells us. An entity comes up out of the bottomless pit; he's No. 8. That's going to be the last half of the 70th Week and he is Antichrist manifested as the 'son of perdition.'
[12] And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. [13] These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
"Notice it's 'no kingdom' singular? But then if you drop down to verse 17: [17] For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
"There's a point in time when the ten kings give their kingdom to the beast. Is that one hour at the end of verse 12 'heaven time' or is that earthly time? There's a case that can be made that the one hour is a heaven measurement of what's going on on Planet Earth.
"If you can just recall the timeline of the 70th Week, seven years are divided into parts of 3 1/2 and 3 1/2. If you recall, the Antichrist launches his campaign of conquest with one crown. What's he doing for the first three-and-a-half years?
"He's conquering. He's obtaining the ten crowns. He ends in the middle of the week with 10 crowns, so there's a span at the beginning of the 'week' where he's consolidating power; he's a political, military genius.
"The ten-nation area is not the European Union. The Bible in Genesis and Psalms and Isaiah identify the ten nations and where are they? They're all in the land of Shinar; they're all in the Middle East. Again, we use that Eastern perspective. Don't interpret it using a Western perspective. Great damage is going to be done."
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Revelation 17:1: [1] And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
"You know what the angel is saying to John? 'I'm going to show you.' The passages are going to interpret themselves. The passage tells us this great whore is a city.
Verse 2: [2] With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
"This is the spiritual fornication and spiritual whoredom that's been taking place in human history going all the way back to the book of Genesis. That's why it's called a mystery.
"It's not a mystery in the sense that it's unknowable, but it's a mystery because there is operating, in tandem to the satanic policy of evil to control a literal geographic land mass, a spiritual arm to that political arm.
"When humanity is concentrating on the physical, the material, the literal, the geographic, behind it all is a spiritual system that's operating. That's why it's called Mystery Babylon. Israel was victimized by this and they became participants in the spiritual whoredom.
Verse 15: [15] And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
"This woman is a city; the waters represent the nations, represent the multitudes, peoples, various tongues out there. We're being painted a picture here of what John is witnessing.
In verse 3: [3] So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
"What does that denote? In a number of passages the woman is sitting, which denotes control. Certainly there's a relationship between the woman and the beast. In fact, the woman is going to ride this beast.
"So there's this tremendous influence that the religious system has over the kingdom of Antichrist.
Verse 9: [9] And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
"The seven-headed monstrosity, which is the beast kingdom, the Antichrist kingdom, has those seven heads that represent those seven kingdoms in human history.
"We know from history that these kingdoms rise and fall and yet in the image, all seven kingdoms are there. Spiritually there is a unifying force; a tie that binds them which is Mystery Babylon."
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