Did John
Kerry Just Help Set The Stage For The Fulfillment Of Bible Prophecy?
October 26, 2015
As
the age-old tussle for ownership and control of Jerusalem continues,
it’s becoming more and more apparent that the Temple Mount is indeed at
the center point of it all. Although considered sacred to Christians,
Jews and Muslims alike, the Temple Mount continues to attract attention
from ongoing attempts to wrest it out of the grasp of all claimants to
its Jewish heritage.
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. It’s believed to be the Biblical Mount Moriah, where Abraham fulfilled God’s test of his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. The Temple Mount has remained a focal point for Jewish services for thousands of years. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Temple have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed.
The area is also revered in Islam (despite Jerusalem not once being mentioned directly by name in the Koran) and is considered to be its 3rd holiest site. It is this area of land that many Muslim leaders have used to incite Palestinians to violence with claims that Israel was drawing up plans to limit Muslim access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque or to advance plans to rebuild the third temple. Even the slightest suggestion of change to the status quo has caused Arab leaders to threaten bringing the issue before the UN.
Riyad Mansour, the PA envoy to the UN, has asked the UN Security Council to step in and assist Palestinian Arabs by way of protecting Arabs from Israeli law enforcement “in the occupied territory starting in the Old City of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa mosque”.
Israel strongly opposes this view. World Net Daily reported Netanyahu ‘s reaction: “There is no mention of Palestinian incitement and Palestinian terrorism…We’ve already seen what happens in holy sites in the Middle East when extreme Muslims destroy each other’s mosques, Christian sites, heritage sites, Jewish sites…there hasn’t been any change in the status quo – except for an attempt by some people, organized by Islamic groups in Israel as well as extremist elements – to place explosives in mosques and attack Jews from within the mosques.”
Mansour’s plea however prompted France to consider drafting a proposal to station international troops on the Temple Mount. If passed, the draft French proposal would not be binding but would only constitute a statement of intent on behalf of the U.N. Security Council. Israel’s reaction was communicated via UN representative Danny Danon, who declared that Israel would never agree to allow an international force to occupy the site of the two Biblical temples.
This was not the first attempt by the Palestinians in recent days to get the UN to take action against Israel.
The Palestinian Authority recently backed down on a resolution it was planning to submit to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeking to claim the Kotel (Western Wall) as a Muslim holy site, wresting the Kotel from the Jewish nation and claiming it as its own.
The area known as the Kotel was originally a part of the outer, western retaining wall of the Second Holy Temple that was destroyed in the year 70 CE. It has been sacred to Jews and Christians for 2,000 years. The millennia-long holiness of the Kotel derives from its association with the Temple Mount, where the two previous Holy Temples stood.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the recent efforts “a clear endeavor to distort history, in order to erase the connection between the Jewish people and its holiest site, and to create a false reality.”
Despite protests by Palestinian leaders, observers say that claims of Israeli plans to restrict Muslims from the Temple Mount contradict the facts on the ground. Jews and Christians are in fact the ones barred from the mount during most hours of the day and are never allowed to pray at the site or carry holy objects.
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. It’s believed to be the Biblical Mount Moriah, where Abraham fulfilled God’s test of his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. The Temple Mount has remained a focal point for Jewish services for thousands of years. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Temple have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed.
The area is also revered in Islam (despite Jerusalem not once being mentioned directly by name in the Koran) and is considered to be its 3rd holiest site. It is this area of land that many Muslim leaders have used to incite Palestinians to violence with claims that Israel was drawing up plans to limit Muslim access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque or to advance plans to rebuild the third temple. Even the slightest suggestion of change to the status quo has caused Arab leaders to threaten bringing the issue before the UN.
Riyad Mansour, the PA envoy to the UN, has asked the UN Security Council to step in and assist Palestinian Arabs by way of protecting Arabs from Israeli law enforcement “in the occupied territory starting in the Old City of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa mosque”.
Israel strongly opposes this view. World Net Daily reported Netanyahu ‘s reaction: “There is no mention of Palestinian incitement and Palestinian terrorism…We’ve already seen what happens in holy sites in the Middle East when extreme Muslims destroy each other’s mosques, Christian sites, heritage sites, Jewish sites…there hasn’t been any change in the status quo – except for an attempt by some people, organized by Islamic groups in Israel as well as extremist elements – to place explosives in mosques and attack Jews from within the mosques.”
Mansour’s plea however prompted France to consider drafting a proposal to station international troops on the Temple Mount. If passed, the draft French proposal would not be binding but would only constitute a statement of intent on behalf of the U.N. Security Council. Israel’s reaction was communicated via UN representative Danny Danon, who declared that Israel would never agree to allow an international force to occupy the site of the two Biblical temples.
This was not the first attempt by the Palestinians in recent days to get the UN to take action against Israel.
The Palestinian Authority recently backed down on a resolution it was planning to submit to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeking to claim the Kotel (Western Wall) as a Muslim holy site, wresting the Kotel from the Jewish nation and claiming it as its own.
The area known as the Kotel was originally a part of the outer, western retaining wall of the Second Holy Temple that was destroyed in the year 70 CE. It has been sacred to Jews and Christians for 2,000 years. The millennia-long holiness of the Kotel derives from its association with the Temple Mount, where the two previous Holy Temples stood.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the recent efforts “a clear endeavor to distort history, in order to erase the connection between the Jewish people and its holiest site, and to create a false reality.”
Despite protests by Palestinian leaders, observers say that claims of Israeli plans to restrict Muslims from the Temple Mount contradict the facts on the ground. Jews and Christians are in fact the ones barred from the mount during most hours of the day and are never allowed to pray at the site or carry holy objects.
Those rules, enforced by the Israeli police, are imposed by the real
custodians of the Temple Mount, the Waqf, which is controlled jointly by
the Palestinians and the Jordanians. Young Muslim men only find
themselves restricted from the area as a result of stone throwing or
other violence.
The United States has also been drawn into the controversy and recently met with Jordanian and Palestinian leaders about the situation on the temple mount. US Secretary of State John Kerry's proposed solution to keeping the “status quo” involves 24-hour video surveillance of the temple mount area. The Palestinians, Jordanians and Israelis have all indicated an openness to this plan although it is unclear at this point who will be controlling and monitoring the cameras.
Some Bible prophecy students point out the interesting verses in Revelation 11 which speak of the whole world being able to watch what happens in Jerusalem when God's Two Witnesses are killed on the streets and left there for three and a half days, where they then rise from the dead. Although it is unclear from scripture where in Jerusalem they will be slain, the Temple Mount area would be a likely place in which they would deliver a message to the people of Jerusalem.
The United States has also been drawn into the controversy and recently met with Jordanian and Palestinian leaders about the situation on the temple mount. US Secretary of State John Kerry's proposed solution to keeping the “status quo” involves 24-hour video surveillance of the temple mount area. The Palestinians, Jordanians and Israelis have all indicated an openness to this plan although it is unclear at this point who will be controlling and monitoring the cameras.
Some Bible prophecy students point out the interesting verses in Revelation 11 which speak of the whole world being able to watch what happens in Jerusalem when God's Two Witnesses are killed on the streets and left there for three and a half days, where they then rise from the dead. Although it is unclear from scripture where in Jerusalem they will be slain, the Temple Mount area would be a likely place in which they would deliver a message to the people of Jerusalem.
Will
the world be watching through these newly installed 24-hour video surveillance
cameras?
Controversial personal views on the Temple Mount continue to persist at various levels. A recent World Net Daily account quotes well-known cleric and Muslim preacher, Sheik Khaled Al-Mughrabi, sensationally claiming that Jews will eventually build a temple outside of the area of the Temple Mount, where they will worship the devil “because the Anti-Christ won’t appear unless this Temple is built and the Devil is worshiped there.”
He further taught that at the “end of time,” Muslims will seek out and destroy Jews wherever they are, and that Jews will be forced to change their plans to build the Temple inside the structure of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and will have to build it outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The children of Israel will all be exterminated, the Anti-Christ will be killed and the Muslims will live in comfort for a long time.
Mughrabi’s statements do not align with Biblical Scripture from the Christian viewpoint, even though there are a few parallel themes such as the rise of the Anti-Christ, his prominent role in Israel and his eventual claim to be God in the rebuilt Temple.
The Biblical accounts state, in part that, before its final glory, Jerusalem will experience trouble and will be burdensome, just as we are seeing today:
And it shall come to pass on that day that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples; all who bear it shall be gashed, and all the nations of the earth shall gather against it.” (Zechariah 12:3)
The Jerusalem conflict, the Temple Mount controversies and increasing international concern and involvement, all point to Jerusalem’s rapid transformation into the prophesied “burdensome stone for all peoples” in these last days.
Controversial personal views on the Temple Mount continue to persist at various levels. A recent World Net Daily account quotes well-known cleric and Muslim preacher, Sheik Khaled Al-Mughrabi, sensationally claiming that Jews will eventually build a temple outside of the area of the Temple Mount, where they will worship the devil “because the Anti-Christ won’t appear unless this Temple is built and the Devil is worshiped there.”
He further taught that at the “end of time,” Muslims will seek out and destroy Jews wherever they are, and that Jews will be forced to change their plans to build the Temple inside the structure of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and will have to build it outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The children of Israel will all be exterminated, the Anti-Christ will be killed and the Muslims will live in comfort for a long time.
Mughrabi’s statements do not align with Biblical Scripture from the Christian viewpoint, even though there are a few parallel themes such as the rise of the Anti-Christ, his prominent role in Israel and his eventual claim to be God in the rebuilt Temple.
The Biblical accounts state, in part that, before its final glory, Jerusalem will experience trouble and will be burdensome, just as we are seeing today:
And it shall come to pass on that day that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples; all who bear it shall be gashed, and all the nations of the earth shall gather against it.” (Zechariah 12:3)
The Jerusalem conflict, the Temple Mount controversies and increasing international concern and involvement, all point to Jerusalem’s rapid transformation into the prophesied “burdensome stone for all peoples” in these last days.
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/October26/262.html#fepQEiOgo7ESp8mj.99
No comments:
Post a Comment