Red heifers in Israel prompt 3rd Temple speculation

The altar and sacred vessels have been reconstructed. The architectural plans are being drawn up. Now a group is taking another step toward fulfilling the biblical prophecy of a restored Temple by raising a group of red heifers in the land of Israel.

And evangelical Christian leaders are divided about what it means if the Third Temple, prophesied to play a key role in the end times, can actually be constructed in Jerusalem.

Before the Temple can rise, builders must secure a red heifer, or “para aduma,” a three-year-old female cow with totally red hair that is supposed to be able to restore a state of “purity” after ritual slaughter.

The Temple Institute, an Israeli organization dedicated to constructing the Third Temple, has launched a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo to breed such animals and has already succeeded in accumulating almost $ 15,000 in three days. The group’s previous campaign in 2014 succeeded in raising more than $ 100,000 to pay for the creation of construction plans that meet both architectural and Scriptural standards.

The group admits red heifers are not uncommon around the world, but claims a “para aduma” suitable for ritual use actually must be raised in Israel and meet painstaking specifications laid out in Scripture.

Therefore, instead of simply waiting for the appearance of a red heifer, the Temple Institute “has joined forces with an experienced cattle rancher” to use modern science to breed cows that meet the requirements.

See the Institute’s plans:

Eventually, the cows will be used ritually as part of a “purification” process. The group further plans to train priests in the proper ritual use of the red heifers, identifying and selecting descendants of the “priestly tribe of Aaron” who are qualified to prepare the animals, and undertaking the “documentation and provision of the precise location on the Mount of Olives for the heifer’s preparation.”

However, the group may find more trouble when it comes to actually rebuilding the Temple itself. The Temple Mount is currently administered by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, and the Al-Asqa Mosque occupies the site of the Temple Mount.

Battles over access to the mosque and attempts by religious Jews to visit the site are also a continuing source of controversy. Still, the Temple Institute is ultimately hopeful about literally rebuilding the “Holy Temple.”

Joel Richardson, a filmmaker, evangelist, and New York Times bestselling author of “The Islamic Antichrist: The Shocking Truth About The Real Nature of the Beast,” warns the Third Temple is not an easy subject for those who believe in Jesus.

“The issue of the Third Temple is always a controversial matter among evangelical Christians. Some say that after the sacrifice of Messiah Jesus, it is a great offense to God to engage in any further sacrifices. Indeed, the Book of Hebrews says that the sacrifice of Jesus was ‘once and for all.’”

But Richardson, most recently the author of “When a Jew Rules the World: What the Bible Really Says About Israel in the Plan of God,” observes that some “point out that Paul the apostle and the other early believers continued to engage in the ritual temple sacrificial system. One thing is for sure, the Temple will be rebuilt in the days ahead. The Scriptures are quite clear about this.”

Richardson says, “Eventually, we are told that the man the Bible refers to as the Antichrist will invade the city of Jerusalem and set himself up in the temple in what is called ‘the abomination that causes desolation.’”

For that reason, Richardson argues, many Christians assume the forthcoming Temple will be “an inherently bad thing.”

However, Richardson contends: “The problem with this is the Scriptures refer to the abomination as taking place in ‘God’s Temple,’ thus inferring that it is not viewed negatively by God Himself. One cannot, after all, desecrate something that this not sacred in the first place.”

Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries, the discoverer of the “Blood Moons” phenomenon, believes the Temple Institute faces formidable hurdles when it comes to executing the ritual correctly. Nonetheless, he was enthusiastic about plans to rebuild the Temple.

“I am all for a rebuilding of the Temple and believe the desire to rebuild proves we are living in the times of the Messiah,” said Biltz, the author of “Blood Moons: Decoding the Imminent Heavenly Signs.”

He said, “The importance of the effort [to breed the red heifers] is critical as it is necessary for acquiring the purification necessary for the priests to work within the Temple. It is a sign that man wants a connection to the Creator of the Universe and desires His Presence.”

Yet not all Christians agree the Third Temple will be literally constructed in Jerusalem.

Carl Gallups, a pastor, talk-show host and author of “Final Warning: Understanding the Trumpet Days of Revelation,” says evangelical Christians are divided. While acknowledging many believe Scripture refers to a literal structure when it says the “Temple,” Gallups says there is another school of thought.

“There are others, including many of the classical and highly respected Christian commentators who declare this ‘temple’ is none other than the Christian church (the temple being built with ‘living stones’) of the last days,” Gallups says.

If this argument is true, Gallups claims, it means the Antichrist will “be one who, using his demonically deceptive power, will set himself up as a ruler claiming the authority of God over the church, attempting to direct the affairs of all of last days Christendom.”

While Gallups says there is “strong” biblical evidence for both positions, if the second position is true, “then there is no necessity for a literal Jewish Temple to be rebuilt in order for end time prophecy to reach its ultimate fulfillment.”

Furthermore, Gallups believes there is some evidence to believe the “Temple of God” is already being occupied by forces of the Antichrist – in this case, by a mosque.

“As I elucidate in “Final Warning, there are also those who point to the current Islamic Dome of the Rock as an undeniable and literal fulfillment of the ‘abomination of desolation’ currently standing in the ‘holy place.’ They would also point out that the undeniable ‘spirit’ of Antichrist is attached to the whole of the Islamic message, especially as it relates to the biblical Jesus. Furthermore, they would say, its demonic influence continues to wreak destruction and spread its influence throughout the world in our own historical time frame.”

Richardson argues one of the most important element of all of this is the central purpose of the Temple after the return of Jesus Christ.

“Rising far above all these controversies, is the fact that during the millennial reign of Jesus the Messiah, yet another temple will indeed be rebuilt. And even with Jesus ruling and reigning here on the earth, sacrifices and offerings will continue to take place.”

Yet the fierce debate over the Third Temple and its importance for the contemporary world does not detract from a shared sense among many commentators of prophecy being realized in the modern world. Noting what he sees as the rise of global immorality, ominous signs of war in the Middle East, and the return of the state of Israel, Gallups enthuses, “The solid signs of Jesus’ soon return are all around us.”

And Richardson believes Christians are going to be forced to confront their deepest held beliefs about the end times sooner rather than later.

“If the Christian church seems divided now, imagine the great controversy in the days ahead when the third Jewish Temple is rebuilt. Those days are indeed coming and coming quickly.”

 

WND » Faith
Red heifers in Israel prompt 3rd Temple speculation

PASSOVER - The 7 Feasts of Israel and Jesus - Amazing Revelation

Obama adviser wants Israel to give up nukes

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

TEL AVIV – The president of a think tank that arranged a conference call Monday between the White House and progressive activist organizations in which participants discussed how to coordinate public defense of President Obama’s pending Iran deal has another ultimate target in mind.

Joseph Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, wants Israel to give up its nuclear weapons, arguing such a move will ensure Iran halts its illicit nuclear program and will help to create a Mideast nuclear-free zone.

On Monday, White House officials held a private strategy conference call with progressive organizations to discuss ways of convincing lawmakers to support a deal with Iran being brokered by the Obama administration.

The conference call organized by Ploughshares Fund, an anti-nuclear weapons advocacy group, had about 100 participants.

Cirincione previously advised Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign on nuclear issues.

The Ploughshares president outlined in his 2008 book, “Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons,” that he favors Israel giving up its nuclear weapons to ensure Iran doesn’t obtain nukes.

He presented his position in a March 2005 opinion article for The Globalist, “Iran and Israel’s Nuclear Weapons.”

In the piece, Cirincione stated, “Now is the time to put U.S. muscle behind long-standing U.S. policy of seeking a nuclear-free Middle East region” with specific focus on Israel’s nuclear weapons.

He called for an “even-handed policy that views all nonconventional weapons in the Middle East as threats to regional peace and stability.”

“Everyone already knows about Israel’s bombs in the closet,” Cirincione wrote. “Bringing them out into the open and putting them on the table as part of a regional deal may be the only way to prevent others from building their own bombs in their basements.”

For Cirincione, targeting Israel’s nuclear program is a long-term policy aim.

“It will not be easy and will likely take years to fashion such an agreement. That is why there is no time to lose.”

Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, yet, as a policy, the government does not acknowledge it.

Israel is said to have launched its nuclear program as early as the late 1940s and early 1950s.

In March, at about the same time Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress, the Obama administration approved a Freedom of Information Act request that resulted in the release of an extensive Pentagon report discussing Israel’s nuclear weapon capabilities.

‘An issue of the presidency’

On Monday, the Washington Free Beacon reported it obtained an audio recording of the conference call that day arranged by the Ploughshares Fund. In the call, White House officials described Obama’s Iran negotiations as the president’s “signature foreign policy accomplishment,” a policy that must in turn be supported by Democrats.

“This has really been on the front burner from a foreign perspective, although not in the public eye necessarily, since the very beginning,” Matt Nosanchuk, an official in the White House Office of Public Engagement, told participants, according to the audio description. “This is not an issue of the day, this is really an issue of the presidency.”

Another official with the White House’s Public Engagement office, John Bisognano, stressed “the importance of this to the president.”

“This is clearly an issue that is very close to his heart and something that’s extraordinarily important for the future of frankly the world,” Bisognano said. “I want to make sure everyone understands this is a top priority for the administration, and this is clearly something that we’re all focused on moving forward and excited about hoping that we can come to a solid agreement.”

A key participant in the call was Robert Creamer, a member of the progressive Democracy Partners group and the general consultant to United for Change, which was formed to support Obama’s governing agenda.

“We have to take to our memberships all over the country,” Creamer told participants in the call. “We all have to step up. The other side will go crazy with intensity.”

Creamer urged progressive activists to target Democrats by “blitzing the hell out of the Hill.”

“What will be ultimately decisive is the level of intensity that members of Congress feel, particularly Democrats,” said Creamer. “Democrats are actually the key people here because if we can have enough votes to prevent a presidential veto override [of the deal], then we win.

“That means tons of phone calls, lots of lobbying contacts, not just a couple of good conversations, I mean just blitzing the hell out of the Hill,” Creamer said, predicting “a big, big battle” over the deal. “This is going to be a real war for the next week.”

Creamer reportedly also provided participants with input from his wife, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.

“Let me just also note, my wife, Congresswoman Schakowsky, just yelled across the room to me to make clear to everybody that we have to be clear that this is a good deal because it prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon,” Creamer said. “The other side will go crazy. We have to be really clear that it’s a good deal.”

As WND reported, the Ploughshares Fund opposes America’s development of a missile-defense system and contributes to scores of anti-war groups highly critical of U.S. foreign policy and military expansion.

The Ploughshares Fund has a long history of anti-war advocacy and is a partner of the Marxist-oriented Institute for Policy Studies. The institute has urged the defunding of the Pentagon and massive decreases in U.S. defense capabilities, including slashing the American nuclear arsenal to 292 deployed weapons, WND also previously reported.

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Obama adviser wants Israel to give up nukes

Hamas rats out rival jihadists to Israel

Air strike in Gaza

TEL AVIV – They say politics makes strange bedfellows. Apparently so does fighting Islamic State ideologues.

Using Egypt as a middleman of sorts, Hamas has been passing to Israel information on rival Salafist jihadists in the Gaza Strip hoping the Jewish state will target those militants, an Egyptian security source told WND.

The information is also utilized by Egypt in its fight against allied Salafist groups in the Sinai Peninsula, which neighbors Gaza, the source said.

The source said Hamas is fully aware that the information it provides to Egypt on Gazan Salafist rivals will be shared with the Jewish state.

The source said the intelligence sharing development does not mark any change in Hamas’ attitude toward Israel.

Read “Son of Hamas,” the gripping accout of terror, betrayal, political intrigue, and unthinkable choices, now available from the WND Superstore.

Nor does the development represent any rapprochement between Israel and Hamas, the source added.

The source further stated the information from Hamas only flows one way and that Israel does not in turn share any intelligence via Egypt with Hamas.

Asked to comment on the Egyptian security source’s claims, Mushir al Masri, a spokesman for Hamas, told WND “This is a sick joke.”

“Israel is our enemy,” al-Masri continued. “Our conversations with Egypt has nothing to do with Israel.”

Hamas in recent weeks has been facing perhaps the biggest challenge to its rule in the form of rival Salafist groups allied with ISIS ideology. Those groups have accused Hamas of “selling out” their Islamic faith and have been openly challenging Hamas, including with firefight clashes and attempted bombings.

On Tuesday, Salafists in Gaza under the banner of the Omar Brigades claimed responsibility for a rocket launched from Gaza toward southern Israel, at least the fifth such rocket fired from Gaza in recent weeks.

The rocket fire violates a truce between Israel and Hamas. The Salafists seemingly want to draw Israeli retaliation targeting the Hamas infrastructure. Israel holds Gaza’s Hamas rulers responsible for rockets fired by Gazan groups.

Hamas has arrested dozens of ISIS-allied gunmen and imams and a Salafist mosque was destroyed.

Earlier this month, a ISIS-tied jihadist, 27-year-old Younis Hunnar, was killed during a raid by Hamas security forces on his Gaza City home.

 

WND » World
Hamas rats out rival jihadists to Israel

Moonscape in Israel

Negev Desert. Photo credit: Dave Perkins

Texas to Tel Aviv in 24

A friend has embarked on his fourth trip to Israel and is keeping a photo and video travelogue of the experience on his Facebook page.

Dave Perkins, talk radio show host and news anchor at The Blaze Radio Network, set out on his journey June 4 from Texas, arriving in Tel Aviv a day later.

Dave Perkins and Josh Charles in Jerusalem

And since then he’s been posting photos and videos of his trek to a desert valley in Jordan with buddies Josh Charles, a columnist at WND, and Ryan Dobbs, founder of DiscipleWorks International.

“Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem, my friends, today we are off to the incredible Wadi Rum in Jordan. … Also known as The Valley of the Moon … and it truly is a moonscape, a valley cut into the same red rocks as is the earthquake-cut rift where Petra was made so long ago (Petra, btw, has a town outside it situated in Wadi Musa, the Valley of Moses … so it’s natural to assume Moses has been in this valley as well, just a few miles eastward of the Dead Sea and Israel’s southern desert … it’s Nabatean country … the closest thing I can think of to this is the Grand Canyon, but it’s not the same … just google Wadi Rum and hit ‘images’ and take a look around.”

Photos include scenes from the Negev Desert south of the Dead Sea, the Rabin crossing into Jordan at Aqaba, four-legged, humped Jordanian “pedestrians,” the red sand desert and rocks of Jordan’s Wadi Rum, Masada Hill, and Sunday prayers at the Western Wall in the old city of Jerusalem, with the Mount of Olives nearby.

Photo credit: Dave Perkins

Travel mate Ryan Dobbs wrote: “The Western Wall is where the Jewish people come to pray because it is the closest point on the Temple Mount (that they can access) where the Temple once stood. Generally, they will come here to pray and will often place a written prayer into the cracks of the wall. To the left there is an entrance to a tunnel that goes down under the Temple Mount. That tunnel leads to the closest place a Jewish person can currently get to the former location of the Holy of Holies…”

Dave Perkins

To follow their travels, just “follow” Dave at his Facebook page.

Death of a president

On the 11th anniversary of her husband’s death last Friday, June 5, former first lady Nancy Reagan placed flowers on President Ronald Reagan’s gravesite at the Reagan Library.

Thirty-one years ago last Saturday, June 6, on the 40th anniversary of D-Day at Pointe du Hoc, President Reagan delivered one of his most memorable speeches.

His speech heralding the bravery and courage of our men and our allies was given on June 6, 1984, on what would eventually be just one day away from the date of his death in 2004. Thus, we marked two special anniversaries last week.

U.S. Embassy France
#Today in 1944, 73,000 American forces landed in Normandy on #DDay. 6,603 died – Twitter

Musical prodigy

In 2005, Dutch violinist and conductor Andre Rieu introduced a three-year-old prodigy to the world. Little Akim Camara stepped out onstage with his little violin, dressed in shiny shoes and a custom-made tiny tuxedo, and proceeded to astonish the audience. Akim was just two years of age when he took his first violin lesson. Now, as he approaches his 15th birthday, Akim continues to perfect his talent under the guidance of Rieu and his caring parents.

Watch this child perform and earn two standing ovations.

Against the wind

Using wind to generate electricity is still a highly controversial topic certain to continue for some time to come. Watch how a wind generator is assembled in this corporate-produced time lapse video. The controversy continues in the accompanying comment section. Read the comments

A five ring circus.

Here’s one way to look at it. The guys at Five Thirty Eight, a political website, designed a venn diagram that plots where the (announced and expected to announce) Republican presidential candidates are, relative to each other and based on their political ideology. Here’s the chart, and a recorded explanation for how these candidates got there.

A whole new world!

If Disney animators had come up with the popular American television series created for HBO, Game of Thrones might have looked decidedly, well, Disney-fied. Illustrators Anderson Mahanski and Fernando Mendonca drew up some scenarios and posted them on their website and Facebook page.

Speaking of Disney, check out this fascinating time lapse video of Walt Disney’s dream world as it was coming to life in Central Florida.

Oh, the humanity!

Humans of New York. On Facebook. This photo received over a million “Likes” and was shared more than 61,000 times as of this writing. Not hard to understand why! View more of New York’s humanity here.

“I want to be a mailman so I can let people know when it’s their birthday.” – Humans of New York

WND » Faith
Moonscape in Israel

Students back Israel boycott, reject condemning ISIS

(Washington Free Beacon) The executive board for the largest student union in the United Kingdom is under fire for joining the boycott campaign against Israel, after the council voted down a previous measure to condemn the Islamic State late last year.

The British National Union of Students’ National Executive Council (NUS-NEC) passed a resolution on Tuesday supporting the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, which seeks to socially and economically isolate the Jewish state.

The NUS-NEC opposed a motion last October denouncing the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and supporting the Kurdish forces fighting the terror group, after some members argued the resolution was Islamophobic and warmongering.

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Students back Israel boycott, reject condemning ISIS

ISIS issues dire warning to Israel

TEL AVIV – If Hamas does not cease its crackdown on ISIS supporters in Gaza, the backers of the movement that has taken over half of Syria and one-third of Iraq will violate a truce with Israel and carry out more rocket attacks against the Jewish state, a leader of the jihadist organization that represents ISIS in Gaza told WND.

Tuesday, supporters of ISIS in the Gaza Strip provided WND with a video they say proves they launched a rocket from the Gaza Strip that hit central Israel last week.

The video, with an ISIS flag in the upper left corner, shows a rocket and launcher burrowed in sand. The next scene contains footage of the rocket being launched followed by Arabic news reports about the attack.

The video, sent to WND by a senior Salafist leader tied to ISIS, was produced under the banner of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, which represents ISIS in the Sinai Peninsula and now claims a foothold in Gaza.

The Gaza branch calls itself the Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade.

The free WND special report “ISIS Rising,” by Middle East expert and former Department of Defense analyst Michael Maloof, will answer your questions about the jihadist army threatening the West.

The authenticity of the rocket launch in the video as well as the ISIS allies’ claim of responsibility for the attack could not be immediately verified.

The Hadid Brigade of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, the group that produced the video provided to WND, also released a statement claiming responsibility for assassinating a senior Hamas commander in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, leading to a major Hamas crackdown on ISIS supporters in Gaza.

Now a leader of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis in Gaza has told WND that if Hamas does not cease its crackdown, the group will not only continue to target Hamas, it will also break the Israel-Gaza truce with more attacks launched against the Jewish state.

Ansar Bait al-Maqdis released a list of demands to Hamas:

• The release from Hamas jails of all ISIS-allied “mujahideen, preachers, students, detainees and abductees.”
• An end to what the group claims is Hamas’s “media incitement”” and “war of lies and distortions” against ISIS supporters.
• Granting to the Salafist Islamists their “legitimate rights,” including the right to bear arms and carry out advocacy and social and relief work to the Palestinian people.

See the video produced by ISIS supporters in Gaza:

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ISIS issues dire warning to Israel