Their self-fulfilling prophecy

‘Will God or the Messiah Build the Third Holy Temple?’ blares the headline of a pseudo-Jewish/pseudo-Christian ezine, asking a question which is actually meaningless for most Jews and Christians. After recapping what progress is being made in Israel to build just such a temple, the article moves on to discuss the question it headlined. It’s hard for me to decide which is more insane and fantastic, the deluded reasoning that produced the very idea, or the horde of believers, each one trumpeting their own version of the scenario. All they seem to agree on is that a Jewish ‘temple’ must be built in Israel, so that the ‘End Times’ can officially start. What happens after that is anyone’s guess, literally.

Not to infringe any copyright, I refrain from quoting from the article. To demonstrate the divisive delusion that has these people in its grip, I quote what some of the readers have commented on the article. (I have corrected spelling errors but left capitalization and any other emphatics, grammar errors, and quotation marks ‘as is’.)

— The true messiah is G--. Be aware that according to prophecy the idle shepherd will come (the false messiah) and he will be accepted as Messiah by some, but he will set up the abomination that maketh desolate... therefore watch carefully. 

— Yes, you are right. However, the third Temple WILL BE BUILT according to God’s Holy Word in order the chips will fall in place for the ‘End Time’ prophecies to take place. Just HOW it will be done is God's Mystery. I cannot wait ! 

— As stated in Daniel, correct. After that happening, but who is behind it all? And God will allow because of prophecy. The Vatican. As they have to set up a temple, on the mount. To allow its construction, approved by that UN body. Marble the Pope owns the plot. As stated in Ezekiel, Satan was bold and said, I will ascend as God? On the North side. So he the Devil is manifested into a Pope, after desolation. Because the Prophet, said, and seen in a vision, Russia dropping a device down the Vatican chimney. So the Pope will be in the Israel, not Rome. For the sake of their false God, Satan? 

— Neither of the proposed builders, Messiah or descending from heaven is correct. The temple must be rebuilt by human hands at the beginning of the Tribulation period because it has to exist for the anti-messiah to cause the sacrifices to stop and to desecrate the temple at the midpoint of the tribulation, where he will declare that he is God. This is right at the start of the great tribulation, or Jacob's Troubles, which will be WORSE than the Holocaust (Shoah). There will be a temple, as described in Ezekiel, after the end of the tribulation when the true messiah comes to rule and reign the whole earth from Israel. 

— This is correct. The antichrist shall desecrate the ‘Temple of God’, not build it. There are no types in the scriptures where the anti-christ build the temple, he desecrate the Temple like Antiochus Epiphanes, Nebuchadnezzar and Titus. The Temple in Jerusalem is holy, because it’s God's temple.

— My first thoughts were, ‘Oh of course it will be in the New Jerusalem in the Heavens.’ But then I was reading what was written and I’m not so sure. I don’t know the verses but I believe Revelation describes a temple that will allow the last people on earth to repent. Most will not though. There will be a false prophet who will make people believe he’s rebuilding the temple, but his heart is evil and is looking for a way to destroy. It will be a false prophet for Jews. And some will be taken advantage of. It’s so important all of us read the scriptures so we can be discerning. As the days go by. Jesus will come in the clouds, there will lights and trumpets. I expect lots of joy and happiness. 

— Zion is, the city of God, the New Jerusalem, its Temple, the heavenly City, the Heavenly Country. Zion are all believers in Christ Jesus, the Kingdom of the Lord, whose destiny depends upon the Lord God Almighty alone, all which, together by ‘faith’ in Jesus Christ our Lord (faith in Christ being a gift to us), Savior and Redeemer, in Him we are God’s Holy Mountain, God’s possession, Zion. All that Jerusalem and Israel and the chosen from mankind are to be, in heaven, in relationship to God, is ours in spiritual reality as well, in Jesus Christ our Lord in our God.

— There just may be a man-made temple built in Jerusalem, but as Solomon said, ‘Will God really dwell in this temple made with human hands...’ 

— ‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool, where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being,’ declares the Lord. ‘But to this One I will look... (He is speaking of Yeh’Shua, who came to save men from their sins, and will return to receive them to Himself)... ‘To Him who is humble... ...and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word...’ 

— There have actually been four already. Ezra's temple was built following the return from exile. Herod, with his design to raise the plaza approximately 10 meters, was forced to take the older temple down and replace it with a much grander design. That’s three. The fourth was built by Bar Kochba. Textual references in several historical accounts of the rebellion mention that Hadrian entered into and destroyed the temple of the Jews. So logic dictates that the next, or fifth temple, would also be built by human hands, as were all others. 

— After the great victory of Israel over all nations, which coming against Israel, a false leader will raise and demand the building of the temple, saying, ‘I am the one who protect Israel.’ The world will be in bad chaos. This will be an atomic war. Confusion, destruction and great tribulation around the whole world.

Enough already! My head is spinning! Who let these people out of the nut house? The comments continued on and on. Finally, near the end, I was astonished to see someone quote from Thomas Aquinas. I am not sure that it’s a genuine quotation, but I want to end with this one last comment. Maybe there’s some hope above or below all this cantankery and braggadocio.

— Some scripture is meant to be literal and some figurative. I have no doubt that the Creator Can Do Everything, but that doesn’t mean He will always do it the way any particular denomination says. I believe the point of the article was that there are two opinions. I don’t believe the Last Temple will drop from Heaven any more than I think a giant finger etched The Ten Commandments on the tablets. God only needs to will something to be, and It Will Be. And sometimes He wills His Children to Do It - and They Do. There were two sets of tablets, one was willed into existence and the other was man-made. ‘How can we live in harmony? First we need to know we are all madly in love with the same God.’ (Thomas Aquinas)

Agree and disagree, that is the rule of the jungle that reigns among the Kingless. They call Jesus by various fanciful names, false Hebraisms, and put Him to work fulfilling their dreams. How much energy is wasted by those who have no faith! Imagine, try being your own God, and then covering up your tracks (because you must) by dousing them with bible prophecies and starting them on fire. Luckless, ignorant, lost, utterly deluded wretches! God have mercy on them, but if their madness prevents them from showing mercy to others, what then? Yes, maybe it really is a madness. Maybe they’re not really responsible for their ravings. Yet they fill the world with their destructive doctrines and, trying very hard to force God’s hand to end the world, come close to ending it themselves.

Third temple? fourth or fifth, or even last temple? Who’s counting? Who needs to count? Yes, we have it all written down, simply and directly. We’ve always had it written down. The Bible, if it does nothing else, shows us how wrong we’ve been about every religious guess we’ve ever made, how deluded our false hopes and how blinding our fantasies. ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts.’ And here we are, as if the world, the flesh, and the devil that assault us every moment of every day weren’t enough, there are these ghastly bellows that blow clouds of hot smoke from the pit of hell at each other and at us, scalding, even searing, us with their flaming fantasies. Who needs Islamic jihad, when we have our own breed of world-destroyers intent on killing most of us at their earliest opportunity. All in Jesus’ name, of course!

The end is near, yes, though not the end these falsely prophesy. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega… who is, who was, who is to come.’ The temple must be built, though that is the work of every disciple of Jesus. ‘Let yourselves be built as living stones into a spiritual temple.’ The words of the prophets are spoken to refine us as fire purifies gold, not to incite a universal tribulation. Jesus still looks on at all this with pity, ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I would have gathered you…’ while they rumble forward into the jaws of their self-fulfilling prophecy.