In July and August 2016 The Temple Institute set up a new sub-institute of their work called the Nezer Hakodesh Institute for Kohanic Studies. This sub-institute will be primarliy and directly responsible for training Israelite priests for service in the soon-coming next Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Although the Temple Institute had already recognized and started training some Levitical priests and fitted them with the biblical linen garments etc. this work was not as specifically focused as it now can be with a new sub-institute of The Temple Institute directly responsible for calling out and training Levitical priests for service to the LORD in the soon-to be rebuilt Jewish temple or Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerualem. However, from a biblical Christian viewpoint we think there will be a Millennial or Messianic literal Temple of God with the Messiah from the holy of holies in that Temple reigning over Israel and the world and being worshipped by them as mentioned in Ezekiel 40-48, Zechariah 14, 6, Isaiah 2, latter part of Psalm 24, some of Psalm 72 etc. after the tribulation temple. We think the tribulation temple is especially mentioned in Daniel 9:27 and Revelation 11:1-2 and it will be built by the false Messiah the Antichrist or man of sin, the beast out of the sea or little horn etc. at first by an agreement with the children of Israel (and other nations) that will allow the Jews to have their Levitical worship of the LORD for the first half of the tribulation. However we believe half way through the tribulation (or the midst of it) as in Daniel 9:27 the antichrist will stop the Levitical worship of the Lord, remove the Jewish priests or Levites etc. and take over the temple for himself and the worship of himself and of the devil through him (the man of sin). The antichrist or man of sin will probably seat himself in the holy of holies of the tribulation temple and this is probably what is meant by the abomination of desolation in the latter part of Daniel 9:27 and in Jesus Christ' reference to him in the tribulation in Matthew 24:15. The antichrist in this temple is also described in 2 Thessalonians 2 in the New Testament and Revelation 13. About the efforts of The Temple Institute to prepare the Levitical priests for the Third Temple which I and other bible believing Christians think will be the tribulation temple that the antichrist will defile I see the Temple Institute is making good progress in calling forth and training the Jewish priests to serve in that temple but I haven't seen too much recent progress on their part or of other temple groups in preparing the general Levites for serving God in the land of Israel including some with the Levitical priests for the rebuilt temple. This is even though there are some other groups that recently have made a committment to call forth and train the Levites but I haven't seen too much updates of their web sites for several years and the Temple Institute doesn't seem to be too focused on calling out and training the Levites in general as far as I can see. According to a biblical Christian or literal viewpoint it will be the second coming from heaven of the true Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth that among other things will defeat the Antichrist, the False Prophet and his evil world system and that of the devil that will be set up to give the worship of man to the devil and the antichrist or beast and son of perdition or man of sin instead of to God the Father and His co-divine Son Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. In view that the Temple Institute is making significant progress in preparing articles and the Levitical Priests to lead the worship of God in the first half of the tribulation period Tribulation Temple and that other prophetic events will quickly follow after that, I encourage the reader if you haven't done so already to admit you are sinner in God's sight (as compared to Jesus and God's standards in His word the Holy Bible) and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ (Y'Shua HaMashiach) that He died on the cross for all our sins and rose again from the dead to give us eternal life and an eternal relationship with God and so you can also be assured that you will be taken to heaven in the rapture of the true Church and not left behind for the tribulation or 70th week of Daniel, time of God's wrath and rule of Satan's man the Antichrist over all the earth. If you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ now you can also look forward to reigning with Him and all the true Church and the restored to God including spiritually through Y'Shua of the believing remnant of God's chosen earthly people Israel and the restored of the nations in God's time of full visible rule on Earth first after Jesus' second coming in glory from heaven first in the 1000 year Messianic or Millennial Kingdom and then in His eternal Kingdom in the New Jerusalem, New Earth and New Heavens.
In mid April 2016 the United Nations educational and cultural organization UNESCO demonstrated their support of the previous Palestinian motion to it to have the Temple Mount and other holy sites in the holy land declared as Muslim holy sites only and not as Jewish holy sites. The most important site affected by this ruling was the Temple Mount or in Hebrew Har HaBayet or Mount of the House (probably from Micah 4 in the Old Testament) but which the Arabs and Muslims call Harem Al-Sharif or the Noble Sanctuary. There is abundant evidence in the Bible, extrabiblical history and still remaining in its architecture that the Temple Mount was the site of the previous Solomon's and Zerubbabel/Herod's Jewish Temple and that the Western Wall was the retaining wall of Solomon's Temple. Accurate history shows that Mohammed died in 632 in Median Arabia and didn't get to Israel in his lifetime and that for the first couple decades of Islam Mohammed's so-called night journey was more accurately generally thought of as to another mosque called Al-Aqsa in Mecca, Arabia. It was later changed by Muslims to refer to his going to heaven from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem some time after the Al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock or Mosque of Omar were built on the Temple Mount between 680 and 700 AD. Apparently it wasn't until the 1920s that some Muslims started saying Mohammed's horse was associated with the Western Wall and this is also not historically accurate but was just used to better claim the Temple Mount and Western Wall or deny Jewish claims to them. At least after hearing of this inaccurate and one-sided depiction and implication by the UN body UNESCO Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly objected to the UNESCO depiction of the Temple Mount as "This is yet another absurd UN decision". Netanyahu also rightly pointed out that UNESCO was ignoring the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount for 1000 years while they stood and another 2000 years where they continue to pray for looking to the building of the next Jewish Temple. Netanyahu also said about this UNESCO decision: "The UN is rewriting a basic part of human history and has again proven that there is no low to which it will not stoop." I personally agree that the UN has typically been quite anti-semitic and it is a historic fact that most of its condemning votes have been against Israel even though there are many Muslim and some other countries that have much worse human rights or other records. However I hope that Prime Minister Netanyahu will this time do more than make impressive words to combat measures by world powers or Muslims against it as this is what he has done in too many cases to Israel's detriment. A later part of the Israeli response to this UNESCO inaccurate, one-sided and anti-semitic depiction of the Temple Mount and Wailing Wall was by the Science Minister Ofir Akunis of the Likud Party in the current Israeli governing coalition. He condemned the UN body UNESCO for co-operating with the Palestinian Authority request not to use the Jewish term Temple Mount for the Temple Mount but only the Muslim term Harem Al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) or sometimes Al-Aqsa mosque and in this way seeking to separate the Temple Mount from its abundant Jewish historical connection and future prophetic significance. Mr. Akunis wrote to UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova in part: "I was sorry to read your decision according to which Jews have no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall." Mr. Akunis went on to rightly accuse UNESCO of arrogance and historical ignorance of the Temple Mount situation. He then recommeneded to Ms. Bokova to personally visit Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people and see the association of the Jewish people and the land of Israel and its ongoing high technological level and contributions to world prosperity. Since the letter to the UNESCO Director by Member of the Knesset (MK)(the Israeli Parlimanet) by Mr. Akunis the Israeli Police Commissioner Roni Alscheich put forward a ban on both Jewish and Arab members of the Israeli Knesset from ascending up to the Temple Mount from now to after the Jewish feast of Passover and to sometime after that when he wants to lift the ban. He says he put the ban there now to ensure state security for Israel but I think he doesn't have much faith in the true God the LORD (Yahweh or Jehovah) including His Son Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit but that Mr. Alsheich is mostly thinking in human terms of many more Muslims in the world or the Middle East than Jews. Mr. Alsheich is however probably rightly thinking that the recent UNESCO decision and the weakness of Israeli leader Netanyahu in the Temple Mount camera issue among other things with the upcoming Jewish patriotic festival of Passover could encourage more Israeli Jewish MKs to go up to the Temple Mount. I believe from a Biblical Christian viewpoint that this all could be a continuation of the increasing tension between Israel and its supporters such as evangelical Christians and the Muslim world, world powers and some other anti-semitic people in the west or elsewhere and that this will probably lead very soon to the false peace of the Antichrist or Beast out of the Sea or Man of Sin with Israel as mentioned in Daniel 9:27 and implied elsewhere in the Bible in which the Antichrist will achieve a Middle East and possible world peace that will involve allowing Israel to build their next Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount to start the 70th week of Daniel and the tribulation or time of God's wrath. The Antichrist will allow the Jews to have their Old Testament service to the Lord under the Law of Moses with the Levitical priesthood in the first half of the tribulation but will then seize it from them mid way through the tribulation to use to get all people in the world to worship him and Satan the devil through him or be killed, imprisoned or forced into hiding. At the end of the tribulation the Lord Jesus Christ will come again as the true Messiah of Israel and King of kings and the Saviour of the world to defeat the Antichrist and visibly set up God's Kingdom on earth centred on the new Messianic Kingdom Temple in Jerusalem as Jesus' throne and through restored Israel and those who trust in the God of the Bible in the tribulation from the nations, and Old Testament saints and the true Church through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that He died for our sins and rose again for people of all nations from this present age that started at Pentecost and will end very soon with the rapture or catching up to heaven of all true Christians who have believed in our heart that Jesus died for us and rose again so we have a relationship with God and will be spared by God's grace from the tribulation. I would therefore encourage the reader if you haven't already done so to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as soon as possible as these events in Israel especially on the Temple Mount and elsewhere in the world as exactly as God's word the Holy Bible predicted for the end of this current Church Age or Age of grace.
In July 2015 on the Ninth of Av (Tisha B'Av) the Temple Institute made available a new video clip for the third temple to be built on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem which I and other Bible believing Christians think will be used by agreement with the Antichrist the Beast out of the Sea with the Jews to allow the restoration of their Levitical (Old Testament) worship in the 1st half of the tribulation and then taken over by the antichrist for worship of himself in the second half of the tribulation. The Lord Jesus Christ will either totally replace this temple or incorporate it in the true Millennial Temple with the Lord Jesus Christ to have his throne in the holy of holies in the true Millennial Temple as mentioned in Zechariah 6 and that God will prepare the Jews for in their worship of God in the 1st half of the tribulation. In this new video there is some progress in design of the sanctuary and some of the halls that would join to it perhaps based on the new blueprints and there is some clearer indication of the blueprints of the third temple in the hall ways of the temple and the stairways that have a more modern look with significant use of glass while the designs of the 2nd Herod's and the 1st Solomon's Temple were probably almost all made of stone. However in the sanctuary in the previous temples there was also wood covered with gold. I don't know yet if these will be used in the upcoming third temple. This progress in the design at least partly based on new blueprints for the third temple is further indication of the shortness of the time before the building of the third temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the starting of the tribulation and 70th week of Daniel and the preceding rapture of the Church. Therefore I would urge the reader to as soon as possible if you haven't already to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and SAviour that Jesus died for our sins on the cross and rose from the dead to give us new life and so you can also be taken to heaven at the rapture of the Church and not left behind for God's judgment of the world in the tribulation and the world dictatorship of the Antichrist.
Currently in 2016 there continues to be an uneasy truce and default arrangement for the Temple Mount especially between the Jews and Muslims although Christian or other tourists are also affected. This so called status quo arrangement has lately been zealously upheld by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the pressure of the world powers such as the United States, the United Nations and the European Union. In this status quo arrangement for the Temple Mount Jews are allowed to visit the Temple Mount but only individually and in small groups and if they try to pray, or have some clear Jewish religious clothing like prayer shawls or if they try to read from God's word the Holy Bible or say or sing other devout Jewish religious or Israeli nationist songs or words such as the Israeli national anthem they can and often are arrested even though the Israeli supreme court has many times upheld religious freedom also for Jews and all people on the Temple Mount. Under this status quo arrangement Muslims are allowed not only to regularly go up to the Temple Mount but also to pray there in or out of the Dome on the Rock or the Al Aqsa mosque of some of the smaller Islamic shrines up there but they are not supposed to be violent or intimidating either to Christian or other tourists or Jews just visiting the Temple Mount and violent or provocative Muslims can and have been arrested for doing such things but sometimes the Israeli authorities have turned a blind eye to these things. The Israeli Prime Minister currently Benjamin Netanyahu through the Interior Minister and the Jerusalem chief of Police through the Israeli Temple Mount police on one side and the government of or King of Jordan through the Islamic Temple Mount the Waqf and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem through the Waqf Temple Mount police are jointly responsible for maintaining law and order on the Temple Mount according to the 1994 peace agreement between Israel and Jordan.
I believe based on what is going on regarding the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple and the Temple Mount and other events in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Israel and the rest of the world that it is now very soon before the false peace of the Antichrist mentioned in Daniel 9:27 when the Antichrist will agree with Israel to allow them to build their third temple on at least a part of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and there is the immediately preceding rapture or catching up to heaven to be with the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father true Christians of all nations, tribes and languages. I think current events are getting ready for the tribulation first half arrangement for the Temple Mount and 3rd Temple on at least part of the Temple Mount when based on current events in Jerusalem and Bible verses relating to how the Temple Mount or previous or the future Millennial Temples had security and access maintained or overseen that in the first half of the tribulation God will allow the Antichrist to allow the Jews to at least contribute their part of manpower for guarding the Temple Mount from the priestly Israelite tribe of the Levites perhaps from the subgroup of them called the sons of Korah as in the time of the 1st or Solomon's Temple. Probably the Jews will share the Temple Mount with their rebuilt Jewish Temple to worship the true God Jehovah or Yahweh (the LORD) or what Christians call God the Father and Muslims will be allowed to worship their god Allah the moon god as indicated by the crescent moon above the Dome on the Rock and the Muslims might be allowed to contribute their part of Temple Mount guards from the Islamic Waqf authority as is done now.
This situation will likely be until the Jewish Third Temple is taken over by the Antichrist at the mid point of the tribulation and he defiles it by dedicating it to the worship of himself and Satan the devil and likely shuts down any Muslim mosques remaining on the Temple Mount until the mid point of the tribulation. At the end of the tribulation the Lord Jesus Christ will come with His Church, God the Father in His Shekinah glory, the holy angels, and Old Testament saints and tribulation martyrs to judge the world and set up God's Kingdom on this Earth for 1000 years including to remove the Antichrist and false prophet to the lake of fire and the devil to the bottomless pit. All the remaining structures at that time on the Temple Mount will likely be destroyed to make room for the Millennial Kingdom Temple mentioned in Ezekiel 40-48 and other scriptures where the true God of the Bible will be worshipped by restored to God Israel and the restored of the nations and the true Church might also observe this and give homage to Jesus who will often be in the holy of holies of this Temple as His then earthly throne but the Church will not be required to make animal sacrifices in this temple to God. God the Father's glory will likely be above the Temple complex.
The first organized worship place of God by His chosen earthly people the Jews or the children of Israel was the Tabernacle. After that, after the tabernacle was brought into the land of Israel and moved a couple times Solomon's Temple or the 1st Temple was set up on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem as the place that God dwelt among the Israelites and where their worship of Him was focused. In the Tabernacle the people chosen to guard the way to the Tabernacle were the sons of Korah who were a branch of the priestly tribe the Levites. They would have been in Moses' time the closest equivalent to the current Temple police and Waqf guards guarding the day to day operations of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The descendents in King David's time of the sons of Korah were chosen to be the porters or door keepers to Solomon's Temple by King David according to 1 Chronicles 9 and would have been the closest to the Temple police or Waqf guards guarding the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in our time. In the time of David worship of the one true God the God of the Bible Jehovah, Yahweh, the LORD or God the Father was already on the Temple Mount or Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. Although King David had the overall authority to select and oversee the porters of the Temple (Temple police) at that time, it is significant that Phinehas the High priest after Eleazar who was after Aaron, Moses' brother died, is mentioned as the one who had authority over them originally in the time of the tabernacle when the sons of Korah first had the duty of guarding the tabernacle. After the time of King David it was also often the King of Israel or after Solomon the king of Judah who had authority over the workers in the Temple including the temple porters. The scripture from 1 Chronicles 9 of the porters, police of the tabernacle or temple in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount to be the sons of Korah and to be usually overseen by the king of Israel/Judah is as follows:
And the porters were, Shallum, and Akkub, and Talmon, and Ahiman, and their brethren: Shallum was the chief; Who hitherto waited in the king's gate eastward: they were porters in the companies of the children of Levi. And Shallum the son of Kore (Korah), the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his brethren, of the house of his father, the Korahites, were over the work of the service, keepers of the gates of the tabernacle: and their fathers, being over the host of the LORD, were keepers of the entry. And Phinehas the son of Eleazar was the ruler over them in time past, and the LORD was with him. And Zechariah the son of Meshelmiah was porter of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. All these which were chosen to be porters in the gates were two hundred and twelve. These were reckoned by their genealogy in their villages, whom David and Samuel the seer did ordain in their set office. So they and their children had the oversight of the gates of the house of the LORD (the Temple), namely, the house of the tabernacle, by wards. 1 Chronicles 9:17-23
After the apostles Peter and John had been put in prison in Jerusalem for previously preaching about salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ an angel of the Lord appeared to them in prison. The angel opened the prison doors and told them to preach about the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation through Him and do to so in the Temple courtyard again. These apostles and early Church leaders then went into the temple courtyard in the morning and taught the people there about the Lord Jesus Christ (Y'Shua HaMashiach) and salvation through Him. Word about this was eventually brought to the High Priest who personally came and some with him, probably other priests perhaps some chief priests or other members of the Sanhedrin and some officers of the temple. The high priest and some of the other priests of the Sanhedrin (council) called a meeting of the Sanhedrin on this issue and commanded that the apostles brought to the prison. The officers (I believe of the temple) then came to the prison and found the apostles were not in the prison. The officers of the temple then reported to the high priest and the Sanhedrin that they looked at the prison and found the prison secure and the guards rightly guarding the doors of the prison but they could not find Peter and John. When the high priest and the captain of the temple, who was just under the high priest and reported to him and who was directly responsible for maintaining order on the temple complex corresponding to the current positions of the Israeli Chief of Police and the Islamic Grand Mufti or Jerusalem who jointly currently oversee what goes on on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, heard about what had happened they didn't think this would lead to further problems. Then someone, who may have then been recently on the temple grounds, told them that Peter and John were again preaching in the Temple (Herod's or the 2nd (Jewish) Temple) probably the general courtyard the captain of the Temple decided to again take action. In verse 26 it is clear that the officers are the officers of the temple rather than officers of the prison as they act in this verse in full joint action and under the authority of the captain of the temple which wouldn't make sense if they were just officers of the prison where Peter and John were kept. These officers of the Temple would again correspond to the current Israeli Temple Mount police and Muslim Arab Waqf Temple Mount guards on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The captain of the temple and the officers of the temple then apprehended the apostles Peter and John and brought them off the Temple courtyard to the meeting of the Sanhedrin which I heard from the Temple Institute and other Jewish and Christian sources met on the Temple Mount to one side of the inner court of the Temple in an area called the Chamber of Hewn Stone so the captain of the temple and the officers of the temple would not have far to bring Peter and John before the Sanhedrin or council. Of course I as a Bible believing Christian believe the instruction from an angel of the LORD to the apostles Peter and John to preach about Jesus on the Temple Mount was of the true God, the LORD, Yahweh or HaShem and that Jesus is the true Messiah but that He will fulfill many other scriptural prophecies of Him as Messiah at His second coming and the following Messianic or Millennial Kingdom. The apostles were again asked by the Sanhedrin why they were preaching about Jesus or Y'Shua and salvation through him in the temple courtyard to the people there. The scripture reference from Acts 5 about the officers of the temple under the captain of the temple arresting the apostles Peter and John to prevent them from preaching about the Lord Jesus Christ (Y'Shua HaMashiach) and salvation through HIm on the Temple grounds as an example in the New Testament and in the 2nd Temple of the action of the corresponding officers to the current Israeli Temple Mount police and the Islamic Waqf Temple Mount guards in maintaining order on the Temple Mount is as follows:
But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council (Sanhedrin) together, and all the sentence of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned, and told, Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within. Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow. Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people. Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned. And when they had brought them, they sat them before the council: and the high priest asked them ... Acts 5:19-27
In the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom when the temple of God mentioned in Ezekiel (and Isaiah and Zechariah and Haggai etc. is built) there will be some differences with the tabernacle and previous Jewish temples of God in Jerusalem but there will also be similiarities. One similiarity is that the porters or gatekeepers of the temple to guard the temple and maintain law and order there will be the Levites the priestly tribe of the children of Israel. I do not know if they will be specifically from the sons of Korah part of the Levites or not as the Bible does not say as far as I know. These Levite porters will be parter under authority of the priests but overall they will be under authority of the prince who will correspond to the high priest in previous days for Israel when the tabernacle or temple was still standing and in operation as the prince will lead the worship of God, both the Father and His Son the Messiah Jesus of Nazareth in the Messianic Kingdom Temple especially described in Ezekiel. These Levites guarding the gates of the Messianic Kingdom Temple correspond to the Israeli Temple police and Muslim Arab Waqf officials jointly guarding the Temple Mount the site of the previous and future Jewish Temples in Jerusalem. Some scriptures that mention that the prince will be in charge of everything that goes on in the Messianic Kingdom Temple including the Levites that work there are Ezekiel 44:2-3, Ezekiel 46:1-15, 37:24-28. The scripture reference in Ezekiel 44 that mentions that the Levites, the priestly tribe of Israel, will be gatekeepers or porters in the Messianic or Millennial Kingdom Temple of God and then have the corresponding role as the Jewish Israeli Temple Mount police and Waqf Islamic Arab Temple Mount guards is as follows:
And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity. Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them. Ezekiel 44:10-11
In December 2014 around the time of Hannukah the Temple Institute announced that they had succeeded in harvesting and producing pure olive oil ready to use in the temple in 2000 years. This is since the time of the 2nd or Herod's temple that was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Also around Hannukah the Temple Institute instructed some of the priests dressed in the priestly garments of white linen to pour some of the pure olive oil into the Menorah or Lampstand or Candlestick they have made for the Third Temple in a ceremony just near the Temple Mount by the western wall. The menorah fit for the temple was then lit with suitable olive oil for the first time in 2000 years since the 2nd or Herod's temple. (The menorah is the main means of providing light in the temple sanctuary after sunset as there are some windows in the temple structure that can provide some light in the temple sanctuary in the day time. The scripture reference from Exodus 27 of lighting the menorah for the tabernacle or temple with pure olive oil is the following:
And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always. In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the testimony (ark of the covenant), Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the LORD: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel. Exodus 27:20-21
This month there was an article and some pictures on www.templeinstitute.org, the web site of The Temple Institute in Jerusalem, that Jewish priests have started training for the temple service in the soon to be rebuilt third Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. These Jewish priests have, by DNA analysis, all been confirmed as being in the priestly line of the first Jewish high priest Aaron who was the brother of Moses living perhaps around 1450 BC. This ceremony was performed in the new and expanded visitor's centre of the Temple Institute in the Old City of Jerusalem near the western wall and Temple Mount. This exercise was led by Rabbi Yisrael Ariel the founder and still overall leader of the Temple Institute. A good portion of the priests were wearing the white linen garments specified for priests in Exodus 28 (and 39) that are continuing to be made by the Temple Institute. These priests can be seen doing priestly functions such as attending to the altar of incense, bringing some artificial coals with a shovel that was used in connection with the altar of sacrifice, going through the ritual of sacrifice with an artifical lamb and blowing silver trumpets ready for use in the third temple. A new institute has been set up by the Temple Institute to continue the training and outfitting of these priests for the day soon when they will be able to perform the temple servive in the soon to be rebuilt third temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. From a biblical Christian viewpoint this signifies that the covenant with the Antichrist to make a false peace deal in the Middle East with Israel and probably the ARabs and others that will involve allowing the Jews to rebuild their temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is near. This will begin the seven year tribulation that will be ended by the second coming of the LOrd Jesus Christ who will defeat the antichrist and the world system and set up God's rule on earth. Before the covenant with the antichrist and Israel will be the rapture or catching up to heaven of all true Christians from all nations. I would therefore urge the reader if he or she hasn't done so already to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ that he died for our sins on the cross and rose again from the dead to give us new life so you will not only have eternal life and a relationship with God but be taken at the rapture to heaven and be spared the tribulation.
There have been reports especially on www.templeinstitute.org and www.jerusalempost.com about a developing controversy on the Temple Mount. This could have bibical consequences. What was found was that Arab Muslims have set up scaffolding and work equipment on the rock inside the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. The Orthodox Jews including several Temple groups like the Temple Institute and the Temple Mount Faithful consider this rock inside the Dome of the Rock the location of the First (Solomon's) and the Second (Herod's) Temple and also where the next third temple should be located. There biblical Jews consider part of that rock the Foundation Stone on which the Holy of Holies and Ark of the Covenant rested in bible times. Therefore they see it as the most holy location on earth and something not to be tampered with. There has already been alteration and elimation of Jewish artifacts and archaeology on the Temple Mount by Muslims through their agents the Waqf that oversees the Temple Mount for Muslims including the mosques there. In one of these articles the Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein said that Israeli law applies to all places on the Temple Mount including the Dome of the Rock but the Jews should be sensitive to the concerns of Muslims. One response about this has been from the Palestinian Authority that disputes that Israeli law applies there. In the terms of ending the Six Day War in 1967 the Jews gave back day to day operation of the Temple Mount to the Muslim Waqf with still some Jewish right of control on the condition that all holy sights and access by people of all faiths (Christians and Jews as well as Muslims) be respected. Jews desirous to build the temple insist that this work on the Dome of the Rock including the Foundation stone is disrespect for Jewish sites on the Temple Mount - the most holy site of all the location of the holy of holies of previous Jewish temples. (Although evangelical or other Christians have a variety of opinions where the Jewish temples were most say they were on the Temple Mount and if the temple is to be built again it should be on the temple mount although the Dome of the rock location is still a popular location of the Jewish Temples with evangelical Christians.) The Jewish Temple group the Temple MOUnt Faithful has appealed this work on the rock of the Dome of the Rock saying it interferes with and damages or defiles the Foundation Stone and other basis of location of the Jewish Temples. Most recent reports on the Jerusalem Post said this work was necessary to renovate and strengthen the roof of the Dome of the Rock and that the work should go ahead. This is unlikely to satisfy temple supporting Jewish groups although I haven't heard an official response from them yet. Especially if this controversy continues or escalates it could easily, from a biblical Christian perspective, lead to the false peace covenant of the antichrist with Israel to build their third temple on the temple mount in Jerusalem as mentioned in Daniel 9:27. This is because the backs of temple supporting or other Orthodox Jews will be more and more up against the wall as they will feel deeply abandoned by their own and other authorities and will be looking harder that ever of a political or religious ruler who will sympathize with them including their desire to build their third temple on the temple mount as soon as possible and bring it about where other Israeli or other leaders have failed for a long time with increasing Muslim encroachment and damage to Jewish heritage there. Seeing all these things are happening and lining up with the Bible from a literal perspective, I would urge the reader, if he or she hasn't already done so, to admit you are a sinner as I the writer of this article have already done, and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ that he died on the cross for all our sins and rose from the dead to give us God's new life and relationship with Him and to do this as soon as possible as God's salvation through Jesus won't be as easy or available when the tribulation happens after the catching up to heaven of all the true Christians from this age that started almost two thousand years ago at Pentecost in Jerusalem as mentioned in Acts 2 in the New Testament. God assures us we the true Christians through Jesus will also come back with him at the end of the tribulation as mentioned in Revelation 19 and reign with Jesus for a thousand years when God through Jesus will visibly rule the nations through restored IsraEL AND Jewish people.
In March 2011 on the Temple Institute Events page the Temple Institute put up a short video about the Red Heifer. This video had some general comments about the Red Heifer but also included an affirmation by Temple Institute spokesman Rabbi Chaim Richman that the Red Heifer is not something they or other Jews have to wait for to build the Temple but they have at least one qualified one right now. In this video they also showed some pictures of it and it was very red but it is so far only a calf and is possibly not more than one year old and it might have been born just before their initial announcement of it in March last year. There was also in the pictures an adult cow or ox that was probably its mother or maybe its father. This adult cow was more yellow orange and not red. The problem now is that some of the other candidates for red heifer were initially all red but then sprouted some white hairs or were otherwise disqualified before they were three years old and could be sacrificed or breeded. This means that Jews and Christians who are awaiting the temple to be rebuilt will have to wait almost two years to be sure this red heifer continues to be a legitimate red heifer but it is a good sign that after a year it still seems qualified as affirmed by Rabbi Chaim Richman and seems quite apparent from the pictures in the video. As well as Numbers 19 there is probably a reference to the sacrifice of the Red Heifer with the combination of the water of purification or separation in the beginning of Numbers 8 as well as other places in the Bible especially the Old Testament or Hebrew scriptures. Since these things are developing at this time and could this time continue until completion and in view of other prophetic events in the world such as the trend to world government, I urge the reader to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ that he died for our sins on the cross and rose again from the dead on the third day to give us new life if you haven't already so you will have eternal life and be ready for the Lord Jesus Christ when he comes to take his church to heaven and so you won't be left behind on earth for the judgment of God and the tyranny of the world dictator - the Antichrist or beast out of the sea or man of sin.
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