Friday, August 24, 2007

Rebuilt Temple vs. The Dome Of The Rock

The destruction of the temple brought an end to the age of sacrifice for Jews in AD 70, but for Christians the age of the temple, like the age of the Law in the land, has already come to an end with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And yet, despite the fact that Jesus forever dispensed with the need for temple priests and sacrifice some two thousand years ago, Christian Zionists are bent on stoking the embers of Armageddon by scheming the destruction of yet another great Christian doctrine, and doing it by scheming the construction of another temple on the very spot where the Dome of the Rock now stands.

Tim LaHaye who, of course, is the author or co-author of the best-selling Left Behind series, goes so far as to call Mount Moriah, site of the ancient Jewish temple, "the most coveted ground in the entire world." As he puts it, "The deep significance of the 1967 Six Day War is seen in the prospect that at long last Israel can finally rebuild its temple," and that, according to LaHaye, is "not just a national yearning. It is a prophetic requirement of the Word of God."

LaHaye goes on to highlight the major obstacle. In his words, "This obstacle is the fact that the Muslims' multi-million dollar Dome of the Rock is located on the spot where the temple should be." He makes light of fellow dispensationalists who suggest that the Jewish temple could co-exist with the Muslim mosque. He says "Some have tried to suggest that perhaps this location is not the only place in Jerusalem that the temple could be built, and thus the Muslim mosque and the Jewish temple could co-exist. But" says LaHaye, "no careful Bible student would accept that kind of reasoning. There is no substitute on the face of the earth for that particular spot" says LaHaye. "There is no other single factor so likely to unite the Arabs in starting a holy war as the destruction of the Dome of the Rock."

Well, in light of the incarnation, this Zionist suggestion that the modern land of Palestine along with its capital Jerusalem, is to be reserved exclusively for a single ethnicity or that the temple must be rebuilt and its sacrificial system reinstituted, borders on blasphemy. While the modern state of Israel does have a definitive, in my point of view, a definitive right to exist, to suggest that native Palestinians - many, by the way, who are brothers and sisters in Christ - should be forcibly removed from the land is not only unbiblical, but it's unethical. By standing on the steps of the Capitol and protesting a two-state solution in the Middle East, Christian Zionists are creating an actual roadblock on the pathway to peace. Just as it's a grievous sin to turn a blind eye to the evil of anti-Semitism, so it is a grievous sin to turn a blind eye to a theology that divides people on the basis of race rather than uniting them on the basis of righteousness and justice and equity.

As we highlight in our brand new novel, Fuse of Armageddon, to presumptively appeal to the words of Moses, "I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse," which we hear over and over again from evangelical pastors and parishioners, and then use it as a pretext for unconditionally supporting a secular state that prohibits the advance of the Gospel while simultaneously disregarding the plight of the Palestinians, is to promote a theology that's not only decidedly unbiblical, but demonstratively dangerous.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Agree, agree agree! So frightening that some in our country believe this way. Even more frightening is many show support for this line of thinking (Left Behind eschatology) without actually knowing the full effect of their belief set.

Randall Hardman said...

It's really sad to see how dispensationalists are pushing FOR the middle-east violence in order to speed up the "rapture". It's almost like this "end justifies the means" view of ethics. Beyond being such a view of selfishness, the dispensational push to get the temple in place of the dome is, and I agree with you Hank, heresy!

I love the Apocalypse Code. I've recommended it to everybody I know.

randiss.blogspot.com

Schwan said...

Thanks so much, Hank, for your broadcast and your interview with Stephen Sizer. At the time I first heard it I had no idea Christian Zionism even existed, much less what it was. It boggles my mind that those who claim the precious name of Christ could advocate such an un-Christlike worldview.

Your ministry is indispensable!

Unknown said...

Former Talk Show Host Writes Book Challenging the Politics of Evangelicals


Redlands, CA - A former Los Angeles-based talk show host has written a book that challenges the evangelical doctrine that attempts to influence the U.S.’s political decisions concerning the state of Israel.

Joe Ortiz, the first Mexican American to host and English-language talk show on a commercial radio station, claims evangelicals who support the dispensational, premillennial doctrine have been misinformed by proponents who have misinterpreted the Bible.

Ortiz claims in his book, The End Times Passover (published by Author House) that careful scrutiny of the Bible proves that the Promised Land is not in the Middle East, the state of Israel is not God’s time piece to Armageddon, that there will be no Pre-Tribulation Rapture, and that God’s true disciples will experience great tribulation.

“Right wing evangelicals who promote the Left Behind doctrine (like Tim LaHaye, John Hagee, Hal Lindsey and others), believe the State of Israel is key to Bible prophecy,” said Ortiz. “The proponents of this erroneous doctrine have unwittingly been pounding their theological hammers on U.S. foreign policy for over a century, only to drive a bigger wedge between Jews and Arabs who want peace in the Middle East.

Ortiz stated his book is not a politically-motivated treatise designed to influence people to choose sides between Palestinians or Jews. He said his is an academic polemic designed for people to recognize their role should be one of peacemakers rather than promoting military solutions to a feud that’s been going on for centuries. He said his research was based on analyzing the etymology of key words in the Bible that prove conclusively that the Left Behind notion promoted by many evangelicals begins to fall apart when examined carefully.

“It took over 20 years of research to provide conclusive answers to the premillennial, dispensational debate,” said Ortiz. The author’s media experience includes more than 20 years of news reporting and hosting programs on TV and radio, as well as writing for a syndicated publisher in California. Ortiz claims that “when those preachers and teachers of Bible prophecy read this book, they will soon realize they have been promoting a militant and destructive doctrine instead of a genuine gospel of peace.”
-30-
EDITORS: For review copies or interview requests, contact: Author House’s Promotional Services Department
(When requesting a review copy, please provide a street address.)Tel: 888-728-8467 Fax: 812-961-3133 Email: pressreleases@authorhouse.com

Dan said...

I agree with you, Hank. I'm almost finished reading your Apocalypse Code. Thanks for writing it! Interestingly, I hang around dispensationalists quite often, as I am a worship pastor at a Southern Baptist Church. But we don't talk much about eschatology. When I do get a chance to talk about it, I refer people to your book. I don't tell them to dismiss their view of eschatology, but to at least open their eyes to the partial preterist view. It's a great way to interpret the "time" sayings of Jesus that seem so obvious. By the way, I feel like I am in a very small group of people who support the partial preterist view. Does anybody know of any other Southern Baptists that adopt this eschatalogical view?

Anonymous said...

Previously I had only heard about the dispensationalist view of Revelation. I can now see the dangers that being given only one view by the media can have in the political scheme of things. I do have a question if I may however. Do dispensationalists believe that only the Jewish people will go through the tribulation ( as they see it) Will Christian Jews supposedly be left behind? God bless,

Anonymous said...

I am a former born-again Protestant Christian who has rejected the New (and supposedly Improved) Testament, and I am now a Noahide. That means that I try to obey God's 7 Noahide Laws for Gentiles. I am much happier this way because I learn Torah with learned Orthodox rabbis and have put away the idolotrous notions of the supposed Trinity and the supposed Devil. Wed., 4/16/08

Anonymous said...

I am Jewish and everday daven HaShem for the immediate rebuilding of the Temple on the Temple Mount. Such a request has been part of the standard Hebrew prayers for thousands of years.

The Temple will contain a Courtyard of the Gentiles, and Gentiles will be allowed to offer certain sacrifices.

The Temple will be a "House of prayer for all nations." John 14:6 is a false doctrine, invented by the early Roman Church.

Wednesday, 11/19/08

jeffery said...

I think it likely that in the next war that Israel will have with Iran. The Muslims (Iran) will by accident destroy the Dome of the Rock themselves. This will leave the temple mount for the Jews to build the 3rd Temple. As far as uniting the Muslim world into a holy war if the dome gets destroyed and the Jews build there 3rd temple. In The Temple scroll of the Dead Sea Scroll the scroll’s description of an ideal temple to be established by God Himself at the end of days and that temple’s association with Jacob at Bethel. The Temple Scroll states, “And I will consecrate my Temple by my glory, … and establish it for myself for all times, according to the covenant which I have made with Jacob at Bethel. (described in Gen. 28:10–22). If Muslims, want to fight the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in a holy war. I remind you that this is the God that the Muslims claim to worship. They can and will die in mass numbers.

Anonymous said...

NO Christian should ever hold to the belief that God is going honor a rebuilt Temple. To do so would be to dishonor the Lord Jesus who is God the Son. And yes i hold to the belief in the Trinity. and i think we can find the Trinity in Scripture. If you really want to , if not then stay disbelieving and you will find out one day you were wrong. Just as though in Paul,s days that it says in scripture that they refused to believe. Here they were and God was offering them Grace and they refused God,s Grace in the Lord Jesus and they rejected it. And i am sure now they say :Opps what a fool i was".

God is not going to be behind a veil ever again as God did in the Old Testament in the Tabernacle of Moses and God left there and into the Tabernacle of David and then onto the last Tabernacle. But God never did go back to the Tabernacle of Moses when the ark was taken. That is a foreshadowing of what would happen in the Lord Jesus.

jeffery said...

To Hank Hanegraaff, You claim that "NO Christian should ever hold to the belief that God is going honor a rebuilt Temple" Then reference the scriptures i.e. Holly Bible. evidently you do not read nor understand the Bible in what you say. I strongly suggesthat you rear Isaiah 2:2-4 [Ezekiel chapters 38-48 Malachi 3:1-4 & Revelation 11: 1-2 ]



2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.