Temple movement?
By Jim Fletcher
For a long time, one of the real controversies in Israel revolves around the Temple Mount. Specifiically, the Temple itself.
In history, two Jewish temples have stood on the site, the first built by Solomon, the second a “cheap imitation,” given the fact that the spirit of the Lord had long since vacated the site. Researchers feel that the Temple stood on the spot of the Dome of the Rock now, with the holy of holies being on the site of a small structure just off the Dome.
Islam flatly conquers territory by establishing some type of holy structure on another religion’s site. Islam is doing this elsewhere. The famed Hagia Sophia, a church in Istanbul, was taken over as a mosque in 2020, with little outcry from the world’s Christian communities. This type of thuggery is common under Erdogan in Turkey.
Now, a rebuilt Temple is also controversial among…Christian groups! The Reformed ideology, which has put a stranglehold on heretofore pro-Israel groups, such as the Southern Baptists, flatly denies that the Temple will be rebuilt. Anti-Semitism and Replacement Theology are raging within Christendom.
The problem for them is, the latter chapters of Ezekiel tell us that yes, the Temple will be physically rebuilt, in a Messianic time. Since many in the Church today do not take prophetic passages literally, this is sanitized from teachings. I saw an interesting report this week on social media.
“Awesome Jew” posted on X:
“US and Israel 'actively working' to strip Jordan of Al-Aqsa custodianship, sources say”
That article, from Middle East Eye, offers an explosive proposition: the U.S. and Israel are “meddling” in the Temple Mount administration. For many years, the Palestinian Waqf (religious authority), Jordanians, and Turks all have their fingers in that dike.
The article states “The plan has sparked fears that Jordan's role in Jerusalem could be sidelined in favour of a new arrangement aligned with Israeli interests.”
Now, I haven’t seen a corroborating bit of evidence that this is true, but it sounds very plausible to me.
“The US and Israel are ‘actively working’ to strip Jordan of its historic custodianship of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, and are pursuing a new arrangement that would see the management of the revered Muslim site closely align with Israeli interests, multiple sources have told Middle East Eye.
“US, Jordanian and Palestinian officials, as well as western and Gulf Arab sources, told MEE that under the plan, championed by President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has no official role in the administration, and the US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, the authority of the Jordanian-backed Islamic Waqf would abruptly end and a new body created by the Israeli government would declare the Al-Aqsa Mosque a ‘multi-faith centre.’”
You see, the overseers to this point have been the annoying Waqf, which controls whether Jews and Christians can visibly pray on the site. Can you imagine? Several years ago, I got too close apparently to the interior of the famed Golden Gate (on the east side of the Temple Mount, facing the Mt. of Olives) and a Waqf thug chased me away. He was wearing a sidearm. I would not also be able to pray there.
Also, I’ve peered into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, but am not allowed in. It’s from this location that many jihadist “sermons” have been preached by various imams. It is a breeding ground for Hamas ideology and outright terrorism.
According to the article, the Americans are also interested in stripping the mosque of its Muslim identity, making it more of a tourist attraction for the three Abrahamic faiths.
I don’t think any of this will fly, but it’s fascinating that it’s being talked about. I remember years ago talking to people in the know in Jerusalem that the Temple Mount Faithful people were not exactly fringe thinkers that had no allies. In fact, they had serious allies in government. All this means I think that rebuilding the Temple is much more a serious topic than we might otherwise think.
It is also a clear indication that the supernatural flows much more into our daily goings on than we might think. We don’t know exactly where we are on the Messianic timeline. Yet we are in the season of looking up.
Of that I am certain.