People who visit Jerusalem see this ancient city in one of three ways:
* Jerusalem is a fascinating site of historical significance. They are tourists and view Jerusalem as a tourist would.
* Jerusalem is a site that is central to their religious beliefs. Devout Christians visit Jerusalem because they want to “walk where Jesus walked and feel His presence there.” Devout Muslims wish to visit Mohammed’s “Far Mosque” referred to in Sura 17, traditionally held to be in Jerusalem.
* Jerusalem is pivotal to the fulfillment of their traditional apocalyptic expectations.
Jerusalem is unique in that it holds a central, emotional attachment for the world’s three largest monotheistic religions. What is more, these three religions share a common ancestry, each claiming a descent from Abraham. As summed up by LIFE, in Holy Lands: One Place, Three Faiths, these religions are:
Judaism
It is the oldest of the three great monotheistic religions. Judaism’s view of history, as rendered in the Torah some 2,600 years ago, provided a basis for Christianity and, later, Islam. The Israeli leader Moses, who received the Lord’s laws atop Mount Sinai . . . is a revered prophet in all three faiths.
Christianity
In Israel, 2,000 years ago, a child was born to a Jewish couple. Jesus grew to be a charismatic preacher, gathering disciples as he went. This Son of God performed miracles, they said . . . Jerusalem’s authorities, perceiving a threat, had Jesus executed. His followers, taking up the cross, built the world’s largest religion in his name.
Islam
More than 1,300 years ago, a man in Mecca was visited by the archangel Gabriel and received an extraordinary gift: the word from Allah, the one God. Muhammad, according to Muslims, was the prophet presaged by Moses, and Muhammad’s book, the Koran, represented the ultimate truth. Taking his message across the desert to Medina . . . he created Islam.1
While Judaism and Christianity (Judeo-Christianity) have traditionally ranged themselves together against Islam, these three religions are strikingly similar in many significant areas. In addition to all three claiming a religious descent from Abraham, all three religions:
* Believe in one supreme Creator Deity.
* Accept the Old Testament as a holy book.
* Claim that the Messiah/Saviour/Mahdi of the other two is anti-Christ.
* Want a theocratic dictatorship ruled by their Messiah/Saviour/Mahdi.
* Have apocalyptic expectations centering on Jerusalem to establish a theocratic dictatorship.
* Believe that the prophesied end-time destruction can only be survived by their religion being uppermost.
In addition to these similarities, significant numbers of all three religions either teach or act on the concept of Convert or Die! Islam has killed multitudes for refusing to convert to their religion. Roman Catholics may present a fair face to the word today, but her doctrines have not changed. The Roman Catholic Church is responsible for the deaths of even more people than Islam.
Dome of the Rock, JerusalemWhile the ongoing acts of violence committed by Palestinians against Israelis frequently make the news headlines, the many instances of innocent Palestinians, American civilians and many others baited and antagonized by Israeli troops, and even killed outright, rarely if ever make the news. Yet such atrocities by Israelis against the Palestinians and others are an on-going reality. Careful research by many different scholars has exposed the Zionist agenda behind innumerable wars, including collusion with the Nazis during World War II.
Taken all together, an alarming picture begins to emerge of an all-out war for theocratic dictatorship leading to global control, at the cost of annihilation of all other religions.
Islam’s Agenda
During the last twenty years, there has been an increase in war rhetoric by various leading Imams urging their believers to jihad. The expectation of the coming of the Mahdi requires cooperation on the part of believers to prepare for his coming. Muslims are divided into two groups, depending upon their apocalyptic expectation.
Some Muslims believe that turmoil and fighting in the Middle East prepares the way for the Mahdi to come and lead their armies to victory. They will capture Jerusalem for Islam and once it has been conquered, the Mahdi will lead them in victory over the rest of the world.
Other Muslims believe that as soon as they are in complete control of Jerusalem, then the Mahdi will be occulted (appear) and lead them to conquer the rest of the world for Islam.
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has publicly stated: “”Our revolution’s main mission is to pave the way for the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam, the Mahdi.”2 While speaking before the UN General Assembly in September of 2005, Ahmadinejad closed his remarks by praying that the Mahdi would come soon: “Oh mighty Lord, I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last repository, the promised one.”3
The significance of Ahmadinejad’s comments become clear once the link to Jerusalem is understood.
Dr. Bilal Na’im served as an assistant to the head of the Executive Council of Hizballah, the Iranian-controlled Lebanese Shiitefighting in the streets terrorist organization. In an essay discussing the details of how the Mahdi is supposed to appear before the world, according to Shiite doctrine, he states that initially the Mahdi reveals himself in Mecca “and he will lean on the Ka’abah and view the arrival of his supporters from around the world.”
From Mecca the Mahdi next moves to Karbala in Iraq. But his most important destination, in Na’im’s descriptions, is clearly Jerusalem. It is in Jerusalem from where the launching of the Mahdi’s world conquest is declared. He explains, “The liberation of Jerusalem is the preface for liberating the world and establishing the state of justice and values on earth.”4 In short, Jerusalem serves as the launching pad for the Mahdi’s global jihad at the end of days.5
bullets & mapWhile one group of Muslims believe they must first gain control of Jerusalem before the Mahdi comes, the other believes the Mahdi will come first and help them capture Jerusalem – all this is but the precursor to total Islamic global dominance. Both groups view turmoil in the Middle East as a positive development which advances their agenda for the Mahdi’s arrival. This should be a warning to every non-Muslim, particularly in light of comments made recently by Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam.
In his keynote address delivered on February 27, 2011, at the Nation of Islam’s annual Saviour’s Day event, Farrakhan told a capacity crowd of 16,000+ people that the recent rioting in the Middle East was evidence that the Mahdi has, in fact, returned.
What you are looking at in Tunisia, in Egypt, in Yemen, in Jordan, in Libya, in Bahrain, soon, very soon, in all the nations of the world, and even sooner to take place in America. . . . It is the sign that the great Mahdi that the Muslim world has been looking for is present in the world, that the Christ that you hoped for, God is stimulating the rise of the masses! And soon, it will come to these shores [United States]. Indeed, it has already begun.6
Jewish/Zionist Apocalyptic Blueprint
Featuring just as centrally in Jewish apocalyptic expectations, Jerusalem is also crucial to Jewish/Zionist plans for world dominion.
Judaism, at first sight, seems to be trying to keep its people together rather than to take on the task of converting the world, for Judaism is the history and faith of a specific nation. But this is not quite the whole story. Fundamentalist Judaism, like that of Christianity and Islam, sees its success in terms of influencing the rest of the world. It makes much of the rabbinical statements in its tradition that “God first sends a blessing to Jerusalem, and from there it flows to the entire world.”7 It is to Jerusalem that the Messiah will come and “redeem and perfect the Jewish people . . . [who will, in turn,] perfect the world around them, teaching all nations to live in peace under the law of God.”8
The prerequisite to the glorious future envisioned by Judaism is the rebuilding of their temple and a king, of the lineage of David, sitting upon the throne in Jerusalem. It is not a handful ofIsraeli Soldier at wailing wall visionaries only, but leading and influential (and well-funded) men who are preparing to rebuild the third Temple when given the opportunity. One such person is Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute.
He openly proclaimed that the members of the Institute wished to remove the Dome of the rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque so that the Temple of Solomon could be rebuilt. . . . Make no mistake about it – they are serious; according to their plans, the Third Temple will be built. And to serve the Temple they are training priests in the Temple tradition of blood sacrifice. . . . All the required implements, dishes, and other objects are also being created as the funds become available.9
It should be understood that just as Muslims are divided into various categories, so are the people commonly referred to as “Jews.” Some of these people are true descendents of Abraham, having Hebrew/Israelite blood. Many of them, however, have no blood connection to Israel at all. They are descendents of the Khazarian nation which ruled in Central Asia centuries ago.
The Khazars were a Pagan civilization, and in a short period in history, became the largest and most powerful kingdom in Europe, and possibly the wealthiest also. They brought with them their religious worship that was a mix of phallic worship and other forms of idolatrous worship practiced in Asia by other Pagan nations. This form of Pagan worship continued into the seventh century with vile forms of sexual excesses and lewdness indulged in by the Khazars as part of their religious beliefs.
In the seventh century A.D., the Khazarian ruler, King Bulan decided to convert his people to one of three possibilities: Judaism, Christianity, or Islam.
After an historic session with representatives from the three monotheistic religions, King Bulan decided to adopt "Talmudism", (as it was known then and practiced today as Judaism,) over Islam and Christianity and [Judaism] became the new state religion.
King Bulan and his four thousand feudal nobles were promptly converted by rabbis imported from Babylonia for the event. Phallic worship and all other forms of idol worship were there after forbidden. The Khazarian Kings invited large numbers of Rabbis from Babylon and vacinity, to come and open synagogues and schools to instruct the population in the new state religion.
. . . During this time the Talmud was added to or altered to protect their state religion from any other outside religious influence and to prevent a return to previous vileKhazarian Empire worship styles.10
Because the Khazars had no written language, the now self-styled “Jews” used Hebrew characters to put the sounds of their mother tongue into writing. It has come down to modern days as Yiddish.
Most of the so-called Jews who largely became involved in these various anti-christ movements derived from a group of Gentiles known as Khazar Jews. They converted to Judaism, but in no way were they ever from the seed of Abraham. To this very day, they are so conscientious of this ancient cover-up that when they are confronted about not being real Jews they scream Anti-Semitism. In order to further protect themselves from public scrutiny, they formed the Jewish Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to police and rid the world of anyone trying to expose or question their pagan practices or their rights to the Promise Land.11
While shocking to many people who assume that “Jews” are the blood-descendants of Abraham, the Khazar-Jews themselves know the truth of their history. Harold Wallace Rosenthal, a Jew, was a senior aide to then-United States Senator, Jacob K. Javits, another Jew. In 1976, Rosenthal gave an interview in which he boastingly revealed the Jewish/Zionist agenda at work in the world today. Gloating at the stupidity of the American goyim who were mere pawns of the Jews, Rosenthal stated: “It is a marvel that the American people do not rise up and drive every Jew out of this country."
The interviewer, Weisman, was so appalled at what he was hearing from Rosenthal that at one point he felt compelled to protest.
Weisman: “According to the latest scholarly research, your ancestors are not Israelites but Mongolians and Asians from Eastern Europe and Western Asia so your ancestors were thousands of miles from the Holy Land. They never ever saw the Holy Land proving that your people were not the chosen people of God."
Rosenthal: "So what? What difference does it make?"
Weisman: "We have been taught the big lie for many years that Jews are God's chosen people so it does make a difference. A very grave difference."
Rosenthal: "What grave difference?"
Weisman: "Does it not prove that the great majority of Jews today are Khazar in origin. Your ancestors never trod the lands where Christ walked. They never knew Jerusalem and Palestine so how could you . . . [Mr. Rosenthal interrupted me.]
Rosenthal: [shouting very loudly] "What the h*** of difference does it make now?"
Weisman: "I find so many things that you have said as being repulsive and . . . there is so much of what you have said that common people may not believe you; they may not believe what you have said in this interview..." [Mr. Rosenthal interrupts again]Israeli Flag, star of david
Rosenthal: "That is why we have the control today. One of the reasons your people did not believe that it was possible for any people or race to accomplish what we have within a couple of hundred years. The gentile is stupid. We are very intelligent. I am going to be a very important person in and around Washington and I intend to become nationally prominent. You are going to hear and read about me in the future. I am young and have had the guts to tell you more than any other Jew would ever dare to tell you publicly. Much of what I have told you is part of the inner and invisible world of Jewry."12
It is hardly surprising that the young, rising political star, Howard W. Rosenthal, was murdered under questionable circumstances a few months later.
The goal of Khazarian-Zionist-Jews is world dominion via their claimed descent from Abraham. Admittedly, people of Israelite descent have the strongest claim to Jerusalem. Thus, by cloaking their ambitions for world dominion under an assumed Israelite connection, Khazarian-Zionist-Jews have the strongest claim to Jerusalem.
The Jews teach that once the temple is rebuilt and a king of the lineage of David is once again seated on the throne of Israel, Messiah will come and they will rule the world. As Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan stated, “In Jerusalem, the Jewish people will thus become established as the spiritual and moral teachers of all mankind. At that time, Jerusalem will become the spiritual capital of all mankind.”13
Christian Expectations
Many Christians are unwitting helpers in furthering the Zionist agenda for global dominance. The fondest hope of all Christians, the promise to which they have clung for nearly 2,000 years is that one day the Saviour would return to earth. Large segments of Christianity also believe that Jerusalem plays a momentous role in the last days of earth’s history before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Like the Jews, these people believe that the temple must be rebuilt before the Second Coming. They also look for a return to Israel of the “Jews” (whom they assume are Israelites by blood). For this reason, many Christians are supportive of Israel as an independent state. An independent Jewish State is necessary to fulfill their apocalyptic expectations.
The Christians want the Temple rebuilt because this means that the second coming of Jesus is that much closer. The Jewish groups are happy to accept their patronage since it represents backing for Israel as well as significant financial aid for their organizations and for Israel itself.14
The Jews are only too happy to accept the help of Christians when such help is in line with their own goals. What many overlook is that the Christians believe that the Mosaic law was done-away with at the cross. Nevertheless, they continue to cooperate with the Zionist/Jewish goal of Temple restoration because of their beliefs that the Jews as a whole will be converted to Christianity during a seven-year tribulation just before the Second Coming of Jesus.
To render Mosaic law redundant is to negate all the learning of the rabbis and the value of everything that they believe and teach. The only conclusion one can draw is that the continued acceptance of support from Christian fundamentalists by these Orthodox rabbis who wish to rebuild the Temple is an act of breathtaking cynicism. For the Christian fundamentalist groups to continue to give their support is an act of naïveté, equally breathtaking.
What both groups are choosing to ignore is that the Christians are intent upon converting all the Jews to an acceptance of Christ as the Messiah at the end times. In the minds of these fundamentalist Christians, those Jews who do not accept this will unfortunately die. . . .
John Hagee, in his From Daniel to Doomsday, . . . [explains] that in the end the Jews will convert to accepting Jesus as the Messiah; in other words, they would convert to Christianity.15 And describing that Jesus will win the battle of Armageddon at the end of time, he writes:
“The hearts of the Jewish people – warmed toward God because of His intervention – will fully turn to their true God. In that moment, Israel will look upon her Messiah with recognition. . . . Jesus Christ, the true Messiah . . . shall rule and reign forever from the city of Jerusalem, the city of God.”16,17
Just as Muslims are divided into two camps by their different beliefs regarding the timing of the Mahdi’s appearance, just as “Jews” are divided into those who are blood descendents of Abraham and those who are of Khazarian blood only claiming to be blood descendents, so Christians who look to Jerusalem for the fulfillment of their apocalyptic expectations are also divided based on their own belief structures or personal agendas.
Protestants
Evangelical Protestants are some of the most out-spoken in support of Israel as an independent state. They give sacrificially to the support of Israel and look for the rebuilding of the Temple as a fulfillment of prophecy.
evangelical preacherSuch people’s love of Israel is not derived from a love of Judaism but rather from a belief that its creation as a state actually proves the accuracy of their interpretation of prophecy and is the first within a series of events ending with the Second Coming, which, with Jesus ruling from Jerusalem, will bring the conversion of Jews to Christianity. Given these beliefs, Israeli supporters of these fundamentalists are playing a very dangerous game indeed. The financial support they now receive may very well turn out to be a grave expense later on.18
Events in Jerusalem are central to the End of the World scenario embraced by these people. Some of the “signs of the times” pointed to by those who hold to this belief are:
* Israel Re-Born May 15, 1948, and Temple to be rebuilt (Sanhedrin reorganized on Jan. 12, 2005, and the Temple is their 1st priority).
* Jews of various ancestries return to Israel.
* Jerusalem not governed by the Gentile nations – Six Day War – 1967.19
Preachers take Old Testament promises given to ancient Israel and apply them to modern Israel.
For God20 will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. (Psalm 69:35, KJV)
Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. . . . So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. . . . When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD. (Psalm 102:13, 15-16, 22, KJV)
Many of the texts which have a future application to the New Earth after the Second Coming are also taken out of context to apply to modern Israel.
The LORD of hosts [shall] come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof. As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he willstudying Bible deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it. (Isaiah 31:4, 5, KJV)
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. . . . And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: . . . And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. . . . The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 60:1, 3-4, 10-12, 14, KJV)
People are convinced when their preachers quote Malachi 3:6 as proof that the Old Testament promises will still be fulfilled to modern Israel. “I am the LORD, I change not.” (Malachi 3:6, KJV) People are urged to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6a) because “they shall prosper that love thee” (Psalm 122:6b). Huge amounts of money are taken in from Christians (and eagerly accepted by the Jews) when the ministers tell them, “Blessed is he that blesseth thee [Israel], and cursed is he that curseth thee.” (Numbers 24:9b, KJV)
Other favorite passages quoted to support their belief in a restored, powerful state of Israel are texts given to David which promise:
He [Daivd] shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. . . . And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever. (2 Samuel 7:13, 16, KJV)
My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. (Psalm 89:34-37, KJV)
What multitudes of sincere people are overlooking in their efforts to “bless” the nation of Israel so that they, in turn, will be blessed, is the fact that all of Yahuwah’s promises are given on condition of obedience. Just as the Israelites of Christ’s day took Scriptures that pointed to His Second Coming and applied them to His First Coming, so many sincere people today take Scriptures which apply to the Earth made new and eternity future and reapply it to modern Israel.
The very fact that Jerusalem was utterly destroyed and its people scattered in A.D. 70 is convincing evidence that the long-suffering of Yahuwah was finally exhausted in the continued hard-hearted, “stiff-necked” rebellions of the Israelites. The apostle, Paul, emphatically rejected the exclusive mindset of the Israelites of his day which maintained that the promises were not for anyone but Israel.
And the scripture, foreseeing that [Yahuwah] would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. . . . For ye are all the children of . . . [Yahuwah] by faith in . . . [Yahushua ha Mashiach] . . . . There is neither Jew [Israelite] nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in . . . [ha Mashiach Yahushua]. And if ye be . . . [Yahushua’s], then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:8-9, 26, 28-29, KJV)
While Paul kept the true Sabbath and all the annual feasts, he wrote extensively against the continued practice of circumcision as that was a part of the Old Covenant of blood-sacrifices that were fulfilled at the cross. Because of this, many who promote a return of the “Jews” to Jerusalem and who believe that the Temple must be rebuilt in order for Jesus to come, have rejected the writings of Paul. It is claimed that Paul taught “another gospel” and he is an anti-christ.
Another false expectation widely taught but without Biblical support is the theory of the Rapture. This belief holds that the Saviour will come secretly and “rapture” His chosen ones out of the world to save them from seven years of Tribulation. This is known as the pre-Tribulation rapture. It is during the seven years of great tribulation that they expect all of the Jews to be converted and accept Jesus Christ as the true Messiah. At the end of the seven years, they, with Christ, will return triumphantly to earth to reign for 1,000 years of peace.
Here is the key to Evangelical support of Zionism. They give liberally because they believe in the final conversion of all the Jews.
Roman Catholics
pope benedict XVIThe pope has always wanted Jerusalem. The Crusades resulted in the merciless slaughter of multitudes of Muslims, Hebrews and apostolic Christians. Their sole purpose was to capture Jerusalem for the pope so that he could reign from there. The Holy See has always longed for total global dominance.
Following Vatican II in the 1960s, the papacy began courting other Christian churches. The efforts to unite with these “separated brethren” were so successful that there have been numerous “conversions” by various Protestants, including Episcopalian priests, to Catholicism. While the Seventh-day Adventist Church publishes books calling the pope the “man of sin” and stating, “It is a backsliding church that lessens the distance between itself and the Papacy”21 they also have made concessions to Catholicism that were unimaginable by the founding fathers of their faith.
On May 18, 1977, Dr. B. B. Beach, then-Secretary of the Northern Europe-West Africa Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, had an audience withMedal given to pope John Paul II by SDA Church official, B.B. Beach Pope Paul VI in which Beach officially presented the pope with a gold medallion from the Seventh-day Adventist Church. (See Review & Herald, August 11, 1977, p. 23.)
John Paul II, who was elected pope in 1978, made more international trips than any previous pope. These trips were for the express purpose of reconciling the Holy See with her “separated brethren.” His efforts were so successful that in 1994 a land-mark document was signed entitled, Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission In The Third Millennium.22 An even more surprising victory came when leaders of the Russian and Greek Orthodox patriarchate made certain concessions to the Holy See.
pope john paul II kissing QuranBut the papacy’s attempts to unite the world, with the pope as “guarantor” of all the disparate religions, did not stop with the various Christian denominations. In 1979, Pope John Paul II visited the Hagia Sophia Mosque in Istanbul and another in Damascus, Syria in 2001. In 1999, John Paul also kissed the Koran, a gift presented by visiting Muslim Imams. In March 21-26, 2000, his efforts to unite the world’s religions climaxed with a trip to Jerusalem. As summarized in an article published by JewishVirtualLibrary.org:
Pope John Paul II arrived in Israel March 21, 2000, for a historic five-day visit, during which he visited the holy sites of the three major religions and met with Israel’s political leaders and Chief Rabbis. Though ostensibly a trip focused on religion, the Pope also touched on political issues, blessing Israel, expressing support for a Palestinian homeland and apologizing for sins committed by Christians against Jews.
In a meeting with President Ezer Weizman on March 23, the Pope blessed Israel, an act seen by many Israelis as final church recognitionjohn paul II at wailing wall of their state. For centuries, the Catholic Church taught that the Jews' exile was punishment for the death of Jesus. . . .
The Yad Vashem speech [the Pope gave] was viewed as the climax of John Paul's efforts to reconcile Christians and Jews. He was the first pope to visit the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz and attend services at a Rome synagogue. In 1998, the Vatican issued a document on the Holocaust, and in early March, before leaving for his Middle East pilgrimage, the pontiff apologized for the sins of Christians throughout history, including against Jews.23
The current pope, Benedict XVI, has continued in the footsteps of his predecessor. On November 20, 2006, the pope prayed in a Muslim mosque.
pope benedict XVI praying with muslimsIn a gesture of respect to Muslims in Turkey and around the world, Pope Benedict XVI prayed in Istanbul's famed Blue Mosque, his first papal visit to an Islamic place of worship. As the pope walked with Mustafa Cagrici, the grand mufti of Istanbul, to the "mihrab" niche that points the way toward Mecca, the mufti said he was going to pray. The pope stood alongside him, bowed his head and moved his lips in silence for about a minute. The Nov. 30 encounter was warm and cordial . . . .24
Although the Catholic Church has long been accused of persecuting Jews for being “Christ-killers,” in 2011, Benedict XVI made a point of denying that Jews were in any way responsible for the death of Christ. On March 2, 2011, Reuters News Service reported:
Pope Benedict, in a new book, has personally exonerated Jews of allegations they were responsible for Jesus Christ's death, repudiating the concept of collective guilt that has haunted Christian-Jewish relations for centuries.
Jewish groups applauded the move. The Anti-Defamation League called it "an important and historic moment" and hoped that it would help complicated theology "translate down to the pews" to improve grass roots inter-religious dialogue.25
The all-important goal driving the Roman Catholic Church’s desire for ecumenism is the desire to rule the world from Jerusalem.
There have been rumors that the Roman Catholic Church’s strategy is to pave the way toward the New World Religion so they will be in the superior position to have jurisdiction once the merger of all religions and cults are combined into one. The hidden plan in this merger is for the Catholic Church to gain world power and dominion.26
As the claimed “vicegerent of Christ,” the pope even has the title “Lord God the pope.” The apostle Paul warned of this end-time delusion when he wrote to the Thessalonians:
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called . . . [Elohim], or that is worshipped; so that he as . . . [Yahuwah] sitteth in the temple of . . . [Yahuwah], shewing himself that he is . . . [Yahuwah]. . . . And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom . . . [Yahushua] shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, 6-10, KJV)
This heaven-inspired description of the nature and goals of the papacy is immediately followed by a solemn heaven-inspired warning:
And for this cause . . . [Yahuwah] shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:11, 12, KJV)
The belief that Jerusalem is crucial to the fulfillment of apocalyptic prophecies is one of Satan’s largest and most successful lies. Its seriousness is found in the fact that it embrace’s the world’s three largest religions. Each religion, and each division within that religion, has a variation of the lie tailor-made for it by the Prince of Lies (Lucifer) himself.
Working through false beliefs which he himself has implanted in the minds of men, Satan is seeking to accomplish his original boast, made at the time of his fall in heaven. This boast has been preserved in Scripture for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come:
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of . . . [Yahuwah]: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. (Isaiah 14:12-14, KJV)
The principles of Satan’s kingdom are two-fold: 1) falsehood and, when that fails, 2) force. All three of the world’s main Abrahamic religions have been guilty of using both principles for the purpose of gaining greater power and control over the masses. Any belief that promotes Jerusalem, that calls for a return to that specific piece of real estate, that solicits funds for the rebuilding of a temple in Jerusalem, is a deception that has been planned by Satan himself to either unite the religions of the world under one umbrella or, conversely, to “divide and conquer” those who refuse to unite.
When Yahushua was on earth, His followers were looking for precisely what is now being promised in this end-time delusion: Israel as a world-dominant power, crushing all of her enemies. The priests and rulers of Yahushua’s day first sought Him in hopes that He would lead the Israelites to victory over the hated Romans. They quickly rejected Him when they realized that He had no such intentions.
Yahushua clearly taught that His kingdom was a spiritual kingdom.
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of . . . [Yahuwah] should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of . . . [Yahuwah] cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of . . . [Yahuwah] is within you. (Luke 17:20-21, KJV)
This divinely spoken truth was anathema to the Israelites! Faced with the destruction of their ambitious hopes for world dominance, they quickly rejected their long-awaited Messiah. Using their own ambitions as a weapon against Him, they accused Him before Pilate of being engaged in seditious and rebellious behavior against Rome. However, when Pilate asked Yahushua if the charges were true, the Saviour again reaffirmed that His was a spiritual kingdom.
Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called . . . [Yahushua], and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews [Israelites]? . . . Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?
. . . [Yahushua] answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews [Israelites]: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? . . . [Yahushua] answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. (John 18:33, 35-37, KJV)
All who will accept the truths of the Bible will realize that the Saviour’s kingdom is still a spiritual kingdom. The promises of Yahuwah to literal Israel will be fulfilled to spiritual Israel. This does not occur at any point in time before the Second Coming. Only after the destruction of the wicked, when a New Heaven and a New Earth are created, will these promises reach their ultimate fulfillment to spiritual Israel – those who, by obedience, have met the required condition of fulfillment, which is obedience to the divine law.
Divine Love has provided a glimpse into this glorious future in the last book of the Bible.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from . . . [Yahuwah], prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:1, 2, NKJV)
In the earth made new, populated by those who have overcome by the blood of the Lamb; those who, through faith in the atoning merits of the blood of Yahushua have perfectly kept the divine law, every gracious promise given to the obedient will be fulfilled.
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of . . . [Yahuwah] is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and . . . [Yahuwah] Himself will be with them and be their . . . [Elohim]. (Revelation 21:3, NKJV)
