Yves here. Please welcome Kevin Kirk. The post below which came out of information provided by his diplomatic contacts, which he corroborated independently. Note that Haaretz has questioned the bona fides of the essential-to-the-plot red heifers.
By Kevin Kirk, who has worked all over the world, first as an engineer, then a visiting university Professor and finally as a diplomatic trainer. He mourns the loss of what could have been in Israel if Jews and Arabs had lived in peace together
While we are consumed with the horrors of Gaza, other events in Jerusalem are gathering momentum that could plunge the Middle East into a conflict that could inflame the region for a generation.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. It was from here that the Prophet Mohamed ascended into heaven and conversed with other prophets such as Abraham, Moses and Jesus. And now, American Evangelical Christians, together with Ultranationalist Israeli Zionists (many of whom are also American) intend to destroy it to make way for the building of the 3rd Jewish Temple and the coming of the Messiah.
It may surprise you to learn that there are currently more Zionist Christians than there are Zionist Jews in the US – most estimates put forward a ratio of 10 Zionist Christians to every Zionist Jew. Much of this can be put down to the popularity of the Scofield bible, first published in the early 1900s. The bible itself was the standard King James Bible, but what set the Scofield Bible apart were his copious notes or the “explainer” (Hasbara in Hebrew) as Scofield himself called it; wherein, he put his own explanations as to the meaning of the scriptural text.
Scofield was described by his local newspaper, the Atchison Patriot as the “late lawyer, politician and shyster generally,” the article went on to recount a few of Scofield’s “many malicious acts,” including a whole series of forgeries in St. Louis, for which he got six months in jail.
But then he saw the light and became a (non-ordained) Christian preacher and as such was taken under the wing of a prominent Jewish Wall Street lawyer, Samuel Untermeyer, who provided him with money, contacts and entry to New York society. In return, Untermeyer required that Scofield write a bible in such a way as to align Christians with Untermeyer’s pet project, Zionism.
In “Unjust War Theory: Christian Zionism and the Road to Jerusalem,” Prof. David W. Lutz writes, “Untermeyer used Scofield, a Kansas City lawyer with no formal training in theology, to inject Zionist ideas into American Protestantism. Untermeyer and other wealthy and influential Zionists whom he introduced to Scofield promoted and funded the latter’s career, including travel in Europe.” It was during one such trip that he met Oxford University Press publisher Henry Frowde, who decided to publish the Scofield Bible and it has been in print, under that august imprint, ever since, providing it with endless gravitas.
As an example of Scofield’s pro-Zionist explainer consider the following based on Genesis 12:3: ‘I will bless them that bless thee. And curse him that curseth thee.’ To which Scofield explained as meaning: “Wonderfully fulfilled in the history of the dispersion. It has invariably fared ill with the people who have persecuted the Jew—well with those who have protected him.” Which, John Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), further interpreted as meaning “The man or nation that lifts a voice or hand against Israel invites the wrath of God”.
In rebuttal, Stephen Sizer in his, Christian Zionism: Road-map to Armageddon? says: “The promise, when referring to Abraham’s descendants, speaks of God blessing them [Abraham’s direct descendants], not of entire nations ‘blessing’ the Hebrew nation, still less the contemporary and secular State of Israel.” He went on to say: “Sustained by a dubious exegesis of selective biblical texts, Christian Zionism’s particular reading of history and contemporary events…sets Israel and the Jewish people apart from other peoples in the Middle East…it justifies the endemic racism intrinsic to Zionism, exacerbates tensions between Jews and Palestinians and undermines attempts to find a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, all because ‘the Bible tells them so.’”
The particular link between Evangelical Christians and Ultranationalist Zionist Jews stems from their shared eschatological beliefs: primarily that they must strive towards the coming of the Messiah. To this end they believe that in order for the Messiah to return the 3rd Jewish Temple should be built on the site of King Herod’s 2nd Temple of which only the Western wall (or wailing wall as Christians often describe it) currently remains after it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
The problem is that the Al-Aqsa mosque is built almost on top of it. The solution, we are told by Melissa Jane Kronfeld, a New York Jewish activist who runs the High on the Har organization, which leads of tours of the site is: “I believe it’s going to go, 100%. The whole thing is going to go to build a temple,”
However, she insisted that the shrine and its golden dome should be preserved, but relocated. Which is somewhat missing the point, it isn’t the Al-Aqsa itself that is sacred, it is the location that makes it sacred. It was here that the Prophet stood, not in some sad, relocated Mosque in its new home in the Jordanian desert. All this begs a question: why not build the Temple on the large plot of land next to the Temple Mount, so the current West Wall becomes the East Wall, as a sign of equanimity? Just a thought.
I digress, it was this fear, according to British diplomat Alistair Crooke, which led directly to the events on October 7th and is confirmed by the name of the Hamas operation: The Al-Aqsa flood. The timing of the event was not random either, as it occurred just a few days after dozens of ultranationalist settlers stormed Al-Aqsa, under the protection of the Israeli police, and performed Talmudic Rituals. These rituals included the sprinkling of blood to sanctify the site, as described in detail here. Under current Israeli law the entry of Jews into the site is forbidden but under Itmar Ben Gvir, the minister for security, that law will no longer be enforced. Indeed, Ben Gvir, himself, entered the Holy site, even after he was told that it may cause violence (like it did when Ariel Sharon, a previous Israeli Prime Minster, entered the site, which led to the 2nd Intafada), but he brushed it aside as the site is no longer under Islamic control but, instead, has belonged to the State of Israel since 1980. Furthermore, he intended to militarize it, which he has done. And he has assembled a private militia of over 10,000 settlers (many of them from New York) who he has armed and trained, courtesy of the state, to enforce his will.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the embattled prime minister, has to stay in power because the moment he loses parliamentary privileges he faces prison on numerous charges and in this quest he assembled a coalition of ultra-far right parties including Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit Party (6 seats) and Bezalel Smotrich’s (the current minister of finance) National Religious Party- Religious Zionism (7 seats). These parties are in favor of the building of the temple as their parties are dedicated to bringing together Zionists and Ultranationalist Jews and taking away any reason for Arabs to be there. And they are not the only politicians that are in favor, many of the religious Right in the Republican Party (aka Trump’s base) are also in favor as, indeed, is the speaker of the US house, Mike Johnson.
However, time is not on their side. As a prominent Israeli Columnist writes in Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, Israel is facing defeat in its war in Gaza. And there have been numerous, increasingly violent, demonstrations in Israel demanding a new election, which is likely to lead to both Smotrich and Ben Gvir losing their seats.
Coupled with that, the Haredi Jews (around 20% of the population) are threatening to emigrate due to the IDF needing extra troops to make up for the losses in the Gaza operation and who want to see them conscripted. And the economy is a disaster area.
So the Temple Institute Organization, based in Jerusalem (and supported by Henry Swieca, a wealthy New York financier), who are committed to building the 3rd Temple and restoring animal sacrifice, have swung into action and submitted an application to the Israeli police to use knives to slaughter 5 perfect red heifers as part of a purification ritual elucidated in Numbers Chapter 19 of the Bible. This ceremony, which is taking place on a specially built altar situated on the Mount of Olives opposite the Temple Mount, is set to take place in April 22nd, which is during Passover. Once the purification ceremony has been undertaken then the stage is set for the building of the Temple, leading to the coming of the Messiah and the final battle between good and evil on a hill just outside Haifa called Tel Megiddo, or, as it is called in the Bible: Armageddon.
As to the actual destruction of the Mosque, no-one knows how it will be done, but the impetus is there to see it happen. Some have suggested that there are explosives sited under it, hidden in the “archeological” tunnels that snake under it, others suggested arson or simply taking a bulldozer to it. What is universally accepted is that, as Tom Segev’s book, 1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East, said: the site’s destruction could only be done under the cover of war: “Tomorrow might be too late.”
To find out more about the heifers, the ritual and the link to the US religious right (and Mike Johnson) watch this video by CBS.
🔥🚨BREAKING NEWS: A “massive” Sacrificial Altar has been built in Jerusalem to sacrifice Red Heifers to usher in the third Temple of Solomon.
This sacrifice will take place between March and April. It is rumored that the Al-Aqsa Mosque has to be destroyed to build this temple.… pic.twitter.com/32QdBn4EMF
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) March 22, 2024
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It’s pretty simple: if the Jews convert to Islam, then peace will reign (dar al-Islam); if not war will continue indefinitely (dar al-harb).
It’s pretty simple: Jews and Muslims should convert to Buddhism. Then peace will reign. If not, war will continue indefinitely.
The Rohinga and the Thai muslims would beg to differ.
not to mention the Tibetans pre Chinese revolution
Can NC confirm this was actually from the Dalai Lama?…I doubt it…
They were all living relatively peacefully in the Levant until the arrival of European Zionists. The problem isn’t religion, it’s settler colonialism.
Emma ,
not so simple Emma .
The problem is religion (Christian Jihad) & FREE LAND for Jews.
One thing I never understand is why all these Wall Street dual citizens of Israel and USA sit here in the USA and keep shoveling money into “Israel this and Israel that”. Why don’t they move to Israel? Their approach is as cowardly as the Haredim who will not fight in the wars but prefer to keep the fires of war burning. One of the worst defeats for Israel since Oct 07, 2023 and the greatest victory for Hamas has been the turgid re-education and edification of the World about the nature of the Zionists. We in America should be particularly enraged that dual citizens under the protection of the USA with its much vaunted affinity for human rights and justice (affected though it has been) should be unequivocally promoting naked racism and theocracy.
That’s like asking why the American neocons themselves don’t fight. It’s no secret that many of them were draft dodgers.
https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2006/07/03/cheerleaders-for-war-havent-seen-combat/31488612007/
These people are some of the worst types of cowards and hypocrites. They want other people to fight their wars.
Unless there are plans to strip them of the citizenship, there isn’t much else the US can do. The neocons were never held to account either.
Yes, the bed-wetting snowflake “neocons” are typical: sheltered, coddled, protected, privileged ivory-tower cowards who would promptly soil themselves if they were confronted with even a whiff of real danger. Yet, they are willing to “fight” til the last drop of other people’s blood. How brave
However, it is not just the so-called neocons, this can be said of most warmongers. For some reason, people with mental illness rise to powerful positions, because mentally sick people serve the interests of the oligarchy.
Also, many US/Israel dual citizens move to the West Bank and get stolen land for free and subsidies from Israeli govt. Ethnic cleansing and genocide are subsidized, in this way, the US and Israel provide incentives for crimes.
Even Netanyahu’s draft dodging son is hiding out in the U.S.
Where’s Bibi’s boy? Israeli soldiers blast Benjamin Netanyahu’s son Yair, 32, for ‘abandoning’ them by staying in Miami while 360,000 reservists are called up to fight against Hamas
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12664565/yair-netanyahu-benjamin-son-idf-reservists-miami.html
How have you determined which US supporters of Israel are dual citizens?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/15/biden-extremist-jewish-settlers-travel-ban-loophole
That’s a report about US citizens occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The comment to which I replied refers to US citizens who “sit here in the USA.”
And yet no outrage or complaint from the TPTB about U.S. citizens that are killed aiding or even just reporting on the Palestinians ( Shireen Abu Akleh as a recent example of the neglect shown to an U.S. citizen murdered by Israel while exposing the crimes against Palestinians; also the World Central Kitchen victims).
Under Aussie Constitutional law, it is illegal to be a Parliamentarian if you also have the citizenship of another country. A coupla years ago it was found that a few had made their way in and it took a long time to weed them out. I wonder how many in Congress have multiple citizenship. And in voting, which country’s interest do they prioritize?
They don’t need to vote, not directly. They’ve got AIPAC and they’ve got the money to buy all the American politicians, left and right.
> I wonder how many in Congress have multiple citizenship. And in voting,
> which country’s interest do they prioritize?
It should be a matter of public record, wouldn’t you think? Since they’re on the public payroll? Especially, as you note, given the potential for conflict of interest. Interesting project for an investigative journalist.
The sheer illogical stupidity of fanatical believers trying to force God’s hand to bring on the end times beggars belief. As the old saying goes concerning suckers, \there’s one born every minute.
Yes it is illogical and stupid, which if you think for a second should make you question if the reporting you are reading has been distorted for political gain.
As a general rule of thumb if you read something illogical and stupid it is the reporter not the reporter’s subject that you should assume was the idiot.
I grew up in churches that strongly believed in zionism, preached about it often, taught it as theology etc. I never once encountered any suggestion that there was some way to “force God’s hand.” Prophecy was descriptions of what would happen, not something that you could make happen. The only real choice was if you would be for or against Israel while it happened. The excitement was never about making it happen, it was about seeing prophecy unfold within their lifetime and Christ’s return being near.
The idea that there is some mass group of Christians that are trying to make it happen is an attempt to create an out-group that can be vilified. Millenarian Christians are the perfect group to demonize because they are a relatively small part of the population and have very little ability to counter the messaging so they can be lied about with impunity.
In a sense the Dem friends here want to vilify the MAGA crowd (conservative Christians from backwater places who are against abortion and in favor of the Jews). There’s intention here. But, their beautifully insane potus is the one waging war in the middle east lol. Pass the popcorn please.
Seems to be a rather twisted, morbid and ghoulish thing to “cheer” for.
Gotta admit, I cerrtainly wouldn’t feel inclined to immediately trust the moral compass of anyone considering that to be a good outcome (or the best finale that the supposed creator or the universe could come up with).
Re: “The promise, when referring to Abraham’s descendants, speaks of God blessing them”.
In 70 AD, the Second Temple was sacked and burned by the Roman Legions. All of the Hebrew genealogical records were utterly destroyed!
Meaning….. it has been impossible to claim Jewish descent by genealogy going back to Abraham, for the last one thousand, nine hundred and forty seven years. At best, one can trace claimed, Jewish lineage, going back a few hundred years. (A few hundred years more for the elite).
So, being Jewish, today, is a matter of perceived IDENTITY and family tradition, not a genealogical “family tree”.
Thus, all of the non biblical surnames (Eastern European surnames usually)
Therefore, the proliferation of Lost Tribes.
“You just be you! Who am I to tell you who you are?”
Probably, the majority of Abraham’s actual descendants are living in Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen……. Now as Muslims, Christians and Jews. Some in Israel of course. But it is all a mystery wrapped in a mystery, impossible to ever fathom.
https://www.jewishhistory.org/rabbi-akiva-2/
“.. . Rabbi Akiva represents every man, so to speak. He did not descend from Jewish aristocracy or nobility (see Berachos 27a). He came from a family of converts. There is an opinion that his father was a convert. If not his father, then certainly his grandfather was. Not only that, but he descended from the evil general Sisera, who was the persecutor of the Jews at the time of Deborah….”
Rabbi Akiva (50 AD to 128 AD) is referred to in the Talmud as Rosh la-Hakhamim -“Chief of the Sages”.
So….the founder of modern rabbinic (pharasaic) Judaism was a convert, not a descendant of Abraham…….?
More from “the rules based order”.
Surely the issue here is not animal sacrifice but human sacrifice–over 30k recently and many more in the past. One scarcely believes that the Israelis will really blow up the mosque (unless some wackos do a Guy Fawkes) but the rest of the slaughter has convinced many Muslims that they will. It’s not the rationality of the fundamentalists that is at issue but rather of an Israeli society as a whole that, by most accounts, approves the slaughter of all those humans if not some cows. After all here’s Netanyahu himself going on about Amalek even though a likely cynical ploy. And BTW if there are ten Christian Zionists for every Jewish that’s still not very many.
The deity Americans, and particularly our politicians, really care about is money and that has distorted the whole situation because it conveys power to a handful of individuals who have so much and a US political setup that allows them to use it. The Bible has something to say about this too but that’s the New Testament.
yeah, it’s not Average Joe and his extended family of evangelicas who matters, it’s the Sabans, Adelsons, Schwartzmans and Ackmans who control the finances, as well as the Gettlemans, Weiss’, Shapiros and Tappers who control the narrative.
What about all the non-Jewish oligarchs and warmongers? Why do they support Zionism? Why did the WASP British Empire support Zionism? No doubt that far-right Zionist Jews wield disproportionate influence over US policy, however only blaming Jews is inaccurate and a slippery slope. One can say that far-right authoritarian non-Jews also wield disproportionate influence.
And of course we have staunch stalwarts of anti-Zionism (of Jewish background) like Medea Benjamin (and others in Code Pink), Max Blumenthal, Norm Finkelstein, Dennis J. Bernstein and many others who have been attacked for their views.
https://www.codepink.org/flotillapressrelease
My understanding is that David Lloyd George (British prime minister at the time of the Balfour Declaration) was an evangelical Protestant and had some beliefs along similar lines to current evangelicals. I’m totally fuzzy on the details though.
OK, but that does not explain power, and the pursuit of (imperial) interests. Zionism is a far-right Jewish nationalist ideology. Zionism is part of Western Imperialism and benefits western Neo-imperialism. The religious bit is a convenient excuse to pursue policies that directly contradict the teachings of their “saviour” JC. and then claim they are Christian. Woe to the hypocrites…
Orwellian Christianity – turn the teachings of JC on their head.
In 2024, how on Earth is Israel benefitting the US empire? It is endangering it.
The reason is really right there in front of us. A relatively few superwealthy individuals along with the Israeli government are pushing this thing hard in the US, where people tend to cave to accusations of antisemitism. Also, long-standing prejudice against Muslims and Orthodox Christians.
The empire is clearly on the decline, the US is engaging in reckless policies in a desperate attempt to prevent Russia and China from entering their “sphere of influence”, and block Belt and Road etc. (see: Halford Mackinder, Zbig B. and Henry K. and others)
Let’s clarify: the US national interest is what the oligarchy says, not the interests of the US majority. So again, the US oligarchy all benefit from Israel.
It might be convenient and comforting to blame all of this on Israel, but it is not accurate. The US/UK/Israel are imperialist peas in a pod and all part of the same far-right, authoritarian, imperialist European culture.
Israel is seen as a modern Crusader State by many in the Arab World.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-nov-19-op-54180-story.html
I don’t see how Zionism benefits western imperialism any more now that the West has torpedoed its soft power with the rest of the world. Having Saudi, Egyptian, Jordanian, etc despots in power helps western imperialism, and the relationship with them reflects that. The US would never stake its entire reputation on one of their vassals genociding a population.
Really? Ukraine?
What about blocking Russian and Chinese interests in the ME? It seems the empire is desperate. Palestine, Iran etc. have always been geographically strategic and highly coveted by empires of old, no difference today.
Belt and Road? The argument goes on and on, but clearly many in the US benefit from Israel. Let’s not be naive. It might be comforting to just blame everything on Israel and that the “tail is wagging… but that is far too simplistic and maybe a bit hypocritical
I don’t get the Ukraine comparison. The US had managed to convince much of the world that Russia were the aggressor and in backing the innocent victim, they scored international points. Then with Israel, they showed who they really are and all the good will was thrown away, rehabilitating Russia in the eyes of the non-aligned world. This is what I don’t get. The US cosigning this genocide helps Russia and China and weekens their own empire.
It also didn’t help that Orde Wingate (much later) was a member of the Plymouth Brethren and sympathetic to the idea of a Jewish state. He helped train many of the Jewish guerillas, who would later fight the UK.
Fun fact: His unit in Southeast Asia is the namesake of the current Propaganda unit for the British Army, the 77th Brigade (“Chindits”)
If you read about the details of Wingate and the Chindits, the successes the unit had were despite Wingate’s leadership, and often pyrrhic.
Questions have been asked for many years.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Jewish_Question
I’m not accusing Jews of anything. Zionism will not be defeated without the precious work of anti-Zionist Jews. I’m pointing out that Zionist Jews are fast-tracked into positions of influence and the same is not necessarily true of non-Jewish Zionists.
It is a more general bloody mindedness which is at play here.
Thinking about all the magical thinking makes my head hurt.
May as well be killing each other over fairies, dragons, and werewolves.
Magical Thinking is the zeitgeist, like believing that we’re rolling-back climate-change by leasing $80K Teslas.
However, engaging in this self-serving madness, however irrational and twisted it might appear to outsiders, is one logical response to the impossibility of reversing the dual environmental and civilizational collapse that is occurring thanks to the unprecedented infestation of our planet by 8 billion human beings. I think that we’re going to see more Magical Thinking throughout the world as people engage in ever more fanciful forms of denial.
The global Muslim Ummah has been curiously disengaged from taking action against the Palestinian genocide. It will be interesting to see their reaction when the Haredim blow up the Dome of the Rock.
Your answer was great. May I add, magical thinking is believing men can become women and vice versa, that’s the true magical thinking, against all natural laws and those of biology. Lol.
But at the end of the day, it all really clicked for the Christian Zionists after the gas was discovered off the coast of Gaza.
Yup. And Jared Kushner figures it’s a done deal! Condo city coming in Gaza. There are more pieces with the interview showcasing his real estate ambitions. This is just one. Just pull up “Kushner and Gaza”.
https://www.meidastouch.com/news/kushner-calls-for-removal-of-palestinians-in-gaza-to-build-beachfront-properties
An amusing historical note: an approximate contemporary of Scofield is James Stewart Russell, a preacher in England who, in his The Parousia, made an enduring contribution to Protestant thinking about eschatology. I have the impression that his ideas have attracted a measure of sympathetic attention in presbyterian and reformed circles; they are anathema to most baptists.
TL;DR — the eschatological paradigm JSR promoted is today called “preterism”. It holds that the future catastrophic events described in prophetic texts in the New Testament were fulfilled (“partial” preterists would modulate this with “substantially” or “mostly”; “full” or “consistent” preterists would say that everything has been fulfilled) in the events of the AD66-73 war between Rome and the Jewish rebels in Judea and Galilee.
I have friends who are “independent fundamental baptists” and who embrace the Scofield synthesis without reservation. For them, it’s “Israel, right or wrong.” I imagine that they are very excited about recent events. I have to conceal my own preference for Russell from them, lest the shock injure their fragile health.
Agnostics would conjecture that the prophecies that were fulfilled so exactly were written or modified after the fact.
Put in unambiguous Plain English that everyone can understand, but some might find offensive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r-e2NDSTuE
I’m not sure if I have posted this link here before, but this gives an interesting slant on things Israel related. (Apologies if I have, but for anyone who possibly missed it, it’s still an interesting take).
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2012-11-21/in-the-twilight-of-empires/
So whack the red heifers with a drone strike of totally unknown origin?
Except the heifers are at a hidden location. And the peeps around them would be civilian targets.
But I do like the idea.
Yeah, as long as no innocent peeps or critters are harmed
Well, that’s what we have spooks for…
Red Front! Protect the revolutionary heifers!
Alternatively, who is engaging in this binary gender-rule-defining, and do the heifers identify as heifers?
The attack should only “blemish” or “yoke” the heifers, so that they can’t be sacrificed… and thereby prevent the stage for WW3 from being set.
but that would incinerate the heiffers and possibly fulfill the conditions?
We’re familiar with the cognitive dissonance studies of apocalyptic cults, and the surprising capacity for whipping up rationalizations for prophecy failures. This seems to be a cow of a different color (couldn’t let it go). Once the heifers are sacrificed and the sacred brew is strewn, how do the ultras back off when, despite military embarrassment, their well-elaborated delusion must be saying it’s time to get with the eschatological program or else suffer some kind of damnation (do they have an equivalent of hell circles for doubters and shirkers?) I’m reminded of Christopher Hill’s The World Turned Upside Down which effectively conveyed a sociopolitical climate in which there were so many Bible-based interpretations of current affairs in mid 17th c Britain floating around that many people felt the Apocalypse could come at any moment. What will the Zionist ultras feel entitled, or required, to do when all the foreplay is over and it’s time for a new day?
What will the christian zionist ultras do when Jesus doesn’t show up?
Again.
They should be used to being ghosted by him, but there is Sure a very large number of Christian crazies taking this dead serious complete with a huge Potential to do damage even compared to the worst previous episodes of armageddomania during the last 2000 years.
What If war broke Out and Israel and possibly even the US itself got it’s ass kicked in the Middle East?
Okay, sadly that will almost certainly lead to an apocalypse of the secular, nuclear variety and would do so even without all the religious mumbo jumbo.
But say it somehow doesn’t, at least not immediately, the world just turning on without one rock rolling off another and certainly the heavens not being rolled up like parchment and a new Borg Cube like Jerusalem floating down and knocking the planet out of it’s orbit.
Say Iran and it’s allies kicked israeli a** big time and the state of Israel is falling apart, most Jews starting to flee to wherever they are welcome.
No temple, no rapture, nothing, despite all the “fulfilled” prophecies, but Iran and friends triumphant.
Would the endtime loving christomaniacs see that as a sign from God that Islam is the true religion after all, leading to mass conversions?
Of course Muslims ALSO await the return of Jesus, so him not showing up isn’t exactly ideal for them either.
I mean, as far as I’m concerned all the abrahamitic religions are only twisted, degenerate, fraudulent copies of Zoroastrianism anyway, but I don’t expect those benighted heathens to see the true light and accept the teachings of Zarathustra.
Perhaps we could at least see significant numbers of former zionist fundagelicals converting to ever so slightly less psychotic and literalist bibliolatry prone forms of Christianity like Eastern Orthodoxy.
Now you’re talking!!
Maybe that is why they have their own nuclear weapons.
Forward plannng to the time when God gives them, his chosen people, the holy mission of starting armageddon
Michael Chabon’s wonderfully funny alternative history, hard boiled, jew detective story’s central motif is the red heifer and the coming of the messiah.
Yeah, and I love how the Sitka Enclave ends up a true Jewish ghetto in America.
Chabon’s descriptions of Lubavitchers, and other Jewish “Eccentrics” matches closely with my observations of the same groups in Miami Beach, lo these many years ago.
Terran human nature is pretty much adamantine.
Yiddish Policemen’s Union. Love that book and sad that the Cohen Brothers never followed up on making it a movie.
Theologically I find the whole notion of humans ticking off a bunch of boxes to trigger some divine event fascinating. Surely the whole idea of a prophecy is that X, Y, and Z will happen when God wants them to happen, and he himself will make them happen.
I guess the fervent faithful have convinced themselves that he is acting through them, that their endeavoring to fulfill prophecy is how the divine intends the prophecy to be fulfilled. Which totally doesn’t come across as a massive egotrip, no siree.
Jim Morrison was on the case way back when.
See, the Doors live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bclejVfZK0Y&ab_channel=Iv%C3%A1nPolaris
7:23 long.
This is one of the objections of certain orthodox Jews to Zionism. They argue that it is up to God to decide if and when they should have their promised land, not for Zionists to pre-empt God in grabbing Palestine in advance, as it were.
The opening remark
He mourns the loss of what could have been in Israel if Jews and Arabs had lived in peace together
Shows a deflection and misreading of history and racial ignorance. The Jews have lived peacefully throughout the Arab and other nations of the Middle East for centuries. It is the influx of European Jews since the late 19th century, with the racist doctrines of Herzl, coupled with the western need for a causacsian foothold for oil in the region ,that have caused the problems in the region.
This European influx never had any intention of living in peace and this distinction is well recognized in Palestinian (Arab? sic) political and social writing over the past century
Erm, that part of a two line tag line, not an exposition. He merely is setting out his position on the current conflict.
An additional couple of notes.
Scofield had abandoned his wife and family without support. His conversion did not shame him into retaking this responsibility.
The Scofield “Bible” was the first Bible to be copywrited. Scandalous at the time.
The “Bible” was given away for free to Protestant Seminaries, one of which was notably the Moody Bible Institute of the Baptists.
The Scofield “Bible” differs in its interpretation of prophecies before and after the Six Day War.