As many of you know, I bought a 3rd Temple coin that has Donald Trump minted into the heads side and a picture of the 3rd Temple minted into the tails side. I paid $49 for it and I know that some of that money is supposed to go to the preparation of the 3rd Temple.
But should we be doing this? Don't we know that Antichrist is going to sit in this Temple and from there go out and attempt to murder all the the Jews? By helping build this Temple aren't we really aiding the Antichrist?
I ran across this article today that asks, and attempts to answer, those very questions.
In October 2007, a group of 34 West Papuans showed up at the Temple Institute in Jerusalemto make a donation. As Temple Institute CEO Rabbi Yisrael Ariel saw the nature of the donation he became very emotional - it was one kilogram of solid gold, plus a large sum of money!
Some of the members of the delegation even began giving their own jewellery - one couple went so far as to give their wedding rings! West Papua is rich in gold, and the group explained that their donation was motivated by the words of the prophet Zechariah: "Even those from afar shall come and build the Temple of the Lord." (Zec 6:15)
Is such a donation led by God, or is it misplaced zeal aiding an anti-Christ agenda?
To find the answer, let's examine some common objections to Christians aiding the Temple movement.
Isn't the Church the Temple of God?
The Church has correctly taught that we are temples of the Holy Spirit as individuals and as a church. And as we no longer need sacrifices, many have concluded that a physical Temple in Jerusalem has no role in the 'Church Age'.
If this was the case, then one would expect that the birth of the Church in the book of Acts would have led to an immediate and complete withdrawal of the Christians from the Temple. After all, what further use did they have for the site?
Surprisingly, the first thing the disciples did after the ascension of Jesus was toreturn to the Temple to praise and bless God (Luke 24:52-53). Even after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the disciplescontinued to meet in the Temple during the hour of prayer.
They were even divinely instructed to preach the gospel and heal the sick there(Act 3-4). Years later we read of Paul the Apostle encountering God in a trance during a time of prayer at the Temple (Acts 22:17).
It can therefore be seen that the Temple was still important to the disciples even after the birth of the Church.It was a place where they met with God and worshiped Him. If the early disciples met God there at the Temple, why couldn't we also meet with Him there? And if so, could we also support the efforts to rebuild the Temple?
But the Rabbis Don't Believe in Jesus
Bible believing Christians can find many areas of common ground with leaders of the Temple Movement. But the Temple Movement does not recognise Jesus as the Messiah and segments of the Movement are interested in inter-faith co-operation with Islam.
Can Christians have anything to do with a Temple built and led by Rabbis with such views? To answer the question, let's turn again to the example of the early Church. We have to remember that the Temple leadership at that time were the very ones who conspired against Jesus and had Him killed.
Read more at http://prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2457#pLjyoRbMGpepTgPh.99
I guess for now I can see both sides of this argument.
I'm not planning on sending any more money to Israel to build the Temple BUT I have shown my Donald Trump coin to many people and have sparked many good conversations...so for that reason it has been worth way more than the $49 I paid for it.
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