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."Do you see all these things?" he asked."I tell youthe truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."Matthew 24:1,2Today, Mt.Moriah, sometimes known as the Temple Mount or in Arabic as Haram Ash-Sharif, isthe location of two Mosques and is considered to be the third holiest site of Islam.There is endlessspeculation about the Temple Mount regarding issues such as exactly where the Jewish Temple oncewas located on the Mount or whether or not there will be a Jewish Temple rebuilt there in thefuture.Based on the above verse from the Apostle Paul, it certainly seems to indicate that there willindeed be a rebuilt Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.The Apostle Paul says that the Antichrist will  sethimself up in God s Temple, or more literally,  he takes his seat in the temple of God.Thisspeaks not so much of a literal sitting down as it does of a taking a position of authority.Thus wesee that the Antichrist will make Mt.Moriah, and more specifically, the rebuilt Jewish Temple, thespecific location of his rule.Jesus warned of this event two thousand years ago.Referring to theAntichrist having set himself up in the Jewish Temple, and the events that will immediately follow,Jesus said:"So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,'spoken of through the prophet Daniel--let the reader understand-- then let those whoare in Judea flee to the mountains.Let no one on the roof of his house go down totake anything out of the house.Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak.Howdreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray thatyour flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.For then there will begreat distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to beequaled again.If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but forthe sake of the elect those days will be shortened.Matthew 24:16-22Here we see Jesus referring to the Antichrist s occupancy of the temple as,  the abomination thatcauses desolation. The desolation is a reference to the chaos and severe persecution against theJews and Christians that will immediately follow when the Antichrist s true identity is revealed.After his military campaign against Jerusalem, the Antichrist will make his base of authority, theTemple Mount itself.At this time, it is clear that the Antichrist s malevolent feelings toward Israelwill become fully manifest.So much so that Jesus warns the inhabitants of Jerusalem to straightaway flee to the mountains.The Mahdi s Attack Of Jerusalem And The Establishment of the Islamic Caliphate FromJerusalemLikewise the Mahdi is said to attack Jerusalem and re-conquer it for Islam in order that the newIslamic rule over the earth will be established from Jerusalem:"(Armies carrying) black flags will come from Khurasan (Iran).No power will beable to stop them and they will finally reach Eela (Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem)where they will erect their flags." 11Jerusalem will be the location of the rightly guided caliphate and the center of Islamic rule, whichwill be headed by Imam al- Mahdi 12Also, as we just saw in the section above, the Mahdi will not end his campaign against Jerusalem ina peaceful way.For the Jews, the Islamic version of the last-days ends with the last few survivingJews hiding behinds rocks or trees from the sword of Islam.The military campaign againstJerusalem and the establishment of the Islamic caliphate there likewise will not result in abenevolent rule over the Jews by the Mahdi, for as we have already seen, the last quote abovecontinues:& That will abolish the leadership of the Jews& and put an end to the domination of the Satanswho spit evil into people and cause corruption in the earth.13In relation to the above attack against the inhabitants of Israel, there is quite interestingly, anothervery specific correlation between the actions of the Mahdi and the actions of the biblical Antichrist.While the similarities between the Antichrist and the Mahdi that we have already discussed arequite astonishing, I believe that the specificity of this next parallel is just simply incredible.The Antichrist s Seven Year Treaty With IsraelAfter rising to power, and as a prelude to his invasion of Israel, the Antichrist is said to initiate atreaty with the nation of Israel for seven years.He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put anend to sacrifice and offering.And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causesdesolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.Daniel 9:27In context, this verse shows us that the Antichrist will establish a  covenant with Israel for sevenyears.The specific Hebrew word used in this verse that is translated merely as  seven isshabuwa.It literally means a week, but can mean either a  week of days or years.In Hebrewthought, a seven-year period is similar to our decade.We in the West tend to measure years througha decimal system based of increments of tens, while we measure days in terms of seven (a week).The Hebrews measured both days and years in increments of seven.The word translated as  sevenin Daniel 9:27 is referring to seven years.This is the specific amount of time that the Antichrist willset for his peace treaty with Israel.Then, in the middle of the seven years, the Antichrist will renegeon his treaty and stop the offerings and sacrifices in the Jewish Temple and then he will proclaimhimself to be not only the ruler of the world, but also God himself.Isaiah the Prophet makesmention of this  covenant and rebukes Israel for making it: He actually refers to it as a  covenantwith death (Isaiah 28: 14-15).In this covenant, the Israelis find a false sense of security.The Mahdi s Seven Year TreatyAgain, similarly the Mahdi is said to be one who will initiate Islam s fourth and final treaty between the Romans and the Muslims.(Again, Romans should be interpreted as Christians or the West ingeneral  the executioners of Nicholas Berg in their pre-execution statement addressed PresidentBush as,  You, O dog of the Romans ) Interestingly enough, this fourth treaty is said to be madewith a descendant of Moses brother Aaron the Priest.Such a descendant would be a Cohanim.That is to say, he would be a priest.Only Cohanim are allowed among Jews to officiate the priestlyduties of the Temple.This is important in light of the fact that many Christian prophecy teachersand theologians have speculated that the treaty that the Antichrist will initiate with Israel willinclude an agreement to allow the Jews to re-build their Temple.But probably the most amazingaspect of this treaty that the Mahdi makes with this Jew of priestly lineage is its time frame [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]