Sound The Trumpet : Temple Institute to Raise Funds for the Third Temple Via Crowd Funding

Must Listen

Must Read

What Art Thinks

Pre-Millennialism

Today's Headlines

Sorry... Not Available

Locally Contributed...

Audio

Video

Special Interest

Daily News

23207

“Temple Institute to Raise Funds for the Third Temple Via Crowd Funding”
by Prophecy New Watch
August 5th, 2014

The campaign to rebuild the Third Jewish Temple has entered a new phase beyond the praying, preparation of vessels and training of Temple priests: the raising of additional funds for the project. This would hasten the rebuilding of the temple and in the words of The Temple Institute “usher in universal harmony.” This is a sentiment that is reportedly shared and welcomed with excitement by many Jews in Israel, and is further enhanced by the current war with Hamas and the increasing concerns around the wider perennial Arab-Israeli conflict.

A recent report in nowtheendbegins.com explains: “ As Egypt, Qatar, the US and the UN write proposals for Israel-Hamas ceasefires, one organization based in Jerusalem’s Old City hopes to compose a peace plan of a different kind: a detailed architectural blueprint for the Third Jewish Temple on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. The Temple Institute, which has recreated 60 vessels to be used in a Third Temple and which sponsors educational programs about the temple worldwide, has created a $100,000 ‘Indiegogo’ campaign to draft plans for a Third Temple.”

Plans for the section of the Temple that will house the Sanhedrin at the cost of $30,000 have also been drawn. A video with 3D architectural renderings of the Chamber can be seen in the gallery section of this campaign, alongside photographs of some of the 60 sacred vessels made for use in the Third Temple. Although the campaign target is $100,000, the full cost of completing the blueprints for the Third Temple will be $300,000.

The Indiegogo campaign statement states that the rebuilding of the Temple would “usher in a new era of universal harmony and peace” and further describes it as “a Biblical obligation to build.” The campaign is tied to the upcoming fast of Tisha b’Av, which mourns the First and Second Temples’ destruction.

The Indiegogo statement further dismisses as mythical any assertions that the Temple “will come down miraculously from the sky”, be achieved through violence or be made open exclusively to limited Jewish groups. Rather, it states as fact that the Third Temple “will be built through human effort in the natural course of human events. As predicted by the prophets, the Holy Temple stands for the sanctity of human life and peace and will be the center of an inspiring pilgrimage for all people.”

The campaign, which captures the passion and fervor of Jewish intent and resolve towards the rebuilding of the temple, states in part: “Are you ready for the peace we all long for in the Middle East? The Third Temple in Jerusalem will be the House of Prayer for all nations. Every prophet of Israel, without exception, prophesied that the Temple would be rebuilt, ushering a new era of universal harmony and peace. The "movement" to rebuild the Holy Temple was born almost 2,000 years ago, at the moment of the Second Temple's Destruction… After millennia of yearning, only one organization is paving the way for the rebuilding of the Temple. The Temple Institute located in the Old City of Jerusalem…Now is time for one of its most ambitious projects yet: completing architectural plans for the actual construction, fusing ancient texts and modern technology…It is not enough to wait and pray for the Third Temple. It is a Biblical obligation to build it. Where will your money go? Your contribution will go towards completing this ambitious project and the continued research and development which will make the Third Temple a reality.”

For those willing but unable to contribute financially, the statement recommends: “Some people just can't contribute, but that doesn't mean you can't help. Share our video and campaign with others.” The combination of crowd funding and garnering support through social network campaigns is an interesting and somewhat novel strategy for this project, seemingly calculated to leave no stones unturned and no options unexplored. The campaign seems to favour the use of Facebook as well as YouTube videos such as the series “Tisha B'Av 2014: The Children Are Ready” to maximize publicity and support for the Temple project.

This strategy is likely to be successful in terms of the opportunity to grow the campaign virally largely via social network groups leveraging the use of the internet, throughout Israel and the United States where Israel draws most of its moral and political support from. Typically supporters would comprise largely of evangelical Christians and religious Jews .The capacity to raise more funds will also be a natural by-product of this strategy that is not limited to physical boundaries.

Potential contributors are additionally incentivized to contribute financially, by a wide range of prizes available, ranging from a mitzvah for contributions of at least $18 to a grand prize to contributors of at least $50,000, who will prequalify to receive an exclusive preview of the current architectural plans with Rabbi Chaim Richman, along with a tour of the Temple Mount and Temple Institute's Visitor's Center.

So far, about $10,700 or 11% of the $100,000 target has been raised, with 56 days left to the end of the campaign that begun on 27th July and is due to end on 25th September. If the current daily average donation of about $1,700 is sustained or exceeded, the campaign will be on track to at least meet the target of at least $100,000.

Christians supporting this initiative will be able to enjoy the privilege of participating in the fulfillment of a highly significant prophetic occurrence, while also catering to the long held aspirations of the Jews of whom God said through Abraham:

“I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).

On the other hand, the spread of this move particularly via social media as opposed to carefully selected support groups that are friends of Israel, is also likely to further attract the attention of anti-Semitic groups who may consider ways to scuttle the intended project in whatever way possible even if they cannot interfere with the crowd funding and social media promotion efforts.

Another key concern that has been expressed about the Jewish expectation that the rebuilding of the temple would usher in “world peace and harmony” is that this desired outcome is apparently not supported within Biblical scriptures in this context. Quite the opposite: nowtheendbegins.com explains (based on Daniel 9:27) that “in the last days, the temple that will be built will be the temple of Antichrist, and will offer up abominations that the God of Abraham will completely reject. Instead of bringing in ‘world peace’, the Old Testament declares that it will usher in the time of Jacob’s Trouble, and great tribulation will fill the whole earth.” This time is also referred to in Jeremiah 30:7: ““Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.”

In this context, perhaps Jewish excitement about the rebuilding of the temple is focused more on the reinstatement of their valuable Judaic heritage rather than the Biblically prophesied culmination of the Jewish anguish that will start with the Anti-Christ’s desecration of the temple. For Christians, the excitement stems mainly from the fulfillment of a Biblical prophecy that is at the centre of much of end-time prophecy, which in turn heralds the imminent return of Jesus Christ and ultimately the establishment of “ a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1).

Similarly, in supporting this particular prophetic development, Christians may find that they are precipitating and assisting an outcome that may initially seem to bless the Jews, but will eventually hurt them because the AntiChrist will use the rebuilt temple to launch the greatest suffering and persecution that the Jews will ever face. In any case, the event is already prophesied to occur, and so it will at its appointed time regardless of whether or not anyone supports or opposes it.

Indications are that in the meantime, based on purely natural, religious and political considerations, it will take much more than just adequate fundraising and social broadcasting to realise the actual building of the Temple: According to Rabbi Chaim Richman, the institute’s international director, the temple would stand in the present location of the Dome of the Rock, a Muslim shrine. Muslims revere the mount as the Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary.

No wonder then that Richman did not set a target date for breaking ground for the construction project, instead reportedly stating that the temple will be built when “the world will want us to build the temple. The Jewish people have a responsibility to all of humanity, including Islam…I don’t expect it to come about through any sort of confrontation or any sort of military maneuver. The Jews have to represent good in the world, light in the world.”

The prophesied rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem will eventually take place – simply because God has stated that it will, and He is easily able to ensure it by whatever means or circumstances He chooses to allow it to happen. Meanwhile, Christians and Jews alike would do well to heed the Biblical exhortation to continually pray towards the actualization of God’s will and purposes for Jerusalem and the Jews:

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within your walls,
Prosperity within your palaces.”
For the sake of my brethren and companions,
I will now say, “Peace be within you.”
Because of the house of the Lord our God
I will seek your good (Psalm 122:6-9).

Or as was given to the Prophet Isaiah:

I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;
They shall never hold their peace day or night.
You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent,
And give Him no rest till He establishes
And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isaiah 62:6-8)

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13