by Steve Timmer

Jul 24, 2014, 9:00 AM

Gaza: The Final Solution III

Read part one and part two.

You cannot understand the entirety of the U.S. cheerleading for Israel without understanding the Cult of the Red Heifer: the End Times enthusiasts like Jan Markell and her Olive Tree Ministries. They are Rapture Ready!

A longing for the rapture and the return of Jesus on Earth are at the core of Evangelicalism. Many Evangelicals are willing to push the process along a little. That’s why Clyde Lott, Pentecostal preacher and cattleman in Mississippi, is trying to raise the red heifer:

Like all fundamentalist Christians, Lott believes that the Messiah will come again. His view of the End Time is that Jesus’ return will usher in a thousand years of peace and harmony. Before that, however, there will be seven years of tribulation: the Antichrist will appear, and the forces of good and evil will wage a cataclysmic struggle, culminating in Jesus’ defeat of the false Messiah. Many Evangelicals believe that Jews and other non-Christians will suffer for accepting the Antichrist as their messiah–that most of them will perish in the coming struggle, but those who survive will finally acknowledge Christ as their savior. True Christians will be spared these catastrophes, because they will have been raptured–snatched directly into Heaven–before the troubles begin. They will return to act as priests during Christ’s millennial reign. At the end of that time, Satan will rally the forces of evil for a final confrontation with Jesus and the saints of the Church at the battle of Armageddon. The satanic warriors, led by a prince named Gog, will come from the north, from a land called Magog (which Lott believes could be a satellite republic of the former Soviet Union); God will destroy them, however. The dead will rise for their day of judgment, and a New Jerusalem will descend from the sky. Once again, God will dwell among his people.

So, the Evangelicals are playing the Jews for suckers; the Israelis probably understand this, and they are really playing the Evangelicals for suckers. Truly, these people deserve each other.

But in order for this all to occur, three events have to happen first:

 These prophecies require three great events before the Messiah can return: the nation of Israel must be restored; Jerusalem must be a Jewish city; and the Temple, the center of worship and sacrifice in the ancient Jewish world, which was last destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., must be rebuilt.

The nation of Israel has kinda been restored, although not completely, well yet, and Jerusalem is sort of a Jewish city, but those pesky Palestinians are a problem. But maybe we’re close enough. Not everybody thinks so, however.

The third one is a big problem, though. The second Jewish temple that was destroyed is now the site of the Dome of the Rock, the third most holy site in Islam, the spot from which Muslims believe the Prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven. That ‘s where the third temple has to go if it is going to count.

But if that isn’t enough of a problem, a red heifer that is of the right age and without blemish and which hasn’t been so much as leaned against must find its way to Jerusalem to be sacrificed as part of a purification ritual prior to rebuilding the temple.

Apparently, these perfect red heifers are hard to come by. According to the linked article:

A qualified red heifer has not been found in Israel in almost two thousand years.

But you can bet when they find one, bred and raised by some U.S. evangelical, that some Jews and the Evangelicals will be hot to get going.

Anybody see the problem here?

Now, according to www.NowTheEndBegins.com, the perfect specimen has, in fact, been found in the U.S., and after spouting prophecy from the Old Testament, the author finishes with this:

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

I am sure that was written ironically.

Update: The concluding graphs in an article in Slate about a Christian pro-Israel pepfest (you really should read it to see who was in attendance):