➡ The Temple Mount in Jerusalem, originally a grain processing area, has a rich history. King David bought it to build an altar, and the first temple, Solomon’s Temple, was built around 957 BC. This temple, built with the help of demons according to legend, was destroyed and replaced by a second temple, which was also destroyed. The Romans then built a temple to Jupiter on the site, and after their empire fell, the area became a garbage dump until it was cleaned and the Al-Aqsa Mosque was built. This mosque was taken over by the Crusaders, then returned to Islamic worship. The idea that the return of Jews to Israel and the construction of a third temple are necessary for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ was popularized by Cyrus Scofield, a pastor with a controversial past. His ideas have greatly influenced American Protestantism and the view of Israel as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

According to Hebrew scripture, the 35 acres of land in southeast Jerusalem, known as the Temple Mount, was originally a threshing floor for processing grain and was purchased by King David for the purpose of building an altar. The first temple was built around 957 BC, stood for nearly four centuries, and was destroyed in 586 BC. It was this first temple, Solomon’s Temple, which became the symbolic importance of the Temple Mount. The Zohar and Kabbalah describe how the demon Osmadai taught Solomon how to control demons, which is how he built the temple. The legend of King Solomon is arguably the foundation of all Western occultism.

Compiled in the 17th century from ancient sources, the lesser key of Solomon features a catalog of 72 demons, each with a name, a specific set of powers, and a unique symbol so that one can call upon them, as Solomon once did. This tradition of demonology continued on famously with Aleister Crowley in the 20th century and can be seen in the highest levels of Western government today. The second temple was built around 516 BC and was destroyed by Rome in 70 AD. The Romans then built a temple to Jupiter on the site. The city was renamed and Jews were forbidden entry.

After the Roman Empire transformed into the Holy See, the Temple Mount became a garbage dump until 637 AD, when the second caliph of Islam conquered Jerusalem and reportedly cleared the area of refuse with his own hands. Decades later, the Al-Aqsa Mosque was constructed and still stands today. In 1099, the armies of the Crusade captured Jerusalem and for nearly a century, the Al-Aqsa Mosque became headquarters to the Knights Templar until 1187 when Islam recaptured Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque was restored to Islamic worship. Cyrus Ingersun Scofield was a disgraced lawyer accused of forgery and fraud who abandoned his wife and children and went on to become pastor of the first Congregational Church in Dallas, Texas in 1882.

In 1896, Theodore Herzl published Der Judenstadt, the Jewish state, which argued that Jews constituted a nation and required a state of their own. Cyrus Scofield received financial support from Samuel Untermeyer, a prominent Jewish Zionist and Scofield’s connection to the wealthy lifestyle of the Lotus Club in New York City. In 1909, with the prestige of Oxford University Press, a reference Bible was published, with Scofield’s own notes printed in the same physical space as the biblical text itself. An ideal format to psychologically fool the reader into thinking these radical ideas are sacred text. Radical ideas such as, in order for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to arrive, a specific sequence of events must occur.

The modern return of Jews to the Land of Israel, the rise of a world dictator, the destruction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the construction of the Third Temple of Solomon in its place. In 1917, after the British conquered Palestine, Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour sent a letter to Lord Walter Rothschild, a Zionist leader of the British Jewish community and member of the Rothschild banking family. The letter stated, The League of Nations formally granted Britain the mandate for Palestine in 1920, and on May 14, 1948, the United Nations planted the official flag of Israel into parts of Palestine, forcing about 700,000 locals to leave.

After the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel conquered more of Palestine, including East Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. That same year, the new Scofield Reference Bible was published, and evangelical grifters hailed it as prophetic. The Scofield Reference Bible became arguably the single most influential religious text in American Protestantism after the Bible itself. It shaped the theological formation of generations of pastors and evangelists. By the mid-20th century, millions of American evangelical Christians had been shaped by a theological worldview in which the modern state of Israel is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy, and in which opposing Israel’s territorial claims is the equivalent of opposing God.

Greg Reiss reporting Thanks for watching!
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