“As for me, I am a
Christian, and following the primrose path we Christians are as guilty as the
Jews in selecting erroneous "holy places" in Jerusalem (and we
Christians also need to get rid of them). The Muslims have not escaped either.
They need to do the same thing with their equally false "holy places."
In essence, the whole world has joined in the errors”.
Dr. Ernest L. Martin
Amongst many fine and scholarly articles written by Dr. Martin, who died
in 2002 (RIP), his
must rank as one of his most passionate ones. Dr. Martin claimed to have
worked with Benjamin Mazar, the famous archaeologist,
in his Temple Mount excavation.
In this 2001 article, he goes so far as to
remark, regarding the Jews: “Indeed, they should
"thank me" for having the gumption to point out to them their
outrageous mistakes that the whole nation and religion are now engaged in”.
The ultimate purpose of Dr. Martin’s article is not, however, to
score points.
Do yourself a favour and read this long article in its entirety:
Just a few years ago (as
late as 1995) all people in the world believed the Jewish Temples in Jerusalem
were never lost from sight by modern man. It was universally agreed that the
former Temples were once located somewhere east of the "Wailing Wall"
and inside the Haram esh-Sharif. Yes, this is what the whole world accepted,
but things are different now. The world is being staggered by new historical,
biblical and geographical information that shows that all scholars throughout
the earth have actually lost the knowledge of where those Temples were built.
This loss of knowledge is rampant among Jewish religious authorities as well as
ordinary Jewish laypersons. The historical documents show they have been
oblivious to the true site of their former Temples for the past eight
centuries. I show this fact in my new book "The Temples that Jerusalem
Forgot." I have given convincing historical and biblical evidence that the
Jewish people (and all scholars and religious groups throughout the earth) have
thoroughly forgot the whereabouts of the once renown Jewish Temples. As a
matter of fact, the "Wailing Wall" (that Jewish people insist is the
remnant of their once glorious Temple) has absolutely nothing to do with any of
the original architecture of the sanctuaries in Jerusalem. The western part of
that rectangular shaped area that the Jewish people have selected to adore (and
at which they presently congregate to worship, and they have done so for almost
430 years) is the remains of a structure that their forefathers held in utmost
disdain and contempt in the first century. We now have available a major
historical "key" that opens this truth to the clear understanding of
all.
We can now see that modern Jews
have lost their way on this important subject (including their Rabbis and
religious scholars). They have literally set aside the true location of their
former Temples and have substituted the real location for a first century Roman
citadel called Fort Antonia that was built by Herod the Great. They are
worshipping at the wrong place. The Jewish historian Josephus informs us that
the southern wall of this Fort Antonia that they now revere was situated about
600 feet north of the northern wall of their former Temple at Jerusalem. 1 The
actual Temple with its exterior walls was a foursquare shaped tower that was a
Greek stade in length on each side, or 600 feet on each of the
four sides. There are no stones to be found on top one another of this former
Temple as Jesus prophesied would happen. The original site of the Jewish Temple
now stands in a secular and unsanctified state. It is forlorn, lonely,
abandoned, and thoroughly forgotten by all Jews. It is even bereft of even a
scant of attention by the very people who once adored it. The site is even
accounted today by the Jewish people as an inferior part of Jerusalem and they
give not the slightest reverence to it, though Maimonides (the great Jewish
philosopher of the twelfth century) said the true spot would always retain its
holiness and it would show a permanent sanctification no matter what derelict
condition it might become (see Mishneh Torah, sect.8, "Temple
Service").
Strangely, the Jewish authorities
lost the knowledge of the whereabouts of their Temples in the period following
the Crusades. This was caused by their acceptance of particular doctrines (that
to the Jews were novel mystical teachings of a religious nature and counter to
biblical teachings) that diminished the role of the Temple in their social and
religious environments. These false religious principles, along with making
misjudgments on archaeological and geographical matters regarding Jerusalem,
caused the generality of the Jews in the centuries following the Crusades to
abandon their Temple site and to replace it with a false area. The erroneous
site that the Jews accepted is interesting. It was their embrace of the Haram
esh-Sharif (then sanctioned by Christians and Muslims) as the place where
Solomon, Zerubbabel and Herod constructed their Temples. By siding with the
Christians and Muslim in this identification, they were wrong!
It is time that my Jewish
brothers and sisters understand the enormous blunders they have made through
their acceptance of false religious beliefs that their authorities (in the time
of their "Dark Ages") have imposed upon the modern Jewish people.
Indeed, they should "thank me" for having the gumption to point out
to them their outrageous mistakes that the whole nation and religion are now
engaged in. The Jewish people have a great future, but to achieve it they have
to rid themselves of their nonsensical and false "Temple Mount" theories
associated with the Haram esh-Sharif that are presently igniting the fuel of
war and terrorism in the Middle East and alas, it has now arrived to my own
country’s soil with the terrorist attack on New York City. The Jewish
authorities need to abandon their historical, geographical and religious
misjudgments that originated among Jews within the medieval period by their
absorption of mystical theological nonsense that their forefathers in the
Talmudic and biblical periods shunned as heathen idolatrous concepts.
Listen, I am not
"anti-Jewish" when I make my criticisms. I have nothing against the
Jewish people in a personal sense. Even their own scholars will agree with me
that my evaluation is correct. As for me, I am a Christian, and following the
primrose path we Christians are as guilty as the Jews in selecting erroneous
"holy places" in Jerusalem (and we Christians also need to get rid of
them). The Muslims have not escaped either. They need to do the same thing with
their equally false "holy places." In essence, the whole world has
joined in the errors. There needs to be a thorough housecleaning of the
enormous blunders among all groups regarding the history and geography of
Jerusalem that are now thriving, festering and, yes, causing wars that are on
the brink of spilling over into a grand scale world conflict.
The simple fact is, modern
Jewish, Christian and Islamic authorities have literally abandoned and set
aside the true location of the former Temples of God that were once in
Jerusalem. They have stripped the proper area (that was selected by God) of all
its former holiness and sublime sanctification. They have substituted the real
House of God (once located over the Gihon Spring at the southeastern ridge of
Jerusalem) for the first century Roman military citadel called Fort Antonia
that was built by Herod the Great. The Jewish people are unitedly directing
their national devotions and religious worship to a wall of Fort Antonia (and
by extension, to the interior buildings that were once on the other side of the
wall such as a Temple to Jupiter Capitolinus, a Shrine to the City and People
of Rome, plus an abundance of other deities and idolatrous artifacts that those
in the Roman Imperial Army then worshipped). What an anachronism. What irony!
It may be hard to believe but the Jewish authorities are adoring an alien pagan
holy site once dedicated to the Roman army and gods. ….
