Do you think we’re living in the End Times?
If you spend much time with Evangelical Christians you’re bound to be asked this question. Perhaps, more times than you’ll be able to remember. I know I have.
Those who believe that the Revelation of John found in the New Testament foretells future evets are constantly looking for signs that the End Times have begun. They’re always on the lookout for the birth of the Red Heifer, the discovery of the Ark of the Covenant, and the building of the Third Temple.
News flashes from around the world:
- The writer of the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament tells us that the end times were already upon us back in the first century when he said, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son…”
- The Temple Institute in Jerusalem announced in September of 2018 that the first red heifer born in Israel in 2,000 years “was certified by a board of rabbis as fulfilling all the Biblical requirements.”
- According to the Smithsonian.com the Ark of the Covenant may not have been lost at all. “Through the centuries, Ethiopian Christians have claimed that the ark rests in a chapel in the small town of Aksum, in their country's northern highlands. It arrived nearly 3,000 years ago, they say, and has been guarded by a succession of virgin monks who, once anointed, are forbidden to set foot outside the chapel grounds until they die.”
And there are scholars who agree with the Ethiopian Christians. “While the idea that the Ark was taken to Ethiopia is not new there has been renewed interest after evidence was unearthed by the Bible Archaeology, Search & Exploration Institute (BASE). In a blog post on the organization’s website it said: "As unusual as this may sound, the BASE team has uncovered compelling evidence that the Ark may well have been spirited up the Nile River to an eventual resting place in the remote highlands of ancient Kush–modern-day Ethiopia.
According to their research the Ark was taken out of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the reign of Manasseh where it was first taken to a Jewish colony on Elephantine Island in Egypt.
After that it is thought it was taken down the Nile to Lake Tana in Ethiopia and in particular Tana Kirkos Island, which is considered to be a holy island only populated by Christian monks.”
- And in this article I will reveal the location of the Third Temple.
Let me digress:
When I gave my life to Christ and was born-again into a new life I was an alcoholic drug addict.
I’d never thought that was a bad or unusual thing, either before I was born-again or immediately afterward. Let me explain. You see I thought everyone was an alcoholic drug addict except of course for those bland bobble-heads I called squares or citizens and they meant no more to me than the gravel under my feet. Everyone who was anyone in my life was someone who either helped me get alcohol and drugs or enjoyed them with me.
I didn’t think there was anything wrong with using and abusing alcohol and drugs because where I came from everyone did. At least everyone I knew or interacted with. The local priest had his own stool at a local bar and was famous for his capacity to drink people under the table. The pastor of the church my parents attempted to make me attend was a notorious drunk. I knew police officers who got high and arrested people just to seize their drugs. I sat in police cars drinking with on duty officers. My best connection for weed was a Chicago police captain. In my neighborhood teachers, judges, doctors, everyone self-medicated.
I figured the only reason drugs were illegal was because the government had to throw a bone to the mob when they made alcohol legal. And besides in my mind the government made more money running people through the system then they would if they just taxed drug sales. I figured the presidents and others running the country got high they just had the real good stuff.
After I was born-again I was consumed with reading the Bible. As much as possible that was all I did. I would walk around my house reading the Bible drinking whiskey while chain-smoking cigarettes and joints. I just figured I was getting a spiritual high to augment my self-medicated continuous life buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
It was beautiful.
Then I ran headfirst into I Corinthians 3:16-17, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”
This brought me up short. “I’m the temple of God!” I thought. Looking at the eight ounce tumbler of whiskey in one hand and the cigarette in the other I thought, “What am I doing?”
Right there and right then I set down that glass of whiskey, put out that cigarette looked at the bag of weed lying next to my hands on the desk and gave them up. That was it. No withdrawals. No regrets. God did all the heavy lifting and He made me clean.
Since that day I’ve never been drawn off course by anyone wondering about when the Third Temple was going to be built because God makes it clear that we are the temple of God. In I Corinthians 3:16-17 He says it straight out, “you are the temple of God.” And if that wasn’t enough there are other references to this fact in the Bible as well. Such as I Peter 2:4-5, “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
What is the Temple besides God’s house? What is it for? It is where the priests offered sacrifices. In the new world, the New Earth we inhabit when we become a new creation the sacrifices are spiritual and they are offered up in God’s house, His Holy Temple, which temple we are.
Secret revealed:
Where is the Third Temple? It is right here right now … it is the body of Christ made up of all believers collectively and individually.
So don’t be drawn off base looking for that which has been revealed. Our Father God calls every Christian to be Christ to the world around us. To see with His eyes, hear with His ears, touch with His hands, and love with His heart. He told us that we will do the same kind of works He did while He walked among us only greater. So let’s not waste our time navel gazing into a reflecting glass of superimposed meanings when Revelation tells us clearly; Jesus is God, God wins in the end, and no matter how bad it gets we should pray, “Even so come Lord Jesus.”
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2018 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
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