Crowd-funding excites plans for 3rd Temple

Will the Third Temple look like this?

Internet fundraiser Indiegogo regularly is used to fund films, albums and businesses.

"The funding from the campaign allowed us to scale up our business venture and connect with our first 1,200 customers in more than 25 countries around the world," said a testimonial by Ann Stork of the solar light company Luminaid.

It also is being used by the Temple Institute in Jerusalem to raise $100,000 for drawings and plans for the Third Temple.

As in the end times are here Third Temple. As in the anti-Christ arrives. As in nations coalescing against Israel. Remember all those biblical references?

And it's working.

As of Tuesday afternoon, almost $19,000 of a goal of $100,000 over two months already has been pledged.

The campaign by the institute, which has been working for decades to rebuild and assemble all the tools and equipment that would be needed for a Temple, is posted under the headline, "Don't make history. Make the future. Build the Temple."

"Are you ready for the peace we all long for in the Middle East?" it asks. "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."

The institute, a research organization located in the Old City, already has re-created about 60 of the sacred Temple vessels that would be used in worship. They include the high priests' breastplate featuring the 12 precious stones representing the tribes of Israel, a half-ton golden menorah and the musical instrument of the choir.

"Now is time for one of its most ambitious projects yet: completing architectural plans for the actual construction, fusing ancient texts and modern technology. While strictly adhering to the religious requirements set forth in Biblical texts, the Third Temple will also be equipped with every modern amenity: full computerization, underground parking, temperature control, elevators, docks for public transportation, wheelchair access, and much more," the promotion explains.

"It is not enough to wait and pray for the Third Temple. It is a biblical obligation to build it."

There are participation levels from $18 to $50,000. At the top end a donor would get an exclusive preview of the architectural plans with Rabbi Chaim Richman, a tour of the Temple Mount and a visit to the institute's visitor center.

"The Temple Institute has engaged an architect to map out the modern Third Temple's construction. Your contribution will go towards completing this ambitious project and the continued research and development which will make the Third Temple a reality."

The promotional is on video:

Israel Today reported the Third Temple is the answer to the "ceasefires, truces and bilateral agreements" that never will "bring the peace most people in the Middle East desire."

According to TempleMount.org, the First Temple was built about 952 B.C. by Solomon, and it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar after several hundred years.

The Second Temple followed in about 516 B.C., and it lasted through Jesus' ministry on earth.

"The regathering of the Jewish people to their homeland in our time (as predicted for example in Ezekiel 37) is being accompanied by a rapidly accelerating religious consciousness in Israel, the awakening of ancient longings and aspirations and the rediscovery of many immutable promises God has made to the chosen seed of Abraham. The fact that a Third Temple is to be built can be shown from the Tanach. But three passages in the New Testament also refer to such a building not now in existence as of this writing in 1996 AD. Many Christians have thus speculated in recent years about when the Third Temple would be built. This is considered by many to be an important milestone pointing to the end of the age," it reports.

The institute also describes how the time is now:

The report continued: "Jesus spoke of the Third Temple building in Jerusalem when discussing with his disciples the chain of events that would bring the close of the present age and his return. He spoke of an event yet future predicted by Daniel the prophet when the temple in Jerusalem would suffer ultimate defilement by a false Messiah who claimed to be God."

The account is in Matthew 24:15-21: "So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; let him who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his mantle. And alas for those who are with child and for those who give suck in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be."

There have been many signs that Jews have waited on for their Temple, including one on which WND reported only weeks ago, a red heifer.

The presence of a red heifer is required in the book of Numbers, chapter 19, for the purification that is essential before worship.

The institute recently posted a video showing what appears to be a perfect red heifer that is being raised at an unidentified location in the United States.

"In truth, the fate of the entire world depends on the red heifer," the institute says.

"For G-d has ordained that its ashes alone are the single missing ingredient for the reinstatement of biblical purity – and thereafter, the rebuilding of the Holy Temple."

The Temple Institute says purification with the red heifer "reminds us that man has the potential to rise above his transitory physical existence, with all its false sense of hopelessness and misery ... the impurity of death."

"This is the role of the Third Temple for all mankind, and this is the Messianic vision of the future: the call to live an eternal life, liberated from the sham and unhappiness which is the sum total of the human condition for so many people. The call for the true joy of living life to the fullest – with the knowledge of G-d," the institute says.

"The divine ordinance of the heifer, beyond the grasp of man's frail intellect, with all the details of its preparation and ceremony, calls out to Israel and to all who seek to cling to the living word of the G-d of Israel: 'purify yourselves! Shake off your despair! Death is an illusion!' Thus it is written, '... but all of you who cling to the Lord your G-d ... you are all alive today' (Deut. 4:4)," the organization explains.

According to institute spokesman Rabbi Chaim Richman, the heifer is being raised according to the laws of the Torah at an undisclosed U.S. location.

The institute, which has worked on Jewish requirements for worship such as a seven-branched Menorah made of gold and a golden incense alter, was founded about 30 years ago.

It is "dedicated to every aspect of the biblical commandment to build the Holy Temple of G-d on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem."

"Our short-term goal is to do all in our limited power to bring about the building of the Holy Temple in our time," the institute says.

"The major focus of the Institute is its efforts toward the beginning of the actual rebuilding of the Holy Temple. Toward this end, the Institute has begun to restore and construct the sacred vessels for the service of the Holy Temple."