On the 7th October 1998 The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement brought the cornerstone for the
Third Temple to the gates of the Temple Mount and the City of David in a very exciting and historical event.
Days before, the Arabs, who still control the Temple Mount (but do not have sovereignty over the Temple Mount), put pressure on the Israeli authorities not to allow the Faithful to lay the cornerstone on the Temple Mount. They threatened to cause a violent riot if it took place. Unfortunately the Israeli authorities decided to give in to the threats and they closed the gates of the Temple Mount before the laying of the cornerstone. At the same time they allowed the Faithful, and even encouraged them, to bring the cornerstone to the City of David very close to the gates of the Temple Mount and then to carry the cornerstone around the walls of the Temple Mount and the Old City seven times. This showed the desire of the authorities in Israel and the people of Israel deep in their hearts to see the fulfillment of the desire and historical dreams to see the rebuilding of the Temple at this time. It is just spiritual and political weakness which caused the authorities to make the decision to give in to the evil Arab threats and not to trust in the G-d of Israel Who so long expects to see the rebuilding of His House by the people of Israel especially when he repeatedly promised in all the prophecies that He will not allow any of the enemies of Israel to harm Israel when they build His House, Jerusalem and the land of Israel in these prophetic end-times. We are afraid that a lot of the problems of Israel today are as a result of this weakness. This is exactly as the prophet Haggai said: "Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say that the time has not yet come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, yourselves, to dwell in your well timbered houses, while this house lies in ruins? And therefore thus says the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but you have not enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you dress yourself, but there is no warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, and everyone of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heaven above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground brings forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands." (Haggai 1:2-11)
The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement decided in any case to hold this historical event and to carry the cornerstone up to closest location to the Temple Mount and so to express the clear wish and desire of the G-d of Israel for Israel to rebuild His House and to bring this message to the ears of the Israeli authorities, the enemies of Israel and everyone in the world. We are determined to make the clear will of G-d a reality in the life of this generation, to lay the cornerstone of the House of G-d and to immediately start the rebuilding of the Temple for Israel and for all the nations. We are sure that no one can stop the prophetic march of history in these end-times. G-d is leading Israel on the godly track of redemption and He will not allow even the weakness of His own people and their leaders to stop or change His plans exactly as he did in the time of Moses and the prophetic exodus from Egypt. We pray and do everything that G-d will give the leadership of Israel wisdom and courage to walk together with him at this critical time on the track of redemption with no fear of anyone, only of the G-d of Israel and to trust in Him. The event we held on the 7th October was very exciting and opened a new stage in the life of Israel, we shall never give up our main goal to lay the cornerstone for the Third temple on the Temple Mount in the location of the First and Second Temples and to immediately start the rebuilding of the House of G-d. We shall try over and over to carry the cornerstone to the Temple Mount until the gates of the Temple Mount are opened by the Israeli authorities to this holy stone. We shall do this openly and publically before G-d, the Israeli people and the world. We are sure that in the very near future we shall see this godly process starting to take place on the Temple Mount.
As we said, the 7th October opened a new stage in the prophetic era of Israel and of all the world. Everyone who took part in the event of the laying of the cornerstone could feel the presence of G-d and the sound of the winds of history. In the early morning the cornerstone was taken from the Traffic circle where it usually stands which the municipality special created for it. It was taken by a large truck covered with Israeli flags and a chuppah made of prayer shawls. The cornerstone was transported to the Golden gate of the Temple Mount and to the City of David below the southern gates of the Temple Mount. A short time before this, The Temple Mount Faithful and many other Israelis made a pilgrimage to the Temple Mount. Near the western gate of the Temple Mount they held a protest against the decision to close the gates of the Temple Mount to the cornerstone. Gershon Salomon stated that the public struggle and march of the Faithful will not stop until the Islamic Arab abomination on the Temple Mount and their control of the most holy place of the G-d and people of Israel and of all the earth will be removed. The struggle will continue until the Israeli flag will again be on the Temple Mount and the Third Temple will be built. He stated that the cornerstone will soon be carried again to the Temple Mount and he encouraged the Israeli authorities to trust in G-d, to demonstrate courage and to open the Temple Mount to the cornerstone and the clear wish of the G-d of Israel. At the same time he encouraged the people of Israel not to fear their enemies because their time of judgement by the G-d of Israel is soon to come and because G-d is determined to soon redeem the people and the land of Israel.
From the western gate of the big crowd marched to the City of David preceded by a priest dressed in original garments from the Temple which were recreated in recent years in Jerusalem according to the Biblical pattern and Levites who played musical instruments and sang. This ceremony and march was done exactly as in Biblical times when the high Priest and Levites marched from the Temple followed by thousands of pilgrims in a joyous ceremony that the people of Israel have never forgotten throughout history. The cornerstone waited for the Faithful in the City of David at the same place where King David brought the Ark of the Covenant in a joyous ceremony and dedicated Mt.Moriah to be the house of G-d and started the preparations for the building of the First Temple. When the crowd reached the truck they circled the stone 7 time with prayers, music and songs from the Psalms and many shofars were blown all the time. Gershon Salomon stood with the cornerstone and prayed for the dedication of the cornerstone and then said the prayer of King Solomon when he completed the building of the First Temple. Everyone could feel the presence of G-d, the spirit of King Solomon and the tremendous inspiration of the following prayer of King Solomon:
"And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven; And he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keeps covenant and mercy with your servants who walk before you with all their heart; .... Yet have regard for the prayer of your servant, and for his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer, which your servant prays before you today; That your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which you have said, My name shall be there; that you may listen to the prayer which your servant shall make toward this place. And listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place; and hear you in heaven your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive. If any man trespasses against his neighbor, and an oath is laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath comes before your altar in this house; Then hear you in heaven, and do, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. When your people Israel are stuck down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you, and shall turn again to you, and confess your name, and pray, and make supplication to you in this house; Then hear you in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which you gave to their fathers. When heaven is closed, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and acknowledge your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them; Then hear you in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, and teach them the good way where they should walk, and give rain upon your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance. If there is in the land famine, if there is pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there is caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there might be; Whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread out his hands toward this house; Then hear you in heaven your dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart you know; for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of men; That they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers. And also concerning a stranger, who is not of your people Israel, but comes from a far country for your name's sake; For they shall hear of your great name, and of your strong hand, and of your stretched out arm; when he shall come and pray toward this house; Hear you in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to you for; that all people of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as do your people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have built, is called by your name. If your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever you shall send them, and shall pray to the Lord toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house that I have built for your name; Then hear you in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. If they sin against you, for there is no man who does not sin, and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far or near; Yet if they take thought in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to you in the land of them that carried them captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness; And so return to you with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, who led them away captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name; Then hear you their prayer and their supplication in heaven your dwelling place, and maintain their cause, And forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions where they have transgressed against you, and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them; For they are your people, and your inheritance, whom you brought forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron; That your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servant, and to the supplication of your people Israel, to listen to them in all that they call for to you. For you did set them apart from among all the people of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by the hand of Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God. And it was so, that when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying, Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised; there has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant. The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers; let him not leave us, nor forsake us; That he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers. And let these my words, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as each day may require; That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is no one else. Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day. And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the Lord. And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord, twenty two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. And the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord for there he offered burnt offerings, and meal offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings; because the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to receive the burnt offerings, and meal offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings." (1Kings 8:23,24.28-64)
After this the crowd marched after the cornerstone to the Pool of Siloam. At the pool, the same ceremony was held which their forefathers conducted in Biblical times. The same prayers and the Psalms of Assents were read. A special excitement was felt when Gershon Salomon read Psalm 122: "I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand inside your gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built as a city which is bound firmly together; There the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord. For thrones of judgment were set there, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; those who love you shall prosper. Peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces. For my brothers and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within you. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek your good."
The priest drew the holy water from the pool and all the crowd marched after him with the Israeli flags to the cornerstone where the water was poured out on the cornerstone. (In the Temple times the water was poured on the altar.) The priest prayed for a blessed year with rain and other blessings for Israel and for all the world. Then everyone followed the cornerstone to the southern gates of the Temple Mount and the cornerstone circled the walls of the Temple Mount and Jerusalem 7 times with the prayer that the walls of hostility against the rebuilding of the House of G-d and the people of Israel will fall exactly as it happened with Jericho when Joshua ben Nun circled the walls of Jericho 7 times and blew with the shofar as the Faithful did on this day.
This special godly event ended near the western gate of the Temple Mount with prayers, the blowing of the shofar and asking G-d to soon open the gate of the Temple Mount for the cornerstone of His end-time House. This historical event will never be forgotten by G-d and Israel. One day soon it will be written in the book of the G-d of Israel and the books of history that it was the major opening of the building of the Third Temple which we believe and know will soon be a reality in the life of Israel and all the nations. We love the G-d of Israel and we shall do everything to bring Him to his House on Mt.Moriah and in the focus of the life of Israel and all the nations of the world. We thank G-d that He gave us the privilege to act for this, to serve Him in these prophetic end-times and to dedicate our lives to this major godly cause. We trust in the G-d of Israel.