You need to understand what is prophesied to yet happen in the
Middle East. Whether you realize it or not, or understand it or
not, events there are destined to affect the lives of every person
on earth.
Why does the Middle East dominate the headlines so often? One
obvious answer is oil, the lifeblood of modern economies. Without
oil to run factories, heat homes, fuel transportation and provide
energy and raw materials for thousands of uses, the economies of
many nations would grind to a halt. The crucial importance of oil
alone ensures that the Middle East will remain in the headlines
for years.
But there's more that keeps the Middle East in the news.
It is the birthplace of the world's three great monotheistic
religions-Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Too often it has
not been just their birthplace, but their battlefield, with adherents
warring against each other for control of territory they consider
holy.
Nowhere are these conflicts more obvious than in Israel, and
specifically in Jerusalem. If you've never been to Jerusalem,
it's hard to imagine how so much history, religion and culture
can collide and stand in literal heaps. Nowhere is this more evident
than at the Temple Mount, flash point for many a conflict over
the centuries.
The site first came to the attention of Israel's King David,
who bought a threshing floor and built an altar on it, intending
it for the site of the temple (1 Chronicles 21-22). The Temple
Mount is so named because it is the location of the temple built
by David's son Solomon (destroyed by the Babylonians in 586
B.C.) and its replacement built by Zerubbabel and later enlarged
by Herod the Great (ultimately razed by the Roman general Titus
in A.D. 70).
Why does the Middle East dominate the headlines so often? One
obvious answer is oil, the lifeblood of modern economies. Without
oil to run factories, heat homes, fuel transportation and provide
energy and raw materials for thousands of uses, the economies of
many nations would grind to a halt. The crucial importance of oil
alone ensures that the Middle East will remain in the headlines
for years.