Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] This is the inside scoop Jerusalem, with your host, Nicole Jan Suzyan.
[00:00:17] Hey, this is Nicole Jansesian. Welcome to the inside scoop Jerusalem.
[00:00:23] The big question today that even I have that I am asking, is there going to be an actual sacrifice of the red heifers here in Jerusalem soon? Like anytime soon? Like when? Within the next few months. All right, let me backtrack now. I'm going to try to keep this understandable, and also, at the same time, it's not going to be as deep, if you want to deep dive. I mean, to research this. There's so much, this is one of the most complex issues that I've gotten into because it's so multifaceted in both the supporters and the opponents of sacrificing a red heifer. Yes, we're talking about actually sacrificing, although some people say, oh, no, it's not sacrificing. It's some. Anyway, the animal, the red heifer, would die and be burned and the ashes would be used. That's the spoiler right there. But is this actually going to happen right here in this city in the coming weeks? This is the question. This is something that now going back in September of 2022, the red heifers were actually brought to Israel. Five red heifers, pure red heifers, were brought to Israel. And they have been staying at a farm in Shiloh, which is north of Jerusalem. It's in the West bank or Judea Samaria, depending on your choice of verbiage for the location. And they have been there waiting for their call, I guess, in life. Okay, so let's actually start with where red heifer comes from. And for that we're going to go to the Bible, numbers 19, actually.
[00:02:14] And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, this is the ritual of the law which the Lord has commanded. Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no blemish, upon which a yoke has never come. And you shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her outside the camp, and she shall be slaughtered before him. Eleazar the priest shall take some of her blood with his finger and sprinkle it toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. The heifer shall be burned in his sight, her skin, flesh, blood and dung. And the priest shall take the cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet and cast them into the midst of, of the burning heifer. Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water.
[00:03:01] Afterward, he shall come into the camp. But he shall be unclean until evening. He who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and shall be unclean until evening. And a man who is clean shall collect the ashes of the heifer and put them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the congregation of the Israelites, for the water, for impurity. It is a sin offering. And he who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unfolding clean until evening. This shall be to the Israelites and to the stranger who sojourns among them, a perpetual statute. Now, this is numbers 19. I don't know if I said this one through ten, and you can go look this up and see if there's. If it's also in other area, in other parts of the Bible. So that is the biblical basis for the red heifer. Now, this hasn't happened for a while, obviously. There's no. Has not been animal sacrifice and there hasn't been a temple. But what's happening here these days is that there is. There are movements of Jews who are trying to rebuild the temple. The third temple here in Jerusalem, there is the temple Institute. This is not a secret. It's not, you know, to them, it's not controversial. You know, they're just trying to rebuild the temple. And now there's also some Christians who have joined them in this quest. And they also, for instance, are the ones who found, located the red heifers in Texas, in the US, and had them inspected and then actually paid to ship them over into Israel at a cost of half a million dollars to get them here. And that happened in September of 2022. Okay, so now, is this going to really culminate in a sacrifice this year? This is the talk, and this is why it's controversial now. This is right now in the.
[00:05:15] In the press. Everybody's talking about it. It sounds extremely far fetched. However, I just listened to one of the interview that was out there, where his name is Michael Samuel Smith. He's an american Christian, and he has been following the story since the 1990s. And he said that because finally there is a red heifer and they have been deemed to be pure. By the way, the Christians knew that if this has the potential to be a red heifer, to be sacrificed, that they shouldn't even brand it or put track or anything in the ear that, like they do with other cows, they knew that it had to be unblemished, untouched, uncut, in order to make it. So now, in order to be pure for sacrifice. So also, it can't have. It has to be completely red, I think. I don't know if there's any even allowance for one white hair that crops up. But until this point, apparently they are still ritually ready for sacrifice. So Michael Samuel Smith said that the sacrifice could take place anytime between Passover and Shavuot, or Passover and Pentecost.
[00:06:31] Pentecost is the christian version of the holiday of Shavuot, which is a biblical holiday. It's the jewish holiday, and I'll give you the dates for that. So Passover begins April 22 of 2024 and goes until April 30. Don't know if you can actually do a sacrifice during the month of Passover. You probably can. I don't know. That's a question for a jewish scholar. And then Shavuot or Pentecost will take place June 12 to 13th. So now, this would be a sign of the times for many people. Many christian Zionists, as well as the Jews who do want this to happen, believe that this is the sign of the age of redemption, a time when the Messiah can come again.
[00:07:26] This is also extremely controversial for those who don't agree with that statement. Now, what would have to happen in order for the red heifer to be sacrificed? So many people think or assume, oh, it could be. It has to be. And the spot of the temple, like, where the temple was, where right now there's a mosque. And right now it's like the most controversial piece of real estate in the planet, because that's where hundreds of thousands of Muslims will go and pray for Ramadan, for Friday prayers, for anything. This is, you know, al Aqsa mosque and that whole complex, the Haram al Sharif. There's also the dome of the rock, the big gold dome, the iconic mosque in all, where it's a sanctuary, actually, in all the pictures that you see of Jerusalem, it's right there.
[00:08:20] So then, actually, they do not need to sacrifice it there. Apparently, there is a provision that the sacrifice could take place on the Mount of Olives, across from the Temple mount, looking into the Temple mound. And there is a plot of land that is ready for this sacrifice. Now, at the time, I interviewed Byron Stinson, who is the person who was responsible, Texas businessman, the one who was responsible for finding the cows and then getting funding to get them here to Israel. And he said that that site is ready. It's all been made ready. This is already almost two years ago and probably even before that. But this was all ready to go for when the sacrifice could take place. Another thing to note about the red heifer and the sacrifice. Now, just because the heifer is sacrificed, it doesn't mean that there will instantly be a third temple. Doesn't mean that there has to already be a third temple. What it is, is the. What's important from this sacrifice is the ashes. Now, the ashes are mixed with water, and that can last for hundreds of years. So we're not talking about this instant end of time scenario, but we're talking about something that can last for a while. It's not something that's going to happen tomorrow. What Byron Stinson told me when I interviewed him back then. So he said that the sacrifice, this does not necessitate a new temple. It can also be conducted at a certain height and direction, and the plot on the manifolds meets these requirements. This is a big step. This is a huge sign if we're able to do the ceremony in a year and a half or to two years, he said. It doesn't mean that the temple is going to be built within one year, ten years, 40 years, or 100 years, because you have the ashes. Solomon had the ashes of the red heifer, and then it lasted for a thousand years. The red heifer does not mean you have to immediately build. However, I think it's like a key that turns on the engine.
[00:10:47] Okay, so there you have it. We're not looking at instant apocalyptic playground, but we are looking at the beginning of the end according to what some people believe. Okay, so there's obviously the Jews who want to sacrifice, but then there are the Jews who do not. So many israeli Jews are saying that this would be exactly what would touch off World War three, not the coming of the Messiah, and they are opposed to it. There are Christians also who are opposed to this. And these Christians just put out a statement last week saying that the Christian Zionists need to be told to stop their support of this and that this is turning Jerusalem, which is supposed to be a city of peace, into a city of controversy and ultimately of war. These are Christians from the Holy Land, joined by other, other parts of the world. They're not Christian Zionists. They are from the palestinian liberation theology, which you could also. You can look that up. I'm not going to go into that right now. I don't know if they all are. I just know that several of the signatories that I see are. And you can see what they say here. As religious leaders, we are saddened to see the cynical self interest at play and the relationship between the temple institute and its christian zionist supporters. Christian Zionists support for this plan is based on a warped christian reading of the scriptures, pre millennial dispensationalism that expect their temple to be desecrated by the Antichrist before the Messiah comes. We understand our christian faith to teach that Christ alone is our sacrifice once for all. Two Corinthians 521 we especially call on christians around the world to lovingly correct and reprove fellow christians who have been deluded by any form of the imperialist, colonial and war promoting ideology of Christian Zionism. It is imperative that we inaugurate a global intra christian dialogue focused on the repudiation of Christian Zionism, among other forms of the political. So I know, I don't think all Christian Zionists are for the sacrifice necessarily, or for the, you know, or into the red heifer fanfare that's going on right now.
[00:13:24] So also among Christian Zionists, you would probably have a split also regarding this. But in any case, as you can see, this is just drawing in from all sides, all different political and religious beliefs. And speaking of political, one of the main concerns or concerns of opponents to this is that right now, one of the most right wing governments that Israel has ever had is in power. And many of the people in one particular party that sits in the coalition would definitely be in favor of a sacrifice and making the Temple Mount more accessible, if not fully accessible to, to Jews. So anyway, this is what is happening right now. And this is why it is just a swirl of political and religious controversy that is just kind of going wild right now. Wildfire because we're talking about days until a possible sacrifice, if in fact it will occur. Now, I also just want to read a little bit from the now I'm going to link to all of these things from both sides. From every side. There's 4 million sides. I'm going to put links to all of these, these different statements of the petitions, the videos, the video interviews that have been done for saying that this is a wonderful thing, the articles that have been done saying, no, this is a disaster, don't do it. I'll be putting that all in the show notes so that you can see.
[00:15:12] But one person told me that they have actually, the temple Institute actually put in a request to the israeli police to allow a sacrifice on April 22. Now that is Passover Eve. So now I messaged police.
[00:15:34] I sent messages to the spokesperson, two spokespeople from the police that I usually get answers from right away. They did not even respond. So I do not know if that is confirmed. However, we're getting very close to that day and we are keeping an eye on this situation. There is probably a new article popping up every day about this, both for and against. And this was also mentioned on the hundredth day of the war between Israel and Hamas after the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7, one of the Hamas spokesman, Abu Abaydah, mentioned the red heifer sacrifice and said, this is why we went to war, and that is why we called our operation al Aqsa flood.
[00:16:26] So anyway, we are watching what is happening right over here down the street on the Mount of Olives in the old city of Jerusalem with the temple Institute, with Hamas and how all of this is going to converge and whether or not we're going to see World War three or the coming of the messiah any day now. So keep tuning in inside scoop Jerusalem to see what's going to happen.
