(Deification in Christ) — In 363 A.D., the formerly Christian Roman Emperor, Julian the Apostate, sought to destroy Christianity worldwide. He believed he could overthrow Christianity by proving false the prophecy of Jesus Christ concerning the permanent destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Since Jesus prophesied: “Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another, that will not be thrown down” (Mt 24:2), then by Julian sending the Jews back to rebuild the earthly Temple of Solomon in defiance of Christ, Julian intended to prove Jesus was not the Son of God. Julian sought to re-establish a Jewish faith-state, rebuild the Temple, and restore Jewish animal sacrifices in order that the rest of the world could return to paganism. Heaven and earth revolted against the attempt.
The historian Warren H. Carroll, the founder of Christendom College and a Columbia University PhD, wrote about this: “In all the years since that apocalyptic 10th of August [meaning Tisha B’Av], 70 A.D., only one attempt has ever been made to rebuild [the earthly Temple], by the Emperor Julian the Apostate in 363, as a deliberate defiance of the prophecy of Christ. A sober classical historian, Ammianus Marcellinus – a pagan, not a Christian – tells of earthquakes, the landslides, and the balls of fire coming out of the ground, that prevented the completion of the work” [A History of Christendom, Vol. 1, The Founding of Christendom, p. 428].
Not only was the pagan historian Ammianus Marcellinus [above] alive during these events of 363 which he recorded, we have Christian historians who interviewed friends and family of those who had eyewitness accounts and so detailed the heavenly events which stopped the ill-advised project of 363 A.D. This article shares [below] the accounts about these events by the lawyers and Christian historians Salaminius Sozomen and Socrates Scholasticus in the early 5th Century, within the lifetimes of the eyewitnesses.
The historical accounts demonstrate that Christians always believed the rebuilding of the earthly Temple in Jerusalem after 70 A.D. was a sign of on-going defiance against Jesus Christ. Restoring Jerusalem as a Jewish faith-state after its destruction by the Romans was always seen as supporting defiance of God and we have documented warnings from the Fourth and Fifth Centuries A.D.. Orthodox Christians still understand similar attempts as on-going apostasy by those who seek to rebuild an earthly third Temple. Jesus Christ is the true Land and Temple which God promised all along to arrive at for his true Israel (cf. Galatians 6:15-16).
The record of heaven’s reaction to Julian the Apostate in Jerusalem, 363 A.D.
Below is the early 5th Century record of the lawyer and historian Sozomen. The families of his father and grandfather had to temporarily flee Gaza because of the persecutions of Emperor Julian the Apostate at that time. After Julian abandoned Christianity, he tried re-establishing paganism throughout the empire which fought with Christians. Julian’s Zionism was a part of that effort of persecution. Sozomen was born about 370 A.D. [cf. Hartranft] and grew up amongst the Palestinian community that had been witnesses of the events of 363. Oddly enough in today’s context, Sozomen was a Palestinian Christian from Gaza. This is an excerpt of his testimony:
The emperor, the other pagans, and all the Jews, regarded every other undertaking as secondary in importance to [rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem]. Although the pagans were not well-disposed towards the Jews, yet they assisted them in this enterprise, because they reckoned upon its ultimate success, and hoped by this means to falsify the prophecies of Christ. Besides this motive, the Jews themselves were impelled by the consideration that the time had arrived for rebuilding their temple. When they had removed the ruins of the former building, they dug up the ground and cleared away its foundation; it is said that on the following day when they were about to lay the first foundation, a great earthquake occurred, and by the violent agitation of the earth, stones were thrown up from the depths, by which those of the Jews who were engaged in the work were wounded, as likewise those who were merely looking on. The houses and public porticos, near the site of the temple, in which they had diverted themselves, were suddenly thrown down; many were caught thereby, some perished immediately, others were found half dead and mutilated of hands or legs, others were injured in other parts of the body. When God caused the earthquake to cease, the workmen who survived again returned to their task, partly because such was the edict of the emperor, and partly because they were themselves interested in the undertaking. Men often, in endeavoring to gratify their own passions, seek what is injurious to them, reject what would be truly advantageous, and are deluded by the idea that nothing is really useful except what is agreeable to them. When once led astray by this error, they are no longer able to act in a manner conducive to their own interests, or to take warning by the calamities which are visited upon them.
The Jews, I believe, were just in this state; for, instead of regarding this unexpected earthquake as a manifest indication that God was opposed to the re-erection of their temple, they proceeded to recommence the work. But all parties relate, that they had scarcely returned to the undertaking, when fire burst suddenly from the foundations of the temple, and consumed several of the workmen.
This fact is fearlessly stated, and believed by all; the only discrepancy in the narrative is that some maintain that flame burst from the interior of the temple, as the workmen were striving to force an entrance, while others say that the fire proceeded directly from the earth. In whichever way the phenomenon might have occurred, it is equally wonderful. A more tangible and still more extraordinary prodigy ensued; suddenly the sign of the cross appeared spontaneously on the garments of the persons engaged in the undertaking. These crosses were disposed like stars, and appeared the work of art. Many were hence led to confess that Christ is God, and that the rebuilding of the temple was not pleasing to Him; others presented themselves in the church, were initiated, and besought Christ, with hymns and supplications, to pardon their transgression.
READ: Theologian explains why religious Zionism is ‘heresy,’ the Church is the ‘true Israel’
In the same Book V, Chapter 22, of the Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen, he ends the above account by stating, “If any one does not feel disposed to believe my narrative, let him go and be convinced by those who heard the facts I have related from the eyewitnesses of them, for they are still alive. Let him inquire, also, of the Jews and pagans who left the work in an incomplete state, or who, to speak more accurately, were able to commence it.”
The same dramatic accounts and more can be found in the contemporary of Sozomen, the Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus, Book III, Chapter 20. Socrates was from Constantinople but also traveled the East to write his histories.
Christians must not become like Julian the Apostate
Such dramatic events of 363 A.D. are a sign and reminder of God’s providence in world affairs. They are like the appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico in 1531 and her leaving an image on Juan Diego’s tilma like when a cross was left on the clothes of the laborers in 363 A.D. Only 50 years prior to Julian, a sign in the heavens appeared for the pagan Constantine to establish Christianity and then Constantine had the Chi-Rho copied onto the shields of his soldiers. Such dramatic signs from heaven and conversions are also comparable to the well-documented 80k people witnessing the miracle of the sun in Fatima in October 1917; when even many Freemasons returned to Catholic Christianity due to the witnessed miracles.
Please allow me to speculate and feel free to disagree. It is my speculation that when the fullness of times arrives for the Second Coming, God will not necessarily prevent the rebuilding of the third earthly Temple again. The great apostasy must take place which causes Christ’s return (2 Thess 2:8), but woe to anybody that does not resist this apostasy. How will we know what that apostasy will be like? Did we already forget that Julian the Apostate gave an example of it in 363 A.D. and heaven intervened to stop it because the fullness of time had not arrived?
The arrival of the third earthly Temple would most likely symbolize the ultimate rejection of Jesus Christ who is the true Temple (cf. John 2:19-22; Rev 21, Gal 6:16). If Christians support the return of Jerusalem as a Jewish faith-state in order to rebuild the third earthly Temple, then Christians will have become like Julian the Apostate in 363 A.D. and have earned the title “Apostate.” Signs of this coming mistake already exists amongst Christian Zionists in America and the relativism that currently infects Christian societies worldwide.
This relativism (also afflicting Catholic prelates) was spread by Freemasonry since the 18th Century both as a philosophical system and as a deep state conspiracy that now exists in other international groups and forms. Masonry and its oaths to enter the degrees are intrinsically relativist, implicitly deny the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, and so open Christian societies to the re-infestation of evil spirits in peoples who take these oaths. Many Masonic oath-takers don’t even realize they may be putting curses on their children, but deliverance ministry experts are clear about this problem. These are some of the reasons that the Catholic Church always forbade becoming a member of Freemasonry [see here]. Lastly, you’d be poorly informed if you missed that the current Netanyahu regime has ministers in it who are advocating for a Jewish faith-state and the rebuilding of the earthly third Temple. This is way different from the original Zionism that did not seek a “Jewish faith-state” or third Temple and which was accepted by Catholics due to migration under the original British Mandated Palestine before 1948.
My article of August 5-6, 2019 wanted to give explanation of reading the signs of the times. See: “Second Peter: The Transfiguration Is the Interpretive Key of the Second Coming.” A series of articles followed it a year later and gave an interpretation of American history during the tumultuous times of COVID and the Marxist BLM riots. The series was “Cultivating Time for Eternity” in which Part III analyzed Talmudic understanding in relation to the Second Coming of Christ. The start of the manuscript “Transcendence After America” a year later wanted to help people know how to rebuild a just civil society. It’s still evolving but a chapter about the true meaning of the “7th Day” is complete. Perhaps I need to share that again sooner than later so people understand better how Jesus became the true Promised Land.
In the meantime, people can read the Crisis Magazine article which opens with Benedict XVI explaining why Catholics cannot support the idea of a “Jewish faith-state”: “Against Catholic Zionism.” It also explains how Jesus became the true Promised Land.
Reprinted with permission from Professor Matthew A. Tsakanikas.