By John Szozda
May 20, 2005
Is David Ben-Ariel sounding the trumpet for God or is he merely a confused Christian?
Either way, he’s a dangerous man in dangerous times, a man who Israel deported in 1996.
Ben-Ariel believes Israel should forcefully take back The Temple Mount from Muslim control. He believes Germany and The Vatican are under Satan’s influence and are conspiring to restore the Holy Roman Empire and destroy the United States and Great Britain. He believes that after Germany imposes its will on the European Union, it will attack the United States with nuclear weapons. Three and half years later, Jesus Christ will come to deliver us from the Satanic beast and He will establish His heaven on Earth.
Fact or fiction?
Prophecy, claims Ben-Ariel, who says he is “just one more trumpet sounding the alarm.” Others include Rev. Gerald Flurry of the Philadelphia Church of God. These men believe Americans and Brits are descendents of the Lost Tribes of Israel, God’s chosen people.
Now living in East Toledo, Ben-Ariel sends his views to the world via two web sites and numerous internet forums. Google his name and you’ll get 4,860 references. David’s been a very busy man. And now he’s written a book called Beyond Babylon; Europe’s Rise and Fall. He calls the book, “God’s final warning before the German blitzkrieg begins.”
Ben-Ariel’s views first landed him in trouble with Israeli authorities in 1996. He says he was arrested in a suspected plot to blow up the Al Aqsa Mosque built on The Temple Mount, the site of the Holy Temple where Jesus Christ taught. Ben-Ariel spent three weeks in an Israeli jail and was released without being charged. He was deported and banned from applying for a Visa until this year.
Ben-Ariel says he was arrested because he was protesting the occupation of the Temple Mount and his beliefs were contrary to the softer position of Israel’s Left. He claims he was misunderstood by authorities and caught up in a “witch hunt” after Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated.
“I wanted it (the mosque) removed but I’ve always said that’s a government’s responsibility. I’m against abortion too and I want the government to remove all those clinics but it doesn’t mean that I’m inciting, that I’m calling for anyone to go out and blow them up. There’s a big difference. But, in Israel, they didn’t see that difference,” he said.
Ben-Ariel hopes to obtain a Visa this year and move to Israel. He has visited there 11 times since 1980 living at more than 8 different kibbutzim.
So, how does the son from a Baptist/Methodist family adopt such radical beliefs?
David, like many Americans who find their spiritual lives unfulfilled in traditional religion, went searching for something more satisfying. He found his ring of truth in the Worldwide Church of God and the teachings of Herbert Armstrong. Today, he is a member of the Temple Mount Faithful and his mission is to urge the Israeli government to take the site from Muslim control. “I am calling upon the Israeli people to repent and as part of their national repentance to cleanse The Temple Mount of its foreign filth, those foreign mosques that occupy Judean’s most holy site.”
The Palestinians should go too. “Israel should cleanse the land of this filth and their polluted mind set and remove the threat by expelling them. It’s logical. America would never tolerate a particular people saying, `We are going to take your capitol and make it ours.’”
You can see why, in the tinderbox that is the Middle East, Israel officials prefer not to have the incendiary David Ben-Ariel in their country. When the beliefs of a militant Christian meet head on with the beliefs of a militant Muslim, can there be any hope for peace?
In Beyond Babylon, Ben-Ariel presents his interpretation of The Bible and how he arrives at his conclusion that a Vatican-Nazi alliance will lead to our destruction, a destruction that we are hastening because of our idolatry and immorality.
When this Armageddon will occur is not certain, Ben-Ariel writes. However, it will come soon. And, I suppose, the recent earthquakes, melting polar ice caps, Asian tsunami and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan provide fertile ground for those who believe in conspiracy theories. And, if you think these people aren’t out there just surf the internet and you decide if Ben-Ariel is blowing a trumpet or a kazoo.
You can read about Ben-Ariel at http://www.pushhamburger.com/. You can order the book at http://www.publishamerica.com/. You may comment at
zoz@presspublications.com
By: John Szozda
Contact e-mail:
zoz@presspublications.com
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