Save America Ministries

Announcer: This is Viewpoint with attorney and author Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is a one-hour talk show confronting the issues of America's heart and home. And now, with today's edition of Viewpoint, here is Chuck Crismier.

Chuck Crismier: "The fight has begun for Jerusalem," declared Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, "and it is a dangerous war," he said. Well, that was back in 2005, 21 years ago. Five years later, Arutz Sheva, Israel National News headline, reaffirmed, "The Battle for Jerusalem," noting, "So goes Jerusalem, so goes the peace process." Well, the focus on settlements or the occupation has now taken a backseat to the focus on Jerusalem itself, said the article.

The battle for Jerusalem will truly be a dangerous war, a bloody battle ahead. No war in the history of mankind will have had more momentous impact. At stake is the battle, the final battle for "King of the Mountain," the Temple Mount, who will rule and reign over Planet Earth. Well, I welcome you to Viewpoint. Today, we look toward May 14th, Thursday, the beginning of Jerusalem Day. It begins at sundown on Thursday, May 14th, concludes at nightfall on Friday, May 15th, this year.

This Israeli national holiday marks the 59th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem and the establishment of Israeli control over the Old City during the June 1967 Six-Day War. If you were not living then, you would not remember that, but indeed it was an extremely significant day because for 1,900 years, Israel had been out from control of Jerusalem and out from control of the Temple Mount. 1,900 years. That's a long time when God chose to place His name there in Jerusalem on behalf of the Jewish people.

So, what's going on? Why the tension? Well, interestingly, International Quds Day, which is the Arab version of Jerusalem Day, is an annual pro-Palestinian anti-Israel event established by Iran in 1979. Held on the last Friday of Ramadan, it features massive state-sponsored rallies that oppose Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and call for the elimination of the Zionist regime. It was initiated by Ayatollah Khomeini following the 1979 Iranian Revolution to unify the Muslim world against Israel and assert Islamic claims over Jerusalem.

Islamic claims over Jerusalem. And if it were Islamic claims over Jerusalem, that means Islamic claims over the Temple Mount because the Temple is at the epicenter of Jerusalem. So, I welcome you to Viewpoint, friends. It's conversation as always with ever-increasing conviction, talk that transforms. And I think by the time we're through today, that you will see, perhaps understand things concerning the matter of Jerusalem, concerning the matter of the Temple Mount that perhaps you did not understand heretofore and will understand even the more so why what has been going on there in the Middle East is of utmost importance, not only in history but biblical prophecy.

So, we continue to confront the deepest issues of America's heart and home from God's eternal perspective. Speaking of that, I decided to check out what the view of AI was concerning this broadcaster by the name of Chuck Crismier and see where it put the emphasis. And here is what it said:

"Chuck Crismier's view of Israel through Viewpoint Ministry holds a deeply eschatological pro-Israel perspective, viewing the nation as central to end-times prophecy and the soon return of the Messiah. He emphasizes a biblical, often literal, connection between modern Israel and divine prophecy, focusing on the rise of antisemitism, Iranian threats, and the need for Christian support. Crismier positions the modern state of Israel at the center of history's final hour, viewing current events in the Middle East through a lens of unfolding biblical prophecy. He frequently discusses the Jewish concept of Tikvat Israel or the Hope of Israel as a messianic hope of restoration, interpreting this through a perhaps critical lens of traditional Jewish thought versus Christian belief in Jesus or Yeshua. He warns of increasing global and American antisemitism, viewing it as a sign of the end times and a cause for spiritual alarm. His commentary often focuses on preparing believers for the second coming by understanding Israel's critical role in divine history."

Well, that's not a bad statement there, I would say, for the most part. It's accurate, and I appreciate that synthesis coming from none other than the eternal gospel of AI. Artificial intelligence gospel. Yeah. But today on Viewpoint, we're going to look more deeply at this matter of Jerusalem because it's coming into the fore again come Thursday and because I want our listeners to be able to get a handle on what's developing here. We decided to do this today so that you will be prepared for what's coming toward the end of the week.

Indeed, the fight has begun for Jerusalem, a dangerous war. No war in history, the history of mankind, is going to be more momentous and more momentous in its impact. And at stake is the final battle for "King of the Mountain," the Temple Mount, and who will reign over Planet Earth. So, you may think well, all of this is relatively irrelevant. Well, it's not. And by the time we're through today, you're going to understand how deeply significant it really is.

But before we get into the depths of that, Jerusalem District Police and Border Guard soldiers foiled an attempt to enter the Temple Mount and sacrifice a Passover lamb after a group of suspects tried to bring a goat onto the mount. Now, what was this all about? Well, for Passover, the Jewish people understand that they're supposed to, according to the Torah, are supposed to sacrifice a lamb and a paschal lamb. And they have been prohibited from doing so for 1,900 years. They don't have a temple, and the temple is required for the sacrifice of the lamb.

But they decided well, at least we'll try to sacrifice a lamb. So, they tried to get by with it and sneaking this goat onto the mount, but the police, the Jerusalem Police and Border Guard soldiers foiled them and prevented it. Now, this issue is coming up again in a different way. Ministers and members of the Knesset have demanded that police open the Temple Mount to Jews on Jerusalem Day. Open the mount and strengthen sovereignty, they said.

Well, what's the problem? What would be the problem? Why indeed would Jerusalem police want to keep the Jewish people from the very mount that is at the epicenter of Jerusalem for Jerusalem Day? We have to talk about that, friends. It goes very deep and it is explosive. We'll be back.

"Once upon a time, children could pray and read their Bibles in school. Divorces were practically unknown, as was child abuse. In our once great America, virginity and chastity were popular virtues and homosexuality was an abomination. So, what happened in just one generation? Hi, I'm Chuck Crismier and I urge you to join me daily on Viewpoint where we discuss the most challenging issues touching our hearts and homes. Could America's moral slide relate to the Fourth Commandment? Listen to Viewpoint on this radio station or any time at saveus.org."

It's Temple tension and the battle for Jerusalem here today on Viewpoint. A long list of government ministers there in Israel and coalition Knesset members sent an official letter to the police commissioner and incoming Jerusalem District commander demanding that Jews be permitted to enter the Temple Mount on the upcoming Jerusalem Day. Now, for most of us, we would think well, why not? If the Temple Mount is right there in the heart of Jerusalem and is the very heart and epicenter of Jerusalem, and we're going to remember and commemorate Jerusalem Day, which is the recapture of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount under Jewish control in 1967, then why would that not happen?

Well, the appeal comes in light of the fact that this year, Jerusalem Day will fall on Friday, a day on which the Temple Mount is routinely closed to Jewish visitors. Now, why is it routinely closed to Jewish visitors? Because of Al-Aqsa Mosque, a Muslim mosque on one end of the Temple Mount. And they don't want trouble. So, in order to avoid trouble, Jews, Jewish people are deprived of access to the Temple Mount, the very heartthrob of Jerusalem itself, all in deference to Islam.

We don't want to start World War III, they say. So, the letter stated, "It is unacceptable that on the day marking the liberation of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, Jews would be entirely barred from accessing the holiest site of the Jewish people due to the standing arrangement that fails to provide a solution for this unique circumstance." The letter was signed by senior government officials. Also signed were numerous Likud and religious Zionist party members of the Knesset.

They said, "We call on the Israeli police to come to its senses and not disgrace the people of Israel on the day marking Jerusalem's liberation. Open the mount and strengthen our sovereignty. That is the proper response to the flood of Al-Aqsa incitement." That's what I call Temple tension. The flood of Al-Aqsa incitement. In other words, it's Islam versus the Jewish people, Islam versus Judaism. Also, the physical descendants of Ishmael versus the physical descendants of Isaac. Abraham's two sons.

Muslims claim that Ishmael, the firstborn of Abraham, is the one to whom the promises of God were made and therefore, when it states in Genesis Chapter 17 that Abraham had this little conversation with God and saying Ishmael should be the son of promise and God says no, Isaac is to be the son of promise in whom all the promises are to be fulfilled. Islam says no, that's a misstatement. That's not right. That's not fair. That's what God said. God said it's Isaac, not Ishmael.

Islam says no, it's Ishmael, not Isaac. 4,000 years ago, the battle began and it's still going on today. And it will be resolved. And it will be resolved on God's terms, not man's terms. It will not be resolved by diplomatic efforts because it doesn't yield to diplomatic efforts and never has. Now, in the context of all of this, the nations of the earth, including the Western nations of the earth, have risen up in antipathy toward the Jewish people. After the Holocaust, you remember the cry went up: Never again. Never again.

But that cry is no longer having meaning because all over the Western world, Europe, the UK, even the United States, New Zealand, Australia, the entire Western world has turned against Israel, completely overturning the words "never again." This has come up again big time in the UK where Jewish people are appealing to the British government for protection. So, a Rabbi Tzvi Fishman says he's arguing that instead of appealing to the British government for protection, Anglo-Jewish leadership should encourage immigration to Israel and abandon their reliance on the future of the diaspora.

He said the time has come to heed the call. To heed the call for what? To heed the call to return to the land, Eretz Israel. All part of the fulfillment of biblical prophecy, friends, as the ancient prophets said that God was calling and would call His people back, even after they had been dispersed for 2,000 years or even 2,500 years due to their disobedience from God's commands, that God would bring them back because of His word, because of His promise. He would bring them back to the land Eretz Israel that He had promised the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

What they did with the fulfillment of that promise would be up to them. Will they obey or will they not? Will they do God's will having returned to the land of Israel or will they not? The answer is they would not. And so God will again judge them. Two-thirds. In other words, greatly. More than the rest of the nations, He will judge them for your disobedience. That's what the Bible says. And in the book of Zechariah, we find that even after they return, there's going to be a severe judgment that God places upon the Jewish people so that two-thirds will lose their lives because of their rebellion against the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and Yeshua the Messiah.

But in the meantime, given England's historical hostility toward the Jewish people and Israel, it is disappointing, said this Rabbi, to see Anglo-Jewish leaders appealing submissively to non-Jewish British authorities, expecting salvation from them. We believe that Jews should recognize that the era of flourishing in Britain has ended and that there is no future for Jews who remain in exile. The same, by the way, has come through this week, saying that Jews in Belgium should be making Aliyah, should flee Belgium because it is not a friend to the Jewish people.

The same has been said for years now for the Jewish people in France and Germany. Get out while you can. Get out while you can. In other words, this is the season for making Aliyah to fulfill the promise of God to return to Eretz Israel, the land of Israel. It is a big, big deal. After the Holocaust, the world was ashamed of the scale of evil allowed against the Jews. Out of remorse, Western countries allowed Jewish flourishing, but that era has ended. A new generation has arisen that does not remember the Holocaust and its eyes Israel has become the oppressor of today.

So, the Creator calls for us to return to the land of Israel. Another Rabbi has written, "We should feel that we have a closer relationship to God if and when we stroll through the streets of Eretz Israel and the holy city of Jerusalem." Now, all that having been said, we go back and we look at this matter of Jerusalem. Jerusalem Day coming up Thursday evening through Friday evening of this week and the background of this and the foreground of this, that is the prophetic future of this story so that we can understand the greater import.

It's not just a little incident that is happening on a particular day. It's a much, much bigger picture. US News & World Report back in 1995, the very year we formed Save America Ministry, the very year we began this radio broadcast, referred to Jerusalem as God's city, citing Jerusalem's 3,000 years of history beginning with King David. They said the history of Jerusalem is written in stone and the holy city's final political disposition remains one of the sorest points of Mideast peace negotiations. It's not just a Mideast peace negotiations, friends, it is the ultimate sore point for the world's peace.

Jerusalem has become, in effect, the center of the world. He would rule the world must reign in Jerusalem. Will it be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that is Israel as revealed in and through Yeshua ben David, Jesus, or Mohammed's Allah, the vicar of Christ empowered by the Vatican, or an ascendent secular global cabal with its counterfeit Messiah elevating again the goddess of reason over the Creator? Prophecy will soon become the history for the city of God.

I wrote that in my book, King of the Mountain, 13 years ago. It is so prophetically significant today that it cannot be ignored. The real question looming over the fate of the holy city then is much greater than who will be king of the mountain, but is rather who is God and who will be God? That's really the issue. So, this battle on Earth, the battle for Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, will be nothing other than the final playing out of what you might call the cosmic war, historic in the heavens, between God and his arch-enemy Satan, the ultimate enemy of your soul.

So, this battle for the city of God is the symbolic battle for the souls of men. It's winner-take-all. Other current conflicts, whether they be with Russia and Ukraine, whether it be in Iran, wherever it may be, other conflicts actually are merely peripheral to the ultimate prize. Until recently, Jerusalem has remained too holy to handle, according to the Jerusalem Post itself. But unholy boldness has now brashly embraced the profane in desperate pursuit of the prize.

As was stated in Jerusalem Betrayed, "Prophecy and conspiracy collide in the holy city. The fuse has already been lit that ultimately will ignite the final conflagration around Jerusalem. The nations of the world are aligned for spiritual and physical warfare against the city of God." Now, in order to understand this more deeply and the greater picture involving not only Jerusalem and the Temple Mount but all of the nations both historically and currently as it's playing out, you need to get a copy of my book King of the Mountain, the Eternal Epic and End-Time Battle.

It is available to you for $15 on our website, saveus.org. You can call us at 1-800-SAVE-USA, 1-800-SAVE-USA, or write to us at Save America Ministries, PO Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia, 23255. Write a check and $6 for postage and handling. In fact, Zion, the editor of Zion's Fire magazine, called Jerusalem God's vortex. God's vortex. He said the nations think they are coming to fulfill their purposes. The reality is God's vortex is drawing them there for His judgment.

At the heart of the great storms known to man is a vortex. The sheer volume and violence generated from the vortex is beyond the ultimate control of man and its devastating consequences. And so it is with the vortex over Yerushalayim or Jerusalem. The extreme significance of this is almost beyond our ability to truly communicate here today on Viewpoint. But we're now at this hour of history. The heat is being turned up. Unfortunately, our world and its leaders are promoting unprecedented rebellion against God.

The epicenter of that rebellion is the holy city where God chose to place His name. And the raging spiritual war is indeed raging.

"Have you ever considered what the early church was like? Many people are developing a heart longing for a greater fulfillment in our practices as Christians. A recent study showed 53,000 people a week are leaving the back door of America's churches in frustration. What is going on? Why has there not been even a 1% gain among followers of Christ in the last 25 years? Could it be that God is seeking to restore first-century Christianity for the 21st century? Jesus said, 'I'll build My church.' Is Christ by His Spirit stirring to prepare the church for the 21st century? The early church prayed together and broke bread from house to house. They were family, and it was said by all who observed, 'Behold how they love one another.' Incredible. But the same can be found right now. Go to saveus.org and click Sell Church. We can revive first-century Christianity for the 21st century. It's about people, not programs. It's about a body, not a building. That's saveus.org. Click Sell Church."

Again, I welcome you back to Viewpoint. We're talking about the battle for Jerusalem here on the edge of Jerusalem Day 2026. We're also talking about the battle for the Temple Mount, which is the epicenter of Jerusalem and of the world from God's perspective. And if you do not have a copy of my book King of the Mountain, the Eternal Epic and End-Time Battle, you really owe it to yourself to get a copy. It is going to open your eyes in ways that you probably could not even fathom until you read the book.

It is said that he who rules the Temple Mount rules the world. And that's exactly the goal: to rule Jerusalem, to rule the Temple Mount, and to rule the world. And it's not just Islam that wants to rule the world. The Vatican wants to rule the world and has declared that the Pope will rule the world not from Rome but from Jerusalem. You see, it's a much bigger battle than you might think. A much, much, much graver and bigger battle than you might think. It's a battle for who will sit on the Temple Mount.

Will it be the Vicar of Christ or will it be Christ Himself? Will it be the representative of the Mahdi, the Islamic Messiah, or the Messiah promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to you and me? That's really the issue. You may not see it that way because nothing is being discussed that way. They can't bear to think or discuss things that way. You may remember Mr. Obama in his first foreign policy speech trying to clinch the Democratic nomination. He made dramatic assurances to Israel.

He said, "Let me be clear: Israel's security is sacrosanct, it's non-negotiable. Any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel's identity as a Jewish state. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided." That's what he said. Didn't last long. Enraged Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas responded. He said, "We will not accept a Palestinian state without having Jerusalem as the capital." So, Obama immediately backpedaled to protect the Muslim favor and changed his view concerning Jerusalem being the capital of Israel.

It wasn't until Donald Trump came to office that he did something that no other American president was willing to do. He ordered the American Embassy to be planted in Jerusalem, declared Jerusalem to be the eternal capital of Israel. Things that no other American president was willing to do because they were too pusillanimous. Look up the word. Pusillanimous. In other words, they had no guts. No convictions, no guts. No political chutzpah.

So, now we are on the edge of the anniversary, the 59th anniversary of the Six-Day War, the day that commemorates the miraculous liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem, that is biblical Jerusalem. The war marked Israel's return to the Old City for the first time since having been driven out in 1948 and for the first time in all those years over 1,900 years as sovereign rulers. Israel had begged Jordan's King Hussein not to become involved in the attack by Egypt and Syria upon the holy land, but to no avail.

If Hussein had listened, history might well have been different. But Israel destroyed the Egyptian Air Force in a single day, miraculously beat back the assault of Syria and Jordan, took over Jerusalem, Gaza, Judea, Samaria, the Sinai, and the Golan Heights, the very land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as an everlasting covenant. And Israel wept for joy. Who would have ever expected, though, that the very General Moshe Dayan, who was responsible for helping Israel to gain that dominion for the first time in over 1,900 years, would in weakness and spiritual ignorance turn over the control of the Temple Mount back over to Jordan and the Jordanian Waqf.

Unbelievable. And it was that decision made by Israel's leader that has led to the current problem today: the struggle for Jerusalem, the struggle for the Temple Mount, that is becoming the eternal epic and end-time battle. It's the battle for King of the Mountain. The mountain is God's mountain. He called it that. He says, "It's My holy mountain." Some places it's called "My holy hill." When I wrote the book King of the Mountain, the Eternal Epic and End-Time Battle, it was so clear over and over and over again in the scripture, God calls the Temple Mount His holy mountain, His holy hill.

Many in Islam claim that Jerusalem never did belong to Israel. Well, how do they explain King David 3,000 years ago? How do they explain that David bought the Temple Mount, which was then a threshing floor from a businessman by the name of Araunah? When Araunah wanted to give it to him, David said, "No, I will not take that for the Lord which does cost me nothing." So, he purchased the Temple Mount. A Jewish king purchased the Temple Mount. Not Islamic.

It may be that the Turks under the Ottoman Empire controlled it for a couple of hundred years, but it was purchased by David, the one who God said was a man after His own heart. The one who God said He would cause his son, the Messiah, to rule forever on the throne of David. From where? The Temple Mount. When Jesus came into Jerusalem in preparation for the Passover, He marched up from the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley up to Jerusalem, went directly to the Temple and turned over the tables of the money changers and said, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' and you've made it a den of thieves."

Notice he called it His house. He took ownership of it. My house. Not Islam's house. And not as soft-hearted Jewish leaders, Rabbis say, "a house of prayer for all people," as they interpret it. No, all people who embrace Jehovah, the Lord God of Nations, the Creator of the universe. Those are the ones it's a house of prayer for, not all peoples. Only those who are united in His name.

This is where so many of our churches have made a terrible mistake by thinking that somehow we are to draw unbelievers from everywhere, of all religions, into our churches and basically make them one, absorb them into a oneness without actually being converted, without repudiating their previous histories, their previous allegiances, and without actually being converted, repenting of their sins and being converted. Only then do they have a right or authority to be joined in the house of God.

Jerusalem Day 2010 brought forth a very telling statement from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the face of oppressive and near-dictatorial pressure from the United States, the European Union, Russia, and especially the United States State Department under Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration, Mr. Netanyahu cut to the core of the issue. He said, "The struggle for Jerusalem is a struggle for truth." He said the truth is that Jerusalem is our lifeblood. We have an indissoluble connection to it.

For 3,000 years, we have never relinquished this connection. We didn't relinquish it then when the Temple was destroyed a second time. No other nation has such a connection to its capital. Indeed, the fight for Jerusalem is the fight for truth. So, the reality, friends, is the world is facing its moment of truth. It's staging its final battle in the valley of decision and Jerusalem is the prize. The world and its leaders, yes, even each of us as citizens of this planet, face perhaps the choice of greatest moment in the history of mankind.

It's a choice for destiny. Prophecy is soon going to become history and divine judgment awaits our decision. It's the final battle for King of the Mountain. The final battle for King of the Mountain is in process as we speak. It will become more intense, increasingly more intense. It's a battle, as a Palestinian leader said, a very dangerous battle. And indeed it is. You see, prophecy is not going to be fulfilled on a bed of ease.

It's not going to be fulfilled in a nice cherry tree or eating bonbons somewhere. It's going to be fulfilled through tremendous struggle. The eternal epic and end-time battle. The battle for King of the Mountain. So, I ask you a question as we wrap up. Because in reality, the Temple Mount is a symbol. It's a symbol of our hearts. Because as we know, God doesn't really reside in temples made with hands. But as long as humankind is on the earth, God allowed temples or tabernacles to be built so He could demonstrate His presence.

And He blessed those. But ultimately, God never did live in temples made with hands. The first martyr of the church testified to that in the book of Acts, and it was agreed to by the religious leaders. So, where does He really live? Where would God really truly reign? On the Temple Mount of your heart. So the question is, does He reign there? Does He rule there? Is His word law for your life? If He were sitting in your car or your living room or your office today, would you feel and have confidence that He would feel and have confidence that He ruled and reigned in your home and in your heart?

That's really the issue. The bigger issue, and it's an eternal epic and end-time battle. It is. It's the battle of all history. Thanks for joining us. Become a partner, friends. Send your gifts by faith to Save America Ministries. We're here to not just inform but a message that's transforming. That's what we're after. Lots of information, but more for transformation. Get a copy of the book King of the Mountain, $15 on the website saveus.org. Call us 1-800-SAVE-USA, or write to us at $6 for postage and handling. You're not going to be disappointed. You really are not. In fact, you probably won't even turn the dial.

Announcer: You've been listening to Viewpoint with Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is supported by the faithful gifts of our listeners. Let me urge you to become a partner with Chuck as a voice to the church, declaring vision for the nation. Join us again next time on Viewpoint as we confront the issues of America's heart and home.