84    The Bible and the Future of the World 

of anguish  refers to the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. And so, at the 

beginning of the Forty Years, the Jews will decide to build the Third Temple 

of Jerusalem. They will decide to build the Third Temple  in  A.D. 2009. I 

think that it will take 7 years to build (cf. 1 Kings 6:37 38). (Many people 

will visit Jerusalem at this time, hence the expression  the wide path. ) The 

Third Temple will not be destroyed until A.D. 2430, at the beginning of the 

Antichrist's reign over the kingdom of the South, which includes Israel. 

Soon after that he will reign over nearly the whole world for nearly seven 

years. The Third Temple will not be destroyed, despite all the many wars 

and conflicts and natural disasters which must take place in the future, until 

that time (A.D. 2430). At that time, the Third Temple of Jerusalem will be 

destroyed, as will the city of Jerusalem and the great Christian Church there. 

This event is a sign of the coming to power of the Antichrist. 

    The worldwide Christian Church  will be spiritually rebuilt beginning at 

the commencement of the Forty Years and continuing for the whole sixty 

two weeks of years. Note that the Forty Years began in A.D. 2000, a Jubilee 

year, a year of spiritual rebuilding.  This rebuilding of the Church will not 

happen all at once. Over time, the Church will increase in holiness, in 

wisdom and understanding, in faith and true Christian love. Eventually, all 

Christians will be united in one Church. The Church will be restructured to 

have seven parts (and later twelve parts) and two new offices (positions of 

authority) will be created. These two offices shall be apart from and above 

the authority of the other Bishops and the Cardinals, but below and under 

the authority of the Pope. 

The Pope 

    In the years prior to the reign of the Antichrist, the Pope will reign from 

Rome, the center of authority in the Church, but Jerusalem will  be the 

center of worship in the Church. The Antichrist, as the king of the North, 

will defeat the Christian king of the South in battle in A.D. 2430. Then the 

Antichrist's followers will destroy the city of Jerusalem, the Third Temple, 

and the main Christian Church there. Also, in Rome, the Pope will be put to 

death and the buildings associated with the Holy See will be destroyed. But 

the Pope of that time will not be replaced by another Pope. The Church will 

be without a Pope for seven years, until the Return of Christ in A.D. 2437. 

During the Antichrist's reign,  from  A.D. 2431 to 2437, the Church will be 

without a Pope, without a center of authority, without a center of worship. 

      `Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered.'   (Zech 13:7). 

This verse from the Old Testament refers not only to the time of Christ's 

Passion, but also to the time of the Church's Passion, as is clear from the