Page 124 - Satan in the Sanctuary

126 Satan in the Sanctuary
powers of the Jews, and he set out to annihilate their reli-
gious heritage.
He forbad circumcision, the observance of the Sabbath
and the holy days, and the public performance of any
Jewish ritual. A new and heavier tax was levied on the
Jews. They were allowed in Jerusalem, or rather Aeolia
Capitolina, on only one fixed day each year, when they
might weep at the Temple site (the "Wailing Wall").
On the bloody ground of Jerusalem, Aeolia Capitolina
rose, disgusting the Jews with its shrines to Jupiter and
Venus, theatres, baths, and the inevitable garrisons of the
Roman legions. The Temple of Jupiter stood squarely on
the hallowed site.
The Temple of Jupiter was well built, and it lasted a
long time. In fact, it outlasted the Roman Empire.
At some point in the decline of Rome and the advance
of Christianity it was remodeled and used as a Christian
church. While the history of this period is sketchy, we do
know that the Temple site apparently boasted of a Chris-
tian church when the Christian patriarch Sophomius wel-
comed the Caliph Omar into Jerusalem in 638. Justinian
added a church, now the Aksa Mosque, in the sixth
century.
It is likely that Hadrian's pillars supported the roof at
that time, because those pillars are still standing today,
supporting the Dome of the Rock, according to some
12
scholars. After 1,800 years they are doing just fine.
The probability is that the basic structure by the Ro-
mans was remodeled as the church and then again as the
dome.
The Moslem Arabs took Jerusalem sometime in the
seventh century. The Dome of the Rock dates from A.D.
691.