Holy Ground

By Richard Govier

Long before Moses met God at the "burning bush" there already existed the idea of sacred places and sacred objects. Entwined in the primitive mind of man was the idea that objects of great power such as the sun, the moon, and the stars were Gods - hence to be worshipped. The Hebrew religion was somewhat different from that of its contemporaries in that its worship was centered on an invisible God beyond the reach of the physical universe. Did God actually inhabit the holy ground of altars and temples, or was there another explanation for this idea? And where do you draw the line between fetishism and the divine?

Richard O. Govier (1928-2018) was a Protestant pastor and missionary and travelled the world in that capacity. He planted a number of churches as well as training pastors who served in Brazil, Chile, Argentina and across the United States.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard Govier
• Release date: Jul 25, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463605783

Richard Govier

Richard O. Govier (1928-2018) was a Protestant pastor and missionary and travelled the world in that capacity. He planted a number of churches as well as training pastors who served in Brazil, Chile, Argentina and across the United States.After his marriage to his lifetime sweetheart, Christine Ann Golfis, at the Bethesda Missionary College in Portland, Oregon, he attended extension classes at Pierce College and the Portland State college. Touched by the Latter Rain revival that began in the Northwest, the call of God rested continually on their hearts and they were forever seeking means of preaching the Gospel to their generation. They bought a small trailer and began an evangelistic trek across the United States, preaching in small churches that were open to the work and moving of the Holy Spirit. They criss-crossed the United States from Los Angeles to New York and finally settled down in Los Angeles where they both got jobs and attended a church in Long Beach, California. While serving in that church their son, Jeffrey Lee, was born on November 4, 1963.God had spoken through prophetic words that they would be going to a land whose language they would not understand. Going through a dry period in their lives, Richard loaded up a small tent and made a trip to Mount Palomar, to wait on God. After a week of prayer and fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke to his heart that it was time to fulfill the call to a foreign land. Richard, Christine, and Jeff, set out for Brazil. They had no financial support for this until the night they boarded the ship. God sent a local Christian businessman who committed himself to their support for two years, just enough time to attend language school.It was while attending the Brazilian language school that a missionary visited and introduced Richard to one of Brazil's most notable guitar players, who had recently converted to Christianity. Richard played with him on the banjo and the two began a ministry together that took them to Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. Richard taught pastors in afternoon meetings, while accompanying his Brazilian friend in large city-wide evangelistic campaigns in the evenings.After serving for ten years in South America, Richard and Christine returned to the United States, primarily to get Jeff into an English-speaking school. Richard pastored churches in York, Pennsylvania, and later in Brooksville, New Jersey. The family eventually moved to Florida where Richard went to work for Piper Aircraft and Page Avjet.Richard loved studying the word of God and, in his retirement years, wrote over thirty books about the unfolding revelations of God in human history. His son, Jeff, published these books one year after his father passed away.

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HOLY GROUND

Richard Govier

Copyright © 2019 by Jeff Govier

Bible quotations unless otherwise identified are taken from

the King James Version with emendations by the author.

Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible®,

Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995

by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

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After reading this book and finding it of value to you, please consider sending a small donation for the the costs of advertising my father's work. Send all donations either by Paypal account name [e-mail] or by mail to:

Jeff Govier, 5511 Lorraine St., Lakeland, FL 33810.

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Contents

Introduction

Bethel

Jerusalem

The Temple Site

Solomon's Temple

The Fall of the Temple at Jerusalem

The Davidic Covenant

The Temple in Transition

The Temple Made Without Hands

About the Author

Introduction

"In early religion a place or thing became sacred through the presence in it of a spirit or power: 'numeninest.' But when men began to build houses, when the house became the center of family life, the thought lay to hand that there must be a house for the deity to be the focus of his worship. So the temple arose, reared often on sacred spots or 'high places,' hallowed by immemorial associations. As the deity was supposed to be more intimately present in his temple, it often became a center of oracles and prophecy."[1]

1. A Sacred Place

Long before Moses met God at the burning bush there already existed the idea of sacred places and sacred objects. Entwined in the primitive mind of man was the idea that objects of great power such as the sun, the moon, and the stars were Gods - hence to be worshiped. Giant altars, such as the Ziggurat, were built for the purpose of offering sacrifices unto them. Sacrifice springs from a deep-rooted impulse of the religious nature of man. It played an important part in early religion, and is present in some form in all the higher religions. The purpose of sacrifice is to maintain and strengthen, or to restore, fellowship with divine power, and it takes a central place in the cultus.

2. A Sacred Priesthood

The priest is a man endowed with a special knowledge of the cultus, is possessed of ritual purity and embodies in his person the power of the sacred. At first priestly functions was not the exclusive privilege of a class. The head of the family, or the king as head of the people, offered sacrifice, so in the old Hebrew and Roman religions. But with the growing value attached to sacred functions there was the tendency to assign the priestly office to a particular class as in the Hebrew, Persian, and Hindu religions.[2]

The Hebrew religion was somewhat different from that of its contemporaries in that its worship was centered on an invisible God beyond the reach of the physical universe. If the Jewish historian Josephus is correct, their patriarch Abram left Ur of the Chaldees over this very issue. The Chaldeans