Fireballs Prevent the Third Temple?

Julianus Augustus was the Emperor of Rome from AD 361-363. History has branded him "Julian the Apostate" because after his uncle Constantine opened the door to Christianity in Rome, Julian worked hard to reverse these measures while he was the Emperor. Julian hated Christianity and wanted it erased from the face of the earth. Although he was raised as a Christian and was trained under leading Christian bishops, he wanted nothing to do with Christianity by the time he was 20.

As soon as he was Emperor, he started working to return Rome to her former paganism. He thought restoring Judaism might be a way to push Christianity out of Jerusalem, and to do the job right, he decided the Jewish people needed their temple again. He set out to have a 3rd temple built on the temple mount.

A pagan historian named Ammianus Marcellinus recorded the following:

"[Julianus Augustus] had entrusted the speedy performance of this work to Alypius of Antioch, who had once been vice-prefect of Britain. But, though this Alypius pushed the work on with vigor, aided by the governor of the province, terrifying balls of flame kept bursting forth near the foundations of the temple, and made the place inaccessible to the workmen, some of whom were burned to death; and since in this way the element persistently repelled them, the enterprise halted" (Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, XXIII.1).

The work on the temple ceased because of balls of bursting flames. Some of the workers were killed! And notice that this was not a one-time event. It was persistent. Thus, not even the Emperor of Rome could rebuild the temple.

Church history is fun.