Notes from the Holy Land :: updated Monday evening 11/2/15

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Monday – 11/2/15

We awoke this morning early and watched the sun rise over the Dead Sea.   What a sight! I enjoyed reading the first 6 chapters of Joshua this morning for the simple fact that we are staying in Jericho. As I read of Joshua’s entrance into the city, I looked out the window and saw the path that they took all those thousands of years ago.  Joshua 4:19 tells us that they camped in Gilgal, on the east side of Jericho.  I can see it from my hotel room. 

What a story.  All that happened here in both the Old Testament and the new.  The city of Jericho was the location of many Bible stories.  Rahab the harlot, Joshua, Achan taking of the accursed thing, Elijah, the school of the prophets were nearby, Zacchaeus, the good Samaritan, and on and on we could go.  This city is now under the rule of the Palestinians and Israeli citizens are forbidden from coming into this city.

We ate a delicious breakfast and left for Engedi.  This was the mountain strongholds where David and his mighty men hid from Saul.  You cannot see it from the road. It is hidden back between two mountains. No wonder Saul couldn’t find him.  We took the trail up the mountain and it opened up into an amazing oasis with freshwater streams and waterfalls everywhere. What a perfect hideout!

We left Engedi and drove just a short ways down the Dead Sea to Masada, the site of an ancient mountain fortress built by Herod in 37 BC.  It was on top of a mountain that was flat on the top and housed one of Herod’s many palaces and a military stronghold. There were two ways to get up there.  One was by hiking up Snake Trail and the other was a cable car.  We took the cable car. 

This was the floor of the hot bath. Tiles were up on stilts, and the hot air would be pumped in to heat the floor and therefore produce hot water in the bathhouse. 

All this on top of this mountain!

This was where they kept the doves. This place is for the birds...

From the top we could see the Dead Sea and what a sight it was!  On the ground it is hot and dry, but up there it was cool and the breeze was unreal. This was also the site of a famous battle between the Jewish rebels and the Romans. You can read all about it here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masada  This was a real interesting place to see.

After we left there, we drove further down the Dead Sea to a place that has a separated beach – one for men and one for women. There is a long wooden wall that goes way out into the water to keep them separated.  Neat huh??

Brother Sasser had been telling me about the high salt and mineral content. The Dead Sea is so thick that nothing can live in it.  We took about a half hour and went in for a swim. It was not at all what I expected. The beach was so hard with mineral deposits that we had to wear shoes. I tried to go in barefoot, and it was so sharp I couldn’t handle it. The water is a beautiful azure green color and when I got in up to my waist, I sat back and floated like a cork. It was absolutely unbelievable. In fact, it is very difficult to stand up after you are floating; the water is so thick you couldn’t sink if you wanted to. It would be impossible to drown in that sea unless you floated face down. It’s a real experience.  The water burns your skin if you have any cuts or sores and is real oily.  You have to rinse off when you get out.  

It’s called the salt sea several times in the Bible. (Num. 34:12) The Dead Sea is the lowest place in the world. Really neat to see and absolutely beautiful. No wonder I felt like a “low down preacher” all day long…

We left the Dead Sea and drove back up to Jericho. The landscape scene was awesome. The high, rugged rocky mountains on one side, the green sea with white, salty, shoreline on the other.  The mountains of Jordan are in the distance on the other side of the Dead Sea.  

I took a few minutes to stop and ride a camel. I rode on one when I was a kid, but not on the shores of the Dead Sea. No. I just had to do it.  Brother Sasser was able to give each one of the kids that owned the camels some gospel tracts in Arabic. They were reading them as we drove away. Pray they are receptive to the truth!

We made our way on up to Jericho and visited the old city of Jericho. We can see it from our hotel balcony.  It is supposed to be the oldest city in the world. They had excavated all the way down to what they believe were the earliest known ruins anywhere. They said it was 9,000 BC, but it was probably more like 4 or 5,000 BC. Anyway, it was old. The bricks were made of mud and straw. You could see the layers of bricks and construction over thousands of years. You could see what the walls looked like when Joshua came and marched around them. I looked for Rahab’s scarlet thread to no avail.  Come to find out, Brother Sasser has it hanging in his office.  : )

After exploring Jericho, we got some fresh squeezed pomegranate juice on the sidewalk from a real nice guy, and then we drove through modern day Jericho.

  Remember. It is occupied by the Palestinians.  I was very nervous.  The PLO were walking around with machine guns, Muslim women and children walking around, Palestinian flags and mosques everywhere.  I was taking some videos and some men started shouting at us, so I quit. We were looking for the sycamore tree that Zacchaeus climbed up, but it was nowhere to be found. The Muslim call to prayer started and so we left.  

Enough adventure for one day. Time to get ready for the last day in the Holy Land. Tomorrow, Jerusalem. Praying for a safe trip and to be able to see everything.  There’s a lot of craziness going on down there right now.  A Jewish tour guide got hit with a fire bomb today right inside one of the safest areas.  So… We’ll be careful and will fly out tomorrow evening. I’m not sure I’ll get to update my blog before I get home. We will have to see.  If not, thanks for reading this and if you ever get a chance, you’ll have to come to Israel!!  Please keep praying for the Sasser family and the other missionaries here. This is a very difficult place to start a church.  But they need to hear the Gospel, so pray for those laboring here. 

Sunday - 11/1/15

My first Lord’s Day in Israel was without a doubt one I’ll never forget.  Brother Sasser and I enjoyed a day of fellowship around the Word as we were privileged to STAND ON and SEE what we were reading about in the Bible. The Scriptures have never been this alive and up close as it’s been for me this week.  It’s like reading your Bible in 3D, or 5D.  Let me illustrate. Imagine reading about a place, and while you're reading it, you can see it, smell it, hear it and people around you are speaking in Hebrew and Arabic. Yep. That's what I'm talking about! 

We were blessed today to visit what is believed by many to be the grave of the prophet Joel. It was literally a half mile from Brother Sasser’s house. 

We left there and began our journey to Jericho where we would spend the night. There are no churches here – NONE.  There are no Baptist churches anywhere in this region for a person to attend.  You would have to be a missionary on a foreign field to know what is like to wake up on Sunday with no church to go to. It’s incomprehensible to me how a person that is born again, saved by God’s grace could DELIBERATELY stay home from church.  That is beyond my comprehension.  We packed up and started south around the Sea of Galilee, through the Jordan Valley and preached, testified, taught and exhorted each other from the Scriptures. Our time together has been one of tremendous biblical enrichment and teaching. Brother Sasser is passionate about the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. His knowledge of Jewish manners, customs, culture and religious history is a result of years and years of intense study and research. We’ve enjoyed exploring passages of Scripture together as we drive many hours visiting these biblical sites.  What a blessing!

We drove through the Jordan Valley and passed town after town where Biblical events transpired.  As we would come upon the town or settlement, we’d look up the places in the Bible and read what happened and soak in the surroundings as we meditated on the text.

For example, we drove past Jericho and went down to the Jordan River.  Here was where Joshua and the children of Israel crossed.  The place between Jericho and the Jordan River is a place called Gilgal.  We stood on the Jordan River and could see modern day Jericho. And that is without the walls. The country of Jordan is just across the river, and you could throw a rock across it. It’s not that wide. We were able to picture them coming across and marching toward Jericho. Gilgal was also the place where Elisha lived when Naaman the Syrian came to be healed of leprosy.  Gilgal and the Jordan are mentioned in the first part of the chapter that tells about Elijah being caught up into heaven on a chariot of fire. We were able to read about these places STANDING there and seeing it. Sorry. I’m getting carried away.  Unbelievable.

Now you know why Naaman didn't want to dip in this river! 2 Kings 5:12

Oh. We also heard some military ordinances going off in the distance; not sure what. And I got my picture with some Israeli soldiers. Real nice guys, they were.  Whoever was shooting stuff wasn't shooting at us apparently. If they were, they missed.

We drove past the Dead Sea – yes – the Dead Sea, and drove up to Qumran.  Yea. That’s what I said.  Qumran? That is where they discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls back in 1949.  Some Bedouin shepherd boys were looking for a lost goat and inadvertently threw a rock up in to a cave. They heard something break. They went up to see, and found these huge jars full of ancient scrolls – this was like the greatest discovery since sliced bread. We got to see the encampment, as well as the cave where they were found. And yes. It is overlooking the Dead Sea. Neat huh?

We left there and drove past Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Jerusalem is on the schedule for Tuesday. I’ll have to admit though. Driving past those old city walls – awesome!  

Back to Bethlehem.  There are two sites where Jesus was born.  The place the Catholics says it was and built a church and are showing everybody, and the real place. According to the clues and information found in the Bible, they are both very close to each other.  But Brother Sasser took me to the place that some archaeologist think it was, and he does too, based on the biblical clues and information. Either way, it’s all right there together basically. The exact spot is indefinite, but the general area is pretty obvious. We parked and crawled through a fence to find the most awesome sight. Here’s some pictures of the hillside where the shepherds were when the angels appeared, as well as some pictures of the hillside with Bethlehem in the background. 

Next to this – literally a few hundred yards away, was an ancient well.  We don’t know if this was the well of Bethlehem that David’s men went to and got their leader the water he desired, but if this wasn’t it, it was close by. (II Sam. 23:15)  The neat thing is, they are still feeding livestock from this well. If this wasn’t the well, it would have been one just like this.

We left there and drove down to deliver some clothes and school supplies to a missionary family near the Valley of Elah. We enjoyed meeting them, and then drove just a mile or two down to see the site of the famous battle between David and Goliath – if you can call it a battle. To see the mountains and the valley and the brook where David got his smooth stones – this was a highlight of my trip. (Like highlight number 47!)  I was able to select some smooth stones to bring home with me.  I’ve got some giants that don’t know it, but their days are numbered!

The Israelites were camped on the left mountain, the Philistines on the right.

The dry brook bed where David got his smooth stones.

We left there and headed back up to Jericho and checked into our hotel. We got into our room and was able to watch the entire Sunday Morning service at Calvary Baptist on LiveStream. I was able to address the church via phone and that was a blessing. Brother Charlie Russell did an outstanding job preaching this morning.

After watching the service, we enjoyed a delicious evening meal in the hotel dining room. They even decorated our table with American flags! 

I will write more later.  I’ll have to admit. Seeing where John the Baptist baptized his converts, seeing the place that Naaman dipped and was healed, seeing Jericho, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Elam – all in one day, I’m suffering from information overload.  Ya’ll have got to come see this place.  It’s something else!

Saturday - 10/31/15

Early this morning we set out for the city of Nazareth.  There is a place there called the Nazareth Village.  It is an entire village set up in a replica of the Bible times.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was without a doubt a highlight of our visit.  We had a young Christian Arab woman that led us on a tour for over an hour and a half. What we saw and learned about both the Jewish manners and customs as well as the Bible verses and truths that correspond to their culture.  I loved every minute of it!

The olive press. My what a lesson we learned in this room!

Posing with Joseph the carpenter.  This display was fascinating.

The scrolls were kept in these jars, and the jars were kept in the back room closet. 

After the Nazareth Village, we had a delicious meal of shwarma. It is a huge pita mixed with a variety of meat and vegetables and sauces.  Wow.  Good stuff!  The shopkeeper was very gracious and took a gospel tract in Arabic and thanked us for it. 

Believe it or not, there are very few Jews in Nazareth.  It was also the Sabbath, so the Jews do not open their shops or travel on Saturday. The Sabbath actually starts at sundown on Friday. They roll the sidewalks up here on Friday night in the Jewish communities.  The close the gates and won’t let anybody drive in.  The town is a ghost town on Friday nights and Saturdays until sundown.  Very interesting to see.

After our lunch, we walked around a bit and I was thrilled to find a store with some beautiful souvenirs and the best part was the storekeeper and his sister spoke fluent English. We were also able to get a good Gospel witness into their hand.

We left Nazareth and drove out to the Mountains of Gilboa where Saul and Jonathan were killed fighting the Amalekites. (II Sam. 1:6)  Also at the foot of this mountain was the hometown of Gideon.  We visited the well of Harod found in Judges 7:1.  

Pretending to drink water like Gideon's men. 

This was the place where Gideon had the men drink water.  That water is still flowing from that cave at the foot of the mountain.  Across the valley we could see the mountain where the Midianites were gathered.  I’ve preached on those verses so many times, and to finally see it with my own eyes was surreal.  

The Mountains of Gilboa

The old winepress near the vineyards of Naboth.

The hometown of Gideon in the distance and the mountain on the left where the Midianites were camped. 

We drove just a couple of miles away to the place where Naboth’s vineyard was located.  It is also where Jezebel and Ahab’s palace was.  We could see the country of Jordan in the distance, and this was where Jeroboam and Ahab fought and Ahab was hit with the arrow.  All of that took place right in that area.  So much Bible in that one valley.  I couldn’t believe I was seeing it in 3D. 

We left there and drove to the place where the Philistines took the body of Saul after he died.  (I Sam. 31:8-11) That city was absolutely unreal. It was one of the most preserved sites in Israel, with remains dating all the way back to the Egyptians in 3,000 BC.  

The floor under the Turkish bathhouse. 

I'm standing next to the BASE of a column!

This is the cap for the column. These things were massive!

In the middle of Bethshan, today known as Bet  She’An is a high hill that used to be the temple of Ashtaroth.  This was where they nailed Saul and Jonathon’s body to the wall.  We climbed that hill.  From the top we could see miles and miles of the Jordan border glistening in the sunset. 

Below us was that impressive city that had been built and rebuilt by every ruling power from the Egyptians to the Romans.  It was completely covered until just a few years ago.  It was unreal. Bathhouses, theaters, altars, you name it – it was all there.  It would have taken days to see it all.

Here are the steps going up to a pagan altar.

We left there and made one last stop at the only coliseum of its kind in Israel. It has the doors for wild animals to come out and it has high walls for the spectators to be safe from the animals. This would have been built around the 3rd or 4th century. It is possible that Christians gave their life in this arena.  No way to know for sure, but it's highly possible considering the persecution of the early church during this time.

A panaromic shot of the arena. 

Bro. Sasser and I have spent literally hours together, going over Bible passages and feasting on the Word of God, all while seeing it right in front of us.  What an awesome time I’ve had!! I want to come back and bring everybody I know with me.  This place is unreal. Tomorrow we pack up and head to Jericho and Jerusalem for the last couple of days our trip. 

Friday – 10/30/15

We got an early start this morning. We were visiting the first site at 7:00 AM!  We visited an old Roman temple in the old city named Tel-Kadesh near Brother Sasser’s house. It was one of the Cities of Refuge. It was definitely off the beaten path, but it was very old and made a really neat scene that early in the morning. Notice the fog in the background. 

We left there and went to see an old Temple site (Omrit) built by Herod about 20 BC.  It was so far off the road we had to park and walk up through a cow pasture for 15 minutes to get to it.  It was absolutely amazing. The structure, the remains, the fresco paintings on the columns and walls were in unbelievable condition after 2,000 years. It is very possible that Jesus walked by this very temple. It would have been a huge and very important place in those days.  The road leading from Galilee to Caesarea Philippi would have passed right by there.  The excavation of this site has only been going on since 1999.  There is no doubt much more to be discovered. It is not even officially open to the public.  Which explains why we had to walk through mud puddles and climb through the fence to get to it. : )

We left there and went to the ancient city of Dan, also called Laish. It is found in Judges 18:7 and I have preached from this passage many times, so I was intrigued at the opportunity to see it.  My! How educational it was to see the walls built by King Jeroboam and later built again by King Ahab. They were enormous!

We walked through that ancient city and saw the altars that Jeroboam built and made sacrifices to the golden calves.  I Kings 12:28, 29  It was also where Ahab built a grove upon the high place.  The place was luxurious with fruit trees, fresh water streams everywhere.  It was a very neat place to see.

We left there and went to Caesarea Philippi and saw the ancient Temple of Pan which included a temple of Zeus and a Palace built by Herod Agrippa II.  Here they worshipped Pan, the goat god and offered up goat sacrifices.  They carved niches in the rock face of the wall for their idols and there were still Greek inscriptions on those walls, still eligible after nearly 2,000 years of exposure to the elements. Much of the palace was still there and we walked through it and saw amazing stone work and construction.

While walking through this place, we discovered a small shack with a man selling Turkish coffee. Since we had been walking all day, we both got a small, tiny cup.  Oh. My. Word. It was like 5 cups of expresso.  It tasted like crank case oil mixed with turpentine and kerosene, but it did the job. We were running wide open until well after dark. 

We left there and went to Nimrod’s Fortress, built by the Crusaders in around 1100 AD.  I’ve seen stuff like this in movies. Ahem. I meant to say films. But in real life it was absolutely unbelievable.

That is the fortress on top of that mountain. 

We stopped in a town called Masade and there was an open air market.  We walked through there and found a vendor selling every kind of nut and dried fruit you can imagine. Brother Sasser bought a big bag of salted pistachios.  We had a great time going down the road, eating nuts and spitting hulls out the window.  Now I know why my wife likes them so much. They were awesome! I almost said we acted like a couple of nuts, but that's not my style...

We left there and went up to the Golan Heights on the Syrian border. As a matter of fact, we got to see some U.N. Peacekeepers and could look over and see Damascus and the country of Syria. It was great. There was a sign there showing the distance to Washington D.C.  I felt like I was like - 11,000 kilometers from home.  

Yep. That's Syria on the other side of that green stretch about halfway up the picture. I forgot to mention that we saw Lebanon earlier in the day from the city of Dan. 

On the way down to the car we bumped into some folks from Pennsylvania. We had a family reunion right there on the Israeli-Syrian border!

We left there and went to Capernaum. On the way we stopped to see an Israeli tank.  Like a kid, I had to climb up on it.  I always wanted to be a “tank top”. Hmmmm…

We got to Capernaum and went in to see the old 4th century synagogue built on top of the foundation of the 1^st century synagogue that no doubt Jesus had went to. That was pretty neat, but there were hundreds of people there from all over the world.  We walked down to the Sea of Galilee and what a sight that was!

We left there and went to Migdal, also known as Magdala – the hometown of Mary Magdalene.  We were able to see an original “bema seat” found in the synagogue there. 

This city was only recently discovered right on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. They’ve dug it out and it is amazing. The mosaic tiles on the floor blew my mind. And to think that Jesus no doubt walked in that synagogue, as it was only about 3 miles from Capernaum.

We left there and went around the Sea of Galilee just a little ways to the place that most people believe Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. It was a natural “auditorium” on the hillside right on the shore of the sea.  It would have easily held thousands of people.  The backdrop was gorgeous.

Every night I’ve enjoyed reading my Bible and seeing all these places described in the Scripture.  I will never read my Bible the same way again. What an awesome trip so far.  It was also a blessing to see Bro. Sasser share the gospel with many people today.  Pray the gospel tracts will yield fruit one day in the darkened hearts of these precious people. 

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Thursday evening update :: 10/29/15

I awoke this morning to a glorious aroma.  To my surprise and delight, Brother Sasser had brought a bag of Dunkin Donuts coffee – just in case.  As we sat and sipped that heavenly nectar, we planned out our day.  We had several options, but with 80% chance of rain in the forecast, we decided to head in the opposite direction.  We first went to town and exchanged our rental car. The first one was a glorified go-kart.  And trust me. It lacked in glory. Bro. Sasser jokingly asked the man at the rental place if this car had come from the Gaza Strip. It looked like a war relic.  Smelt like one too.  I’m not one to complain, but being in a war zone is adventure enough.  I don’t need to be reminded of it with every breath I take. We upgraded to another more suitable car and was soon on our way.

We first went to a high mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee.  This mountain was called Mt. Arbel and is 1,140 feet above the sea. One of the neat things about having Bro. Sasser as my guide is all the really neat places he has taken me that none of the normal tour guides here will take you.  Many of the most awesome historical and biblical sites are not on the average tour.  For example, there are around 2,000 historical sites of interest in Israel, but only about 800 are open to the public.  Of those 800, many are ignored for the more popular biblical sites, mostly with a Catholic emphasis.  So Bro. Sasser has learned where the real good stuff is and so we’ve not had to contend with tourist or tour busses.  Many of the places we go has just been me and him – and I’ve loved it.  We’ve explored places that are thousands of years old, and enjoyed looking up Bible verses on our phones and reminding each other of all the neat stuff that happened here in the Bible days. It’s been amazing!

From the top of Mt. Arbel, we had a breathtaking view of the Sea of Galilee.  It is about 7 miles across and about 13 miles long. It is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, and the lowest freshwater lake in the world.  So many of Christ’s miracles took place on and around this lake – also known as the Sea of Tiberius, and Lake of Gennesaret.  Once we arrived at the top, we had to park and walk a pretty good ways to get to the vantage point.  The view from the top was outstanding.  We stood and took it all in, not noticing a huge rainstorm coming up behind us.  When we turned around, we realize that we’d left our umbrella’s in the car, and would quite possibly get caught in the downpour.  We started back to the car, and Bro. Sasser prayed for God to hold back the rain.  God was good to let us get to the car before the bottom fell out.  That is the second time that has happened in as many days. Thank you Lord!

(The pouring rain behind us!)

 We left Mt. Arbel and drove through the town of Tiberius to the site of ancient Tiberius. It was built in 20 AD, so that means it was constructed during the life of Christ. It was in ruins obviously, but they had excavated a huge portion of it and we were thrilled to see the walls, floors, theatre, etc. of a city 2,000 years old.  It rained a little bit, but not enough to prevent us from enjoying this historic site.

(see that rain that was following us??)

After that, we drove to the spot in the River Jordan where most people think that John the Baptist baptized Jesus. There’s really no way of knowing for sure, but it’s very likely.  This site was full of sight seers, many of them putting on robes and being baptized in the river.  I wonder if maybe I should have let Bro. John Sasser baptize me, so I could tell everybody I got baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist? I’ll have to pray about that…  Oh by the way, there were the biggest catfish I’ve ever seen in that Jordan River.  Hundreds of them.  Maybe we will go back…

After the Jordan River, we went to lunch and enjoyed some great food.  So far, the food here has been outstanding. Thank you Jesus!  I had asked Bro. Sasser about the demoniac of Gadarenes. That story in Mark 5 has always been a favorite of mine.  He asked me if I’d like to see the ancient city in the Gadarenes that the demoniac had more than likely lived in.  It is high up on a mountain with tombs all around the entrance. Mark 5 gives a lot of clues as to the whereabouts. I won’t get into it, but needless to say, I wanted to go see it.  We drove along the Sea of Galilee for a while then turned off and started up a mountain. We drove as far as we could and then had to walk the rest of the way on foot.  There were signs on the trail warning us not to get off of the path because of land mines left over from the war. That was pretty awesome. I stayed on the trail.

We discovered tombs and caves and lots of graves all around the entrance to the ancient city.  There are still a ton of ruins there, gates, walls, paved streets, millstones, pillars, steps, mosaic tile floors, etc. It was unbelievable.  And hardly anybody ever goes up there! It’s not on the tour guides’ radar at all.  The view of the Sea of Galilee from there was incredible. There were broken pieces of pottery and ancient relics lying everywhere. I couldn’t get over it.

(a panoramic view of the Sea of Galilee)

After leaving there, we stopped by the ancient city of Chorazin. This was the city Jesus referenced in Matthew 11:21.  It was the site of an old synagogue, built around 3 or 4 AD. There were a lot of really neat things to see there, including huge grinding mills, columns, old homes and even a replica of the “seat of Moses” that Jesus referred to in Matthew 23:2.  It was actually pretty cool. 

Throughout the day, it was a blessing to see Brother Sasser share the gospel with a number of people. For the most part, they are receptive to the tracts and the brief witness. Please pray that the lost souls of Israel might accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah and be saved.  Thanks for praying for us!


Wednesday, October 28

The hotel we stayed at in Jaffa (Joppa).

After a good night’s sleep, we got our day started about 5:00 this morning.  The hotel where we stayed served a breakfast of boiled eggs, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, cheese and toast.  There were also a variety of juices and jellies available. I had a mishap with the instant coffee. Apparently, I used regular coffee instead of the instant?  Not sure what happened, but it probably would have created an international incident if I'd drank it. Bro. Sasser advised me to start over. No problem. I did. Man. Where's a Dunkin Donuts when you need one?  After a hearty breakfast, we headed out for Caesarea. This city was an interesting place to tour.  I'm still pondering the fact that I ate cucumbers and olives for breakfast...

Learning the history behind this place was awesome.  So many Bible stories are centered around Caesarea.  It was a port city built by Herod. It was a major center of international commerce and travel.  We visited the ruins of the palace, the stadium, the chariot racing arena and so forth.  Last night we stayed in Jaffa (Joppa) where Peter had the vision of the unclean animals. This morning, we visited the city where Cornelius, a member of the Italian band lived. (Acts 10)  It was here that Peter came with the 10 men and preached the Gospel for the first time to an all Gentile audience.  This was also the city that Philip ended up in after he won the Ethiopian eunuch to the Lord. Philip, being an evangelist, discovered the perfect mission field in Caesarea; a place of multi-cultural presence on the shores of the Mediterranean. I wonder how many people got saved in this port city and went back to their hometown and spread the glorious gospel there??  I was actually amazed at how many different cultures and language groups were represented here today among the tourists.

We left the city and just outside were the remains of an old aqueduct system that started 20 miles away at the springs at Mt. Carmel.  It was built to supply fresh water to the city of Caesarea.  It was amazing!

We left there and went to Mt. Carmel.  There is now a Catholic monastery on the top of the mountain. The view was so awesome that I asked them about becoming a monk, but they wouldn't let me bring my wife. I told them they could have it!   We drove to the top, and as we did, I was wondering how Elijah got those 12 barrels of water (after 3 years of no rain) to the top of this mountain. From the top we had an amazing view of the Valley of Megiddo.  In the distance we could see several cities, including Jezreel, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. This was the same sea that Elijah’s servant was watching when he saw the cloud the size of man’s hand. (I Kings 18:44). By the way, after it started raining in I Kings 18:45, 46, the Bible says that Elijah ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. FYI - Jezreel is clear on the other side of the Valley of Megiddo! Below is a panoramic view of the Valley from the top of Mt. Carmel.   

After leaving Mt. Carmel, we went to an ancient site known as Tel Megiddo. This was the site of a number of ancient fortresses and palaces dating back to before King David and King Solomon’s time. Archeologists have found evidence of at least 22 different layers of civilizations. That’s as far back as 3,500 BC! It was abandoned in 586 BC and hasn’t been built on since.  Absolutely fascinating. Here are a few picture of the site, as well as the ruins of the horse stables that housed up to 150 horses. The stone troughs were so cool.

 We walked down 183 steps into an underground cistern for water and food in case of a siege. As we started back up, it was then that I realized how out of shape I was. Man. My legs were on fire. All I could think of was how ironic it would be for me to die in a hole built by my hero, King David. Not a good way to go. Fortunately, we made it back up to the car. 

We left Tel Megiddo and drove up to Beit Sheram. This was the site of some amazing underground tombs where some famous Rabbi’s have been buried.  We were able to see the “whited sepulcheres” that Jesus talked about. These very ornamental and fancy white boxes carved out of granite or marble or limestone are called a “sarcophagi” (the Greek word for FLESH EATER). The dead body is placed in there to decay.  Once it has decayed, they take the bones out and bury them in another place, usually with their family.  It took on a whole new meaning when Jesus told the Pharisees in Matthew 23:27  “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”

We left Beit Sheram and then stopped at a roadside vender and got some "laffa" for lunch. This is a native meal of a huge piece of flat bread like a tortilla smeared with goat cheese and a variety of unfamiliar spices. It was cooked on an outside fire pit. Here are a few pics. It tasted decent. I probably won't be ordering one anytime soon on Amazon, but it was pretty neat to try it. Still not sure what was on it... Glad I brought some gum. 

We headed to the Sasser's house after our pit stop. They live just on the other side of the Sea of Galilee in a town called Gush Kalav.  It was about an hour and a half drive and we enjoyed the fellowship and the beautiful drive.  When we arrived in town, we enjoyed a delicious supper with some friends of the Sasser’s. We had initially dropped in to grab a house key, but they insisted on feeding us. The meal was outstanding, followed with cookies and a small cup of Turkish coffee. Wow. I've been kicked by a horse that didn't pack the punch that little cup of coffee did. I'm already seeing that me and Israeli coffee need to come to some kind of an understanding. What is a man that orders his coffee with extra cream and extra sugar doing drinking Turkish coffee??  Man alive. 

After getting settled in at the Sasser's house, we made a quick trip to the grocery store to purchase some food.  The fruit selection is out of this world.  They had fruit that I haven't seen since we lived in Africa.  However, everything – I mean EVERYTHING - is in Hebrew. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll buy the wrong thing.  The employees speak very little English, if any.  The coffee milk and the chocolate milk look just alike. One just has more squiggly marks on the label. Here's the milk and cereal boxes. Glad they had pictures...

We look forward to a good night’s rest and we have an exciting day scheduled for tomorrow in Nazareth. Please keep us in prayer!

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Tuesday, October 27

After 39 years of being saved, and 23 years of preaching, I have finally arrived in the Holy Land!  I've been excited about the opportunity to come see first hand the country of Israel and walk where my Savior walked.  I was invited by one of our members, Brother John Sasser to accompany him and see where God has called them to labor.  I eagerly accepted his invitation and yesterday we arrived in Tel Aviv.  The flight was long and the seats were very uncomfortable. However, I'm sure it wasn't as long or uncomfortable as Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem - the place where our Savior was born. We landed about 2 PM, retrieved our luggage, then we rented a car and headed toward Joppa just a few miles away.

Joppa was where Jonah secured a ship in the opposite direction of where God had called him to go. It was also the place where Peter had the vision of the sheet and the "unclean" animals. (Acts 10). We stayed in a small hotel just a few blocks away from Simon the tanner's house. Just like Peter in Acts 10:10, Brother Sasser and I both became very hungry, and would have eaten. Neither one of us fell into a trance. We did however see some sheets, but they weren't that great. The two twin beds in our room were tiny. Since we didn't find any four footed beasts or wild beasts in our room, we went hunting for a place to eat and just a few blocks away was the Mediterranean Sea. The sun was setting in the West. It was beautiful!

After enjoying the beautiful scenery, we walked to a very cozy outdoor cafe and enjoyed some of the delicious salads and bread that this part of the country is known for. We saw several groups of young people that were getting their wedding pictures made. Not sure why so many were getting married on a Tuesday??... Keep in mind, Friday evening and Saturday is the Sabbath here, so there wouldn't be any weddings at that time.

In our efforts to try and get our body's to adjust to the new time (7 hours difference), we went to bed early. Tomorrow we will visit Capernaum.  Stay posted!