Beulah land

Well yesterday at 5:30 AM my wife and I touched back down in the United States; as predicted safe and sound from our trip to Israel. I would like to thank Ken Ross who during my absence sent out WFTD for me from the WFTD library where nearly two thousand old WFTD’s are stored on the WWW.Wordsfortheday.org website

I went into work yesterday and nearly everyone that I encountered wanted to know how my trip to the Holy Land went. Hmmm Life changing, awesome, wonderful, all come to mind. I will never be the same, I do know that, (and that is a good thing).

It was a harrowing experience. Echoes of gunfire rang out everywhere we went – Rat a tat tat, Rat a tat tat machine gun fire rang out; then a scud missile would wing its way in and explode narrowly missing blowing our bus sideways with the impact. Terrorists were blowing themselves up on every street corner; the smell of rotting flesh from those killed was nauseating.

Of course that is all hogwash. The foregoing sounds like the way the media would have covered our trip, (or perhaps the way Hillary would have remembered it); however I found Israel to be a very safe and peaceful place and it was just the opposite of being anywhere near dangerous. I found that the people there are very spiritually oriented and from what we saw mostly loved Americans and that even included the Palestinians that we encountered. I highly recommend that you go. We went with Templeton Tours and the cost was just $3200 per person which was all inclusive and included airfare, hotels, bus, three meals per day, everything, even tips.

We went practically everywhere imaginable. Israel is a tiny country about the size of New Jersey. It is just nine and a half miles wide in places and as the Bible predicts is surrounded by enemies in every direction. Two things keep their enemies from invading and that is the United States and their own formidable military forces; they also do have tight security as one might imagine. If it is safety you are worried about in not going, I urge you to go; we felt very safe the entire trip.

It is impossible to describe visiting Bethlehem, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, Tiberius, Capernaum, the Dead Sea, Jericho, Quram, etc. and of course Jerusalem. Likewise when my wife and I were re-baptized in the Jordan River in very near proximity to where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, (or perhaps even the very spot), it is hard to put into words the peaceful joyful feeling of how it felt to be immersed and then emerge from those waters. We sat on the exact same steps that Jesus stood on as He entered the Temple of the Mount and taught daily; on that very spot we conducted church service on Sunday morning. To gaze down at the valley of Megiddo and wonder about the blood that will be shed in the Battle of Armageddon in that last great battle and from that point observe the mountain where Jesus was transfigured is truly awe inspiring. To stand on the Mount of Olives and realize that is the very place where Jesus will place His feet and where He will descend from that hilltop and enter into the new temple and rule for one thousand years will make the hair stand on end on your neck.

We were fortunate enough to go with a very famous gospel singer, Squire Parsons, (author of the great song Beulah land), and his talented brothers Virgil and Tom and Jerry and Jan Goff who are equally famous gospel singers. That means that we were treated to some of the best music one could imagine on the bus and at the sites and at night when we gathered for our devotionals. Fifty two dedicated Christians including five fulltime pastors traveling the Holy Land worshipping and praising the Lord. Wow! What a small taste of what heaven will be like.

One thing I noticed in Israel is that everyone is spiritual. Not just Christians, but the Jewish people, and the Muslims; three religions claim this land and they all take their faith very seriously and their entire life and being revolves around it. No, unfortunately they are not all Christians, but they all take God very seriously and worship and their respective holy places are everything to them. What a contrast coming back to the United States. I told my wife this morning that I think that I know how Moses might have felt when he went up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments. When he came down off that mountain his face glowed so much from being in God’s presence that he literally had to wear a veil because anyone who looked at him after being in God’s presence would be blinded by his brightly shining face. As time wore on and he spent time away from God’s presence the light disappeared.

Although my face was never shining and I was not in God’s very presence on this trip, my spirit was brightly shining as it has never shined before during my lifetime. Imagine traveling with a mini-church of fifty two Christians complete with five preachers and a horde of gospel singers and worshipping and singing praises at sites where Jesus was born, grew up as a child, conducted his ministry, fed the multitudes, healed the blind and sick, and was crucified on our behalves literally from daylight until way past dark for two solid weeks. It was indeed Glorious!

Then I returned home to some frustrating problems at work, and last night turned on the television for a while and watched the disgusting news, and later unsuccessfully tried to find a television program that was not saturated with violence and filth on our television set. All I can say is Jesus come quickly!

Rev. 22:20
“Surely I am coming quickly.”