Travel Biography - Week 51.

 An Issue to be Resolved.

Hint: For a close-up of the pictures, just click on them.

When I published last week's blog, a link went to my Facebook wall, Twitter, and usually two Facebook blogging groups. However, since I'm writing about the 1993 trip to the Middle East, I also submitted a link to a third blogging group specialising in Theology. With this one, it's the discretion of the administrator to either allow or refuse the link to be published. Happily, it was allowed through, and the link attracted up to fifteen comments and ten laughing emoji.

All the comments were about referring to this East Mediterranean territory as Palestine and not Israel. This has reminded me of the 1990s BBC Middle East Correspondent, Orla Guerin. Although a major national broadcaster such as the BBC is meant to be strictly neutral on all political, national and international affairs, Ms Guerin was biased in favour of the Palestinians, especially during the days of Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, or the PLO, in constant clashes with the Israeli Government.  

At Hebron, 1976, looking at the Fortress of Machpelah.

Section of the underground Cave of Machpelah.

In many ways, I understand the plight of the Palestinians. They had lived for centuries in what we call the Holy Land in relative peace. Then, since the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which initially allowed the Jews to return to their former homeland, the Arab Palestinians had always been up in arms. And who can blame them? And so, conflict after conflict erupts between the Jews and the Palestinians, with the climax of the 1967 Six-Day War, when the Jews brought back Jerusalem Old City with its Western Wall under its own national sovereignty after defeating the Egyptian, Jordanian, and Syrian forces. After more than 2,550 years of foreign rule since the conquest by the Babylonians in 586 BC, that victory by the Israelis was nothing short of a miracle.

And so, some 2,700 years earlier than the present, the Prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament of the Bible, asks whether a nation can be born in a day or come into existence at once.* Indeed, that would be impossible for the human mind to fathom. Yet, on May 14th, 1948, the British Mandate withdrew from Palestine, and on the same day, the sovereign State of Israel was declared. 

And so, that was the situation when I visited the Holy Land for the first time in 1976. I was a guest to a Palestinian family who lived in Silwan, south of Jerusalem Temple Mount, and within the Kidron Valley.

Scale model of the Second Temple, Holyland Hotel.

One of the venues I had the privilege to visit was the Fortress of the Patriarchs in Hebron, in the Palestinian Territory of West Bank. This structure was built by Herod the Great, who also embellished the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem shortly before the birth of Jesus Christ. With a Muslim guide (compulsory at the time) I was able to enter and saw for myself the Cenotaphs of Abraham and his family, namely his son Isaac and grandson Jacob (renamed Israel by God himself) and their wives, Serah, Rebekah, and Leah.

Indeed, Abraham's firstborn son Ishmael was held to be the father of the Arab race, and this is taught in Islamic mosques to this day. However, one detail I find interesting is that although the Hebrews up to and during New Testament times refer specifically to the Jews, actually, the name originally applied to the sons of Eber, on the line of Shem, and the fourth generation after Noah, and Abraham's ancestor. And if the earth was divided during the time of Eber's son Peleg, then it could be assumed that Eber lived before and during the Judgement of Babel and the ushering of different languages. If the name Eber is the root word for Hebrew, then it can be said that the Arabs too, were once Hebrews, even the descendants of Lot, Abraham's nephew, who fathered Moab and Ammon alike, whilst Jacob's brother, Esau, both the sons of Isaac, was the father of the Edomites.

Hence, what I call the Big Three of the Arab world, Moab, Ammon, and Edom, look to be still with us to this day and apparently, will be rescued by God from the threat of extinction sometime in the future, according to Bible prophecy.** But the word Palestinian, seems to have arisen from the Hebrew word defining the Philistines, the arch-enemy of Israel up to the time of King David.

The original Philistines were never Hebrews. Rather, they were the descendants of Casluh, the son of Mizraim, the father of the Egyptian race. Mizraim was one of the sons of Ham, Noah's youngest son. Abraham's firstborn son was Ishmael who, apparently intermarried with the Midianites,*** the descendants of Midian, one of the other sons of Abraham and of his concubine, Keturah.

There was never any divine law against intermarriage, except for the sons of Jacob. Little wonder that the Hebrew race eventually narrowed down to the Jews only. But buried in the Cave of Machpelah are the fathers and mothers of the nation Israel. And the massive enclosure stands as a sentinel to the rest of the world that this particular land was given to the sons of Jacob (renamed Israel) by divine decree. Hence, when the Jews began to pour into the land, on May 14, 1948, at least the western strip of the land was rightly called Israel.

Near the summit of Masada, on the Snake Path.

But having said that, I have no qualms against the Palestinians. Especially in 1976, I was treated well by them and I was offered hospitality for a payment. And that included a visit to the site of the Cave of Machpelah (a name meaning a double cave.) I had the privilege to enter the fortress built above the cave. But then, being such a neophyte and so uneducated, I thought that the inside of the fortress was the cave itself, and the cenotaphs the actual tombs. I knew nothing of the fact that the original cave was buried underground.

Yet, such an experience had opened a door to a wealth of knowledge of the land's history tied to the Bible. The more I realised the truth about the Cave and those buried in it, the more awestruck I felt. My realisation was that only the patriarchs of the nation of Israel were buried there, and no one representing any other nation, and furthermore, marked by a sentinel that survived intact the wars that followed over the centuries, eventually inspired me to re-visit the Holy Land 17 years later in 1993, with a far greater knowledge of its history and culture than I had in 1976.

Masada.

In 1993, I was based in Jerusalem, but this time spending my entire visit on my own, I didn't get around to revisiting Hebron until my 1994 trip. But I did return to Bethlehem and the Dead Sea. However, there were two sites I hadn't visited in 1976, but I did this time. This was En Gedi, near the west coast of the Dead Sea, and Masada, a 400-metre-high Herodian fortress built on the summit of what could be classed as a mesa. After an Egged Bus journey from Jerusalem Bus Station, I saw that on the east side of the mountain, a hiking trail known as the Snake Path winds its way to the summit from the entrance kiosk. What a hike I had! By the time I reached the top, I was feeling knackered but still in high spirits. From the summit, I had a magnificent view of the southern end of the Dead Sea. I spent the rest of the day examining the 2,000-year-old ruins, including a vast water cistern dug into the ground and still coated with a smooth, waterproof material. Not only did the cistern supply enough water for the whole summit community, but it also filled a mountaintop swimming pool.

An excavation on Masada, with the Dead Sea behind.

As the east side of the mesa was 400 metres high, the west side was 300 metres, as it rose from higher ground. A ramp, built by the Romans in AD 73 enabled the Roman troops to break into the summit fortress in their attempt to enslave the 967 Jews who took refuge there. However, instead, they found all but two women and five children still alive. The other 960 Jews either deliberately killed each other or committed suicide rather than submit to the Romans. Whilst at the summit, I saw the ramp in place, still intact. On the North side are the remains of Herod's palace, which offered a view of the Dead Sea. From Snake Path, I was able to see the outline of a Roman fortress, a derelict playing card on the Judean Desert, near the base of the mesa.

There were several other tourists there, mainly as part of an escorted tour group. But they didn't use the Snake Path to reach the summit. Rather, they took advantage of the cable car system that also connects the entrance gate to the summit. 

En Gedi.

One particular day, I took an Egged Bus to En Gedi which is on the route to Masada. I alighted at En Gedi, a nature reserve and spring resort on the side of a hill facing the Dead Sea. Just up the road was En Gedi Beach, on the west shore of the Dead Sea. On another day, I arrived here to bathe in the syrupy water of the salt lake.

En Gedi Nature Reserve.

Refreshing myself at an En Gedi Waterfall. Ahh!

But it was En Gedi that had impressed me more. It has a cave, the traditional site where David had to hide from King Saul's wrath, consumed by jealousy after his young rival defeated the giant Goliath, and won the heart of the nation. Nearby was a waterfall, its cool, freshwater cascades enabling a rich oasis to flourish in otherwise a Judean desert. A trail led out of the nature reserve to lead away across the desert, offering views of the Dead Sea below, then passing first a waterhole where several backpackers were sitting around and socialising. Further on, the trail continued south, towards Masada, and passing some ruins of what archaeologists believe was a 5,000-year-old Chalcolithic Temple. This was a suitable turn-around back to the nature reserve and finally to the bus back to Jerusalem.

At a desert Waterhole, En Gedi.

A Meeting at Christ Church Anglican, Jerusalem.

During my stay in Jerusalem, each of the two Sundays, I attended Christ Church Anglican, which is just inside Jaffa Gate and before the start of Souk David. In other words, a short walk from the hostel. The services were good and blended well with Middle Eastern culture.

Distant view of Chalcolithic Temple with the Dead Sea.

Detail of the Temple, 3,000 years BC.

There was a young British man who I became friends with. His surname was Jackson, and as we talked after the service, he began to encourage me about volunteering for the Israel Trust Of Anglican Churches. In Britain, the organisation was known as Christian Ministry to the Jews. Gradually, I became impressed with the idea of staying for longer than the two weeks I had already spent, and actually making a contribution towards the welfare of the State, whichever form that would take. He gave me some leaflets with whom to contact. By the time I was ready to fly back home, I felt a tinge of hope and excitement within. A volunteer in Israel? I wonder how I could turn that into reality?

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* Isaiah 66:8

** Daniel 11:41.

*** Judges 8:24.

Next Week: Preparing for the start of the 1994 Trip to Israel - with a big difference.

Travel Biography - Week 6.

Life in the Spihu household in Silwan, East Jerusalem, in the middle of 1976 wasn't much different to any western home. Daily life continued as usual. Ghanem attended high school, and Abed went out into the streets with a tray selling pottery (a task shared by his younger brother when not at school) whilst their uncle busied himself with some local maintenance, and his wife dealt with the housework, including cooking. One major difference between a Christian and secular home was during the Islamic call to prayer, Abed's uncle arrived home, crouched in the middle of the lounge floor and recited his Muslim prayers completely oblivious of my presence. 

Turkish Bath Visit.

It was on one evening that my host, Abed, along with a couple of his friends, decided to visit a Turkish bath located in the Old City, and I was invited to accompany them. After making our way along the Kidron Valley towards St Steven's Gate facing the Mount of Olives (where tradition holds as being near the site of the first Christian martyr, recorded in Acts 7) the four of us arrived at an insignificant-looking entrance along the souk and entered.

We sat in this beautiful ornate waiting room. The interior was furnished with a traditional eastern decor depicting Turkish culture. However, although impressed with my surroundings, I wasn't feeling 100%. I recognised the symptoms. I was aware that I had caught a bug, and I'm about to go down with a fever.

But this didn't deter me from wanting to try out this new experience. Back at home, I was already a sauna addict, and by trying out a traditional Turkish bath, I was able to compare one with the other.

Eventually, after a wait of around 30-45 minutes, we were allowed through into an antechamber where we all stripped naked. Then we went into a larger room with a steam fountain at one side, filling the chamber with steam but with little significant heat, thus, I rated the Turkish bath unfavourably with the Finnish sauna. Although I was longing to feel some heat, nevertheless, I could see how those three Arab young men were so familiar with the facility, just as I'm so familiar with the sauna back home, that what I felt was a lack of heat was normal for them. This was the real significance of Travel, to become acquainted, and possibly blend with their cultural habits I was, up till then, unaware of.

The Turkish Bath in Jerusalem looked a little like this.

After returning to the family home, I began to feel unwell. The next morning, I asked the lady of the house if she had a thermometer, and with it, she took my temperature and advised me to stay in bed for the rest of the day. Too bad there was no "quick fix" medicine such as Paracetamol, especially under the trade name of Neurofon or Beecham's Three-in-One. With such medication, by the end of the day, I would have been well on the road to recovery. Instead, I had to lay in bed for three days - such precious time in Israel forever lost. At least I was fed and nursed into full recovery by the morning of the fourth day after the Turkish bath experience.

Bethlehem.

Once recovered, I made my way alone to the Arab bus station to board a bus to Bethlehem. This bus station, on Nablus Road outside the Old City but close to the Damascus Gate, was noisy and chaotic when compared to the Egged Bus Station of Jewish management, about a mile away along Jaffa Road. At the Arab Bus station, salesmen were shouting as they presented their cheap merchandise on trays, adding to the noise and bustle. Even the bus drivers shouted as each called to each other as the bus pulled out.

Some distance outside Jerusalem, the bus halted at a checkpoint and we all had to show the inspector boarding the bus our passports. This was because we were leaving Israel proper and entering the West Bank of Palestine, where Bethlehem was located approx five miles south of Jerusalem Old City.

Having arrived at the small Arab town of Bethlehem, it didn't take long to find its main attraction, the Church of the Nativity. It was a huge structure with a very small entrance doorway. This was to force everyone to slow down and bow when entering.

I strolled through the ancient Eastern Orthodox chapel, fascinated by the coloured baubles hanging at the altar and elsewhere within the basilica. However, near the altar, a stairway led to the crypt. It's within this underground natural cave that I saw the 14-pronged star marking the exact site of the birth of Christ. This was the icon that Mr Chapman, our school deputy head, was telling us about (Week 4) nine years previously. As I knelt next to it, I thought about this ex-military officer taking a break from his Mandate duties and paying homage to this very icon. If only he foreknew back then that I had taken heed of his testimony. Indeed, he would have been impressed!

The 14 prongs radiating from the star were no accident or mere coincidence. Tradition says that they represent each of the 3x14 generations separating Jesus Christ from Abraham as recorded in Matthew's Gospel. They were the 14 from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the exile to Babylon, and 14 from Babylon to the birth of Christ. The 14 prongs also symbolise the 14 Stations of the Cross of the Catholic Catechism. Close by, a ledge marks the site of the Manger where the newborn was placed after birth.

The Cross of Christ.

In 1976, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Christian Quarter of the Old City was not accessible to the lone tourist without a guide. Therefore, whenever the church was open during the day, a group of young Muslim men stood in the forecourt just outside its doors. Whenever a tourist or even a couple approached to enter the edifice, the visitor was obliged to accompany the waiting guide and of course, pay his fee. The guide then escorted the tourist around the interior of the church.

This was very unlike my second visit in 1993 when large crowds piling in had eliminated such Muslim guides, but the near-overcrowding, including a long queue to the sepulchre, made the whole experience far more "touristy" than a pilgrimage. I find it amazing, perhaps rather shocking, that the rise of tourism over just seventeen years could dramatically change the atmosphere within, transforming a site for prayer and meditation into little more than a museum.

But going back to 1976, Ghanem offered to accompany me to the church. As we approached the doors, there rose an argument between Ghanem and one of the guides standing outside. No doubt, to the latter, there was a visitor who will not hand over the much-needed payment that would have placed food on his table. No wonder the door guide was irate! But my own personal escort won the argument and the two of us then entered the church that was empty of people except for an occasional clergyman.

The 14-pronged Star of Bethlehem. Stock photo.

After a tour around, the climax came as I stood with trembling excitement at the very spot where the Cross of Christ stood, which was marked by a lifesize crucifix with the image of Jesus hanging upon it. To get to it, a short flight of steps at each end of a raised platform seem to confirm the truth in the hymn we all sang at school under Mr Chapman's directorship, that there is a green hill far away outside the city walls. There, our Lord was crucified, he died to save us all. Only that there were no green hills of English landscape model around the Jerusalem area. Rather, the whole desert landscape on which the city was built was more of a golden brown, so well attested by the neighbouring Mount of Olives.

The Sepulchre itself, just a few metres away from the site of the Crucifixion, was represented by a small white building within the main church apse. Back then in 1976, it was inaccessible to the public, but when my wife Alex and I visited in the year 2000, all we saw inside was a solid marble ledge at one side within a tiny marble room.

The Sherut to Hebron.

Abed, with the agreement of his uncle, showed me the sherut, a communal taxi that takes up from six to eight passengers, each paying his share of the fee. Unlike the conventional taxi which takes the sole passenger to his chosen destination, each sherut is destined for each particular destination, very much like a bus or train service. The one Abed was leading me to, parked in a specially assigned sherut bay in East Jerusalem, was destined for Hebron. Except that instead of paying his own share of the taxi fare, I had to pay for him as well as for myself. But it wasn't too expensive. Indeed, this trip will prove to be an enlightening experience.

Abed and I arrived at Hebron, and we found ourselves standing outside what looks to be a Roman fortress. As we approached, I saw several Orthodox Jews milling around. On their foreheads, they had a black wooden or leather cube tied around their heads. I have seen these whilst walking through the souks of the Old City. When such Jews passed by, I thought, Wow! Pharisees! Did they really look like this?

The little black box is known as Phylactery, and Jesus mentions these in the Gospels. These little boxes contain portions of the Scriptures, and devoted Jews wear them during times of prayer and as a reminder of God's requirement to keep his laws. It was from an instruction taken from Exodus 13:16, but by Jesus' day, the motive for wearing them was to show others of their devotion to God.

As we approached the building, we realised that headwear was mandatory when entering the building. Since this site does not offer free Yamaka or Kippah as the Western Wall does, we had no choice but to buy a hat. This time, Abed bought his own headwear and I bought mine.

We entered the fortress. This, so I was told, was the burial site of three Hebrew patriarchs and their wives. They were Abraham and his wife Sarah, Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and Jacob and his wife Leah. All were buried in the Cave of Machpelah. Around me were what I thought were coffins, and I mistakenly believed that I was standing in the cave. In fact, I was standing inside the building itself, and what I was looking at were not the coffins, but the cenotaphs of the patriarchs. The cave itself, as I found out years later, was under the floor of the fortress, sealed and of no access for the public or clergyman alike.

If I were to say that the survival of the whole of mankind rests with the existence of this cave, would I be exaggerating? Would I be talking any sense? According to the Prophet Jeremiah in the Old Testament of the Bible, he wrote that if we humans can reach the foundation (the core) of the earth, count all the stars in the sky or stop the night following the day, then God will break his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for all the sins committed by Israel.

The sheer impossibility for us humans to override God's universal creation speaks for itself. As long as God's covenant with the Jews stands, the whole of mankind will never be obliterated! The fortress itself stands as a testimony to this and other promises. It was completed by Herod the Great a few years before the birth of Christ, and having survived the Roman onslaught of AD 70 which razed Jerusalem and its Second Temple to the ground, the fortress of Machpelah survives intact to this day and it's used as a centre of both Jewish and Islamic worship.

Aerial view of the Fortress at Hebron.

The fortress also acts as a sentinel standing as a witness that the land on which it's built belongs to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the latter who was renamed Israel, a name meaning, Striving with God, and itself an anagram of- 

Isaac,  

Sarah, 

Rebekah, 

Abraham, 

Elohim, 

Leah.

The name also means that God (Elohim) is in the midst of his people and also has a special compassion for Leah, who felt unloved by her own husband Jacob. Thus, the six bodies buried in the cave under the floor of the fortress spell Israel.

But all this I learned since then and not back then. Rather, as Abed stood around, I took in the interior of the fortress, with a mistaken belief that I was standing within the Cave of Machpelah and the cenotaphs around me were actual coffins. In those days I was so naive, such a spiritually young fresher of this fascinating faith and the historical truth of the Bible, and probably aware that I have a long, long way to go.

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NEXT WEEK: Solo backpacking continues to the Sea of Galilee.

A Wise Exhortation

Just two weeks before Christmas I attended a Sunday nuptial of the daughter of a long-standing friend of mine who is also my accountant. Being a Sunday wedding, it commenced within an hour after the end of our normal church service, at our own church building approximately two miles from the spacious Ascot Racecourse restaurant where we meet each week, hence necessitating a cycle ride between the two venues, as I don't hold a driving licence. Thus, as I sat next to a smartly dressed, lordly-looking elderly couple, I surveyed the fully-packed sanctuary, and saw that I was one of just three adult men who wasn't wearing a tie, and by the looks of it, the only one not wearing a suit either. 

It wasn't so much an act of rebellion against stuffy English custom as suffering an unpleasant sense of neck constraint whilst cycling and creating body heat and eventual opening of the sweat pores. Well at least nobody, as far as I was aware of, looked on me with a condescending countenance. As I sat there, perhaps with a feeling of being out-of-place at such a formal occasion, I made an effort of introducing myself to the elderly stranger I was sitting next to, his halitosis testing my own stoicism not to screw up my face in repulsion. As I waited for the bride to be escorted into the church by her father, I was pondering on how the wife of this gentleman sitting next to me can share his bed each night in each other's arms without being put off by such bad breath.

The ceremony itself went smoothly according to plan. Then, after the address was delivered by a graduate of Royal Holloway College, an annexe of London University, it was time for anyone in the congregation to deliver a prayer, a prophecy or anything God has laid on his heart for edification to the newly-weds. This was the moment I felt a strong urge building within me, and had I restrained myself out of politeness or some other English etiquette, I would have felt deep regret over a missed opportunity.

Without standing up so not to attract visual attention, I warned the nuptials that after their honeymoon is over and they have returned to the real world, in addition to enjoying good things, their marriage will be tested to the limit, but  their ability to overcome and become victorious depends on how much they are committed to each other and to God. So by addressing the groom by name, I exhorted him to love his wife with 100% of heart, and then encouraged her to be submitted to him as head of the household, just as Christ is the head of the church. Then I encouraged them to read the Bible every day. Because it is through daily reading of the Bible is where victory in a robust marriage has its roots. Then I wished them God's blessing of a successful marriage.

Perhaps I should have added that there are strong opposing forces in the air which would give their hardest to break up their marriage, a truth which would have opened further encouragement to put on the armour of God, as Paul had instructed the church in Ephesus (6:10-18). I needn't have worried. There were a number of other guests who approached me after the service in commendation for the exhortation, indicating that it must have carried some punch. Rather than to give in to temptation to feel proud, I acknowledged the power and the grace of God to speak through me when he could have easily chosen somebody else - someone who was more appropriately dressed for the occasion.

Indeed, God chose me out of undeserving grace, but I could ask why I was chosen, and how was it that my exhortation carried such a punch. It does not take rocket science to answer that one. It was out of experience of my own marriage to Alex for nearly two decades. Adverse forces in the air could have destroyed our marriage some twelve years earlier. That was when I was given a choice by a social worker that I could raise my two daughters on condition that I separate from my wife. I had refused to separate, having stuck to the vows we made before God and to the congregation in the very same church at our nuptials. All these dreadful events were due to the assumption made by our child supporter that Alex was not up for parenting due to her being on the mild autism spectrum, as I am too. This is why I have a long-standing hunch against the self-confident, well-educated professional. They have the legal power to destroy a family, and if they see fit, they can obtain a Court order. As it was, the Social Worker responsible was incredibly arrogant, self confident, even patriotic, as well as downright nasty, yet she was still unable to discern our autism despite her university degree and training. As a result, I was very reluctant to respond and even on one occasion ordered her out of the house.

My raging anger towards that professional career-girl lingered for months afterwards as I was wallowing in shame as I watched Alex occasionally break down into tears. It took several years before finally forgiving her in my heart. But before then there was one thing that I would never let go, and that was having faith in God. And this faith in God was sustained by daily Bible reading, normally after breakfast whilst still in bed. This became the bedrock for a robust and healthy marriage between us after the loss of our two daughters. 

Daily reading of the Holy Scriptures. Like the noble Bereans checking their Scriptures to verify what Paul was preaching concerning the crucified Jesus of Nazareth being the risen Christ (Acts 17:11). Perhaps the Bereans missed out on having devotionals such as Every Day with Jesus, or something similar. I am aware that there are many Christians who start their day with one of these, designed I believe, to cover the whole year. But as I see it, these devotionals hinder proper reading of the Bible rather than promote it. Just the other day someone has shown me a very similar devotional. On each page was just one verse of Scripture confined to a small box whilst the rest of the page carried the author's commentary on the verse together with a suggested prayer. To me, that is not allowing the Word of God to dwell in me richly (Colossians 3:16) - in order to build the big picture from which each verse is just a single piece of the jigsaw puzzle. As an example, the one who had shown me the devotional, even being a Christian after many years, wasn't even properly acquainted with the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, one of the most life-changing passages in the entire Bible. 

This makes me very sad, as I'm very fond of this individual, and I want the best for him. As for me, reading a whole chapter every morning before rising is unbeatable. Pure Bible reading unhinged by anyone else's commentary, remarks or exhortations. Just allowing Scripture to speak for itself. Usually it's selecting a book from either the Old or the New Testament and reading a chapter of it each day. But lately, I have decided to read the entire Bible from cover to cover by reading a chapter each day. This is to ensure that on the day I depart, not a single tittle or iota remains unread. So far, starting at Genesis 1:1, I have at present arrived at the 3rd chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans, after thoroughly enjoying reading the Acts of the Apostles.

I can testify that thorough Bible reading has given me strength and hope for what the future holds for us, especially as the UK is about to leave the European Union, as discussed in my last post. Having faith in God is diametrically opposed to the unholy triplet of pride, self-confidence and optimism, which I have seen and read about thriving in the hearts of many who have voted to leave the E.U. - the key issue here being the word self. Trusting in ourselves on the national level to reach, so to speak, to the heavens, just as the builders of the Tower of Babel did a long time ago - instead of trusting in the love, grace, and the mercy of God. Allowing the Word of God to dwell in us richly, so I have found, has given me a level of hope for the future, it has taken away all anxieties over our daughters, committing them into God's care as hoping that their adopted parents raises them up in a godly manner. It has strengthened our own marriage, and furthermore - constant reading of the Bible has literally raised my intelligence quotient, opening new sources of knowledge where my younger days amidst school-tie culture had so miserably failed. Subjects such as history - both ancient and recent, biology - particularly the genome, and geology - particularly covering volcanism and sedimentary strata, all becoming very relevant to me after getting to know the Bible.

My fascination with God's commitment to one particular city, that of Jerusalem, the Cup of Trembling for all the nations of the world (Zechariah 12:1-3) - has given me several opportunities to not only visit but to have a taste of living in the heart of the city where God has put his Name there forever - was borne out of devoted reading and getting acquainted with the Bible. It has also raised a golden opportunity to fulfil my wife's dream to visit the city for herself whilst up to four months pregnant with our first daughter. Getting acquainted with the Bible has made me come to realise the significance of Jerusalem in the way God sees it, by comparison with much bigger cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York - all three built on the coastline, or London, Paris and Berlin, all built on major rivers. Jerusalem is neither on the coast nor on a river. Originally it was a walled settlement no larger than a modern city square at the time it was conquered from the Jebusites by King David, and has become the capital of Israel ever since. It is to this city where Jesus will one day return to reign on his father David's throne.

Reading the Bible has made me have a deep respect for the Jew and the nation of Israel. As for one, I would not take kindly to anyone who speaks against the Jewish people, whether it is to tease them or to deny the reality of the Holocaust. Neither would I allow anyone to hint that the Jews are racially inferior to non-Jews living in the West, like Adolf Hitler did in the past, or for the English Far-Right groups do at present - without a challenge. While getting to know the Bible, it didn't take me long to realise that the Jewish people were - and still are - and always will be, God's people chosen from the nations whose homeland is in Israel, with the fortress at Hebron marking the site of the Cave of Machpelah bearing witness to this as an everlasting sentinel. It is in this underground cave where Abraham and his wife Sarah; Abraham's son Isaac and his wife Rebekah; and Isaac's son Jacob and his wife Leah; were all buried there. The most significant about these six people is that they were the founding families of the nation of Israel, with even the Hebrew name YISRAEL being the acronym of their initials (except the initial E for Elohim, a name for God himself, indicating that God dwells in the midst of his people, and also making a total of seven letters - seven being God's number). As the Bible itself had prophesied a long time ago that the Jews will be scattered globally for nearly two millennia, (e.g. Deuteronomy 28:64-68) - this fortress, built by Herod the Great and completed in 6 BC, has stood as a permanent sentinel ever since, testifying to the historicity of the Bible.

Also becoming familiar with Holy Scripture has helped me understand not only the attributes of God himself, but also to take a position on various theological issues. For example, unless I know the Bible well enough, I could never stand up to the arguments the Jehovah's Witnesses would put up against the truth of the Trinity at my front door. Or for that matter, my advocating of Once Saved Always Saved would never stand to see the light of day unless of my familiarity with fulfilled Old Testament prophecy enabling me to see the omniscience of God.

There is everything to gain from daily reading of the Bible, and absolutely nothing to lose, not even precious time if you have overslept or in a hurry to go out. According to my own experience, a daily reading has never disrupted my day's schedule.

This is my exhortation to all readers for the start of the year. Make it a habit to read the Bible each day. It is more beneficial to the soul than any medication can give.

One Tangible Proof That God Exists...

During the reign of the Russian leader Peter the Great, an aged preacher was imprisoned for his testimony of Jesus Christ. When the Czar called him for questioning, the elderly saint was asked:
"Can you show me one tangible proof to verify the truth of the Bible?"
"Yes sire, the Jew."

Since I was converted to Christ in 1973 (then aged 20) God has blessed me with the wonderful privilege to travel several times around Israel as a backpacker, my favourite way to get about overseas. One of the most striking locations I ever stayed was at a small backpackers hostel, set in a Medieval building in the Old City of Jerusalem, the capital of Israel since 1980.

The Western Wall, Jerusalem, taken in 1994.

The sovereign nation of Israel is one astonishing miracle. The last time this nation had its own sovereignty was before King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon razed Jerusalem to the ground in 586 BC. Since that fateful day, Israel as a self-governing nation did not exist until May 14th, AD 1948.

During the long, 2,600 year interval, most of the Jews remained in the land where they were taken to during the original captivity, thus known as the Diaspora. Although the majority of Jews still live outside their original homeland, with the USA still holding the largest proportion of Jews outside the Holy Land, nevertheless, from 1948, Israel's population has swelled to more than 7,600,000 at present.

Yet, long before Moses was even born, while the fledgling nation had just settled in Egypt, there stood a silent witness, the Cave of Machpelah, close to the Palestinian town of Hebron. It holds the remains of just six people: Yacob, better known as Israel to us, Isaac, Sarah, Rebekah, Abraham, whom Elohim called from the land of Ur, and Leah. Here I have arranged the names with each initial letter in bold in such a way that each letter spell the name Yisrael. Therefore, within the cave of Machpelah, six people were buried. They were three couples, chosen by God to be the literal biological founders of the people of Israel. And this tells us something important about this nation, which is that God (Elohim) is in the midst of his people, and God is still the God of Israel to this day. Furthermore, just before Jesus was born, a large building was constructed by Herod the Great by 4BC. It served as a synagogue, a church and at present, a mosque. Today, this structure is known as the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

The Tomb of the Patriarchs

This very structure was most likely a familiar feature visited by the Holy Family (Joseph, Mary, young Jesus and his siblings) to pay respects to their ancestors, just as King David did a thousand years earlier, when he chose Hebron as the seat of his reign for the first seven years before he took the Jebusite city of Jerusalem.

When Roman General Titus razed Jerusalem to the ground in AD 70, the majority of the Jews were dispersed around the known world. Others were sold as slaves. The Holy Land became desolate, particularly Jerusalem. Yet as the Jews were scattered across the globe for rejecting their Messiah, the Tomb of the Patriarchs remained intact, having survived the Roman invasion under General Titus. For the next 1,878 years, the Tomb stood as a silent sentinel bearing witness that this land belonged to the Jews. It stood despite the would-be natural tendency for the Jews to intermarry and forever lose their identity.

But throughout the millenia the Jews retained their identity. Some say it might have been due to their traditions. But surely, can traditions alone be the sole binding force? The ancient Babylonians, Persians, Medes and other ancient societies all had their own traditions, but that was not enough to prevent eventual intermarriages and the resulting amalgamation into what are modern Arabs to this day. And America today is the melting pot for English, Irish, Polish, Spanish, Italian and other European nationalities who first settled there just a few generations ago. Yet the Jews remain uniquely a distinct people.

And Biblical prophecies regarding the future of Israel as a nation ruled by its Messiah-King remain standing. Even throughout the dispersion, the Jews knew from their own Scriptures that there will come a day when the whole nation will be back in its own homeland, and the Son of David will reign over them. It is something many Jews still aspire to this day.

The building of the Dome of the Rock mosque on the exact site of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem during the 6th Century AD, was not done because Mohammad decided that Jerusalem was a holy city to Muslims. Rather it was done to stop the Jews returning to their homeland and rebuild their Temple - something which the Bible prophets insist that one day this would happen. As simple as this: as long as the Jewish Temple remains un-built, the Messiah cannot return, for, according to the Prophet Ezekiel, the Messiah will have his throne there. And so the area remains "safe" as long as the Jews remain dispersed around the world.

But in 1914 the Great War broke out. It was during this war when one Jew, Chaim Weizmann, invented a bomb which would turn events in favour of British victory against the Germans. For a reward from the British Government, Weizmann rejected personal riches in favour of the Jews returning to their original homeland of Palestine as their Zionist aspirations. On November 2nd, 1917, Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour drew up his Declaration to the leader of the British Jewish Community, Baron Walter Rothchild, to allow the Jews to settle in their own land. By 1937, there were 430,000 Jews in Palestine.

While the population in Palestine was growing, Adolf Hitler and his German Nazi Party brought on the Second World War in 1939 and with it, the Holocaust, as mentioned in my last blog. The desperate attempts to annihilate the Jews to solve what he called, "The Jewish problem" was astonishing! As mentioned in my last blog, it was an act of Social Darwinism which violently defiled every concept of mankind reaching greater civilisation by means of greater education.

Although the British Government, under Prime Minister A. Neville Chamberlain, reneged on the 1917 Balfour Declaration in 1939 in favour of Arab control and rule, most likely in keeping trade with the Arab oil supply running smoothly, this did not stop the formation of Israel as a sovereign nation on May 14th, 1948, three years after the end of the War in 1945. The 1939 White Paper, as it was called, temporarily stopped the flow of Jewish immigrants into Palestine, their homeland given by God to their father Abraham. The majority were refused entry into their ancient homeland by the British, and were sent back on ships to Germany and Poland to be ruthlessly killed in the Holocaust. Personally, I believe that this dreadful breach of the 1917 Declaration not only ended the British Mandate over Palestine, but it was also the cause of the loss of the British Empire. If this is true, and I have no doubt that it is, then every national leader around the world should heed the warning of the danger in tampering with the fate of the Jews, God's Covenant people.

Today, Israel is a thriving nation, despite its threatened destruction by the Arab nations around her. After becoming a nation in 1948, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and the Arab world in general, wanted to push Israel into the sea. Even the U.S.S.R. sided with the Arabs against Israel by supplying arms to the Arab nations. The young Jewish nation had to keep constantly on its guard. Then on the 2nd June 1967, the Six Day War broke out with Egypt, Jordan and Syria launching an all out attack against the Jews, yet the Jews winning an astonishing victory against them on the 8th June, six days later, and for the first time for nearly two millennia, the Jews took possession of the Western Wall, as well as winning the Golan Heights, a strategic vantage point for the Syrian military. With such a tiny nation winning a war against three much bigger nations can be only described as a miracle, a special protection by God's grace based on His promise made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel).

For years to come after the Six Day War, Israel continued to suffer under the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, or the PLO, led by the late Yasser Arafat. Although later in his life, Arafat attempted to settle the issue using diplomatic efforts to offer peace to the Israelis for exchange of various Israeli territories such as handing back the Golan heights to Syria, his real intention was always to destroy Israel. Today, after Arafat's death in November 2004, Israel's main source of bother seem to be from the Hamas, in the Gaza Strip.

I titled my last blog The Snake Is Still Talking... It was about Social Darwinism being the concept of the snake of Genesis 3. The existence of Israel as a nation against all odds is not only a miracle from God, but also a major rebuke to Darwin's evolution. Contrary to the analogy of the dark and light coloured mice, tiny Israel withstood the onslaught of a group of much bigger and stronger nations, even against the Soviet Union, considered to be one of the major world powers. According to Darwinism, there is absolutely no hope of Israel surviving as a nation to this day. But the fact it does demonstrates the power and the grace of Almighty God and his keeping of this promises. And such promises should be a source of encouragement for all Christians. If God had not forsaken Israel, he will not forsake you, the true believer in Christ.

The snake is terrified of the Messiah's return. The Second coming of Christ will forever put an end to the snake's power. The snake has shown his anger, and as long as Israel exist, he will continue to be angry. The fact that it took two world wars to bring the Jews back home, together with Hitler's holocaust, the hostility of the Arab nations, along with the blocking of the Temple being constructed for the past 1,400 years - all shows the snake's displeasure in the thought of Jesus Christ reigning over Israel from Jerusalem. It would mean the end of his power.

The Bible predicts the future Battle of Armageddon. This is where the snake will make his final attempt to stop the Jewish Messiah to return to take the throne of his father David. It will be about the ownership of the city of Jerusalem. The intention of the hostile forces is to take the city from the Jews. But because forces from all nations of the world will be involved, before the battle against Israel gets underway, a dispute among their leaders apparently will arise, concerning on who will own the city afterwards. This disagreement will cause the forces to start in-fighting among themselves to their own destruction.

What a terrible, terrible shame! Every one of those soldiers could have instead, be sitting in the Kingdom of God, lavishing in the love their Saviour have for them, for all eternity. Instead they sided with the snake and accepted his offer of maggot-ridden apples of high social status, prestige, wealth and education.

Because of God's promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob cannot be broken, your salvation is equally sure, your eternal security.

A Stone Bible - a Revelation at Coral Reef!

Just a couple of weeks ago hoteliers Mr and Mrs Bull lost their Court case when they refused to offer a room with double bed for two Gay men to spend the night. Such activity flew in the face of the couple's Christian conviction based on their knowledge of the Bible on this matter. The Bulls had to fork out compensation to the offended would-be guests, such a payment could have threatened to put their hotel business into jeopardy. A victory for the two men against discrimination - a defeat for Christian beliefs held by the hosts. After all, although this is supposed to be a "Christian Country" the Christian faith has little or no relevance, unlike in countries such as Saudi Arabia where the two men would have been executed for breaching the Islamic faith.
After all, not that I have anything against Gay men. But rather than bring the hoteliers to court, why didn't they move on to another hotel? I believe that at an area such as Cornwall, a Gay-friendly hotel might not have been too difficult to find.
Then only last night I was browsing Twitter and came across a link to Richard Dawkins giving a lecture to an audience at the Sydney Opera House. He was debunking the Biblical story of Noah's Ark, and accusing more than 40% of all Americans for believing this story as historical. As Sam Harris quoted in his book, Letter To A Christian Nation,
"Indeed, I am painfully aware that (the USA) now appears...like a lumbering, bellicose, dim-witted giant."
These three atheists: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens had all written books ridiculing the Christian faith in the name of Science. To them, Jesus Christ is no longer the Messiah. He had been replaced by a new messiah - Charles Darwin.
So now we live in an age of growing unbelief  against one of the three monotheistic religions - the Christian faith (the other two being Judaism and Islam) and this seem to reflect in the favouritism for the Palestinians in the Middle East crisis against Israel. The BBC's Middle East correspondent, Orla Gearing, certainly left us with no doubt whose side she was on. While Israel was struggling to establish a stable nation since 1948, when it gained its own sovereignty after the withdrawal of the British Mandate, the likes of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) was committed to "push Israel into the Sea" particularly under the radical leadership of the late Yasser Arafat, who held no other concessions, despite his so called "Peace Plans" in order to temporarily disguise his real intention - which was to gain control of Israeli territory until that nation was vulnerable enough for an all-out attack.
Gearing portrayed the Palestinians as the victim of Israeli aggression, attempting us to sympathise for the Palestinians.
And yet while all this was going on, standing quietly just outside the town of Hebron is the massive stone wall of a building sitting over the underground Cave of Machpelah.
I like to call this structure, The Stone Bible because if ever there was tangible proof of the veracity of the Bible, I think I would place this near the top if not at the top.

Courtesy of http://www.holylandphotos.org/

I visited this building in 1976 along with an Arab friend I made while backpacking Israel. I recall several Jews milling about, at the entrance, a couple of them dressed in garb which would strike familiarity with the Pharisees at the time of Christ.
The building was constructed by Herod the Great between the years 31 to 4 BC. It began as a roofless structure, open to the sky before it was roofed over later in its history. It served as a synagogue, a Christian church and a mosque. It sits over an underground tunnel with its main entrance sealed by the foundation brickwork of the outer wall of the structure. Inside the building, a small upper entrance through the tunnel ceiling is also sealed off and covered by a canopy.

Diagram of underground tunnel and the double caves of Machpelah. To study this illustration fully, I recommend turning the zoom level to 150% or higher.

The Jews considered these caves as a holy site as early as 1,000 BC which is about the time of King David. Rumours say that the original caves were sealed long before then. The Cave(s) of Machpelah was purchased with the field they were under by Abraham from the Hittites, to bury his wife Sarah who just recently died. Afterwards, Abraham himself died, and was buried in the cave next to his wife.
Their son, Isaac married Rebekah and had two sons: Jacob and Esau. At their deaths, both Isaac and Rebekah were buried in the same cave as Abraham and Sarah.
Jacob was renamed "Israel" by God himself, and he had two wives: Leah and Rachel, both sisters.  Leah was the mother of six sons, including Judah (from which the term Jew comes from) the ancestor of King David and of Jesus Christ himself. Leah died before Jacob and was buried in the cave. Rachel, who died still young, had her own tomb, away from the cave, close to Bethlehem.
Finally Jacob (that is, Israel) died and was buried by his son Joseph and his eleven brothers at the same cave, making six people in all. It was quite possible that Joseph, along with the other sons of Israel, had the tomb sealed permanently.
The underground corridor leading to the cave entrance was either built or dug sometime later, but it seem to predate the structure above it, hence its construction must have taken place during Old Testament times. Ancient pottery was found as well as human bones by archaeologists in the cave itself, which may have indicated some offering ritual.

 Cenotaph of Abraham, courtesy of http://www.holylandphotos.org/

Cenotaphs of Rebekah and Isaac, courtesy of http://www.holylandphotos.org/

The Arab friend who took me inside in 1976 mistook the cenotaphs for the tombs of the patriarchs themselves and the interior of the building as the actual caves. So I came back out misled, and basically forgotten - until many years later on a normal Saturday morning in 2010 while relaxing at a sauna at Coral Reef Water World, close to where I live.

In here walked in one bather who after a short while singled me out for a chat. He told me that he was Jewish and he had been to his homeland. I responded with my stories of my time in Israel, including a visit to the mosque sitting over the Cave of Machpelah, along with my interest and understanding of the Bible.

He explained to me that the proper name for Israel is Eretz Yisrael, "Eretz" meaning "land of" and as my own experience can testify, this is how it's known over there. He then explained to me that I should work out each letter of the second word which were an initial of the name of each character - six of them were buried in the Cave of Machpelah. Here was the result:

Yacob

Isaac

Sarah

Rebekah

Abraham

Elohim 

Leah

For me this was an astonishing revelation. Elohim, of course, is one of the titles of God, and therefore not buried with the others in the cave! But the other six were, and these are the Patriarchs, or founding fathers (and mothers) of the nation of Israel. Although the building is now used as a mosque, in reality it has no connection with the Arabs at all, even less the Palestinians. This should be a testimony and a warning for every King, President and other national leaders of  the world and their Governments.

What I find amazing about this structure is that not only is the outer wall well preserved, but is full functioning after well over 2,000 years. It was very likely that Jesus was familiar with it. It remained intact when in AD 70 General Titus invaded the land of Judea and razed Jerusalem to the ground, including the Temple which Herod the Great also embellished. The structure was the sole witness and testimony that the land on which it stood belonged to the Jews. And that was especially during the next 1,878 years after AD 70 when nearly all the Jews were dispersed around the globe. It was as if it was built with such foreknowledge in mind.

No other country has such a testimony of such a scale. There are no tombs of the English founding fathers anywhere in England, likewise none in Italy, none anywhere else in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas or Australasia.

Yet the Bible says much about God being in the midst of his people Israel, as seen in the unscrambled code above. Now if the "Stone Bible" makes such tangible evidence to the truthfulness of the Scriptures, then perhaps the record of Divine Creation, the Noachian Deluge, Abraham and his family, King David  - all acknowledged as historical by Jesus Christ and the Apostles, and all held firmly by the early church - then perhaps there is good reason for us to accept the historicity of the Bible as well.

Richard Dawkins is trying to destroy Christianity in this country and the Western world.

Let's see him try to demolish that thick Herodian wall in Hebron!