Moving around the Sea of Galilee is moving in an area where Jesus had much of His ministry. Tiberias was the capitol city of Herod Antipas. He built it on a cemetery and he adorned the city with pagan paintings. The city was avoided by Jesus, at one point He called Herod “that fox”. Herod controlled the area around the Sea to Bethsaida (house of fishermen). This was the area Jesus had most of His Galilean ministry. This north shore of the sea has the best fishing. The Northeast side of the Sea was controlled by Phillip. The rest was part of what is called the Decapolis, a league of 10 cities, this was the area where Jesus cast the demons into the pigs, because it was not a Jewish area.

The city where Jesus had favor was Capernaum. Current biblical historian James Fleming, explains that this is where the Centurion’s servant was healed as well as the nobleman’s son. This is the city where Peter and Mathew were called. You can see that this is a place where Jesus had “protectsia” the Hebrew word for connections. This is where Jesus healed many including Peter’s mother in law. A church has been built over the suspected site of Peter’s mother in law’s house. A church was built over the land where Jesus fed the 5000. A church was built over the land where the sermon on the mount might have been preached. A church was built over the place where Jesus cooked some fish for Peter and asked him if he loved Jesus and if so would he feed His sheep? Basically, there is a Catholic or Orthodox church built everywhere Jesus might have been. The church, no matter how beautiful, doesn’t replace looking at the countryside and the sea and realizing that this is where it all happened. These current churches replaced the original Byzantine churches that were destroyed with the Persian invasion of 630.

We took a boat ride getting a layout of the land from the boat. It started off with some national anthems for the different nationalities in our group: American, English, Canadian, Australian…They ended with the Hebrew national anthem. I felt a sense of God combined with a mournful sense of melancholy. They know God, but their lives have included some of the worst events known to man. Even as we would be leaving Israel the current terrorist attack in Mumbai would include a direct assault on an Orthodox Jewish family, with only their two year old son surviving, being swept away from his blood stained parents by a worker for the family. This has become normal, the world doesn’t even blink when terrorists kill Jews.

This is the land of Gennesaret, a fertile land. We heard of the oil press, the Hebrew word being gethsemane, remember the garden of Gethsemane. The oil press has a stone pressing down upon a series of mats and mashed olives. The first oil dripping out without pressure is your extra pure virgin oil. The analogy is Jesus in the garden of the olive press feeling the weight of what lies before Him.

Byzantine churches were structured around there ways of becoming Christians: An area for the one year learner, an area for the one year hearer, and then baptism entrance into the area of a full participant. The synagogue was a place of study. It was not a place of obligatory attendance. All Jews must visit the temple 3 times a year, though they all didn’t. We learned that the presence of the star in these old synagogues was just the use of geometrical figure. The calling of it as the Star of David did not happen until the 1800’s in Hungary. We also learned about the National Emblem of the Israeli state: it is taken from Zechariah’s vision; it is a menorah and two olive branches with the verse: “not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit”.

We were reminded of the importance of the rains for all of this area. The area is suffering from a drought and the level of the lake was very low. The first terrorist attack against Israel by El Fatah was aimed at the pumping station on the lake. God had told the Jews” Deut 11:10-11

 10 For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; 11 but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven,

The constant prayer for rain is part of the time between Passover and Pentecost. This is a time of semi-mourning and prayer. Only on one day during that time can a person be married. The day finished up with a trip to a diamond factory and a concert by a Christian Jew. Jews and diamonds go together. Every diamond deal ends with a good luck and blessing in Hebrew. Why? Because in their persecuted state Jews were able to easily carry diamonds and convert them into cash where ever they were fleeing to. The other point was the early guilds did not allow Jews, with the diamond guild being the exception.

We arrived in Ben Gurion airport which used to be named Lydia airport. The travel adventures quickly were replaced by the joy of the tour. We had a great breakfast with more vegetables than I am use to for breakfast but delicious. Our first stop was Caesarea. The weather is dry as they have been having a drought. They begin praying for rain at the Feast of Tabernacles and end praying for rain at the Passover. Herod the Great had built his capitol city here in Caesarea. He had been made king by the Romans and was not a practicing Jew therefore he needed to find a location that was not predominately Jewish. He had been educated in Rome and so he chose this location along the coast and built up the breakwaters to create a port city. He built everything needed to be considered a Roman city. He built a theater, amphitheater, a temple dedicated to Augustus Caesar and a palace built right upon a rock jetty surrounded on 3 sides by water to help him with his paranoia.

The theater is a half circular affair looking down upon a stage. An amphitheater is designed with chariot races in mind. It is a long U as seen in “Ben Hur”. Josephus had commented that the amphitheater overlooked the Mediterranean. The first amphitheater found was far from the coast; it was only when archeologists began uncovering this city that the amphitheater by the sea was discovered. The seating on the side of the ocean has fallen into the ocean. The whole area is owned by the Rothchild’s from Paris. They were called the unknown friend of the early Jewish Kibitzes in the late 1800’s because of their anonymous donations to the endeavors of the early Jewish pioneers of Zionism. All of the building followed the blueprint of the “Book of Rules” written by an author I didn’t get the name of. It was a city designed to impress a Roman with imported marble and Corinthian columns.

This is the place of Paul’s defense before Festus and King Agrippa. We assume he stood at a judgment hall just outside of Herod’s actual palace. You must realize that all of the locations given for actual events are projections, one cannot quite know for sure, yet Catholic and Orthodox churches are built on any site that has a tradition of having an event take place. We are looking at all of these structures here in Caesarea, but you must remember that the whole area was covered with dirt and the original stones had been reused to build other structures that had fallen down, and now the excavators come in and rebuild the city with the fallen down stones. In most cases they can just find the foundation remains and the building stones are not around to be used. They did find a stone here with the name of Pontus Pilate inscribed. In the 1860’s the Turks forced some Bosnian Muslims to settle here. You can still see the Mosque and the Minaret

We looked down into a pit described as a dungeon and can only imagine that Paul might have been held there while awaiting his appearance before Festus and then Agrippa and finally his trip to Rome. In a well were found many copper tablets with names written on them. This was evidence of a practice condemned by the Rabbis of the day in which the tablet was broken and thrown into the well as a curse upon the person whose name was written on the tablet. The Rabbi’s described it as “cursed tablets of condemned sorcery”. Knowing the bible connects us with the ruins, but the ruins themselves with all of their majesty projected grab our attention.

We made our way out of town stopping at the aqueduct that brought water 13 miles into the city. A second aqueduct was built along side the first in 66AD when more water was needed for the Roman troops brought into fight the Jewish rebellion at that time.

Right away you are impressed with the agriculture in the midst of a desert landscape. Deut 8:7-9

7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates , a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

The land we are looking at was very neglected during the times of stewardship of the Ottoman Empire. It was only as the Jews began to return, buying the land that had turned to marsh, which the land began to prosper again.

Isa 35:1-2

he wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them,

And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;

2 It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,

Even with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

The excellence of Carmel  and Sharon.

They shall see the glory of the LORD,

The excellency of our God.

We are viewing a rich land as we move to Mt Carmel. The place is called “Muquaka” the place of burning. This is the place where Elisha battled the prophets of Baal. On the way to the top of Carmel we hear a bit about Jewish, Arab and Druze life. Israeli Arabs have equal rights but they cannot be drafted into the military, they can only volunteer. The Druze villages are a throw back in time. The Druze religion is an off shoot of Islam. They believe in reincarnation so you can only be born into the religion, you cannot convert into it. They believe they hold secrets passed down from Jethro, Moses’ father in law, a priest of the Midianites. In the 1948 war of independence the Druze sided with the Jews.

The views from this location are incredible. We look down upon the Kishon river and the Jezreel valley. We look across the valley to the hills of Nazareth. The plains of Armageddon lie below us. It is properly called Harmagedon from Hebrew har meghiddo, "Mount of Megiddo". We went down the mountain towards Megiddo being informed that the olive trees can be over a 1000 years old and still bear fruit.

Megiddo, a place described by Napoleon as of high strategic importance. It is the intersection of three ancient highways. On top of this small hill in the valley are the remains of many different rebuilds of the city fortress. Inside the fortress only the main families lived. Archeologists have uncovered and rebuilt two gates. We have a location of an altar built with un-hewed stones. The problem of having water during times of siege was solved by digging down 100’s of feet to the water line through the hill. They then dug a tunnel parallel with the water line to the source of water at the bottom of the hill. They then hide the found spring. We traveled down and then out this tunnel marveling at the work involved without the help of modern machinery.

We then drove through the Arab town of Nazareth without stopping, then through Cana then to a high point overlooking the Sea of Galilee. We went down into Tiberius to check into our hotel home for the next 3 nights. Hotel accommodations are good; you have to pay for internet, so I chose not to. We had a buffet breakfast and dinner each day at our hotels. We had lots of fresh vegetables, fruits, cheeses and meats. We had lots of dairy products in the morning and no dairy products at night. They still manage to make some delicious desserts without mild or butter at night.

Just getting to Israel turned out to be an adventure. Our Lufthansa flight from Chicago to Frankfort greeted us with a very peculiar smell. This smell permeated the plane. It turned out that it was some kind of leak of hydraulic fluid. They decided to not chance the flight after starting off for Frankfort we turned around, dumping all of the fuel, for a safer landing. We were welcomed by all of the emergency vehicles with lights flashing. We then started the painful process of finding alternative routes. After many hours of waiting for a supervisor to get involved and help us as a group instead of individuals, Joan and I were among 24 of us who got an Air India flight later that evening. We left 9 hours later and had a 7 hour layover in Frankfort, finally getting into Tel Aviv at 3:30 in the morning. By 5:30 we were at the hotel with a shower and shave we had some breakfast then off to the first day of touring, missing the first day of rest and recovery.

I was engaged in conversation while waiting for our baggage from the cancelled flight by this man. I forget that I look older these days, but he was probably in his 40’s. During the conversation that started with Zambia (wore my Zambian cap) he let me know how happy the recent election made him, knowing that as a pastor I was probably on the other side of the divide. He let me know that Obama would be able to use people like me who had “real” experience in Africa to help Obama (America) solve Africa’s problems. He let me know how betrayed he felt about Bush. I reminded him that any President would have done what Bush did. I commented about Bush’s graciousness in welcoming Obama into the White House. He admitted that this showed Bush to be a bigger man than he gave him credit for. He let me know that the whole world hated Bush. I explained to him that was because the whole world receives its news from people who hate Bush. I told him what I used to say to the Bill Clinton loving Africans who asked me about politics. I ask how much money did Bill Clinton put towards helping Africa deal with AIDS? The answer is zero. I then ask them about Bush, and they have to admit that Bush put the money into helping Africa and not just the words; yet, never a good word spoken about the man in the media. Our conversation ended with him being a little frustrated with me and he going to join his girlfriend who is accompanying him on a business trip in Portugal capped off by a private cruise. In the end the conversation reinforced my thoughts about the moral/immoral divide that dictated his vote. Although this is just anecdotal evidence I think it is a real factor in American voting patterns.

Arriving in Frankfort brought more enlightening conversations. We dealt with the agents at the transfer station in groups of four. Our processor let us know that we finally got things right after making two big mistakes, speaking of elections. Of course he had an idea of who he was dealing with in that we were on our way to Tel Aviv. The conversation quickly took on anti-Christ overtones, after he spoke of Obama as a world leader and how good things would become when the world became one like Europe and then fairly honest questions about God and salvation. This was not a conversation forced on him, it was one he created and sustained. A conversation that ends with a personal question about faith in God and a personal response corresponding to the snake in the garden’s thoughts on the matter brought a sober yet unsatisfying finish to the conversation. He finished by letting us know that we wanted to teach children in school that God made everything in one week. He also let us know that America was demanding to know that the American government wanted to know the “sexual preference” of all foreign visitors to America- but the EU refused to submit to these demands. He finished his work in our behalf by explaining that there are many different opinions on how to take care of us because of the mistakes that were made. We then patiently waited for the plane.

Joan and I enjoyed the atmosphere with one world implications being all around us. We enjoyed a coffee at MacCafe, the Macdonald’s answer to Starbucks that we first encountered in Guatemala. When we got to the gate our two partners in our group of 4, a young couple from Santa Rosa, informed us that everyone else got upgraded to business class. Actually it was 17 out of the 24. We went to the counter to see what could be done with no luck and no sympathy. We were told to wait for a supervisor. The logic of their “no” didn’t line up with the facts, but the facts as we saw them just seemed to harden them. As we waited we found out that some of our group were able to claim the hotel and spending money that was made available to us because of the cancelled flight. We realized that our German friend at the transfer counter did his best to save the company money despite the company’s policy to compensate us for our troubles. The supervisor came and seemed mad that we would try to upgrade. I asked if she could see why we might feel unfairly treated, she said no. I then told her that I think I would have felt better if there was just an ounce of compassion in their treatment of our request. I told her that the one response that was missing from all of my conversations at the counter was “sorry”. She softened just a bit and gave me a very quiet sorry.

As we moved passed the counter with our tickets the one worker who had overheard all of our conversations gave us a personal apology. It my heated state of emotions I thought about the German mind set. I thought of the transfer agent and his hope for the coming one world government. I thought of pass German discretions in serving leadership. I thought of the lack of compassion and empathy that didn’t even allow them to admit an injustice when it was staring them in the face. Injustice is not the right word, but the idea is that when a real injustice does confront the workers in our future one world set up will they be able to carry out instructions with an equal level of dispassion that I experienced. I realize this is just wild speculation, but these were the encounters that were shaping my thinking at the time. Will I boycott Lufthansa? No. If I lived in Germany I am sure they would be the carrier I would try to collect miles with. It was just a small picture in my mind of a future where Christians will be mistreated with no compassion given by those carrying out the plans of the future world order that I know Christians will not be a part of.

We are on the eve of our trip to Israel with about 150 other people led by Pastor Mitchell. It is only yesterday that we start getting excited about the trip. We are leaving the church after two sermons around the idea of carrying on short, personal bible studies with people accenting the thought that by a person being polite enough to allow one of us to have a bible study with them they will be blessed by the word as well as a promised blessing found in Mt 10:40-42.

Two couples from church had taken us on a two day trip touring Southern Illinois and Kentucky. JP and Dixie as well as Kenneth and Maida wanted to show us some beautiful fall spots. They took us along the most beautiful back roads leaving Sparta, entering in along the Mississippi south of Chester (the home of Popeye). We stopped at a spot called the Little Grand Canyon and took a short hike down and back. Joan and I are the youngsters of this group.

We stopped for some apples and a barbeque in Jonesboro. We were slowly passing through beautiful country with the leaves changing heading for “Garden of the Gods”. An easy and comfortable trip rewarded by the sights from a rock cropping among the changing colored forest. Beautiful. We then headed down to the Ohio river to view the pirate cave home of the pirates who raided passing boats in the early pioneer days. We crossed on a ferry at Shawneetown. It brought back memories of the insecure crossings of the Kafue and Zambezi.

We then headed for Eddyville Kentucky where we had a great fish dinner and a needed night’s sleep. At the restaurant the waitress was asked about the rates on the motel behind the restaurant. She stated what she thought the rate was and then volunteered to call the motel and find out for us. Old fashion Southern hospitality is hard to find, but it still exists in Eddyville, Kentucky.

The next day it was on to Paducah with a view of the river and a stop at a farmer’s market. This included a tour of Grand Rivers and its houses overlooking Kentucky lake formed by the Tennessee river. We were making our way to Cairo (pronounced Karo). This is the home area of Kenneth and Maida. We crossed the Ohio to the town that sits at the crossroads of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. You can see the blue of the Ohio mixing with the darker colors of the muddy Mississippi. At one time it was a city that Chicago approached for a loan but now it has lost some of its glamour but has still retained much charm. This was a location of race riots during more turbulent times. We had another world famous barbeque where Kenneth ran into an old high school friend who was attending the funeral of Jimmy’s uncle, Jimmy being from church.

Onto Mounds where we saw the building that housed the start of the pastoral ministry of Joe Campbell. Mounds a small town of about a 1000 people. During the trip we heard all of the twist and turns of over 30 years of ministry here in Southern Illinois. We started heading back towards Sparta, but there was one more turn and tour to Cape Girardeau. A vibrant city that these people had invested much time and effort in a church that is no longer there. No resentment just a little melancholy. Crossing the Mississippi at Chester and back to Sparta. It was a great trip. Here are some pictures.

I wrote this in Leadership from  Proverbs:

A leader is a natural target. Take a walk through the Lincoln museum in Springfield, IL and view the ugliness of the political cartoons. Today, just check out the anti-Palin signs and tee-shirts to see the uglier side of life. So how does a leader protect himself from these attacks? The two qualities that will protect his soul and allow him to continue to rise above the ugliness and be the leader are kindness and trustworthiness. Mercy, lack of vindictiveness, is essential for the emotional health of a leader. When a leader becomes infected with bitterness and that bitterness begins to show forth through his actions it is an indication that the attacks have succeeded in damaging his soul, the person he really is on the inside. Kindness, mercy and forgiveness will keep him in good mental health. As much as people have negative things to say about President Bush, I have yet to hear him respond in anyway that betrays an inner bitterness. In 2008, as he gets his rescue bill passed he is able to describe Nancy Pelosi with wonderful adjectives. He will make it. This is very different from “the great right-wing conspiracy” that haunted the Clintons.

Of these two qualities, kindness and trustworthiness, it is kindness that will establish your authority and build a foundation for those following you at that position. People will always remember the acts of kindness more that the acts of revenge and spite.

Now I read this about President Bush inviting the Obama’s over to the white house:

CAVUTO: Well, he was classy, magnanimous, a gentlemen, ripped for being out of touch, he chose just the right touch, a man who critics say only mangled his words, conjured just the right ones. I'm not talking about John McCain yesterday. I'm talking about president bush today. McCain gave a very classy speech. The president made a very classy gesture, offering only good words for the man who repudiated his run at the white house, but going one better, inviting Barack and Michelle Obama to the white house to see the place, talk about the place, and the pressures of the place, in private. These were not empty words. The president put a transition team in place months ago so that a smooth transfer of power could take place. President bush didn't have the same offer when he came into office. Lots of hurtful words since then. He wasn't even running this year, but it seemed everyone, including his own party's nominee was running against him all year. If he minded, he really didn't show it. I remember talking to the president on the White House south lawn about it. "Does it all bug you?" I asked him. "Nah," he said, shrugging his shoulders and adding simply, "I understand." A man of the people and the nation seemingly at war with him, some for good reason, and others apparently lacking any reason. He did nothing personally, always handled himself with dignity, not by what he said but precisely what he did not. I have read that the president is as kind to the elevator operator at White House as he is to a visiting [head of] state to the White House. Every time I see him, he sticks around and personally shakes the hand of each member of my crew. That is each member of my crew for one of our interviews, every single one of them, every single picture. Now, I know [these are] little things, but to me these are big things, that speak of a man far bigger than the petty things I see in the press or I hear in a harsh campaign. That ended today with a quiet gesture today, from a president who would be in his right to wag a certain finger, but instead simply [offered] something else: his hand. Not a popular thing to say, is it? But it was, it is, and he's a good fellow.

I believe this touch of class will stick on Obama. A leader rises above partisan politics.

Hugh Hewitt says this: President-elect Obama is receiving his first full CIA brief this morning, the same one President Bush is receiving.  While I am certain President-elect Obama and his team have been studying up on the Islamist threats around the world, today begins his certain responsibility for protecting the U.S. against it, and with that responsibility I expect to see a significant change in the president-elect and his team.  I have long thought that President Bush's lack of partisan response to many partisan attacks has been rooted in his deep awareness of the conditions in the world, and I expect that awareness will change President-elect Obama quickly and towards the same sort of anti-partisanship that Bush has displayed except in the very last months of the electron cycles of '02, '04, and '06. 

Most Christian bloggers are doing the right thing in encouraging folks to pray for our new president-elect, Barak Obama, which I have forwarned the church that we would be also praying for whoever won the election. For me it is a page that has turned and a time to recommit myself to the work of an evangelist here in Sparta. I enjoyed this quote from Joel Rosenburg's blog.

I know many of you are very worried about the direction of our country. I certainly understand this sentiment, but as I wrote yesterday, let us not lose heart. The Lord knew who would win. He allowed it to happen. He has a plan. He has a purpose. And now He is calling us to serve Him faithfully — to do whatever He tells us to do, to go wherever He tells us to go, to say whatever He tells us to say. Now is the time to draw close to Christ, to advance His kingdom, and prepare for His return. He is, after all, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Now is certainly no time to forget, or to be discouraged.

I started the day by passing out flyers in Steelville and am now preparing for tonight’s sermon on battling sickness through faith in Christ. This Saturday will be our Chili cook-off and a one night prophecy presentation. I am getting excited about living the life God has called me to.