Here is an an excellent article by an Athiest about the positive influence of Chrisitanity on Africa. It reminds me of my experiences in Africa and the making of the James Tembo film. Here are some excerpts:

Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.

In the city we had working for us Africans who had converted and were strong believers. The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world - a directness in their dealings with others - that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall.

Christianity, post-Reformation and post-Luther, with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being, smashes straight through the philosphical/spiritual framework I've just described. It offers something to hold on to to those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates.

Great observations by the author.

I am still finishing a book I got at the Western (wailing) Wall in Jerusalem. I want to finish that book before my next of three last Israel posts. In the meantime I came upon this:

An alternative Christmas message from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Here is an excerpt:

The crises in society, the family, morality, politics, security and the economy which have made life hard for humanity and continue to put great pressure on all nations have come about because the Prophets have been forgotten, the Almighty has been forgotten and some leaders are estranged from God.

If Christ were on Earth today, undoubtedly He would stand with the people in opposition to bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers.

If Christ were on Earth today, undoubtedly He would hoist the banner of justice and love for humanity to oppose warmongers, occupiers, terrorists and bullies the world over.

If Christ were on Earth today, undoubtedly He would fight against the tyrannical policies of prevailing global economic and political systems, as He did in His lifetime. The solution to today's problems is a return to the call of the divine Prophets. The solution to these crises is to follow the Prophets - they were sent by the Almighty for the good of humanity.

I this the same Jesus who said to turn the other cheek. Or the One who said that His kingdom is not of this earth. Christ came to die on the cross for all of our sins. The parallels of Muslims waiting for their Mufti and Jews waiting for the Messiah abound. The bible says to the Jews in Zech 12:10

"And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced . Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.

Conclusion: Ahmadinejad, like most of the world has no clue about why Jesus came to earth. Who will tell them why?

One of the internal puzzles I have carried these 26 years of salvation is the reality of the Western wall or wailing wall and the words that Jesus spoke about not one stone of the temple standing upon another. This trip clarified this for me. It was explained that Herod the Great rebuilt the temple to a small degree, but what he really did to enhance the temple was to broaden the platform that the temple set upon. The temple was destroyed totally and the Romans even tried to destroy the massive foundation stones of the platform that Herod built. The temple mount is located upon the traditional mount where Abraham offered up Isaac and where David bought “the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite”.

A person needs to be reminded that Jerusalem has been destroyed and rebuilt over 20 times. The walls we are looking at are rebuilt walls not always upon original walls. Most of the locations in and around the city are conjectures and of course the original buildings no longer exists only a rebuilt building on the supposed site. I am saying all of this to point out that the temple mount is the temple mount. It is not a point of conjecture. The modern walls built in the 16^th century do not exactly match the walls of Jesus’ time. The defensive walls of the city went south from the temple mount with the East wall of the temple mount serving as the outer wall also. This wall in its day went south to where the 3 valleys intersect at the bottom of the City of David or old Jerusalem. The pinnacle of the temple could have been the high point of the Southeast corner of the temple platform where the wall is at its highest and the drop continues down into the ravine of the Kidron valley. Our first visit into the old city brought us through the Dung gate to the south side of the temple mount on the steps leading up to the temple mount. Above us on the temple mount is the El-Aksa Mosque, below is the area known as the City of David. This was the main entrance into the Court of the gentiles. We are looking at the Mount of Olives to the East with the Jewish graveyard awaiting the Messiah. The location of a bridge on the West side that brought the priests into the temple area is named after its archeological discoverer, Wilson. An archway that held another bridge, with the old Roman road, down beneath the current level of life, is named Robinson’s arch.

We also entered the old city through the Sheep Gate or Stephen’s Gate or the Lion Gate into the Moslem quarter. Life is happening. Shops and people. It was here I bought my candies, dates, teas and coffees to bring back. I had an interesting conversation with an Arab shop owner who let me know that it was God’s will that brought me to his store this day. I was with Pastor Gary Marsh while this man talked to me. The Muslim belief that everything is predestined was explained to us. After lunch, some of our group were taking photos of the young men smoking from a hookah. One young man used broken English profanity towards them without them realizing it. As they departed I was left just taking in the environment when this young man tried to aim his vile at me, telling me to leave his friends alone. I turned it into a teaching moment, President elect Obama would have been proud, I commented on his basketball tee shirt, mentioned that I coached basketball in Zambia, and left with a hand shake from the three young men who were all avid basketball players. We would eventually spend a little time in the Jewish and Armenian quarters. Our first night in Jerusalem found Joan and I taking a walk through an Orthodox neighborhood. We first got directions from a young, bearded with curly sideburns and blacksuited man who gave us directions to a store in very, very broken English. There was a sense of life in this neighborhood. Joan and I were obviously not a normal part of the flow of life in this place. It seemed that the men were going and coming from places of study. There was a sign admonishing tourist groups to not enter into the neighborhood. We passed shops and restaurants full of people enjoying the moment. The streets were not in the traditional square layout so we had to feel our way in a semi-circular movement back to the main street.

As we were leaving for Jerusalem traveling down the Jordan valley; Nola gave us the 4 A’s on touring. Anticipate: think, pray, map, talk. Approach: forget the past, look ahead. Acknowledge: be there, breathe it in. Afterthoughts: meditate, bible, maps, notes. These entries serve as an afterthought for me. Jerry from church greeted with me with the current issue of National Geographic and the cover story about Herod the great and the discovery of his tomb just south of Jerusalem. This led to a Wed. sermon that was more of a history lesson trying to quickly cover the times before Christ and the Herodian age. It allowed me to distinguish between Herod the Great, Herod Antipas, Herod Philip, and how they related to Herod Agrippa in Acts and his son Agrippa with Paul on trial before Felix. It really is amazing that I have never taken the time to understand the politics of the age. Since coming home maps, the bible and history have come alive

Going along the Jordan we stopped and saw the Roman ruins at Beth Shean. I was surprised to learn that this is where Saul’s body was strung up by the Philistines. I thought they were only along the coast. But the maps show that during and before Saul’s time the Philistines controlled Jezreel valley. I preached on this fact and how the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead came and rescued his body and buried it. Jabesh Gilead the rejected, attacked and finally defended by Saul and later commended by David. Tied them to the “half-saved, half-backslid, unfaithful” that God likes to use to confound the wise.

We learned that the date trees do not need a lot of water, and it was a Jewish landscaper who went into Iraq and smuggled out date seedling (Medjool dates) that were only in Iraq at that time. The Jordanian side of the river looks lush, but the Israeli side is barren as it is kept as a defensive perimeter. An island in the river used to be a place where Jews and Arabs would picnic until a mentally unstable Jordanian soldier killed 7 school girls.

We moved up the Jezreel Valley to go to Gideons springs called Harod spring where Gideon’s army was whittled down. Nola let us know that the Israeli Independence War started in Nov of 1947 when the UN voted to partition Palestine. The British leave and Israel declares Independence in May of 1948. The only American military officer allowed to help the Israelis was Micky Marcus who became David Stone while working on the highway to keep Israel proper connected to a Jerusalem that was being squeezed off by the Jordanians. 1970 was Black September when King Hussein kicked El Fatah out of Jordan.

We have to skirt around Jericho because of the politics of the day. It is the only green spot on the East side of the Judean hills. She refers to Amos 7: 14 and the tending of Sycamore trees, as this was something done by the herdsmen when they had to stay close to towns. We can see the Dead Sea as we start the ascent up to Jerusalem. You always go up to Jerusalem. We have the Psalms of Ascent sung by pilgrims going to Jerusalem. We pass by some Bedouin camps. What makes a Bedouin a Bedouin is total loyalty to the tribe and avenging for the tribe. We are heading for Mount Scopus, passing by a large development of houses. Nola lets us know that the complex houses 70,000 people. Jerusalem is being surrounded by strategically placed neighborhoods. Of all the area taken in the 1967 war only the vicinity of Jerusalem has been officially annexed by the Israeli state. Jerusalem is the capitol with no embassies, although America has started the process of establishing their embassy in Jerusalem, we will see if it happens. Jerusalem is a city of 700,000. On Mt Scopus is the Hebrew University established in 1925. The big question was would they teach in German or Hebrew. Logic said German since there were no textbooks in Hebrew, but the heart said Hebrew. The heart won.

Jerusalem has been destroyed and rebuilt 20 times. As we cross the Gahanna valley we see a cable that was used to transport supplies into the Jewish quarter of the Old City during the war if Independence. They failed, and the area was used as a garbage dump except for the Arab houses along the West Wall. Jerusalem along with Bath England require all buildings to use local stone. Today, most buildings use cinder blocks with a facing of Jerusalem stone. It gives the city a ancient yet modern look. We are driving around and getting some overviews. We can see the 3 valleys that make up the city. The Kidron Valley separating the East Wall of the old city from the Mount of Olives, the Central Valley and the slicing along the Western Wall of the old city and the Gahanna Valley. All of these valleys meet at the foot of the City of David which was actually below the temple mount. We are going to end the day by sitting for a picture on the steps entering from the South to the temple mount. Nola can inform us that without a doubt Jesus walked on these stairs. Archeologists have found evidence that the steps continued down into the old City of David. Here is the site she recommended: http://www.cityofdavid.org.il/  

It was a rainy day that had us moving north towards Mt. Herman. Our guide was visibly happy about the rains, and even though it would not help our tour, I was also. You begin to share Nola’s nationalist feelings for the state of Israel while you share this time with her. We visited the excavated ruins of Chorazin. It was obviously a place of some substance at one time, before Jesus cursed it during His time of ministry. Eusebius described the city as deserted 3 centuries later.

We then moved north through the Hula valley looking at the Golan Heights above us. Hoping for the rain to subside we made a stop at a kibbutz that specialized in making “Naot” shoes. Joan bought some shoes for our first colder winter here in the Midwest. We kind of meandered along the back roads of this very productive valley. These are the locations of some of the headwaters of the Jordan. We went down one road towards the Golan Heights lined with Eucalyptus trees on both sides of the road. Nola explained that these trees had been planted so that military vehicles could move into position without being spotted by the Syrians above. In the 1967 war this tactic proved providential in the Israeli assault against the Golan Heights.

The land had originally been a malaria infested swamp. The Israeli settlers began the task of reclaiming the land by building canals and draining the swampy areas turning it into a very productive land. We visited the Dan spring which is the main source of the Jordan. Learned that this was not the land originally promised to Dan, but they wanted a less defended area to take so they came up here. We then went further north to Caesarea Phillipi or Banias Spring. This is the location for the center of Pan worship, the half animal, half god. It engenders immorality. This is where Jesus made the statement that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church. For us, it is the acknowledgement that God’s church can be planted and thrive in any environment. Jesus took his disciples on this 30 mile journey on foot to come to this center of idolatry and immorality to make a clear statement to them and us today.

We went further up Mt. Herman for a lunch in a Druze owned restaurant. The rain and clouds prevented us from seeing much, so instead of going further up Mt. Herman we went south along the top of the Golan Heights observing the concrete fortifications built by the Syrians. We heard the story about the Israeli spy in Damascus who suggested to the Syrians to plant Eucalyptus trees by their concrete fortifications for shade. They took his advise making it very easy for the Israeli forces to zero in on their locations. His adventures, capture and death are recorded in the book “Our Man in Damascus”.

We came back down to the Sea of Galilee, stopped at a church where Jesus healed the demoniac and cast the demons into the pigs. Continued driving around the whole of the lake, seeing a small Syrian tank marking the furthest advance of Syrian forces in the war of independence in 48. That night Nola took us for a walk downtown to some shops. The orthodox families strolling around the shopping area seemed to not mind our presence, but I know we stood out more than they did.