The theatre at Ceasarea. You can see that some of it has been refurbished.

Standing on top of Mt. Carmel. I don't know if you remember the message I preached some time ago, but I talked about how Baal was the god of the storm and that he was worshipped on Mt. Carmel. When Elijah came and contested the prophets of Baal, they cried to their god Baal but he did nothing, then God sent lightening (fire) from heaven to burn up Elijah's sacrifice, proving that he was the true God of the Storm, he then followed it up by bringing rain into the land after there had been a seven year drought. As I stood there on Mt. Carmel, thunder was rolling overtop my head and flashes of lightening peered through the thick haze. The true God of the Storm still owns Mt. Carmel!

The Temple of Hercules in Amman, Jordan.

The Temple of Zeus, in Jerash, Jordan.

Recognize this? This is Petra, an ancient Nabatean city in the modern day Kingdom of Jordan. This building is called the "Treasury," but it may have been used as a temple by the Nabateans before the Romans came through and conquered them. Yes, that entire buliding along with dozens less extravagant than it was carved right out of the side of the mountain. If you look on the edge of the building you might be able to see lines of holes in the wall where the ancient architects may have hung scaffolding to do their work.

If you don't like that description, just continue to believe that the holy grail is in there somewhere and that Indiana Jones went there to find it! I think I'm going to stick with this story!

A boat ride across the Sea of Galilee. One night I was standing at the shore as the waves were crashing out on the sea and I read the story from when Jesus calmed the storm--I won't lie, it was powerful.

A replica of an Egyptian stela found atop Bethshean from when the Eygptians ruled there (before the Israelites came in). Sorry, I won't be translating this one for you--out of my league at the moment.

Bethshean was a large Old Testament city. A Greek city was later build beside it. I am standing on top of the Old Testament city looking down on the Greek city (Scythopolis). In the far back of the city you can see the remains of a large theatre.

Qumran, the place where archaeologists found scrolls of the Old Testament that were 2200 years old--the oldest copies we have. Caves like this one pepper the area. In May Liberty University will bring a team of students to this site to continue digging here. The people who lived in this area were purists who had left Jerusalem because they felt that the Pharisees and other there were hypocritical and corrupt. The Essenes, as they are called, had a strict set of rules in Qumran. As an example, here are some of the rules archaeologists have found on scrolls:

All of the following sins would result in 1/4 food reduction for 3 months.

"Falling asleep in assembly, missing a vote, spitting in the assembly, exposing one's genitals, laughing loudly and foolishly."

The En Gedi Springs, on the southewestern shore of the Dead Sea. It's amazing what a little water can do to a barren land. Everything around this area was extremely dry and dead, but the stream found here had Ibexes and rodents and birds--life was everywhere. When you read imagery in the Psalms about greenness and water, this is an appropriate image to harken to.

Masada, Herod the Great's fortress overlooking the Dead Sea. Herod was known for his ability to defy nature by bringing water to places that had none and building mountains where there were none. The three large steps you see each had parts of his palace on them. It was very impressive.

The Holy of Holies of a Temple in the Arad fortress. The Israelites were worshipping the LORD on their own terms. The small incense altar on the right corresponds with a small standing stone in the back. The same is true of the larger altar on the left. The large stone in the back (which you can't see here) probably represents the LORD, while the smaller stone in the back probably represents his consort or wife (probably Asherah). Isn't this exactly what the Bible says? The Israelites did what was right in their own eyes.

The Israelite fortress at Arad in the Eastern Biblical Negev.

Lachish. The right side of the hill is actually a manmade seige ramp built by the Assyrians so that they could climb to the top of the Israelite city and conquer it. There is a famous relief that was found in Assyrian depicting this seige.

Beth Shemesh, an important city in the Old Testament. Go to www.blueletterbible.org and search "bethshemesh."

It reads "the beginning/birth of Christ." There were several paintings like this in the Church of the Nativity, the traditional site of Jesus' birth, in Bethlehem.

A threshing floor on a hillside. Remeber the book of Ruth? The wind coming over the hill would cut through the cast barley and remove the chaff. Boaz was out sleeping on his threshing floor when Ruth came to him.

There is a group of orthodox Jews in Jerusalem that has been rebuilding the furnishings for the future Temple. This manorah would go in the new Temple when the messiah comes (of course, they don't believe Jesus is the Messiah).

A great view of the South end of the Temple Mount. The gray dome is the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The remains you see include the staircase leading up to the Temple where Jesus and other Rabbis would have taught. Start at the dome and follow straight down to the corner of the wall--that's the staircase. Our instructor took us there for a lesson.

I've been blessed to have great classes at Liberty. Knowing a lot about the archaeology of the Temple Mount, I was able to point out and identify nearly every archaeologically significant feature by myself before we went over them as a class. As an example, the bright patch you see in the wall here is reconstruction from where the Muslims had bulldozers and heavy equipment on top of the Mount and the wall could not withstand the pressure so it started to bulge. The Muslims were given permission to build a fire escape for their mosque, but in the process built an elaborate entry way. They bulldozed thousands of pounds of archaeologically rich material from the inside of the Mount to build their Mosque. To them, the mounds are just trash since they believe, bewilderingly, that a Temple never existed. The fill that was removed from the Mount was placed into a trash heap. It was recovered and moved to the Mt. of Olives by Archaeologist Gabi Barkay where it is being sifted. Dr. Randall Price, a professor of mine who is also an archaeologist, knows Gabi and told me at one time that he would mention me to him since I wrote a paper that dealt with Gabi's work. I'm going to go to the Mt. of Olives in my free time to help with the sifting project. I've already found some pottery handles and rims at Gezer and the Herodium.
This is the Russian Orthodox Convent from a distance. It's one of the most beautiful buildings in Jerusalem.

I've been blessed to take my Hebrew Bible with me from sight to sight. As my professor reads important passages from the Old Testament I've been following along in the Hebrew text. Here you can see the Dome of the Rock from the Mt. of Olives. Imagine Jesus praying on this hillside looking up to the Temple before his own people slaughter him for heresy. In the middle of the wall above is the Eastern Gate. Scripture prophesied that when the Messiah comes he will enter from the East. Jesus entered the Temple Mount here and was greeted with "Hosanna!"

Called Absalom's Tomb after David's son. Actually, it is a first century Tomb that has been attributed by some to Zechariah, John the Baptist's father. This is located in the Valley of the Kings, or the Kidron Valley (the valley that runs between the Temple Mount and the Mt. of Olives.

A view straight up to the Herodium, the manmade mountain Herod built. On the top he built a magnificent palace. The surrounding region can be viewed for miles and miles. Jerusalem is visible from this point.

The interior of Herod's palace on the Herodium (this is only one angle, more can be seen from the other side, including a massive pillar built up from the ground).

A view of Herod's pool from his palace looking down. Yes, those are people. Herod literally did nothing small.

Thirsty? A knock-off of Starbucks from the Palestinian territory near the Church of the Nativity.

A mural over a doorway in the Church of the Nativity. Murals like this with Greek and Latin inscriptions cover the inside of the church. The red text you see says, "the beginng/birth of Christ." I had to zoom in to read the banner held by the angel, but it translates, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace." One of the most exciting things is to find Greek, Hebrew, and Latin inscriptions in art or on stones in the various sights we visit. Depending on the century in which it was written and the difficulty of the text, I can translate some of what I see. This particular church was great for me because a lot of the Greek and Latin was extracted from Bible verses where I am used to reading the Greek text.

There is a massive wall that runs for miles and miles dividing the Israel proper from the Palestinian territories. The Israelis and Palestinians hate each other. This mural was on the wall as we were leaving Palestinian territory to return to Israel. Two Israeli officers with automatic assault rifles, hand guns, and armor entered the touring bus and when down the aisle checking passports and faces. There is a noticible difference between Israel proper and Palestine. Israel is clean and the houses are nice. Palestine is covered in trash, the houses are half-built and the place is a ghetto. The Israelis refuse to share the natural resources of their land with the Palesinians. As long as the Israelis refuse to treat the Palestinians like human beings, and as long as Palestinian suicide bombers continue to run into the streets of Jerusalem, there will be no peace.

The day began in the Judean wilderness. This is where John the Baptist lived, where Jesus wandered for 40 days and where David shepherded his sheep. It looks like sand dunes but actually these are hills of limestone. Rain water never makes it out this far. From our vantage point there were miles of unbroken, uninhabited wilderness. It gives context to, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death."


Bedouin farmers who live in shacks on the edge of the wilderness came up to our group trying to sell us beaded necklaces and camel rides.


A bedouin boy took special interest in my 10x50 binoculars. I had to stand there and hold them just to make sure he didn't run off with them. We played with each other for a while until it was time for me to go. I tried to get my binoculars back but he was insisting I not leave. Finally, as he was looking into the distance, I pulled 4 shekels out of my pocket. When he heard the sound of the change clanging together he froze and stared at me in the eyes. I bartered a trade of my binoculars for the shekels. He accepted the trade and gave me one of his beaded bracelets. He then skipped around smiling and chasing me.

Old Testament Jericho. This wall is the foundation for the brick walls "that came tumbling down" during Joshua's siege. Since I have had courses in archaeology, it has been exciting to approach sites like this already knowing a about what I'm looking at.

I came across this in tell-Jericho. From what I know, this could either be a grinding stone where a smaller smooth stone would be used to grind a substance placed in the hole of this rock, or it could be the socket into which a gatepost sad and swiveled open and shut.

An orthodox Jew sits near the cemetery beside Nabi Samuel and reads his Torah. Nabi Samuel ("prophet Samuel") is a tower built upon a high hill providing magnificent views for miles. Near the site is Rammah where Samuel was buried.


A view of Israel from Nabi Samuel.

The Old Testament city of Gezer. Several important things take place here.



A tablet found at Gezer contains an inscription in paleo-Hebrew that discusses the many agricultural seasons in Israel. It is presented in a sing-song fashion so scholars think it was possibly a poem memorized by school children who were learning to read and write. One of the words is mispelled and the writing is sloppy, which may indicate that a child inscribed this.

Archaeological remains at Gezer.

Masseboth, or standing stones, were sometimes set up as signs of political or religious covenants between people or between a people and their gods. Since I recently wrote a research paper on Israelite involvement in Canaanite cultic practices, the instructor let me explain the possible meaining of these stones at Gezer. There are 36 standing stone areas in the land that are from ancient Israel. They can also be found all over the ancient Near East and especially in teh desert wilderness the Israelites wandered through for 40 years. They are thought to be aniconic (not an image of a god but an object representing that god) presentations or memorials to the gods. In ancient Near Eastern art, a god stands to the right and his consort stands to his left. In this picture, you can see how the large stone on the far right is joined by the much smaller stone standing just to the left of it. All such masseboth are facing the East, but that is a feature common to basically all religious centers. Sometimes, inscriptions are found on these stones reading "the house of such and such a god". For an example, read what Jacob does in Genesis 28.

On this day we went to places that provided us with fantastic panoramic views of Jerusaelm. This was taken from the Hebrew University campus. You are looking at the Muslim Dome of the Rock, which sits where Solomon's Temple once sat.


This is the Russian orthodox church. It was magnificent. Its golden domes can be seen from far away. They glow very brightly when the sun hits them.

The Dormition Church, beside Jerusalem University College. The rooftop I'm standing upon is in an area where it is traditionally thought that Jesus and his disciples held the Last Supper.

A statue of King David across from the entrance to the Dormition Church.


The top is Hebrew, "David, The King" (dwd hmlk).

The western wall (not "Wailing Wall," which is located on the other side of the wall in the back of this photo. The massive stone where pushed off the Temple Mount by the Romans as they destroyed the city in 70AD. Where the woman in the red shirt is standing is the only place in ancient Israel where archaeologists feel certain Jesus walked. Those are the actual Roman pavement stones He walked on.

In Hebrew this reads, "If you mess with us, the Israeli Mutant Ninja Turtles will come out!" I'm making my professors so proud.


The Dome of the Rock sits were Solomon's Temple once sat. The Muslims have controlled this space since the 300's AD. This is where Muhammad allegedly pilgrimaged, where the hooves of his horse stopped on Mt. Moriah (the bedrock stone in the mosque where Abraham traditionally attempted to sacrifice Isaac). The Quran never mentions "Jerusalem," nevertheless Muslims would start a war if Israeli's tried to take control of this sacred space.

This was surreal.


The hills of Jerusalem create fantastic views of the city at night.

Bedrock tombs like this one surround the ancient city walls of Jerusalem. I wanted to crawl in but my roommate wouldn't let me.

The Western or "Wailing" Wall was filled with orthodox Jews praying feverishly for the advent of their messiah and the rebuilding of the Temple. My roommate and I went into this area with head coverings and even went into the Rabbinic Tunnel (not seen here) where judgmental eyes did not greet the uninvited goyyim ("gentiles"). The Rabinnic Tunnel is as close as orthodox Jews can get to where the Ark of the Covenant once sat. They could go up to the Dome of the Rock but, since they are not sure where the Holy of Holies exactly was on the Temple Mount, they do not want to accidently walk over it and defile it, so they never go up to the Temple Mount. An elderly Jew with a long grey beard put his hands over his eyes as I entered the tunnel, only to raise them once I had passed. It saddens him to see unclean men enter near the Ark of the Covenant. "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped" (Isa. 35:5).

I'm not sure the status of my left eye in this shot, but behind me is the Western Wall and in the corner of the walls the Rabbinic Tunnel lies, a place where orthodox Jews pray continually.