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.