Israel

  The trip was going to be a tight fit but since I was going to be in Europe I decided to head

south and pay a little visit to Jerusalem. I would have liked to wander around the country but

with the intifada in its 3rd year the country is like an armed camp, plus the main things I

wished to accomplish were all in Jerusalem. What were the objectives on this reconnaissance

mission? One was to just get a feel for the place and the people while I could travel freely. I

figured most of the Holy Sites would be well developed since it has been 2000 years since

Jesus walked the land. But that was what I wanted to contemplate, what was it like for him to

walk about the city. Then I was looking to do some research on the Garden Tomb which is

located just outside the old city, and has a rock formation that looks like a skull, and is also

a potential crucifixion site. Then to go to the Temple Mount and get a feel for the area and

find some books on the history of the site. To stand on the Mount of Olives and look down on

the Old City and contemplate what happened there one night long ago.

 

  So knowing a little bit about security in Israel I decided it would be best not to tell the whole

truth, just a shorter version, without all the details. It came down to research for my book

which I didn't get into details on, and didn't bring any cards with the web site URL or

even mention that I had a web site. Also the Temple Mount was off limits, because I

figured telling security I was coming to check out the area for building the 3rd Temple

someday, would have gotten me a return flight that same day.

 

  So I left Sarajevo in the morning, for the Medjugorje part of the trip was over and a long day

of flying across Europe is what lay ahead, to Germany to Paris and back to Germany before

finally heading to Tel Aviv. While waiting in the line for the initial checks I was talking to some

Israelis and listening to how tired they are of the fighting. I felt sorry for them because they are

in the gun sights being surrounded by hostile people. I had to keep quiet, though I mentioned

that their time was coming and that soon God would come and give them peace, though I

didn't get into the harder issue that Israel was going to be converted to Christianity.

 

   Finally after all these years I was going to see Jerusalem, it was about 4:00 AM as the

lights of Tel Aviv were coming into view on the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. The

plane was parked some distance from the Terminal and there were Palm trees and a

beautiful young woman at the bottom of the stairs giving me the eye, while I figured who

she probably was I indulged for a moment that she was part of a welcoming committee.

But as I neared the ground it was very apparent that she wanted to say hello, and the reality

that she probably was a plain clothes  security agent was settling in, oh well it beats getting

grilled by some crusty old  guy anyway. I was a little weary from the long day and as she

pulled me aside and started her interrogation, she asked if I knew anyone in Israel and I

said yes, I know you. She didn't think it was funny and was not going to smile, so I just let

her grill me for the next 20 minutes until she passed me off to her supervisor. Never did get

her to smile, but she had a job to do, and I felt sorry that she had to do it. The supervisor

was a guy around 30, and he was even more fun, one line I repeated a few times was

I'm an American, we are on the same side. Eventually he let me go and the 2 other

lucky guys, an elderly gentleman, and a middle aged Franciscan monk.

 

  The sun was rising on my first day in Israel and I was curious to see where my hotel

was. I hadn't thought much about it when I chose the cheapest place I could find on the

internet, but I had begun to wonder where in the city the hotel was located and what

the neighborhood was like. The drive to Jerusalem was short and not to costly in a

airport shuttle van. The land is very arid, it reminded me of parts of Idaho with some

grass and small bushes, and rolling hills. Fortunately the hotel was in a nice

neighborhood. So I unloaded my bag and went looking for the Old City.

 

  The biggest problem I faced over there was the lack of tourists. Many of the shops

were closed and there was very little business in the others, the owners would come out

and beg you to come into their shop, and they were very forceful. Especially the first day

when I was a new face. On the way to the Old City, Hussein, an Arab Christian Taxi driver

spotted me and picked me up and I was on the Mount of Olives in a few minutes, I

bumped into Hussein a couple more times and did go to Bethlehem with him. The

town was empty and I had the Church of the Nativity to myself. Brand new Hotels were

closed and the people are hurting financially.

 

   I went to the Garden Tomb which is just outside the Damascus gate of the Old City.

I was looking for a site Ron Wyatt had been excavating, I wanted to see if I could verify

his claims about a church built around a crucifixion site. I found the site after talking to

the curator, but he wasn't giving enough information either way to come to a final

conclusion. Though I did get some more leads to check into.

 

   The trip was pretty uneventful I checked out the sites and picked up some books on

the Temple Mount and Jerusalem's history. On the last day I went to the base of the

Mount of Olives which has a large cemetery on it, the graves are ossuaries which are

stone coffins that look like large boxes, at the bottom is a large tomb/mausoleum of the

Prophet Zechariah. I spent some time there praying before going back up to the Jewish

quarter in the Old City to look for a Torah. While walking the narrow side streets I came

across a small shop with a sign, Third Temple, so I went in to see what was going on. A

heavy set older man was talking to a couple of College kids by a large model. I told them

there would be a 3rd Temple but that it wouldn't look like that and that it would be

Christian. He flew into a rage about "you Christian missionaries", "God doesn't speak

to you, only to the Jewish people". I told him I was a son of Abraham, he just kept on

ranting, the 2 guys thought it was funny, after some more yelling I told him I was a son

of David, but he wasn't listening and didn't want to talk, that was for sure. Oh well, never

really was any doubt in my mind about what kind of reception I was going to get anyway.

So little has changed.

 

   A warning for you if you travel to Israel when you leave they check all your baggage,

and not through a scanner, they open everyone's bag and do a very thorough inspection.

Which made me feel safe getting on the plane, but I felt sorry for them and the young

woman who escorted me to the waiting area was apologizing and I could feel her

pain and I wished I could make it better. I pray for Israel and know the day is coming

when God will break their hearts of stone and give them new ones and be with His

people again, and remember His covenants with the Patriarchs, from Ezekiel;

              11:19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take

                       the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:

Also visionary Sadie Jaramillo was told by the Jesus on 1/22/04 to read chapters 7, 8, & 9

from Ezekial;

7:1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

7:2 Also, thou son of man, thus says the Lord GOD unto the land

of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.

7:3 Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine

anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and

will recompense upon thee all thine abominations.

7:4 And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity:

but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations

shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

7:5 Thus says the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.

7:6 An end is come, the end is come: it watches for thee; behold, it is come.

7:7 The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwells in the land: the time

is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.

7:8 Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger

upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense

thee for all thine abominations.

7:9 And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee

according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee;

and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth.

7:10 Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone

forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.

7:11 Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them

shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs:

neither shall there be wailing for them.

7:12 The time is come, the day draws near: let not the buyer rejoice,

nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

7:13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold,

although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the

whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither

shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.

7:14 They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but

none goes to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

7:15 The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine

within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and

he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.

7:16 But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the

mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.

7:17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.

7:18 They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover

them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.

7:19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold

shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able

to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall

not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it

is the stumbling block of their iniquity.

7:20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty:

but they made the images of their abominations and of their

detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.

7:21 And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to

the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.

7:22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute

my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.

7:23 Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and

the city is full of violence.

7:24 Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they

shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the

strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.

7:25 Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.

7:26 Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumor shall be upon

rumor; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the

law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.

7:27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with

desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be

troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to

their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

8:1 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth [month],

in the fifth [day] of the month, [as] I sat in mine house, and

the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord

GOD fell there upon me.

8:2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire:

from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from

his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the

color of amber.

8:3 And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock

of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and

the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem,

to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north;

where [was] the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh

to jealousy.

8:4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel [was] there,

according to the vision that I saw in the plain.

8:5 Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the

way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward

the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this

image of jealousy in the entry.

8:6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what

they do? [even] the great abominations that the house of Israel

committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary?

but turn thee yet again, [and] thou shalt see greater

abominations.

8:7 And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I

looked, behold a hole in the wall.

8:8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and

when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.

8:9 And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked

abominations that they do here.

8:10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping

things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house

of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.

8:11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of

the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah

the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and

a thick cloud of incense went up.

8:12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the

ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in

the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us

not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.

8:13 He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, [and] thou shalt

see greater abominations that they do.

8:14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S

house which [was] toward the north; and, behold, there sat

women weeping for Tammuz.

8:15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen [this], O son of man?

turn thee yet again, [and] thou shalt see greater abominations

than these.

8:16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house,

and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the

porch and the altar, [were] about five and twenty men, with

their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces

toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.

8:17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen [this], O son of man?

Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the

abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the

land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger:

and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.

8:18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not

spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine

ears with a loud voice, [yet] will I not hear them.

9:1 He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause

them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every

man [with] his destroying weapon in his hand.

9:2 And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate,

which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon

in his hand; and one man among them [was] clothed with linen,

with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and

stood beside the brasen altar.

9:3 And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the

cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he

called to the man clothed with linen, which [had] the writer's

inkhorn by his side;

9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the

city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the

foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the

abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

9:5 And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him

through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither

have ye pity:

9:6 Slay utterly old [and] young, both maids, and little

children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom [is]

the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the

ancient men which [were] before the house.

9:7 And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts

with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in

the city.

9:8 And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was

left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord

GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring

out of thy fury upon Jerusalem?

9:9 Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel

and Judah [is] exceeding great, and the land is full of blood,

and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath

forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not.

9:10 And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will

I have pity, [but] I will recompense their way upon their head.

9:11 And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which [had] the

inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done

as thou hast commanded me.

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