Shalom from Jerusalem!

It’s been said before, but today was a BIG day. In one 10-hour period, we went to the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock, the Western “Wailing” Wall, Hezekiah’s Tunnel, the Holocaust Museum, the Tomb Garden, and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. That being said, I cant expect to do today justice in a single blog post, but I’ll do my best.

Today we experienced a clash of ideologies and it was honestly pretty heavy. The Temple Mount has history tied to Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. The Dome of the Rock is an enormous cause of tension between the three religions, all of which claim the site as their own. The Western Wall, which is the wall of the Temple Mount closest to the Holiest of Holies, is covered in small pieces of paper, which are mostly prayers of Hasidic Jews trying to get as close as possible to God. Then the city of Bethlehem is surprisingly bereft of Christianity. I expected to go to the site of Jesus’ birth and see it surrounded by cheesy Christian gift shops and churches, but that was not the case. The city of Bethlehem seems almost entirely Islamic, and the small community of remaining Christians has to band together in order to make it.

As I went through the day, my faith was very much tested in a way that it has not been recently. We experienced so many people who ardently believe such different things, and I couldn’t help but realize that to them, I am just another guy who ardently believes something that could easily be dismissed as a cultural fairytale. So what makes us right? How can we have assurance that our path is the right path?

In light of these questions, I think it’s fitting that we got to visit the Holocaust Museum as a “break” from the Biblical sites. This may have been the hardest site yet for some in our group. The Museum accurately and graphically portrayed the events surrounding World War II, and it was a tough pill to swallow. The topic of the holocaust is always sobering, but today I saw something important. I saw how important ideology is. I saw how ideas are dangerous. I saw that there is right, and there is wrong. I saw how crucial it is for people like you and me to hold fast to the truth. The truth that God came as Christ incarnate, died, was buried, and ROSE to life. The truth that He has defeated death once for ALL. The truth that we don’t have to fight in order to get “closer” to God, because Christ lives in us. I saw a world that so desperately needs the truth – the Gospel.

We only have one more day of touring, but continue to keep us in your prayers. Pray for energy to finish the trip strong. Pray for the Lord to transform us through the land, and pray that the Lord may use our experience to transform other’s lives as well. Can’t wait to get back and see y’all soon!

-Christian Lipe