Easily pulled away

As we head into Jerusalem for the evening itʼs the first evening of Hanukkah. Today we left Galilee and went to Beth Shean. This was a significant site due to its location that controlled the route east to west. King Saul and his sons were killed close to hear and their bodies were brought here. The Romans arrived here and built an incredible city that we were able to go through and understand their influence. Brad taught about how the Romans influenced the locals and pulled many away from their faith. We were reminded how as Americans we fight the same battles and can be easily pulled away from our relationship with God. The world constantly wants us to conform and we saw how it happened thousands of years ago.

Next we went to Megiddo. Many civilizations used this area and it is still important and relevant. The big deal here is this is the Armageddon Valley where all the armies will one day converge to march on Jerusalem. There is an altar here that the Caananites used and a tunnel that King Ahab built. Later King Solomon built a city here as well. Mike Slayden taught us through Revelation what is in store for our world and Israel specifically.
We spent some time in Caesarea for our third stop.

King Herod built a sea port here that was the biggest in the world at the time. The ruins of his castle are still here and incredibly large and luxurious. It was here that Paul was imprisoned and appealed to Caesar. Itʼs incredible to think that Paul sat in a cell for his faith and was willing to die in order to preach the gospel while I was worry more about what Iʼm going to eat for dessert! Mark Snee brought an incredible message here of being willing to suffer for our faith. The way the Bible is coming to life is truly hard to describe and itʼs almost overwhelming to actually see and absorb the richness of this study tour. I canʼt wait to see what tomorrow holds!