June 1 Bet-El and Yad Vashem

Hillel Brenner teaching us from the best tour book: The Torah!

Our children joined others from our team to pick cherries in the hills of Benjamin this morning. More fulfillment of prophecy! Isaiah 61:5 “Foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.”

We traveled to Bet-El where we met Hillel who blessed us once again with insightful teaching on many portions of relevant scripture. We began on the top of a water tower which afforded us a 360 degree view of the area. We learned that because of Muslim snipers local Jewish people must drive 45 minutes between villages where they used to have a 10 minute drive. (We saw the sign: “No Jews on this Road”.) Annie Elliot has written, “The word of God came alive as Hillel shared about some of the kings of Israel who ruled in the region of Benjamin. A highlight was visiting the site where Jacob ‘came to a certain place’ and laid his head on a stone and had a dream. Jacob’s destiny and the destiny of the Jewish people were revealed as God said He was giving the entire land of Israel to him and his descendants forever (Genesis 28). Here we were, as a group of Christian Zionists, standing at that very place, 3,600 years later with Israel back in the land of her inheritance. The contention escalates today with those who  seek to divide God’s land (Joel 3:2), but God is watching over His word to perform it and we declare that every promise He has made to Israel will come to pass.” It is hard to believe that U.S. President Obama and others want to give all this land to the Muslims!

Did you know that Wadi Perat, an Israel Nature Park, is where the prophet Jeremiah was instructed by the Lord to buy a piece of land (Jeremiah 32: 13)? This amazingly beautiful area near Anatoth has picnic tables set up along a stream filled with fish that flows in the ravine. Dean and Chris from CBN did some very meaningful filming while sitting in the shade of some very large ancient trees. Our bus driver performed amazing driving feats getting us to and from the very deep ravine along a winding road with many hairpin curves. 

Following this exciting time, we traveled to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem. Here are our family’s immediate reactions after leaving the museum:

Dan - I never want to see that happen to the Jews again. I want to fight for/with them.

Kim - I am so grateful that my grandparents moved to Canada before the Holocaust as the Nazis swept through Ukraine killing Jews very near the place where they had lived.

Kristi - The persecution of the Jews actually started after Jesus’ death.

Kathleen - My desire to become a teacher is reinforced as I want to educate children to help prevent this from ever happening again. 

Karilyn - Now I understand why we are encouraged to say we are “Believers” rather than “Christians” to a Jewish person as they associate the name Christian with the persecution and death.

David - I don’t like to be reminded of these things.

John - Why didn’t the Jews fight back instead of going like lambs to the slaughter?

The museum was closed long before we were ready to leave. As we drove by the Old City of Jerusalem on our way back to Psagot, we saw thousands of youth marching on the streets from East Jerusalem to the Western Wall. At times the streets appeared to be a sea of white and blue. Lord may You “plant them in this land” as you have said in Jeremiah 32:41.