Holy Land Tour
Pastor T.A. LaFave on the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem in the background, looking across the Kidron Valley.
An orthodox Jew prepares to pray at the Western Wall. Note the wearing of the phylacteries on the left arm and forehead.
Yours truly praying at The Wall. I have written a prayer, as is the custom, and am slipping it into a crack in the wall.
Prayer is made along The Wall, even underground. This site may have been closest to the Temple. Walking through here, I felt the power of God! It was my "holy moment"!
The Upper Room; this is a Crusader period church, built over the site of the original, Book of Acts upper room.
Here I stand at the Garden of Gethsemane. In the time of Christ, there was an olive press here, where Jesus often resorted to pray.
I am washing in the Pool of Siloam, where Jesus sent the blind man to wash the mud made from Christ's spittle from his eyes. Afterwards, he returned with his sight!
Beneath this marble slab is one of the most holy sites in Christendom. The manger where the baby Jesus lay is said to be underneath the hole.
The street in Old Jerusalem where Jesus walked to go to Caiaphas' house the night he was arrested and put on trial.
The "Valley of the Shadow of Death" , the traditional site for the valley so named in the 23rd Psalm. Note the deep shadow, which is always over the valley.
Beth Shean, destroyed by a terrible earthquake in the 7th century AD. Notice the damage; pillars which have toppled into the pavement of the street. They remain just as they fell.
This is the remains of a pagan altar, or bamah (high place) at Megiddo. Such places of worship would continue to be the bane of Israel after the conquest.
The summit of Mt. Carmel. Here, high atop the mountain, Elijah called down fire from heaven in a famous battle with the false prophets of Baal.
This is the church in Cana, built over the site of the house where Jesus performed his first miracle.
These are the archeaoligical remains of the house where Jesus was invited to a wedding in Cana. Here Jesus turned the water into wine.
This is Gideon's Spring. Here, God instructed Gideon to gather his army for a test; they were to drink from this spring, and God would chose those who would fight.
A reconstructed olive press, at the site of an original press in Hazor. The olives were placed in the basket, and the stone weights supplied the force to squeeze out the oil, which was collected in the circular stone drain.
The cave at Banias served as a grotto of Pan, and was an important cult center for the ancients. Today, neo-paganists seek to revive cult worship at this site.
The Golan Heights. This territory was captured by Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which she suffered a surprise attack and invasion by neighboring countries. Yours truly (Pastor T.A. LaFave) rides to victory!
We board ship for a ride on the Sea of Galilee. In the mountains behind lay the land of the Gadarenes, where Jesus cast the devils into a herd of pigs, who drowned in the sea!
Here I stand at the banks of the Jordan - it has been a long, long journey, and I still have miles to go!

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Pastor T.A. LaFave on the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem in the background, looking across the Kidron Valley.