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GEOLOGICAL AND TRIBULATION FEATURES ON ISRAELI TOUR PATHS

PART 7A

Dead Sea – Jerusalem and Environs – Normal Seventh Day of Tours

Part 1 of 2 Parts

The first part of the morning is what I must confess I call “the Catholic pilgrimage tour!” The view of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives starts it off, and then we are whisked from Catholic Church to Catholic Church for the rest of the morning. I think your will find it interesting and informative, but it is not my favorite part of the tour. I will pick up the tour at the Garden of Gethsemane.

Garden of Gethsemane

Gethsemane (Lit. “oil press”) is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem believed to be the place where Jesus and his disciples prayed the night before Jesus’ crucifixion.

According to Luke 22:43–44, Jesus’ anguish in Gethsemane was so deep that “his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” According to Orthodox tradition, Gethsemane is the garden where

the Apostles buried the Virgin Mary.

Gethsemane appears in the Greek of the Gospels (Matthew 26:36 and Mark 14:32) as Γεθσημανι (Gethsēmani). The name is derived from the Aramaic גת שמנא (Gaṯ-Šmānê), meaning “oil press”. The Gospel of Mark (14:32) calls it chorion, “a place” or “estate”; The Gospel of John (18:1) speaks of it as kepos, a “garden” or “orchard.”

The garden identified as Gethsemane is located at the foot of the Mount of Olives, in the Kidron Valley. Overlooking the garden is the Church of All Nations, also known as the Church of the Agony, built on the site of a church destroyed by the Sassanids in 614, and a Crusader church destroyed in 1219.

Nearby is the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Mary Magdalene with its golden, onion-shaped domes (Byzantine/Russian style), built by Russian Tsar Alexander III in memory of his mother.

The Garden of Gethsemane was a focal site for early Christian pilgrims. It was visited in 333 by the anonymous “Pilgrim of Bordeaux”, whose Itinerarium Burdigalense is the earliest description left by a Christian traveler in the Holy Land. In his Onomasticon, Eusebius of Caesarea notes the site of Gethsemane located “at the foot of the Mount of Olives”, and he adds that “the faithful were accustomed to go there to pray”.

THE POOL OF SILOAM

Excerpt from MSNBC.com

Remains of ‘miracle’ pool identified

Siloam Pool was where Jesus was said to cure blind

The Associated Press

December 23, 2004

JERUSALEM – Archaeologists in Jerusalem have identified the remains of the Siloam Pool, where the Bible says Jesus miraculously cured a man’s blindness, researchers said Thursday — underlining a stirring link between the works of Jesus and ancient Jewish rituals.

The archaeologists are slowly digging out the pool, where water still runs, tucked away in what is now the Arab neighborhood of Silwan. It was used by Jews for ritual immersions for about 120 years until the year 70, when

the Romans destroyed

the Jewish Temple.

Many of Jesus’ acts are directly linked to Jewish rituals, and the miracle of the blind man is an example.

According to the Bible, the man was undergoing ritual immersion in the Siloam Pool for entry into the Temple compound, and Jesus used the occasion to cure his blindness.

‘100 percent sure’

In the last four months, archaeologists have revealed the pool’s 50-yard (50-meter) length and a channel that brought in water from the Silwan spring. In the past week, a section of stone road that led from the pool to the Jewish Temple was uncovered.

“The moment that we revealed and discovered this four months ago, we were 100 percent sure it was the Siloam Pool,” said archaeologist Eli Shukron.

“We know today that the Siloam Pool is connected to the Temple Mount. There is a road that connects the two elements.

The entire system is clearer today,” Shukron said.

Stephen Pean, a Bible scholar, said the pool’s waters were considered so pristine they could purify even a leper.

Pean said Jesus likely chose to cure the blind man using the purest water available, because people with any disabilities were barred from the temple.

“The whole point is that people will not only be healed physically but also healed spiritually,” he said. “This discovery helps bring the Gospel alive in the context of Jewish practice.”

Artifacts confirm identification

The archaeologists excavating the site are with the Israeli government’s Antiquities Authority. They found biblical-era coins marked with ancient Jewish writing, along with pottery shards and a stone bottle cork — helping them confirm the area was the Siloam Pool.

The stone-lined pool has steps leading into it from all sides, said Ronny Reich, a University of Haifa archaeologist.

One side of the pool, two corners, a part of the esplanade around it and the water channel leading to it have been uncovered, he said.

Jesus, according to the New Testament, put clay on a blind man’s eyes and then sent him to wash them out in the pool’s purifying waters, giving him sight.

Jews, who traditionally made three pilgrimages a year to Jerusalem, would immerse themselves in the Siloam Pool before heading down the stone pathway to the temple. They also used the pool for drinking water and camped around it.

“Jesus was a pilgrim in Jerusalem … so this would be a natural place for him to be … enjoying the water supply,” Reich said.

The Israeli Antiquities Authority is negotiating with the Greek Orthodox Church, which owns the land, to continue the dig. Archaeologists believe the pool is under the thick green covering of an overgrown vegetable garden and several large trees.

Nine-foot-tall (3-meter-tall) stone walls topped by old sewage and drainage pipes separate the new discovery and the pool’s stone steps, uncovered in the 1960s.

Now archaeologists hope to remove the old pipes and connect the esplanade and water channel to the steps that lead into the pool.

“Here we can judge and see how large it is — the grandeur of the city in those days,” Reich said.

Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu

The name given to this church records the episode in which Peter denied the Master three times after the crow of the rooster. The actual church, consecrated in 1931 and belonging to the Assumptionists of Catholic denornination, rises over the ruins of a preexistent Byzantine basilica. Someone has hypothesised that this was the site of the house of the High Priest Caiaphas, but it has not as of yet been confirmed. What has been brought to light meanwhile, is a beautiful street of steps called the Maccabean Stairs, which in the first century A. D. must have joined Mount Zion to the valley of the Kidron.

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Obama’s CHARM WON’T WORK ON Islam-Russia-China!

Obama’s CHARM Offensive WORKED WELL ON Americans,

Because we have religious freedom in a world OF Darkness!

It Won’t Work on Islamic Faith because it’s a Darkness Doctrine,

Mullahs are wiser than the children of light in the way of the Flesh!

We are dealing with men who believe charm is true sign of Weakness,

They are filled with Satan’s spiritual darkness and truly believe It’s Light,

In this Age of the Gentiles Mullahs believe Islamic MIGHT is the ONLY Right!

Obama’s charm will be instrumental in leading to A TRUCE FOLLOWED by War,

Which Seems Most Likely to Begin at Some Point in Time between 2010 & 2015!

March 6, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The two excerpts which follow give a most accurate description of what America is now facing in ever growing threats from our international enemies. And to lead us against this array of spiritual darkness in high places, we have elected a first term senator as president to lead us to victory militarily on the world stage as he spends our financial reserves to make us prosperous.

Speeches, smiles, charm, and crooked politicians will bring Armageddon. From a prophetic prospective I think it is most exciting, and I look forward to prophetic fulfillment that will reveal just how close we are to a full blown Middle East War.

Mullahs, as children of this world, do not have their eye fixed singly on Christ and, as such, they are filled with the darkness of the evil one, seeing evil as good, and good as evil through evil eyes. They are wise in the ways of the world, but not in the way of Jesus. Obama is dealing with men and women who love darkness rather than light. Because they hate the light they hate us, because their deeds are evil. I assure you this will not change until the Second Advent of Christ.

Ephesians 6:12 – For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Luke 16:8 – And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

Matthew 6:22,23 – The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. [23] But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

John 3:18-21 – He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [19] And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. [20] For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. [21] But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

The following excerpts are quite descriptive of what America faces lead by a first term Senator President preaching “change” – Nothing is going to change man’s character until the Second Advent.

Begin Excerpt 1 from The Australian

Mullahs can’t be charmed

Iran and Syria are snubbing Obama’s overtures,

Observes Jonathan Spyer

March 04, 2009

Article from: The Australian

BARACK Obama, in his recent speech to Congress, coined a phrase that handily sums up the essence of his administration’s emerging approach to the Middle East region: “In words and deeds,” the President said, “we are showing the world that a new era of engagement has begun.”

This latest declaration joins Obama’s earlier statement that “if countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us”.

The new policy is one of outreach to enemies. Among other things, it involves reduced pressure and attempts at dialogue with Iran, as well as what looks like an extended courtship of the Assad regime in Syria.

In words and deeds, the response of these countries to the Obama approach is also becoming apparent.

In February, Iran carried out two high-profile acts indicating that its drive to achieve a nuclear weapons capability has — so far at least — failed to be swayed by the new era.

On February 2, Tehran announced that it had successfully launched

its first satellite into orbit. The launch was testimony to the advances made by Tehran’s long-range ballistic missile program.

It was also testimony to the importance the Iranian regime attaches to acts of open defiance and demonstrations of strength.

On February 25, Iran revealed that it is to begin a test run of its Russian-built light water reactor at Bushehr.

The plant, which began construction in 1998, is due to begin functioning in the first half of this year.

Russia has resisted international calls to suspend involvement. The test run, which coincides with a visit to Tehran of the head of Russia’s state atomic energy corporation, represents an additional message from the Iranians regarding their position on the relative importance of extended hands and clenched fists.

Below the radar screen, there is concern at the increasing opacity of the Iranian nuclear program. The Iranians have chosen a unique interpretation of their obligations vis-a-vis the International Atomic Energy Agency and its investigations. More and more, Iran simply declines to provide information. The result is that there are now real fears that a secret uranium enrichment site in addition to the site at Natanz may have been constructed. Regarding the not-yet-operating heavy water plant at Arak, again, Iran is simply refusing to answer questions. The Iranians’ impunity derives from a probably correct reading of the present international atmosphere.

The courting of Syria, meanwhile, is showing no signs of being knocked off track by the latest revelations from the IAEA regarding just what it was that the Israeli air force bombed at al-Kibar in September 2007. A recent report from the agency dismissed Syrian attempts to claim that traces of uranium found at the site were residue left by Israeli munitions.

Inspectors have complained that Syria is denying access to parts of the site and has failed to provide requested documentation concerning the site’s use.

Syrian spokesmen have explained the reluctance to grant access as deriving from fears that Israel may try to use information provided to gain knowledge of Syrian military installations. As if on cue, and in the latest evidence of the Syrian regime’s feline sense of humour, a missile facility has now appeared at the site bombed in 2007. The facility, apart from defending Syrian skies from its enemies, will no doubt serve an additional function as a reason why the site cannot be made open to inspectors from the IAEA.

Despite all this, the charm offensive is continuing. In addition to three high-profile congressional delegations to Damascus, a series of quieter gestures are signalling to the Syrians that the sanctions regime put in place by the previous US administration may discreetly be wound down.

The US Treasury Department last week permitted $US500,000 ($780,000) to be transferred to a Syrian charity. The Department of Commerce approved the supplying of spare parts to Syria’s superannuated Boeing 747 aircraft, and so on.

Thus far deeds. In terms of words, the picture does not differ greatly. The Syrians were reputedly angered by a suggestion from congressman Benjamin Cardin during the visit of the first congressional delegation that Damascus might share some responsibility for its international isolation because of its “partnership of terrorism”. An editorial in the al-Watan newspaper described such remarks as “far from the Arab, international and American reality”.

The newspaper succinctly summarised Syria’s position as follows: “The Syrians are looking forward to a change in American policy, not to a change in Syrian policy.”

Iranian spokesmen have struck a similar tone. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi responded to Obama’s earlier declaration by contending that Iran had “never clenched its fists”. Rather, it was the Bush administration that had shown its “clenched fist to Mid-East nations”.

The new era of engagement thus appears so far to be providing the Iranians with valuable leeway for the pursuit of their nuclear ambitions, and the Syrians with similar space to avoid being brought to account for their own, apparently now discontinued program. In addition, the new era is giving the spokesmen of both dictatorships plenty of opportunity for engaging in the scolding and proclamations of moral superiority of which they are fond.

It is unlikely that this is what the new US President had in mind. It is therefore probable that the new era will be an unusually short one.

Jonathan Spyer is a senior research fellow at the Global Research in International Affairs Centre.

Begin Excerpt 2 from Wall Street Journal

Obama’s Iran Crisis

It’ s arriving fa

ster than he thinks.

March 4, 2009

As a Presidential candidate, Barack Obama called a nuclear Iran “a grave threat” and said “the world must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.” But he also called for direct, high-level talks in the hopes that the mullahs could be persuaded to abandon their nuclear dreams.

We’ve never held out much hope for those talks, which would inevitably be complicated and protracted. Mr. Obama is already trying to lure Russian help on Iran by offering to trade away hard-earned missile defense sites in Eastern Europe. Russia’s President claims to be unimpressed. And now it turns out that the rate at which Iran’s nuclear programs are advancing may render even negotiations moot.

That’s a fair conclusion from the latest report by the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency. Among other disclosures, the IAEA found that Iran has produced more than 1,000 kilograms of low enriched uranium (LEU), enough for a single bomb’ s worth of uranium after further enrichment.

The IAEA also found that Iran had underreported its stock of LEU by about 200 kilograms, which took the agency by surprise partly because it only checks Iran’s stockpile once a year. This is the basis for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Michael Mullen’s weekend acknowledgment that the U.S. believes Iran has enough fissile material to make a bomb.

Iran now possesses 5,600 centrifuges in which it can enrich uranium — a 34-fold increase from 2006 — and plans to add 45,000 more over five years. That will give Tehran an ability to make atomic bombs on an industrial scale. Iran has also announced that it plans to begin operating its Russian-built reactor at Bushehr sometime this spring. That reactor’s purposes are ostensibly civilian, but it will eventually produce large quantities of spent fuel that can covertly be processed into weapons-usable plutonium.

That’s not all.

The IAEA says its inspectors have been denied access to a heavy water reactor in Arak, and that Iran has put a roof over the site “rendering impossible the continued use of satellite imagery to monitor further construction inside the reactor building.” Most proliferation experts agree that the Arak reactor, scheduled for completion in 2011, can have no purpose other than to produce weapons-grade plutonium.

True to form, Iran continues to deny the IAEA access to other parts of its nuclear programs, including R&D facilities and uranium mines. “Regrettably,” says the report, “as a result of the continued lack of cooperation by Iran in connection with the remaining issues which give rise to concerns about possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear programme, the Agency has not made any substantive progress on these issues.”

The report contains much more of this. It is the latest in a long line of reports that should have sounded alarms but instead have accustomed the world to conclude that a nuclear Iran is something we’ll just have to live with. Well, not the entire world: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned last week that “time is slipping through our fingers” when it comes to stopping Tehran.

“What is needed,” he added, “is a two-pronged course of action which includes ironclad, strenuous sanctions . . . and a readiness to consider options in the event that these sanctions do not succeed.”

Nobody — Mr. Obama least of all — can doubt what Mr. Barak means by “options.” Nor should the Administration doubt that an Israeli strike, however necessary and justified, could put the U.S. in the middle of a broader Middle East war.

If Mr. Obama wants to avoid a security crisis in the first year of his watch, he will have to get serious about Iran now.

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GEOLOGICAL AND TRIBULATION FEATURES ON ISRAELI TOUR PATHS

PART 6B

Jerusalem and Bethlehem – Normal Sixth Day of Tours in two Parts

Part 2 of 2 Parts on Day 6

Bethlehem Portion

Bethlehem (Arabic: Bayt Lahm meaning “House of Meat” and Hebrew: Bet Lehem meaning “House of Bread”) is a Palestinian city in Israel’s West B ank

and a hub of Palestinian cultural and tourism industries. It is home to one of largest Palestinian Christian communities in the Middle East.

Bethlehem lies 6 miles (10 km) south of Jerusalem, standing at an elevation of about 765m above the sea, thus 30m higher than Jerusalem.

The Bethlehem agglomeration also covers the small towns of Beit Jala and Beit Sahour. The latter has biblical importance as the reputed site of the “Shepherds’ Field.”

The city has great significance to the Christian religion as it is believed to be the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth. The traditional site of Rachel’s tomb, which is important in Judaism, lies at the city’s outskirts. The Church of the Nativity, built by Saint Helena, mother of Constantine the Great (330 A.D.), stands in the center of Bethlehem over a grotto or cave called the Holy Crypt, which according to Chr istian tradition,

is the place where Jesus was born. This is perhaps the oldest existing Christian church in the world. A monastic center for centuries, nearby is the grotto where Saint Jerome

the Latin father and Doctor of the Church, is said to have spent 30 years of his life translating the Scriptures into Latin.

Some researchers dispute the authenticity of this town as Jesus’ birthplace, supporting instead a town of the same name in Galilee.

However, for two thousand years Christian tradition has sanctified Bethlehem of Judea as the holy birthplace.

The city of Bethlehem, located in the “hill country” of Judah, was originally called Ephrath (Genesis 35:16, 19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11). It was also called Beth-lehem Ephratah (Micah 5:2), Beth-lehem-judah (1 Samuel 17:12), and “the city of David” (Luke 2:4).

It is first noticed in Scripture as the place where Rachel died and was buried “by the wayside,” directly to the north of the city (Genesis 48:7). The valley to the east was the scene of the story of Ruth the Moabitess. There are the fields in which she gleaned, and the path by which she and Naomi returned to the town.

Here was David’s birthplace, and here also, in after years, he was anointed as king by Samuel (1 Samuel 16:4-13); and it was from the well of Bethlehem that three of his heroes brought water for him at the risk of their lives when he was in the cave of Adullam (2 Samuel 23:13-17). The town was fortified by Rehoboam, David’s grandson and first king of Judah after the division of the state between Israel and Judah (II Chronicles 11).

Bethlehem, however, is distinguished above every other city as the birthplace of “Him whose goings forth have been of old” (Matthew 2:6; comp. Micah 5:2)—Jesus the Christ. Afterwards Herod, “when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men,” sent and slew “all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under” (Matthew 2:16, 18; Jeremiah 31:15).

The city was devestated during Bar Kokhba’s revolt, (the Second Jewish Revolt) of 132-135 C.E., with the Romans setting up a shrine to Adonis on the site of the Nativity. Only in 326 was the first Christian church constructed, when Helena, the mother of the first Christian emperor, Constantine, visited Bethlehem.

During the Samaritan revolt of 529, Bethlehem was sacked and its walls and the Church of the Nativity destroyed, but they were soon rebuilt on the orders of the Emperor Justinian. In 614, the Persians invaded Palestine and captured Bethlehem.

A story recounted in later sources holds that they refrained from destroying the Church of the Nativity on seeing the magi depicted in Persian clothing in one of the mosaics.

Arab rule and the Crusades

In 637, shortly after Jerusalem was captured by the Muslim armies, the Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab visited Bethlehem and promised that the Church of the Nativity would be preserved for Christian use.

In 1099, Bethlehem was captured by the Crusaders, who fortified it and built a new monastery and cloister on the north side of the Church of the Nativity. Until that time, the Official Christian presence in the Holy Land had been Greek Orthodox, who were removed from their Sees and replaced with Latin clerics. The town prospered under their rule.

On Christmas Day 1100 Baldwin I, first king of the Frankish Kingdom of Jerusalem, was crowned in Bethlehem, and that year a Latin episcopate was also established in the town.

In the 1160s the nave of the Church of the Nativity was redecorated with mosaics showing the councils of the church. An ally of King Amalric I of Jerusalem, emperor Manuel I Comnenus of Byzantium, was one of the patrons of the work. On the south wall, an inscription in Greek reads: “the present work was finished by Ephraim the monk, painter and mosaicist, in the reign of the great emperor Manuel Porphyrogenitos Comnenus and in the time of the great king of Jerusalem, Amalric.” Interestingly, the emperor’s name was placed first, in recognition of his role as overlord and protector of the Crusaders at the time.

In 1187, Saladin captured Bethlehem from the Crusaders, and the Latin clerics were forced to leave, while the Greek Orthodox clergy were allowed to return. Saladin agreed to the return of two Latin priests and two deacons in 1192. However, the town suffered from the loss of the pilgrim trade. Bethlehem was briefly returned to Crusader control by treaty between 1229 and 1244.

In 1250, with the coming to power of Rukn al-Din Baibars, tolerance of Christianity declined, clergy left the town, and in 1263 the walls of the town were demolished. The Latin clergy returned to the town over the following century, establishing themselves in the monastery adjoining the Basilica, whose control they shared with the Latins and the Armenians. In 1347 the Franciscans gained possession of

the Grotto of the Nativity as well as the right to administer and maintain the Basilica.

RACHEL’S TOMB

Rachel’s Tomb, (Dome of Rachel), is the traditional gravesite of the Biblical Matriarch Rachel and is widely considered the third holiest site in Judaism. It is located in the central West Bank on the outskirts of Bethlehem.

Location and dimensions

On the outskirts of Canaan, Rachel, wife of Jacob, went into a difficult labour with her second son, Benjamin. She died during childbirth on Cheshvan 11.[1] The Bible records the event:

“And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day.” — Genesis 35:19-20

Today, along the biblical Bethlehem-Ephrath road, adjacent to the Israeli neighbourhood of Gilo at the northern entrance to Bethlehem, stands an ancient tomb traditionally believed to be that

of Rachel. This location is mentioned by Jewish travelers since c1300.

The tomb located within the complex

The actual tomb consists of a rock with 11 stones upon it, one for each of the 11 sons of Jacob who were alive when Rachel died in childbirth. Over the centuries, the rock was covered by a dome supported by four arches. In 1841, Sir Moses Montefiore was granted permission by the Ottoman Turks to restore the tomb. He built the large, two-room building seen today. A month before he died at Tamuz in 1885, he pledged to have it renovated and the dome structure was eventually enclosed by Sir Moses Montefiore, who added a second room. The dome was fortified and enclosed inside a building with a hall from the entrance in the 1990s, due to the deteriorating security situation.

In 1864, the Sefardi Jews of Bombay donated the necessary money to dig a well. Although Rachel’s Tomb is only an hour and a half walk from the Old City of Jerusalem, many pilgrims found themselves very thirsty and unable to obtain fresh water.

Others contend that Rachel’s Tomb is located in northern Jerusalem at a site local Arabs call “the grave of the sons of Israel” which is near present day A-Ram, the site of Biblical Ramah. The place is mentioned in the “Prophets” section of the Hebrew Bible as the site of Rachel’s burial when King Saul visits the site, in I Samuel 10:2. Later Jewish sources take the site near Bethlehem as the real site.

History

During the Jordanian period (1948-1967), Jews were forbidden to visit the tomb despite assurances in the 1949 Armistice Agreements.

Recently, the site has been surrounded by a barrier to separate it from Bethlehem. Access is now restricted to pilgrims and tourists approaching from Israel.

WALKING THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM

There are many places from which you can get excellent views of the Old City of Jerusalem from above, but one of the best is by taking a stroll along the walls and ramparts of the city. The Old City of Jerusalem is surrounded by a few kilometers of walls that at some points reach as far as 15 meters above the streets below. While you cannot walk a complete circle around the city, the part behind Haram ash-Sharif is closed for understandable security reasons, you can still walk about three-quarters of the walls and that is plenty to give you some spectacular sights of all the major sights in the Old City.

The walls are divided into a northern section and a southern section. The northern section is the better half, giving you better views of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Dome of the Rock, but the southern section also provides good views of the Armenian Quarter and the Mount of Olives.

Also, because your ticket is good for both as well as good for up to three days, it is possible two split up the ramparts into two different days. The entrance for both the southern and northern parts is at Jaffa Gate, but you can also join the walk at Damascus Gate. Those are the only entrances, but you can descend whenever you wish.

Along the northern section you will get good views of the New City of Jerusalem as well of the Christian Quarter, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer.

Once you hit Damascus Gate, which has excellent views from the top, you will be in the heart of the Muslim quarter with the opportunity for some spectacular shots of the Dome of the Rock.

The southern road is a bit quieter, but along the way you will get some nice vantage points on top of the numerous buttresses scattered along the ramparts, such as the view of Armenian Cemetery.

The walk is not too strenuous, but does require a good bit of up and down, as well as some navigating of narrow steps,

but it is definitely worth it and is sure to provide you with some of your most memorable views of Jerusalem.

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In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to:

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NATO Union is now degenerating into a crumbling mess at Best!

Turkey Switching Trains Climbing on to Moscow Express,

While keeping a Toe Hold as one of Daniel’ 10 Toes,

Following Revelation Dragon as far as it Goes,

As one of its horns Turks will be Exposed,

NATO compromise with Russia Grows!

Revelation 12:3 –And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

The Western World thought dialog and diplomacy with Adolph Hitler’s National Socialistic Party would end in a peaceful solution in the late thirties of the previous century, and was the best way to achieve it. But dialog and diplomacy was taken as a sign of weakness and fear, which led to World War II, and the Nazi methodology of solving “the Jewish problem.”

The Western World thinks dialog and diplomacy with Russia and Islamic Radical nations will end in a peaceful solution in the early teens of this century. But to the Russians and Islam it is taken as a sign of weakness and fear, which will lead to the final war of the Age of the Gentiles, and the attempt by Islam to solve “the Jewish problem.”

The two excerpts from the Asia Times, and the International Herald Tribune, point out the decline of NATO’s power it is losing by compromise in substituting dialog and diplomacy for a show of force and resolve.

March 5, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Begin Excerpt from Asia Times via World News

Turkey hops aboard Russia’s ride

By F William Engdahl

March 4, 2009

Despite the impact of the rouble’ s in

stability and weak oil prices on the Russian economy in recent months , Moscow is pursuing a very active foreign policy

strategy. Its elements focus on countering the continuing North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) encirclement policy of Washington, with often clever diplomatic initiatives on its Eurasian periphery. Taking advantage of the cool relations between Washington and longtime NATO ally Turkey, Moscow recently invited Turkish President Abdullah Gul to come to Russia on a four-day state visit to discuss a wide array of economic and political issues.

In addition to siding up to Turkey, which offers a vital transit route for natural gas to Western Europe, Russia is also working to firm an economic space with Belarus and other former Soviet republics to firm its alliances. Moscow delivered a major blow to the US military encirclement strategy in Central Asia when it succeeded
last month in convincing Kyrgyzstan, with the help of major financial aid, to cancel US military airbase rights at Manas, a site of great importance to Washington’s escalation plans in Afghanistan.

In short, Moscow is demonstrating it is far from out of the new “Great Game” where influence over Eurasia is concerned.

Turkey’s government, led by Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, has shown increasing impatience with not only Washington policies in the Middle East, but also the refusal of the European Union to seriously consider Turkey’s bid to join. So it’s only natural that Turkey would seek some counterweight to what it has perceived as overwhelming US influence in Turkish pol

itics since the Cold War. And Russia’s leaders have no problems opening such a dialogue, much to Washington’s dismay.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul paid a four-day visit to the Russian Federation from February 12 to 15, where he met with President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and also travelled to Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, where he discussed joint investments. Gul was accompanied by his state minister responsible for foreign trade and minister of energy, Hilmi Guler, as well as a large delegation of Turkish businessmen. Foreign Minister Ali Babacan joined the delegation.

Visit to Tatarstan

The fact that Gul’s Moscow visit also included a stop in Tatarstan, the largest autonomous republic in the Russian Federation, whose population mainly consists of Muslim Tatar Turks, is a sign of just how much relations between Ankara and Moscow have improved in recent months as Turkey cooled to Washington’s foreign policy. In previous years, Moscow was convinced that Turkey was trying to establish Pan-Turanism in the Caucasus, Central Asia and inside the Russian Federation. Today, Turkish relations with Turk entities inside the Russian Federation are clearly no longer considered suspicious, confirming a new mood of mutual trust.

Indicating the value Moscow now attaches to Turkey, Russia elevated Gul’s trip from the previously announced status of an “official visit” to a “state visit”, the highest level of state protocol. Gul and Medvedev also signed a joint declaration announcing their commitment to deepening mutual friendship and multi-dimensional cooperation. The declaration mirrored a previous “Joint Declaration on the Intensification of Friendship and Multidimensional Partnership”, which was signed during a 2004 visit by then-president Putin.

Turkish-Russian economic ties have greatly expanded over the past decade, with trade volumes reaching US$32 billion in 2008, making Russia Turkey’s biggest trade partner. Given this background, bilateral economic ties were a major item on Gul’s agenda and both leaders expressed their satisfaction with

the growing commerce between their countries.

Cooperation in energy is the major issue. Turkey’s gas and oil imports from Russia account for most of the trade volume. According to Russian press reports, indicate that the two sides are interested in improving cooperation in energy transportation lines carrying Russian g as to European markets through Turkey, a project known

as Blue Stream-2.

Previously Ankara had been cool to the proposal but the recent completion of the Russian Blue Stream gas pipeline under the Black Sea increased Turkey’s dependence on Russian natural gas from 66% up to 80%. Furthermore, Russia is beginning to see Turkey as a transit country for its energy resources rather than simply an export market, due to the significance of Blue Stream-2.

Russia is also eager to play a major role in Turkey’s attempts to diversify its energy sources. A Russian-led consortium won the tender for the construction of Turkey’s first nuclear plant recently, but as the price offered for electricity was above world prices, the future of the project, which is awaiting parliamentary approval, remains unclear. Prior to Gul’s Moscow trip, the Russian consortium submitted a revised offer, reducing the price by 30%. If this revision is found legal under the tender rules, the positive mood during Gul’s trip may indicate the Turkish government is ready to give the go-ahead for the project.

Russia’s market also plays a major role for Turkish overseas investments and exports. Russia is one of the main customers for Turkish construction firms and a major destination for Turkish exports. Similarly, millions of Russian tourists bring significant revenues to Turkey every year.

Importantly, Turkey and Russia may start to use the Turkish lira and the Russian rouble in foreign trade, which could increase Turkish exports to Russia, as well as weaken dependence on dollar mediation.

Post-Cold War tensions reduced

However, the main reason for Gul’s visit was to develop stronger political ties between the two. Both leaders repeated the position that, as the two major powers in the area, cooperation between Russia and Turkey was essential to regional peace and stability. That marked a dramatic change from the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when Washington encouraged Ankara to move into historically Ottoman regions of the former Soviet Union to counter Russia’s influence.

Then, in sharp contrast to the tranquility of the Cold War era, talk of regional rivalries, revived ‘Great Games’ in Eurasia and confrontations in the Caucasus and Central Asia were common. Turkey, as in the 19th century, was becoming once more Russia’s natural geopolitical rival. Turkey’s quasi-alliance with Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Georgia until recently led Moscow to view Ankara as a formidable rival. The regional military balance developed in favor of Turkey in the Black Sea and the Southern Caucasus. And after the disintegration of the USSR, the Black Sea became a de facto “NATO lake”. As Russia and Ukraine argued over the division of the Black Sea fleet and status of Sevastopol, the Black Sea became an area for NATO’S Partnership for Peace exercises.

By contrast, at the end of the latest Moscow visit, Gul declared, “Russia and Turkey are neighboring countries that are developing their relations on the basis of mutual confidence. I hope this visit will in turn give a new character to our relations.” Russia praised Turkey’s diplomatic initiatives in the region.

Medvedev commended Turkey’s actions during the Russian-Georgian war last summer and Turkey’s subsequent proposal for the establishment of a Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform (CSCP). The Russian president said the Georgia crisis had shown their ability to deal with such problems on their own without the involvement of outside powers, meaning Washington.

Turkey had proposed the CSCP, bypassing Washington and not seeking transatlantic consensus on Russia. Since then, Turkey has indicated its intent to follow a more independent foreign policy.

Russia aims to use its economic resources to counter the growing NATO encirclement, made more severe by Washington’s decision to place missile and radar bases in Poland and the Czech Republic aimed at Moscow. To date the Obama administration has indicated it will continue the Bush “missile defense” policy. Washington also just agreed to place US Patriot missiles in Poland, clearly not aimed at Germany, but at Russia.

Following Gul’s visit, Medvedev will go to Turkey to follow up the issues with concrete cooperation proposals. The Turkish-Russian cooperation is a further indication of how the once overwhelming US influence in Eurasia has been eroded by the events of recent US foreign policy in the region.

Washington is waking up to find it is now confronted with Sir Halford Mackinder’s “worst nightmare”. Mackinder, the “father” of 20th century British geopolitics, stressed the importance of Britain (and after 1945, the US) preventing strategic cooperation among the great powers of Eurasia.

F William Engdahl is author of A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order (Pluto Press) and Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation (www.globalresearch.ca ). His new book, Full Spectrum Dominance: Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order (Third Millennium Press) is doe for release in late spring 2009. He may be reached via his website: www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net .

Begin Excerpt from International Herald Tribune

NATO agrees to revive Russia relations

By Mark Landler

Thursday, March 5, 2009

BRUSSELS: Prodded by the Obama administration, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization agreed on Thursday to resume high-level consultations with Russia, six months after they had been suspended following Moscow’s military offensive against Georgia in August.

The decision came at a meeting of foreign ministers from NATO countries that served as a debut for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton called for a “fresh start” with Russia, even though Washington refuses to recognize two breakaway Georgian territories that prompted the war.

“It is time to move ahead, not wait in place with illusion that things will change on their own” Clinton said in a speech to the ministers. “It is time for realism, as well as hope.”

Clinton said there were areas in which NATO and Russia could work together, including Afghanistan, fighting the drug trade and confronting nuclear proliferation, particularly in Iran and North Korea.

On Afghanistan, Clinton proposed holding a major conference on March 31 involving the regional players and convened by the United Nations. It was not immediately clear whether Iran would be invited to attend the meeting, though Clinton told reporters Wednesday that Iran, as a neighbor, had a role to play in the stabilization of Afghanistan.

“We hope that this meeting could provide an opportunity to reach a common set of principles,” Clinton said.

The United States, which has called for a “reset” in relations between the United States and Russia, worked to achieve a consensus among NATO members on resuming talks with Russia. American diplomats persuaded Lithuania, the last holdout among NATO members, to go along rather than demand further debate at a NATO summit in early April.

The NATO secretary-general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said the resumption of high-level consultations did not mean that the alliance would drop its objections to Russia’s plan to build military bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the two breakaway territories.

“It’s not a fair-weather forum, and the weather is certainly not fair,” de Hoop Scheffer said, referring to the NATO-Russia Council.

De Hoop Scheffer declined to comment on Obama’s proposal to President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia that the United States drop its deployment of a missile defense system in Eastern Europe if Russia agreed to cooperate in the campaign against Iran’s nuclear program.

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GEOLOGICAL AND TRIBULATION FEATURES ON ISRAELI TOUR PATHS

PART 6A

Jerusalem

and Bethlehem – Normal Sixth Day of Tours in two Parts

Part 1 of 2 Parts on Day 6

Jerusalem Portion

Mount Zion

The modern Mt. Zion is a misnomer applied by Byzantine pilgrims who thought that the larger, flatter Western Hill must be the original City of David.

Archaeological evidence has shown that this hill was only incorporated within the city’s fortifications in the 8th century B.C. but the name has stuck. The Hinnom Valley borders this hill on its western and southern sides

The Upper Room and David’s Tomb

The room v isited by tour

ists today is a Crusader structure as evidenced by the architecture. On the first floor below this room is the traditional tomb of David. The location of this “tomb” outside of the City of David precludes its authenticity but some suggest that evidence in the “tomb” indicates an early Jewish-Christian presence (or synagogue). If so, this could support this general area as the location of the biblical “Upper Room.”

Dormitian Abbey

Crowning the summit of

the modern Mt. Zion is Dormitian Abbey. Commemorating the rest that Mary entered into, this complex was constructed by Kaiser Wilhelm II beginning in 1900. The church was built in response to a request to have a German Catholic church in the city following the Kaiser’s support for the construction of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in 1898.

St. Peter in Gallicantu

On the southeastern slope of the hill is one of the traditional locations for the house of Caiaphas. Gallicantu means “cock crowing” and it remembers the three denials of Peter. Built atop the ruins of a Byzantine church and monastery, Catholic pilgrims believe that the prison in which Christ was held is located inside the church. Others believe that a more likely location for Caiaphas’ house is in the Armenian property outside Zion Gate.

Herodian Quarter and Wohl Archeological Museum in Jerusalem

The Herodian Quarter and Wohl Archeological Museum in Jerusalem is one of the most popular places of sightseeing in Jerusalem.

According to the history of Jerusalem, in the time of Herod, the area of the modern-day Jewish Quarter was part of a luxurious “Upper City,” occupied primarily by the families of important and rich Jewish Temple priests. Excavations after the 1967 war exposed the visually arresting remains of several mansions dating to this period which makees it one of the most attractive museums of Jerusalem.

The rediscovered Herodian Quarter now lies from 3 to 7 meters below street level, preserved in the Wohl Archaeological Museum. In the museum you can see the geometrically patterned mosaic floors, colorful frescoes, and costly glassware, stone objects, and ceramics that provide a peek into domestic life at the top in the days of Herod and Jesus.

In the first part of the Herodian Quarter and Wohl Archeological Museum in Jerusalem, called the Western House, several small stone cisterns have been identified as private mikveh, Jewish ritual baths; holograms depict their use. A small ascending staircase which ends abruptly reminds us that nothing above ground level survived the Roman devastation of AD 70.

Next you’ll find the Middle Complex which consists of the remains of two separate houses where archaeologists discovered a maze-pattern mosaic floor covered in burnt wood. This is believed to be fire damage from the Roman attack on Jerusalem. The largest and most complete of the Herodian houses is the Palatial Mansion, which also has indications of fire damage as well as mosaic floors and ritual baths.

You can get a combined ticket for Herodian Quarter and Wohl Archeological Museum in Jerusalem also grants admission to the nearby Burnt House, dating to the same period. A stone weight discovered among the debris reads “son of Kathos,” indicating that the house belonged to a wealthy family of high priests. The family is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud, written between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD. The rooms here are introduced by a slide show and include a kitchen, four bedrooms, and a bathroom with a ritual bath.

The Shrine of the Book

The Shrine of the Book houses the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, possibly the most important archaeological discovery ever made in Israel.

The first of the 2,000 year old scrolls were discovered in 1947 by a young Bedouin shepherd. From the eleven caves around the Qumran area scholars have recovered the manuscripts of almost 700 works, both Biblical and sectarian. Some of the works are complete scrolls, while others are only fragments containing a few sentences.

The texts of the books of the Hebrew Bible number more than 170, and each Biblical book (with the sole exception of the book of Esther) can be found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

From the outside the Shrine looks like the lid of a clay jar — like the ones many of the scrolls were found in. The display case pictured above is in the form of an ancient scroll.

The most prized exhibits at the Shrine are the two oldest copies of the book of Isaiah in existence.

These Isaiah scrolls are 1,000 years older than any other known Hebrew Biblical text — they were written only six centuries after Isaiah first penned his marvelous words, as he looked forward to the Messiah!

The Knesset

The Knesset sits on a hilltop in western Jerusalem in a district known as Sheikh Badr before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and now known as Givat Ram. It was financed by James A. de Rothschild as a gift to the State of Israel. It was built on land leased from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Before the construction of its permanent home, the Knesset met in the Jewish Agency building in Jerusalem, the Kessem Cinema building in Tel Aviv and the Froumine building in Jerusalem.

The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset enacts laws, elects the president and prime minister (although s/he is ceremonially appointed by the President), supervises the work of the government, reserves the power to remove the President of the State and the State Comptroller from office and to dissolve itself and call new elections.

The Knesset first convened on February 14, 1949, following the elections held on January 20th 1949. Every 4 years (or sooner if an early election is called, as is often the case), 120 members of the Knesset (MKs) are elected by Israeli citizens who must be at least 18 years old to vote.

The Government of Isr ael must be

approved by a majority vote of the Knesset.

The Knesset has de jure parliamentary supremacy and can pass any law by a simple majority, even one that might arguably conflict with the Basic Laws of Israel; in accordance with a plan adopted in 1950, the Basic Laws have themselves been adopted (and occasionally amended) over the course of the years by the Knesset, acting in its capacity as a Constituent Assembly.

In practice, the Knesset’s ability to legislate has often been limited in consequence of the system of low-threshold party list proportional representation, which has tended to produce governments formed of unstable coalitions of multiple factions.[citation needed] Also, even though no Basic Law adopted thus far has formally granted a power of judicial review to the courts, the Supreme Court of Israel has in recent years asserted its authority, when sitting as the High Court of Justice, to invalidate provisions of laws it finds to to be inconsistent with a Basic Law. The Knesset is guarded by the Knesset Guard.

Yad Vashem

Yad Vashem (Hebrew: יד ושם‎ also spelled Yad VaShem; “Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority”) is Israel’s official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. The origin of the name is from a Biblical verse: “And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name (Yad Vashem) that shall not be cut off.” (Isaiah, chapter 56, verse 5). (A note on orthography: the two nouns in Hebrew, yad [memorial/hand] and “shem” [name] are often capitalized in English transliterations; similarly, the Hebrew sign for “and” [“v”] is sometimes lowercased.)

Located at the foot of Mount Herzl on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem is a 45-acre (180,000 m2) complex containing the Holocaust History Museum, memorial sites, such as the Children’s Memorial and the Hall of Remembrance, The Museum of Holocaust Art, sculptures, outdoor commemorative sites such as the Valley of the Communities, a synagogue, archives, a research institute, library, publishing house and an educational center, The International School for Holocaust Studies. Non-Jews who saved Jews during the Holocaust, at personal risk, are honored by Yad Vashem as “Righteous Among the Nations.”

The Model City of Jerusalem

At the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, there is a scale model of ancient Jerusalem from the time of the Second Temple (516 B.C-70 A.D.). With extreme attention to detail, the model shows, at one-fiftieth the actual size, what this prosperous and magnificent city of 70,000 people looked like when the Second Temple stood. In the model, 1/4 inch is equivalent to one foot of the real city. The model was made using the same materials that were used in the times of the original construction, such as marble, stone, wood, copper and iron. The model was completed in 1969, but it is continuously updated based on the latest archaeological findings.

In 1003 B.C.E., King David made Jerusalem the capital of his kingdom. The First Temple was built about 40 years later by his son, Solomon, who turned Jerusalem into the prosperous capital of his empire.

Unfortunately, in 586 B.C.E., the Babylonians conquered the city, exiled the people and destroyed the Temple. The Jews built the Second Temple on the site of the First and it stood from 516 B.C. to 70 A.D.

Reestablishing Jewish independence, the Maccabees restored and rededicated the Temple between 164 B.C. and 63 A.D. Later, King Herod reconstructed and expanded the Temple. It was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.

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