There and Back Again
Greetings and Shalom all! We made it!
After 30 hours of travel time and roughly 7000 miles of
airtime we are back! Where to begin… I’ll start with an update with some of what
we were able to do in my last weeks in Israel. In the last update I explained
that we (my Father and I) had traveled to the Northern areas to read, pray, and
blow shofar over Syria and Lebanon. This act was continued throughout the
remainder of our travels in Israel and Jordan. We were able to pray over many
sites including: Zefat, Metula, Mis GaVam, Mt. Hermon, Mt. Ben Tal, Arad,
Jerusalem, Haifa, Beer Sheva, Eilat, Petra (Jordan), Mt. Karmel, Tel Aviv, Tiberius,
Migdal /Livnim, Masada, Qumran and Banias (Caesarea Phillipi). We covered the
North, South, East, and Western parts of Israel and traveled close to 1900
miles on our rental car. I am confident that no group or person has done what
we were able to do in regards to covering the land in prayer. What an honor and
privilege. I encourage all who read this to continue to pray for the land of
Abraham, Issac and Israel and especially Jerusalem (Psalms 122). Pray for the
people to open their eyes to the truth of Messiah and for protection against
all those who wish to push the Jewish state into the sea. We were able to
minister and be a light to many Jews, Muslims and anyone else whom was put in
our path. You will find that Israeli’s are always curious with visitors and
their purpose for being there. They were especially intrigued by Dad and me
when we would explain what we were doing there. We spent five nights in
Jerusalem and that wasn’t enough time so see all she had to offer. You really
feel the presence of Yahweh in His holy city. It is truly a remarkable place.
It most likely has the most diverse population of peoples living within its
borders of any other city on earth. Jews from all over have made Aliyah
(exodus) to be in Israel, to be home. We meet peoples from every continent and
heard more languages than I could begin to count. My exposure to different cultures
began while I was within the Ambassador program. Living with brothers from
Africa will really change your way of thinking. For this simple country boy
from Eastern North Carolina it was serious serving of humble pie. I will speak more on those experiences in the
future. We spent time in the Negav desert in the southern part of Israel once
leaving Jerusalem. There we were able to go to Masada and Qumran. Both of these
sites are very important in different aspects. Masada is a place of much death,
this city high atop a mesa was the last Hebrew stronghold against the Roman
armies. It took the Romans 3 years to finally infiltrate its high walls. The
leaders knew that the women would be raped, the children turned to slaves and
the men killed. They were most likely correct judging by the Romans treatment
of the rest of the Hebraic culture. So, instead of being taken by force and
shown the sword, the people all killed themselves to avoid the coming
circumstances. A mass of martyrs were found upon the Romans successful breach
of the old cities walls.
The blood cries out and that is what we prayed for in this site. We prayed for the martyrs.
Qumran is another very important
place of interest to me due to the research that has been done there by our
friend Jim Barfield. It quite possibly
may be the resting place of the lost Ark of the Covenant. Being there was
exciting to say the least, especially having the knowledge of what may be
buried in the caves just up the mountain from the ancient city site. Qumran was
a holy village of men that found refuge in the Negav’s quiet beauty. It is said
that this was the place where John the Baptist lived to draw closer to Yahweh.
History is not 100% clear on this matter, but the thought of it is fascinating to
me. With the knowledge of Jim’s site digs and what evidence he has, I felt like
a true Indiana Jones for an hours’ time. Seeing the ruins was awesome but not
our purpose for being there, we were there to pray. Prayers for the Israeli
government to allow for the cave sites to be excavated further. For the mystery
of what lies beneath to be exposed to the world’s eyes. Can you imagine what
would happen if and when the Ark is revealed? It would change everything. The
other issue that is a possible reality is that the track of land in which Qumran
is located on is disputed. If the two state solution is signed, (which I fear
is closer than we think) this land may be given over to the Palestinian
authority. That means if they find out about the significance of this site
whatever is buried down there would be lost to them. Or worse, it could be
found by grave/antiquity thieves, what a horrible scenario. So we prayed
against these things as well in that site. We trekked up the mountain that
overlooks the ancient village to the place Jim believes the Ark is located. This
is where we prayed over the land and blew the shofar to seal it.
Joel 2:1-2 says the following: “Blow a ram’s horn (trumpet) out of Zion, and
shout an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all those living in the land tremble. For
the day of Yahweh approaches; it is near. It is a day of darkness and of gloominess,
a day of clouds and thick darkness, as the dawn spread out on the mountains, a
great and a strong people. There has never been the like nor shall there ever
be again to the years of generation to generation.” This is speaking to the world in the last
days. This is the wrath of Yahweh on the world for totally forsaking His Torah
and instructions. For forsaking any moral code of conduct and the satanic one
world system (that is rapidly approaching). The alarm of the trumpets is to
pray against the forces of darkness and to warn the peoples of what is coming
against this earth. It later goes on to say in Joel 2:15 “Blow the shofar in Zion, sanctify a fast call a solemn assembly.” This
is a warning to the people to turn away from their wickedness and turn their
hearts back to Yahweh. Joel 2:18 “Then Yahweh
will be jealous for His land and have pity on His people.” Redemption is
coming to those who truly have a repentant heart.
This is the general area in
the hills that the burial site is believed to be:
I will be sending out another post
centered around our time in Jerusalem next week. I hope this has been
informative to you and I also pray it blessed your spirit. I plan on speaking
at some local churches about my travels and teaching on some biblical truth
that everyone needs to hear. I thank everyone who covered us in prayer in our absence
and look forward to what is next. Have a blessed week and Shabbat Shalom.
-Joshua
