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| Haifa in the morning |
Gefilte fish is established as THE prize
-Kelly
It was a very Windy Day
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| What are these pillars used for? Strange pillars for fire? |
German Templar & Military Cemetery
-Missionary Graves of Adolf Haag & John A. Clark contributed to the establishment of the Jerusalem Ctr
-Captain Moroni
German Templar & Military Cemetery or British War Cemetery
This is where WWII British soldiers are buried. Behind it is a cemetery where others are buried including Christians. Without understanding the past we cannot have a vision of the future.
Buried here are Adolf Haag from Ut-1892 and John Clark-1895. They were missionaries who served and died here. Their bodies were not taken back to Ut. There are pillars on top of the graves which are cut off on the top=symbolizing a life cut short. These graves provided proof that the LDS has had a presence here in the Holy Land for a long time. This was used as leverage to get the Jerusalem Center built. No deaths are easy but the Lord used these to help with the future of the Church in Israel. We have established a presence but we have committed not to proselyte—no missionary work. When people ask they are always directed to the internet for information. The book of Mormon is translated into Hebrew fully but not available to public as yet. It is not time to share yet. God has His eyes on this land and on His people. As we turn our lives over to the Lord good things will spring up because of it. As the deaths of the boys in the cemetery, as the Book of Mormon in the ground spring up…lots of good symbolism. No life is wasted to the Lord.
Israelis leave rocks on graves instead of flowers because it means you are loved and part of the land. Rocks last forever and don’t decay as flowers do. --Kelly's notes
Paul found this article about the cemetery: https://ldsmag.com/article/11495
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| Front of Ba'hai Shrine |
Ba’hai Gardens and Temple are the world headquarters. 5 million Ba’hai in the world. They each chose to do service at the headquarters for one year. In the Shrine there is no chewing gum, no guns, and no feet on marble railings.
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| Back of Shrine |
The Temple is surrounded by German Templars—this area was run by the Ottoman Empire. During WWII Templars and Germans packed up and went to Australia.
For the Ba’hai the number 9 is special. 3 represents heaven and perfection, 9 is 3 squared so it represents perfected 3. They take all the good from other faiths—even use the D&C in their teachings.
---Kelly's notes
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| Aqueduct remains |
Aqueduct
There is no drinkable water so Herod designs and aqueduct. It works so well that when the city grows he builds at least two more. Using the arches was a good foundation. The top was covered and brought the water from the mountains. There were no pumps or electricity used only had gravity to use. It brought fresh water to the port and town.
CAESAREA
Herod the Great was Idomean-from Edom. He was a Jew but also an enemy of the Jews. The Jews conquered Edom and asked them to convert to Judaism. He was very secular and did not believe. He was very attracted to Roman life and objects. He had to flee Jerusalem and headed south, to Egypt and then to Rome... He was a networker and the Romans sent him to Judea/Samaria to be the representative of Rome.
He was a master builder. He built this great fancy port, Caesarea, so the Roman could come more easily. He builds the port out of nothing. He had huge wooden crates called pylons made and filled with stones. He also found a volcanic rock that when it got wet it solidified. He used that as filler in the pylons. He built the port upon these pylons. It took 12 years to build.
He dedicates the city to Roma--the God of Rome. Caesarea Maritima was named in honor of Augustus Caesar. He built a city behind the port with the typical amenities, aqueducts, forum, theater, amphitheater, temples, baths, and paved streets. Its harbor was bigger than Athens'. Herod also installed a system of breakwaters, bronze statues to mark dangerous spots like sandbars, and a 24-hour a day fire-lit lighthouse that mitigated the dangers from currents. The style of building was block building and is called==Insula. All Roman cities were built the same way. So when a soldier or any Roman went to a new city he would know where everything was already.
The city and the harbor lasted for years after Herod's death. Due to severe earthquakes and deterioration they fall into disrepair. In 1099AD there was no good harbor but the city was revived and built up again.
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| Pilate Stone |
Herod worked very well with the Romans but was not popular with the Jews and there is a story the he was worried no one would come to his funeral. So when he was on his death bed, he invited a bunch of Jews to dinner. He had them all slaughtered so he would be assured that there would be mourning at the time of his death-not necessarily for him but mourning in the land nonetheless.
135AD was the first time this area is referred to as Palestine--to break from the Jews and as an insult to the Jews. It was a reference to the Philistines. ---Kelly's notes
Some interesting info I found on the Internet:
Nicene Creed may have originated in Caesarea.
When it was built in the 1st century BC, Sebastos Harbor ranked as the largest artificial harbor built in the open sea, enclosing around 100,000 m2. King Herod built the two moles, or breakwaters, of the harbor between 22 and 15 BC, and in 10/9 BC he dedicated the city and harbor to Caesar (Sebastos is Greek for Augustus). The pace of construction was impressive considering its size and complexity. The moles were made of lime and pozzolana, a type of volcanic ash, set into a concrete underwater. Herod imported over 24,000 m3 pozzolana from Pozzuoli, Italy, to construct the 500 meter long southern breakwater and 275 meter long northern breakwater. A shipment of this size would have required at least 44 shiploads of 400 tons each. Herod also had 12,000 m3 of kurkar quarried to make rubble and 12,000 m3 of slaked lime mixed with the pozzolana.
Architects had to devise a way to lay the wooden forms for the concrete moles underwater. One technique was to drive stakes into the ground to make a box and then fill the box with pozzolana concrete bit by bit. However, this method required many divers to hammer in the stakes underwater and it used large quantities of pozzolana. Another technique was a double planking method used in the northern breakwater. On land, carpenters would construct a box with beams and frames on the inside and a watertight, double-planked wall on the outside. This double wall was built with a 23 cm gap between the inner and outer layer. Although the box had no bottom, it was buoyant enough to float out to sea because of the watertight space between the inner and outer walls. Once it was floated into position, pozzolana was poured into the gap between the walls and the box would sink into place on the seafloor and be staked down in the corners. The flooded inside area was then filled by divers bit by bit with pozzolana-lime mortar and kurkar rubble until it rose above sea level.
On the southern breakwater, barge construction was used. The southern side of Sebastos was much more exposed than the northern side, requiring sturdier breakwaters. Instead of using the double planked method filled with rubble, the architects sank barges filled with layers of pozzolana concrete and lime sand mortar. The barges were similar to boxes without lids, and were constructed using mortise and tenon joints, the same technique used in ancient boats, to ensure they remained watertight. The barges were ballasted with 0.5 meters of pozzolana concrete and floated out to their position. Alternating layers of pozzolana based and lime based concretes were hand placed inside the barge to sink it and fill it up to the surface.
At its height, Sebastos was one of the most impressive harbors of its time. It had been constructed on a coast that had no natural harbors and served as an important commercial harbor in antiquity, rivaling Cleopatra’s harbor at Alexandria. Josephus wrote: “Although the location was generally unfavorable, [Herod] contended with the difficulties so well that the solidity of the construction could not be overcome by the sea, and its beauty seemed finished off without impediment.” However, there were underlying problems that led to its demise. Studies of the concrete cores of the moles have shown that the concrete was much weaker than similar pozzolana hydraulic concrete used in ancient Italian ports. For unknown reasons, the pozzolana mortar did not adhere as well to the kurkar rubble as it did to other rubble types used in Italian harbors. Small but numerous holes in some of the cores also indicate that the lime was of poor quality and stripped out of the mixture by strong waves before it could set. Also, large lumps of lime were found in all five of the cores studied at Caesarea, which shows that the mixture was not mixed thoroughly. However, stability would not have been seriously affected if the harbor had not been constructed over a geological fault line that runs along the coast. Seismic action gradually took its toll on the breakwaters, causing them to tilt down and settle into the seabed. Also, studies of seabed deposits at Caesarea have shown that a tsunami struck the area sometime between the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. Although it is unknown if this tsunami simply damaged or completely destroyed the harbor, it is known that by the 6th century the harbor was unusable and today the moles rest over 5 meters underwater.
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| Hippodrome at Caesarea |
Hippodrome
Where the chariot races were played. One emperor, for his birthday celebration had 2500 Christians slaughtered in a hippodrome.
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| Arden Singing in Amphitheater in Caesarea |
Amphitheater
Arden sings 'How Great Thou Art'
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| First Falafel |
Lunch-Falafels
Mt. Carmel
The Druze started with Daronni (?), a prophet. Evolved out of Islam, he was excommunicated and kept it secret. Any of their places of worship will not have a sign posted. They live on Mt Carmel. Believe in Re-incarnation. They will not have their names put on graves because they continue on with other lives.
Elijah's offering See Kings 18 vs religion of Ba'al
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| Carmelite Nun run Catholic Church |
Catholic Church Carmelite Order run by Nuns
Muraka is the name of this place, it means sacrifice.
Ba’alism : Roman/Greek religion from Canaanites
The story is…
Father God was named El and had a wife named Ashera/Asherot (fertility rites/sexual rites)
El presided over a Council in Heaven. Where there was Yam/Levianthum, which means Sea and represents uncontrollable mass and was the evil God of anarchy. Ba’al or Baaleem is the equivalent of Lord Jehovah and is the good god of thunder/winter and fall. All the seasons come from Ba’al and those who worshipped Jehovah would be considered crazy.
There is a battle in heaven and Yam becomes the first god of this world and it is chaotic with the seas wild. God, El, creates order by crating land from the seas and man becomes stewards of the land. He rules so poorly that the council sends Asarte to warm him up. Ba’al comes to protect Asarte’ and yam kills Ba’al. Asarte’ saves Ba’al from the underworld. Ba’al kills Yam and rules from Mt. Carmel.
Mote (not sure who he is, but children are sacrificed to him by heating up statues and placing the child in its arms), comes and poisons Ba’al and he dies. Astarte’ saves him and there are spring showers. Big circle of life. During his reign you must get his attention by shouting or self-mutilation by cutting. There are fertility rites to participate in and when you have his attention it rains.
So with this background Elijah comes and challenges the Priests of Ba’al to a ‘duel of Gods’.
Elijah proves Ba’al is no good, starting in 1Kings 18:19. Elijah chooses Mt. Carmel because it is their territory. He chooses fire because Ba’al is the God of lightning and thunder, giving them the advantage.
Jehovah is more powerful than Ba’al and proves God is most powerful. There are times when God puts his fingerprint on your life.
How long will ye halt between two opinions? If you love your spouse (or job, money, clothes, education or whatever), more than God and expect him to make you happy---that is idol worship. Do you expect your spouse, or whatever to answer all your needs and happiness?
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| Elijah on Mt Carmel |
Shon shared an idea about Prophets being like a trained horse. Prophets are trained to anticipate the Master’s intent. They are so well connected and known to each other that the horse (prophet) can anticipate where the Master wants to go. --Kelly's notes
Tiberius Branch
Service missionaries through BYU not through the church mission department
no prosolyting, always refer those interested to the internet for information
Sea of Galilee is about 600ft below sea level --Kelly's notes
Mt. Tabor
-Church of Transfiguration
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| Church at Mt. Tabor/ Mt of Transfiguration |
One of the holiest places in the Holy Land—Spencer W. Kimball
It springs up symmetrically from the ground. The taxis up Mt. Tabor are run by Bedouin tribes. The Catholic Church has three chapels on top, one to each Elijah, Moses and Jesus.
One of the cities at the base of Mt. Tabor is Deborus—a city of the Bedouins in a kibbutz movement. Story of Deborah in Judges, who leads army to victory. Main general Burak defers to Deborah—it is the rainy season and the chariot wheels get stuck in the mud so Israelites come running down and beat them.
Transfiguration==Matt 16: 19 Peter is promised keys of kingdom-six days later, Matt 17:1 -12, on Mt. tabor to be transfigured.
Discussion on what makes mountains special or sacred space. The mountain of the house of the Lord.
-a place where heaven meets earth
-when sacred things happen, we build a tabernacle--a commemoration or memorial
-away from busy life
-view of Tabor meets heaven
-change of perspective/different perspective
-lifted up
-can do sacred things away from society
-have to think to climb up the MT, in Jerusalem they made the steps uneven so people had to think in order to climb to the temple. Ponder your ascent to presence of the Lord.
-sacred personages come to sacred spaces—there were three alters commemorating Jehovah/Elijah/Moses, but could also be symbolic of Father/Son/Holy Ghost or Celestial/Terrestrial/Celestial kingdoms.
Christ is transfigured. Father comes covered with a cloud. They are brought to some extent into the presence of the Lord. Christ is taken fully into the presence of God. Christ receives a fullness of the gospel with witnesses, Peter, James and John. They are changed for the better. Peter was just promised the keys of the kingdom and here he receives them.
Story of Spencer W. Kimball is Copenhagen where there was a statue of Peter with keys and Kimball says ‘I now hold these keys!’ --Kelly's notes
In 1976 following a conference in Copenhagenm, Denmark, President Spencer W. Kimball invited us to asmall church to see the statues of Christ and the Twelve Apostles by Bertel Thorvaldsen. The "Christus" stands in an alcove beyond the alter. Standing in order along the sides of the chapel are the statues of the Twelve, with Paul replacing Judas Iscariot.
President Kimball told the elderly caretaker that at the very time Thorvaldsen was creating those beautiful statues in Denmark, a restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ was taking place in America with apostles and prophets receiving authority from those who held it anciently.
Gathering those present closer to him, he said to the caretaker, "We are living Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ," and pointing to Elder Pinegar he said, "Here is a Seventy like those spoken of in the New Testament."
We were standing near the statue of Peter, whom the sculptor depicted holding keys in his hand, symbolic of the keys of the kingdom. President Kimball said, "We hold the real keys, as Peter did, and we use them every day."
Then came an experience I will never forget. President Kimball, this gentle prophet, turned to President Johan H. Benthin, of the Copenhagen Stake, and in a commanding voice said, "I want you to tell every prelate in Denmark that they do not hold the keys! I HOLD THE KEYS!"
There came to me that witness known to Latter-day Saints but difficult to describe to one who has not experienced it--a light, a power coursing through one's very soul--and I knew that, in very fact, here stood the living prophet who held the keys.
-- Boyd K. Packer (The Shield of Faith)
Nof Ginosar Hotel
Fireside by Sea of Galilee
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