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by Major Dale Hill –
For the first time in the Western Territory, retired officers and lay Salvationists are being invited to participate in a Holy Land study tour, slated for February 15-27, 1999.
You will walk where Jesus walked; study the skies over the “little town of Bethlehem” (that same firmament that served as backdrop to the star of annunciation, the bright robed angel herald, and the iridescent incandescence of the incarnation choir); learn first-hand the neighborhood influences of his childhood in Nazareth; dip your hand in the Jordan and pray for a revisitation of the Blessed Dove; sit in the synagogue in Capernaum where Jesus taught; move from the cool environs of the stone walled house of worship into the golden sunshine of a Galilean afternoon, feel the soft caress of a gentle on-shore breeze, sit on a grassy hillside and gaze down at the gently undulating, glistening azure jewel of Galilee, recalling that here he gave to us his simple, yet profound rules for success, “Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness.”
Let your heart swell with adoration and praise as you view from the Mount of Olives the road winding down the hill and across the valley of Kidron to the Gate Beautiful where the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Son of Glory briefly heard the acclaim of the multitudes; look down on teaming Zion, the City of God, and weep with our Lord as his words strip bare the self-sufficient, self-interested and self-satisfied populace, “O, Jerusalem! Jerusalem! that kills the prophets and stones them which are sent to you. How often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not;” lean against an olive tree in Gethsemane that, almost two thousand years ago, may have felt the touch of the Master’s hand and gaze at a stone where Jesus may have knelt and imagine seeing on its surface acid-seared stains scoring that rough granite impressed there by agony-compelled tears mingled with sweat and blood.
View the dark, cramped basement cell in the house of Caiaphas and Pilate’s cold, dispassionate, hollow judgment hall. On the Via Dolorosa, hear in your mind the cries of mocking crowds bouncing off indifferent shop fronts and echoing from the rough cobbled street, and on the rugged crown of Skull Hill, cover your ears to shut out the dull thud of the hammer and muffled thump of the dropping beam. Then, in that bright, flowered garden, you will celebrate his resplendent resurrection.
You can experience all of this, and much more, on this very special pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The tour cost will be $2,299 per delegate (plus airport fees) and may be submitted to the Territorial Education Department in payments over the months prior to departure date.
The delegation will be limited to 100 travelers selected on the basis of application submission date. An application form is included in this issue of New Frontier and may also be received through the Territorial Education Department.
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