NEWS ARTICLE

JCOB PASTORS & LEADERS HOLY LAND TOUR 2019

2019.03.22-30  |  Text by Ptr. Cefress Manligas  |  Photos by Sis. Eva Tubban

"For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt." (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)

“Oh Israel, God has never stopped loving you and He has been faithful to you. God will continue being faithful to and loving you even to the very end of the world!” God exercised His will to Israel by setting His love and covenant. Likewise, this covenant is extended to the believers of Christ, the spiritual Israel (Galatians 3:29). We are also given by God with promised land, people and blessing.

The third batch of JCOB Pastors and Leaders visited Israel last March 22-30, 2019. We would like to thank the previous two batches who opened doors for us as well as the staff who organized to make this tour a successful one. More than just a study and travel, our eight-day Educational Holy Land Tour was an awesome experience, never to be forgotten.

As we started our journey in Israel, we were filled with joy and some had teary eyes when the plane landed. We arrived late at night which was impossible for us to go straight to the hotel for check-in. While waiting for the sun to rise, we walked through the narrow streets of Old Jaffa, believed to be the oldest port city in the world. We enjoyed a panoramic view of Tel Aviv resort shoreline from Jaffa Hilltop in the morning. We visited many high place sites such as En Gedi, Mount of Olives, Mount Zion, Mount Tabor, and Mount of Temptation. We were blessed to see the Qumran, it is where the jars were found which contained over 100 copies of the books of the Hebrew Bible written on parchment.

We prayed in the Wailing Wall of Jerusalem. All prayer requests written on paper strips were inserted between the cracks of the wall. We were moved as we witnessed the site where Jesus was trialed like in Gallicantu. From the Garden of Gethsemane, we reached the Via Dolorosa, the path that Jesus walked on the way to His crucifixion which lies within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We visited the Garden Tomb and were filled with the Holy Spirit as we had the opportunity to worship the Lord Jesus together. We enjoyed floating and covered our faces and arms with mud from the Dead Sea. We got baptized in the Jordan River. We had a boat ride in the Sea of Galilee where we were able to praise and worship and had joyous moment with the Jewish dance.

The rest of our tour took us to sites of historical and cultural significance of Israel like the Haifa, Baha’i, Beit Shean, Menorah, Yad Vashem and many more. We could see with our own eyes that the land area of Israel is mostly desert and not naturally conducive in agriculture but this nation is blessed in agricultural produce.

We had fun in the bus, so there was never a dull moment. We were favored of not falling in line before entering the sites. We had short exhortations in every place we visit led by pastors. We could sense an expression of absolute bliss of this unique spiritual adventure. It is a must see for us to walk where Jesus walked and visit the milestones of His life. Seeing the Scriptures come to life in the land where it all began would solidify our Christian faith. Indeed, this is not just a mere tour, it is a glorious experience. To God be the glory!