Trials and tribulations!

Dear friends

I am writing his blog post from Jerusalem. The city of the great King!

Peace and Grace to each of you in Jesus name!

I had wanted to write an update in every city we visit on this tour of the Holy Land. My desire was to exercise my "creative juices" every single evening and keep you up to date as we travel the foot steps of our Lord Jesus Christ. UNFORTUNATELY however, technology has failed us. There is a saying that goes like this: "The more technological we become, the farther behind we get"! Has anyone out there experienced that besides me?

No matter how hard Brandy and I have tried, we have had one challenge after another in getting an internet connection. Of course we have been in and out of several wilderness areas. Anyway, we are finally in the Holy City and tomorrow we begin a veritable whirlwind of activity that I will try to keep you updated on as often as possible.

First, as always I would like to thank new reader(s) in the Bahamas. You honor me and for that I thank you immensely but always giving honor and glory for whatever I do to our Lord!

I have entitled this article "Trials and tribulations". Perhaps the reason for that is because just yesterday we visited the ancient mountain citadel of Masada. I am always so moved when standing in this lonely place that literally represents the "very last breath taken" by 965 Jewish men women and children in about 72 A.D.

Shortly after the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by General Vespasian and his legions of the Roman empire, a truly dire set of circumstances played themselves out on this lonely plateau overlooking the Dead Sea.

965 Jewish people, all families as far as we know, were trying to escape the carnage of Rome. Years earlier, the infamous King Herod the Great had built a magnificent hilltop fortress at Masada. Years after this King lay long dead, the fortress and palace was seldom visited and basically ignored by all but a very small Roman garrison who used it to guard the Dead Sea and caravan routes in the area. At some point the garrison of Romans was surprised by a small band of Jews who had risen in rebellion against Rome. The ensuing fight did not bode well for the Romans and the fortress was once again deserted. Along comes our 965 family members who discovered an immense supply of food (dried fruits and various grains) plus caverns full of fresh water from a large carved out hillside supply system left over from the days of Herod. What a wonderful sanctuary it must have seemed for people simply wanting to raise their families in peace.

Were some of the husbands and eldest sons of these households, really fighters against Rome? Were they secretly insurrectionists planning to raise another rebellion against the powerful Roman war machine? Or, were they what they appeared to be? Simple men with families. No one knows for sure nor will we ever! What we do know is that Rome decided that the last Jew must be wiped out or taken into a condition of slavery. Masada is WAY OUT OF THE WAY! Rome could simply have ignored them. Perhaps surrounded the mountain with a couple of Centurians--officers commanding a hundred men each, and calmly waited for the defenders to starve to death. Why was the entire might of Rome used at great expense to spend months in siege against a mere 965 people? Once again we will never completely know for certain.

What we do know is that a siege took place over an extended period of time. A giant siege mound was built using Jewish slaves from the conquest of Jerusalem. On the final day, just before the Romans were scheduled to fight their way onto the hilltop, a monumental decision was made by the heads of the defending Jewish households.

Their leadership knew several things for certain! First and foremost, they knew that they would be defeated by the thousands of well trained and equipped Roman troops. Rather than be taken captive, they drew lots and chose a few dedicated men to carry out their final plan. The plan was simply this; Each end every man was responsible for killing his own wife and children. Then the men who had been chosen by lots were responsible for killing all the other remaining men. Then one by one they systematically killed each other until only one remained.

That one remaining father stacked all the defenders weapons neatly and burned all the remaining food supplies except one large warehouse. Then he fell on his own sword. An agonizing ending for a saga of human torment that most of us today will never ever be able to identify with.

Why did they do it? Why not just surrender to the Romans? Why take such extreme measures when at least some of them may have been able to extend their lives through submission to tyranny?

To understand that we need to have a sense of just what happened to people at the hands of the tyrant. Can we know this for certain? Well, I think we can know when we consider that the Romans entertained themselves through bloody battles by Gladiators fighting to the death to the screams and delight of thousands of people seeking a weekend of entertainment. But that's not all. How about people---men, women and children being torn apart by lions and other wild animals, also solely for the purpose of entertainment in a city (Rome) that at one point boasted at least 35,000 prostitutes.

I cannot think in my wildest imagination of a circumstance that would lead me to butcher my friends, let alone my own wife and children. But then I was never on Masada, faced with the might and cruelty of Rome!

Is it possible that those fathers and husbands could not stand the thought of being bound and helpless while being forced to witness the ravaging of their wives and daughters by the Roman hordes? Could they not stand the thought of watching their children being put in chains and drug off to an entire lifetime of torment as slaves in Roman galleys or the horrors of Roman copper mines? Was there another way? Certainly their must have been! Nothing? Simply nothing?!

Did they leave the weapons and last of the grain to send a signal to Rome that they could have fought on? At least for a while? That they were not starving and thirsty? That they CHOSE their destiny rather than submission to the tyrant?

What would I have done? What, under those identical circumstances would you have done?

I guess we could second guess those families. But, it would not change the outcome. On the other hand, we can know for certain what happened at other times to these very same people. At the hands of the Russians through the cruel and deadly pogroms. Prior to that, the Spanish inquisitions. After that the 6 million Jews butchered by the Nazi hordes---including at least one and one half MILLION CHILDREN!!!

Now history repeats itself! We have a situation in which Iran (ancient Persia) is once again threatening to wipe out every single Jewish man, woman and child. The only difference now is that the man doing the threatening is not evil Haman from the book of Esther. Nor is it King Ferdinand of ancient Spain. Nor is it Joseph Stalin of the USSR. Nor is is Adolf Hitler of the 1000 year Third Reich. No, now the man's name is President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Of course this current Persian King has a few other nick-names as well. They are spelled HAMAS, SYRIA, LEBANON, and HEZBOLLAH---to name but a few!

Facing those kind of enemies what WOULD I have done at Masada? What decision would YOU have made under those circumstances?

God bless you,

Pastor Rance.

P.S. You can view all the pictures we have taken so far on our journey in Israel by checking Brandy's Facebook albums which are all posted and up to date. If you are not connected with Brandy on Facebook, "friend request her" and get connected!!! ---BRANDY COOK (KELLER).