50 Years Building His Kingdom - Far Eastern Bible College

He gently warned us not to withhold the
basic tithes, otherwise the nine tenths might
be withheld from us. However, if we gave
cheerfully, “God is able to make all grace
abound toward you, that ye, always having
all sufficiency in all things, may abound
to every good work” (2 Cor 9:8).
The next few days saw us touring
many interesting places. We saw the ruins
of the ancient settlement of Qumran where
the famous Dead Sea Scrolls were
found in 1947. We also visited the
Jacob’s Well, Nablus and Mary’s
Well. The House of St. Peter, the
ruins of an ancient synagogue, and
the church of the first feeding of
the multitude at Tabgha were next.
From Capernaum in the north, we
took the “Jesus’ Boat” to Ginnosar
on the western bank of the Sea of
Galilee.
The day’s highlight was in
Banias, at the foot of Mt. Hermon,
which is the source of the Jordan
River. Most of us were content with
dipping our hands in the crystalclear
cold water cascading from the melting
snow in the mountain. But Master
Bryce Stone, our ‘baby’ pilgrim was seen
lying prostrate by the stream, having his
whole head ‘baptised’ by immersion!
We then headed west to the Mediterranean
visiting Rosh Hanikra at the Israeli-
Lebanese border, the 12 th century Crusaders’
fortress at Akko, Mt. Carmel, and
Caesarea, where St. Paul set sail to Rome.
In between we stayed overnight at a typical
Kibbutz.
Then we hit south for Beit El Baraka,
our home away from home. To both the
sick and the weary, it was home sweet
home. That evening, Pastor spoke about a
tale of the two cities we had visited,
namely, Jerusalem and Samaria. The latter,
with all its past glories in huge stone
pillars, lay desolate before us. It had been
built to satisfy the will of man. The former,
still bathed in its splendour, would continue
to prosper because it had been established
by the will of God. (Micah 1:1-6; 4:1-5)
Bible prophesies came alive!
The Garden Tomb and the 6-km walk
re-tracing the path followed by Jesus bearing
His cross from the Judgement Court to
Golgotha, the place of crucifixion were last
on our itinerary. Though bearing no cross
and armed with plenty of mineral water,
we were completely exhausted. It was truly
a moving spiritual experience!
Our last day was the Sabbath, and we
again joined our brethren in worship at
Baraka B-P Church. Pastor’s message was
about the two stages of God’s Providence.
The text was Matt. 6:25-33. In His General
Providence, God feeds “the fowls of
the air” and clothes the “lilies of the field
that even Solomon in all his glory was not
arrayed like one of these”. In His Special
Providence, God will take good care of us
“for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye
have need of all these things”. But blessing
will be upon us only if we put God first
in everything. We are better than philosophers
who cannot tell of God’s providence.
We can!
Our Pilgrimage was unique in that
unlike many other pilgrims, we were not
obsessed with dead stones. We were concerned
with living stones. Rev. Awad, lay
pastor of Baraka B-P Church summed it
up succinctly by praising the Lord that our
Annual Pilgrimage was not only a great
blessing but also a tremendous encouragement
to him and his flock at Baraka.
AMEN. .
Beit el-
Baraka
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