Joel C. Rosenberg: Four Days In Jordan: We took our kids & some friends to the Hashemite Kingdom last month.

Joel C. Rosenberg: Four Days In Jordan: We took our kids & some friends to the Hashemite Kingdom last month.

Sept. 6, 2017

If you ever have the opportunity to travel to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, I highly encourage you and your family to do so.

Though far too few Evangelical Christians know or think much about this remarkable country, Jordan is beautiful, friendly, and safe -- and immensely rich in Biblical history.

I've been there nine times. In 2014, I had the opportunity to meet with Jordan's Prime Minister and other senior officials (I wrote four columns about that trip, if you're interested -- Why I Came To Amman, Was Jesus Baptized on the East Bank?, Meeting With The Foreign Minister, and Meeting the PM). Last year, Lynn and I were invited as guests of His Majesty King Abdullah II.

That said, our sons had never been there (beyond passing through on the way somewhere else). So last month, Lynn and I decided to take three of them and meet up with dear American friends who wanted to visit both Jordan and Israel for the first time. What an amazing time!

The eleven of us traveled through the territories of all three ancient nations that comprise the modern kingdom -- Ammon, Moab and Edom. We had a wonderful Jordanian tour guide with us who helped us learn the country's history, culture and geography.

Over the course of four very packed days, we took the kids to:
Bethany Beyond the Jordan (we saw the ancient ruins of the town where the Bible says John the Baptist conducted his ministry alongside the Jordan River and where many believe Jesus Himself was baptized)
Amman (the modern and ancient capital known in the Bible as Rabbat-Ammon and later as Philadelphia, part of the Roman Decapolis)
Jerash (known in the Bible as Gerasa, part of the Roman Decapolis)
Madaba (the site of an extraordinary ancient mosaic map of key Christian holy sites in the Holy Land)
Mount Nebo (where God showed his servant Moses the Promised Land of Israel, and where Moses also died and was buried)
Petra (the ancient Nabatean city made famous in the third sequel of Raiders of the Lost Ark -- click here for the last scene)
Wadi Rum (the breath-taking Edomite desert made famous in the Oscar-winning -- and must-see motion picture, Lawrence of Arabia); and
Aqaba (the southern Jordanian port city located on the shores of the Red Sea)

Along the way, I taught the group about the many Biblical leaders who lived in and served God in Jordan during ancient times and the many important Biblical events that occurred there.
Moses lived on the East side of the Jordan River, and eventually died and was buried on Mount Nebo. (See Deuteronomy chapter one and chapter 34.)
The entire Israelite nation lived on the East side of the River for a time after escaping from Egypt. (See the book of Deuteronomy.)
Joshua lived on the East side, and from there led the Israelites across the Jordan River to the West side. (See the book of Deuteronomy and Joshua chapter one.)
The prophet Elijah was born and raised in the land of Gilead, which is on the East side of the River, and eventually went back to heaven there in a chariot of fire. (See I Kings 17:1, 2 Kings 10:33, and 2 Kings 2:1-14)
The prophet Elisha received the mantle of prophetic leadership on the East side of the River. (See 2 Kings chapter two.)
John the Baptist based his ministry “in Bethany beyond the Jordan,” that is, on the East side of the River. (See John 1:28.)
The Lord Jesus Christ may have been baptized on the East Bank, since his cousin John baptized Him and John was ministering on the East side of the River. (See John chapter one.)
The Lord Jesus Christ certainly traveled to the East side of the River and ministered to people on and from the East side.

We especially focused in the New Testament on the account of the Lord Jesus healing two demon possessed men in “the country of the Gadarenes,” an ancient Roman city on the East side of the Sea of Galilee, in the northwest section of modern Jordan. (Matthew 8:28-34).

“The modern town of Umm Qais is the site of the ancient Greco-Roman town of Gadara, one of the cities of the Decapolis and, according to the Bible, the place where Jesus cast out the devil from two men into a herd of pigs (Matthew 8: 28-34),” notes the official website of Jordan’s late King Hussein.

We also looked at the accounts in Mark 5:1-20 and Luke 8:26-39. Both focus on Jesus casting a “legion” of demons out of one specific man in “the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee” and then telling that man to “go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.”

These two accounts are more detailed versions of the Matthew 8:28-34 account. The region where the events happened is the same – northwest Jordan – as described by Matthew. But Mark and Luke use slightly different language. They refer to the “country of the Gerasenes.” This certainly included the ancient city of Gadara, but was also a broad swath of territory linked to the ancient Roman city of Gerasa, which today is known as the Jordanian city of Jerash, located about 40 miles south of Umm Qais. [See King Hussein’s website.]

The kids absolutely loved our time in Jordan, as did we adults. We loved the people, the sights, the food and the opportunity to pray for the people and the leaders of this extraordinary kingdom. I so hope you and your family will look for an opportunity to visit Jordan soon, as well.

NOTE: In addition to the pictures I've posted here, I'll Tweet out more photos over the next few days.
Click here to register for the 2017 Epicenter Conference this October 6 & 7
See the list of speakers and their bios
Learn more about our 2018 Epicenter Prayer Summit, and Joshua Fund tour of the Holy Land
Learn more about the ministry of The Joshua Fund, and make a tax-deductible contribution

Tourists to Israel Expected to Increase to Five Billion Annually By JNS - BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

A woman rides a camel in the Judean Desert, Israel (ChameleonsEye / Shutterstock.com)

Tourists to Israel Expected to Increase to Five Billion Annually

By JNS April 1, 2016  BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

“He hath cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel.” Lamentations 2:1 (The Israel Bible™)

By Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman/JNS.org

Twenty-five years ago, when Nancy Broth started her business, she signed a contract with El Al (the only airline that flew to Israel at the time) and helped people book their flights abroad. Today, Broth—owner of Caves Travel in Baltimore, MD.—works with multiple airlines, dozens of Israeli hotels, and a group of touring companies and guides. She says traveling to Israel has become not just for Jews, but an alluring vacation for people of all ages, sexual orientations, and creeds.

“It’s the Old City of Jerusalem, Masada, Ein Gedi, the Dead Sea,” says Broth, naming some of the most popular tourist attractions in Israel. “More seasoned people like to go to the Galilee, to Eilat, to visit Petra (the ancient city in Jordan). They go to the spa and the wineries—they all love the wineries.”

“Israel is the only place in the world where students, women, and kids can go by themselves to swim in the Tel Aviv beach at sunset, bike through the mountains, or jog through one of the central parks,” echoes Amir Halevi, director general of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism. “There is no other place where there is so much to do and people can feel safe doing it.”

Halevi tells JNS.org that he has seen a steady rise in people from all over the world traveling to Israel, even during times of heightened security concerns such as the current wave of terror—and despite the high travel costs. Hotel prices in Israel have increased by 70 percent over the last decade. Broth points out that even with alternatives to El Al, such as Turkish Airlines and Austrian Airlines, taking a plane halfway around the world is expensive.

Enter Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, who is trying to make Israel travel more affordable. In late February, Levin presented a bill designed to reduce the cost of vacationing in Israel by 20 percent over five years. The bill passed its first Israeli Knesset reading, and Halevi says it is expected to come up for second and third readings within the next few weeks and hopefully pass.

The bill changes the status of hotels in Israel from commercial venues to national infrastructure, which would allow their construction to be approved through a fast and simple procedure by the country’s National Infrastructure Committee. Further, independent local committees would be able to approve hotels’ addition of up to 20 percent of their rooms for residential purposes, which would reduce the risk of investment for the entrepreneur and increase financing sources, meaning faster return on investment.

Halevi says the tourism minister projects that if the bill passes, some 15,000 hotel rooms will be added within five years in Israel, and about 27,000 in 10 years. During the last decade, only about 3,000 new hotel rooms were built in Israel. Likewise, Israeli tourism officials expect the number of annual tourists in the Jewish state to increase from 3 billion to 5 billion within the next three to five years.

The Yad Sarah organization—Israel’s largest group of volunteers (6,000 members) providing a spectrum of free or nominal cost services designed to make life easier for the sick, people with disabilities, senior citizens, and their families—is also playing a role in making travel to Israel more accessible. About a year and a half ago, Yad Sarah opened a tourist services program that allows people who might not have been able to travel to the Jewish state because of sickness or disability to fulfill their dreams.

“We make it so that people, no matter their boundaries, can come and travel in Israel,” says Nadia Alalu, director of tourist services program.

Yad Sarah offers hospital beds, hoists, commodes, oxygen concentrators, and any other equipment that might be needed to make a tourist comfortable and provide for his needs while in Israel. The organization’s wheelchair-accessible vans can pick up travelers at the airport and bring them directly to their destination. Additionally, tour guides who specialize in accommodating people with physical disabilities can be recommended or arranged through Yad Sarah for a nominal fee.

“They come to us because they are having a bar mitzvah and they want their elderly grandmother to be there,” says Alalu, providing an example of the requests she receives. Sometimes, people come from abroad to receive special medical treatment. Then, too, Yad Sarah can set up their hotel room like a home-hospital.

Yad Sarah is available every day from the early morning until 7 p.m., and for emergencies 24/7, says Alalu. A tourist who falls and sprains his ankle, for example, can borrow a pair of crutches from Yad Sarah, just like an Israeli citizen could do through the organization.

“There is nowhere else in the world where services like this exist for free,” Alalu says.

“Everybody just loves Israel,” says Broth, who notes that she is always exploring the creation of new tour packages. “What is not to love?”