Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem
A modern anecdotal story tells of hikers in the American Southwest finding ruins of what looked like buildings from Ancient Egypt. Since there IS a religion in our country that believes in parallel Biblical Happenings in the New World, this caused great excitement. Further examination of the artifacts showed that they were of early Twentieth Century Manufacture, and were, in fact, left-over movie sets from Cecil B. DeMille's Silent 1923 Version of "The Ten Commandments". DeMille was so relentless in "following the pattern" of Ancient Egyptian artifacts, even though his movie was in black & white, that the left over items were thought to be genuine.
As we followed the Tabernacle, The Ark of the Covenant, and The Temple through the entire Bible, from their first mention in Exodus all the way through to today's Chapter, it is like being one of those hikers in Southern California, coming upon a little stone sphinx, and saying, "Aha! I KNOW What this is! I get it! I recognize the pattern!"
But, alas, just as the artifact was a modern copy of the REAL Ancient Thing, so were the Tabernacle, The Ark, and The Temple, were copies based on the REAL THING, in Heaven. The Writer of Hebrews brings to mind the incredible Glory of the Ark of the Covenant, but reminds us that it is a mere foreshadow of the Immense and Intense Glory of the Throne of Heaven.
After filming his silent epic, Cecil B. DeMille buried his sets in the desert, and they were forgotten. Then, years later, in the early 50's, using all the advances that had occurred in 30 years of film-making, he made the wonderful and famous movie starring Charlton Heston. To S-T-R-E-T-C-H the analogy a bit further, the Silent Film was destroyed like Solomon's Temple was, and the Second Temple was built and renovated by Herod using all the latest technology at his disposal to produce a wonder. But, like Herod, DeMille added a lot of stuff that was not in the Biblical pattern. (The love affair between Moses and Nefertiri, the sibling rivalry between Moses and Ramses, were not in the Bible, but spruced up the movie a whole lot!) And in a horrible parallel to the destruction of the Temple, The Title "The Ten Commandments" ended up being a stage musical in Hollywood, with Val Kilmer playing a singing and dancing "Moses". (I am not making this up!)
There is no way a man-made copy, no matter how closely the pattern has been followed, can equal the Glory, the Wonder, and the Magnificence of Heaven.
Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.
God Bless America!
Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.
This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.
Hallelujah and Amen
ML/LTOS