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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2016

JESUS, NOT DEMONS!

We receive a lot of emails about demons.

Some relatively new Christian joins a congregation, and nearly all they hear about is demons.

Some are given a LONG LIST of supposed demon names to rebuke.

They are taught to spend A LOT OF TIME – each and every day – rebuking demons.

They are told that IF THEY DON’T DO IT EACH AND EVERY DAY, they are allowing demons to operate.

They HEAR MORE ABOUT DEMONS THAN THEY DO ABOUT JESUS!!!

THEY DEVOTE MORE TIME TO DEMONS THAN THEY DO TO JESUS!!!

In some areas of the world, particularly in parts of Africa, congregants are encouraged – by their “pastors” no less – to engage in imprecatory prayers where EVIL IS PRONOUNCED against people and, supposedly, against spiritual entities:

“Die, die, die! Any person who is against me shall die, any person who is against my progress shall die. God let my enemy die!”

I have ONE SIMPLE QUESTION for all these misguided fanatics:

WHAT THE HELL kind of “ministry” is THAT?

Besides BEING BIBLICAL ILLITERATES, these people are VERY STUPID and VERY WRONG.

Is Jesus such A WEAK “Savior” that we need to be fearful and ON THE DEFENSIVE ALL THE TIME lest some demon attack us?

WHERE IN THE BIBLE do we find THAT bunch of religious EXCREMENT?

Yes, there are imprecatory prayers IN THE OLD Testament, primarily in the Book of Psalms.

That was under the Mosaic Law that called for “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. (Deuteronomy 19:21)

That was BEFORE Jesus made A NEW and BETTER COVENANT based on the Supreme Law of the universe which is Divine Love.

That was BEFORE Jesus came and taught:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy: but I tell you, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PERSECUTE YOU, THAT YOU MAY BE CHILDREN OF your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:44-45)

That was BEFORE Jesus said:

“But to you who are listening I say: LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, DO GOOD TO THOSE WHO HATE YOU, BLESS THOSE WHO CURSE YOU, PRAY FOR THOSE WHO MISTREAT YOU. “ (Luke 6:27-28)

There is NO IMPRECATORY PRAYER in the NEW Testament.

And those who engage in that pile of manure ARE DISOBEYING JESUS and bringing JUDGMENT and CALAMITY ON THEIR OWN STUPID HEADS!

In fact, we would have to question IF THEY ARE REALLY BORN-AGAIN.

Yes, the New Testament talks about casting out demons. 

This was done by Jesus, and later by His Apostles, when they came across some TRULY demon possessed person.

Those instances, for the most part, took place BEFORE Calvary and the Resurrection.

And those instances were FEW.

Neither Jesus nor His Apostles spend COUNTLESS HOURS REBUKING DEMONS.

Unless we’ve gone completely nuts and think that EVERYONE AROUND US IS DEMON POSSESSED, that is A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME!

Demons thrive on fear. If anything, those “prayers” ARE ENERGIZING DEMONS, NOT KEEPING THEM AT BAY.

And, by the way, if you have to SPEND HOURS ON END “binding”, “rebuking” and SPEAKING EVIL AGAINST DEMONS, DOESN’T THAT PROVE THAT YOU HAVE NO SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY?

If you HAD spiritual authority, ALL YOU’D HAVE TO DO IS SAY IT ONCE: “Hey spirit of ____, GET OUT OF MY LIFE! You are bound, paralyzed, GAGGED, UNABLE TO OPERATE, and FORBIDDEN ACCESS to ANY AREA OF MY LIFE!

Period.

Jesus and His Apostles DID NOT go around CONSTANTLY casting out demons or rebuking demons as some “pastors” want to do today.

Those “pastors” LIVE IN FEAR.

They have more faith in DEMONS and their ALLEGED “power” than they do IN JESUS AND HIS BLOOD.

Truth is demons ARE DEFEATED FOR ETERNITY, and most of them are locked up in the abyss. (Revelation 9:1-2)

They only have whatever power WE GIVE THEM.

And WE GIVE THEM power, and access to function in our lives, mostly through IGNORANCE AND FEAR.

Jesus is INFINITELY more powerful than satan, his fallen angels, and all the demons COMBINED.

INFINITELY MORE POWERFUL!

Praise His Name!

Either we believe THAT, or we need to stop HYPOCRITICALLY quoting 1 John 4:4:

“GREATER IS HE WHO IS IN ME than he who is in the world”.

Constantly seeing “demons” and CONSTANTLY rebuking demons is NOT OCCULT, but it’s BAD, BAD THEOLOGY.

It makes “demons” a CONSTANT DISTRACTION that keeps us from FOCUSING ON JESUS.

If you want demons TO FLEE FROM YOU, well… LIKE DEMONS…

FOCUS ON JESUS!

PRAISE JESUS!

They DETEST praise!

Live for Jesus, and AS Jesus, FROM YOUR BORN AGAIN SPIRIT, IN HIS DIVINE LOVE, AND NO DEMON CAN TOUCH YOU. (1 John 5:18)

They won’t even WANT TO COME NEAR YOU!

It’s Jesus WHO DESERVES OUR TIME AND ATTENTION, NOT demons!

It’s Jesus that we need to STAY FOCUSED ON, NOT demons!

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

WHAT IS FAITH?

"Now faith is THE ASSURANCE (CERTAINTY) OF things hoped for, THE PROOF OF things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).

I recently came across a video where the preacher was explaining what faith is. He said it means “to believe in Jesus” and then proceeded to say that WE HAVE TO ACT IT OUT.

He explained that upon believing in Jesus, we receive His Holy Spirit and, therefore, if we have faith we “MUST LIVE HOLY LIVES” because His Spirit is holy.

He said that UNLESS WE LIVE HOLY LIVES, we do not have faith, nor can have Christ’s Holy Spirit.

Then he quoted Amos 3:3: “can two walk together unless they agree”?

His explanation SOUNDS GOOD, at least ON THE SURFACE -- and then it dawned on me HOW MANY PREACHERS DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT FAITH IS.

And if THEY don’t know, HOW ON EARTH can they tell their congregations?

…Let alone tell the UNSAVED?

HOW can they PREACH THE GOSPEL, if they don’t know what FAITH is, when Salvation is ENTIRELY BASED ON FAITH?  (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Not only was his explanation wrong, NOT ONLY WAS IT UNBIBLICAL, NOT ONLY DID IT PROMOTE FEAR INSTEAD OF faith: this guy DOESN’T KNOW THE BIBLE AND DOESN’T UNDERSTAND FAITH.

He forgot ONE tiny thing: that WE DO NOT PRODUCE OUR OWN HOLINESS.

Again: it is IMPOSSIBLE for us to produce “OUR OWN” HOLINESS.

ALL HOLINESS COMES FROM JESUS.

Our ACTIONS DO NOT make us holy. It’s Jesus’ Presence IN US that makes us holy.

And “holy” HAS NEVER MEANT that we never sin.

Again: “holy” HAS NEVER MEANT that we “never sin” which is how religion has interpreted that word.

Holiness (kodesh in Hebrew, hagios in Greek) in both Old and New Testament simply means “set apart” or “separated” unto God.

“Faith” (pisteos) means “TO TRUST”.

When we receive Jesus as God and Savior, and TRUST His complete Work of Redemption, He puts His Spirit in us, SEALS US WITH HIS HOLY Spirit for redemption (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30),

It is JESUS that SETS US APART (SANCTIFIES US, MAKES US HOLY, SEPARATES US) UNTO HIMSELF. (Hebrews 10:10, 14)

That is THE ONLY REASON He calls us “holy people” or “saints”. (Romans 1::7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:5, 23-24; Jude 1:1;)

It’s HIS HOLY Spirit IN US that makes us holy (set apart unto God), NOT OUR ACTIONS or lack thereof.

We can try to live “holy” lives OUTWARDLY ALL WE WANT, we can claim “holiness” all we want, we can SAY that we “believe in Jesus” ALL WE WANT, we can TALK ABOUT Jesus ALL WE WANT, but UNLESS we ARE 100% CERTAIN that He is the ONE THAT MAKES US HOLY, THAT WE HAVE NO RIGHTEOUSNESS OF OUR OWN, THAT HE IS THE ONLY ONE THAT SAVES US, and that OUR ACTIONS (good or bad) PLAY NO ROLE WHATSOEVER in Salvation, WE DO NOT TRUST JESUS.

And if we DO NOT TRUST JESUS ENTIRELY FOR SALVATION, WE ARE NOT SAVED.

All we have is DEAD religion.

This man also forgot that WE CAN WALK TOGETHER even when we act sinfully on the outside, because upon receiving Jesus into our hearts, we become ONE SPIRIT with Him and, therefore, INSEPARABLE from Christ (Romans 8:31-35;1 Corinthians 6:17).

It’s His HOLY Spirit IN US, who will, in the near “future”, RENEW OUR SINFUL MINDS and manifest Christ’s PERFECTION in us.

God’s NOT COUNTING any sins against us. But RELIGION is! (Romans 4:8; 2 Corinthians 5:19)

Jesus removed ALL SIN FOR ALL TIME. (Hebrews 9:26)

But religion – and this man UNFORTUNATELY represents religion – has MORE FAITH in sin’s ability to separate us from Christ, than in Jesus’ ability TO KEEP US ETERNALLY UNITED with Him. (Romans 8:31-35; 2 Thessalonians 5:23-24; Jude 1:24)

“Faith” is NOT ONLY “believing in” Jesus. There are MILLIONS of Christians who “believe in" Jesus WITH THEIR HEADS, but DO NOT TRUST Jesus COMPLETELY IN THEIR HEARTS.

“Faith” MEANS “TRUST”.

And UNLESS WE TRUST JESUS COMPLETELY, 100% -- with ALL OUR HEARTS --TO MAKE US HOLY, KEEP US HOLY, AND ETERNALLY SAVE US, we HAVE NO FAITH.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

IT'S ALL IN WHOM YOU KNOW

Jesus used to convey great truths in the form of stories that He called "parables".

One such story is the parable of the 10 virgins found in Matthew 25:1-12.

It talks about 5 "wise" virgins and 5 FOOLISH virgins.

The difference between the wise and the foolish was NOT their intellect.

The ONLY difference between them was the wise HAD OIL (symbol of the Holy Spirit), and the foolish DIDN'T.

The Holy Spirit, who is God, comes TO LIVE IN US when we invite Jesus into our hearts and receive Him as Lord, Savior and God.

The Holy Spirit is the PERMANENT Manifest Presence of Jesus in our hearts.

Those who HAD Jesus' Presence in their hearts went with Him in the Rapture.

Those who DIDN'T, STAYED BEHIND and –even though they desperately tried to get in at the last moment – COULDN'T.

Why WEREN’T they raptured?

Verse 12 says UNEQUIVOCALLY WHY:

Jesus NEVER KNEW them. He never had spiritual intimacy with them.

Even though they were religious, even though they called themselves “believers”, even though they “went through the motions” and had AN OUTER APPEARANCE of “Christianity”, He was A COMPLETE STRANGER TO THEM, and they were "strangers" to Him.

They'd heard of Him, they knew MENTALLY who He is, but they DON'T KNOW Himpersonally IN THEIR HEARTS.

They had NO CONNECTION with Jesus.

That's WHY they HAD NO LIGHT. That's WHY their lamps were going out. That's why they wallowed in OUTER DARKNESS.

They NEVER RECEIVED Christ into their hearts, or allowed Him to PENETRATE the deepest chambers of their inner beings.

Never talked to Him, shared with Him, heard from Him, or spent time with Him.

We have a similar situation in Matthew 7:22-23:

“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not PROPHESIED “IN YOUR NAME”? and IN YOUR NAME HAVE CAST OUT DEMONS? and IN YOUR NAME DONE MANY WONDERFUL WORKS?

And then will I profess to them, I NEVER KNEW YOU: DEPART FROM ME, you that WORK iniquity.”

In both cases, it was LACK OF KNOWLEDGE of Jesus in the biblical sense that kept all these individuals FROM BEING RAPTURED AND from ENTERING GOD’S KINGDOM.

There’s ONE MORE THING these two passages have in common:

They DO NOT REFER to the world: they refer to PROFESSING “believers”.

Again:  Jesus issued this warning ONLY TO RELIGIOUS PEOPLE.

The world – as I’ve shared with you often – is able to SPOT A PHONY from a mile away!

Unfortunately most Christians lack such discernment.

Joel 2:32 says that WHOEVER calls on the Name of the Lord, even in the final seconds of this Age, WILL BE SAVED.

There will be A LOT OF WORLDLY PEOPLE, who never attended that religious club on Sunday, who never sang those boring hymns (and, dear Lord, most of them are YAWNING boring!), never went to sabbatical or Sunday school, never sang in the choir, never used those tired religious clichés, never led a “youth group”, never handed out tracts or tried to enlist others into THEIR religion, never tried to “keep” the 10 Commandments or the 24-hour Sabbath, WHO WILL RECOGNIZE Jesus, as THE REAL God, when He appears in the clouds.

And they’ll be WELCOMED into His Kingdom… with OPEN arms.

It’s the religious who THINK JESUS OWES THEM Salvation because they’ve followed their religion and its rules all their lives, who’ll be told: “DEPART FROM ME, EVIL WORKERS; you trusted your works, but NEVER TRUSTED ME, and I NEVER KNEW YOU”!

If you DON'T KNOW Jesus personally and INTIMATELY, if you DON’T TRUST HIM COMPLETELY FOR ETERNAL SALVATION, you better decide RIGHT NOW.

He's WORTH KNOWING even if there were no Rapture, no tribulation, no heaven, and no hell.

WHAT ON EARTH are you waiting for?

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2016

IS GOD UNFAIR?

One of the great stumbling blocks for people who WANT TO reject Jesus Christ is that they view the Christian message as "UNFAIR":

If Salvation is thru Jesus and JESUS ALONE, if people CAN'T BE SAVED ANY OTHER WAY, what about the millions who never got to hear the Gospel?

What about Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists?

HOW can a just and loving God hold them responsible for a message they never heard?

God says (Romans 1:20) they are WITHOUT EXCUSE.

Why? Because the heavens, the earth, and the entire Creation, declare that THERE IS A GOD (Psalms 19:1).

If there is a God, and they know from all the wonders in and around them that HE IS, WHY in heaven's name DID THEY NOT SEEK HIM?

God gives His Word that ANYONE, at any point in human history, WHO SEEKS HIM with ALL their heart, WILL FIND HIM (Deuteronomy 4:29; Jeremiah 29:13).

If they HAVEN'T found Him, it's because they have NOT sought Him.

The fact they became Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist DOES NOT MEAN that they really sought God.

They were merely brainwashed since infancy with religious propaganda, accompanied by a set of man-invented religious “do’s” and “don’ts”.

Religion is NOT God and God is NOT a religion.

Nor is He religious.

They did not seek God ON THEIR OWN, WITH ALL THEIR HEARTS, wanting to KNOW HIM as He really is.

Had they sought Him – ON THEIR OWN – instead of blindly believing the religious rules they were taught, they WOULD HAVE FOUND HIM.

They would know that His Name is Jesus.

They would know there is NO GOD besides Him.

And that there is NO SALVATION IN ANYONE ELSE, OR BY ANY OTHER NAME (Acts 4:11-12)

If they have sought God at all, it hasn't been from a sincere, fully surrendered heart, determined to accept that ONE TRUE GOD, whoever He may be, or ACCEPT HIS WILL, and whatever He may require.

They want "God" with CONDITIONS.

Preconditions come from a REBELLIOUS heart.

They "want God", but won't come to Him HIS WAY, which is Jesus. They want to come to Him THEIR way.

This explains why so many end up in false religions, like Buddhism, Kabbalah, New Age, Scientology, etc.

Because they KNOW there's a God, they want "God", but ONLY IF they can have Him “THEIR” WAY.

ONLY IF they can CONTROL and FULLY COMPREHEND His Infinite Greatness with their puny, insignificant, finite intellect.

ONLY IF they can LIVE ANY WAY THEY WANT.

ONLY IF they can sin to their heart's content.

ONLY IF that "god" will condone their depraved lifestyle.

ONLY IF their “belief” PLEASES THE WORLD.

ONLY IF what God says is deemed "ACCEPTABLE" in popular culture.

ONLY IF they can call "good" evil and EVIL "good".

ONLY IF they can “justify” barbaric acts like slaughtering those of other faiths, raping, maiming, pillaging, oppressing and enslaving.

There is more than one group of satanic barbarians, even as we speak, who CLAIM to be committing their horrific crimes in service of their nonexistent “god”.

They are simply using their invented “god” AS CONVENIENT EXCUSE for carrying out their horrendous atrocities.

These people won't CONFORM TO God. Instead, THEY WANT God TO CONFORM TO THEM.

It's no wonder satan has capitalized on this attitude and provided a veritable smorgasbord of FALSE RELIGION, FALSE WAYS to "come to god", a total hodgepodge of SUBSTITUTE, futile religious VANITY.

God's NOT the problem.

He WANTS TO save you MORE than you want to save yourself.

That’s why He WENT TO THE CROSS and paid the ULTIMATE price, so that NO ONE would be lost.

If you end up in hell, DON'T BLAME HIM.

If you want to know the REAL problem, the REAL OBSTACLE to YOUR Salvation...

LOOK IN THE MIRROR!!!

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2016

WHY DOES GOD ALLOW EVIL?

"...the sufferings of this present time ARE NOT WORTHY TO BE COMPARED WITH the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18).

The simple answer is "because God gave man FREE WILL".

When God originally created the world, there was NO EVIL and, consequently, NO SUFFERING.

There were no earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes or typhoons. There were no catastrophic events, no death, no sickness, no poverty, no wars, and no lack. Everything was "exceedingly good".

Suffering began when man, both male and female, CHOSE TO disobey God and took that bite of the forbidden fruit.

God allowed it, knowing full well and IN ADVANCE, what it WOULD COST HIM to right the wrong (Revelation 13:8).

God created man in His own Image (Genesis 1:27). What I'm about to say may sound like heresy, but it's not:

We know the Image (Logos, Word) of God is God (John 1:1).

You can't create a god, and then make him a slave.

That's a contradiction in terms.

GODS can do WHATEVER THEY WANT. And, sure enough, they did.

So God took a GINORMOUS risk when He created us IN HIS OWN IMAGE. In order to do so, He had to make His man a free moral agent. He had to allow him self-determination, which involves the ability to CHOOSE.

6,000 years of human history have come and gone, and man is STILL a free moral agent, but now has A CORRUPT NATURAL MIND because of sin.

Sin contaminated the natural human mind, which is responsible for ALL the suffering.

Since then, mankind and all of Creation has been "OUT OF ORDER".

Since then, the problem has snowballed, become far more complex, and with farther reaching consequences.

When Adam and Eve sinned, it initially affected TWO people.

Now we have around 7 billion people on the planet ALL OF WHICH inherited contaminated minds and fallen natures from them.

Not to mention that all of nature, from the animal kingdom, to the planet itself is weighed down by sin.

Not to mention all the sinful ideas man has invented which have made mankind even more corrupt: war, terrorism, weapons, murder, rape, pillage, lying, stealing, drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality, porn... the list goes on and on.

Not to mention that the Accuser (satan) is constantly putting HATEFUL THOUGHTS and IDEAS in man’s already corrupt natural mind and accusing brother to brother, sister to sister, and ethnic group to ethnic group.

There was a time when CORRUPTION BECAME SO GREAT that God, in His Divine Justice, HAD TO send judgment in the form of the universal flood (Genesis 6:7).

As we speak, humankind is tipping the scales of Divine Justice YET AGAIN, and God is getting ready to send UNPRECEDENTED JUDGMENT on unbelievers.

No wonder Jesus likened this generation to the "days of Noah".
Hence, all the evil, all the suffering in the world, comes directly or indirectly FROM THE NATURAL, UNREGENERATE HUMAN MIND, WHICH IS, AND HAS BEEN FOR THE PAST 6 MILLENNIA, SATAN'S PAWN.

Worst of all, sometimes our minds are generating evil, and we don't even know it.

We're not even conscious of it, because there's a part of the mind known as the SUBCONSCIOUS, where loads of garbage are stored, AND are BEING MANIFESTED all around us, without us even realizing where it comes from.

The Bible calls it "the mystery of iniquity" (2 Thessalonians 2:7).

We still have free will, though. And God still honors the free will He gave us, even when it ends up harming or destroying us.

As God, He has the power to do anything He wants, whenever He wants, but if He IMPOSED His will on us, and FAILED TO HONOR the free will He gave us, He'd not be playing fair. He'd be violating His OWN rules.

Sure, He can intervene at certain times and deliver people. Such times tend to be the EXCEPTION, not the rule.

I'd be lying if I told you that I have full understanding of the spiritual dynamics by which He sometimes can and does INTERVENE.

When the Rapture happens, the sin-infected part of our minds will be consumed with the Brightness of Jesus' Appearing AS HE REALLY IS, and replaced with the Image of the INCORRUPTIBLE God, which will transform us from mortal to immortal, into manifested SONS OF GOD.

At that point, ALL suffering, for those who know Him, and eventually for His entire Creation, WILL END – it will be eradicated forever.

This is why Paul tells us in Romans 8:19 that not only we, but ALL CREATION is yearning for the day when Christ is MANIFESTED IN US.

That's when EVERYTHING, from humans to the animal kingdom, to nature, to the planet itself, will be restored to ORIGINAL ORDER.

That's what the Millennium, Jesus' Kingdom on earth, is ALL about.

The Good News is that 6,000 years of misery are behind us.

The Millennium, when everything is restored, is only A FEW YEARS AWAY.

Hang on, brothers and sisters. It may look bad now, but THE END RESULT is worth the wait.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2016

BURDENSOME STONE

"And in that day will I make Jerusalem A BURDENSOME STONE for all people: ALL THAT BURDEN THEMSELVES WITH IT SHALL BE CUT IN PIECES"... (Zechariah 12:3).

WHAT IS IT about Jerusalem that incites such passion among various ethnicities?

It sits on a mountainous terrain, devoid of natural resources. There's NO MATERIAL wealth there of which to speak. It has NO OIL, coal, or natural gas. 

It's not a sea port, has no major river, no major airport, no agriculture or manufacturing worthy of mention, no gold, silver, iron or copper, and even lacks the mineral riches of the Dead Sea, some 20 miles south.

Yet MORE BLOOD HAS BEEN SPILLED over this ONE city, than over all other cities of the world combined.

Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.

One could argue that the fascination with this city has to do with its history, and that is largely true, but there's more to it than that. Other cities are also historically and culturally rich, and they DO NOT inspire the same degree of emotion, animosity, and awe.

As Jesus Himself pointed out, even THE PROPHETS God sent to this holy city usually ended up dead (Matthew 23:31; Luke 13:34). He Himself paid the ULTIMATE PRICE right on Mount Moriah, on the VERY SPOT where Abraham offered the Lamb in place of his son Isaac.

If its ancient stones could speak they would tell a violent, bloody history filled with death, unspeakable suffering and destruction.

And yet, despite all of the above, there's this almost magical quality to the city. There's a SUPERNATURAL-NESS that can be both felt and remembered vividly.

There's NO MIDDLE GROUND where Jerusalem is concerned: people either totally love it, or they totally hate it.

Jerusalem was under Arab rule for 1,200 years (under various caliphates from 638 A.D. to 1,099, with an 88-year period of Crusader rule from 1099-1187; then again under Muslim rule from 1187 to 1516, and under the Ottoman Turks from 1517-1917).

For all the Arab talk about it being the "Palestinian capital", for all the Islamic talk about it being the "third holiest site in Islam", during that long, dark, mournful period IT WAS NOTHING BUT AN UGLY, BARREN, DEPRESSING, UNDEVELOPED, SMELLY PLACE THAT LACKED EVEN A SEWAGE SYSTEM.

I've seen film footage from the early 1900's, and it speaks VOLUMES about what a SAD PLACE it was. When Jesus said it would be "TRAMPLED" by Gentiles (Luke 21:24), He wasn't kidding. It was trampled and OPPRESSED.

Mark Twain's visit to the Holy Land in 1867 (some 50 years before the British wrested Jerusalem from the Ottoman Turks in WWI) was described in "The Innocents Abroad". This is how he described Jerusalem's surroundings:

"..... A DESOLATE COUNTRY whose soil is rich enough, but IS GIVEN OVER WHOLLY TO WEEDS... A SILENT MOURNFUL EXPANSE.... a DESOLATION.... we never saw a human being on the whole route....HARDLY A TREE OR SHRUB ANYWHERE. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country." (The Innocents Abroad, p. 361-362)

He described Jerusalem itself this way:

"It seems to me that all the races and colors and tongues of the earth must be represented among the fourteen thousand souls that dwell in Jerusalem. RAGS, WRETCHEDNESS, POVERTY AND DIRT, those signs and symbols that indicate the presence of Moslem rule more surely than the crescent-flag itself, ABOUND.

Lepers, cripples, the blind, and the idiotic, assail you on every hand... Jerusalem IS MOURNFUL, AND DREARY, AND LIFELESS. I WOULD NOT DESIRE TO LIVE HERE (The Innocents Abroad, Ch. 53, paragraph. 4).