Discover Central Highlands: Walking the Steps of Jesus!

From Bethlehem to Jerusalem, to Galilee, and reaching into Judea and Samaria, we took participants to discover the Holy Land and walk the steps of Jesus. Our fourth discovery course was about the Central Highlands of Palestine (Judea and Samaria) and all the sites associated with the ministry of Jesus.

For the first time, the course helped participants understand the parallel relationship between Jesus’ world and the Old Testament at the same sites. It covered the ministry of Jesus in this region, starting with His baptism in the Jordan River, fasting in the desert, and His temptation by Satan in Jericho. In addition to putting a spotlight on Jericho of the Old Testament, the course moved up to Nablus, where Jesus met the Samaritan woman, to historic Mount Gerizim and the secluded area of Shiloh, then further north to Burqin, where Jesus healed the ten lepers.

Mr. Haytham Dieck, the Tour Guide Program Coordinator and the course teacher, was very happy with this course in particular: “What makes this course unique is that the students who are taking it have been on a journey with us discovering Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Galilee, and finally Judea and Samaria. They are pastors, priests, and missionaries, and the course is helping them with their ministries and churches. It is taking them to new levels in understanding the stories of the Bible. Now, after four courses, we have become family and good friends. We have prayer meetings together; we hear each other and pray for each other’s struggles and needs. I’ve never known the Zoom application to bring us that close spiritually even though we’ve never met in person.”

The thing the students loved best in this course was the balance between archaeology and the Bible. In a time when some archaeologists are fighting the Bible and considering it a myth, at Bethlehem Bible College we always teach that there should be a balance between the Bible and archaeology on how to understand the sites, the stories, and how to connect it with our lives today.

Mr. Haytham is preparing himself for another course during Christmas time: “The Discover Bethlehem course will be a bit different than the one I gave in the first time. This time I will focus on more details, such as Why Bethlehem? What is the connection point of Bethlehem in the Old Testament and the New Testament? How is the memory of Jesus and the Holy Family preserved in Bethlehem by the local community? I will teach about the visitors of Jesus, the Shepherds, and the Magi, and most importantly, how to understand the Birth of Jesus from a local perspective.”

Don’t miss this chance to know more about the place where it all started, Bethlehem!