current events update, 2010-2011
Eastern University is planning a Holy Land Pilgrimage Program. "The Apostle and The Apocalypse," in May of 2011. Please see the brochure below for details, registration form, and contact Dr. Kenneth Maahs if you would be interested in that program. Phone 610-341-5895 (or use kmaahs@eastern.edu) and we will keep you informed of our developing plans for that year.
2011 Brochure
To download program brochure click here.
GENERAL GUIDELINES
Please click here.
REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT
To register and make financial arrangements, click here.
NEW PROGRAMS
In light of the above, the Eastern University Pilgrimage Program for 2008 was a new departure for us, as well as a great success. It included both Turkey and Greece and was entitled: "The Churches of St. Paul and the Revelation." May 16-31, 2011, will be the second edition of this program under a new title.
Not only did we visit the seven churches made famous in John's book of Revelation, his grave, sites related to Mary, but also the main mission churches of St. Paul, including all those he wrote letters to except Rome. Naturally, many other notable sites were also included, e.g., Istanbul, Athens, Delphi, national museums, the Dardanelles, etc.
This is a unique combination of included sites, an itinerary created by the Jerusalem Center for Eastern University. It is a program that will remain on our list of future Pilgrimages and is anticipated as the EU Pilgrimage for 2013. In May of 2012, the Israel Pilgrimage will be offered.
THE JERUSALEM CENTER FOR BIBLICAL STUDIES
Our sponsoring organization, The Jerusalem Center for Biblical Studies, continues to believe that it will be a good year for Middle Eastern travel. They base this opinion partly on first-hand experience; JCBS groups have been enjoying the Holy Land throughout 2000-10 and continue to do so. But know this: First, this Christian organization will not allow us to travel, if their information from on-site correspondents warn of special dangers to tourists. For this purpose, they have developed and nurtured very good relations with grass root contacts in the Holy Lands. Second, be aware that even now tourists are not being targeted by either side; we are too economically important to both groups for that. In fact, not a single tourist with our organization has been harmed during the recent troubles. Still, for safety's sake, there are activities we never engage in and areas of the land we do not visit. Third, if conditions allow and peace continues, as we hope and pray, don't miss the opportunity that will be yours to experience the Holy Lands. You never know whether it will ever come again. Don't miss experiencing the land of Jesus! As St. Jerome once said, this land is "the fifth Gospel"; so don't miss studying all the Gospels together. We say, "The Land is Our Textbook."
OUR ORGANIZATION
Eastern University is proud to present the Pilgrimage Program through the auspices of the Jerusalem Center for Biblical Studies (JCBS). The Jerusalem Center is a Florida based, interdenominational Christian study facility in the Holy City whose sole purpose is to help Christians experience their faith at a deeper level, through a spiritual encounter with the Bible in the Lands of the Bible.
PROGRAM
The flight from NYC/Newark to Istanbul, or Tel Aviv (depending on the program) is ten to eleven hours, going and coming. Then, you will be spellbound throughout an inspirational tour that will leave you breathless and walking an inch off the ground all the way. Our program includes enough time in Israel or Turkey/Greece to see all significant areas of the Biblical story and the modern nation itself.
Sorry, we are not doing Egypt presently, despite pictures below of previous tours; pricing became prohibitive. For the many dazzling and wonderful sites you will visit, in Israel if it is the current tour, take a look at a few of the following:
SUGGESTED READINGS FOR ISRAEL PILGRIMAGE
You will find much to interest you in the "Baedeker Guides" to Israel, Jerusalem, Turkey and Greece. The "Baedeker's" can usually be ordered from any local bookstore. I would also highly recommend readings in Josephus, the first century Jewish historian. Very useful in this regard is the compact volume: The Topical Josephus: Historical Accounts that Shed Light on the Bible, by Cleon L. Rogers, Zondervan Press, 1992. Other books you will enjoy before going are:
- Gary M. Burge, Who’s Land? Whose Promise?: What Christians Are Not Being Told about Israel and the Palestinians, Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2003. (Highly recommended before you travel to meet Jews and Palestinians in the Holy Land.)
- John McRay, Archaeology and the New Testament. (An excellent discussion of NT topics.
- Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, The Holy Land: An Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700.
- Stephen Sizer, Christian Zionism: Road-map to Armageddon? IVP, 2005. (This book considers the origins and political dangers of an unbridled Zionist position.)
- J. A. Thompson, The Bible and Archaeology (a fine general overview)
- Yigael Yadin, Masada (this book beautifully captures the "mystery" and "romance" of archaeology). Read this book and you will not be able to wait to see Masada.
ACCOMMODATIONS AND MEALS
While staying in Jerusalem, Galilee or Cairo, our hotels (or a Kibbutz in Galilee) are always of top quality. Unlike the vast majority of such tours, we have included three "free days" allowing for rest or side tours. We are provided with two sizeable meals per day and lunch stops for those who wish to purchase something in between. You will find the various cuisines offered on our tour truly exciting. Seek a roommate. The trip is even more powerful and pleasant if you can travel with someone you already know and enjoy. Double occupancy is the norm for our program.
WEATHER
May and June are very warm in Israel, Turkey and Greece a little less so. For the most part, only light clothing is required. The skies are ceaselessly bright blue, produce lovely photographs, and our luggage is not burdened with heavy clothing, coats and umbrellas as at other times of the year.
JFK AIRPORT TRANSFERS
Transportation to and from JFK/Newark (from the University in St. Davids, PA) can be handled in one of two ways:
Have friends or family supply this need or simply fly into JFK prior to our departure.We will hire the school's vans and drivers at the very reasonable, round-trip rate of $45 per person. Be sure to let me know early (by final payment date) and submit the fee, if you wish to be driven from the college campus to JFK and back in one of our vans. With advanced notice (make, color, license plate number), i.e., a postcard to our Security Dept., cars can be left at Eastern's parking lot during our program.
INSURANCE
Know how you are covered in terms of health insurance. All Pilgrimage participants should know the details and have policy numbers along. You will discover that most policies require you to pay the medical bill while in another country and will reimburse you later. I highly recommend the insurance offered through The Jerusalem Center. It is a very comprehensive policy and also covers the most important issue, the possibility of trip cancellation. If, at the last minute, you are not able to participate in the program, this insurance will reimburse your tour costs.
SAFETY
This is an important issue! There are dangers anywhere and everywhere in the world today. Disaffected groups are now omnipresent around the globe (remember the London subway and Madrid train bombings, the NY Twin Towers and Oklahoma City tragedies, tourists attacked in Florida, New Orleans, Paris riots, etc.). My own experience indicates that you will probably never sense any real danger to your person. I have led this tour on many occasions and have yet to be physically mistreated or sense actual danger. Our organization has been programming tours of the Middle East for over 20 years. During that time "we have not had a major incident. To our knowledge, no Christian Pilgrim from the USA has been killed in Israel during the last 30 years."
Israel is not the mortally dangerous place the media often seem to portray! I genuinely believe that a walk in Washington D.C. or the city of Philadelphia is as dangerous or more so than a trip to Israel/Egypt.
Why? Because tourists represent a significant percentage of their gross national product. Jews and Arabs may sometimes be angry with each other. But no one wants anything to happen to the "Golden Geese"; we are literally their bagel and butter. American TV focuses on the negative, and one could easily and erroneously get the mistaken idea that violence is omnipresent in the Holy Land. It is not! Our tours there have not so much as experienced a cat-call. Everyone was delighted to see us walking into their shrines or shops. The important issue is, are you with an organization that knows what it is doing and has a genuine depth of "in the land" experience? I am proud to be a part of the Jerusalem Center's organization.
Safety Issues in Israel
We do not:
- Use public buses; they have sometimes been bombed, not the chartered busses we use.
- Spend time in the modern cities like Tel Aviv or Jaffa where terrorism has happened; we are at biblical sites that are not targets for terrorists.
- Go to the Gaza Strip or travel extensively in the West Bank.
- Spend evenings in bistros, bars, night clubs where Jews gather and are sometimes bombed.
- Go wandering around alone or unsupervised.
Terrorists do not:
- Target tourists; we are the bread and butter of their local economy.
- Target Arab owned busses which we almost always use.
- Target Arab drivers who always accompany us.
- Target the airlines we use; and El Al, which we sometimes use, has never had a terrorist incident, so carefully do they screen their passengers.
Our Program
- Has operated all through the first intifada (shaking off) and never had a single person injured in any way whatsoever.
- Has been run by EO/JCBS for decades and they have never had anyone seriously injured.
- Is well run by people in the US and Israel who know what they are doing. They will not let us do anything or go anywhere if they have knowledge of special dangers.
- Has been run by EO/JCBS during the years 2000 to the present, during the second intifada, and has had no serious injury to any of its pilgrims.
- Should anything serious take place while we are in the land, our organization would send us home immediately.
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