Olive Wood Crosses of Jerusalem

Olive Wood Crosses of Jerusalem

The olive tree is traditionally a symbol of health and peace. The Olive Wood of Jerusalem is the symbol of Eternal Life and it is well known since ancient time. According to religion believe Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, near Jerusalem near an olive tree, some says that this tree still exists today.

The Olive Tree grows in the Holy Land and can survive for up to 2000 years.
In the Bible, Noah sent out a dove from the ark to find dry land and the dove returned with an Olive branch.

It is said that the Dove is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. The Olive tree has been highly admired since old times and it is considered as a blessed tree. The people planted olive trees in various parts of the Holy Land to spread its cultivation. The oil from the olives was used to anoint priests, prophets and kings to empower them as well as to pray for their healing. While known for its sturdiness, it is a beautiful wood with grains of colors from pink to black; The older the wood the darker the colors.

Jerusalem cross and what it represents

The Jerusalem cross was the emblem of Templar Crusaders, and may have been the personal arms of Templar Godfrey de Bouillon.

The Jerusalem cross has four arms at equal distances, symbolizing the four directions, and the belief that Jerusalem was the spiritual center of the earth.

The more complex version of the symbol represented the spread of Christ's message through the four evangelists (Mathew, mark, Luke, and John), who are represented by the four additional "crosslets."

Are you Catholic or Protestant

From the following you can decide that are you catholic or protestant on the basic of concept for justification. So choose your justification reply for all 10 queries.

First
Catholic: God gives a man right standing with Himself by actually making him innocent and virtuous.
Protestant: God gives a man right standing with Himself by mercifully accounting him innocent and virtuous.

Second
Catholic: God gives a man right standing with Himself by putting Christ's goodness and virtue into his heart.
Protestant: God gives a man right standing with Himself by placing Christ's goodness and virtue to his credit.

Third
Catholic: God makes the believer acceptable by infusing Christ's moral excellence into his life.
Protestant: God accepts the believer because of the moral excellence found in Jesus Christ.

Four
Catholic: If a Christian is "born again" (regenerate, transformed in character), he will achieve right standing with God.
Protestant: If the sinner accepts right standing with God by faith, he will then experience transformation in character.

Five
Catholic: We receive right standing with God by faith which has become active by love.
Protestant: We receive right standing with God by faith alone.

Six
Catholic: We achieve right standing with God by having Christ live out His life of obedience in us.
Protestant: We achieve right standing with God by accepting the fact that He obeyed the law perfectly for us.

Seven
Catholic: We achieve right standing with God by following Christ's example with the help of His enabling grace.
Protestant: We follow Christ's example because His life has given us right standing with God.

Eight
Catholic: God sends His Spirit to make us good, and then He will pronounce us good.
Protestant: God first pronounces us good in His sight, and then gives us His Spirit to make us good.

Nine
Catholic: The indwelling Christ gives us favor in God's sight.
Protestant: Christ's intercession at God's right hand gives us favor in the sight of God.

Ten
Catholic: By the power of the Holy Spirit living in us, we can fully satisfy the claims of the Ten Commandments.

Protestant: Only by faith in the doing and dying of Christ can we fully satisfy the claims of the Ten Commandments.

Unitours provide excellent tour package for Christian Pilgrimages.

Brief History of Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, Christians regard Jesus as a Son of God, and as having been divinely conceived by Marry the wife of Joseph - a carpenter in Nazareth. We know very less about Jesus' life.

He is : a Savior, a prophet, a healer, and a teacher, whose life and teachings formed the foundation of Christianity. Everyone believed that Jesus had been the Messiah. Many Jews during his lifetime, believed that he was the Messiah who came to Jerusalem in triumph and was glorified. Only few days later, he was put to death by the cruel Roman execution of crucifixion.

The story about Jesus is- An angel visited Mary and told her that she will bear a child who was conceived by the Holy Spirit. There was an ancient belief that a new star will appear in the sky when a new ruler is born. Three wise men saw the star in the east and came to Bethlehem to pay tribute and worship Jesus.
The announcement that a new king was born was troublesome for King Herod. He ordered all children under two years old in the Bethlehem area to be killed.
Joseph was instructed in a dream to take Jesus and Mary and flee to Egypt. According to Matthew, they came back to their home in Nazareth when they heard that King Herod was dead.

At the age of about thirty Jesus went to the Jordan River to be baptized by his cousin, John the Baptist, the Prophet who was conducting baptism according to the Jewish practice, in preparation for the Kingdom to come. After that he withdrew to the mountains of the Judean desert for 40 days where he was tempted three times by the devil. When he came back he worked for a while with John the Baptist.

Jesus’ public ministry began after the jailing of John the Baptist and lasts about one year. He moved to Capernaum and made it his headquarters of ministry; He selected twelve disciples to work with, to model the twelve tribes of Israel. From there he traveled to neighboring towns, preaching and teaching the good news of the Kingdom of God. He performed miracles such as: Turning water into wine; Healing the sick; Restoring the dead to life; Walking on water; Casting demons out of the possessed and turning a few loaves of bread and fish into enough food to feed a crowd of thousands.

His followers increased in number, He promised forgiveness and eternal life in heaven to the most sinful, provided their repentance was sincere. This induced the hatred of the Jewish Pharisees, who feared that his teachings might lead to disregard for the authority of the Torah.
Despite the Jewish Authorities opposition, Jesus’ popularity increased. He was devoted to the Torah. The main thing Jesus taught which was different from his teachers was not only love the neighbor as yourself but love the enemy, forgiveness is the supreme expression of love.

He taught the rules of the Kingdom and the new covenant, ethical teaching with a series of demands for conduct of oneself in relationship to each other and to God.

Jesus now was a labeled man, as his followers grew, his enemies grew too. The Sanhedrin - the Jewish Rabbinical Authority in Jerusalem challenged him on specific issues seeking to question him into self-discrimination.

On the Sunday before Passover, Jesus entered Jerusalem. He sent two of his disciples to get a donkey that had never been ridden before on which he would ride to Jerusalem. They brought the donkey and laid their garments on it and Jesus rode into the city. He was welcomed uponentering the city by crowds singing and rejoicing following Him to the Temple. In less then a week the same crowd would be demanding His death on a cross.

In the course of it he spoke of his looming betrayal and impending death as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity. He assured His Disciples of the coming of the Kingdom of God. Later this evening, the Temple police and Roman soldiers arrested Him. Jesus was taken to a meeting of the supreme council of the Jewish authorities. They found sufficient ground to warrant an accusation of high faithlessness and brought Him before Pontius Pilate. There, Jesus was condemned to death as a messianic pretender. Pilate ultimately left the decision to the people, and they insisted on Jesus’ death. Jesus was executed by crucifixion with two other criminals guilty of rebellion.

Later in the day before sunset, his body was taken down and buried in a tomb by followers. Early on the following Sunday, his disciples found the tomb empty. Later the same day, Jesus appeared at various locations in and near Jerusalem.

After His death, His followers decided that Jesus had been divine. This did not happen immediately; the development of Christian belief in the Incarnation, was gradual and the doctrine that Jesus had been God in human form was finalized in the fourth century.

What Is A Pilgrimage?

Many time we make few steps to back or forward we may take steps to the left or sometime to the right, But when we plan for pilgrimage we are making steps towards god .We got to god with lusts of problems, sickness faith doubts crisis and we ask for favors.

"Pilgrimage means focusing on an intention, focusing on a desire, or focusing on resolution of a situation.”

History of a Pilgrimage:
A Pilgrimage is a personal invitation from God it is differs from a tour in several important ways. It comprised of god offer and depends upon your acceptance. God's call many ways but the purpose remains consistent: It is an individual summons to know God more fully. it is a spiritual journey for spiritual purpose. and an opportunity to get closer to God.

Definition of a pilgrimage is "A long journey or search, especially one of exalted purpose or moral significance." So, a religious pilgrimage is generally a long, arduous journey. Hardly the kinds of leisure modern people tend to seek when vacationing.

America has a balanced government, but we are not balanced in our personal lives. This is exact opposite of China. This is an interesting observation. The Chinese place great importance on this concept of balance, or "yin and yang". Who could disagree that in our industrialized society there is far too much emphasis on money, career, advancement, success; and not enough attention paid to our relationships with our family and friends, with God, and with nature?

Pilgrimages - journeys to sacred places -
Christian pilgrims, from early in the second century, traveled great distances to venerate places in the Holy Land sanctified by the presence of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, or the Apostles. The number of pilgrimages increased greatly in the fourth century, after Emperor Constantine I converted to Christianity and legalized the faith throughout the Roman Empire. He and his mother, Helena, were themselves the most influential of pilgrims. The historian Eusebius of Caesarea attributed to Constantine the discovery of Christ’s tomb, the Holy Sepulcher; other accounts credit his mother with finding the True Cross.

Rome, as it became the center of the Christian faith, became a frequent pilgrimage destination, as did Greece and Egypt, where the faithful could follow the footsteps of the Apostles.

Why need To Book A Pilgrimage?
Most important reason is Increase Faith in god, Practice Fasting, Learn to Let Go , Practice Prayer for God and how to give our problem to God, Pray for Healing, Hear what the Holy Spirit may say, In thankfulness, In Joy and Rejoicing, To Pray for others, To Visit Holy Places, Experience diverse cultures, To escort a family member or a loved one, to travel with their prayer group/church/youth group/leader, and/or for Unity so we can be with people like ourselves. Often we go on a pilgrimage when seeking change, and often, change takes place

Pilgrimages

Pilgrims contributed an important element to long-distance trade before the modern era, and brought prosperity to successful pilgrimage sites, an economic phenomenon unequalled until the tourist trade of the 20th century. Encouraging pilgrims was a motivation for assembling (and sometimes fabricating) relics and for writing hagiographies of local saints, filled with inspiring accounts of miracle cures. Lourdes and other modern pilgrimage sites keep this spirit alive.

Until recent centuries, pilgrimage has been a fairly difficult and arduous adventure. But now, Jews from many countries make periodic pilgrimages to the holy sites of their religion. The western retaining wall of the original temple, known as the Wailing Wall, or Western Wall remains in the Old City of Jerusalem and this has been the most sacred site for Zionist Jews. Pilgrimage to this area was off-limits from 1948 to 1967, when East Jerusalem was controlled by Jordan.

World Youth Day is a major Catholic Pilgrimage, specifically for people aged 16-35. It is held internationally every 2-3 years. In 2005, young Catholics visited Cologne, Germany. In 1995, the largest gathering of all time was to World Youth Day in Manila, Philippines, where four million people from all over the world attended.

About Protestant Pilgrimages

Evangelicals go essentially to visit the sites of biblical significance on what are primarily educational tours. These in themselves will only perpetuate and reinforce a pietistic faith rooted in the 1st Century, without addressing either the present Middle East conflict or necessarily engaging in theological praxis. The presence of an ancient and Oriental Christianity is either ignored, misunderstood or even criticized for desecrating the archaeological sites with what are often regarded as pagan shrines.

Fundamentalist pilgrims visit the Holy Land for similar reasons but with the added schatological dimension, believing themselves to be witnessing and indeed participating in the purposes of God, at work within Israel in these 'Last Days'. They believe they have a divine mandate to support the state of Israel.

The third, most recent and smallest category of pilgrimage to emerge is associated with the term 'Living Stones'. These pilgrimages in contradistinction seek to counter the ignorance of many Evangelicals and the harm caused by Fundamentalists, by engaging in acts of solidarity with the Palestinian church. These pilgrimages include opportunities to meet, worship with, listen to and learn from the spirituality and experience of the indigenous Christians.

HolyLand of Christians

Holy Land of Christians
The Holy Land is significant in Christianity, mainly because it is the place of birth, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus , the Saviour or Messiah to christianity.

Holy Cities:
Bethlehem, Israel birthplace of Jesus
This city has great significance for all Christians as it was the birthplace of Jesus . The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is one of the oldest continuously operating churches in the world.

Nazareth, Israel:
is Jesus's hometown where Jesus lived and the site of many of his acts and miracles.Nazareth is also holy place for Christians because it throws light on the holy family, especially Mary, the mother of Jesus. This is the place where a Christian believer can consider Mary's qualities. Her character as a noble woman, a woman of purity, simplicity, sensitivity and pureness of heart. Mary is portrayed as a mother who devotes herself to the education of her son and remains devoted to him in the most trying of circumstances.According to the new testament, the parents of Jesus, Joseph and raise, resided in Nazereth, and there studied Jesus, from girls until adulthood. The Nazereth name is from beam of the word " Christianity ".

Jerusalem, Israel where the early Church was startedJerusalem is believed to be the site of some of Jesus's teaching, the Last Supper, the subsequent institution of the Holy Eucharist as well as His entombment; Christians believe he was crucified on a nearby hill, Golgotha (sometimes called Calvary). It contains the Church of the Holy Sepulchre {The ground on which the church rests is venerated by most Christians as Golgotha, the Hill of Calvary, where the New Testament describes that Jesus was crucified. It also is said to contain the place where Jesus was reportedly buried (the sepulchre)}. The church has been an important pilgrimage destination.
Jerusalem is the capital city of Israel, the biggest city in the holy land (Israel), Jerusalem is city with history of thousand of years, city of holiness for three of the monotheistic religions, the holy city for Jewish, Christians and Muslims.

Group Pilgrimage Travel By Unitours

Pilgrimage is an important part of spiritual life for many Christians. Christians see life itself as a journey, coming from God and returning to God. The pilgrim seeks to separate himself from the everyday concerns of the world, and to spend time in the presence of God as he travels to a place of special meaning. A Pilgrimage is a symbol that is acted out.1. A journey to a sacred place or shrine.2. A long journey or search, especially one of exalted purpose or moral significance.

Here are some of the best-known places visit on pilgrimage:
Holy Lands (Israel / Palestine)Many visit the places where Jesus lived, especially during the Christian festivals (Bethlehem at Christmas, Jerusalem at Easter)

Jerusalem : Ascend the Mount of Olives to marvel at the spectacular view of the Holy City of Jerusalem. Walk down the hill the Church of Peter Noster and the Chapel of Ascension. On to the church of Dominus Flevit and the Church of All Nations in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus endured his agony.Descend across the Valley of Kidron.

St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, Italy : St. Peter, disciple of Jesus, was martyred and believed to be buried here. It is the centre of the Roman Catholic church, and home of the Pope.

Lourdes, France : In 1858, a young girl called Bernadette Soubivous had a vision of Jesus' mother, Mary. The spring waters that flow from the fountains are believed tobring miraculous healing from God.

Santiago de Compostela, Spain : Saint James, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus, is believed to be buried here.

Canterbury : Thomas Becket , Archbishop of Canterbury, was martyred here.

Walsingham, England : In 1061 Richeldis de Faverches had a vision of Jesus' mother Mary, and built a replica of the humble house where Jesus was born. An Augustine Priorywas built there, and today there are Roman Catholic and Anglican shrines.

Iona, Scotland : In 530 AD St. Columba travelled from Ireland and landed at Iona to convert the people to Christianity. He started a monastery here.

Knock, Ireland : On 21st August 1879 a group of people standing outside the church saw a heavenly vision there.

St. David's, Wales : Dewi Sant (St. David) lived here and helped spread the Christian faith in Wales.