OPINION (Charisma) – “Surreal” … doesn’t even begin to describe the scene. It was an evening I will never forget (though parts of it, I’d like to). It was about 8:30 p.m. on a Saturday night, and I and the group with me had spent nearly three hours in the police station. And this was not just any police station—we were in one of the most famous cities in the world. Our tour group had been robbed. Cellphones, laptops and wallets were gone, but most troubling of all, many of us had been relieved of our U.S. passports.
There in the office, the police chief was speaking with investigating officers, staff and our group in English and two other dialects—one of which I could tell was Hebrew. For over a week we had been in Jerusalem, all of us deeply stirred, visiting one monumentally significant locale after another. But even the most awestruck spiritual pilgrim becomes singularly focused when they’re 5,000 miles from home and in our situation. The one question on our minds, was, “How can we get a new passport?”
The Jerusalem police were super helpful, and though none of our stuff was recovered, they did get us to the U.S. embassy and helped with temporary IDs and such. The Jewish officers were pretty empathetic and reassuring during the process. They sensed our anxiety and talked with us encouragingly.
One officer asked about my occupation and I told him I taught apologetics at a university. “Apologetics … what is that?” he asked. I explained that apologetics deals with evidence for the Bible. “So, you teach theology,” he said. “Well, yes, that’s part of it,” I replied. Cutting his eyes left and right the officer leaned toward me, asking in almost a whisper, “What about end of time? Do you believe God, uh, Jesus to truly come back?”
The holy city is no place for the unholy act some street thieves did to us. But getting to talk with the officer about what Scripture says regarding the end times made the hassle a little more bearable. He seemed deeply interested in learning more about this question. READ MORE
