TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Holy Land Day 2: The City of Aqaba and the World’s Oldest Church

Episode Date: April 27, 2022

The TruNews team has arrived in the southern Jordanian city of Aqaba, known in the Bible as the ancient city of Elath. Rick and Doc discuss the importance of the area, which joins the Red Sea with Egypt and Israel. They also discuss the recent discovery of the world’s oldest church in the city of Aqaba. Rick also shares what brought him to Jordan, and the significance of meetings taking place. Rick Wiles, Doc Burkhart. Airdate 4/27/22.Holy Land Day 1: Ancient Roman City and Elijah's Mountain - https://www.spreaker.com/episode/49569185

The following program is made possible by the faithful prayers and financial support of listeners just like you. To find out how you can help beautiful city of Aqaba, and behind us is the Red Sea. I'll tell you in a moment why we're dressed in business clothes. We've got an important event that we're going to in a few minutes, but we want to give you an update on what we've been doing today. We'll tell you here in a few minutes about this great city. We got off to a slow start in Amman, and we had to get government permits to film at certain sites. Like tomorrow, we're going to Petra and we have to have a government permit to film at Petra. So anyhow, we decided to make a straight line to Aqaba. There's a four hour drive across the desert on the King's Highway. And so we just arrived about an hour or so ago and we're headed

to an important dinner. But for right now, Doc, I want to tell people why we're in Aqaba. This is absolutely one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. We're right on the Red Sea. Let's see, Doc, and I've only been here a few minutes. That is Egypt. That's right. Back this direction. Just over my shoulder there. That's Egypt on the other side. And over here, where you see those houses, that is Israel. That is Eliyat. And we're in Jordan. We're at the

southernmost tip of Jordan. It is Jordan's only port city. Right. And this is a huge, not only for tourism, but for shipping. A lot of commerce is going on here in this city. So, Doc, let's talk about the historical aspect of this city. This city wasn't, it wasn't always known as Aqaba. That's a medieval name. This city is in the Bible. It is. It's known as the city of Elath in the Bible. And you can actually look through it, especially in 2 Kings, the history. David conquered the Edomites to gain Elath.

Solomon worked with the Egyptians to get copper mining and everything like that going here. So this has been a major port since King David's day, since King Solomon's day. Later on in history, King Uzziah. That's right. He reclaimed the city. He did, and he rebuilt the city as part of the rebuilding process here. And so this is an important Bible city. It's also an important city for the Christian era,

and we can talk about that here in a few minutes too. So the name, as Doc said, is Elath. That's E-L-A-T-H. You can find it in the Bible. The first mention of Elath is in the book of Exodus. Yes. And so let's talk about Exodus, why Elath is in the book of Exodus. And so let's talk about Exodus, why Elath is in the book of Exodus. Obviously, this is the Red Sea and it played a part in the Exodus. So some years ago, back around in the

early 2000s, and probably in the 1990s first, Ron Wyatt, many of you remember Ron Wyatt. Yes. Ron Wyatt did a lot of archaeological research in this area of Aqaba. And then some years later, Professor Kenneth Moeller, Kenneth Moeller of Sweden, was here also and did a lot of research. Ron Wyatt said he found parts of Roman chariots in the sea. Yes. Actually, you can go into parts of the Gulf of Aqaba, and you can see mushroom-shaped formations in the water. Yes.

And you can do an overlay of it of chariot wheels, chariot axles and wheels. And the postulation is that those are the chariot wheels, chariot axles and wheels. And, you know, the postulation is that those are the chariot wheels from the Egyptians. That's right. So Professor Muller, who I talked to back in, I'm going to say, Doc, around 2001, 2002. Right. We were offering his film. He had a book and a film, a documentary on his archaeological findings here.

And in that film, he had a video of the Roman chariot wheels on the bottom of the Red Sea. Right. And maybe you have a copy of that film, that DVD. It's over, like I said, over 20 some years since that video was made. So, there are people that absolutely refute Ron Wyatt and Professor Moeller's their findings and their conclusion. But there is a lot of archaeological evidence that helps support their theory. For instance, there are a number of campsites in and around this area, especially on the Jordan side, that they tie directly back to the Exodus. And so at least they traveled through this portion of the area.

We know that for sure because archaeology tells us that. But there's also a lot of good reasoning as to why the crossing of the Red Sea occurred here. Now, everybody else, they say, well, it's northern Egypt or it's over on the other side of the Gulf of Arabia. But there's a lot of areas along here that provide the perfect opportunity that fit the biblical narrative. And so we'll talk more, you know, through the week here as we're in Aqaba and get some more information. But I remember Ron Wyatt talking about that years ago and how this seemed to be the most logical place for the crossing of the Red Sea. And so this.

But the one thing that we do know is that we are standing in the city of Elab, the biblical city. This is it. Now, that city over there, over on the Israel side, is called Iliad. And it's actually, it's a newer city. 1949. Right. After the Ashkenazim revolted and took over Palestine.

The only thing that was over there beforehand was a British police post before. The Israelis took over that and then they established a city around that, renamed it Iliad after Elif. But the actual city of Elif is Aqaba. That's where the actual city of Elif is Aqaba. That's where the actual city of Elath is. And that's important for folks that are, you know, really looking at the scripture and everything because it fits everything. It also leads us right into the Christian era, too. Some of the first Christian churches were established right here in the area. In fact, the oldest Christian church, the oldest known Christian church built in Aqaba before the church of the Holy

Sepulchre in Jerusalem and before the church of the nativity in Bethlehem. That's right. The first church known church was built here in Aqaba. Right. And this is a recent discovery too. This is only 1998 that they uncovered this. It had been buried by sand for nearly 2000 years, Right, and this is a recent discovery, too. This is only 1998 that they uncovered this. It had been buried by sand for nearly 2,000 years.

But this church that was here, it was a church, a regular church, and it somehow survived the great persecution. The Diocletian persecution. Right, because they tore down a lot of churches and everything in this area, but somehow it survived that, mainly because we're kind of out here on the edge of the Roman Empire, right? Yeah, so the church seated, they built it in the year, I want to say, 293 A.D. 293 A.D. And it originally seated 60 people, and then it was expanded to 100.

And those additional 40 people were people that fled here to escape the diocletian persecution right and then uh sometime in the 300s there's a major earthquake earthquakes are a problem here and a lot of things were destroyed the church ended up being buried almost frozen in time there were still uh There were still coins in the offering box. Yes, yes. When they unearthed this, it caught my attention when I read that. They found a collection box with coins in it. They also found, I think, around 18 or 20 skeletons in the cemetery.

Right. And so this was the oldest documented Christian church that was purposely built for a church. Now, people met in homes and things like that before this, but this is the oldest recorded instance of a building being built for the purpose of a church. And the bishop of the Aqaba church was one of the participants in the council of Nicaea. Right. And they, because they, this was when it was called Aila. Yes. And so it had different names throughout the ages and everything.

In that particular time, it was A-I-L-A. And the bishop actually went to Nicaea because he's recorded in the records of the council of Nicaea. So that means that this was not just a, a church, but it was an important church as a hub for Christianity. And so you might be wondering why, why are we here? Because I believe the Holy spirit has been directing me.

You know, doc, I started thinking about it. The days for four years and I'll. And I want to take a moment and just tell you the story. So it was the winter of 2018, January. Did we go to Davos in January or February? I don't recall. Somewhere in that time. But approximately two weeks before we went to Davos, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and I clearly heard the Holy Spirit say, pray for King Abdullah and his family. And Rick shared that with our staff and everything and said, I don't know where this is coming from, except from the Holy Spirit to pray for King Abdullah, the King of Jordan here. So I began praying for him and the queen and the crown prince and the entire royal family. I prayed for their protection. I prayed for them to have wisdom. I prayed that God would expose nefarious plans of his enemies so that the king would not be entrapped in anything.

And I just began to pray for King Abdullah, not knowing what it was about. Shortly after that instruction from the Lord, within weeks, we got invited by the Trump White House to go to Davos for the first time. And it all happened very quickly in a matter of weeks. So we traveled to Davos and when we got to Davos for the World Economic Forum, there stood King Abdullah. I never got to talk to him. I didn't meet him. When you go to these meetings as a reporter, the protocol is lay low, just observe and report. Don't interfere, don't talk to the people, let them have their meeting.

So I didn't make an attempt to talk to King Abdullah, but- We did hear him. We did hear him. And I will tell you, my friends, he said something in that meeting, I heard it with these ears, I will never forget

what the king said. And that only increased my desire to pray for him. And so ever since January of 2018, I had been praying for King Abdullah and the queen and the crown prince and the entire family, the royal family. And then after that, after we came back from World Economic Forum, I thought, well, I should start doing some research about Jordan. I don't know much about it. Right. And it was a Saturday afternoon and I was in home and I came across the city of Aqaba. And so I just drilled down and began to research aqaba and i was like oh my just looking at the photographs i thought i got to go to that place it's beautiful beautiful

and i sent the link to uh to my son jeremy and i said read this look at these photos uh You and I have got to go to Aqaba someday. That's four years ago, 2018. And then I don't remember how many months later, we got a visitor at the True News office in Vero Beach. And it was a woman who has been listening to me since 1999 when she lived in Fort Worth, Texas. I never met her, but she started listening to me in 1999 when I was on one radio station in Dallas, Fort Worth. Then as years went by, she lost she lost contact when when we went totally digital. We went off radio. We went totally digital. And she lost contact when we went totally digital. We went off radio, we went totally digital, and she lost contact with us. Somewhere along the way, somebody said,

oh, he's online, you can find him online. So she found True News and she contacted my wife, Susan, through the email account at True News and said, I'm going to be in Florida. I would like to visit. So I told Susan, yes, I'll meet her. I'll give her 15 minutes. She can come in and talk. Well, Doc, I think Laura was there for about four hours and you weren't there that day. You were on a trip. Right. I don't recall where you were at, but she presented to me what the Lord was doing here in Jordan.

And I said, she lives in Jordan. Yes. Now she's in her 80s. She's a missionary. Yes. And she lives in Jordan. She's a widow. And I said, where do you live in

Jordan? And she said, I'm in Aqaba. Where you had been praying. The very city I said I wanted to go to. And so the moment she said Aqaba, I knew there's a divine connection to her visit. There's something going on here. So she told me, I've been praying for you to visit Aqaba. Now this was 2018. Right. And I didn't know it. You know, I just discovered Aqaba and she was here in Aqaba praying that I would visit. It's taken since 2018 to this week for those prayers to be answered. It had to be done in God's timing. Right. Had to be done in God's timing.

And so we're here and there were times I wanted to come, but the Lord said, no, it's not time. Right. And then pandemic time, the pandemic hit and, and travel was shut down and,

uh, uh, Jordan was shut down. But then suddenly I felt this release a couple of months ago and the Lord said, plan to go, make your preparations now. And shortly thereafter, King Abdullah relaxed all the restrictions. We didn't have to be tested to come in to the country. Nobody's wearing masks. It's business as usual back here in Jordan again. So we're here to find out what the Lord has planned for us.

Now, tonight, the reason we're in these business clothes is that in a few minutes, Doc and I are being driven to Laura's home. And she is hosting a dinner. And one of the most famous upscale restaurants here in Aqaba, the owner is catering the dinner for us, Doc. This is, I'm just blown away by what is happening here because I didn't plan any of it. I didn't ask for anything like this to happen. There are 16 high-level government and business officials coming to this dinner tonight in a private home. Yeah, what a privilege it is to meet individuals like this, but this is the favor God's been opening up for us here in Jordan, and all because we listen to the Holy Spirit.

Yes, and it's the right timing. A long list of Aqaba business officials will be there. This is a city that opens its doors, opens its hearts to visitors. They want visitors. And I know they're rolling out the red carpet for you and me tonight, Doc, because they want you to come to Aqaba. They want you to come here and see this beautiful city, stay in its hotels, tour the area. I mean, you mentioned the Edomites. We're close to Edom. Moab is on the other side of the city. The Red Sea, Petra. Just so much within an hour or two driving just of Aqaba here. I think we're going to Petra tomorrow. We're going to spend the night in Petra. That's right. I'm really looking forward to it because there are Bedouin, Bedouins who live in the caves

of Petra who watch True News on their apps, on their phones. They live in a cave dock, but they have a smartphone with a True News app. And they watch True News. And they watch us and they're waiting for us to come. There are many Arabs who translate on their own effort, translate true news episodes every day and circulate them on the Internet to Arabs all over the Middle East. We have a very big, enthusiastic audience of Arabs. Right. And we've been getting emails all this week. Oh, you're in Jordan? Yes. Can we meet you? Can we get together with you?

And, you know, so people finding out about us being here and everything, it's been a bit overwhelming to know that there's that many people that are actually listening on a regular basis here. I'm going to make a prediction. I'm not going to say the Lord has said, yes, this is what you're doing. I just feel it in my heart. I believe that we will have a studio in Aqaba. We will produce content here in Aqaba. I believe we will have a regular tour, tourism ministry taking place. That there will be, over the coming years, thousands of American Christians who will come to Jordan to see this side of the Holy Land. We've got part of the Holy Land over here.

We've got Israel, Palestine, Egypt. Here is Jordan. And on the other side is saudi arabia which some people believe is where the real mount sinai is located that's right and so shouldn't every christian try and make the effort to visit the oldest known christian church in the world yes i mean look at just that alone doc, let's look at the peace that we felt. We couldn't convey it to you yesterday when we were on Mount Elijah. Oh, man. But you could feel the peace of God there.

It was so calm and peaceful knowing two things. On that mountain, God lifted up Elijah from this earth and took him to heaven on the mountain where we were standing. And a holy church was built there on top of the mountain. That lasted for hundreds of years. It was an amazing experience. I want to take you there. I really, I want to lead you on a tour of Jordan and if you're interested in going with us I think our first trip will be in October that's one of the reasons we're here Doc and I are scouting out the territory and looking at everything looking at the hotels the restaurants The restaurant's trying to figure out how we do this. And the Lord has provided us. And just what a gem.

And this young man, I'm going to introduce him to you one day this week. He is a true news fan and he wants to help us. He's a Jordanian, a Palestinian Jordanian. He wants to work with us to bring Christians here to Jordan. He's been our fixer this week. Oh man, we couldn't do this without him. He's arranged everything for us. He's driving us. He's taking us to the restaurants. He knows everybody here. He found this spot that we're at today.

He brought us over here. His name is Bassam. I'll introduce you to him maybe tomorrow when we get out to Petra. But if you are interested, if you have some interest in coming to Jordan in October of this year, write to us at info at True News. Info at True News dot com. Info at True News dot com. Say I'm interested. It's not a commitment. You don't have to say i'm definitely doing it but just say i am interested when you get more information contact me and let me know the details the dates and the cost and we will put you on the list right but i'm telling you as god i really believe uh i i just feel very confident we will have our first tour group here in october just on the

things we've seen in the past two days it's the rick i mean i know we're only two it's gonna be hard to decide if we do bring a tour over here what what are we going to be able to see because we've seen so much already and we're only on our second day here really yes we've been here three days uh my luggage didn't arrive on the first day. It was another one of the little snafus we had to deal with, but everything's going fine now and I'm really excited about going to Petra tomorrow. Yes. And then when we leave Aqaba, we're going to drive along the Red Sea. There are a number of biblically historical sites to look at. And if you watch True News every day until May, what? May 6th.

Right. May 6th. We will be here until Friday, May 6th. We'll give you an update and you can see where we've been during the day. That's it for today. We love you very much. God bless you. We'll see you tomorrow.

The preceding program was made possible by the faithful prayers and financial support of listeners just like you. To find out how you can help, visit www.truenews.com.