A lot of times we picture the Bible as a fantasy storybook with stories that can help us in our Christian life. And we often forget the historical value of the Bible until you actually walk those lands with your own two feet. Unpacking that and more coming up right now on the Clear Ve Today Shop. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis, and welcome to another fantastic episode right here in the Clearview Today studio with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah. For those of you guys listening for the very first time, Dr. Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show, Dr.
Shah. And I do mean this with a double meaning. Welcome back. It's good to be back. Amen.
Amen. Very nice. Good to be back and good to be back. Good to be back. Stateside.
So, a lot of you guys don't know. Actually, probably nobody knows if you've just been listening to the show because we do record ahead a bunch of times. But the last week and a half, you guys have been overseas. Yes. Ryan.
Doctor Shaw, David, Nicole Elizabeth went as well in Israel 2026, right? Yeah. 2026. How was it? I've been there many times, so I loved it.
I had a great time. It was good to be back in Israel. It was good to To go back to those places that I've been before, I saw one or two places that I hadn't seen before. Really? One or two places that.
that I'm glad we got to see. Um and then of course um It was great to see, of course. David has been there before, so I knew he was just like me. He was enjoying it. And sort of reminiscing the past and all that.
But I was happy to see Ryan and Elizabeth go because they have never been to Israel. First time. This was their first time. I know you and Ellie have gone. Yes.
In fact, you have gone twice. Gone twice. Ellie has gone once. And it was great. It was just wonderful, wonderful, wonderful trip.
And we had a couple from our church. Jimmy and Kay, who also went. And this was all part of The American Renewal Project, which is a very wonderful organization that encourages Christians. Pastors or Church people to get involved, get into the marketplace, get into the city square, get into politics. Let your voice be known.
Yeah, stand up for biblical values.
So it was just so good.
So good. Oh, yeah. And I can't wait to hear about you guys' trip. You know, one of the things that we do as Clearview anytime we travel overseas is we do a bunch of filming because you know you can't take every single member of your church, but you can bring back footage and you can have these videos that explains the experience and kind of explains the biblical significance behind all these sites. This trip was kind of cool because there was sort of a dual purpose with the filming.
And I kind of leave it to our discretion because there's a lot of things coming down the pipeline later on this year that maybe we don't want to talk about right this moment.
So I'll kind of leave that up to you guys how much you want to talk about the extensive filming that you guys did. But I think it's really cool that every time that we're able to go, we're also able to bring stuff back. Yeah, that's something that's very special. And, you know, talking with people after we've arrived back home, I've heard from so many people: I can't wait to see the pictures. I can't wait to hear about it.
I can't wait to see what comes of that. And I think I really love that culture that you sort of set forth, Dr. Shah, of like, this isn't just I'm going to go and learn or I'm going to go and do. It's I'm going to go and bring back. Absolutely.
And I'm going to go and bring these biblical lands to you who may not be able to travel for whatever reason, but I'm going to bring this to you because it really does. There's no substitute for it. It really does make the Bible come to life.
Well, I think one of the things I really respect is how it always turns into a Bible study or like a summer digging deep session because it's very easy to be like, I'm going to go and I'm going to have a great time in Israel. And then I'll tell my church people about it. But I know that your heart, Dr. Shah, is I want you to feel like you went. I want you to benefit because.
We were able to go to Israel. Yeah, you know, there were a lot of pastors there and their wives were there. And then youth pastors were there as well. And I don't know, some of them probably found that strange. That every place I went, I was like, okay, let's record a video.
After listening to the guide and after listening to a pastor who was giving the devotionals, I would say, if we have time, it's like, hey, let's record a quick video here. And I know at times the people were looking at me like, why are you doing that? Why is that necessary? It's not for me. Most of the time, I never even watched those videos again.
I mean, I'm looking at some of the pictures right now on the screen of past. visits, I haven't seen these pictures in a while. In a while, I haven't taken the time to just kind of go through them. Wow, 26, that was 10 years ago. Yes.
Wow. That was my second trip to Israel 10 years ago. Mm-hmm.
So I film those videos, whether it's just like a quick Facebook Live or with a Osmo, just like a simple camera, or Heavy duty cameras.
So that I can bring it back to people who would otherwise not be able to go. Yes. So I can bring it back to people who are Just wondering? Is the Bible the Word of God? Does the Bible have contradictions?
Is it truly A book Said in history, or is it just like a mythological work? Right. Like any other religious or Mythical book. And so That's my purpose behind Filming, and I bring back those videos and I bring back those pictures and use them in the blog and use them in the sermons and give it to people and say, Look, go use them. Right.
Yeah. I think it's sort of sad that a lot of pastors travel to these biblical sites and don't realize that their people, their congregation back home, are looking to them. You know, they're looking to you for not just. To be their faith, but to give them confidence in their faith. And I remember one of the times that you went in 2016, you came back with footage from the Mount of Beatitudes.
And I remember there was one woman who said, you know, that really meant a lot to me. I love the Sermon on the Mount. And sometimes I struggle with doubt. And so to see you standing where Jesus stood, it meant a lot to her. It bolstered her faith in a really cool way.
It's an incredible, it's an incredible reality. And Elizabeth and I were fortunate enough to go with Dr. Shaw, with you and Nicole, and another team to Greece in 2023. And so to see, you know, this place is from Paul's second missionary journey, to see those in real time, to see them in living color. And then this trip to see Israel in the same way was just, it was breathtaking.
I tell people, I feel like I'm still processing everything that we saw, everything that we went, because it was, I mean, it was a whirlwind. It was a brief trip, and we were back stateside. But I'm still combing through pictures and I'm still kind of processing in my mind what all it means where we were. We stood in the places where Jesus himself stood during his earthly ministry. Sea of Galilee was that for me.
And I don't want to reminisce too much, but I remember being on the being on the dock at like six in the morning. And that was, you know, because you read the Bible and it's like, all right, Jesus walked on the water. And it's like, okay, I better believe that if I'm a Christian. But at the same time, all right, come on, a human being like walked on water. It was the weirdest thing.
I was out there by myself for just like an hour. And I, for some reason, God spoke to me and said, I'll never doubt that again. I don't know what it was, just being there. And Dr. Sha, I remember you told me that.
Like, there's something about just being there and seeing it that actually strengthens your faith. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, if you see some of the pictures we have from the Sea of Galilee, yeah, uh, just being there, I see John's right there, he's standing right there. If you see David right in the middle, someone should have checked my fit. I don't know what I'm wearing.
What is it that you're wearing? Just the hat and that shirt. It just looks great, it looks great, it looks great.
Now, this right here, this is our guy that filming hat. Yeah, he's having a good time. Very nice. So. You know, that's the Sea of Galilee.
you know, every time we go, we at least take that one quick tour Of the Sea of Galilee and get on a boat. And this is a smaller boat, if you can see, the one that. Ryan and I, and David, and Nicole and Elizabeth were on. What's the big bus? The biggest one we've ever been.
It was a pretty big buzz. Wow. And because they were like 100 people, or 95, 96, some people. Good point.
So it's awesome to just. take time just to sit and think. These are the very waters, may not be the same molecules, but these are the very, the very place where. Jesus walked on the waves. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Somewhere here, Jesus was Calm the raging sea.
somewhere here Peter said If it's you, bid me come. I want to walk on the waves with you. Mhm.
Somewhere here. That's crazy. That's crazy. Awesome for me to just walk around. Again, this time on the Sea of Galilee, and be like, wow, this is the place.
Tell us a little bit about the layout of this trip. From arrival to departure, what were some of the big hotspots that you guys went to?
So of course you arrive in Tel Aviv. This is the international airport and we We got out of the airport. It took a little time because we were trying to get all the little details taken care of, and then we headed to the bus. Actually it was very sad when we got to the bus. in the parking lot or buses.
We had two buses. Because there were only two other buses in the parking lot. Oh, really? And it was about. 10 o'clock in the morning, would you say, Ryan?
Yeah, it was about 10, maybe, maybe 10:30, but right around early morning time. Yeah. Because about this time In a regular There would have been Twenty, thirty buses. Wow. And there were only four, yeah.
Two of them were ours, and two of them were the birthright buses where the Israeli government. invites Jewish boys and girls to come and young people to come and experience Israel for themselves and then maybe decide to move there.
So tourism is suffering right now. Oh, hugely suffering. They've had two hits. Number one was a pandemic where everything shut down from 2020 to about. 2022.
And then it came to life in 2023. And then october seventh, twenty twenty three happened. A heinous In Prudo. Evil attack against the Jewish people, and then all of a sudden everything stopped.
So since 2020 Till twenty twenty six Like for my good friend over there, who's my guide, and he's been with me since 2015. He said he's had three trips in six days. Three days. Three days. Three days of work in six years.
Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Yep. Yeah. Only three days of work.
Am I right? Yes. Yeah, we got the chance to spend time with him one of the days there. And he said it's, I mean, tourism has suffered. It's picking back up.
He said slowly. We're seeing tourism pick back up in Israel, but it's been. Slower than slow. I mean, non-existent. He's had to, you know, have other temporary jobs here and there because tourism just wasn't there.
He's, you know, he's been operating like heavy machinery. Wow. Because, because there's just no tourism. Our guides that were on this trip, which wasn't the guy that Dr. Shad that you normally go with, I'm so thankful we got the chance to meet him though, because I've heard you guys talk about him for years, having been to Israel multiple times.
And I was like, man, I really want to meet him.
So I'm grateful we got the chance to do that afternoon. I just thought about it. The last time I saw him, I didn't have children. Yeah, I didn't have three children.
Now I've got three. Yeah, gosh, yeah, but our guides thanked us several times. Thank you for coming to Israel. Thank you for coming to our country. Because our people, you know, they depend on tourists coming in.
They depend on people coming in and learning about Israel and then going back and telling other people how wonderful a place it is. Yeah, Israel is a wealthy country. I mean, medical technology, diamonds, military technology. I mean, they have a lot of ways that they are very well off. But.
Tourism is also a huge part of their income. And For the past six years. It has been very little. Only in 2023, things opened up and then they shut down again.
So It has really taken a hit.
So it was great for me to walk around and see some of those familiar places. I mean, it was like I just was there the day before yesterday. Uh we began in Tel Aviv. And then we made our way to Caesarea Maritima. This is the place where Peter went after he had the vision of the sheet coming down from heaven with clean and unclean animals.
And God says to Peter in the vision in Joppa. Peter, rise up, kill and eat. And of course he says no. It's unclean. I can't do that.
Three times that vision happens, and then God says, What I have called clean, don't call unclean. All that to say is that the doors are now flung open to the Gentiles.
Now, the doors were always open to the Gentiles. But they had to sort of walk through the rituals, the traditions. the laws, the commandments become to God. Right. The way was still through.
The coming promised Son of God, but they had to do all these other things. The coming of Jesus completely did away with Any of these extra things. He can come clearly. to God. through Jesus Christ without having to become Jewish.
So this is the place where Peter went after the vision, and he met. uh the centurion. Uh this is also the place where Paul was imprisoned. Mm-hmm.
waiting for his trial. And that's where he appeals to Caesar. To Caesar, you must go now.
So this was the place, and it was great to be there. And then from there, we went on. We were going to stop at Megiddo, but time ran out. Oh, really? Yeah, time ran out.
I really wanted to stop there, and I wanted the guys to see Megiddo, but we couldn't do it this time. Yeah, no. That's sad. Megiddo was one of the places that I really enjoyed going. And I was looking forward to seeing some of the videos there.
I didn't know you guys didn't go to Megiddo. No, we were going to, but we just time-wise, we didn't get a chance. We saw the place where that courtroom would have been, where Paul was on trial. And he said, I appeal to Caesar, like the ruins of where that was. Wow.
And you're looking out, and then the water is out there. And we saw the theater, the ancient theater there.
So cool. That's a great place. That's a great place. From there, we went on and we stayed at Magdala. Mm-hmm.
This is uh Or Migdal. This is the place uh where it was very interesting because this is uh claimed to be the site of um The home town of Mary Magdalene. And The hotel is sitting right on top of the ruins. I mean, pretty much, am I right on that? Yeah, you walk out a door of the hotel and you're in the ruins.
The ruins are there. And so it was pretty awesome to stay there because I have been to the ruins, I think. Once. I believe it was either 2019. It was 2019.
I was there. 2019. But we didn't stay there, did we? No, we didn't stay there. Yeah, yeah.
I think the hotel was uh Was there, but it was not finished yet. Yeah, I think you're right. They were still working on the hotel in 2019. And so I remember going there and we did some filming there as well. Went to the chapel in the back.
But this time we were staying there, and it was great to walk out and go down the steps. And you're right at the ruins, and you could go any time of the day. Yeah, that's kind of nice. It's kind of totally open. Yeah, it's kind of cool how it goes, comes full circle.
Because I remember being there and them talking about when the hotel is finished, it's going to be this and it'll be right on the ruins. And now, like, what, six years later, you're actually able to stay in that hotel. Absolutely. That's cool. There's no like there's no gate to go through.
You just walk out the door, literally, the door of the hotel, and there you are. That's incredible. Nice hotel. It's beautiful. Beautiful, good.
Good, good food, everything. And so we spent. I think three days at the hotel, but we went different places. Yeah, yeah. So then we would leave and we went to.
Caesarea Philippa. This is the place where Peter made that great declaration. You are Christ, the Son of the living God. It was an answer to a question that Jesus asked: Who do men say that I am?
So we went there. Then we went to some other places. We went all the way to the Golan Heights. It was cold there, wasn't it? It was freezing cold and so windy.
I mean, I heard them talking about wind in Israel, but I was like, okay, whatever. I mean, there's mountains and it's kind of, you know, there's different kinds of terrain.
So maybe we'll encounter some wind. It was incredibly windy and freezing cold. The mist sort of rolled in. Oh, wow. The fog rolled in and you couldn't see anything.
Yeah. Because there's a United Nations checkpoint there. Mm-hmm.
And it it's not like right there, it's about a mile away. And then maybe a mile, maybe a mile and a half. About a mile, I think. Yeah. And then You turn back around and Wow.
The fog was gone. Wow. That's really cool. It was quick. And I maybe because of the wind, everything just kind of blew in and blew out quickly.
But yeah, we were standing there watching, and it was like all of a sudden, just everything is hazy and obscured. And then just as quickly as it came, it evaporated. Yeah. And it was um Kind of surreal because you're standing at a hot spot. I mean, this is about the same time there were some skirmishes going on.
Really? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. I didn't know that.
So. And then from there we went a couple of other places. We did the Galilee boat ride and then we made our way um and we stayed in in in Migdal a couple more days. Uh and then we made our way down and came to Beth Sheon. Betshean is an old, old place.
and uh kind of a Roman Uh town. But then over the years, it suffered some massive earthquakes and it could not survive. And so it was abandoned. But it's a beautiful, beautiful setting. because it tells you what um An ancient Roman or Greco-Roman city was like.
And then from there, we came down to the Jordan River because it's right there. And at the Jordan River, we had several baptisms. Yeah. Especially that was fun. Yeah, that was great because we were able to baptize.
I was able to baptize two of ours, Jimmy and Kay. And Special. Do you remember in 2020 the random people who asked you for baptism? Yeah, one person. Oh, yeah, it was a woman.
I do remember baptizing. Uh Randall and then This person comes up to me. He's like, Hey, man, I don't know where my group went. And I wanted to be baptized, but there are no pastors here. There's nobody.
I was like, I was like, I don't mind baptizing you if you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. He's like, oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I said, okay, great.
Well, let's go. And so I had just taken off my robe. I had to put it back on. You know, at the Jordan River, the site where the baptisms take place, you have to put on this robe that they give you. It's kind of a.
Just to cover up, you know, because you go in the water and clothes stick to you.
So, this is a good. kind of a opaque um A robe. And so I had to put it back on. I was like, all right, let's go back. And I went right back in the same place and baptized him.
Yeah, that was really cool. Yeah. That was really fun. And then, once we finished at the Jordan River, we made our way down to Jerusalem.
Now, in Jerusalem, we stayed, what, three days? Three days. Yep. That's really fun. Where'd y'all go in Jerusalem?
Did you do the Via Doloroso? Did you go through the different parts?
Some parts of the parts of the parts of them. We saw the different stations and they were numbered, and he kind of explained a little bit. We didn't go in order and we didn't see the whole thing. Church of the Holy Sepulchre? Did y'all go there?
We. We got there, I think, and we w so we were divided into two groups. There was a youth pastors group, and then there was a senior pastor's group. Gotcha. The youth pastors group were able to go inside the church of the Holy Sepulchre.
And you were a part of that group, right? I was, but we sort of separated off and went with you guys because we were doing a couple of different projects and talking to different people.
So I went to the outside of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, but I didn't actually go in the group. Could you have gone? I think if I'd stayed with them, I think they actually went in.
Okay, cool. But they said it was, there were a bunch of people. Really? It's always super, super crowded. And that's the thing, too, is you want to go in and you want to take in this really holy moment.
Like, this is where Jesus was, this is supposedly where the tomb was.
So you want it to mean something, but it's just so crowded, and there's like, there's like trinkets and gold and all these like different ornaments and icons. And it's like, oh man, I kind of wanted this to be like a. Like a sacred moment. And that's one of the sad parts of some of these sites in the East. Uh they they almost become gaudy.
And and they lose that That I don't know how to say it, that moment of reflection that you can spend and just think about Jesus being here. No, you have all these lamps and the incense and tourists coming with their rosaries and kissing everything and bowing and as you're like the priests are like walking in front of you on this. That's why I think that's why I loved Sea of Galilee so much, 'cause it was just water. It was just grass and water and it's quiet. And it just and like if tourists if like if people see you, they'll just leave you be and let you reflect.
Well, Darshan, we got a little bit of time left. I know you've been to Israel a bunch. For this trip, what was your favorite? Favorite site that we went to go see? Or favorite thing that we did?
A couple of things I got to do that I did not get to do before, so maybe I can talk about that. One was we went to the church of the primacy of Peter. And I think this is the church where. After Jesus rose from the grave. And he told his disciples, hey, I'm going to, you know, work with you, blah, blah, blah.
Meet me here, there, whatever. The Bible tells us that Peter Told the rest of the disciples that he was going fishing and they followed him. And they went back to their old lives.
So Jesus comes and visits them, and so they come out of the water. And Jesus says, Okay, how many fish did you catch? Bring 'em. And Jesus already has some fish and bread on fire. And cooking them, and then he uses their fish as well.
And then he has that sit-down conversation with Peter. Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Then feed my sheep, feed my lambs.
So the church we went to It says right around the Sea of Galilee, was the place it is believed. where Jesus had this conversation with Peter. Mm-hmm.
And I had never been there. I I wanted to go there, but it's it's um You know, it's sort of out of the way. It's still around the Sea of Galilee, but it's sort of out of the way.
So I was like, oh, one of these days I'm going to. See if I can make it work. And then when they told me we were going there, I was like Yes. That's awesome. and then our guide, one of the guides, told us, he said, Go down to the shore and pick up a rock.
and take it with you. And it's what does he say about that? He said it's a reminder that you can't ever, once Jesus has called you, once you have that relationship with him, you can't ever go back to your old life. Your old sinful way of thinking, your old worldly self. Once he's called you, he's made you a new person.
So follow him. That's all. Don't ever look back to your old life. That's right. I love it.
And so we did that.
So that was special to me to be able to pick up that rock and say, you know, yeah, this is something special. And the second place that was special was in Jerusalem. I've been to the city of David several times. I mean, you've been with me to the Hezekiah's tunnel that is in the city. Oh, it's a beautiful, wonderful place.
A lot of history there, a lot of biblical history. But. It was a rainy messy cold windy day And they gave us an option. They said, you know, you can go to the Holocaust Museum, which I've already been to. four times.
Or you can stay at the hotel. Where we were staying, we had checked out where we could come back and stay, or Or you could go to the city of David. And I was like, I've already been to the city of David. I don't want to be walking around in the cold. Right.
I don't want to get wet. windy day. Yeah. It was pouring rain. And then then they said And this time, we have a special archaeologist who's going to come and take us down to Temple Zero.
Did you change your mind when you heard that? Yeah, I was like, Temple Zero, that's the site. Which is Purported to be, so we're not sure it is, but Eli Shukaran, the archaeologist, really passionate about this, is purported to be the site where. Abraham offered The tithe Of what is it? Wine?
Oil and wine. Oil and wine to Melchizedek, the king of Salem, the priest-king. Of Jerusalem before Jerusalem became Jerusalem. It was Salem. Melchizedek was the priest king.
And so When they said that, I was like, oh. That changes everything 'cause I haven't been to that place I always wanted to go. I'm like, ooh. Cold wind, rain. All right, I'm going.
I was gonna say, it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, though. And sure enough, I jumped in. Glad I went because that was amazing. On the way out from there, you can go by this pool of Siloam, which is just nearby. And this time we were able to go to the side where.
The steps lead to the temple From the pool of Salom. They were discovered in you know in recent years. And so I was like, man. This is the highlight of my trip. I know we're completely out of time, Dr.
Shop, but we're going to make this work. If someone's listening to this right now and they're like, man, I wish I could go. What can I get out of this episode? What advice would you give people or what encouragement would you give people who are listening? I would tell you that I hope you will try to go.
Mm-hmm.
Where there's a will, there's a way. But also pray over it. Pray that God would open the door for you to go. But I do want you to remember whether you go or not. The Bible is unlike any book.
in the world. It's like any holy book. It's nothing like the Quran, it's nothing like the Bhagavad Gita or the The Buddhist writings? No, it's very different. It is The word of God, but it's rooted in historical places.
in historical time. It's not some mythological work. You can go find these places, they exist. They're there. And so If you don't believe in the Bible or if you're having doubts, Please remember.
The Bible is the Word of God. That's right. is the truth of God. right now. Guys, make sure you join us next time.
Same time, same place. We're going to be diving into another great topic here on the Clearview Today show. Thanks again to our sponsors for making today's episode possible. If today was your first time listening to us, hey, hop on a plane, go to Israel. But make sure that you are listening, that you're following along, and that you join us again tomorrow as we discuss.
You can always reach us at 252-582-5028. And you can always support us financially at Abhadanshah.com forward slash give. That's right. Two quick announcements. NRB 2026.
We are coming to Nashville, Tennessee. We can't wait to see you. We're going to be there alongside Truth Network and alongside Pray.com.
So make sure you come say hello. We would love to shout out you and your ministry right here on Clearview Today Show. We're going to be doing shows from the convention floor.
So we want to see you there. Also, big, big, big apologetics conference is happening March 28th right here at Clearview Church. Make sure you get your tickets. And I'm not just talking about your conference tickets. I'm talking about your airline tickets, hotel tickets, whatever you need to get, because you don't want to miss this conference.
And if you'd use promo code today, T-O. D-A-Y at checkout. Link in the registration, by the way. We're going to give you 20% off for your ticket price. That's right.
We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearby Today.
