Page 7 - Good News December 2005 paper

sraeli officials say they have 'Great
discovered what may be the discovery'
Ioldest Christian Church in "This is a once
the Holy Land - on the site of a in a lifetime
maximum security prison! find and the
Israel's Antiquities Authority inscriptions
said the church at the Megiddo are very rare,"
jail dated back to the third or e x c a v a t i o n
fourth century AD and was "a supervisor,
once in a lifetime find". Jotham Tefer,
It contained a mosaic bearing told Israel's The site contains a
the Name of Jesus Christ in Channel Two mosaic with references
ancient Greek, fish murals and Television. to Jesus Christ
an altar, officials said. "This is a very ancient structure, maybe the
The dig took place near the oldest in our area," he said.
biblical site of Armageddon in Mr Tefer added that the discovery could help
northern Israel. shed new light on an important period of
Christianity, which was banned by the Romans
until the fourth century.
"Normally we have from this period in our region
historical evidence from literature, not
archaeological evidence," he said. "There is no
structure you can compare it to, it is a very unique
find."
The Vatican's ambassador to Israel, Pietro
Sambi, described the find as a "great discovery".
According to Christian tradition Megiddo will be
A mosaic depicting the site of Armageddon, the final battle between
two fish, an ancient good and evil on the Day of Judgement.
Christian symbol www.bbc.co.uk

n the Rospigliosi Palace in that for us when we try to get
Rome is Guido Reni's some notion of God. He is the
Ifamous fresco, "The mirror of Deity. He is the
Aurora," a work unequalled express image of God's
in that period for nobility of person. He interprets God to
line and poetry and colour. It our dull hearts. In Him God
is painted on a lofty ceiling. becomes visible and intelli-
As you stand on the pave- gible to us.
ment and look up at it, your We cannot by any amount of
neck stiffens, your head searching find out God. The
grows dizzy, and the figures more we try, the more we are
become hazy and indistinct. bewildered. Then Jesus
And so the owner of the place Christ appears. He is God
has placed a broad mirror stooping down to our level,
near the floor. In it the picture and He enables our feeble
is reflected, and you can sit thoughts to get some real
down before it and study the hold on God Himself.
wonderful work in comfort. (Frank M Fairchild, in Moody
Jesus Christ does precisely Monthly).