We’re only two months away from the release of my next Marcus Ryker novel, The Jerusalem Assassin (March 17, 2020). The reviews from the advance copies have been coming back, and it seems that people are enjoying reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it. One of the reasons I am so excited about this thriller is that so much of the action—particularly as the story reaches its climax—takes place, not surprisingly, in Jerusalem. This holy city is truly an amazing city full of both history and the modern. At night, when you are looking down at the lit walls of the Old City, you can’t help but feel the past, the present, and the future of this site where God has chosen to place his name. In The Jerusalem Assassin I do my best to give you a feel for the various locations in which the action takes place. However, Jerusalem is really a city that needs to be experienced.

I am not the only one who feels that Jerusalem should be experienced. According to business intelligence company Euromonitor International, the city saw a 38 percent growth in tourism in 2019. In fact, Jerusalem is the world’s fastest-growing tourist destination.[1] This popularity extends through other parts of Israel. Tel Aviv was recently ranked second, right behind Las Vegas, on Forbes’s top twenty destinations for 2020.[2] Driving around Israel, it is easy to believe its growing tourism statistics. Tour buses are everywhere. From Caesarea to the Sea of Galilee, from the Dead Sea to Jerusalem itself, people from all parts of the world can be seen absorbing the sites that had up until that moment just been place names in the Bible. According to Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, “By the end of the year, around 4.5 million tourists are expected to have visited Israel—an all-time record.”[3] A majority of those visits are by Christians seeking to walk where Jesus walked and experience this land of history and prophecy.

I’ve heard visiting Israel described as filling in all the colors of a coloring book. What starts as black and white in the pages of your Bible comes alive when you gaze down at the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives or when you meditate on the anguish of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. A visit to the Holy Land is a must for anyone who wants to see, smell, and touch what they read in the Word of God.

If a visit to Israel is something to which you feel God calling you, then my wife, Lynn, and I would like to invite you to our next “Prayer & Vision Trip” sponsored by The Joshua Fund. This trip is not just another tour group. You’ll have the opportunity to meet with and pray for local Israeli and Palestinian pastors and ministry leaders—both Jewish and Arab—on the front lines of the faith, as well as participate in a practical ministry project to bless the poor and needy. I will also teach at key locations and answer your questions about the future of the epicenter. Of course, we will still have plenty of time to visit the shores of Galilee, the city of Jerusalem, and many other sites.

As an optional addition, we are also offering an Egyptian extension for the very first time. Visit the pyramids, see the mummies and other artifacts in the Egyptian Museum, and take a dinner cruise on the Nile. The dates for the “Prayer & Vision Trip” are October 13-24, with the extension lasting until October 27. Please consider joining us—you will not be disappointed. I promise that once you visit the Holy Land, you will never read your Bible the same again.

—Joel

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[1] Michal Raz-Chaimovich, “Jerusalem Ranked World’s Fastest Growing Tourist Destination,” Globes, December 15, 2019, en.globes.co.il/en/article-jerusalem-ranked-worlds-fastest-growing-tourist-destination-1001310945.

[2] “The Top 20 Destinations For 2020,” Forbes Travel Guide, December 13, 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/forbestravelguide/2019/12/13/forbes-travel-guide-20-top-destinations-for-2020/.

[3] Zachary Keyser, “Christmas in Israel—165,000 Tourists Expected.” Jerusalem Post, JPost.com, December 24, 2019, www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Christmas-in-Israel-16500-tourists-expected-10-percent-increase-from-2018-611955.