Haytham Dieck is teaching a new course about monasticism with Bethlehem Bible College. He says, “When you go deeply into the history of monasticism, you get really surprised. People just left their materialistic lives to follow Jesus as He said. They went in the desert, to the Judean Desert, the same place where Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights.”

The Judean Desert is a very harsh environment. But Christians turned it into a city with 70 monasteries. At different times of day, one could hear bells ringing from all directions.

From here, monasticism spread out to other parts of the Christian world as well. It also led to a lot of theological development. Dieck says, “Probably the first establishment of Arab theology started in the monasteries in the Judean Desert, which is absolutely phenomenal. That is exactly the concentration of the course.”

Course details

The course will be taught in nine sessions, Dieck says, “Each class will run for almost an hour and a half. That means the class will total almost 13 hours.”

Dieck has previously taught courses on discovering Jerusalem, Galilee, and Bethlehem. In the future, he hopes to teach on the women of the Bible.

Want to learn more? Consider signing up for the online class here.

Header photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College. 

That’s why Bethlehem Bible College now offers the Discover Galilee from your Place online course. Participants will get a virtual tour of significant places in the ministry of Jesus. Click the link to register or get more information.

Discover Jerusalem

This was proceeded by Discover Jerusalem from your Place. Participants in that course got a virtual tour of the city, especially locations important in the final hours before Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Haytham Dieck, who lead the course, says it explored the history and archeology of the city. “And then afterward, we will follow the path route of Jesus, the Via Dolorosa. And then, of course, the whole course will end by Golgotha, which is today the Holy Sepulcher Church.”

The college offered a similar course, Discover Bethlehem from your Place, last year. Dieck says, “At first, we thought the number would be around 10, 12, or 15. But we were very happy to see the number reaching 29. We were even thinking to do another course about Galilee.”

The Discover Galilee course will run from June 5 to July 31 and will include 9 sessions, with 13 total hours.

Dieck says, “We are so happy that so far, we are receiving very positive feedback from all those who participated. So far, everybody has said the lectures are very informative. And they are actually using this information for their ministry or their work.”

The header image shows a cross near the Sea of Galilee. (Photo courtesy of KaPilz from Pixabay)

Worse yet, Palestine has not received any large numbers of vaccines yet. Dieck says, “The Ministery of Health says they have some, but it’s only a limited number. I mean, in the West Bank you speak about three million people, in the Gaza strip you speak about 2 million. So about 5 million people [need vaccines]. People who were in their 20s and 30s, unfortunately, died because of COVID-19. It’s one of the saddest events ever, for someone alive today in the 21st century, to see all of this going on.”

The loss of tourism

Bethlehem thrived on tourism before the pandemic. “This is the petrol of Bethlehem,” says Dieck. “This is what makes Bethlehem actually alive.”

The lack of tourists for over a year has crushed many families economically. Dieck says, “That means families live on tourism, either if they are working in the hotel business, or tour guide agencies. You speak about at least thousands of families that are living because of tourism. Now, they don’t have any income. And what makes it complicated is if you are infected by COVID-19, this will cost lots of money for treatment.”

Ask God to comfort your Palestinian brothers and sisters. Pray they would show the hope of the risen Jesus during a difficult time. And pray Palestine would get access to large numbers of vaccines soon.

Bethlehem Bible College has suffered financially during the pandemic as well. You can support the school here.

The header photo comes courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College on Facebook.