"Jerusalem Rising" Doug Hershey 2 AlongTheWay 98

Doug Hershey returns to discuss the story behind “Jerusalem Rising”. His second book in the Ancient Prophecy Modern Lens series chronicles the fascinating stories behind the “Then and Now” style pictures that reveal prophecy being fulfilled in front of your eyes. If you can’t physically get to Israel, this is the next best thing. Listen as Doug shares the stories behind the making of this incredible project.

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Transcript

Doug Hershey: 0:01

We did the entire photoshoot in about five days, we walk an average of about nine miles a day, our longest day was 13 miles, which is like a half marathon like we walked the half marathon in one day, wandering all over the city looking for like the perfect angles and getting the right guy to open the gate so you can get over there and climb that wall or talking to somebody. And a lot of it is that challenge.

John Matarazzo: 0:22

Welcome to along the way. I'm John Matarazzo, your host and fellow traveler. Thank you for joining me along my way as I try to become more like Jesus every day. Doug Hershey is an adventure guide who leads tours through Israel. But God has led him on an unexpected journey that has become a big part of his life's calling. Doug's previous book, Israel rising ancient prophecy modern lens, beautifully portrayed how those ancient biblical prophecies are really coming true. And even the desert is coming back to life. In this episode, Doug tells the story behind his latest book, Jerusalem rising and how the city of peace is reawakening. I'll get to our conversation in just a moment. But as always, I want to thank you for listening to along the way. I hope that you like what you hear and you subscribe. Please rate and review along the way on Apple podcasts or wherever you're listening. All of my socials and contact links are in the show notes. And you can check out all of my episodes and join my email list through my website along the way dot media, I would love to hear from you. I also have a Patreon page if you want to help me to continue to put out these along the way episodes. If you'd like to become a Patreon supporter, simply go to patreon.com slash along the way and select the level. The link to become a supporter is in my show notes. And now here is my second along the way conversation with Doug Hershey. Well, Doug Hershey, it's great to have you back on along the way. Thanks so much for being here and creating another book. I mean, the last time that you were on this, this podcast, you had Israel rising, which is one of my favorite books to look through and just kind of be amazed to see what God has done in the land of Israel over the last 150 years maybe. And it's great to have you back to talk about your book Jerusalem rising. And so thanks so much for being here.

Doug Hershey: 2:14

Yeah, thanks for having me on. We've were just talking a little bit beforehand. We've known each other for quite a while. So it's always good to jump back on with you.

John Matarazzo: 2:21

Absolutely. Yeah, it's I mean, we've, we've shared we broke bread together or you know, Manny's or you know, things like that. We have at the TV station with me up in Pittsburgh at Cornerstone network. And now I'm down in Florida. And you're all over the place right now talking about this new book. But unfortunately, you haven't been able to get to Israel because of this darn pandemic that we're still dealing with. But at least you're taking part of Israel with you wherever you go. Especially through this books.

Doug Hershey: 2:51

Yeah, absolutely. That's That's some of what what people are asking me is, you know, when can we get back to Israel? When can we get back to Israel. And thankfully, I had shot a lot of all of this was done before the pandemic with both Jerusalem rising actually content for a third book as well as already finished. And so we've been I've been using that exact line was like, well, until you, you know, you can't get to Israel, or until you can get back to Israel, I can bring Israel to you through a bunch of photo books.

John Matarazzo: 3:20

And so these are more than just then and now photo books at first glance, that's kind of what they look like. But there's so much more to this whole rising series, I guess. Now, I'm guessing the third book is going to continue with that rising theme as well. But so we had Israel rising. And then now Jerusalem rising. Could you just explain this whole concept and how God brought that to you?

Doug Hershey: 3:44

Yeah, the the series is called ancient prophecy modern lens. And so there's no other people group on the planet and in history that has had its history foretold from its destruction and through desolation, the scattering of the people to return to the exact same piece of real estate as an identifiable, recognizable people speaking the same language and but to have that whole process foretold ahead of time, 2600 years, you know, not the Romans, the Greeks, the Chinese, the Persians, you know, there's no ancient people group that have any type of writing like that, except the Jewish people. And all of those prophecies are in, in the prophets in the scriptures. And so part of that aspect is with the ancient prophecy modern lens series, it's providing and documenting visual evidence or visual documentation of ancient prophecies by using a modern lens. And so it's not just as you said, not just event and now photography, but it's then and now photography that points back to this things that were spoken 2600 years ago. And so, these books really weren't intended to be even a religious book or a spiritual book. I suppose that it was intended. To be more of like, here's the ancient prophecy, here's a bunch of history. And here's what's happening. Now you can decide whether what's happening now is what was talked about then and just kind of let the Spirit of God kind of take over from there.

John Matarazzo: 5:13

And you run a tour company, as adventures that, you know, you go to Israel, you take teams, or people, individuals, and you do things that are a little bit different. And I've actually had a friend, that I didn't realize that he was going on a trip with you until I saw him posting pictures with you from Israel. And I thought that was really, really cool. But you kind of do things that are off the beaten path. And I think at one point, you told me that, you know, you kind of wanted to use this book to help promote the tourism thing, but it's kind of worked. And that's become its own. God's breathed life into it. Let's just put it that way.

Doug Hershey: 5:48

Yeah, more than I expected. I mean, really, it's it, you're, you're really right on the money. I'm in Israel rising. The first one was intended to be sort of an advertisement for the travel company, which has been actually going on for five or six years now we're doing small group travel, a lot of is very customized, very personalized for groups up to 10, maybe 12 people at the most. So it's it's a it's small group travel, not only with Israel, and Jordan, really, since Israel and Jordan have been close, we've actually been expanding into Turkey and going to a lot of the New Testament sites and the book of Acts and Galatians. And you know, and Ephesians, and the seven churches a revelation we've been hitting, we've been starting to do groups there, which has been phenomenal. But But yeah, it's it was all small, small group related and still is, but Israel rising was intended to be an advertisement for that, to be completely honest. I mean, I just wondered, like, I wonder if anybody would be interested in this picture book, maybe in a couple of years, I might break even on your stuff. You know, it's all it's all. It's all a business expense. And, sure, by God's mercy, the with Israel rising, we sold through the first print run of 10,000 books before the release date. And then it really took off from there. And so after

John Matarazzo: 7:00

it meant it took off. Well,

Doug Hershey: 7:02

it really did. I mean, I don't say that jokingly, like, they really took off from there. And so. So after really about three years after Israel rising now, with Jerusalem rising, about a year ago, or a year and a half ago, I realized that there's still not another book like it. And I really had this moment really kind of with the Lord just to realize like, I, this is something I need to double down on. This isn't just something I'm gonna throw one together, and maybe hope it goes well, like this is I feel like that. This is something God has given me to do. I have a whole series in mind. And the books are literally going around the world. And I'm hearing just incredible, really humbling stories. Yeah, of the impact it's had for families, for people in their Bible studies for just what God has done. You know, so it's been, it's been having an impact that I never really anticipated. Yeah,

John Matarazzo: 7:53

that's great. I know, a couple years ago, I actually bought Israel rising, and gave it to my family for a Christmas gift. Because we love those types of, you know, coffee table books, with the beautiful pictures and things like that. And I remember you telling me that the ancient pictures are that basically 150 years old, those pictures are you kind of came across this library or this cache of pictures. How did this come around for the for Jerusalem? Was it in the same place, and you just pulled out the Jerusalem ones for this? How did tell me about these pictures that you're using, from the ancient side, for Jerusalem rising?

Doug Hershey: 8:33

I had, I had found some of the oldest photos of Jerusalem ever taken from 1844 weeds and even some from the 1850s and 60s, but it really these old photos from from 1844, I had actually used a couple of them in, in Israel rising at the very beginning, just as an example of like, you know, a couple old photos just to show them but then ended up going back and again, wanting to recreate all of these. And a lot of these these old shots from 1844 were really forgotten in history up until, you know, really, maybe 15 years ago, maybe 20 years ago, not even 20 years ago by and that the Smithsonian then publish them for the first time ever in 2014. And so, really, in terms of photos, and Jerusalem is really brand new on the world stage. And so, but there was just there's a whole really sort of fascinating story behind this whole whole journey that kind of led into Jerusalem rising, and it was really something that, you know, as God would have it, it was like, we did a lot of these photo recreations. And then I started studying and a little bit more to get the manuscript together. And then I did, it's like, I realized how significant the story was done or how significant the story was, after the after all of the photography was done, and I realized just how well they just, I mean, it was just amazing. It was just I was really kind of blessed by the whole thing.

John Matarazzo: 9:59

So what is the The story that you're talking about, because you can't just leave us hanging in there. Because I mean, there's a lot more to it. And you were just kind of teasing me a little bit. Yeah, we got started to hear about the, you know, there's, you mean, you're talking about ancient prophecy and a modern lens. But this is a little bit more than more than just that because, you know, you kind of really flipped things on their head.

Doug Hershey: 10:19

Yeah, so in 1844, actually, the story begins back really in 1839. In France, there is a guy named Louis de guerre, who invents this new style of photography, that is these little copper plates that are covered in silver, and to develop your, this photography. I mean, this is like the very, very beginning of photography that, you know, you put the I can't remember, I think it's like mercury and iodine, a few other chemicals on it, and you put it in this little box, and you open the open the shutter or open the light entry, and the light will come in. And sometimes you let the let the light in for 234 minutes, sometimes you close the shutter. And then you have this, you know, this little plate that that has an image burns on it. And it was remarkably clear in comparison to anything else that was done. And so there's this French painter in Paris, who isn't a photographer, he's a painter, and he learns this from Louis de guerre himself. And as this was announced, I think was in 1839 1840, this whole new state of the art photography, this is going to change the world. And again, when we say state of the art, you're looking back now they're like these huge trunks and boxes. And just like I mean, they it was, it was a, it was not like a, you know, something easy to transport. And right. So he, he and several other of these photographers go on these adventures through what was considered the, you know, the known world and a lot a lot went straight to the Middle East. And this French painter, who, again, he is, he loved painting, he loved landscapes and architecture, but his his intention wasn't thinking about the future of photography, his intention was thinking about taking a bunch of pictures, and then bringing them home and then maintain them for like, you know, pen drawings or So sure, so after so from 1841 to 1844, he spends three years going through what's now Egypt, Syria, and and Israel and, and into, into Greece and Italy, and spends three years doing all these photography, he comes back to to France, with over 900 of these plates. And again, he's he's not thinking like a photographer, he's thinking like a painter. So he paints some stuff, and he publishes some things, but no one knows that he has these, these, these things. And he builds these, these boxes for these photo plates. And basically like, you know, sticks them in a closet or sticks them in his garage or you know, puts them somewhere in his house. And it's reported like he never, they were never on any type of exhibition, they were never shown to anybody except maybe like on a dinner parties. Nobody knew that he has them. This is 1844 he was in Jerusalem. Nobody knows the hasm. Until in the 1920s. This is like 30 years after his death. One of his one of his neighbors buys his dilapidated estate starts fixing and I've gone through the stuff and finds these boxes and opens them up and goes like what are these and you know, but you know, this, this whole daguerreotype style photography lasted maybe about 10 years, by the 1950s, they had already advanced in some different film and like things had changed. So it was like, it was state of the art for such a short time. And that it was like it was completely outdated and obsolete. Nobody was using it, right. And so they're found in 19 1920. But they don't come on to any type of the world stage until 2003. One of them comes up for auction at one of these high end auctions. And and one of the one just one of the plates sell for almost $900,000 to some Saudi Prince. And the photography world is like who is this French photographer? Why don't know about this guy, like nobody knew anything about him. And so, you know, they start doing some research or whatever, and the Smithsonian gets a hold of some of these, these images, and digitizes his work and publish them in 2014. So that's literally like 160 years from the time that we're taken to the time that like the world is finding out about this guy. And what's amazing about us because I keep saying, you know, because he was a photographer or because he was a painter and not a photographer. That was very well probably the reason that these plates have survived. There was lots of other people that were doing it but none of their work has survived. And so it's almost like God uses this guy to take all these photos specifically of Jerusalem, puts them in a time capsule basically like in the dark and the time capsule for like 160 years the Smithsonian then digitize them and start Showing them. But what's amazing, and I'm getting to this in terms of Jerusalem rising is when he digit went when the Smithsonian digitized them, they digitize the actual de guerre type photo plates, which is actually a reverse image, you know, in our, in our modern cameras, there's something that will flip the image that will reverse the image. So right now when we're looking through the the islands, or you know, looking through the lens that, that you know that it makes the adjustment. So, so with this de guerre type photography, what you're taking somebody's waving, you know, their left hand, you'll pull out the plate, and you'll, you'll flip it around to look at it, and it looks like they're waving the right hand. So, so no one endures. There's, there's a few people in Jerusalem that understand the mistake just simply because they live there, but most of the world doesn't recognize. So for me, prior to COVID, I spend maybe six months of the year in Israel, or several years prior. And so No, I know Israel, I know Jerusalem and I would look at some of these old photos of Jerusalem going like, I know, the Temple Mount, I know the Jaffa Gate. I have no idea where these angles are from until a friend said, you know if you turn them around if they're digitize flip the image. So we flipped the image and I went, Oh my god, like I know exactly where that's at, like, this is amazing. And, and I started reading doing some research realizing that no one had ever flipped the images to and publish them to show the world what Jerusalem would look like exactly what it actually looked like an 18 or so in Jerusalem rising, we were able to do that with a lot of the more popular ones of Jerusalem is to take show, that's cool show the de guerre type style photography of the plates that were reversed and then show the actual view of the images that were flipped.

John Matarazzo: 16:46

Gotcha. And you kind of have like a whole section of that. And that's, that's pretty cool. So you again, you then teamed up with somebody to go and find those angles again, those viewpoints. And now take the modern pictures. Tell me about some of these stories of you know, some of the things that happened and you said there's a cool thing that happened with your photographer as well.

Doug Hershey: 17:08

Yeah, so that my photographer on this book, his name is Ed and Rob. He's a young hungry Israeli adventure photographer and, and filmmaker. He's, he's doing stuff in Dubai and in ski slopes in, you know, in the Swiss Alps, and he's doing stuff for Lufthansa, like all over me. He's doing he's living in Tel Aviv. He's very talented. And that I I looked through his portfolio really just I just started looking at photographers on Facebook and looking at portfolios and their websites. His stuff, just like really grabbed me. And so I messaged him explained what I was doing. We met at a pub in Tel Aviv, late at night, it was raining, there's Thunder Hill thunderstorms, there's in the wintertime in Israel, and we get together. And I'm just just meeting him just kind of getting to know I'm trying to think is this guy, you know, is this guy gonna work out? And yeah, so and so I asked him I said, so, you know, like you do a bunch of adventure stuff, or ski lodges or resorts or fashion or whatever, like, why are you interested in this type of book. And he kind of shifted a little bit in the seat and He kind of looks both ways and leans in a little bit. He says, Well, I guess I could tell you this. But he said, You know, I just I've been traveling around the world. I've been doing all this stuff. And I just realized I haven't done anything for Israel, like I want to do something for for Israel. And I went done. Like if like if it was that much of a heart motivation that he's you know, he can't quite understand it. He's feeling as heartful to to Jerusalem, and he just wants to do something for Israel in Jerusalem, then, you know, that was good enough for me like I wanted I didn't want just a talented guy. I wanted somebody whose heart was engaged in his definitely was very cool. And so and it turned out that he I mean, he's, he's from California, originally was born in California, but his his family made Allium and they became moved back and became Israeli citizens in in his early teen years. So he went through the army. He's fluent in Hebrew, and is really more Israeli than anything now. So which means that he's assertive, he's aggressive. He doesn't mind standing around arguing with people to get to where we need to be and push our way into stuff. I mean, he was he was phenomenal.

John Matarazzo: 19:24

Was there a story about the tattoo? Yes. On on his arm, you there's a picture that you kind of include, I think it's like a behind the scenes type of thing because if he's a photographer, he's got the camera. I think you put out your cell phone.

Doug Hershey: 19:36

I actually had my daughter with me as well on the photoshoot who was 16 at the time, she wanted to come along on this photoshoot. And but yeah, he has a tattoo of 1111 on his back arm on his on the back this his right arm and I put it in the book because in the book there, these little sections called personal encounters. The same thing with Israel rising which is just people I met along the way during the photoshoots. And so in Jerusalem rising there personal encounters of people who you met in Jerusalem and of course eddin was was one in particular so and so I write this little story that it's like a little blog story in there. And, you know, with edits permission, I included it in the book, but, but I asked him about one day, we sit down for coffee and a little break while we're hunting some stuff down and, and, and asked, like, Hey, man, tell me about the tattoo on the back of your arm, you know, 1111 What does that mean? And, you know, he's, he's sort of a thoughtful guy. And, and, and said, Well, you know, it's, you know, and, and it's not a believer. I mean, it's just sort of a young, secular Jewish guy. He said, You know, it's just been sort of like a spiritual compass for me, like, anytime I see 1111. It's like something like I'm doing. It's like, the right thing at the right time. And it's just kind of helps kind of center me a little bit. And that's just sort of how he how he described it. I said, so. So Adam, did you just out of curiosity did, were you starting to see 1111 before or after you move to Israel? And he got he started thinking about it. He said, Oh, that started happening before, like when I was a kid in California. And I said, so then afterwards, after you moved, like you continued, just to kind of you just kept seeing it everywhere. He's like, Yeah, I just, it's sort of my thing, which is why I got that too. And I said, Well, you know, and he knows I teach about Bible prophecy and, and I said, you know, it's significant to me. Yeah. That you're in the Bible. Isaiah, Isaiah 1111 says that, in that day, God will return his people to the land a second time. And and the first time that God returned his people to the lands under Ezra and Nehemiah, their exile to the Babylonian Empire, they come back, they're, they're returning the first time. Under Ezra and Nehemiah, the people are there for a couple 100 years until the Romans, the Romans destroyed the temple, throw everybody out, the time when God is returning his people to the land a second time, according to Isaiah 1111 is right now. And I said, you know, I'm explaining this to him. And I said, so I said, it's just curious to me that you were seeing that before you made your formula made, Alia, that you came came to Israel, is because, you know, Isaiah 1111, is about the Jewish people returning a second time to the land. And and I said, isn't it wild that here You and I are working on on a on a project called Jerusalem rising about the restoration of Jerusalem through then and now photography, according to the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, and you're telling me that, you know, here you are, as a young, young Jewish guy, and you're feeling a pullback to the land of Israel, just exactly the way Isaiah 1111 said, and he just kind of sat back, we just kind of had this moment where it's just like, I mean, because we were literally having this conversation in a coffee shop, like sitting outside a coffee shop in the Old City of Jerusalem. And I'm going like, like you and I both know, like, I'm, we're, I'm showing him the old pictures that were recreated, like this place was a dump, like, less than 100 years ago, for hundreds of years prior to that. And here we are sitting in the Jewish Quarter, thriving Jewish life. prophecy is being fulfilled, I'm having this conversation with like, prophecy is literally being fulfilled all around us here. You and I are, in the Jewish Quarter, documenting the restoration of the city according to exactly what God said. And so he his heart was really stirred. And he was just like, Whoa, like, this is amazing. And so yeah, so we had some of these really special encounters where, where God just sort of reached into our day just sort of dropped some truth bombs on us of just saying, like, I am fulfilling my word, I'm doing exactly what I said I would do. And, you know, and really kind of it was exciting for me, because it's again, kind of like what he was saying, I kind of felt like that, you know, for me that doing these photoshoots has been like treasure hunts. It's

John Matarazzo: 23:56

like, right place at the right time doing exactly what I felt like God put on my heart following the Lord, you know, with, with how he's been leading. And it's been, it's been really special. That's really cool, Doug, that is really cool. I love those personal encounter stories that you put in there, in your books, because you as the author are taking people on this journey, to see this ancient prophecy from the modern perspective, and then through the modern lens. But I know you had a verse that you're you themed your Israel rising about, I believe those from zekiel. But you have a different verse for this for this book. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Doug Hershey: 24:33

Yeah, it's so it's the entire chapter of Zechariah eight. And it's this really special chapter that begins by God saying, I am jealous for Zion and I'm returning to Jerusalem to dwell with my people. And he said, Go bring them back from the north, the South, the east and the west. Bring them back to the city to dwell in safety. Old men and old women will will be sitting in the square and talking and the children will be playing In the streets, and it goes on later to say about how that the nations will flood back to Jerusalem. And there's, you know, Jerusalem has been, aside from being a bit of a dump for the last, you know, 17 1800 years. I mean, there's, it's been conquered and reconquered multiple times, it's changed hands like 40 times, it's been completely, you know, razed to the ground, or leveled to the ground, you know, at least twice. And ironically, the city of peace has not been known for peace. And, and so here we are in a season of time that Jerusalem has not enjoyed peace and security, the way that it has in the last 50 years. Really, since biblical times. And you know, of course, there's been pockets of it here and there. But But one thing is for sure, aside from the security never before, have the nations flooded to Israel the way they were at least starting pre COVID, 2018 and 2019 were the largest tourism numbers in Israel ever. So 2018 there was none other as well, while there was a almost 9 million people living in Israel, there was 4 million that came in tourism from from the nations and 2019, there was 4.5 million that came from the nations now. Zachariah eight in the context of people are coming to seek the Lord. And, you know, clearly people aren't coming to seek the Lord now. But just making the point that you know what this is, and I'm not claiming, like, this is the fulfillment. But it is undeniable that for the first time, really, since the time Zacharias spoke this stuff that literally the nations are starting to come to Jerusalem and make it a make it a center for center and focal point. And so this whole aspect of Zechariah eight, has some very practical aspects Mele, much like we covered in Israel rising with Ezekiel 36, there are some very practical, tangible things that are happening exactly the way that God said. And so the whole book series is looking at these ancient, ancient prophecies, and what has God done since 1948, or in Jerusalem case since 1967, when Jerusalem again becomes completely under Jewish hands versus what did the land look like before the Jewish people were really settled back into the land. And, and that's been one of the really special things is to be able to say, here's something that was spoken in the scriptures 2600 years ago that have never come to pass, at least, at least in the way that it is right now. And with photography, or with the with a video camera, like we're able to begin documenting those early stages, not so much as then and now project but to point back and to give people visual aids, that God is doing exactly what he said, Hey, man, and God is continuing to do that. And I know, you and I have talked about just some of the amazing things of prophecy that are coming to life. I mean, the the Dead Sea, man, you showed me videos, where there is literally freshwater that's bubbling up in the Dead Sea. And there's streams

John Matarazzo: 28:08

desert that weren't there before. And that's a whole different conversation. I think we touched on that a good bit last time. But yeah, you know, we're really seeing these things. We're seeing the promises of God as the land is coming back to life. And I was in Israel in 2003, December and January of 2004. And they've just realizing like some of these places, like knowing that prophecy will be fulfilled, and this place is going to be, you know, the desert will bloom again. And it's it's just amazing to know that that is actually happening. And God's word is very true.

Doug Hershey: 28:45

Yeah, you know, and that's, and that's one of the special things too, and in my mind about, about what the nation of Israel has been showing us in the last 70 years is that prior to that, we would sometimes read prophecy and we would look at it as being allegorical or spiritual or symbolic or abstract or, you know, it's, you know, it's all artistic. Right? Exactly. You're, you know, like, who can who knows what the prophets were talking about? Well, you know, if Israel has shown us anything, exactly what you said, like, the deserts are blooming, the streams are being found in the desert, the waste and forgotten cities are being rebuilt than in Jerusalem, yo, we're talking about just the things we're talking about, you know, if the nation of Israel has shown us anything in the last 7374 years, is that God's word is actually remarkably accurate on a very tangible and concrete level. So it's, it's not this mystical, faraway spiritual application, although clearly there are spiritual lessons and things to be learned. What we're learning is that God is actually remarkably faithful to His Word. He's doing exactly what he said he will do after 2600 years now, that in itself is just your Jerusalem in Israel aside, God is demonstrating his faithfulness to the world in a way that he hasn't perhaps ever, and it's happening in our day in a way that we can see it and document it. Yeah.

John Matarazzo: 29:59

I got it. Ask about the pictures that you took regarding the ramparts of the wall, the Old City. You know that Isaiah 62 verse I have posted, watch it on your walls. You know, I'm seeing you. And, you know, I'm seeing is that your daughter? That's there with you?

Doug Hershey: 30:17

Yeah, that's our not so secret, Tammy. But yes, that's

John Matarazzo: 30:20

Yes. So, can you tell me like, what, what was this like to do with her, and to, you know, to have her kind of experience some of these things with you?

Doug Hershey: 30:29

Yeah, all my kids have, I've got four kids and all but one of them with me at least twice to the land. And so she at that time was considering your really love photography, really artistic, really creative. And so I said, you don't want to come with me and go meet, edit, and learn what kind of stuff he does, and just go do some of your own shooting and just enjoy it. And so, a good friend of mine, who is also joining us that day, we were looking at that picture, and she made the suggestion of like, Hey, you know, you guys, like, you know, in the old picture, there's this old guy, and this, you know, his wife or a girl, like you guys should be those people. And so it was sort of decided on the spot. Like, we actually didn't plan on doing that ahead of time. But then it there's a, there's a couple other places where her name is Rachel, there's a couple other places where Rachel and I are, you can kind of see the backs of us. But we have some, you know, not so secret cameos in the in the book, but that was that was really special. It was just a lot of fun to have her there and wandering around. And yeah, you know, seeing having her sort of in the in the workflow and the work process. That's cool.

John Matarazzo: 31:31

How long does it take you to pull something like this together? I mean, there's a lot of pictures, and you got to find a lot of angles and crevices. And I'm sure you know, some of those. Some of those places where those pictures were originally taken, has probably been remodeled. Maybe Yeah. How long does it take to put all these things together,

Doug Hershey: 31:49

I went through a lot. I know Jerusalem pretty well, you know, probably like some of your listeners May, you know, know, their hometown. I mean, I've, again, you know, prior to COVID, for the previous five or six years, I was spending six, sometimes seven months a year in Israel, whether I'm leading groups or connecting with tour guides, we're just doing these research projects. So I had a general idea where a lot of work and and so I wanted to try to show as many different portions of the Old City and the places around and some of the more familiar places. And of course, like the really iconic ones, like the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, and those types of things that are that are just, you know, undeniably recognizable. So research wise it gosh, it was months and months and months. By the time we got to the photoshoot I had it dialed in, I knew exactly what photos I was using, I had it all mapped out on a, you know, on where we were going. And much to our much to the pain in our legs. We we we did we did the entire photoshoot in about five days. And we walked on that's we walk an average of about nine miles a day, our longest day was 13 miles, which is like a half marathon like we walked the half marathon in one day, wandering all over the city looking for like the perfect angles and getting the right guy to open the gate. So you can get over there, climb that wall or talk to somebody. So and a lot of it, a lot of it was that challenge was like, you know, we need to come back at the right time when nobody's around. So we can climb that wall in and out five minutes or talk to the right, right, right, right or, you know, so are just kind of finagling stuff. And of course, again, Ed and being Israeli and being happy to argue and, you know, having, having having the life view as I do have like, you know, it's easier to get, get get forgiveness than permission. So you know, we're not asking for permission, we'll just, you know, will will apologize if we have to, but we're just literally in and out. Okay, a couple photo angles. So anyhow, that was sometimes that works. Sometimes it didn't. But that was sort of our mentality that we wrapped up the entire photo shoot in five days. And that was like, you know, crash and burn after that. But it was a lot of fun. Yeah,

John Matarazzo: 33:56

I'm sure I know, something I just heard recently in the news, and I want to ask about this before we're gonna wrap up here. But I know that there was some recent things with the, the city of David like some archeological find discoveries that were basically underneath the visitors center. Where do you know what I'm talking about? And were you able to kind of see any of those things firsthand?

Doug Hershey: 34:16

Yeah, it's it's really pretty an amazing story. I mean, the city of David is one of those places that for me, every time I go back to Israel, that's one of the places the city of David, the places right around the Temple Mount. It's all really close proximity. And it's one of the places I like going back to because it's an ongoing archeological dig. And so they're always finding things. They're always uncovering things. And so it was probably probably about five, maybe six years ago. Now, I can't remember, they had just built this beautiful Visitor Center. They're looking at bringing tourism and bringing lots of people to see what's going on. And one of the head archaeologists comes to the head of the whole process and says, you know, basically like I've got good news and I got bad news. The good news is We found a really massive large stone structure, it very well could be remnants of David's palace, which would like shock and shake the archaeological world. Yeah, really, we feel pretty good about that, that we would love to do the excavation, the bad news is, it's directly under the visitor center that you just built. And so what they, what they did was brought other engineers in and literally lifted the visitors center, this massive building that they just built, put it on stilts, and start started the archeological dig underneath. And so then that's pretty cool. It's super cool. And then and then what they ended up doing that of course, was like cutting holes in the floor and putting like Windows on the floor Plexiglas. And so now you can, like go down, you can get the visitor center, and then you can go down the steps into like portions of, of this what you know, officially, they're calling the large stone structure. But the the stuff that they found in this large stone structure, I mean, it's just it's, it's they're finding and this is some of the fascinating things and knowing that you like history, you dig this too, but like they're finding Oh, yeah, these these. You know, like in ancient times, you'd have a column and then there would be a capstone and on that Capstone, depending on whatever the design of the capstone, you can kind of place it as far as like, right, you know, who it belongs to timeframe.

John Matarazzo: 36:17

And so there Yeah,

Doug Hershey: 36:19

exactly. And so they're finding these capstones from, from tire. And like cydonia, like, like, which is like northern de Lebanon, in a Jewish yo place. And they're like, you know, what is that all about? And then you go back, and you read in the scriptures and see that King David was friends with King Hiram up entire in Sedona, and had workmen come down to build David's palace. So workmen from tyre and Sedona coming down and building, and they're they're building in their way. And so like all of these things, that kind of tie in perfectly with biblical narrative is just amazing. And that's just I mean, that's just one we could talk, we could do a whole show just on the archaeological discoveries,

John Matarazzo: 36:56

we might have to do that, we might have to do that. Because I love that stuff. Man. It's

Doug Hershey: 37:00

It's so fun. I mean, like, in the last, again, last 50 years or so of just archaeological research, I think that the number is up to like 57, or 58 names that have been found in archaeology just around just around Jerusalem, that are, that were names that are in the Bible, or have been found in archaeology at the exact place the exact timeframe doing exactly what the Bible said that they were doing. I mean, it's just it's turning a lot of the biblical narrative from in a lot of human archaeologists minds from like, storytime, you know, fairy tales to like, wow, like, this is actually yeah, legit historical accuracy. Yeah. So it's just, it's validating the historical accuracy and the narrative of the scriptures in the most profound ways.

John Matarazzo: 37:46

That's so cool. I love it. Yeah, we might need to do another follow up conversation to talk about that stuff. Because I could geek out about that for quite a while. And that would be that would be great.

Doug Hershey: 37:56

Another one real quick that kind of that kind of ties in with Jerusalem rising was that we had, I had finished the the book and sent the book, the manuscript was done, send it to the publishers. And and after we sent it to the publishers, there was an announcement coming out of Israel, that some new portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. And, and they had released some of that. And there were, there were two portions of Scripture that was never found before and one was a ne hum. And the other was in Zechariah. And so I went saccharine. Um, I've been, you know, breathing Zachariah for the last little while. Right, right. Good Jerusalem rising. So I emailed a good friend that's a rabbi in Jerusalem. And I said, Hey, do you have any insight information? Can you tell me what what it was? It was from Zechariah? Eight, no, at the exact same time that like the manuscript was done, Jerusalem rising is done. We're talking all about Zechariah. Eight, by the time it's at the printers, they're finding new portions, not new portions of Zechariah, eight, but they're finding new portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls that was about Zechariah. Eight about, like caring for each other and doing justice to the poor and that kind of stuff that's in its in the scriptures. So to me again, I just talking about like just God's hand and sort of prophetic timing and, and kind of putting his fingerprint on things. I just, I felt like, Man, this is just like, I just felt like this book was like the right place at the right time. And just out of nowhere completely unexpected. They're making this announcement about Zach, right? Like, oh, this is awesome.

John Matarazzo: 39:24

That's that's the Lord at work for sure. So yeah, sure. I know, you said that you have. You've basically you've got a third book already, you know, almost ready to go. Can you give us a teaser of what that might be about?

Doug Hershey: 39:38

Yeah. So the first the first book is Israel rising, and it's about the restoration of the land. The second book that is that we're talking about now, Jerusalem rising is the restoration of the City of God. And the third one, Lord willing, will be another rising. We're still kind of discussing the titles, but it'll be another rising title. There'll be about the restoration of the people. So I had done interviews with, with founders of the State of Israel, that move back to the land between 1946 and 1970. So like, you know, one of the most repeated promises in the scriptures is the God will return his people to the land, like we were just talking about. And these are the people, these are some of the people that move back. And so I interviewed over 30 people that came from 19 different nations from five different continents, all with different stories. And so you know, you're talking about like, enjoying these personal encounter stories in the books. The next book will be all about people's stories and and how they're how their process of coming back to the land, like, what did they What did they do and whatever nation Why did they move? How What did they find in the land? And then you're asking them a series of four or five questions that were all really the same that also ended? What are you most proud of in your life? And what miracles Have you seen in your life, just to just asking open ended questions like that, just to see what the answers will be. And I tell you, it was for me personally, it was it was life changing. I but I cried for about half of those interviews. I

John Matarazzo: 41:05

mean, it was so powerful. Wow. And so I'm working on that now. And that'll be that'll be Book Three in the series. So that's gonna keep you busy for a little bit, but right now we've got the Jerusalem rising book that we want to tell everybody how to get that the city of peace reawakens, ancient prophecy, modern lens, Jerusalem arising, Doug,

Doug Hershey: 41:23

how can people get ahold of that Jerusalem rising calm is the best place for that if you're if you're ordering right now, we've got some exclusive bonuses. They're connected with that, like some some videos of me in Jerusalem doing some teaching, and they're talking about the city and showing you some of the photos, the book. There's one of there's one photo comparison from 1862, to 2019. And then an hour photo that we give you as well that you can download, and you can keep for your own. So there's some other cool little bonuses in there. That's if you your order at Jerusalem rising calm, so that's the best place to do it. Yep. Very

John Matarazzo: 41:58

cool. Very cool. Well, Doug, it's a pleasure to have you as a friend. And I know, we, we stay in touch periodically, even between interviews. And so I appreciate that, but they thank you so much for sharing just the view that you have, and for allowing us to join you along your way.

Doug Hershey: 42:15

You know, it's been a twist and turn of a journey. And and you know, like we mentioned earlier on it, it wasn't I sometimes I say like I'm an accidental author, like I didn't really planned this this journey, but it's just like you like the name of your show it kind of along the way, it was something that, you know, I thought I was going in this particular direction, God kind of brought some diversions. And clearly it turned out far better than what I had planned or anticipated. But you know, that's sort of the sort of how life goes, isn't it? Yep. Absolutely. Well, Doug, thank

John Matarazzo: 42:42

you so much for joining me and sharing this conversation with us.

Doug Hershey: 42:46

Thanks, john. Appreciate it.

John Matarazzo: 42:49

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Doug Hershey to get your very own copy of Jerusalem rising, go to Jerusalem rising calm, I highly suggest his books. They are very inspirational. And until you get to Israel yourself, this is the next best thing. I'll be providing all his info in the show notes. Thank you for listening to along the way. If you've enjoyed joining me along my way, please share this with a friend who you think will be encouraged by this podcast. Also, please rate and review along the way on iTunes. That helps more people discover along the way. And subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and through my website along the way dot media. I hope that you've enjoyed this part of my journey. And may you realize when Jesus is walking with you along your way. Along the way is honored to be part of the charisma Podcast Network. You can find tons of spirit filled content from their vast catalogue of podcasts, including my Monday through Friday news stories for the charisma news podcast. Go to CPN shows.com to see the full list and latest episodes.