(horn blowing)-

This week on ""JerusalemDateline"," we take a special look

at the history of the New Testament,

and the times of Jesusexamined in CBS new documentary

"Written in Stone."

It uncovers the 2000 year old archeology,

from the times of Jesus.

Plus, Scott Ross tours Magdalathe home of Mary Magdalene

and Julie Stall looks at Nazareth,

the town where Jesus grew up.

All this and more this weekon "Jerusalem Dateline."

- Hello and welcome to this edition

of "Jerusalem Dateline"I'm Chris Mitchell.

On this week's program we'll look

at the archeological recordof the life and times

of Jesus of Nazareth.

CBN documentary's produced a stunning film

on the archeology behindthe life of Jesus.

Writer and Director Erin Zimmerman,

talked about the film, "Writtenin Stone, Jesus of Nazareth"

with CBN CEO Gordon Robertson,

who also hosted the documentary.

- Upon our survey, 22% of the respondents

thought Jesus was a fictional character.

Another 17% said theyweren't sure of those

who said Jesus was a real person,

many thought he was a wiseteacher, but not a divine one.

The key question is what doesthe archeological record say?

CBN's latest documentary"Written in Stone"

reveals the answer.

(ominous music)

- So far from 150 years of archeology,

whatever we finds either amends the Bible

or is not related to the Bible,

but it doesn't reject the Bible.

None of it rejects anyof the Biblical stories.

(ominous music)

(gentle music)

- We have a biblical tradition,and we have the archeology,

and the question is what therelationship between the two?

(seagulls chirping)

- If you wanna walk onthe particular street

where Jesus and apostles walked on,

this is the place that you'd wanna go.

- The story of the Church of the Nativity

is really one that's quite interesting.

Somewhere within that largecompound, was the family home.

Even though we may not knowexactly where X marks the spot.

- It makes sense for this place

to be the place of the crucifixion.

- Does it fit the right period?

Does it show evidence of that era?

We have to say, thisis a very strong case.

(dramatic music)

- [Man] Today there are attempts

to say that the real tombof Jesus was elsewhere.

When you read the gospels,everything complies very well

with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

- The period is right,and the location is right.

- There's no reason tolook for another place.

- When he came to Capernaum Hewas home, He was in the house

Whose house?

What house?

If we have to give a grade,

we're gonna give this a B+, A-.

People know where Peter lived.

- It was an ideal place for Jesus

and his walks between Nazarethand the Lake to stop here.

So was Jesus in the synagogue?

I would say you would get

to be very, very industriousperson to prove He wasn't.

(dramatic music)

- [Man] When Jesus comes toJerusalem as a believing Jew,

He would spend a lot oftime on the Temple Mount.

- Where did Jesus walk?

There's no question Hewalked on these steps

'cause this is the mainentrance to the temple.

- When Jesus turned upside down

the tables of the money changes,they fell up on some floor.

We have that floor.

We have those floors uponwhich Jesus could have walked.

- You don't want to believewhat's written in Bible?

Fine.

See what archeology is teaching you.

(gentle music)(waves crashing)

- Oh Erin Zimmerman isthe writer and director

of "Written in Stone", and it's the latest

in a long line for herEmmy-nominated features

from CBN films and Erin I've lost track

of the number of timesyou've been nominated

for your writing and directing,but welcome to the 700 club.

It's good to see it.

- Thanks Gordon, and it's four.

- Its four, okay.

Well, let's look at the film

and let's go right into theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre.

Why do you think that's the place

where Jesus died and was buried?

- Well, it's not really what Ithink is what history thinks,

and in the film, we go way back

to about a hundred years after Jesus.

About 8132, the Romans invaded Jerusalem

and wanted to just completely decimate it.

They wanted to erasethe memory of the Jews.

And what what ancient societies did,

is when you conquer a countrythe first thing you do

is you go to their Holysites and you knock them down

and you build your own temple there.

So the Roman army comes in and says

"Where are the Holy sites?"

Number one is the Temple Mount.

So great, they built a temple there.

The other site that theywere given is the area

where the Church of theHoly Sepulchre is now

where Jesus's tomb was.

And so they said, all right

and they kind of did a double insult.

They went there and they built a temple.

And then they put statues,they put one statue

on top of Golgotha whereJesus was crucified,

and then they put anotherstatue on top of his tomb.

So that pretty much says to me,

the Romans wouldn't putall that time and effort

into building a templeand doing all of that

in this kind of place

that was a little bit outside the city,

if it were not an important spot.

- One of the surprisesfor me in all of that

is the graffiti that was found

literally on the wallof that Roman temple.

Tell us about that.

- Yes, graffiti has been ourfriend in the ancient world

'cause it's told us a lot.

Down at the bottom, bottom, bottom

of the Holy Sepulchre Church,

and you kinda have to getpermission to go down here

is a piece of graffiti andit's a drawing of a ship.

And that ship has beenlooked at by every maritime

expert out there, and they've all said,

this ship belongs to the second century,

which is a hundred years after Jesus.

So it's very early.

And keep in mind the churchwas built 200 years after that.

So this graffiti is 200years older than the church.

Which means that it wasinscribed on the Roman temple.

Now that's pretty gutsy.

And under the ship is aphrase in Latin that says

"DO MINOIVIMUS"

It can mean two things.

It means Lord, we have arrivedand Lord, we have gone.

It's kind of like a double use.

If you say, "Are you going to the party

or are you coming to the party?"

It means the same thing.

So that's kind of aninteresting double meaning

you think that christianpilgrims might have come here

saying, "Lord, we have come,we've come to this place

where the greatest thing inhuman history has happened."

And it can also mean, Lord, we are going,

you know, we're fulfillingthe great commission

we're going on this ship

and we're going to spread the gospel.

So it's very interesting,

I'm shocked that it survived

the destruction of that Roman temple.

And it's actually older than church.

So that shows us thatat least a hundred years

after Jesus died and rose again,

people are seeing that as a Holy site.

(bright music)

- [Narrator] Up next, more from

"Written in Stone, Jesus of Nazareth".

About Bethlehem and a surprise discovery.

(bright upbeat music)

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(bright music)

- We know Jesus was born in Bethlehem

but can archeology tell us exactly where?

Here's CBN's CEO Gordon Robertson,

and writer and directorErin Zimmerman again,

talking about "Written instone, Jesus of Nazareth".

- Well, let's turn to Bethlehem

and one of the most beautifulchurches I've been to

and certainly it's the oldestchurch in Christianity.

The Church of Nativity.

What does the film say about that?

- We go back all theway with this one too.

We go back to a hundred years

after Jesus was bornto the second century,

to one of the churchfathers named Justin Martyr.

He went to Bethlehem andhe inquired of the locals.

He wanted to know where was Jesus born.

And the locals took him to this cave.

This spot that is wherethat church is now.

So a hundred years after that,

another church father namedOregin went to that same spot.

Now this is a hundred years apart

and the locals are stillshowing him the same exact spot.

And now a hundred years after that,

Constantine's mother Helenahas come to the Holy Land

and her son, the new emperor has said

find all these Holy sites.

So she goes to the locals and says

where's the spot that Jesus was born?

And they show her the same spot.

Okay, so that's three Christian people

that have documented it.

Now we'll go back to the Romans again.

I said earlier that they builtthe temples on the Holy spots

when they went out to Bethlehemand they built a temple

to Adonis on the spot of Jesus's birth.

Now, Bethlehem was a backwater.

There was no reason that anyRoman Temple should be there.

It had no importance, itwas a tiny little village.

So why would you go to all the trouble

to build a giant pagan temple,

if that was not considered a holy spot?

So we're going back tothe early, early history,

and as you said it's the oldest church

that's been in continuous use.

So the tradition is great there.

Now, can we say inside the church,

there's a little staron the floor in the cave

and it says Jesus was born here.

Can we say that's legitimate?

No, but we can say somewhereon the grounds of that church

that was the home of Joseph's family.

- Let's turn to what Iconsider one of the surprises.

I've been to Israel many times,

going all the way back to 1969.

And I didn't know about this one.

It's Zion church.

It's right in the middle of Jerusalem.

What's the significance of that?

- You got on a tour bus in Israel

and it is not going to take you here.

It's on Mount Zion, theplace where the upper room

or the place that theyconsider to be the upper room

on Mount Zion.

If you go just a few steps out,

kind of toward a parking lot,it's a bit strange looking.

There's sort of a cage over it

because people werethrowing trash down in it.

But you go underground,and it's this combination

of synagogue and church.

You walk right in downthe steps is a Mikveh,

which is a Jewish ritual bath

and which we believe they laterused to baptize people in.

And keep in mind most ofthe believers at that time

in Jerusalem were Jewish.

On the steps, there's a littlesort of a gathering room,

and then there are underground tunnels,

and they're trap doors.

which tells us numberone that was constructed

in a time of persecution,

when they felt like they weregonna need a way of escape

because somebody wasgonna come and stop them.

Number two, the plaster downthere that is on the walls,

does date to the first century,

which was shortly afterthe time of Christ.

So that could be, there's astrong tradition on Mount Zion.

That, that's the place wherethe last supper took place.

And that's the place wherePentecost took place.

So there was from very early on

that Christians consider thatto be a significant place.

And so...

This again is not something

you're gonna see on a tour bus,

but if you go to Israel withme someday, I'll take you

- All right, (chuckles) watch out

people will take you up on that.

- All right Erin, thankyou for being with us

and thank you for all that you do.

The writing, the directing,these wonderful films.

very much appreciate it.

Thank you so much

(bright music)

- [Narrator] Up next,Scott Ross tours Magdala,

the hometown of Mary Magdalen.

On the shores of the sea of Galilee.

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(bright music)

- What started as a vision

to build an affordable guest house

for pilgrims in the Galilee,

grew into one of the mostextensive archeological sites,

providing a colorful picture of life

at the time of Jesus.

CBN's Scott Ross takes us to Magdala.

The ancient city many believe,

was the home of Mary Magdalene.

- [Scott] Located on the Western shore

of the sea of Galilee,Magdala sits at a crossroad

of Jewish and Christian history.

- Magdala is very significant already

just in general culture.

One of the most known figures

of Christian discipleshipis Mary of Magdala.

And what's the importance ofMagdala for the Jewish people,

It's a first century town, anda very significant excavation

in the first centuryfor the Jewish culture.

- [ Scott] In 2005, father Juan Solano

initiated the Magdala project,

to highlight the ministry of Jesus

and an opportunity tohonor women of faith.

They broke ground in 2009and what happened next

father Eamon Kelly,describes as providence.

- We bought this piece of land

and then to find it in Magdala,

the land and not just on anyhill around the sea of Galilee.

And then you startdigging with two prayers,

Lord spare us from archeology

(chuckles) 'cause it's a expensive hobby

and then a big delay for all the project.

The second prayer was, ifyou do give us archeology

give us something good.

And so we find this incredible discovery

of a first century synagogue.

- Seated in the synagogue,

father Kelly told meabout some of the features

that make it so amazing.

- So we're in a very big room and we see

it's organized with two rows of seating

here in the central part,

and we have another row ofseating inside the outer walls.

This is a space, that's not a family home.

It's a very ornate communityroom that has this mosaic

and the frescoes.

And the mosaic has two parts,

the Rosetta mosaic with the three colors,

but now the specialists are telling us

there are 26 colors in the mosaic.

And then we have the unending pattern

which shock some people.

But they say this was alsoin the temple in Jerusalem.

And then we have the Magdalastone right down here.

This is the place where we found it.

Now this and the one out there are copies.

It's considered and treasuredby many archeologists

on the level of the dead sea scrolls,

in terms of archeological departments.

- [Scott] Archeologist, Motti Aviam

proposed the theory of the Magdala stone.

Resembling the secondtemple of Jesus's day.

- And I suggested that what we have here

is some kind of a model symbolicof the temple in Jerusalem.

We have the menorah, wehave the golden altar,

we have the showbread table

and we have a sceneinto the Holy of Holies.

- [Scott] Because of thecommandment against graven images,

Aviam says the choice wasto portray God symbolically

in a demine chariot.

- As it is in the book ofZechariah and many other books

from the second temple period,which gives us a description

of the chariot on which God is riding.

- So what is thesignificance then of Magdala

going back in biblical history?

- Magdala today gives thelargest view archeologically

of the time of Jesus

- [Scott] While there'sno physical evidence

that Jesus visited Magdala,

father Kelly says the signs are there.

- Scott, every day, everygroup ask me this question

was Jesus here, was he in this synagogue?

Was he in Magdala?

And I say, we do not becausewe lost all the videos.

(Scott chuckles)

Jesus was surely present in Galilee

and this is on the pathfrom Nazareth to Capernaum.

There's a port here and he'salways crossing the Lake.

This is a Mecca for theGalilean sea and fishermen

- [Scott] At Magdala,the Duke Al-Hazam center,

is a place for people

of different faiths to worship.

Its Latin name is taken from Luke

where Jesus tells Peterto launch into the deep.

The atrium is designedto honor the Jewish women

who followed Jesus in the New Testament.

Four smaller chapels include mosaics,

illustrating biblical events.

And in the boat chapel, aunique boat-shaped altar

overlooks the sea of Galilee.

- When the gospel is proclaimedup there at the microphone,

it looks like Jesus preachingagain to us from the boat.

Imagine you're havingliturgy here in prayer

and the boats are going by.

It allows people to get into the moment

of the gospel happenings.

- [Scott] And downstairs,is the encounter chapel,

where father Kelly says hebelieves God is healing divisions

between Christians andthe Jewish community.

- This is part of the roadof the first century port.

So you know the names ofmany first century fishermen?

(Scott laughing)

So who walked on the street?

- Yes.

- Now, if Jesus came to Magdala,

I say He was more often on this street

than he was in our synagogue.

- [Scott] Magdala is staffed in part

by international volunteers.

- Sometimes you realize like,

you know very little of your faith.

So this helps you to go like deeper inside

and really to leave all the things

that you can find out in Israel.

- I never been in a Holy Land before.

So he was taking a huge risk.

It was very surprising since you...

What do we think aboutIsrael, and Holy Land

and coming here and seeing the reality

- And that guest house for pilgrims,

it opened just recently.

What's the vision for the future now?

- We had to make quite a few adjustments

because of the archeological discoveries

which enriched the site immensely,

enriched it with meaning.

And then by finding a synagogue,

a huge increase of theJewish christian dialogue.

And also the christianto christian encounter,

because here we have a placewhere we were not divided.

So where Providence is going to continue

taking this in the future,

I think we'll all besurprised as we are every day.

- [Scott] Scott Ross for CBN,

at Magdala in the Galilee, Israel

- [Narrator] Coming up, alook at the town of Nazareth

and what it may have lookedlike 2,000 years ago.

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- Several years ago, Israeli archeologists

uncovered a house from the time of Jesus

in the town where he grew up.

CBN's Julie Stall hasthat story from Nazareth.

- Most people only knowabout the life of Jesus

from what they read in the Bible.

Archeologist YardenaAlexandre says the discovery

of this small house sheds much more light

on how people live their everyday lives

in the Galilee town of Nazareth.

- What we can learn is that a little bit

about the lifestyle.

I would say that certainlythe remains that we have

are very simple and itreflects simple houses

that must've existed in thesmall village of Nazareth.

- The house consistedof interconnected rooms

a courtyard and a water cistern.

There appear to be noluxuries or imported goods.

Remains of pottery andvessels found at the site

also confirm the Jewishcharacter of the city.

There were probably about50 homes in Nazareth

at the time of Jesus.

Some experts say becausethe village was so small

that Jesus and boys hisage likely knew the home

and played in it.

Located at the heart of ancient Nazareth,

the remains of the houseare just across the street

from another landmark, theBasilica of the annunciation.

Catholic tradition says thiswas the site where Mary lived

when she was visited by the angel Gabriel,

telling her she wouldbear a child, the Messiah.

Also at the site is a pitthat Alexandre believes

was dug out of rock as a hiding place.

- I think that it was excavated

by the people who wereliving in this house

for the purpose of hidingfrom the Roman army

at the time of the Great Revolt.

We're talking now about 67 C.E.

This is the great Jewishrevolt against the Romans.

- [Julie] All of this wasdiscovered because of plans

for a new Catholic center.

Throughout Israelarcheologists go to a site

before construction to look for history.

- But this salvage excavations

carried out by these electric resources

are terribly important

because you don't know what to expect,

and very often you come upwith very important fines

which can tell us aboutlife in the ancient days.

- [Julie] Center developer, Marc Hodara

wants to preserve the remains.

- I think he took a gift forher Christmas because we are...

For Christmas.

It's a gift for the center also

because many people wouldlike to see the place.

- [Julie] Today, Nazarethis a bustling city

of some 75,000 residents.

Once a predominantly Christian city,

it is now more than half Muslim.

But even after 2,000years, the city's fame

still comes from the Jewishcarpenter who grew up there.

Julie stall, CBN news Nazareth.

- Well from Nazareth, toMagdala, to Bethlehem,

and here in Jerusalem, thearcheological discoveries

about the life of Jesusare a powerful record

written in stone.

If you'd like to get yourown copy of the film,

you can go to CBN.COM/WRITTENINSTONE

It would be a greataddition for your family,

a home group, or your church.

Well, that's all for this edition

of "Jerusalem Dateline".

Thanks for joining us.

Remember, you can follow us on Facebook,

Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

I'm Chris Mitchell.

We'll see you next timeon "Jerusalem Dateline".

(bright upbeat music)