History of the Palestine Gardens - Part 2

By Don Bradley; adapted from the Mississippi
Rural Electric News May 1961, Laurel Leader
Call April 14, 1964, Mississippi Power and Light
Vol. XXV No.2 1977, and George County Times:
March, 1960 & October 6, 1994,and some additions
by myself. Used with permission

Just as Jim and Jackie Kirpatrick, my good friends, whom I have come to know and love, would take no honor for themselves. To give Jesus only the glory, so shall I. Visiting the Gardens in April, 1991, with my family and church, that day I silently voiced a prayer "that the Lord would give me a ministry like Palestine Gardens." Three years later he answered that prayer: A miniscule part of "a Great Plan" that had begun from the foundation of the World.

The events leading, within both the Kirkpatricks' lives and my own, were nothing less than our Heavenly Fathers' intervention - demonstrating His desire and loving care. The events were orchestrated to prepare them to release so important a responsibility and yet give me the assurance I needed to know He was leading those steps of faith. My wife and I have been blessed more than words can express these past nine years given the stewardship of Palestine Gardens.

The name was changed in 1995 for simplicity and to prevent any misconception that we may be of the Islam religion. Actually the Romans gave the region of Judea the name Province Judea (Latin, Provinca Ivdea) in BC 63. Under govern of Roman Syria it was to change to Province Palestine, (the English version of the Latin Provinca Palestina) in 135 AD. The Roman authority gave the name to include the entire region, even though the name was derived from only a small portion of the coastal area once controlled by the ancient Philistines (OT Philistia, the land of the sea peoples). The Palestinians of today cannot trace their ancestry to the Philistines.

In closing, I would venture to say only God knows the sum of the affects "the Replica of the Holy Land" has had towards those who visited. This ordained land in the peaceful rural Mississippi woods has with certainty brought some people nearer to God, who came searching or seeking.

A life-long project that continues to be fulfilled even if the man and his loving companion is no longer physically with us today. When Reverend Jackson was asked by Charles Dawkins, journalist for the George County Times in 1960,"How did he find time to keep everything so orderly," he answered, " When you love a work the way we love ours, the strain is not so great." Dear Reader, this is true for you too if it is for our Lord Jesus, Amen?

A recent interview with Don Bradley is available for viewing on About Us.

To read about Reverend and Mrs. Walter Harvell Jackson, click on the Founders' Story.

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