It’s a strange thing to come face-to-face with pure, raw evil.  Even when you’ve long been convinced of evil’s existence, and even when you’ve had glimpses of it from sobering, soul-crushing places like Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and the Killing Fields of Cambodia, or had brief dances with it while out on patrol on the streets of California.

Well, this week was the week that I came face-to-face with that pure, raw evil.  My wife and I have the privilege of being in Israel to help with a group of pastors and other influencers from the U.S. and Colombia, on what is known as a Pastors’ Familiarization Tour (commonly known as a “Fam Tour”) and which is being hosted by the remarkable Israeli/American non-profit Aliyah Foundation.