The Church of the Beatitudes was funded by Mussolini. It was designed by Lucado and is entitled, "The Applause of Heaven." It is octagonal shaped for the 8 beatitudes. The church was built on the top of the large hill that overlooks the valley.



This is the land right next to the Church of the Beatitudes, the area where our Lord gave the Sermon on the Mount. Experts studied the layout of this valley and determined it is a natural auditorium, the geography lends itself to acoustics similar to a concert hall. Interesting how science again proves the truth of the Bible, I had wondered how the "great crowds" heard what our Lord was saying.




There was a church service going on when we arrived, so we peeked in the windows while our guide tried to find Mother Superior. She eventually gave up and herded us into this little garden area on the side of the church which had a little sign, "Do Not Enter." Our guide passed a hat and asked us for donations of $1 or $2, so we all threw something into the hat. We all listened to Dr. Ron talk about the Sermon on the Mount, and just as soon as he finished, who comes running over but Mother Superior, really angry to see people sitting in the little "do not enter" garden. Our guide ran to intercept her, saying "Sister Sister, It's me, It's me, these are my people, I tried to find you, here is a small contribution they wanted to make to the church," etc. etc. It worked, but we were all just waiting to be kicked out. We teased Dr. Ron, what if the elders at Immanuel could see us now!