For the first time, Israel has made available to tourists–on a daily basis, the site where Jesus is traditionally believed to have been baptized.

The move has raised the ire of Palestine, because the site lies along the West Bank. It also upsets Jordan, which the site borders.

A ceremony was held to mark the opening of Kasser al Yahoud Baptism Site, attended by Silvan Shalom, who is Israel’s minister of regional development, and delegates of Christian churches and organizations who are based in Israel.

A miracle

Shalom told Ynet News that the opening of the project, which cost some $3 million, is “a miracle,” adding, “After being closed and neglected for 44 years, we managed to meet this challenge with a lot of sources and despite the bureaucracy.”

The Baptism Site had been closed for 44 years since it was won by Israel during the Six Day War in 1967, when Israel managed to wrest the site and the remainder of the West Bank.

Since then, the site was only open to visitors on specific days of the year, usually Christian holidays, and public viewing required careful coordination with Israel’s military.

Part of the effort for the opening ceremony involved removal of landmines in the surrounding area, although further from the site the area is viewed as a “no man’s land” still littered with landmines in what was hostile territory between Jordan and Israel until a peace treaty was signed in 1994.

Shalom expressed his thanks to the Israel Defense Forces and the Defense Ministry for their help and cooperation. He said the site “has a huge touristic potential, and the option of hosting hundreds of thousands of people who will come here and extend their stay in Israel,” Ynet News reported.

The number of tourists coming to Israel continues to rise. Last year some 3.45 million tourists visited Israel, 69 percent of them Christians. Some 38 percent said they came as part of a religious pilgrimage.

Illegal occupation

There were no representatives from Palestine or Jordan during the opening ceremonies.

Palestine’s tourism minister, Khouloud Daibes, said the move by Israel is “illegal,” adding, “This is a site in the occupied territories, and whatever Israeli authorities are doing on Palestinian sites we consider illegal and part of seizures related to the occupation and Israel’s monopoly over our historic and touristic resources,” according to the AP.

Jordan, on the other hand, insists that the true baptism site lies not on the portion of the Jordan River that falls under Israel’s control, but is actually 10 yards across, where the river runs along Jordan’s banks, placing both areas in competition for tourists.

Area of peace

“We have a request for the minister [of Israel],” Greek Orthodox Patriarch Metropolitan Isykhios said in his remarks during the opening ceremony, “that they clear the mines from the way in, and turn this into an area of peace, and not an area of occupation and mines,” the AP reported.

A website is ministering to teens by featuring comedy videos, and videos about issues that concern them, as well as building up friendship and trust online as a lead into the gospel.

The Doug and Jon show engages in Internet Evangelism without being religious, and is willing to walk teenagers through building a relationship with Jesus, one teenager at a time, Christian Newswire said.

Jon Taylor, cofounder of The Doug and Jon Show told Christian Newswire, “Student-age young people are looking for answers, and they’re looking for them on the internet. With over half the world’s population, over 3 billion people, under the age of 25, we must find highly effective ways to meet them and share Jesus.”

The website has successfully put together a community of teens who enjoy the videos, forums and activities on the site. The website also has original comedy videos and cartoons, video blogs, and Q & A’s that deal with common teen issues such as being popular, sex, bullying and loneliness, according to Christian Newswire.

Jon’s wife Kara hosts a portion of the site that caters to girls. Doug, Jon and Kara are also very accessible for teens who may want to initiate online conversations. They see this as an important part of building a relationship with the teen and pointing them to the Christian portions of the website, Christian Newswire said.

The objective is to be upfront about their faith, but not to sound religious, and to give teenagers the chance to choose to accept Jesus into their lives.  Doug Hutchcraft, cofounder told Christian Newswire, “In a face-to-face conversation you can usually perceive if someone wants to hear the message of Christ through their body language. We have tried to translate this into the online experience.”

Doug told Christian Newswire that this is not a ‘baiting game.’ “We don’t trick or ‘bait and switch’ anyone into hearing the Gospel. We just create a relationship where kids can share with us what is going on in their lives and we are always ready to share Jesus when asked.”

The website is the product of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, and was put together when they noticed that there are very few “clean” websites that cater to teens and which offer comedy, Christian Newswire said.

Videos featured

On our visit to the website we see a list of five secrets to having a great relationship with Jesus. The five steps, on the website are: 1) Talk with Jesus, 2) Read what He’s written, 3) Be with His friends, 4) Do what makes Jesus happy and 5) Talk about Jesus. Beside the list is a video which talks about each step, and there is a comment forum where participants can respond and share how they are progressing.

The Life Video Blog section has an interesting collection of videos, some of which use animation. Some topics include “Lonely Facebook Report,” “Born, Breathe Die…is this it,” “Why am I Here?,” “Popularity is Overrated,” and “Bullies…Stop Messing With Me,” among others, a view of the website shows.

While some videos are serious, the comedy videos draw the most attention, including “Lady Gaga ‘Alejandro’ D&J Remix,” “Shark Week Lost Tapes,” and “The Chuck Norris Man Test,” according to Christian Newswire.

So far, The Doug and John show has received visitors from up to 67 countries, which shows that teens and tweens around the world are receptive to wholesome sites that are also conversational, entertaining and educational, Christian Newswire said.

Visit The Doug and John show at www.alrcnewskitchen.com/dougandjon.

A U.S. evangelist addressed recently some 16,000 Christians in a stadium in Vietnam–the first American preacher to do so openly since 1975–in an event that was almost cancelled by Vietnamese government authorities.

Luis Palau, keynote speaker at the celebration of the Centennial of Protestantism in Vietnam, told BosNewsLife that thousands received Jesus Christ into their lives, even as Vietnamese authorities almost prevented the event from happening.

Although the event had been planned well in advance and permission was granted by the government, three hours before it was to begin, the venue had to be moved to a location site 45 minutes away by car, BosNewsLife said.

The Argentine-born U.S. citizen told BosNewsLife that the original plan was to hold the celebration at an open air field, but the government moved it to the Thanh Long Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City.

This called for moving equipment from the original site to the new venue, and then reassembling it. Thousands also had to be informed about the change of venue  and hundreds of cars, motorcycles and buses had to be redirected within three hours, BosNewsLife
said.

Messages were hurriedly transmitted through Twitter, the internet, Facebook, phone texts and by word of mouth. Technicians showed up to move equipment, did volunteers by the hundreds to redirect people, Compass Direct News said.

In light of the lack of government support and obstructions, the fact that the event pushed through at all was considered to be “an absolute miracle,” according to Compass Direct News.

Palau, 76, said in a video, “The tensions went on quite a bit. At the last minute they had a change of venue…about 45 minutes drive away from the one [larger open field] area where [the Christians] hoped to have it to the [stadium] area where we had it,” BosNewsLife reported.

Pray for Vietnam

The event started two hours late at 9 pm, with huge banners waving that said, “God loves Vietnam,” and “Pray for Vietnam.” After opening prayers son Andrew Palau testified on his deliverance by God from drug abuse and alcoholism, Compass Direct News said.

Luis Palau spoke at about 11 p.m. As music played, provided by Don Moen, some 2,000 committed their lives to Jesus. The succeeding night, with some 16,000 in attendance, up to 3,500 prayed to receive Jesus, BosNewsLife said.

In a statement from the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association, the gatherings were emblematic of growing understanding between the country’s communist administration and churches in the country, according to BosNewsLife.

Montagnard-Degar Christians

Still, much needs to be done, especially for Vietnam’s Montagnard-Degar Christians in the Central Highlands, where hundreds of church leaders and Christian followers are believed to be detained for their faith, BosNewsLife said.

While the constitution of Vietnam permits freedom of faith, in actuality all churches must register, and those that do experience strong government control, BosNewsLife said.

Palau, who is slated to visit Hanoi and has other appearances scheduled in the Vietnam on Apr. 15-16, reaches tens of millions daily through 3,000 radio networks in some 48 countries. He has authored some 50 books, BosNewsLife said.

Pro-abortion posters saying ‘God raped Mary’ were plastered on the walls of the construction site of a Christian youth center, a church, and a bakeshop in an inner city neighborhood in Winnipeg, Canada a few days before Christmas.

The posters showed Mary riding on a donkey that was pulled by Joseph, heading towards a Women’s Health Care Services building. Underneath it said, “We wish you a pro-choice because God raped Mary Christmas.” It was signed, “Youth Against Christ,” according to LifeSiteNews.

The posters were placed on the walls of the Center for Youth Excellence construction site which is a project of Youth for Christ, the St. Margaret’s Anglican Church and the Tall Grass Bakery, LifeSite News said.

John Courtney, executive director of Youth for Christ told the Toronto Sun, “I had thought it’s specifically an attack against Youth for Christ. I’m not convinced of that now. I think it is an attack against Christianity. If this were any religion other than Christianity, it would quickly be labeled a hate crime.”

Courtney said the perpetrator was likely “someone who was very angry and very resentful towards Christians,” LifeSiteNews reported. Courtney also told The Gazette, “It is very low…it’s not a responsible way to handle their cause. It is in such poor taste I don’t know where you cross the line from poor taste to a hate crime.”

The posters, which seemed to be professionally designed and printed, were glued on top of signs that Youth for Christ placed on the gate outside the construction area, and on top of a sign in St. Margaret’s church that contained the schedule of church services, The Gazette said.

The $13.2 million Center for Youth Excellence will provide inner city youth with a recreation center that includes a multi-sport gym, fitness center, dance studio, drop-in center, climbing wall, skate-and-BMX park, theatre, counseling facilities, classrooms and a job-training center, LifeSiteNews said.

Courtney told the Toronto Sun that Youth for Christ doesn’t advocate any stance on abortion, but it does help to pass on parenting skills to girls who are pregnant, to “help them become good mothers.”

Lyle Barkman, a co-owner of the bakery, told LifeSiteNews that he believes that his being openly Christian is the reason why he was targeted. “It’s not the first graffiti we’ve had—we’re in the inner city. It comes with the territory.”

Lorna Dueck, Globe and Mail faith columnist, was in Winnipeg when the incident occurred. She told The Gazette, “It must be denounced…In many parts of the world the freedom of religion we have in Canada is unthinkable. To not guard it would be to say that the human-rights abuses others suffer in wanting freedom of religion, and the accounts of the violence they suffer, does not matter.”

Nearly 156 Christians in Egypt were arrested recently for their alleged involvement in a protest that left one dead, over the construction of a Christian church in Giza, near the Great Pyramids, which the government halted.

The CNN said those arrested will be held for 15 days while the investigation is ongoing. Last Wednesday, police battled demonstrators who gathered outside a government building. In the melee, one Christian was killed when a bullet hit his thigh. He died shortly after he arrived at a nearby hospital, msnbc said.

Truncheon-wielding police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at the demonstrators, who threw stones as they tried to storm the local governor’s office. There are conflicting reports on the number injured, ranging from 33 to 45 people, msnbc reported.

Earlier that morning Christians and Egyptian security officials fought outside the construction site of the Church of the Virgin Mary and Saint Michael Archangel, because officials blocked trucks loaded with construction materials, msnbc said.

Giza Governor Gen. Sayyed Abdel Aziz said the Christians used the wrong permit. “When we noticed indications that it was turning into a church, we told the church authorities to halt construction because a church would require a different license,” msnbc reported.

Medhat Kalada, who heads the United Copts organization based in Geneva, said the Egyptian government enforces complicated procedures to build churches, while mosques are built with great ease, msnbc said.

According to BIKYAMASR, Egypt’s Christian population, which comprise some 10 percent of the nation’s 80 million population, often complain of government attempts to obstruct the building of churches.

The protesting Christians said their permit was appropriate, and they will build even without machinery. Meanwhile, heavy security prevails around the church construction site which is surrounded by 15 security vehicles, msnbc said.

Increased religious radicalism

According to msnbc, Christians and Muslims generally live in peace in Egypt. However, religious radicalism is gaining ground and attacks on Copts have increased of late, with the government doing little to address the issue.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said last April that violent incidents against Christians have risen to 53 in 2009 compared to 24 the year before. Most cases are ignored or insufficiently addressed, msnbc said.

According to BIKYAMASR, in Minya, upper Egypt, Christians and Muslims clashed over the construction of a large monastery. Earlier this month, an alleged romance between a Christian man and a Muslim woman also led to violence and the torching of homes and one shop wreaking $43,000 worth of damage. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/11/muslims-in-egypt-torch-10-christian-homes-because-of-interfaith-dating-14524).

CNN reported that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom expressed disquiet over the fact that the Egyptian government seems to collaborate with local media to deliberately promote friction.

According to CNN, this could be motivated by parliamentary elections that are slated next month. Leonardo Leo, chairman of the USCIRF said, “We’ve seen a clear uptick in recent weeks of incitement coming from media outlets and clerics espousing sectarian hatred and violence.”

Leo told CNN, “This kind of rhetoric goes too far and stokes the fire of extremists looking for ammunition to justify violent acts against religious minorities.”

An Algerian court acquitted recently two Christians who were arrested for eating their lunch in the daytime during Ramadan.

A judge in a court at Ain el Hamman, about 93 miles east of the capital city, Algiers, quashed the case against Salem Fellak, 34, and Hocine Hocini, 33, saying that “no article (of law) provides for a legal pursuit” against them, according to The Star.

Fellak and Hocini were working on a building site last August when the incident occurred. During lunch hour, they ate at a discreet corner of the site, The Star said. However, they were arrested and charged with offending public morals, Reuters reported.

Prosecutors were requesting for a prison sentence of three years each for the Christians, BBC News said. However, Hocini and Fellak noted that they ate in a nonpublic place. Their lawyer added, “Algeria has ratified international conventions on the freedom of religion” and called the charges “a violation pure and simple of the constitution,” The Star reported.

As the verdict was read, a group of some seven Protestant Christians who were standing on the courthouse steps shouted, “Hallelujah!” Fallek told Reuters, “I am happy. I have not done anything wrong. I am a Christian and I do not fast.”

Some critics noted that although the government supports free practice of religion, minority faiths are often subject to pressure, Reuters said. Two similar cases will be heard in the coming weeks, according to BBC News.

While Islam is the main religion in Algeria, there are about 11,000 Christians, mostly protestants, among its population of 36 million, the ministry of religious affairs told BBC News.

A group of Christians in China were attacked recently by a mob of some 200 people leaving 16 people, including women and some elderly, seriously injured with one Christian permanently blinded in one eye.

Members of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement Changchunli Church in Ji’nan, Shandong province were attacked by over 200 young people last week who were dressed in police uniforms, Worthy News reported.

The members of Changchunli Church were occupying a tent at a construction site in Wanda Square when the incident took place. The Christians called the police, but response was slow and upon their arrival, the police officers spoke to the land developers, but not to the victims, Worthy News said.

Background of attack

The church had been experiencing problems with the local police since 2008 when the Ji’nan Municipal Bureau for Ethnic and Religious Affairs conspired with demolition and removal officials to embezzle the Changchunli Church’s property, according to Worthy News.

The presidents of Changchunli Church and Ji’nan Christian Council were hoodwinked into signing an illegal agreement authorizing the demolition of the church, Worthy News reported.

The agreement, which violated the Regulations on Religious Affairs codes, in essence reduced the land owned by the church from 1234.724 yards to just 328 yards, Worthy News said.

On June 8, 2009 the Municipal CCC/TSPM ordered the recall of the chief pastor of the church. The church was also ordered to stop all religious activities, its management committee functions were cancelled and members were ordered to disperse, according to Worthy News.

Church members boycotted the decision as it did not have any legal basis. Changchunli Church filed a report to the Municipal CCC/TSPM directors and to a section chief of the Municipal Bureau for Ethnic and Religious Affairs. When no response was made to their report, they applied for permission to stage a demonstration, Worthy News reported.

Their application was denied. When land developers said the area was chosen to be the site of another church, members set up tents on the construction site on Wanda Square resulting in their being violently attacked, according to Worthy News.

An attorney who defended runaway Christian convert Rifqa Bary said recently that the website of an organization he heads was hacked by an extremist Muslim.

John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, said the group’s website was disabled by a hacker who called himself Jhon Tairy. The hacker said he did it because of the FFPC’s views regarding “Great Islam,” the Catholic News Agency reported.

The hacker managed to get into the server that hosted the site, and wiped out all of the site’s data. The hacker also changed the code that was used to build the site. As a result, the FFPC website is currently inoperative and it will cost up to $20,000 to rebuild it, wdbo.com said.

Half of the required amount has so far been donated by a supporter, Charisma Magazine said. However, the group also claimed that the corruption of the website may affect the 2010 election results in Florida, according to the Catholic News Agency.

The FFPC said in an email that it sent to followers that an obscene letter was also left behind by the hacker in broken English. In a screenshot of the site, Arabic script was shown on a fragmented, brightly colored backdrop. The Catholic News Agency reported that the message said, “You got hacked due to you s**t thinking abt Great Islam. (T)his is due to JHON TAIRY … do good and have good … **** all florida.”

The five-year-old FFPC site had featured the case of Rifqa Bary and said that after she converted from Islam to Christianity, she fled to Florida because her parents “threatened to kill her for not renouncing her faith,” according to the Catholic News Agency. Bary became legally independent from her parents last month when she turned 18. She has gained permanent legal residence in the U.S.

Stemberger claimed that the mosque of Bary’s parents had links to international terrorist groups. He also stated that Bary could be murdered for apostasy if she were made to return to her native Sri Lanka, the Catholic News Agency said.

In his defense of Bary Stemberger also said the mosque her parents attended supported “honor killings.” In a memorandum to the court he documented his claim, and the memo was also posted on the FFPC website angering many Muslims, Charisma Magazine said.

Stemberger believes recent news reports about a $10 million defamation lawsuit that was filed against him last week by Omar Tarazi, lawyer of Bary’s parents, may have motivated the hacker, Charisma Magazine said.

Tarazi also included blogger Pamela Oshry, who goes by the name Pamela Geller, in his lawsuit. Tarazi alleges that Geller, in her website Atlas Shrugs, falsely stated that he is with Hamas and is getting funds from groups with terrorist links, Charisma Magazine reported.

Stemberger, who is also being investigated by the Florida Bar for possible ethics violations connected to Bary’s case, said he will report the hacking to the police and to the FBI. He told wdbo.com, “It’s a criminal act.” He also said the lawsuit filed against him by the lawyer of Bary’s parents is “frivolous.”

The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, which millions of Christians believe is where Jesus was buried and rose from the dead, is in danger of being damaged by the expansion of a Muslim cemetery which is being built above the tomb. At the same time Golgotha, which many believe is the site where Jesus was crucified, may be covered by a minaret.

Garden Tomb director Richard Meryon said a 15-foot wall is being built above the tomb by the Islamic waqf which will involve pouring down hundreds of tons of concrete to expand a Muslim cemetery, CBN News said.

Meryon is concerned that with the number of Christians who visit the Tomb daily, in case of heavy rain, snow or tremors the wall could collapse killing up to 200 pilgrims and tourists. He also said the wall lacks a city permit and breaches three district building codes, CBN News reported.

By law any new structure should be built three feet away from an existing one, unless permission is granted, something the builders never requested of Meryon. “We have been in active discussion and I am now negotiating with them,” Meryon told CBN. “I cannot allow them to build this wall until they prove to me beyond all reasonable doubt that this wall is going to be safe.”

The Muslim cemetery’s spokesman admitted they have no license, but said wall is safe. A spokesman of the mayor’s office said they will check to see if the edifice is legal so that tourists can continue to come to Jerusalem, CBN News reported.

Over 250,000 Christians come to Jerusalem to see the Garden Tomb annually, one of two sites where it is believed that Jesus was buried and later resurrected. The other site, the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Sepulchre, is recognized by Syrian, Coptic, Abyssinian and Coptic Orthodox churches and the Roman Catholic Church.

The Garden Tomb is recognized by Protestants, Anglicans and others. Discovered in 1867, the site is consistent with biblical accounts that Jesus was crucified in Golgotha outside Jerusalem (Golgotha is beside the Garden Tomb) near a gate (the Garden Tomb is near the Damascus Gate) of the city and along a major thoroughfare, the Garden Tomb website said.

The bible also mentions a garden with a tomb inside, near the crucifixion site. The bible said the tomb, which was cut out of rock, belonged to the wealthy Joseph of Arimathea. It had a weeping chamber, burial chamber and was sealed with a rolling stone, plus a low doorway, a description that matches the Garden Tomb, according to the website.

Excavations also revealed a large cistern to irrigate a large garden, which indicated the site had belonged to a wealthy man. A wine press was also discovered that is believed to be from the late Second Temple Period, the website said.

Minaret over Golgotha

Meryon also reported diggings on top of Golgotha where many believe Jesus was crucified. “Golgotha is mentioned in John 19, where Jesus was led outside the city walls… into a place called Golgotha,” Meryon said to CBN News.

Meryon said that there has been a lot of dirt being laid above the rock of Golgotha. “I’ve known for some weeks that they were thinking of building a minaret up there,” Meryon told CBN News. “This is a very important Christian holy site, and we just want to live here in peace and provide this amazing opportunity for Christians all around the world to come here and continue to worship and be exposed to the gospel.”

A man in England decided three weeks ago to summarize the Bible on his tweets, and now has 14,000 followers and was featured in the blogosphere, interviewed by a number of newspapers around the world, and appeared on CNN.

Chris Juby, a web developer in Durham, England, started to tweet the Bible on Aug. 8, by summarizing one chapter daily, with each tweet using a maximum of 140 characters. He hopes to be finished by Nov. 9, 2013, according to his website.

In some three weeks he now has 14,107 followers of @biblesummary on Twitter. On his site he wrote, “I’m really enjoying writing the summaries each morning (good job, hey!)….I’m very motivated by what I’m going to write tomorrow.”

Juby said in his site that he found great enjoyment interacting with a wide range of people through Twitter and on his website. “It’s really encouraging to hear what people make of the project,” he said on his website.

Aside from his CNN interview, Juby’s tweets are being broadcast by UCB in batches of seven tweets, five times a day. He has also been featured in the Telegraph, Daily Mail, the Guardian, CBS, AOL News and Christian Post, to name a few, his website said.

Juby said he was surprised by the reaction generated by his project. He noted, “A lot of people can relate to religion and Christianity and I’m connecting it to something really contemporary with Twitter. I think that idea really appeals to people. Also, it’s kind of a crazy thing to do over such a long period of time… One of the things that has surprised me the most are the number of people who have gotten in touch with me saying that they’re not Christians or that they’ve never read the Bible before,” CBS News said.

Juby is still halfway through Genesis. Originally, he said he wanted to just understand the Bible when he started out. He notes, “In the first place it was a kind of help for me in terms of just engagement with the Bible and to really understanding what’s in there, but now it’s become really popular. My hope is it will inspire people to read the Bible for themselves,” CBS News said.