India's Christians Face Historical Attacks

CWN.org - This year, Christians in Orissa state experienced some of the worst persecution ever in India.
The violence began in August when a Hindu leader was murdered.

Some 4,000 Christian homes and 400 churches were destroyed in the attacks that went on for weeks.
The events triggered violence against Christians in a number of other states.
"Every single Christian denomination has been attacked-- our schools, our colleges, our orphanages," explained Richard Howell of Evangelical Fellowship, India. "Everything that Christians own...have been attacked."

NC Church Gives Hope to Soldiers

CBNNews.com - Some U.S. troops in Iraq are preparing to spend their second Christmas in a row away from home. But one North Carolina church is making sure some soldiers don't feel forgotten.
The crinkle of candy canes hitting the bottom of boxes is the sound of Christmas coming for a group of soldiers in Iraq.
"They sent a wish list and hard candy must be in short supply over there, because that was a big request," said one volunteer.
Calvary Chapel of Triad in Kernersville, North Carolina have adopted the men of HH Troop. It will be their second consecutive Christmas in Iraq.
Pastor David McGee's church is saying thank you.
"I think sometimes the folks that are overseas serving our country feel like they're forgotten," McGee said. "We wanted to encourage them, let them know somebody's praying for them.:
The apple cider, hot cocoa, and candy will give the men a taste of home.
Battalion Chaplain Ben Ellington says the gifts open doors for ministry.
"When churches send these gifts and these items it really allows me to reach into their lives in a personal way," he explained.
Even practical items, like a bottle of shampoo, can make a difference.
"So they come in for shampoo and they wind up taking a bit of the scripture and they wind up end up taking a message or something with them and then they come back and ask questions about what they've read," Ellington said. "So you'd be surprised, but Head and Shoulders has probably done a lot for the cause of Christ over here in Iraq.
Pastor McGee says the church is planting seeds that will bear fruit in the future.
"It could be years to come, but these guys will remember, not this random act of kindness, but this Godly act of generosity by demonstrating the love of the father for his children," he said.
"God is a generous God and if we're following God then we need to be a generous people," McGee continued. "The Christmas season is all about what God gave as found in John 3:16. God so loved the world that he gave."

Israelis Detain Two Messianic Jews

CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM -- Israeli authorities detained two American Messianic Jews trying to enter the country this week.
Interior ministry officials detained Jamie and Stacey Cowen at Ben Gurion Airport and held them for more than eight hours.
They were coming into the country to visit their daughters, one of whom is an Israeli citizen.
Cowen is a former president of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations in the U.S. and the couple has made many trips to Israel.
Officials said they detained the Cowens because on a previous trip to Israel, they broke a law forbidding certain kinds of evangelism.
Cowen told CBN News those charges are baseless.
"They're claiming that they have evidence that we participated in, what they call criminal missionary activity, which means seeking to convert minors or seeking to convert somebody through bribery," Cowen explained.
"To be honest, I had no idea what they were talking about and here I am now being jailed from something I didn't do," he said. "We just came as tourists. We just came to visit our children."
Israeli officials released the Cowens after they signed a document promising not to evangelize anyone while in the country.
The Cowens have made ten trips to Israel, and they have been active in social ministries, bringing more than $100,000 in aid to the country.
Cowen says this incident could be part of a larger pattern of resistance to Messianic Jews in Israel.
Jews who believe Jesus is the messiah have faced hardships here from the very beginning.
Israel is the birthplace of the Christian faith and many believers come to the country at this time of year to celebrate Jesus' birth.
CBN News visited a recreation of an ancient Jewish village to get a sense of what it was like for Mary and Joseph on that fateful night.

Protecting Christians in Iraq

CBNNews.com - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom says Iraq should be among those countries the U.S. State Department targets for abuses of religious freedom.
They are calling on the U.S. State Department to do more to protect Christians in Iraq. The Commission noted ongoing severe persecution of religious minorities and the failure of the Iraqi government to respond.
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told us "the U.S. government takes religious freedom very seriously…. we believe the Iraqi government has expressed a commitment to protect its religious minorities… and has threatened severe punishment for those who harm them."
U.S. Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia lays the blame on the Bush Administration.

Documentary Series Looks at Jesus' Nazareth

CBNNews.com - Many tourists are going to Israel during this Christmas season to celebrate the birth of Christ.
Bethlehem is the city of Christ's birth, but Nazareth was the hometown of his parents, Mary and Joseph.
The Israeli city is now the location of a new video series titled the "Nazareth Jesus Knew."
The series is hosted by entertainer Pat Boone in the United States and actor/host Gary Bayer from the city where God chose to reveal himself to the virgin Mary.
"In this place, he chose to speak to Mary and say, 'You will give birth to the son of God,'" Bayer said.
"In this place, Mary and Joseph and the little boy Jesus returned after the exile in Egypt. And now, in this place Jesus was coming to announce his ministry and to proclaim his lordship," he continued.
The producers of the documentary series want viewers to experience what life was like for Jesus and others in Nazareth more than 2,000 years ago.
It was filmed on location at Nazareth village, a recreated first century village.
"It's a combination of being a working village, like we would know here in the United States like a Jamestown or that kind of a thing," Bayer told CBN News.
"But they have actually found historical pieces from the time of Jesus. They found a wine press from. It's very possible that Jesus as a boy-and he spent 80% of his life there," he explained. "He could very well have been jumping up and down in this wine press that they have found."
Bayer says the contextual setting is an important part of the production. But the producers hope to draw people into a better understanding of God's word through fresh reenactments and teachings.
"What they have done is they have created 12 half-hour pieces," he said. "They are a combination of parables. Jesus' parables as well as events in his life that we know, like when he announced who he was to the world in the synagogue."
"It will enrich their understanding and deepen their understanding of what Jesus said, not only in the parables, but in the events like dropping the paralytic," Bayer explained.
"When the four friends brought the paralytic that was on the mat and lowered him through the roof. I'm thinking tiles, remove a few tiles you know. It was a major deal -- the commitment. They so believed that Jesus would heal their friend," he said.
"And the amazing thing is that the room was so packed it meant that they couldn't get in, which means the power of God had to be working in such a powerful way that nobody wanted to give up their seat," Bayer said.
The series producers are hoping the public will be glued to their seats for the six-hour series. Broadcast negotiations are currently under way and producers are aiming for a 2009 release.

Singers Putting Christ in Christmas in Nepal

CBNNews.com - A singer from India is organizing concerts to introduce un-churched youth to the meaning of Christmas.
This year, Bonny Andrews and his team of music artists are performing in Delhi, India; Berlin, Germany and for the first time in Katmandu located in the Hindu nation of Nepal.
The Persecuted Church in Nepal
This December believers decided to go public with the Christmas message -- even though the holiday is new to Nepal.
"Christmas?," one passerby asked. "I don't really know, but I've heard of it."
"It's the New Year," said another. "I know only a little about it."
"I don't know," one man explained. "I don't know. What is Christmas?"
If the Nepalese know anything about Christmas, they usually think of it as just another festival.
But Andrews is determined to let Nepal know that Christmas has everything to do with Jesus. His strategy: organize a public concert with popular singers.
"The target audience we're looking for this show is basically people that will never come in for a church service," Andrews said.
"Never walk in for a prayer meeting. Never walk in to anything that is spiritual, but would love to come for a concert. And we want to get them into a concert. Get them into the groove of the music. And also share the love of Jesus," he continued.
Event Draws Thousands, Broadcast on National TV
The first-time event, called Gloria Dei, drew thousands to a large park in downtown Katmandu. It marked another first as well.
" first time in the history of Nepal Christmas is considered as a national holiday," said Pastor Vijay Karmacharya.
"For that very reason we Christians in the valley like to come together and celebrate that occasion," he said.
Nepalese television broadcast the concert live throughout the country. Viewers heard not just music, but personal testimonies of what Jesus means to these Christian artists.

TV Show Converts People to Christianity

CBNNews.com -- This past summer, a reality TV show highlighted the Christian faith by challenging participants to live a biblical lifestyle.
The experience took participants to unknown territory.
Laura, a lesbian, William, a convert to Islam, Martin, the atheist biker and Kevin, the womanizer were all unlikely candidates for one of Britain's most unusual reality shows: Make Me a Christian.
Would the seven participants actually be convinced to become Christians in three short episodes?
Most British Christians expected the usual negative portrayal when Channel 4 aired the series last summer. Christian producer and Regent University professor Andrew Quicke had dealt with the network in the past.
"They start with the position that nobody believes, and then we examine, as if under a microscope, strange people who actually have belief," Quicke said. "That's not true of every program but it's the predominant attitude of Channel 4 producers."
Making religion the subject of a reality show pushed the boundaries in Channel 4 competition with the state-supported BBC.
"You need have no religious experience to make religious television programs," Quicke said. "And when I was trying to get programs on Channel 4 in the religious area, the managing editor told me that he was an enthusiastic agnostic and expected any programming offered to reflect that viewpoint. So as a card-carrying Christian I never ever got anything accepted."
In this reality series, four church leaders including charismatic Pastors George Hargreaves and Wale Babatumbe, exposed participants to Christian churches, values, and the Bible. Mentors were allowed to make changes in participants' lives.
Faye gave up her books on spells and witchcraft.
"Light cannot have fellowship with dark," Faye said in one episode.
Kevin agreed to give up his usual nightclub visits on a Thursday night.
All the mentors agreed that abortion is wrong. That led to a vigorous discussion and a visit to an abortion clinic where the group was shocked by a video on how abortions are performed.
The experience of living as a Christian was quite new to most of the cast. Their distance from Britain's Christian heritage reminded pastor Babatunde of his arrival from Africa.
"I was expecting a nation that is a Christian nation by law," Babatunde. "And what did I find? A nation that is a society of atheists according to our former Archbishop of Canterbury. I was totally shocked."
Yet during the course of the reality show, some of the group developed a clear interest in Christianity.
For the charismatic pastors who became mentors for s the opportunity went beyond the participants themselves.
There is a chink in the armor now of the media, maybe we can engage with them," Hargreaves said. "Maybe we can get some good gospel television across on mainstream television in the UK."
People on the street now recognize these pastors from the reality show.
"I'm so excited and I'm very grateful that God would give me the privilege and the opportunity to share Christ on Britain's national TV," Babatunde said.
Hargreaves said "I think Jesus would have been on Channel 4. He went to places where he could be heard by lots of people. How do you speak and feed five thousand unless you go to a strategic point where the masses can come. We as Christians have got to do likewise."
Last November the series won the "Best Christian TV documentary" award at a ceremony sponsored by Britain's Christian Broadcasting Council.
"And I've got to tell you we've kept in contact with those who've participated," Hargreaves said. "And they are on a real journey that I want to believe will end in their salvation, by God's grace."

LAMININ - What is it?

He (Louie Giglio) was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is…how He spoke the universe into being…how He breathes stars out of His mouth that are huge raging balls of fire…etc. etc. Then He went on to speak of how this star-breathing, universe creating God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder. At this point I am LOVING it (fascinating from a medical standpoint, you

know.) …and I was remembering how I was constantly amazed during medical school as I learned more and more about God’s handiwork. I remember so many times thinking…’How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this???’
Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart…how our loving Creator is also our sustainer.
And then I lost my breath.
And it wasn’t because I was running on my treadmill, either.
It was because he started talking about laminin.
I knew about laminin. Here is how wikipedia describes them: ‘Laminins are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue.’ You see….laminins are what hold us together …LITERALLY. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell. Without them, we would literally fall apart. And I knew all this already. But what I didn’t know is what laminin LOOKED LIKE.
But now I do. And I have thought about it a thousand times since (already)…. Here is what the structure of laminin looks like…AND THIS IS NOT a ‘Christian portrayal’ of it….if you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see…
Now tell me that our God is not the coolest!!!Amazing.The glue that holds us together….ALL of us…

Why God’s Wonderful Creation

When I’m enjoying a walk outside I often wonder at so many amazing things. Small details they often seem, yet so clearly designed.Too marvelous to be the result of coincidence.
This site is build as a song of praise to the almighty creator of the world we live in.
Genesis, the first bible book, describes God’s might in the creation of this world. He speaks and it is! Out of nothing!The conclusion of the creation of the world can be read in Genesis 1: 31
“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”
This God, so strong and trustworthy, wants to be your God! He can be a rocksolid foundation for your life.
“Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world,from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”
This is being sung in psalm 90:1,2
But while God had created everything so beautifully, people spoiled this world by choosing against God.This choice brought dead and ruin. Our lives, created for a living relation with God, became selfish and destructive.But in his great mercy God gave us a new chance when he gave what was most precious to Him, the only one strong enough to bearHis panalty for our treason, His own son.
“For God so loved the world that he gave up his one and only Son,that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
I can not understand this, yet the bible tells us this mystery.

How's your day?!!!

Did you start your day right..?

Did you eat your breakfast..?

Have you done anything wrong..?

Did you show any kindness to a person..?

Do you want to know why everyone's busy in their own stuffs..?

Do you know why are we susceptible to temptation around us..?

Do you want to know if you have eternal life right now..?

Do you want to know if you're forgiven of your many sins..?

Do you want to know why you're here in this world..?

and...Are you willing to have a personal relationship with the One who created you..?


Well, if you want to know this things...just check this site anytime for any update...