Jerusalem Church Defaced with Hateful Graffiti

By Michael Ireland
Senior International Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (ANS) -- Unknown assailants spray painted blasphemous graffiti on a church building that's home to several Christian congregations in downtown Jerusalem, according to Julie Stahl, CBN News Mideast Correspondent.

Stahl says the vandalism, which could be part of an ongoing campaign against non-Jewish religious sites, led to a show of goodwill by neighbors and others. Stahl reports that vandals sprayed messages of hate -- slurs against Jesus including, "We'll crucify you" and "Death to Christianity" -- in Hebrew on the walls of the Baptist House.

"It's not just defacing, there's a message there," Dr. Al Nucciarone, senior pastor of the Jerusalem Baptist Church, told CBN News.

"Obviously people don't like Christians being here and don't like Jesus or don't respect Jesus for sure," he said.

Stahl reports that it's not the first time the Baptist House has been attacked. In 2007, vandals broke into the sanctuary and torched chairs and hymnals. In 1982, arsonists burned the original wooden building to the ground.

But, she says, the latest incident brought out the best in the neighborhood.

"We're sad there are extremists who would take things into their own hands like this, but we're also heartened by the outpouring of sympathy from neighbors and people of goodwill, whom I believe are the majority," Charles Kopp, senior pastor of the Narkis Street Congregation, told CBN News.

"People are very sympathetic when something like this happens," Pastor Nucciarone said.

"We'll get a lot of support. Even my friend Barry, [he's] Jewish, came with his rabbi from the conservative synagogue in Arnona because they heard about it and they were quite disgusted about what happened and even wanted to call the mayor's religious affairs person," he said.

Stahl reports that police are investigating whether the vandalism is connected to earlier attacks this month on a Jerusalem monastery and mosque.

In her report, Stahl says Dr. Mordechai Zaken, head of the Ministry of Public Security's Desk of Minority Affairs, paid a solidarity visit.

"I'm here to show my support, my solidarity, my friendship, not only me. I think I represent the overwhelming majority of Israeli citizens," Zaken said.

He also pointed out that this kind of incident wouldn't have garnered such press coverage 10 years ago.

"It also shows Israeli society is more tuned [in], more careful about this kind of thing…so we are progressing, slowly but surely," he said.

You can see a video about this incident online at:http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2012/February/Jerusalem-Church-Defaced-with-Hateful-Graffiti/  

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** Michael Ireland is the Senior International Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior International Reporter

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** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

Church Buildings Targeted by Extremists

Gospel for Asia
For Immediate Release

Churches are routinely targeted by anti-Christian extremists who don't like seeing people discover the love of Jesus.

SOUTH ASIA (ANS) -- Two church buildings in one area of South Asia were recently targeted by anti-Christian extremists. Both churches have GFA-supported missionaries serving as their pastors.

The first, a brand-new church building, was vandalized, and construction was halted on the second.

Ayukta Reddy's new church building was finally complete and the congregation was preparing for the building dedication when vandals broke the windows and the glass in the door. They also painted the name of a local god on the door. The vandalism occurred on July 27.

A few miles away, a second church was sabatoged on that same day. This time it was a church under construction. 

Gospel for Asia-supported missionary M.S. Patil serves as pastor of the church. He reports that some local anti-Christian extremists filed a legal complaint against him, accusing him of illegal construction.

He went to the police station and answered the complaint, but no one would listen. Instead he found out that the building permit for the project was revoked and that he would have to reapply for a new permit before construction could resume.

Both of these missionaries are asking for prayer.

Ayukta asks for prayer for the Lord's protection from those who are scheming to do evil against the church. He also asks for believers to pray the church members will be able to adequately repair the damage in time to dedicate the building to the Lord.

Patil requests prayer that the new building permit will be approved and that the Lord will strengthen him and his congregation to withstand the enemy and overcome this problem.

Both pastors also ask for Christians to join them in prayer for the vandals so they can fully comprehend the love of Jesus. 

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• A church is more than a building. It's a sanctuary from the world.

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Gospel for Asia is an evangelical mission organization based in Carrollton, Texas, involved in sharing the love of Jesus across South Asia.

Political tensions give way to protests

Riots in Malawi started last
 Wednesday in protest of Malawi's
 government injustice pushing other
 countries to cut aid funds.

Malawi (MNN) ― The drastic cutting of British aid funding to Malawi has rocked the country. That, plus high food and fuel prices, started widespread rioting and protests in the streets as of last Wednesday.

The UK is joining ranks with several other countries and organizations boycotting Malawian government for failure to respond to issues in their country. There have been several months of diplomatic attempts to resolve Malawi government actions, but to no avail.

Malawi government officials have neglected their duty to human rights, fair governing, and fuel importation issues, and have restricted their people's ability to demonstrate peacefully against government practices.

Amidst the demonstrations and chaos, CURE International has been in the thick of it. Their Malawi base, CURE Malawi, closed at the start of the riots and even had protesters passing as close as their front gate.

CURE Malawi is now operating again and established a security committee to determine which areas are safe and which areas are too dangerous for staff.

For CURE Malawi staff, the danger cannot prevent them from doing what God has called them there to do. They provide medical assistance and surgeries to children who are physically disabled.

Stuart Palmer, CURE Malawi Executive Director, writes in an update, "All non-state owned radio stations have been taken off the air. Only Facebook and Twitter are enabling us all to find out what is happening on the ground. CURE Malawi continues to operate but in a limited capacity for the safety of our staff and patients."

While many demonstrations started out as peaceful, Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, stated that police used force and live ammunition to subdue protestors.

As of Friday, July 22, the Ministry of Health and police officials confirmed 18 deaths, 250 arrests, and several critical injuries. Looting by bandits has also occurred under the chaos created by the civil unrest.

With the loss of so much aid and government funding, the needs of the people are only climbing, making CURE Malawi's assistance in the community even more critical, as well as the message of the Gospel they bring.

The people of Malawi are looking for hope in these desperate times. CURE Malawi pairs everything they do with the message of hope in Christ. The Malawian people can find a more stable hope in Christ as government officials disappoint with their actions. Hopefully through CURE Malawi's ministry, they can show the greater assurance of faith in Christ.

Please pray for the safety of the staff with CURE Malawi in these times of tension. Pray also that their medical and evangelistic ministries would only expand and that more people would receive the physical and spiritual healing they need.