Why does Bethlehem weep luminescent tears disguised as twinkling strings of light? Until one week ago, there was not a single place in its public square that even gave a hint of the reason for this transformation into a holy day. No manger scene, no God-incarnate baby boy. No creche, no cradle, no cross. Even the Church of the Nativity was decorated only by a single large tree.

ISRAEL TODAY Early this month Shari Khoury brought this observation to her husband’s attention. Pastor Steven Khoury took note. He examined city streets and saw for himself what he had not noticed. The Khoury’s live in Bethlehem. Steven was raised there where his father, Dr. Naim Khoury, started Holy Land Ministries in 1980. During the past 32 years Steven, his family and the ministry’s congregations have experienced opposition to the gospel of Jesus the Messiah, God’s incarnate Word made flesh.

This sign in Bethlehem greets Christian worshippers coming to visit their holy sites.

There have been threats and muggings, fire bombs and murder. Many believers have fled the region, but the Khoury’s remain. Every Sunday, worship and teaching are broadcast from speakers atop their local church’s steeple, clashing with Islamic calls to prayer.

On December 5, Steven Khoury made a decision. He composed brief words, commissioned graphic art, hired a printer. In the middle of the night and into next day’s early morning light, workmen hung the composition on the city’s largest billboard. Across an expanse of 1200 square feet, in Arabic and English too, it reads:

And the response? Two weeks later, only days ago, Pastor Khoury received a call. Officials from the city were on the line, informing him that they were being asked to remove the sign. That same day vandals cut power to lights that illuminate the sign at night. The owner refused to repair them, fearing they would only be cut again along with an escalation of damage to his property. The print shop also received disturbing calls. Although the words were never spoken, the message was clear: take Jesus down.

Tonight the billboard is still up, lit now by portable lights from the back of a car. The cost is high. Thousands of dollars have been spent. So far individual donations to help with the expense total about $60.00.

In spite of public exposure on YouTube, radio, television and in written press, other Christian organizations in Bethlehem have reacted with resounding silence. So too Christian organizations throughout Israel.

Pastor Khoury has no regrets. “Scripture says that if we do not speak up for Jesus, for who he is and what he has done, stones will cry out. With God’s help, I will not remain silent. I will not be a quiet one rebuked by shouting rocks.”

Click Here to learn more about Holy Land Ministries and the brave work of the Khoury family.

E-mail: steven@holylandmissions.org

HolyLandMissions

Colorado Christian and Jewish leaders stood together in Denver’s main Mosque  and launched a “Love Thy Neighbor” campaign — starting with ads on RTD buses. They said the ad they unveiled, at a time on the calendar devoted to love and understanding (but ONLY among Christians and Jews), is meant to replace anti-Muslim ads placed on buses.

Denver Post “Our country is in the midst of a lot of divisions,” Temple Emanuel Senior Rabbi Joe Black said. “Hatred is only going to further violence and the breakdown of society.”

“Love Thy Neighbor” ads, purchased for $5,000, are expected to appear on 10 buses by the end of this week and stay on each bus for a month. The “Love Thy Neighbor” message conveys “a shared concept in the three religions,” Colorado Muslim Society Imam Karim Abuzaid said. “In Islam, we are commanded to love our neighbor, or at least act in love.” (But they mean only if the neighbor is a Muslim)

When metro-area Muslims saw the negative ads on Regional Transportation District buses in November, “we felt really hurt,” Abuzaid said. He and Jeremy Shaver, director of the Interfaith Alliance of Colorado, questioned RTD officials about the decision-making of the quasi-governmental organization.

Those ads were placed on buses for four weeks in Denver, New York and Boston. Paid for by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, the ones in Denver read: “9,757 Deadly Islamic Attacks Since 9/11/01. It’s Not Islamophobia. It’s Islamorealism.” (Actually, the ad said ’19,767′)

The Anti Defamation League challenged this as offensive and inflammatory. But RTD legal staffers had reviewed the content and found no basis for rejecting the ads. Other transit agencies that challenged bus ads in court have lost.

The religious leaders on Monday acknowledged free-speech guarantees under the First Amendment of the Constitution but emphasized community needs.

“When we see hate speech,” Shaver said, “it is incumbent on us who are in the majority to call it out.” Colorado religious leaders have collaborated before. The leaders stood together on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The threat of Islam is predicted all over the Bible, read and study Walid Shoebat’s incredible work that explains all. Click here for more information.

And rightly so!

More from: WILD BILL FOR AMERICA

In a symbolic gesture of protest against the new Muslim Brotherhood-imposed, sharia-based Constitution which all but eliminates their rights, women cut off chunks of their hair in Tahrir Square.

They won’t have to worry about their rights soon, they’ll be in jail.

A BNI Reader posted this inspirational video about a dog and a Down’s Syndrome child in the comments section yesterday. I know a lot more of my readers would want to see it, so I’m posting it here.

Dogs have a dark place in Islamic society. Dogs are considered unclean, and Islamic angels do not enter a house that has a dog. Islam also recognizes certain types of dogs as devils, and orders that Muslims must kill them. (See links below video) Dogs are, thus, a despised creature in the Islamic world, although exceptions are made for working dogs. Islamic traditions prohibit petting of dogs in Muslim homes and many Muslim taxi drivers won’t allow a blind person with a guide dog into their cabs. Read More

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS. MORE ON ISLAMIC DOG JIHAD:

sweden-muslim-savages-brutally-beat-87-year-old-woman-trying-to-stop-them-from-abusing-a-puppy

uk-muslim-beats-the-crap-out-of-his-sweet-labrador-puppy-viewer-discretion-advised

europe-muslims-declare-jihad-on-all-dogs

canada-another-case-of-dog-jihad

did-you-know-you-can-now-be-arrested-for-walking-your-dog-in-the-islamic-republic-of-canada

ill-tie-you-all-up-and-throw-you-all-in-a-lake-of-fire-if-you-show-up-at-the-salahuddin-mosque-every-dog-will-be-shot-on-the-spot

iran-is-locking-up-peoples-pet-dogs-because-they-were-walking-them-in-public

now-dogs-are-being-poisoned-in-britain-too

europe-muslims-declare-jihad-on-all-dogs

spain-muslims-carry-out-jihad-on-dogs

spain-muslims-are-poisoning-dogs-because-they-consider-them-to-be-filth

spain-muslims-want-dogs-banned-from-buses-and-public-areas

spain-isnt-the-only-country-where-muslims-massacre-dogs-turkey-has-their-own-canine-genocide-going-on

another-turkish-genocide-this-time-its-dogs

maryland-muslim-man-charged-with-killing-his-stepdaughters-dog-and-threatening-to-kill-her

uk-muslim-thug-cuts-off-his-puppys-ear-after-a-fight-with-his-girlfriend

ban-muslims-damn-it-not-dogs

screw-the-law-uk-muslims-refuse-to-allow-guide-dogs-to-ride-in-buses-or-taxis

australian-taxi-driver-tells-blind-woman-put-your-guide-dog-in-the-trunk-or-get-out

leash-muslims-not-dogs

more-muslim-hysteria-dogophobia

SYRIA: Obama-supported and supplied al-Qaeda linked jihadists are threatening to commit genocide against Christian minority towns.

The Palestinian Authority is slamming Israel for oppressing Christians. However, if you look at the links below the video, you will see who represent the real oppressors of Arab Christians.

The Blaze Wishing the “merriest of holidays” to Christians in Israel and around the world, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the grave threats Christians face in the Muslim world, while reminding us that Israel is the one place in the Middle East where Christians can practice their religion freely.

Bibi adds, “So as you celebrate Christmas and your holy holidays, we hope that you will recall the places where Judaism and Christianity emerged in our ancient land:  Nazareth and Bethlehem, the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee. And our eternal capital, Jerusalem.”

Palestinians will no doubt be unhappy Netanyahu referred to Bethlehem as part of the ancient land of Israel and Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.  The PA released its own videotaped Christmas message titled “Justice is Possible and Hope is Justified.” Not one word is spoken in the video, but its images speak volumes.

The video begins by showing Christmas lights and decorations and worshipers – including a teenager – lighting candles in a Christian church, presumably the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. It then cuts to the same Christian teen riding his bicycle but passing what’s presented as the menacing Israeli separation barrier. Israeli authorities erected that barrier – which pro-Palestinian activists refer to as the “apartheid wall” – after a wave of suicide bombings ten years ago killed hundreds of Israelis. Since it was erected has successfully obstructed the free movement of would-be Palestinian suicide bombers.

RELATED STORIES/VIDEOS:

arab-muslims-are-pushing-the-christians-out-of-bethlehem-too

palestinian-christians-suffer-under-palestinian-rule

first-we-kill-the-saturday-people-then-the-sunday-people

hamas-is-terrorizing-christians-in-gaza

the-christian-cross-has-been-banished-from-souvenir-shops-in-bethlehem-yes-bethlehem

yes-there-is-ethnic-cleansing-of-palestinians-going-on

pay-the-jizyah-protection-money-or-we-will-kill-you

shocking-christians-in-the-holy-land-are-submitting-to-islam-out-of-fear-of-being-killed-by-muslims

slow-genocide-of-arab-christians

hamas-environmentalists-digging-up-bodies-of-dead-christians-claiming-they-pollute-the-earth

Tens of thousands of illegal Muslim parasites are washing up on the shores of Lampedusa, a tiny island off the coast of Sicily, where detention centers are bursting at the seams from the never ending flood of North African Muslims. They claim to be asylum seekers, but most are economic entitlement whores, looking for free handouts from non-Muslim European countries.

Islam vs Europe (h/t/ Susan K) “He was horrible, he had no teeth, his face disfigured by scars”. This is how one of the latest victims of rape in Milan, a businesswoman of 42, described her attacker, Mohamed K., 32, an Iraqi illegal immigrant already convicted for theft, assault and wounding. Last week, when she was going out to see a friend so they could prepare for Christmas, Mohamed K. followed her, caught her in a public garden where she had tried to hide, threw her to the ground, beat her and raped her on the spot while shouting “Filthy Italian bitch”, before fleeing and stealing her purse. The carabinieri were able to find him and arrest him – he still had the purse on him. The victim is in hospital.

The case has provoked much discussion in Italy, and the multicultists have gone into overdrive to defend the reputation of immigrants. “The perpetrators of rapes are not immigrants, but Italians!” insisted one multicult friendly blog, citing statistics from 2009 that showed 60% of rapes in Italy were committed by Italians. Since immigrants were then “only” 6% of the Italian population, they are grossly over-represented in the statistics.

MORE ABOUT THE MUSLIM INVADERS HERE

More than 200 Indonesian Muslims threw rotten eggs as well as plastic bags filled with urine and cow dung at Christians wanting to hold a Christmas mass near Jakarta on land where they plan to build a church.

Jakarta Globe (h/t Traduction)  Some 100 Christian worshippers intended to hold a mass near empty land where they hope to build a church, about 30-kilometers east of the capital, in a project barred by district government and community members in 2009.

Christian worshippers try to pray during a Christmas service in Jakarta

On Tuesday, however, local community members blocked the road near the land, Andri Ananta, a local police chief on Jakarta’s outskirts, told AFP. An AFP photographer witnessed furious locals — men and women wearing Muslim headscarf, with small children in tow — physically blocking the road and throwing rotten eggs at the gathering worshippers.

Ananta said police managed to convince the Christians to drop their plan and return home. ”We tried our best to avoid any clash and the Christians agreed to leave,” he said, adding 380 police and military personnel including an anti-riot squad were deployed to the area.

Indonesian police block angry Muslim residents away from Christian worshippers from the Filadelfia Batak Christian Protestant intent on holding a Christmas mass on their property at the Jejalen Jaya village in Bekasi on Dec 25, 2012.

Church leader Reverend Palti Panjaitan said the incident came after a Christmas Eve attack on Monday evening when “intolerant people” threw not only rotten eggs but plastic bags filled with urine and cow dung at them. ”Everything had happened while police were there. They were just watching without doing anything to stop them from harming us,” he told AFP.

The country’s high court last year overruled the district government’s 2009 decision, but constant intimidation from Muslims in the area has delayed the church’s construction, church officials said.

Residents on a motorcycle ride past a placard that reads ‘Dismiss illegal Christian services, reject the church project’ in front of a piece of land owned by a Christian congregation from the Filadelfia Batak Christian Protestant church

Indonesia’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion but rights groups say violence against minorities including Christians and the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect has escalated since 2008.

The media isn’t mentioning the fact that the attackers were Muslims, but I will because it’s always Muslims who do this. At least 12 people were slaughtered in northern Nigeria when attackers raided two churches during Christmas Eve services, police said.

CNN One assault occurred at the Church of Christ in Nations in Postikum, in Yobe province. Gunmen attacked worshipers during prayer, killing six people, including the pastor, and setting the building on fire Worshipers also were attacked at the First Baptist Church in Maiduguri, in Borno state. A deacon and five church members were killed.

They were the latest strikes against Christians in the region. More than 30 people died in a wave of Christmas Day attacks in the north last year, blamed on Boko Haram, a militant group that has targeted Christians and Muslims it considered insufficiently Islamist.

Pope Benedict XVI referred to the northern Nigerian violence in his traditional Christmas message from Vatican City on Tuesday. ”Savage acts of terrorism” in the region, he said, “continue to reap victims, particularly among Christians.”

Understand how history repeats itself with today’s persecution of Christians in Islamic countries. Click here for details.

In October, a report from Human Rights Watch also addressed violence in northern Nigeria, particularly from Boko Haram. ”Suspected members of the group have bombed or opened fire on worshipers in at least 18 churches across eight northern and central states since 2010. In Maiduguri, the group also forced Christian men to convert to Islam on penalty of death,” it said.

The Christmas attacks came as families whose kin died in last year’s killings delivered graveside prayers for a peaceful holiday period. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan issued a statement promising better days next year, including better security.

But residents told CNN that despite assurances of security, they have been attacked again.

FROM CHRISTMAS 2011

RELATED STORIES/VIDEOS:

nigeria-this-is-what-happens-when-half-the-country-is-christian-and-half-are-muslims

nigeria-more-machete-attacks-by-muslims-on-christians-leave-19-dead

nigeria-thousands-of-christian-women-riot-in-the-streets-over-ongoing-massacres-of-christians-by-muslims

nigeria-charred-christian-corpses-line-the-roads-after-muslims-go-wilding

horrific-photo-of-what-muslims-are-doing-to-christians-sent-by-a-bni-reader-in-nigeria

No big deal just some people in africa

nigeria-more-machete-attacks-by-muslims-on-christians-leave-19-dead

nigeria-christian-pastor-and-wife-burned-to-death-by-muslims

important-announcement-re-islamic-slaughter-of-christians-in-nigeria-warning-graphic-images

The High Court ruled that Muslim prisoners convicted of terror activities were no longer eligible for free university education while incarcerated. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit by three terrorist prisoners who claimed they were being discriminated against because prison authorities refused to enroll them in an Open University program and pay their tuition.

What kind of left wing insanity made Israel think they should pay for it in the first place?

INN (h/t Liz) The Open University offers extensive distance-learning programs, enabling students to do coursework via the Internet, with scheduled meetings with mentors. The court said that discrimination was not an issue in the case. “The court has ruled in the past and continues to rule that the differences in treatment of criminal and terrorist prisoners is not due to discrimination. We believe the same applies to education,” said the three judges who heard the case.

With that, the court said that the prison system should be “considerate” in deciding what to do with terrorists who are already in the midst of academic programs. “We think it would be worthy to consider those in the midst or close to the end of an academic program separately from those who have not yet begun a course of study,” the court said. “If the prisons decide not to continue funding the education of those prisoners, they will be free to file petitions with district courts on the matter.” (“Considerate?” Only Israeli left wing idiots think terrorists deserve a free education in jail)

Arab Muslims in the Shiloah neighborhood of Jerusalem’s old city firebombed the Jewish Meyuhas House using firecrackers and Molotov cocktails. Muslims there oppose the Jewish presence in the historic and modern capital of the Jewish state.

The Blaze (h/t Liz)  The House was built by Rabbi Rahamim Nathan Meyuhas, the first Jew to return to the Old City in modern times. Meyuhas, whose family lived in the Old City for centuries purchased the plot in 1873.

Filmed from a nearby building, the video shows the launching of multiple flaming projectiles toward the house, impacting it with incendiary fury, setting fires through its windows. Israelis calls it Shiloah while the Arabs call it Silwan.

Shiloah is considered by Jews to hold historical significance to their faith. The location is referred to in the Bible, including in Isaiah (8:6), where it’s written, “the waters of Shiloah go softly.” It was a site that in ancient times facilitated the fulfillment of important Jewish rituals and is believed to sit atop an ancient cemetery holding Judean royalty.

Some 20 masked Arabs throw stones and riot as 30 Israelis marched in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Shiloah. Several of the neighborhood’s Arab residents stood on the rooftops, some chanting, “Allahu Akbar” and “this is our Palestinian village”.

Today, it is populated by Muslims, who oppose the presence of some 40 Jewish families who have bought homes in the neighborhood to try to gain a foothold on what they consider to be a holy site that sits just outside Jerusalem’s Old City and the holy Temple Mount. Jewish Press explains that because of the threats against them, “Jewish residents are forced to maintain a high level of security in the area, and exercise caution when travelling on the local roads, due to concerns of rock and Molotov cocktail attacks.”