Look here every morning: Morning Place To Be
Look here every morning: Morning Place To Be
Jerusalem’s holiest sites could remain closed for Holy Week and Easter due to security concerns over the Iran war.
The 4th-century Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christ is believed to have been buried and risen from the dead, is closed indefinitely after shrapnel fell onto its roof. It is unclear whether it will reopen for Holy Week and Easter.
Other sacred places for Christians, Jews, and Muslims—including the Western Wall, Temple Mount, and the Garden Tomb, which some Christians also believe to be the site of the resurrection—are also closed.
Christian journalist Paul Calvert, who lives in Bethlehem, told Premier Christian News: “The Garden Tomb really relies on tourism, and it's looking like they won't have any Easter celebrations. Even during the Gaza war they have had Easter celebrations there, but it's looking like they're not going to be having any there this year. So it’s a very, very sad and difficult time for the Christian community.”
The closure of these holy sites ahead of Holy Week and Easter is significant, and many Christians fear they will be unable to attend traditional services.
Paul Calvert said a Holy Saturday service marking Orthodox Easter at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is always a highlight of the year:
“We have the traditional Easter that the West usually celebrates, then a week later we have the Orthodox Easter, and that is where you have the Holy Fire celebration. Thousands and thousands of Christians go in there with their candles, get their candles lit and they come out with the holy fire. They celebrate and rejoice and then that light is passed throughout the Orthodox world. It then comes to Bethlehem, to the Church of the Nativity. It’s a very moving experience.”
READ MORE: Jerusalem's holiest sites
#Jerusalem #holiestsites #remainclosed #Easter #DonnaBirrell #PremierChristianNews
All Hands On Deck
Each of us has been given gifts (talents) as the Lord shared to the listeners in the Gospel. What they did with them (or only one) determines how their reward, or not, resulted.
We each know individuals who are using their gifts from the Lord for the good of His Body. We surely recognize the “more noticeable one” – the pastors, teachers, prophets, evangelists, and even a few apostles in the church.
But I want you each to know, the ones who don’t have those “titles” ( and don’t get me started on “titles” so prevalent these days) that you are just as important.
The main leader in any church, synagogue or ministry, the visionary, certainly needs the administrator to carry out the dream. There may be the engine, but without the wheels that vehicle is not going anywhere fast.
So you having a hospitality gift, or a child development gift, or the one who uses his skills to construct or maintain the properties the Lord has entrusted to us; or even the one who leads worship in the home group of seven – you are just as important.
Not every job is “ministry”. Trust me, I know, after having been with ministries and churches on staff for over 35 years.
The Lord and His Body needs us all, serving together, each sharing his/her talent(s) for His plans and purposes.
“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” 1 Peter 4:10
Serve on!
Ahava and shalom,
Steve Martin, Love For His People

It’s been a bad week for Jews around the world.
Two brothers were arrested after planning an attack on Jews in France.
A Jewish school was targeted in Amsterdam.
There was an arson attack on a synagogue in Rotterdam.
There was also an attack on a synagogue in Michigan, USA.
While Israel is serving the world by getting rid of a nuclear program run by a tyrannical regime that threatens the world, Jews are being targeted globally.
We thank God that no one was killed in these attacks, but we know it is only a matter of time before a very serious incident arises, like in Bondi or Manchester.
The pro-Palestine mobs who have been chanting “globalize the intifada” should be very grateful that no one has been killed in these attacks this week, because they would have blood on their hands.
This is what “globalize the intifada” means. It means go out and kill Jews. Do they really understand that?
When a Jew dies in one of these attacks, I hold every person responsible who has shouted “globalize the intifada.” You will have blood on your hands.
You will be guilty of inciting hatred which led to the murder of an innocent Jew. Can you live with that? You will be no better than Hitler and the Nazis.
I think this week, and the weeks before it, should be a wake-up call to Jews around the world. Come home. Come to Israel. Be the generation that fulfills biblical prophecy. Your home is here, so come home.
The world is not safe for Jews anymore.
I have recently been reading the book of Genesis, the story of Joseph. Joseph became great in Egypt; he was second in command. Jacob, his father, and his family joined him. When Jacob died, Egypt mourned. There was great respect for Joseph and Jacob.
But things changed. Over time, things changed. A new ruler arose who did not know Joseph or Jacob. The attitude toward the Jews changed, and they ended up in bondage for 400 years.
After October 7, the attitude of the world has changed. There has always been antisemitism, but the world has changed. Jews should not feel settled anymore—they should come home.
“Globalize the intifada” is being shouted on the streets, so see the warning signs. You don’t live in the same world anymore.
Come, come home to Eretz Israel and fulfill biblical prophecy.
Ezekiel 34:13
“And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country.” (NKJV)
Psalms 107:2–3
“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.”
Come and invest in your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in the nation of Israel. There is a future and a hope for you.
There is a nation ready and waiting for you—a nation that cares for the Jews. The Jewish homeland Jacob called Israel.

Paul is a Christian journalist