The Place Where Jesus Was Baptized Was Laced with Landmines, Now Israel Is Fixing That - CBN News Julie Stahl, Chris Mitchell

The Place Where Jesus Was Baptized
Was Laced with Landmines, Now Israel Is Fixing That

12-12-2018

CBN News Julie Stahl,

Chris Mitchell

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QASR AL YAHUD, Jordan Valley – Qasr al Yahud on the Jordan River is the place many believe John the Baptist baptized Jesus. It's also thought to be where the children of Israel crossed over to the Promised Land and the site of Elijah's ascent to heaven.

Just about six miles from Jericho, Israel opened its side of the baptismal site to visitors in 2011, more than a decade after Jordan opened its side in 2000. But the 250-acre area around the site – known as the Land of the Monasteries – remained off limits.

The area surrounding the baptismal site covered with mines and other explosives from past conflicts like the Six-Day War. Due to safety concerns access to the churches was blocked. Now that's changing.

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Israel Begins Clearing Baptismal Site of Mines, Remnants of War

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Moshe Hilman is the Israel National Mine Action Authority (INMAA) supervisor here.  INMAA is part of Israel's Ministry of Defense.

INMAA Supervisor Moshe Hilman, Photo, CBN News

"We are working here almost one year and specifically in this monastery we work here three months," Hilman said. "It takes us time to clean the area — clean from mines, clean from mortars, booby traps. In the past it was a firing zone."

Seven churches have property here. Three monasteries have already been cleaned and CBN News toured two of them.

The Franciscan Chapel was built in 1956 and belongs to the Vatican.

Franciscan Chapel, Qasr al Yahud, Photo, Israel Ministry of Defense

The Ethiopian monastery was much larger and had a bakery and guest house.

INMAA Director Marcel Aviv works with Halo Trust, the world's oldest and largest humanitarian mine clearance charity, to clean this area.

INMAA Director Marcel Aviv, Photo, CBN News

"Every millimeter from this side is checked at least by three people. As you understand, it's very dangerous and difficult job," Aviv explained. "When we will finish all the job here, those lands will be given to their owners and the owners are the churches."

During the Six-Day War, this church-owned land came under Israeli control. It became an easy target for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to carry out attacks on Israeli soldiers. Eventually, the monks abandoned the area and explosives were spread around.

Hilman told CBN News that Israel has maps of the mines, but due to rain over the decades many have shifted. And there are other challenges too.

"It was here full of metal. It was a firing zone. It was irrigation zone," he continued. "The monks have a small farm in this monastery so it take[s] us time to clean and to deal with the monasteries' metals here."

Ethiopian Monastery Guest Houses at Qasr al Yahud, Photo, CBN News

And once the ground outside is cleared, the inside of the buildings must be checked for booby traps. They used drones to look from above and peer into doors an windows.

"The first process was to search and to learn [from] above the building, to learn from windows and visible doors, open doors what there is inside the first time," he said.

Ethiopian Monastery at Qasr al Yahud, Photo, CBN News

"The second stage is to pull everything and to shake everything so that there is no wire and booby traps that's connected to [a] bed, to [a] door, to [a] window, to everything."

Some 800,000 people visit the baptismal site each year. That's expected to triple once the monasteries are back.

Baptismal Site at Qasr al Yahud, Photo, CBN News

Hilman says he's excited to work on such a project.

"I hope that this garden that was left 50 years ago will be green again and all of us will be happy to visit here and to see this amazing area. I hope that it will be and I sure that it will be," he said.

Watch here: BAPTISMAL SITE OF JESUS (YESHUA)

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"This is the way, walk in it" - Richard and Carolyn Hyde from Heart of G-d Ministries

A US non-profit ministry in Israel Website  |  About Us  |  Music  |  Yeshua Project  |  Living Stones  |  Contact Us Click above to see photos Shalom Friends and Prayer Partners, We're sure that the angels are rejoicing in heaven over what happened during our recent journey to Germany.  We ministered in ten high school classrooms to approximately 220 teenagers.  Over 150 of them made a decision to follow Yeshua - Hallelujah!  Our host teachers are delighted to have the privilege and also responsibility to disciple these new believers. In one class I (Richard) borrowed a pen from a teacher and when she heard that we were from Israel, she asked if she could observe what we present in the classroom.  We simply share the Gospel through the message of Passover and explain how the Lamb of G-d, Yeshua, came to remove our sin which separates us from G-d.  When we gave the students an opportunity to repent and ask forgiveness for their sins, even the teacher raised her hand!  My initial thought was, "Is she just doing this for the students?"  But afterwards she was so full of the joy of the L-rd, it was clear that she'd received Yeshua and now she even wants to visit us in Israel! One class had students in their final year of high school.  We had visited them in previous years and all are believers in Yeshua.  So we did something different and taught them how to check-in via LK10 Ministry.  We asked them what Solomon requested from G-d.  Everyone said wisdom but the Hebrew actually says he requested a listening heart.  Many expressed a fear of what their future holds as Europe seems so dark and uncertain to them.  It was encouraging for them to know that Yeshua not only hears their prayers, but they can learn how to hear His voice and know for certain - this is the way - walk in it! Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it,"  whenever you turn to the right or to the left.  Isaiah 30:21 The Great Jewish Leader Our new outreach video,"The Great Jewish Leader", will soon be released with English subtitles!  We are so pleased to share this video with you all in the next few weeks and pray that many souls will be touched by what they see.  Israelis were asked on the streets of Israel to read stories about what this great Jewish leader did and what he said and then asked to guess who it is.   This new video follows up our Isaiah 53 video in Hebrew, which was recently removed from YouTube due to a copyright complaint.  We'll probably have to take legal action to reinstate it so please pray for success and that all of our outreach videos can continue to touch hearts with the Good News that Yeshua is L-rd! Lunchtime Testimony After enjoying lunch in an Israeli restaurant, I shared with the owner about our faith.  He gladly received my music and asked if he could play it over the speakers in the restaurant.  B'simcha - gladly! Thank you for standing with us and the young Israelis on the Media Team who are sharing Messiah's love in Israel.  Recently, our son Ariel informed us that our team is only able to respond to about 10% of the inquiries about Yeshua on Facebook.  Therefore our goal in 2019 is to double the number of workers in the harvest field! Please prayerfully consider an end of the year donation to hire more workers for the harvest. "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the L-rd of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."  Luke 10:2 Come and worship the King in our home and hear what He is doing in Israel today! "My heart is so thankful for the time we had on your roof.  It was as if Yeshua gave me a balm over my heart after years of pain.  It was such a tender moving of His Spirit in that moment." We pray that you will always hear the voice of the L-rd speaking to you when you need to know for certain that this is the way, so walk in it! Blessings in Yeshua's love, Richard & Carolyn Hyde Heart of G-d Ministries Israel: PO Box 112, Poriya Kfar Avoda   15220   USA:  PO Box 461546, San Antonio, TX 78246 Canada:  First Century Foundations   Canadian charitable tax #10780-1771-RR0001  *   Phone: 1-877-628-2800 Box 234 * Milton, ON * L9T 4N9 * Canada * www.firstcenturyfoundations.com  Australia:  Commonwealth Bank *  Account Name:  Great Southlands HOP  (Heart of G-d) BSB: 063674 * Account number: 10195120 New Partnership with AMZI in Switzerland: Schweiz:  Postfinance: Konto Nr. 40-33695-4 IBAN: CH13 0900 0000 4003 3695 4  BIC: POFICHBEXXX New Partnership with AMZI in Germany: Sparkasse Loerrach-Rheinfelden Konto Nr. 1017730  /  BLZ: 683 500 48  IBAN: DE15 6835 0048 0001 0177 30  /  BIC: SKLODE66XXX Worship Music and Outreach booklets from Israel! We write L-rd and G-d in this way because it's a Jewish custom that Carolyn grew up with and it's done only out of reverence and honor for the name of the L-rd.  Thanks for understanding.

Heart of G-d Ministries, PO Box 461546, San Antonio, TX 78246

U of Iowa Booted a Dozen Religious Groups from Campus, Now a Huge Faith and Freedom Fight Is Underway - CBN News Emily Jones

U of Iowa Booted a Dozen Religious Groups from Campus, Now a Huge Faith and Freedom Fight Is Underway

12-14-2018

CBN News  Emily Jones

A Christian organization is in a court battle with the University of Iowa and is seeking permanent equal treatment for all organizations on campus.

Intervarsity Christian Fellowship is being represented by The Becket Fund, a non-profit law firm that specializes in religious liberty cases. 

Becket says, "The University of Iowa admitted in court that it discriminates against religious student groups."

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University of Iowa Decides to Reinstate 40 Religious Groups for Now

Why Would the University of Iowa 'Deregister' 39 Student Groups – and What Does it Mean for Christian Clubs?

Discrimination Showdown: University of Iowa Boots Christian Club from Campus

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That prompted Intervarsity to ask a federal court Thursday to permanently mandate equal treatment for every campus organization.

The law firm goes on to say that this case came about after the university banned more than a dozen student religious groups last summer for asking their leaders to adhere to the faith of the organizations.

As CBN News reported in July, the university asked student groups to include a  human rights clause in their governing documents. The human rights clause is a non-discrimination policy that requires clubs to allow any student, no matter their beliefs, to become a club leader. 

If the organization failed to adopt the policy, the university "deregistered" them which means they're no longer able to operate as an official campus organization and utilize privileges like meeting space and access to campus activity fairs to recruit students. 

Becket says other religious groups not allowed on campus included the Sikh Awareness Club, Chinese Student Christian Fellowship, Imam Mahdi Organization, and the Latter-Day Saint Student Association.

After Intervarsity filed a lawsuit, Becket says all faith groups were temporarily reinstated, but the University of Iowa, according to the law firm, "continues to resist a permanent fix and insist that it can treat religious groups different from other groups."

Intervarsity Christian Fellowship has been on the University of Iowa campus for more than 25 years.

The director of external relations at Intervarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, Greg Jao, issued a statement, saying, "Intervarsity seeks to serve the University of Iowa, its students and faculty, and the local community. We invite the university to embrace a common-sense understanding of its non-discrimination policy. The policy should protect, rather than penalize, religious groups that seek to retain their religious identity on campus." 

Watch HERE: IOWA BOOTED RELIGIOUS GROUPS FROM CAMPUS

Did you know?

God is everywhere—even in the news. That’s why we view every news story through the lens of faith. We are committed to delivering quality independent Christian journalism you can trust. But it takes a lot of hard work, time, and money to do what we do. Help us continue to be a voice for truth in the media by supporting CBN News for as little as $1.

Support CBN News