An anti-Christian activist group is warning people in Bangalore, India, to not celebrate Valentine's Day because it is a Christian holiday. Here is the link to the article:

Ram Sene warns against celebrating Valentine's Day

Fresh from the Mangalore pub assault, Shri Ram Sene is bracing up for the Valentine's Day.

The Sene plans to protest any Valentine's Day celebration on February 14 in Karnataka and is meeting on Wednesday to fine tune its agenda.

Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik, who is now out on conditional bail in the Mangalore Pub attack case, has made it clear that his outfit will disrupt Valentine's Day celebration as it is against Indian culture.

I just wanted to introduce myself to all the wonderful people who actively follow the news of the persecuted Church here on the Voice of the Martyrs's persecution blog. I am Hal Paxton. I share your passion for our brothers and sisters who suffer the hatred of others because they name the name above all names, Jesus Christ.

You host, Stacy, has asked me to fill in while she is at a conference for the next week.

Normally, you can locate me at my blog, The Great Separation, which I've been running since 2003. Also, you can find me on my book blog, Sins of Our Fathers.

May our Lord bless you today so that you can be a blessing to others.

Ministrywatch.com has recently announced that The Voice of the Martyrs will be featured on their 2007 “Shining Light ‘Top 30’ Exemplary Ministries” list. This makes the third consecutive year that VOM has been featured on this list, which is an honor Ministry Watch awards to few organizations.

Ministry Watch is a program of Wall Watchers, an organization dedicated to keeping Christian ministries accountable for their spending while at the same time helping donors to be wise stewards of their God-given resources.

The “Shining Light” list is published in response to requests that Ministry Watch identify the “best” ministries to donate to. While Ministry Watch still encourages individuals to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit when they donate, they have identified 30 organizations that are both transparent and responsible with their spending as well as bold in their stand as an evangelical Christian organization. The Voice of the Martyrs is proud to be included on this list for 2005, 2006 and now 2007.

Here is an excerpt from www.ministrywatch.com which details why the feature “Shining Lights”:

These ministries are called ‘Shining Lights’ because they are indeed models of letting their Christian light shine before men so that the Gospel may be proclaimed and God be glorified. Consequently, we are shining a figurative light on them so that donors may be aware of their good works and other ministries may learn from their examples.

Last March, MinistryWatch.com was featured on ABC’s 20/20 with John Stossel. The interview talked about financial transparency in ministries and brought public attention to the work of Ministry Watch. To learn more about the organization and watch the video, you can visit their website at www.ministrywatch.com.

I was in Indianapolis, IN this week on the way to a television interview, and had the great privilege of visiting the offices of Crescent Project.  This organization works to train Christians in how to reach out to Muslims and share the message of salvation through Jesus Christ with them. And their focus isn’t necessarily on people who are going to barge into Mecca and hand out tracts, but on people RIGHT HERE IN AMERICA!  You can reach your neighbor…your doctor…the exchange student at the university in your town.  Crescent Project  reminds us that you don’t have to GO to be a missionary…God is bringing the mission field onto our own soil!

While I was there I got a sneak peak at CP’s latest project, a small-group curriculum called BRIDGES.  It is a six-week small-group study that trains American Christians how to start the discussion with a Muslim, how to find common ground and how to dispel some of the misinformation about Christianity that is commonly taught in Muslim households. The curriculum includes DVD teaching material and study guides, as well as a leader’s guide. There will also be an online component to get additional information and to share stories of what worked (and what didn’t).

The sneak peak got me VERY excited about this incredible tool!  CP’s goal is to train one million American Christians to reach out to Muslims with the gospel.  The curriculum is available for pre-order now (at a discount!), and you can get a sneak peak at the web site, www.bridgesstudy.com  (they have even posted some of the video segments). If you know people who care about reaching Muslims for Christ, CP and BRIDGES provide excellent, unique training resources (CP also has one-day and one-week training seminars held around the country).

My hope is that a million on-fire American Christians trained, equipped and passionate about sharing the gospel with Muslims is only the beginning!

Todd Nettleton is the Director of Media Development for The Voice of the Martyrs—USA.

The Voice of the Martyrs invites you to become our “friend” on the social networking site www.myspace.com.

Our page is located at www.myspace.com/voiceofthemartyrs. To add us, simply follow the link and click “add to friends.” If you don’t already have a myspace page and you would like to create one, click here.

On the VOM myspace, you’ll find pictures, video clips, banner and more. Check back often for new content.

Myspace.com was founded in August of 2003 by the internet company eUniverse. Currently, it is the third most popular website in the United States and the sixth most popular website in the world.

The Voice of the Martyrs looks forward to sharing the stories of persecuted Christians in this unique and expansive way.

A few days ago I was flipping through channels and stopped at this program where a Rabbi was teaching about how militant Islam delights in beheading people. As I watched this show, it was amazing how many news clippings he used to teach his audience about this type of brutality. Everyday someone in the world will die by the sword. Today and yesterday and the day before is no different.

I read this story today about how some militants beheaded an alleged spy for the United States. The following is a short clip from the full story.

SUSPECTED Islamic militants in a restive Pakistani tribal town overnight beheaded a man accused of spying for US forces across the border, officials said.

The militants dumped the body of the unidentified victim aged in his 20s in an isolated area near the northwestern town of Khar in the Bajaur tribal district, local administration official Fazle Rabbi said.

"Local villagers found the beheaded body and informed us," he said.

The militants left a note near the body which read: "Those who spy for US forces will meet this fate", the official said.

Please remember to pray for our troops and all of those who are in harms way.

Click here to see the full story.

Here are a few more interesting pictures from Israel. I hope you enjoy.

Inside the tomb where Jesus may have laid.

Holy bagel? Yup, there is such a thing.

Shalom from the Holy Land!

I wanted to thank you all for your kind notes and for asking me to share some pictures with you as I travel this week here in Israel. I got in late on Sunday and as I write this it is Wednesday morning and Israel is celebrating First Fruits.

Yesterday I had an opportunity to do a one day tour with Kay Arthur from Precept Ministries and it was awesome. Kay is an extremely gracious woman and she knows the Word of God better than anyone I've ever met. Check out Lightsource.com to see her daily television show Precepts for Life.

I saw so many things, but one of my favorite places was the empty tomb of our Lord Jesus. The picture is from the site of the tomb, which no one can totally confirm is the real place, but tradition supports it.

And I can tell you that it was rather surreal for me to actually be in the place where Jesus and the apostles and disciples have been. It's amazing.
This is Kay Arthur, me and my husband Randall in front of the wailing wall.

I'm going to open up the comments on this post because I would love to hear your feedback on this.

There is an article posted at Lahontan Valley News asking the question about Americans and persecution. I have many thoughts myself on this issue, however, what YOU think interests me.

Please read the article here and then comment.

In a previous post I noted about how the ACLU went after the Gideons and a judge said that the bible is an "instrument of religion" which is why she thinks the bible should be banned from distribution.  And as I was thinking about the reason the bible is being "banned from distribution" I had a few thoughts concerning what else we should "ban" because the item is an "instrument of religion".

How about we ban every single religious book ever written for starters.  We can ban the book of Mormon, all of the Jehovah's Witnesses books and magazines, the Koran, all New Age writings, as well as everything that is used within religious services, including all of those hymn books.

We can ban grape juice and wine, bread wafers and all crackers.  We should also ban rosary beads and kleenex for when people cry at religious funerals.  Afterall, that kleenex is being used in a religious ceremony and is therefore "an instrument of religion".

OH, and let us not forget to ban the bombing materials of the militant Muslims, Hindus and others.  As well as their swords they use for beheading Christians.  We also cannot forget to ban the headscarves of the women or the belts that hold on the bombs these religious people use as their "instruments of religion".

In fact, why don't we just ban whole nations altogether and wipe them off the face of the earth...OH wait, sorry some people actually want to do that with Israel because they are God's people.

And of course, as you may guess, I'm poking at the ludicriousness of this idea of banning the bible as an "instrument of religion" because you bet that if it was anything I mentioned above, the media would be tripping over their spilt milk on their way to their computers and television prompters to decry and denouce the idiocy of the ban.

Afterall, grape juice is good for the heart isn't it?  And we need those big swords to chop down trees.  It wouldn't be fair to ban these things.  Yet, when one nutty judge says that the bible should be banned because it's an instrument of religion - people actually want to do it!  There is something seriously wrong with this picture...don't ya think?