RESTORING JERUSALEM'S CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER, BUILT OVER THE SITE WHERE JESUS WAS BELIEVED TO BE BURIED: "A JOY, NOT A JOB"

"You feel when you are there, you are in the most alive place in the world." -Antonia Moropoulou

(Israel)—[CBN News] One of the most cherished sites in Jerusalem's Old City is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Many believe it marks the place where Jesus Christ was buried and rose from the dead. CBN News got a rare behind-the-scenes look at a long overdue restoration of the church's interior. (Photo via CBN News)

It's called the aedicule—a structure built over what many believe is the burial place of Jesus. After years of neglect, it's getting a face-lift.

"The holy rock is preserved; this is the great result of this project," Prof. Antonia Moropoulou, who oversees the renovation, told CBN News.

"Of course, now we are going with bolts and anchors, titanium anchors, to readjust the marble slabs upon some mortar and concrete," she explained. "That means we are going to ensure the structural integrity through this intervention." 
   
National Geographic first documented the restoration last year for a television special. 
 
When the renovation team removed a marble slab that had been there for more than 200 years, they found a slab from the time of the Crusaders. Underneath that they found a tomb from the first century that many believe was the tomb of Jesus.

While many consider the Church of the Holy Sepulcher the site where Jesus was buried and rose again, others believe the resurrection took place at the Garden Tomb not far away. Whichever site is authentic, the work is preserving the church for years to come.

"We had, of course, to open the holy tomb in order to insulate it from the grout and to protect it," Moropoulou explained.

"Yes, this number is S-3, E-14; that means S-3, E-14—this, from this place of the monument," conservator Theodoros Mavridis said.

The restoration is like putting a puzzle together. Mavridis explained how they reconstruct the marble slabs surrounding the aedicule.

"We open holes. We put titanium rods between the two pieces, okay. We are putting the adhesive on the surface inside," he continued. "We're just joining the pieces together like this, okay. And then, we have to put the piece vertically so that the weight of the above to give the pressure and the stability to put the pieces together in a perfect position." (Photo By Dusan Vranic, Ap for National Geographic)

For those working on the project, it's not a job but a joy.

"What were your feelings when—when the tomb was opened?" CBN News asked.

"Great feelings," Moropoulou said. "We were feeling that working on the tomb of Christ, we were not in just a monument ... it's the message of resurrection. It's the hope and the prayers of millions of people. I don't know, but you feel when you are there, you are in the most alive place in the world."

"For my mother and my grandmother, they feel very proud of me," Mavridis said. "I feel very happy every day to be here and when the project is finished, then I will be more happy than ever in my life."

The restoration is expected to be completed by Easter.

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VIETNAM: WOW! HOSPITAL WORKER LEADS 50 TO CHRIST IN TWO DAYS

"...The ministry is excited, because this is a way of reaching both the ethnic groups and the Vietnamese with the Gospel."

[God Reports] Born with bent feet, at two-years-old, Mai could not even stand. Doctors in Ho Chi Minh City had been unable to help the baby. (Photo: inside a Vietnam hospital/via God Reports)

Despairing over her condition, the parents decided to receive prayer from a Christian pastor, along with five other Hmong pastors who were attending a training, according to a report by Christian Aid Mission (CAM).

"The next day, while the husband, his wife and their daughter were at a children's hospital waiting for their appointment, for the first time in Mai's life she was able to walk about one meter with the help of her parents," the pastor reported.

The parents were so elated at this first glimpse of hope that they cancelled the doctor's appointment and carried little Mai back to the pastor and asked for more prayer.

After the prayer, Mai was able to walk from one end of a bed to the other, supporting herself with one hand on a wall. Her parents asked the pastors attending the training session to pray for her one more time before they began the long trip back to their home in Dak Lak Province. (Photo: Vietnam hospital waiting room/via God Reports)

Two days later, they informed the pastor that Mai was 70 percent healed.

"Not long after that, Mai was able to stand, walk and run like a normal child," the pastor told CAM. "Hallelujah! This is a great miracle, that God healed a girl with a birth defect in her feet."

News about the healing spread and...Continue reading here.

FOUR-YEAR-OLD WORSHIP LEADER TAKES STEVE HARVEY "TO CHURCH"

(Chicago, IL) — [CBN News] On the premier of Steve Harvey's show, "Little Big Shots" 4-year-old Caleb Serrano dazzled the audience, and its host. (Photo Credit: CBN News)

Video of Caleb's performance went viral.

"Are you a worship leader," Harvey asked Caleb during an interview on the show.

"Yes!" he answered.

Harvey continued, "Of the whole church?"

"Yes, because my Pawpaw is here," Caleb responded, pointing to his grandfather in the crowd.

He then asked his grandfather, whom he affectionately calls Pawpaw to stand while he and the audience applauded.

The little singer then told Harvey that his Pawpaw was his mentor. (Screengrab via YouTube/ CBN News)

"And that's who teach me how to sing," said Caleb, who sings with his grandfather on Sundays at New Hope Baptist Church in Greensboro, NC.

Harvey then asked Caleb how he gets people to standup to sing.  

"I say everybody let's stand up and join along," responded the mature 4 year old.

Afterwards, Harvey asked Caleb to lead the audience in singing just like he does at his church.

He took to the stage with a rendition of the Gospel hymn "Down In My Soul."

The audience went wild with applause.

Meanwhile, this is not Caleb's first time at fame.

A video of him performing, "This Little Light of Mine" also went viral back in May of 2016. 

Click here to watch this amazing little guy!

CBN News

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GOD INTERVENES AS MUSLIM RULER FATHER TRIES TO KILL HIS CHRISTIAN DAUGHTER

Najima* is the daughter of a Muslim ruler.

Since childhood, she was a strong believer of Islam. She compulsorily practiced Islam by reciting the Quran, doing namaz prayer five times every day, fasting in the month of Ramadan and giving zakat to the poor and needy.

After her school years, she went to a Western university for higher studies, though she never missed her regular practices of Islamic pillars.

One day, she found a tract in her table, in which she read, “For Jesus hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21, NKJ).

The verse struck her.

“How can Jesus … be sin for us?” she asked herself before throwing the tract away. But that verse came to her mind again as she went to bed that evening.

No matter how much she tried to forget that verse, it was projected in her mind again and again. She couldn’t sleep.

Then she felt her room filled with light like day. From the light she heard a voice, “Daughter, you’re a sinner. There is none righteous, no, not one: All are gone out of the way; they are together become unprofitable. But I came to take all of your sins. I did ransom for many. Believe Me and accept Me. I give you eternal life”.

DEAD MAN AROSE AMONG VILLAGE OF CHRISTIAN CONVERTS

An unreached people group in Southeast Asia gave their lives to Christ when their leader apparently dropped dead and came back to life after a group of believers prayed.

David Platt, president of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, recounted the “modern-day resurrection” story during the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee meeting on Sept. 19.

A local Southeast Asian Christian who was brought to faith by some Southern Baptist missionaries took a group of friends and began evangelizing in the remote village, Baptist Press reports.

Villagers responded by bringing idols, necklaces, and amulets associated with their occult worship to be burned, Platt said, relaying the account of an IBM worker.

It is reported that shortly after the burning ceremony, the village leader was found dead.

The villagers said they believed they angered the local spirits by giving up their possessions. They asked for their ritual objects to be returned to them.

The Christians, discouraged by the request and the news of the leader’s death, traveled to where the leader was laid and prayed over his body “that God would show His mercy to the people in the village, that God would show His glory and His love to that people who were so close,” said Platt.

1200 MUSLIM REFUGEES IN EUROPE CONVERT TO CHRISTIANITY

AMSTERDAM — Hundreds of Pakistanis and Afghans have been lining up at a local swimming pool in Hamburg, Germany, to be baptized as Christians. In the Netherlands and Denmark, as well, many are converting from Islam to Christianity, and the trend appears to be growing. Indeed, converts are filling up some European churches largely forsaken by their old Christian flocks. All of which raises a question, not least, for the United States: If American presidential candidate Donald Trump gets elected and bars Muslims from entering the country, as he says he will, would the ban apply to Christians who used to be Muslims? How would one judge the quality of their faith?

For the moment, that quandary is a ways off for U.S. Homeland Security, but in Europe even now the phenomenon is fraught with echoes of the past, problems in the present, and omens for the future. Forced conversions of Muslims and Jews during the Spanish Inquisition were a dark page in Europe’s history. More than a little suspicion surrounds some of the current conversions, seen by some to be cynical bids to improve the chance of getting asylum. And, looking forward, it’s potentially quite dangerous for those who embrace the Gospel to return to homelands where abandoning Islam for another faith can be treated as a capital crime.

Still, many preachers are pleased. The German pastor of the Evangelical-Lutheran church in Berlin calls the conversion phenomenon “a gift from God.” In his modest community a staggering 1,200 Muslims, mainly Afghans and Iranians, converted in just three years.

In Hamburg, where German ARD TV showed the Pakistanis and Afghans lining up to be baptized by the pastor of the Persian Church community, more than 600 people reportedly were received into the congregation.

There is no reliable overall figure for converts in northern Europe, but judging by reports from different media outlets, it is safe to assume the number runs into the thousands, maybe even tens of thousands who say they want the Gospel, “the good news,” offered by Jesus Christ.

One young Iranian woman convert told the German news magazine Stern, “I’ve been looking all my life for peace and happiness, but in Islam, I have not found them,” Another convert told Stern he had found in Christianity an element—love—that was missing from the faith he was brought up in. “In Islam, we always lived in fear,” he said. “Fear God, fear of sin, fear of punishment. But Christ is a God of love.”

80 Migrants Convert to Christianity in Mass Baptism

At least 80 migrants in Hamburg have converted to Christianity from Islam in a mass baptism, but some question their motives.

In German Father’s Day is celebrated every year, not on the same date but rather on the Thursday 40 days after Easter. Father’s Day means more to Germans than simply celebrating their fathers but also for many religious Germans it is celebrating the Christian father on Ascension day.  This year saw 80 men and women from Afghanistan and Iran baptized and taking their first communion Stern reports.

“Today is a great day for us,” said Mahshad, one of the new converts. Mahshad came with her husband Amir to Germany from the Islamic Republic of Iran where converting to Christianity is illegal and can result at best in social exclusion and at worst, the death penalty.  The pair currently live outside of Hamburg in an asylum home and were invited to Germany by a Persian-Christian organization called “Alpha and Omega” who helped them apply for asylum in Germany.

The couple are not unique among migrants converting to Christianity. Breitbart London has reported many cases of migrants becoming Christians after they reach Europe like “Christopher” in Vienna who came to Europe from Afghanistan and said that he had wanted to convert for years but was afraid of the consequences.

However, Migrant converts like Christopher are finding that becoming Christians in Europe may not spare them from reprisal from Muslims. Christopher told an Austrian paper that he feared walking around in Muslim dominated neighbourhoods in Vienna and said his conversion, even in Europe could potentially be a “death sentence.”

MAPEPO NI NINI? SEHEMU YA PILI

Somo: Mapepo ni nini?

Lengo Kuu:Uhusiano Baina ya Mtu na mapepo

Lengo Mahsusi: Kujua namna ya kuzishinda roho za kipepo na kazi zake.

Uhusiano Baina ya Mtu na mapepo.

Bwana Yesu asifiwe sana,

Ndugu zangu wapendwa, karibu katika mwendelezo wa somo letu. Katika sehemu iliyotangulia, tulijifunza dhana ya pepo, asili na mkuu wa mapepo. Pia, tuligusia kwa ufupi juu ya utiifu wao juu ya Mungu na hatua ya kuchukua ili kukabiliana na uhalifu unaoendelezwa na mapepo kupitia maombi, toba na kulishika neno la Bwana.

Ndugu mpendwa, katika sehemu hii, tutachunguza Uhusiano uliopo baina ya mtu/binadamu na mapepo.

Tunaposema uhusiano katika muktadha huu, tunamaanaisha, vitu vinavyoweza kumkutanisha mwanadamu na pepo/ roho wabaya.
Yafuatayo ni baadhi ya maeneo yanayoweza kuwakutanisha binadamu na mapepo:-

(a) Sadaka- mwanadamu katika kukamilisha ibada zake, huweza kujikuta anatoa sadaka kwa mapepo. Tukio hili huweza kudumisha uhusiano baina yake na pepo. Zoezi hili, linafahamika sana kama tambiko, amabapo zawadi za wanyama, pombe, mazao mbali mbali na pesa pia hutolewa kwaajili ya masuala ya kiibada.

Sambamba na hili, wakuu wa ibada hizi, hujihusisha na shughuli za uaguzi, uganga, utabili na kubashiri,ramuli n.k.

Kwakufanya ibada hizi,mwanadamu hujifungamanisha na mapepo/ roho wachafu na kuongozwa nao.

Mara nyingine, watu hufanya ibada hizi wakidhani wanamwabudu Mungu na sadaka hizi wanamtolea Mungu, kumbe siyo kweli (Kumbukumbu la Torati 32:17).

Ndugu zangu, ibada hizi ni machukizo kwa Mungu na hapendezwi nazo. Mungu huchukia ibada hizi, yeye hafurahii ibada za namna hii kwakuwa ni ibada za mashetani.(1Wakorintho 10:20-30)

(b) Dhambi na Upagani- huu ni mlango mkuu wakuwanganisha watu na mapepo. Watu wengine hudhania kuwa wapagani hawatahukumiwa, ndugu yangu hukumu ipo tuu, ili mradi tu wewe ni binadamu, lazima hukumu ipo. Kujitenga na Mungu kwa kutenda dhambi adhabu yake ni hukumu, na hata mpagani atahukumiwa kwa dhamili yake. (1Timotheo4:1&2). Ndugu mpendwa, kubali leo umpokee Yesu, awe Bwana mwokozi wako, uwe huru.

(c) Kutii mafundisho ya uongo- mafundisho ya uongo ni yote yanayoenda kinyume na mwongozo wa Mungu. Kwa kuyatii, basi ni dhambi, na hukumu ya dhambi ni mauti. Kutolifata neno la Mungu kama lilivyo ni kufuata mafundisho ya uongo. Ndugu, tambua ya kuwa neno liko wazi na limefunuliwa kwa wote, hakuna atakayesema hakujua. Kila kona leo, kuna dini nyingi amabazo nyingine, hazifundishi kweli ya Mungu kama ilivyo, jiepushe na kujitenga na roho hizo, (1Timotheo 4:3-5).

(d) Kuyafuga- hii ni hali ya kukaa nayo. Njia hii, hutumiwa aidha kwa woga au kwa kuyapenda. Ndugu, hakuana urafiki kati ya pepo na mwanadamu. Daima lengo la pepo ni kuharibu na kuua. Kuna watu wanafuga mapepo, wengine wanayatumia kiganga, wanapagawa mapepo n.k. hili hufanaya roho hizi zifanye masikani ndani ya mtu, ndani ya uzao wake, mali, shamba na ahata mifugo (Mathayo 8:30-32).

Ndugu mpendwa, Kwa kuyapa nafasi mapepo kuwepo katika familia yako, hutoa mwanya wa kuitesa familia kizazi hata kizazi. La msingi hapa ni kuziamuru hizi roho ziondoke katika familia yako. Omba kwa vita na kukemea, ujitenge, uitenge familia yako, uzao wako, mali zako, shamba, biashara, mifugo na kila kitu, kiwe huru. Kikabidhi mikononi mwa Mungu awe Bwana na Mlinzi wako na kila kitu chako.

Je, mtu/ binadamu hupataje mapepo? Chanzo/asili yake ni nini? Endelea kufuatana nami toleo lijilo......Somo: MAPEPO NI NINI? [SEHEMU YA TATU]

LEO TUTAMTAZAMA BWANA YESU NA MUHAMMAD NI NANI MWENYE MATUMAINI YENYE UHAKIKA KATI YOA

Tutapitia kauli zao walizozisema wakiwa Duniani, na kila mmoja atahukumu ni yupi mbora wa kufwata kati ya Bwana Yesu na Muhamad.

BWANA YESU ANASEMA
Yohana 8:12 Basi Yesu akawaambia tena akasema, Mimi ndimi nuru ya ulimwengu, yeye anifuataye hatakwenda gizani kamwe, bali atakuwa na nuru ya uzima.
Yohana 10:9 Mimi ndimi mlango; mtu akiingia kwa mimi, ataokoka; ataingia na kutoka, naye atapata malisho.

Yohana 10:11 Mimi ndimi mchungaji mwema. Mchungaji mwema huutoa uhai wake kwa ajili ya kondoo.
Yohana 10:14 Mimi ndimi mchungaji mwema; nao walio wangu nawajua; nao walio wangu wanijua mimi;
Yohana 11:25 Yesu akamwambia, Mimi ndimi huo ufufuo, na uzima. Yeye aniaminiye mimi, ajapokufa, atakuwa anaishi;
Yohana 14:6 Yesu akamwambia, Mimi ndimi njia, na kweli, na uzima; mtu haji kwa Baba, ila kwa njia ya mimi.

Yohana 6:40 Kwa kuwa mapenzi yake Baba yangu ni haya, ya kwamba kila amtazamaye Mwana na kumwamini yeye, awe na uzima wa milele; nami nitamfufua siku ya mwisho.

Yohana 8:14 Yesu akajibu, akawaambia, Mimi ningawa ninajishuhudia mwenyewe, ushuhuda wangu ndio kweli; kwa sababu najua nilikotoka na niendako; lakini ninyi hamjui nilikotoka wala niendako.

Yohana 14: 2 Nyumbani mwa Baba yangu mna makao mengi; kama sivyo, ningaliwaambia; maana naenda kuwaandalia mahali.3 Basi mimi nikienda na kuwaandalia mahali, nitakuja tena niwakaribishe kwangu; ili nilipo mimi, nanyi mwepo. 4 Nami niendako mwaijua njia.

Ufunuo 1:17… Usiogope, Mimi ni wa kwanza na wa mwisho,18 na aliye hai; nami nalikuwa nimekufa, na tazama, ni hai hata milele na milele. Nami ninazo funguo za mauti, na za kuzimu.

MUHAMMAD ANASEMA
Q 46:9. Sema: Mimi si kiroja miongoni mwa Mitume. Wala sijui nitakavyo fanywa wala nyinyi. Mimi nafuata niliyo funuliwa tu kwa Wahyi, wala mimi si chochote ila ni mwonyaji mwenye kudhihirisha wazi.

Q19:71. Wala hakuna yeyote katika nyinyi ila ni mwenye kuifikia (hiyo Jehanam). Ni wajibu wa Mola wako uliokwisha hukumiwa.

Na ktk Sahihi Al-Bukhari IV, Hadith Na. 728, na VI, Hadith Na. 294. Muhamad anasema Eeh ndugu zangu Abdul Manaf, Abbas bin Abdul bin Mutalib, Safiyyah(shangazi) na binti yangu Fatima mimi sina uwezo wa kuwaokoa dhidi ya ghazabu ya Mungu.

Q 10:102. Basi, je! Wanangojea jingine ila (kuwajia) mfano wa siku za (adhabu zilizowafika) watu walio pita kabla yao? Basi Ngojeni! Mimi pia ni pamoja nanyi katika wanao ngojea.

Fafanuzi yake: Ukimwone mwenzio amenyolewa kwa jambo hilo hilo unalolifanya, basi kitie maji upesi kichwa chako kwani na wewe utanyolewa km alivyonyolewa.

Quran 40: 60. Na Mola wenu Mlezi anasema: Niombeni nitakuitikieni. Kwa hakika wale ambao wanajivuna na kuniabudu Mimi wataingia Jahannamu wadhalilike.

"Mwenye kubadili dini yake (ya kiislamu, muueni" (A) Bhukari 6922, Abu Dawuwd 4329, At - Tirmidhiy 1483
O Khadija, Ninaona Mwanga, na nasikia Masautisauti, nina hofu kuwa mimi nina Wazimu. "Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir", by Ibn Sad, , ukurasa wa 225

Ndugu msomaji (Mkristo na Mwislam) tukiacha yote ni nani hapo anamatumaini ya uhakika ya kumfuata kati ya Bwana Yesu na Muhamad?

Bwana Yesu apewe sifa.

Max Shimba mtumwa wa Yesu Kristo.

UTATU NI UPENDO

Yehova anaonyesha upendo wake kwa kutumia Utatu. Hebu ungana nani na uone jinsi upendo wa Mungu ulivyo kwa Mwanadamu.

(a) Baba – Yohana 3:16
“Kwa maana jinsi hii Mungu aliupenda ulimwengu hata akamtoa mwanawe pekee ili kila mtu amwaminiye asipotee bali awe na uzima wa milele”

(b) Mwana- Efeso 5:25
“Enyi waume wapendeni wake zenu kama Kristo naye alivyolipenda kanisa akajitoa kwa ajili yake.”

(C) Roho Mtakatifu – Rumi 15:30
“Ndugu zangu nawasihi kwa Bwana wetu Yesu Kristo na kwa upendo wa Roho jitahidini pamoja nami katika maombi yenu kwa ajili yangu mbele za Mungu”

Hoja inayohusu Utatu Mtakatifu iko wazi sana unaposoma Maandiko Matakatifu na ukiyafanya ndiyo dira yako .

Yesu mwenyewe alipokuwa hapa duniani alisema
Yohana 15: 24 “ kama nisingalitenda kwao kazi asizozitenda mtu mwingine wasingalikuwa na dhambi ,lakini sasa wametuona mimi na Baba yangu na kutuchukia “

Swali la ufahamu : Hao watu pale walikuwa wanamuona nani? Baba au Yesu au walikuwa wana muona Yesu ambaye ni Baba? Tafakari.

Katika Yohana 16:13-16
“Lakini yeye atakapokuja huyo Roho wa kweli atawaongoza awatie kwenye kweli yote kwa maana hatanena kwa shauri lake mwenyewe lakini yote atakayoyasikia atayanena na mambo yajayo atawapasha habari zake .Yeye atanitukuza mimi kwa kuwa atatwaa katika yaliyo yangu na kuwapasha habari .Na yote aliyonayo Baba ni yangu kwa hiyo nalisema ya kwamba atatwaa katika yaliyo yangu kuwapasheni habari .Bado kitambo kidogo nanyi hamtaniona”.

Swali la ufahamu: Yesu yuko mbinguni na bado tena yuko duniani pote akiwa nani?

Matendo 20:28
“ Jitunzeni nafsi zenu na lile kundi lote nalo ambalo Roho Mtakatifu amewaweka nyinyi kuwa waangalizi ndani yake mpate kulilisha Kanisa lake Mungu alilolinunua kwa damu yake mwenyewe”
Swali la ufahamu:

“Aliyesulubiwa msalabani ni Mungu,Yesu au Roho Mtakatifu? Bila shaka ni Yesu Kristo”

- Kwanini Kanisa lisiwe mikononi mwa Yesu aliyesulubiwa? Ni kwa sababu Mungu ,Baba,Mwana,na Roho Mtakatifu ni umoja (1 Yohana 5:6-7)

- Mwana amemtukuza Baba duniani (Yoh 17: 4)Baba amewaketisha mwana katika mkutano wake wa kuume wa kiti chake cha enzi mbinguni.

- (Ufunuo 22:1, Marko 16:19)
- Mwana amempa Roho Mtakatifu kazi ya kulitunza kanisa ambalo Mungu alilinunua kwa damu yake.

Ayubu 11:7-10
“ Je wewe waweza kuuvumbua ukuu wa Mungu? Waweza kuufikiria upeo wa huyo mwenyenzi? Ni juu mno kama mbingu waweza kufanya nini wewe? Ni wenye kina kuliko kuzimuni kufanya nini wewe cheo chake ni kirefu kuliko dunia ni kipana zaidi ya bahari”.

Shalom

Max Shimba mtumwa wa Yesu Kristo.