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Israel Museum Reveals Ancient Artifact Depicting Nativity in Bethlehem

Ahead of Christmas, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem revealed the existence of a rare token that was likely a memento of a Christian’s trip to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, at least 1,400 years ago.
They’re called Eulogia tokens – small souvenirs that Christians collected on pilgrimages to the Holy Land hundreds of years ago, much like they do today. But this particular token is unique.
“I’m holding a tiny, miniature token that used to belong to a 6th or 7th century pilgrim that came here [on] a journey. We have here a Nativity scene. So he probably visit Bethlehem,” said Morag Wilhelm, Assistant Curator of Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine archeology at the Israel Museum.
Wilhelm discovered this rare piece – about the size of an American dime – in a large collection that had been donated to the museum.
“We can see Jesus, baby Jesus and also the ox and the ass but they are inside an architectural building. And we think that this building is the church of the Nativity,” Wilhelm told CBN News.
The souvenirs were made of earth taken from holy sites.
According to Wilhelm, this one is unique because Mary and Joseph are not in the picture and its likely depicting the cave under the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem – that makes it a combination of the historical scene from the birth of Jesus and a depiction the structure from a few centuries later.
“So this combination is very rare in the case of Bethlehem. We have it here in Jerusalem, from the Holy Sepulcher but not from Bethlehem,” she said.
Christians have been making pilgrimages to places mentioned in the Bible for at least 1,700 years.
In an historical writing of church father St. Jerome, he relates the story of a woman on pilgrimage from Rome named Paula:
“Then she entered the cave of the Savior…and saw the stable, where ‘the ox knew his Master, and the ass his Lord’s manger’… then she solemnly declared in my own hearing that, with the eyes of faith, she saw a child wrapped in swaddling clothes, weeping in the Lord’s manger…”
“So, what we guess we are seeing here is it’s this special visualization or religious experience that you go to the Holy place and you actually see baby Jesus in the cave of Bethlehem,” Wilhelm said.
The token will likely be displayed in the museum’s Pilgrimage collection along with other tokens depicting biblical scenes, especially from the life of Jesus like the crucifixion and resurrection. They also have other “souvenirs” like little vials for oil, and crosses, pendants and rings.
And while coronavirus may have closed down international tourist travel for now, when the gates re-open tourists and pilgrims are sure to return to Israel and the Holy Land.
Sources:faithwire
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എസ് എഫ് സി എന് എ ദേശീയ എക്സിക്യൂട്ടീവ് നേതൃത്വം 2025-2027 വര്ഷത്തേക്ക് തുടരും

ഡാളസ്: ശാരോന് ഫെലോഷിപ്പ് ചര്ച്ചസ് ഓഫ് നോര്ത്ത് അമേരിക്കയുടെ എസ് എഫ് സി എന് എ ദേശീയ എക്സിക്യൂട്ടീവ് നേതൃത്വം 2025-2027 വര്ഷത്തേക്ക് തുടരും.ശാരോന് ഫെലോഷിപ്പ് ചര്ച്ചസ് ഓഫ് നോര്ത്ത് അമേരിക്ക 2025 ഫാമിലി കോണ്ഫറന്സിനോടനുബന്ധിച്ച് നടന്ന ജനറല് ബോഡി മീറ്റിംഗിലാണ് ഈ തീരുമാനം അംഗീകരിച്ചത്. ശാരോന് ഫെലോഷിപ്പ് ചര്ച്ചസ് ഓഫ് നോര്ത്ത് അമേരിക്ക സമൂഹത്തെ ശക്തപ്പെടുത്തുന്നതില് ഈ ടീം നിര്ണായക പങ്ക് വഹിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട്.
പാസ്റ്റര് ടിങ്കു തോംസണ് (പ്രസിഡന്റ്) പാസ്റ്റര് സന്തോഷ് താരിയന് (വൈസ് പ്രസിഡന്റ്) ജോണ്സണ് ഉമ്മന് (ജനറല് സെക്രട്ടറി) എബ്രഹാം വര്ഗീസ്(ജോയിന്റ് സെക്രട്ടറി) എബി കെ ജോണ് (ട്രഷറര്)പാസ്റ്റര് ബാബു തോമസ്(മിഷന്സ് ഡയറക്ടര്)പാസ്റ്റര് റെന് ഫിന്നി(യുവജന ഡയറക്ടര്)പാസ്റ്റര് തേജസ് തോമസ്(സണ്ഡേ സ്കൂള് ഡയറക്ടര്) ഷെറിന് കെ ജോര്ജ് (മീഡിയ ഡയറക്ടര്) എന്നിവരാണ് 2025-2027എസ് എഫ് സി എന് എ ദേശീയ എക്സിക്യൂട്ടീവ് കമ്മറ്റി ഭാരവാഹികള്.
us news
American Churches Increasingly Attacked

United States — A trend of churches being attacked throughout the United States appears to be emerging.
On April 24, a Texas woman, identified as Natasha Marie O’Dell, pleaded guilty to intentionally setting fire to Seattle Laestadian Lutheran Church (SLLC) in Snohomish County, Washington, on Aug. 25, 2023.
The blaze destroyed much of the church, and damage to the property was placed at $3.2 million. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), O’Dell admitted to telling “various acquaintances that she was angry about churches and specifically with SLLC. Later, she told another acquaintance that she planned to burn a nearby church.”
An Arizona man, identified as Zimnako Salah, was found guilty of a hate crime on April 3, 2025, after he targeted Christian churches with bomb threats. Salah intentionally attempted to intimidate Christians because of their faith, according to a special finding from a federal jury.
After visiting four churches in Arizona, California, and Colorado, Salah left backpacks at two of them to cause fear among congregants. Although there were no bombs in the packs, improvised explosive device (IED) components were found in Salah’s storage unit. The man had also consumed on social media violent videos of the Islamic State group (ISIS) killing people.
Michele Beckwith, acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, said Salah purposefully targeted Christians.
“[Salah’s] actions were designed to threaten and intimidate the congregation because he disagreed with their religious beliefs,” Beckwith stated.
On June 18, Rui Jiang of Fairfax, Virginia, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for an attempted mass shooting at Park Valley Church in Virginia on Sept. 23, 2023. After Jiang posted disturbing content online, including him burning a Bible and threatening the church, police were alerted. The church’s security also became concerned.
On the morning of the intended shooting, church security stopped Jiang just before Prince William County police officers arrived to investigate. According to the DOJ, “Jiang was armed with a semiautomatic handgun, two magazines of ammunition, and two knives. He [also] had additional ammunition, knives, and a canister of bear spray in his nearby car.”
U.S. Attorney Erik S. Siebert for the Eastern District of Virginia stated that Jiang went to “a church during a religious service armed with the intent to murder innocent parishioners.”
Jiang’s motives appear to be a mental health issue. According to the Associated Press, Jiang “had recently joined the church but indicated he was mad at God and at men for blocking him from having romantic relationships with women.”
On June 22, 2025, Brian Browning attempted a mass shooting at CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne, Michigan, but was stopped before he could harm anyone. Church security shot and killed the would-be attacker before he could reach the inside of the facility.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the man “was carrying several weapons, including an assault-style rifle, more than a dozen fully loaded magazines, a semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.”
Browning’s motive remains to be uncovered, though it’s been speculated that he was suffering from mental health issues. Browning’s mother is a member of the church, and Browning had attended services a few times in the past year, according to the Wayne Police Department.
In February, President Donald Trump formed a task force, called “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias.” In a press release about its formation, Trump stated that anti-Christian acts, such as “hostility and vandalism against Christian churches and places of worship,” had surged between 2018 and 2023.
Trump continued, saying that “the number of such identified acts in 2023 exceed[ed] by more than eight times the number from 2018.”
The Family Research Council, in February 2024, released a report stating that “American culture appears increasingly hostile to Christianity.”
Sources:persecution
us news
Singing is more than notes and lyrics. It’s a spiritual discipline

You were given a voice to worship.
Yes, you!
Maybe you think singing is for somebody else and that no one wants to hear you sing, but the Bible says otherwise. The Lord delights in the praises of His people. Or, as Psalm 22:3 puts it, He is “enthroned” upon them.
In the scriptures, singing is not optional or only for the select few. Over 400 times is singing mentioned. There are 50 direct commands to sing. The Bible is clear that our singing has purpose beyond enjoyment or performance.
Colossians 3:16 urges us to allow the word of God to dwell richly in us, with wisdom, as we sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
Singing has a purpose: to plant the word of God in our hearts, remind us of the Gospel and draw us closer to Christ our Savior.
God desires our singing and praise. Singing reminds us of the good news of Jesus. Singing plants the word in our hearts. But is singing as an act of worship considered a spiritual discipline?
In short, yes.
Donald Whitney defines spiritual disciplines as “Biblical practices (things you do) that promote Spiritual health, take us deeper into our understanding of the gospel and lead us closer to Jesus.” He goes on to say that spiritual disciplines are the means to a greater end, that being holiness.
So, how does singing, both personally in private and corporately with the church, make anyone more holy?
Singing as an act of worship draws us closer to the heart of God. The Psalms are filled with personal cries to God. Cries for help, cries for mercy, cries of celebration, cries of remembering. God is a personal God who drew near to us and longs for us to know Him.
Singing God’s word lets us preach to ourselves. The Psalmist in Psalm 42 is singing to himself, reminding his own soul that his hope is found in the Lord. Singing as an act of worship is also preparation for the eternal song we see in Revelation 5.
Singing God’s word helps us remember God’s word. Our brains are wired to retain what we sing long after we remember just about anything else, and they’re activated in remarkable ways when we sing or hear singing.
Music activates the entire limbic system — the group of brain structures responsible for fundamental processes like emotional regulation, learning, loving, desiring and remembering. Music even has therapeutic applications for emotional, cognitive and psychological disorders. It has the power to console and encourage the families of Alzheimer’s patients who have forgotten their loved ones, but can still remember a song from their childhood.
Singing grows us in holiness by engaging, uplifting and educating us. It brings us closer to God, closer to each other and closer to the beauty of God’s creation.
Consider how much your experience of a beautiful songbird would be changed if you could only see it but not hear it. You need to hear them sing to experience the fullness of their created beauty.
The same is true for our worship and for the Word of God: We are commanded to sing not only for the sake of discipline but also to enjoy the beauty of song. For the distant or wandering soul, oftentimes, it’s the singing of God’s word that stirs the affections for the Lord again. Singing the truth will help us remember it and experience it in its fullness, even in our very last days, when everything else is fading.
My work at the Worship Initiative is an attempt to make song in worship just as universal as it was meant to be. We aim to equip everyone — at every level of confidence, experience and ministry involvement — to sing. Every voice is necessary. Every voice is beautiful and can become ever more so.
God wants to hear your voice. He wants to hear your voice singing His word back to Him, every day of your life — and every day of eternity. So let Him.
Sources:Christianpost
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