Facebook page highlights situation of Christians in the Holy Land

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND (ANS) -- The See the Holy Land website (www.seetheholyland.net) has launched a Facebook page to provide links to current news and articles about the Holy Land and pilgrimages.

Pilgrims singing in a cave chapel at Shepherds' Field, in the West Bank (Photo: Seetheholyland.net)

The website was set up last year by a retired Christian journalist in New Zealand, Pat McCarthy, to provide information about sacred sites in the Holy Land and encourage Christians to go there as pilgrims.

McCarthy has led pilgrimages from New Zealand to Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Greece.

Recent posts on his new Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/See-the-Holy-Land/196615473719630) have included several articles on the situation of Christians living in the Holy Land.

These include:

. A report on a conference called by Anglican and Catholic Church leaders in Britain, which said pilgrims should not just visit Old and New Testament sites "like a tour round the Coliseum" or "a Christian Disneyland", but should engage in the life of the Church there.

. An assertion by a Middle East churchman that large-scale emigration of Christians from the Holy Land may have ended, one reason being that today's Christian youth "have a greater affinity to the land than older generations".

. Information on the variety of Christian churches and denominations represented in the Holy Land, and their historical background.

Another article posted by McCarthy recounts how a Jewish group from a synagogue in Chicago spent part of their visit to Israel in home stays at a Palestinian refugee camp, showing that people can prevail over politics.

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Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly "Front Page Radio" show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries. You can follow Dan on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel "Red Dagger" which is available this link.