China Online
All Internet traffic in China goes through five hubs, making it relatively easy for sites to be blocked. If you are interested in which sites are blocked and why, read this report.

Is Your Web Ministry Effective?
Andy Rau of Internet For Christians recommends Effective Web Ministry Notes, a new blog dedicated to the topic of web ministry is online, and it looks like an excellent resource for anyone trying to build a better evangelistic or ministry Web site. Topics covered so far include the importance of links (both to and from your site), the challenge of designing for a target audience, and the always-scary subjects of marketing and branding.

Our Daily Cross
Christian Web Site.Com recommends this site for Christian Ecards, weather, chat, bible studies, online sermons, power point, email, web hosting, everything a Christian on the web needs!

IFC - Comic Book Evangelism
Internet For Christians (IFC) shares this creative method for sharing the gospel with a younger audience: Can people learn about Christ through a comic book? Absolutely--ask Tony Whittaker of Web Evangelism Bulletin, who promotes unusual and creative ways by which people can come to know the Lord. He Lived Among Us is an evangelistic comic book telling the story of Jesus in comic-strip format. Designed for non-Western audiences, the comic book is available in a wide range of languages. Not only are you invited to view and/or link to the Web site, you may also download the entire set of graphics in your chosen language and display them on your own Web site.

CNN - Google Bows to Chinese Censorship
An interesting news report from CNN. We have talked in the past about whether the Left Behind series presents a credible example of how believers could use the Internet to share the gospel during the Tribulation, or even today in a totalitarian country. In LB we see how Buck and the Trib Force use the Internet to post their web magazine The Truth and Tsion Ben-Judah's website, exposing Carpathia and teaching people about salvation and the meaning of prophetic events. But, could they do this without being shut down by the GC? From casual tracking of this topic, I would have to say it would be a very difficult thing to do. This CNN report demonstrates that even today, a repressive country like China has the ability to filter the Internet and control what portions of the web citizens can access. The sad thing is, American companies are actually providing this technology to China, technology that will be used to crack down on democracy activist and the underground church. Should Christians support companies that aid and enable persecution? Should Americans support companies that repress democracy and human rights?

International Prayer Day For Jerusalem
Charisma News Service reports on the latest developments in organizing the upcoming International Prayer Day for Jerusalem, which will take place on October 3rd.

Religion Today: World's Largest Book-Ship Ministry Expands

Religion Today: Christian History Series Releases Two More Books

Religion Today: Massive Evangelistic Effort Targets Olympics

The Roman Road System - God's Highway
The Web Evangelism Newsletter offers the following: Calvin Conkey of Create International points out the parallel between the Internet (designed originally with a military purpose, which quickly expanded to trade and other communication) and the Roman Road System, built for entirely the same purpose 2000 years earlier. It was the presence of Roman roads throughout most of the known world, that facilitated the rapid spread of the Gospel. Likewise the Internet has the same potential as a network to carry the Gospel.

Bible Network News
This is a great resource for news from around the world about how Christians are translating, publishing and distributing the Bible.

A Chronicle of the Christian Faith
Blog-style collection of recent news articles from around the country and the world.

Stand to Reason
This is an organization aimed at building Christian thinkers for the public defense of the faith. The site includes articles, newsletter, online courses, and recommended books.

China Extends Text Message Surveillance
According to this AP report, "Chinese authorities plan to employ new technology to improve surveillance of mobile phone messages amid efforts to intensify the policing of private communications, reports said Friday." China has once again demonstrated the power of a totalitarian government to control the Internet. I wonder if this technology will be used against the unregistered house church movement in China?

Small Bible groups increase in popularity
News Leader.Com reports on the rise in small worship groups and house churches: "Although they are steadily growing in popularity, home groups are nothing new. In fact, they date all the way back to the New Testament. Dan Lentz, director of smallgroups.com, said a great model for small groups can be found in the second chapter of Acts of the Apostles. He created an acronym, F.L.O.W., which stands for fellowship, learning, outreach and worship."

Using the Internet Against the Enemy
According to this AP report, "Al-Qaida-linked terror groups and their sympathizers have in recent months made a big splash on the Internet, making it their communications channel of choice. They're benefiting from free discussion boards, e-mail accounts and other online forums for propaganda, recruitment, fund-raising and even planning." One of the reasons I created the Trib Force Toolkit was to encourage Christians to use the Internet and all the resources we have available to share the Gospel, the Good News of salvation and eternal life through Jesus. Let's turn the table on the enemy of humanity, the one that seeks to cause us to kill each other, and shine sime light in the darkness.

Christians Called To Emphasize World Evangelism This Sunday
Religion Today reports, "Southern Baptists are encouraging tens of thousands of churches to join in prayer and fasting this Sunday in observance of an annual event that emphasizes evangelism of those peoples around the world that have not yet been reached for Christ.

Prayer Gear
PrayerGear is a site with a wide range of topics and recommended links by John S. Hilkevich - he describes his ministry as "Education, Research and Advocacy in the Christian Faith".

Ministry and Blogging
Internet for Christians newsletter reports, "Blogs have become an established online medium for expressing personal ideas and opinions, combining features of the old-school "personal information website" and an online forum. We've all seen blogs used to talk about current events, rant about politics and religion, and generally interact with the online public - but can you use a blog to do actual ministry? That's the question Michelle Johnston is asking at Dialog: Breaking the Bubble, a relatively new blog devoted to the topic of weblog ministry.

Bible Resource Center: Kid's Resources
ChristianWebsite.Com recommends tools and games to help children read and learn about the Bible.

Services at the First Church of Cyberspace
The New York Times' Barnaby J. Feder reports, "People separated by vast distances routinely play in imaginary 3-D worlds and sometimes work in them. A new experiment aims to explore whether they can also regularly worship in them."

Toppling Tyrants with IT Power - Today Online
Francis Chin, the techonology editor for Today Online, has some thoughts on how information technology has been used to trigger revolutions and topple tyrants.

Vietnam Adopts New Policies for Net Users
AP reports, "Web surfers in Vietnam must abide by a number of new policies and restrictions, which come following a crackdown on cyber dissidents who used the Internet to speak out against the communist government, state-controlled media reported...Personal identification information must now be presented before logging on and will be stored for 30 days on computer servers, and all Internet activity will be tracked, according to the An Ninh The Gioi (World's Security) newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Ministry of Public Security."

Spiritual Journals - Christian Website
Site seeks to challenge other persons to develop journals related to their own lives.

Google's Blog Feature Made Easier
AP reports, "Internet search engine leader Google Inc. on Monday introduced a simpler way to publish the online personal journals known as "blogs," continuing a flurry of improvements that has coincided with stiffer competition from its former ally, Yahoo! Inc. The revisions to Google's Blogger.com are designed to make it easier for computer neophytes to create and update their own personal journals for free."

Christian Jobs - Christian Website.Com
Allows Christian employers to list their open employment opportunities. Christian jobseekers may also submit their resumes for listing in a database. Also has articles related to online job searching.

'Left Behind' finale is The End, literally - Washington Times
The Second Coming, with a cast of billions of angels, millions of soldiers fighting the battle of Armageddon and one son of God on a white stallion in the heavens arrives in the nation's bookstores today. "Glorious Appearing: The End of Days" is the final installment in a 12-part "Left Behind" series on the end of the world by evangelical Christian authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. The "Left Behind" product line, which includes children's and audio versions, will reach 62 million units in print with this latest volume. The authors' success reveals an American culture fascinated with the end times, religious prophecy, Bible codes, heaven and the age-old battle between good and evil.

Eastern Temple Mount Wall In Danger of Collapse
The Jerusalem Post reports, "The eastern wall of Jerusalem's Temple Mount is in danger of immediate collapse because of damaged caused by a freak winter earthquake that rattled the region."

Interview With God Gets 20 Million Visits - IFC
"Interview with God", created by a Methodist Sunday School teacher, has attracted millions of visitors. Reata Strickland's imaginary conversation with God is an animated combination of landscape photography and inspiring texts. Each interview has a single theme such as love, self-esteem or relationships, and includes hope for future generations... Two and a half years later, the number of visitors had reached 20 million, presently increasing at 15,000 each day. Volunteers have translated the texts into 13 languages.

Church Websites for Outreach - Christian Hosting
A very clear paper explains how churches can be seeker-sensitive, both online and beyond. If you are planning a church website, or wish to reposition your site for outreach, print this PDF for group discussion.

Church of England Creates Virtual Parish - AP
The Church of England on Friday announced the creation of its first 'virtual parish' and invited applicants for the position of 'Web pastor.' The purpose of the Internet church, or 'i-church,' according to the Web site, 'is to provide a Christian community for those who wish to explore Christian discipleship but who are not able, or do not wish, to join a local congregation.'"

Arafat resolved to reach Temple Mount - alive or dead
Jerusalem Newsire reports, "Blood-soaked PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat is reportedly determined to get control over God's holy hill, the Temple Mount, even if it has to be after and through his death. But the self-styled champion of the quest to secure incontestable Islamic control over Israel's holiest site faces growing opposition to his hopes of being buried on the Temple Mount from among his fellow faithful."

Report: Chinese Police Detain Church Head - AP
Police beat a leader of an underground Christian church and his wife during a campaign to stifle dissent during the annual meeting of China's legislature, a human rights group alleged Saturday.

Israeli Police Storm Jerusalem Shrine
AP reports, "Israeli police stormed the compound of one of Jerusalem's holiest sites on Friday after hundreds of Palestinian worshippers threw stones at security forces, police said...The compound - known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif - is one of the most sensitive spots in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The shrine, site of the biblical Jewish temples, holds the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques."

Companies Work on E-Mail Identity System - AP
"With a simple adjustment in your e-mail software, you can pretend to be anyone...To close that loophole, Microsoft and Yahoo! Inc. are each developing systems aimed at authenticating senders of e-mail. America Online Inc. is testing a third...Issues to be worked out for all three systems include how to properly send e-mail from cybercafes, hotels and public Wi-Fi hotspots and how to preserve privacy when using anonymous re-mailers, which are used by whistleblowers and others to intentionally mask the origin of messages..."Some of the things people are used to doing, they won't be able to do it in quite the same way."

China Indicts 2 Unofficial Church Leaders
AP/Yahoo News reports, "China has indicted two leaders of the unofficial Protestant church for allegedly obtaining state secrets amid a deepening crackdown on worship outside government controls, an overseas monitoring group said Wednesday."

Company mulls bringing 'Passion' to Israel - Jerusalem Newsire
Today, 2000 years later, nearly two billion people on earth classify themselves as Christians - followers of Jesus Christ.

Programmer Sets Up Mask for File-Sharers - AP
Wyatt Wasicek was so outraged by the recording industry's legal assault on users of free music-downloading sites that he decided to ride to the rescue. He created a program called AnonX that masks the Internet address of people who use file-sharing programs such as Kazaa.

Devotional Resources at Gospelcom.Net
Find over 35 Gospelcom.net devotionals for kids, teens and adults, provided by its various alliance ministries (Back to the Bible, Children's Bible Hour, International Bible Society, God's Love in Action, InterVarsity Press, Luis Palau Evangelistic Association, RBC Ministries, Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Youth for Christ and many more). Enjoy "A Word with You," "Christian Quotation of the Day," "Daily Bible Booster," "Daily Wisdom," "Devos and Gutsy Acts," "Editorial Caribe Devocional," "Keys for Kids," "Morning and Evening," "Our Daily Bread," and many other devotionals that will strengthen your Christian walk.

In China: Censorship, Control over Net Users - Amnesty
China is exerting ever-greater control over Internet usage, including arrests and prosecutions of those providing information about the country's SARS epidemic, stated Amnesty International in a report released today. The report also refers to U.S.-based tech companies that are selling Chinese authorities the means to impose Internet censorship.

Swiss woman seeks pardon for aiding Jews during World War Two - WLOX, MS
Most people would now consider Aimee Stitelmann a hero for helping Jews escape to Switzerland during World War Two. :: Wow, what an inspiring story.

Cuba Tightens Its Control Over Internet - AP
Cuba tightened its controls over the Internet on Friday, prohibiting access over the low-cost government phone service most ordinary citizens have at home.