Iran Cracks Down
Hoder notes that Iran is cracking down on use of certain Internet destinations and he recommends a strategy for fighting Net censorship in Iran.

Women of the Way
Peggie Bohanon of Internet For Christians notes this resource for persecuted Christian women living in repressive countries.

Turning The Tables
This report from the New York Times (On the Open Internet, a Web of Dark Alleys) reveals how terrorists are using the internet to communicate in secret. I think it would be a nice idea to turn the tables and for missionaries operating in repressive countries like Saudi Arabia and China to use these same techniques to communicate. I especially like the creative use of webmail accounts to share information without actually ever sending an e-mail.

Religion Today - Groups Mobilize Disaster Aid
The above link to Religion Today cites a Charisma News Service report on how Christian groups are responding to the SE Asian disaster. The scope of this disaster is truly hard to comprehend, but we can be certain of the spiritual response that is required of us: pray for those in need, provide for those in need, and witness (Matthew 24:14) to those in need.

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.

This Car Can Talk. What It Says May Cause Concern - NYT (sub)
OnStar is one of a growing number of automated eyes and ears that enhance driving safety and convenience but that also increase the potential for surveillance.

Consolidating the Christian Blogosphere - IFC
If you like to keep up with what the Christian blogging community is saying, browsing the Christian blogosphere just got a bit easier: The Blogdom of God is a meta-blog that aggregates new posts and content from Christian blogs all over the Web.

The Twelve Voices of Chistmas
Back to the Bible (BTTB) invites you to hear Dr. Kroll's The Twelve Voices of Christmas on its Web site. "The Twelve Voices" is an audio reenactment of the stories of twelve people who were witnesses to the coming of the Messiah. Hear the powerful retelling of the impact that Christ's birth had on these well-known individuals and hear the voices of disclosure, disbelief, blessing, preparation and more. Enjoy this popular Christmas feature as you reflect on the real meaning of Christmas.

Tiny transmitters give retailers, privacy advocates goosebumps
USA Today reports, "Say hello to RFID: radio-frequency identification. If you don't know about it already, you're going to. Because, depending on who you ask, RFID technology is either a giant can of WD-40 on the wheels of commerce and inventory, or a spawn of the evil military-industrial complex that (still) plans to enslave us all."

Send Free Bibles To Persecuted Christians
Right now, 200 million Christians are living under restriction and persecution for their faith in Jesus Christ. Most do not even have their own copy of the Bible. Now there is a unique new way that you can provide your suffering brothers and sisters with a portion of God's Word at no cost to you. By visiting The Bible Site on the Internet you can click a button that will send a scripture portion to a persecuted Christian, funded completely by sponsors of the site.

Reading the Ancient Bible Online - IFC
Is it possible to read the Bible in its original languages online? What do you need to read the Bible in its original languages? Where online can the original texts be found? IFC has gathered links and resources to help you start exploring online Bible texts in Greek and Hebrew.

125 Christian Meeting Halls in China Shut - AP
Authorities in an east China province have sealed off 125 Christian gathering places since July, cutting off 3,000 believers from their places of worship, a human rights organization said Thursday.

Ukraine moves to tighten control of Internet - AFP
The Ukrainian parliament passed the first reading of a bill banning publication -- including on the Internet -- of anything that promotes terrorism, the overthrow of the state or damages an individual's reputation.

Encryption revolution: the tantalizing promise of 'unbreakable' codes - AP
Code-makers could be on the verge of winning their ancient arms race with code-breakers. After 20 years of research, an encryption process is emerging that is considered unbreakable because it employs the mind-blowing laws of quantum physics. This month, a small startup called MagiQ Technologies Inc. began selling what appears to be the first commercially available system that uses individual photons to transfer the numeric keys that are widely used to encode and read secret documents. Photons, discrete particles of energy, are so sensitive that if anyone tries to spy on their travel from one point to another, their behavior will change, tipping off the sender and recipient and invalidating the stolen code.

Lifeway & 'Left Behind' boost evangelism with end-times aids - BP News
LifeWay Christian Resources is partnering with the creators of the popular "Left Behind" series to help individuals and churches use the apocalyptic thrillers as tools to share the Gospel. The evangelistic strategy, called "Share Eternity with Someone Today," is available to download for free at LifeWay.com.

Religion Journal Focuses on International Missions
ReligionJournal, a Christian Internet news service, focuses on international missions news as it reports the latest in evangelism and world missions. Read the "Evangelism & Missions Report" about missionaries in Africa, anticipating a renewed Gospel interest following President Bush's visit there. Learn how evangelicals are "on the move" in Romania and about prayer-walking in Chicago. Enjoy a Christian Aid report from India, Bible League news around the world, news on the International Charismatic Catholic Renewal Services and a highlighted story on Top Chretien's major French Christian presence on the Internet. Subscribe to receive Religion Journal's weekly headlines news and keep updated on what God is doing in His world today!

International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church Day
There are many Christians being persecuted all over the world in places like Egypt, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Latin America, Cuba and France. Join with millions of Christians all over the world on November 9th, 2003 in celebrating the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.

Startup Says Quantum Crypto Is Real - Light Reading
Light Reading yesterday announced it's shipping what appears to be the first security system based on quantum cryptography. Quantum cryptography goes a step further than electronic cryptography through its employment of a stream of photons, the quantum properties of which determine the key. The fun part is that if an intruder observes or intercepts the transmission, those properties get changed -- an unavoidable principle of quantum mechanics -- meaning the sender and receiver can tell if anyone is eavesdropping. Perhaps more important, the key can't be copied or faked.

American Tract Society - BOTCW
American Tract publishes attention arresting evangelistic literature and interactive Christian cd-roms, as well as growth, discipleship and witnessing resources for the local church.

Priests to train on Temple Model - Isreal Today
For several months, Jewish experts have been working on a replica of the Third Temple in the blazing heat near the Dead Sea. The Jewish community of Mitzpe Yericho, between Jerusalem and Jericho, is home to the model, which is built on a 1:1 scale. Covering an area of 25,000 square meters (269,000 square feet), it will function as a training site to prepare priests (kohanim) for service in the Third Temple in Jerusalem.

Group lobbies for domain buyers' privacy - ZDNet
Individuals and small-business owners should be able to buy domain names without being required to divulge their mailing address, phone number and e-mail address, an international coalition plans to say in a letter Tuesday evening. Currently, the Internet Coalition for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) broadly requires that such details be made publicly available through the "Whois" directories. That policy enables spammers, direct marketers and identity thieves to loot the directory for personal information about domain name owners, the coalition's draft letter to ICANN charges.

Take A Whirlwind Tour of the Bible
Does the prospect of ever becoming familiar with the history and characters of the Bible seem daunting? Whirlwind Bible Tours(WBT) understands--and they've taken it upon themselves to give Internet visitors a fast-paced, humorous tour of the major people and events of the Bible. You will receive "a whimsically humorous and brief overview of the Bible" with these intriguing learning categories: "Earth: The Early Years"; "My World's Fallen and I Can't Get Up"; "Moses: the Great Escape"; "War and Peace (Repeat)"; "Decline and Fall of the Israeli Empire" and "Jesus People: The Early Years." If you're the sort of person who doesn't know his Jeremiah from his Jehoshaphat, WBT's light-hearted overview of Bible basics may be right up your alley! Parents will want to check out Discovering the Bible [Microsoft Word document], a coordinating Bible quiz developed for a 7th grade class by Geoff Roberts-Thomson of "Community and Religious Education" in Melbourne, Australia.

Defeating Fascism, Again - National Review Online
"Fascism, the subject of my first 15 years' professional study, is used so often as a term of general opprobrium that it has been gutted of all serious content in popular usage. More's the pity, since fascism is back, big-time, and it would be worthwhile to try to understand it in order to drive it back under the slimy rocks where it was hidden for much of the last half-century."

Audio Treasure - BOTCW
Free download site for the Bible narrated in mp3 audio format. World English Bible and King James Version.

The Needs of Europe - Gospelcom
'Modern' 'advanced' Europe is often overlooked as a mission field. Yet as a continent, it is largely secular, post-modern, post-Christian. At least 14 countries in Europe contain less than 1% evangelicals, with many under 0.5%. These are figures we normally associate with Islamic 10-40 countries.They are achingly bad. Numbers of Christian young people within these countries are even worse. Of course we are not suggesting that the Internet is an instant solution. But the high level of Internet usage and penetration, especially by the young, suggests that we should be specifically looking at ways to use the Internet in the languages of Europe for cutting edge evangelism, including specific outreach to young people.

China Christian Church Activist Detained
AP reports, "An activist for China's unofficial Christian church has been detained after investigating the destruction of churches by authorities in eastern China, human rights groups say."

Search Engineering - Gospelcom
Although a search on Google for 'Jesus' will bring up mainly good material, it is sad to note that a search on 'Jesus resurrection' gives a number of skeptic pages in the top 10. Christians need to learn more about 'SEO' - Search Engine Optimization - and how to get pages into the vital top 10. A good page ranking is the result of lots of hard work. It does not just happen.

Growing Internet prayer site 'adopts' 140,000 U.S. troops
In response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, retired Baptist minister Cornell Haan and businessman Bill Hunter, founded the Presidential Prayer Team as an Internet venue to pray for the president, his Cabinet and the nation. Since then, it has broadened its focus to the military and their families as well as members of Congress and issues. They are among the 140,000 troops "adopted" for daily prayers by the Presidential Prayer Team. With a reported 1.6 million daily hits, the Web site is one of the biggest efforts merging technology with traditional prayer, religion experts say.

China Arrests Church Leader's Adviser
AP reports, "The legal adviser to an imprisoned leader of China's unofficial Christian church has been arrested along with a prominent church activist and his wife, international human rights groups reported Friday."

India Blocks Almost All Yahoo! Forums
AP reports, "A government ban on an Internet discussion group run by an obscure separatist movement has ended up blocking access to popular, unrelated Yahoo forums in nearly all of India...But for technical reasons, Indian Internet service providers were unable to block just the Kynhun site - and had to shut down every Yahoo discussion group...The Indian government occasionally blocks Web sites it finds objectionable, including one for a Pakistani newspaper during India-Pakistan fighting in 1999." :: It is worth noting how vulnerable to Internet is to national control. I wonder how realistic it was to imagine Buck's underground webzine or Zion's website would be immune to GC censorship when the web of today is so easily controlled by governmental authorities?

Southern Baptists Applaud Mel Gibson "Passion"
The Jesus Journal reports, "Mel Gibson's representation of the sufferings of Jesus Christ in the upcoming movie "The Passion" surpasses all earlier efforts by cinematographers, according to Southern Baptists who were invited to view a rough cut of the film in Dallas."

Passports and Visas to Add High-Tech Identity Features
The New York Times reports, "Technologies that scan faces and fingerprints will become a standard part of travel for foreign visitors next year, and for all travelers in the near future." :: Are we ready for the return of the infamous phrase "Your papers, please," at checkpoints? A day when people are not allowed to buy or sell without official identification seems not so remote when the day of not being able to travel without official identification is so close at hand.

Ham Radios Came to Rescue in Blackout
AP reports, "When technology failed on a massive scale last week, some old-fashioned broadcasting stepped into the breach as ham radio operators took to the airwaves to reach emergency workers.For millions of people in the Northeast and Midwest, the Aug. 14 outage took access to e-mail and the Internet with it. Landline and cellular telephones were jammed by a crush of calls. But the ham radio, which came into being in the World War I era, connected firefighters and police departments, Red Cross workers and other emergency personnel during the most extensive blackout in the Northeast since 1977." :: I wonder if Trib Force members should be trained in the use of ham radios?

Training for Internet Evangelism
Until now, just about the only available training for Internet Evangelism has been informal self-study and learning-by-doing. Now, with the launch of a formal 12-week Distance Learning course in Web Evangelism, offered by the Asia Internet Bible Institute, you and your TF team can sign up for professional instruction on how to use the Internet to share the Good News.

Temple Mount Secured for Jewish Holiday
AP reports, "Police prevented dozens of ultranationalist Jews from entering a contested holy site Thursday...The hilltop, once home to two biblical Jewish Temples, is now the location of the Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest shrine. Thursday was the annual day of fasting and mourning for the destruction of the Temples by invading armies." :: This report is a bit late, but I did want to note it. Activity on and around the Temple Mount is always prophetically important.

Google News Alerts
This is just a quick aside, but those of you who follow the news (and you would not be here if you didn't) may be interested in this new service from the good folks at Google. All you have to do is give them a topic you want to follow, tell them how often you want to get an alert, and then give them your e-mail address, and they will then alert you everytime your keyword is mentioned in online news.

Believer Murdered, Pastor Clubbed in South India
Christian Aid Mission reports, "Hindu extremists clubbed a Christian believer to death in Karnataka state recently, beat another pastor till he was unconscious, and then hindered relatives from conducting Christian burials. Even though Karnataka itself does not yet have an anti-conversion law, the presence of an anti-conversion law adopted last fall in neighboring Tamil Nadu-and similar laws in four northern states of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh-is thought to have lent a permissive atmosphere for such violence."

Stealing The Internet
The Tom Pain public interest journal reports, "The Internet as we know it is being hijacked, warn two leading digital democracy defenders. If telecom giants have their way, Americans will soon be paying for net use by volume, and every move will be part of a grand marketing scheme." The marketing bothers me, of course, I hate pop up ads as much as the next guy, but what really worries me is the monitoring that is required for advertisers to set rates and for businesses to assess the value of a web property. They have a monetary interest in knowing who is visiting a web site, and when, and from where. It will be increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to surf the Internet anonymously. The tools that corporations use to monitor the Internet can also be used by governments, both benign and totalitarian.

A New Era for PGP
ZD reports, "Speaking at the Black Hat security conference in Vegas, PGP pioneer Phil Zimmermann says the dark times are over for the encryption software." This may be merely an interesting tech article for those of us in the West, but for missionaries working in repressive countries like China, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab and Islamic world, the privacy of e-mail communication may be a matter of life and death. If your church is sending missionaries to places where the enemy rules, make sure they are equipped with the latest in e-mail security software.

Keychain Drives Store Files Smartly
AP reports, "In our rich media world of digital music and photography, flash memory has replaced the floppy disk as king of portable storage. The market is now flush with a bazaar of key chain storage devices that use it." Portable memory for your Trib Force, and who knows, perhaps those Saudi customs officials won't know your keychain contains a Bible.

Secret Networks Protect Music Swappers
CNN reports, "They are the country clubs of the file-sharing world, exclusive Internet networks that require knowing the right people and having a wealth of content on your hard disk to get into the clique." I wonder if this strategy would help missionaries sharing the gospel in countries that repress Internet communication?

Biblical Studies Foundation
Here is a great resource that came to me from the Christian Website e-mail list that I'm on. According to their recommendation, "The Biblical Studies Foundation is a non-profit organization founded for the purpose of distributing sound, evangelical Bible study materials in electronic format so those with small personal libraries or without access to a local Bible college or seminary library, etc., may have access to sound biblical studies from their home.

New GPS handheld hunts for customers
ZD Tech News reports, "Garmin, a maker of global positioning system devices, has begun shipping its first PDA. It hopes to create a new niche for the slumping handheld industry." :: Every on-the-go TF team should probably get one of these. Or not. I know, I love tech toys, but sometimes a good map works just as well, right?

Senate pulls plug on computer dragnets
According to this report from ZDNet Tech News: "The U.S. Senate votes to cut off funding for a computer-surveillance program that would comb credit-card bills and other private records to sniff out suspected terrorists." TIA RIP?

Video cameras will monitor plane passengers  
According to this report from WorldNetDaily: "Airline to keep customers under constant surveillance, record faces." Think about how much of the LB series has to do with flying, pilots and airports, all of that would have to be reconsidered in light of new surveillance technology.

Funding for TIA All But Dead
According to this Wired News report, "The Senate inserts a provision to a key bill that denies all funding to the Terrorist Information Awareness effort. It's a move that would make it much more difficult for the Pentagon to try to establish its massive data-mining spy network." Big Brother loses one, amazing.

Cell Phone Calls Flying High
According to this Wired News report, "A Colorado company is working on a device that would let airline passengers use their cell phones during flight. But, as on the ground, cell-phone calls in yet one more public place could ruffle feathers. By Elisa Batista." Buck would use this all the time I bet.

New Kind of Snooping Arrives at the Office
According to this New York Times report, "Employers have stepped up their surveillance of employees, often using stealth techniques to peer deep into their computer use. :: I looked into this some time ago and found that this is all perfectly legal, you should assume that you have no privacy at all in the workplace. Many people use their office computers for personal business because the connections are often faster than what you have at home. What you need to realize is that your company IT manager is probably keeping a log of all employee Internet activity. This includes e-mail as well as sites visited. So, you can see, that if companies can do this in the United States, how much more can governments hostile to the spread of the gospel (like China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Nigeria, etc.) do to monitor the Internet activity of citizens. It is only a matter of having the righty spyware.

Evangelistic tool gaining popularity
With its own Web site at www.evangecube.org, the Evangecube has become so popular that Sheets said it "will be the primary evangelistic tool used to share the gospel with people at next summer's Olympics in Athens, Greece. Sheets' goal is to go to 100 countries. In each country, he hopes to visit 1,000 churches and in each church train 100 Christians to share the gospel, thereby equipping 10 million Christians with the Evangecube, who will in turn give one billion people a chance to hear the story.

Start-up streamlines e-mail encryption
ZDNet Tech News offers this report on a service no Trib Force team should do without: "Voltage's method offers a slight twist on current practices: The public key derives from the sender's e-mail address, eliminating a step in a sometimes daunting process." This approach sounds like it may be easier to use than PGP. Of course, PGP is still free and this will be a fee based service, so perhaps only those more financially blessed TF's will use it.

Another Tool for Big Brother?
Here is an interesting report from Wired News: "A surveillance camera that can track and analyze the movement of individual vehicles in a crowded city is being developed for the Pentagon. Despite assurances that the camera is meant only to protect troops in the field, civilian authorities will probably want to use it, too."

Disorganized Resistance?
"Organized resistance has many drawbacks. These drawbacks have seldom been
discussed by the opposition. We believe that the only effective resistance is a
completely disorganized, decentralized, and leaderless opposition." So, is this what Buck and the gang were up to? I think they were more organized, or at least they tried to be.

Urban Tracking
According to USA Today: "WASHINGTON ?The Pentagon is developing an urban surveillance system that would use computers and thousands of cameras to track, record and analyze the movement of every vehicle in a foreign city." Well, I guess Big Brother really is watching.

Iran Blocks Reform, Porn Web Sites
Here is another report on Iran's effort to control what their people see on the Web, this from CBS News: SciTech.

Iran blocking access to sex sites on Web
This CNN - World report provides yet another example of how a government can control the Internet. It makes me wonder if the GC could have blocked Tsion's web site.

Wireless Net may aid poor nations - CNN & Reuters
Wireless Internet technology may help poor nations leapfrog into the future if they can get assistance to harness the new technology, said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Wireless Internet access has "a key role to play everywhere, but especially in developing countries and countries with economies in transition," Annan said on Thursday in a message to a U.N. conference on the rapidly growing phenomenon known as Wi-Fi. :: TF members operating in poor countries should be prepared to help local believers establish wireless networks and take full advantage of the new communication tools.

Urgent Prayer for North Korea Requested in Wake of Nuclear Threat
A special day of prayer for North Korea is being organized by AsiaLink Ministries and a number of other ministries including Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Open Doors (UK), Jubilee Campaign, and Release International. "Our desire is to see thousands of churches and believers around the world impacting one of the world most closed and repressive regimes -- communist North Korea -- in a worldwide Day of Prayer on Sunday, June 29, 2003," said Rev. Dale Hiscock, executive director, AsiaLink Ministries. "The communist government has sought to decimate the church and repress Christianity with great ruthlessness. As a result of a lack of information, the situation of the church has remained a mystery and the church worldwide, outside Korea, has forgotten the need to pray for these most persecuted of our brothers and sisters.”

HOW TO PRAY FOR IRAQI CHRISTIANS
Open Doors Ministry recently had opportunity to encourage Iraqi Christians and assure them of the prayers of millions of Western Christians in the war aftermath. A Chaldean Catholic nun, Sister Margaret, said, "Your prayers have made all the difference for us." This ASSIST News Service report also includes prayer needs from the Iraqi Christians. Pray for the swift stabilization of the country; for wise administration; for the safety of visiting Christians; for hope, revival and a new moral culture. Pray against a spirit of fear, Shiite extremism, identity wars, and other desperate needs. Open Doors, founded in 1955 by Brother Andrew, faithfully serves the Persecuted Church; visit its Web site to review the ministry now reaching out to approximately 200 million persecuted Christians worldwide.

Should Christians Convert Muslims?
This weeks edition of Time Magazine examines the question of evangelism efforts directed at Muslims, this is a must read for your TF: Not for a century has the idea of evangelizing Islam awakened such fervor in conservative Christians. Touched by Muslims' material and spiritual needs, convinced that they are one of the great "unreached megapeoples" who must hear the Gospel before Christ's eventual return, Evangelicals have been rushing to what has become the latest hot missions field. Figures from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, suggest that the number of missionaries to Islamic countries nearly doubled between 1982 and 2001—from more than 15,000 to somewhere in excess of 27,000.