Targeting a Baptist church in Jerusalem, vandals scrawled anti-Christian graffiti on its exterior, spray-painted three cars in the church compound and slashed their tires on Feb. 20.
Al Nucciarone, pastor of Jerusalem Baptist Church, was preaching the day before from the Sermon on the Mount about building on a solid foundation to withstand the storms of life.
“Little did I know the next day on Monday I would get a text message that the Baptist church was attacked,” Nucciarone said.
The vandalism is the latest attack on the Baptist House, which houses the Jerusalem Baptist Church as well as a nondenominational church and a Russian-speaking congregation. Not only has the Baptist House previously been defaced by graffiti, but it was burned to the ground in a 1982 attack attributed to Jewish extremists. After being rebuilt, it was the target of a 2007 arson attack that caused minor damage.
In the Feb. 20 attack, in addition to blasphemy about Jesus and phrases like “Death to Christianity,” the term “Price Tag” was written on the church exterior. Media reports say the phrase is used by Jewish extremists to indicate the “price” they will exact in response to the government curbing settlement efforts as part of the peace process with Palestinians.
Local Christians, who have lived through Palestinian terrorism and attacks by Jewish extremists, are accustomed to opposition, Nucciarone said.
“We suffer, and then Palestinian Christians suffer as well,” he said. “That’s a fact of life here. We’re a minority. People, just like they attacked Jesus, they’ll attack us.”
Nucciarone asks Southern Baptists to pray for the Lord to give local believers boldness and unity in their faith in the days ahead. He also requests prayer for the congregation’s Jewish and Palestinian friends and — even though he says his congregation loves and forgives the attackers — that justice will be done.
(BP)
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