The Things to Come

FROM WND’S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Archeologists barred as Islamic custodians dig massive trench at Judaism’s holiest site

By Aaron Klein

Archeologists say Islamic custodians of Temple Mount are destroying what could be part of a wall from the Second Jewish Temple (Courtesty TempleInstitute.org)

JERUSALEM – Israel is blocking leading archeologists from surveying massive damage Islamic authorities are accused of causing to what experts believe may be an outer wall of the Second Jewish Temple, WND has learned.

“It is unconscionable that the Israeli government is permitting the Waqf to use heavy equipment to chop away at the most important archeological site in the country without supervision,” prominent, third-generation Temple Mount archeologist Eilat Mazar told WND.

“The Israeli government is actively blocking us from inspecting the site and what may be a monumental find and is doing nothing while the Waqf destroys artifacts at Judaism’s holiest site,” charged Mazar, a professor of Hebrew University and member of the Public Committee for Prevention of the Destruction of Antiquities on Temple Mount.

Mazar also is the discoverer and lead archaeologist of Israel’s City of David, believed to be the palace of the biblical King David, the second leader of a united Kingdom of Israel, who ruled from around 1005 to 965 B.C.

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Last month, the Waqf, the Muslim custodians of the Temple Mount, were given permission by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to use bulldozers and other heavy equipment to dig a large trench they say is necessary to replace 40-year-old electrical cables for mosques at the holy site. The dig is being protected by the Israeli police and is supposed to be supervised by the Israeli government’s Antiquities Authority.

Earlier this month, after bulldozers pulverized a trench 1,300 feet long and about five feet deep, the Muslim diggers came across a wall Israeli archeologists believe may be remains of an area of the Second Jewish Temple known as the woman’s courtyard.

The Antiquities Authority has not halted the dig and has not inspected the site. The Waqf has continued using bulldozers to blast away at the trench containing the wall.

Leading Temple Mount archeologists, including Mazar and Gavriel Barkai, petitioned the Israeli government to immediately halt the dig and allow experts to inspect the emerging wall.

But Mazar and other archeologists say they are being blocked by the Israeli government.

“The Antiquities Authority tells us to coordinate with the police. The police send us back to the Antiquities Authority,” said Mazar. “It’s crucial this wall is inspected. The Temple Mount ground level is only slightly above the original Temple Mount platform, meaning anything found is likely from the Temple itself.”

Fed up, Mazar and other top archeologists today ascended the Mount to hold a press conference and inspect the site without government permission, but they were blocked from the trench by the Israeli police.

Rabbi Chaim Rechman, director of the international department at Israel’s Temple Institute, was among those on the Mount today with Mazar. He told WND he attempted to take pictures of the damage the bulldozers are allegedly wrecking on the wall, but his digital camera was confiscated by Israeli police at the direction of Waqf officials.

“If Israel was building a shopping mall and they found what may be an ancient Buddhist structure, the government would stop the construction and have archeologists go over the area with a fine tooth comb. Here, the holiest site in Judaism is being damaged, a Temple wall was found, and Israel is actively blocking experts from inspecting the site while allowing the destruction to continue,” Rechman said.

Rechman charged the Waqf was “trying to erase Jewish vestiges from the Temple Mount.”

The last time the Waqf conducted a large dig on the Temple Mount – during construction 10 years ago of a massive mosque at an area referred to as Solomon’s Stables – the Wafq reportedly disposed truckloads of dirt containing Jewish artifacts from the First and Second Temple periods.

After the media reported on the disposals, Israeli authorities froze the construction permit given to the Wafq, and the dirt was transferred to Israeli archeologists for analysis. The Israeli authorities found scores of Jewish Temple relics in the nearly disposed dirt, including coins with Hebrew writing referencing the Temple, part of a Hasmonean lamp, several other Second Temple lamps, Temple period pottery with Jewish markings, a marble pillar shaft and other Temple period artifacts. The Waqf was widely accused of attempting to hide evidence of the existence of the Jewish Temples.

Temples ‘never existed’

Most Palestinian leaders routinely deny well-documented Jewish ties to the Temple Mount – the holiest site in Judaism.

Speaking to WND in a recent interview, Waqf official and chief Palestinian Justice Taysir Tamimi claimed the Jewish Temples “never existed.”

“About these so-called two Temples, they never existed, certainly not at the Haram Al- Sharif (Temple Mount),” said Tamimi, who is considered the second most important Palestinian cleric after Muhammad Hussein, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.

“Israel started since 1967 making archeological digs to show Jewish signs to prove the relationship between Judaism and the city, and they found nothing. There is no Jewish connection to Israel before the Jews invaded in the 1880s,” said Tamimi.

The Palestinian cleric denied the validity of dozens of digs verified by experts worldwide revealing Jewish artifacts from the First and Second Temples, tunnels that snake under the Temple Mount and over 100 ritual immersion pools believed to have been used by Jewish priests to cleanse themselves before services. The cleansing process is detailed in the Torah.

Asked about the Western Wall, Tamimi said the structure was a tying post for Muhammad’s horse and that it is part of the Al Aqsa Mosque, even though the Wall predates the mosque by more than 1,000 years.

“The Western wall is the western wall of the Al Aqsa Mosque. It’s where Prophet Muhammad tied his animal which took him from Mecca to Jerusalem to receive the revelations of Allah.”

The Palestinian media also regularly state the Jewish Temples never existed.

‘We are fed up with this crap nonsense’

In a series of WND exclusive interviews, Palestinian terror leaders denied the existence of the Jewish Temples.

“We are fed up with this crap nonsense of the Temple Mount,” said Nasser Abu Aziz, the deputy commander of Fata’s Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the northern West Bank.

“We do not know where this story came from. There is no historical or archeological proof that your legendary Temples existed. We are sick of this story. But Allah warned us that Jews will look for an excuse in order to corrupt life on earth, so we are not surprised from the fact that you keep raising this issue.”

Muhammad Abdul-El, spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees terror organization, said the Jewish Temples “existed only in your dreams.

“Go look for your stupid Temple elsewhere. And I am not saying this for political reasons. I say that the enemy invented this story in order to justify its occupation of Jerusalem.”

Abu Abdullah, considered one of the most important operational members of Hamas’ so-called military wing, accused all Jews of being pathological liars.

“Stop lying and believing your own lies. Even if there was such a thing (as a Jewish Temple) do you really believe that Solomon, who was a prophet, would have built a Temple in the place that Allah wanted for the Al Aqsa Mosque?”

Judaism’s holiest site

The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. Muslims say it is their third holiest site.

The First Jewish Temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries.

The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God’s “presence” dwelt. The Dome of the Rock now sits on the site and the Al Aqsa Mosque is adjacent.

The temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place in Israel during Jewish holidays.

The Temple Mount compound has remained a focal point for Jewish services over the millennia. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed, according to Jewish tradition. Jews worldwide pray facing toward the Western Wall, a portion of an outer courtyard of the Temple left intact.

The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed around A.D. 709 to serve as a shrine near another shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph. Al Aqsa was meant to mark where Muslims came to believe Muhammad, the founder of Islam, ascended to heaven.

Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran. Islamic tradition states Muhammad took a journey in a single night from “a sacred mosque” – believed to be in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to “the farthest mosque” and from a rock there ascended to heaven. The farthest mosque later became associated with Jerusalem.

FROM WND’S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Palestinians say no agreement unless Olmert forfeits holiest site in Judaism

By Aaron Klein

According to a report in Israel’s Yediot Aharonot daily yesterday, Olmert is willing to discuss joint Israeli-Palestinian control over the Temple Mount complex. The report didn’t state the positions of the Palestinian side on the issue.

A chief Palestinian negotiator, speaking to WND on condition his name be withheld, said yesterday, “there can be no agreement with Israel unless we get complete sovereignty of the Mount. Once Palestinian control over the [Temple Mount] is fixed, then we will make assurances for Jewish visits to the site.”

The chief negotiator said aides from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah organization have been hammering out the parameters of a final status agreement for presentation in November at a U.S.-backed international summit regarding the Middle East.

Issues already discussed between Israel and the Palestinians reportedly include the division of parts of Jerusalem and debates regarding permanent borders between Israel and the PA.

The November international conference and talk from the Bush administration the past few weeks has led many here to speculate the U.S. will push in the near future for intense Israeli-Palestinian negotiations leading to a Palestinian state.

With a year and a half left in office, President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been urging meetings between Abbas and Olmert to establish a framework for momentum leading to a breakthrough at November’s conference. Olmert and Abbas have been meeting bi-monthly in summits brokered by the U.S.

Asked by WND whether Olmert is willing to forfeit the Temple Mount in an agreement with the Palestinians, David Baker, a spokesman for the prime minister, had no comment.

Jews, Christians barred from praying on Mount

The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. Muslims say it is their third holiest site.

The First Jewish Temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries.

The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God’s “presence” dwelt. The Al Aqsa Mosque now sits on the site.

The temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place in Israel during Jewish holidays.

The Temple Mount compound has remained a focal point for Jewish services over the millennia. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed, according to Jewish tradition. Jews worldwide pray facing toward the Western Wall, a portion of an outer courtyard of the Temple left intact.

The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed around A.D. 709 to serve as a shrine near another shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph. Al Aqsa was meant to mark where Muslims came to believe Muhammad, the founder of Islam, ascended to heaven.

Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran. Islamic tradition states Mohammed took a journey in a single night from “a sacred mosque” – believed to be in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to “the farthest mosque” and from a rock there ascended to heaven. The farthest mosque later became associated with the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Currently under Israeli control, Jews and Christians are barred from praying on the Mount.

The Temple Mount was opened to the general public until September 2000, when the Palestinians started their intifada by throwing stones at Jewish worshipers after then-candidate for prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the area.

Following the onset of violence, the new Sharon government closed the Mount to non-Muslims, using checkpoints to control all pedestrian traffic for fear of further clashes with the Palestinians.

The Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslims in August 2003. It still is open but only Sundays through Thursdays, 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., and not on any Christian, Jewish or Muslim holidays or other days considered “sensitive” by the Waqf.

During “open” days, Jews and Christian are allowed to ascend the Mount, usually through organized tours and only if they conform first to a strict set of guidelines, which includes demands that they not pray or bring any “holy objects” to the site. Visitors are banned from entering any of the mosques without direct Waqf permission. Rules are enforced by Waqf agents, who watch tours closely and alert nearby Israeli police to any breaking of their guidelines.

‘Secret’ plan would give Palestinians West Bank

The talk of behind-the-scenes negotiations follows a WND report earlier this week stating newly installed Israeli President Shimon Peres has quietly drafted a plan for the Jewish state to evacuate and transfer to the Palestinians nearly the entire West Bank and several Arab Israeli cities located within territory that is undisputedly Israel’s according to the international community.

The West Bank is strategic territory that runs alongside Jerusalem and is within rocket range of Tel Aviv and Israel’s international airport. It is home to many biblical Jewish communities and some of Judaism’s holiest sites.

Peres has presented his initiative to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and to top aides for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas the past few weeks, after he took office as Israeli president last month, diplomatic sources in Jerusalem told WND.

The official role of president here is limited largely to ceremonial matters; the president does not create foreign policy.

Olmert is mulling over the plan and agrees with much of its contents, the diplomatic sources said.

Peres’ plan calls for Israel to hand 97-percent of the West Bank over to Abbas, with Israel retaining a small number of the territory’s Jewish communities. In exchange for Israel keeping some land, the Jewish state will give the PA control of Arab Israeli cities north of Tel Aviv which, together with the evacuated West Bank territory, would amount to the equivalent of 100 percent of the West Bank.

Already during his bi-weekly meetings with Abbas, Olmert has granted a number of security concessions to Abbas regarding increased Palestinian control of the West Bank.

The Israeli prime minister last month granted amnesty to 178 gunmen from Abbas’ Fatah organization who comprise most of the senior leadership of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the declared military wing of Fatah that is responsible for every suicide bombing in Israel the past three years.

Olmert is reportedly considering granting amnesty to 206 more Brigades terrorists. According to Palestinian officials, the Israeli Prime Minister already informed the PA that Fatah gunmen are largely immune from Israeli anti-terror raids regardless of whether they are officially on Olmert’s amnesty list.

Also, Olmert is strongly considering removing hundreds of Israel Defense Forces roadblocks and checkpoints situated in strategic sites located throughout the West Bank. The IDF sees the checkpoints as crucial in helping stop terrorists, including suicide bombers, from infiltrating Jewish cities.

As well, in a scantily-reported but major move, Israel last week started allowing armed Palestinian policemen to patrol areas in the West Bank that fall under Israeli security control according to the 1993 Oslo Accords. Security in the territory, referred to as Area B, is supposed to be ensured by the IDF, which still monitors the area but has allowed for an unprecedented stepped-up armed Palestinian security presence there.

In response to the renewed momentum toward a Palestinian state, rabbis for the Yesha Council of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria – the West Bank – yesterday slammed the Israeli government for considering major concessions.

The council released a statement expressing “concern at the irresponsible diplomatic moves being made during these days, the main point of which is the consent to the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria. These moves are founded upon irrelevant considerations of political survival, and are being made in total opposition to the opinion of the defense establishment.”

My mouth was still hanging open when I read the last part of his statement: “God doesn’t care what we call Him.”

If one doesn’t believe that God is real, then it really doesn’t matter what name one chooses.

It’s like naming your 6-foot tall invisible white rabbit. You can call him “Harvey.” Or you can name him “Peter Cottontail.” He won’t object either way – since he isn’t real.

But if you try to rename your friend Fred from down the street, he may not be so pleased about being called George. Because Fred is a real person, you wouldn’t think about calling him George simply because somebody else likes that name better.

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Because God is as real as you or I, it isn’t up to us to rename Him like He was a stray basset hound.

God has many names; most of them are names of praise and worship, rather than names in the sense of a personal name. They include Elohim, El Shaddai, Adonai, Jehovah (YHWH), Shepherd, Judge, Father, Counselor, Comforter, Advocate, or simply “Lord” or “Almighty God.” One name that has never been ascribed to Him in Scripture is “Allah.”

Bishop Muskens’ comments found an immediate audience in America. Council on Islamic American Relations spokesman Ibrahim Hooper thinks it is a great idea.

“It reinforces the fact that Muslims, Christians and Jews all worship the same God,” Hooper told FoxNews.com. “I don’t think the name is as important as the belief in God and following God’s moral principles. I think that’s true for all faiths.”

According to the God of the Bible, God’s Name is very important to Him. “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7).

God’s unique identity as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is very important to Him, as well. “And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. … But My covenant will I establish with Isaac” (Genesis 17:21).

Have you ever noticed that it is Allah who is seeking to be identified with God, and not the other way around? There is no effort among Christians and Jews to declare God another name for Allah (with the exception of Bishop Muskens.)

Being worshiped as God is Satan’s No. 1 objective to the exclusion of all else. Everything Scripture reveals about Satan exposes his agenda.

He tempted Jesus in the wilderness, demanding that Jesus bow down and worship him. Paul says he will sit “as God, in the Temple of God” during the Tribulation. John says he will demand worship as a condition of participating in his economic/religious system.

Notice this very important spiritual clue: It isn’t God that wants to be worshiped as Allah, but Allah who wants to be worshiped as God.

It is both a distinction and a difference.

Christians and Jews worship a Living God. As a living entity, God cannot be “reinvented” to suit somebody else, since He already is Who He is.

The Scriptures were given us to reveal God for Who He is, rather than some impersonal, nameless spiritual entity “up there” somewhere.

The doctrine of Satan is that all religions are equally valid, that all paths lead to God, that God is impersonal, unknowable, and it is therefore irrelevant to Him what we call Him or how we worship Him.

If Allah and God are one and the same, then wouldn’t the worship of the Hindu chief gods, Vishnu and Shiva, also be the worship Allah and God, only by a different name? Pretty soon, everybody is God.

Which is the same as saying that nobody is.

I want to encourage everyone to take time from your busy schedule for the Calvary Chapel Prophecy Conference. Why is this pursuit worthy, when you no doubt have a zillion other things on your plate?

Here is why: There are brothers and sisters in Christ who are gifted in the body to study, labor, and exhort you to watch and be waiting for Christ, to build up the body in ways that are extremely important in the times we live. These men are willing to take their weekends and share with the everyone their hard-won research and endure all manner of warfare to defend the faith. I have the utmost respect for these men and how hard they labor among us as they contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. And once you get built up, you can then go back to your home church and spread the knowledge, building others’ up and exhorting them to be watching and waiting also. Remember, we do not do these things for ourselves, but for others. Those who put on these events are so sure of the value of them they are willing to labor to bring them to fruition at their own personal cost in time and energy.

Never, ever, have we lived in such a unique time. And never has the church been so apathetic about the times of the signs. I get emails from someone regularly who makes it their mission to scoff at the times, to do some sort of pseudo-intellectual studies to try and disprove and destroy our blessed hope in the form of the pre-trib rapture. He emails a lot of folks regularly, and goes to chat rooms to stir up trouble. But I refuse to engage him, he is hostile and obnoxious and condescending. And wrong. What drives people like him? It would never occur to me to spam people or stir up a chat group just to try and stumble someone. An ax to grind? Maybe. But just because he can twist church history to suit his scoffing, doesn’t mean he is right; truth is truth and our egos are no match for the revealed truth of Scripture. Let God be true and every man a liar! Amen and amen.

Coming to this Conference: Dave Hunt and TA McMahon of the Berean Call; Chuck Missler of Koinonia House; Arnold Fruchtenbaum of Ariel Ministries; Joseph Farah of World Net Daily (www.wnd.com); author Warren Smith (Deceived on Purpose) and Thomas Ice of Pre-Trib Perspectives . Wow, what a line-up – and worthy of your time.

WHEN: September 7 – 9
COST: $40 per person for the weekend. Call the church office for more information!

ALSO: Thursday night September 6, Chuck Missler is conducting his own evening of fellowship and information at Pilgrims’ Café, 233 E. College in Appleton. Come!

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.
– Charles Spurgeon

I know I’ve said this before, but I am continually amazed at how tightly wound people are these days. Particularly Christians, who often act more like the world than like the beloved, called-out, sanctified ones who have this earth to shun and heaven to gain.

Christians seem to be just as prone to worry, fear, hostility, unfaithfulness, anger and critical spirits as the world, and sometimes it is very hard to tell the Christians from the unregenerate. Few seem to want to put effort into genuinely loving others – at least in the Scriptural way – because it is easier to tear down than to build up. In their natural state, humans have always gravitated toward tearing others down in order to feel better about themselves, but once we have been saved, it becomes sinful Phariseeism, and the work of the flesh. We have all been forgiven much, we must never become sin-sniffing, self-righteous ones who think that somehow we have arrived. What were you saved from? What do you struggle with every day? Perfection? I don’t think so. Me either! Far from it. Therefore, since we are beset by various weights and griefs to bear, we all fall far short of His glory. There is never any reason to set ourselves over others; Scripture says to esteem others above ourselves. Church of Jesus, are we doing this?

Now, I understand that Christians are at various stages of maturity but honestly, we all have the same Bible and can read for ourselves that we are all called to walk in the Spirit and die to self. We are all called to put others first and work for the Kingdom, from the newest babe in Christ to the oldest saint. Ignoring Scriptural mandates to have their eyes on heaven, some seem to think they can be as worldly as they want, dragging themselves through life and accumulating as much dirt and grime as they can as they scrape the pavement. Kind of like that Peanuts character “Pigpen”, who was always surrounded by a cloud of dirt and excusing it at every turn, reveling in his individuality, while the opportunity to come clean always seemed to elude. A lot of emerging pastors, and subsequently their flocks, seem to like to live on the lowest rung on the ladder and flaunt their fleshly weaknesses as though it were ‘the new humility’. They have invented a pseudo-intellectual vocabulary intended to impress and appear lofty, like a postmodern Gnosticism for the newly enlightened. Sorry, you’re not building yourselves or anyone else up in the faith, you’re mostly just calling attention to yourself instead of bringing glory to the Lord. Since when is there anything in the natural man that is appealing or worthy of exaltation? These flesh and bone containers (caskets?) we live in are meant to house eternity, to reflect the light of salvation, to testify of the hope of new life. Anyone can dwell in the mud, anyone can live in the basement, but why would you want to?

Test yourselves in this every day: the Scriptural way to love is to ‘bear all things, hope all things, believe all things, endure all things – to never fail’. If we have not love, whatever else we do is empty. Love came down, Love bought us with His blood, Love was unjustly condemned for sinful man – you and me. If we remember what we were saved from – and FOR – and are thankful, we should want to strive to fulfill this definition in our own lives – we should crave it, chase it, covet it, and desire it with all our being, and only then can we turn around and be Jesus to someone else. The REAL Jesus, not one we have made in our own image, with the veneer of the latest churchianity, while we go home and bring our loved ones down with our tongues, our apathy, and subject them to our self-life.

I hear of so many who are depressed, who are so unable to function day to day that they chase after worldly wisdom and solutions, while having utterly lost sight of the lighthouse light that shines brightly in the darkness. My heart breaks for those who have ceased to believe the promises, have lost sight of the brevity of life, and are ‘in the basement digging holes’. I realize there is MUCH pain and sorrow in this life, but so what else is new? I sympathize with all my heart – been there, done that, prone to wander Lord, I feel it. Aren’t we all in pain? But consider this: God in His mercy lets us experience the lowest points so that we long for heaven, for His continued presence, and hang on His grace day to day. He will work in us and chastise us as needed until He is our hope, our all in all, our very breath. The joy of the Lord is our strength; the melancholy spirit of the age just does not reflect the glory that is in us, nor does it reflect the new life we claim to have.

Guard your hearts, your minds, your peace. If something steals your joy, run from it. Bring every thought captive, think on whatever is lovely, true, and praiseworthy. Turn off the external noise, and revel in the eternal that is internal. You will revolutionize your walk, your heart, and those around you will see your glow, and be drawn to you as a moth to the flame.

By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER
The Associated Press
Wednesday, August 15, 2007; 6:20 PM

GENEVA — Evangelical groups have joined efforts spearheaded by Roman Catholic, Orthodox and mainstream Protestant churches to create a common code of conduct for religious conversions that would preserve the right of Christians to spread their religion while avoiding conflict among different faiths.

The World Council of Churches, which joined the Vatican last year in launching talks on a code, said Wednesday that the process was formally joined by the World Evangelical Alliance at a meeting earlier this month in France.

The code aims to ease tensions with Muslims, Hindus and other religious groups that fear losing adherents and resort to punishments as extreme as imprisonment and even death for converts from their faith and foreign missionaries.

The Taliban kidnapping of 23 South Korean Christians in Afghanistan last month underscored tensions. Two of the 23 have been killed. The accusations against the South Koreans include wanting to meet with former converts from Islam. But their church has denied they were trying to spread Christianity. The hardline Islamic militants freed two women on Monday.

WCC said the code of conduct should serve as an “advocacy tool in discussions with governments considering anti-conversion laws (and) help to advance the cause of religious freedom.” The rules should also address concerns in other religions about Christians seeking converts, and inspire those faiths to “consider their own codes of conduct,” it added.

The council noted, however, that “none of the partners involved intend _ nor have the means _ to impose the code of conduct on their constituencies, but they all trust that it will be able to ‘impact hearts and minds’ and allow for ‘moral and peer pressure.’”

Evangelization also has caused concern among the branches of Christianity because of the vigor with which Pentecostal and evangelical congregations have led the drive for conversions around the world, outstripping the growth of older churches. Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Brazil in May was partly a response to the exodus of millions of Catholics to Protestant evangelical churches.

Juan Michel, a spokesman for the Geneva-based WCC said the support from the evangelical alliance was a big boost for efforts to agree on guidelines by 2010.

Major evangelical groups were absent last year from a meeting of the Vatican and the WCC near Rome, where the idea for the code was initiated. But at the five-day meeting that ended Aug. 12 in Toulouse, Geoff Tunnicliffe, head of the evangelical alliance of 233 conservative Protestant church groups and ministries in 121 nations, gave his “full approval” to the process, the WCC said.

“The code of conduct is not about ‘whether’ Christians evangelize, but ‘how’ they do it,” said the Rev. Tony Richie of the Church of God, a Pentecostal U.S.-based denomination, according to a WCC review of the meeting.

The next step in the process will be in 2008 when the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue meets its WCC counterpart to draft the guidelines.

The WCC said the code should establish what “needs to be banned when it comes to Christian mission, a daunting task given the many different contexts involved.” But it should also provide guidelines for dealing with complicated issues such as interreligious marriages, the WCC added.

The WCC brings together about 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians.

Sensitivity to Christian proselytism is widespread among Muslims. Under most interpretations of Sharia, or strict Islamic law, conversion from Islam is forbidden.

Last week, a religious court in Malaysia ordered a woman trying to renounce Islam to undergo three months of counseling in the mainly Muslim country’s latest legal tussle over the issue. In Egypt, a Muslim who converted to Christianity and then took the unprecedented step of seeking official recognition for the change said he had gone into hiding following death threats.

Last year, lawmakers in the western Indian state of Rajasthan made it the latest region in the country to outlaw proselytizing with punishments up to five years in prison. Critics claimed the laws will be used to target Christian missionaries, who are often denounced by Hindu nationalists. But Muslims _ who represent about 14 percent of India’s population _ also say the measures could be used against them.

The discussions over conversions could also spill into the religious politics of Asia, including the alleged persecution of “house churches” in places such as Vietnam and China.

© 2007 The Associated Press