A biblical archaeologist believes he has found the site where Jesus turned water into wine – and it’s not in the location where Christians have long thought it was. 

The northern Israel town of Kafr Kanna – located a few miles northeast of Nazareth – is the traditional site of the New Testament town of Cana, where John 2 records Jesus as performing his first miracle and changing water into wine at a wedding. 

But Tom McCollough, professor of religion at Centre College in Danville, Ky., says he has found evidence that the location of Cana actually is modern-day Khirbet Qana, a village that is a few miles north of Kafr Kanna.

McCollough wrote about the find in an edition of Biblical Archaeology Review. He and others found tunnels at Khirbet Qana that were used for Christian worship and had been marked with crosses and other references to the faith, according to The Daily Star. 

Villages like Kafr Kanna have been thought to be the site, but “none has the ensemble of evidence that makes such a persuasive case for Khirbet Qana,” he said, according to the newspaper. 

Christians centuries ago, he said, apparently came to the location because they believed it is where Jesus performed the miracle. 

“We have uncovered a large Christian veneration cave complex that was used by Christian pilgrims who came to venerate the water-to-wine miracle. This complex was…

Reformed theologian John Piper has shared practical tips for fighting the “demonic temptations to discouragement” and preserving joy in God throughout the day.

In an episode of the podcast “Ask Pastor John” that was posted to DesiringGod.com on Labor Day, a listener named Katie asked Piper to identify the little things she could do throughout her day to find and preserve her joy in God.

Piper, who is also the chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota, first pointed out that if Christ is not our supreme satisfaction, something else will be — and as a result, we will be drawn away from the Christian faith.

“Our flesh and the devil are active all day long to draw us into pleasures that are anti-God,” he explained. “If we have no strategies for awakening and cultivating and preserving and intensifying our joy in God, we will be drawn away by our flesh and the devil into alternative pleasures, which are, as Paul said, idolatry (Colossians 3:5).”

Yet, killing evil desires isn’t enough, Piper contended, as doing so leaves us with an “empty soul.” Instead, Christians need to train their minds to recall Scripture…

Christian families in India who were forced to stop attending church after Hindu radicals threatened to beat and kill them have vowed to continue worshiping Christ in secret.

Pastor Singh, who leads a congregation in India’s Madhya Pradesh State, told International Christian Concern that 15 families have stopped going to his church in recent months after facing persecution at the hands of Hindu radicals.

“The reason for this drop in the attendance is the threats from Hindu radicals,” Pastor Singh told the nonprofit persecution watchdog. “The radicals say they will beat and kill my church members if they continue to attend the services.”

“Prior to May this year, around 200 people used to worship regularly in my church,” he continued. “But now only 50 to 60 people attend my church on Sunday. They are under tremendous pressure from Hindu radicals.”

Shankar Damor, a 37-year-old from Kardubadi village near Jhabua, told ICC his family stopped attending church because they were under serious threat of physical attack.

“In a meeting last May in the village of Kardubadi, the Christians were told that we should not attend…

A Memphis pastor who uses profanity in his sermons says he doesn’t believe the way he uses the words is swearing. Pastor Thaddeus Matthews of the Naked Truth Liberation and Empowerment Ministries in Memphis, Tennessee, told The Christian Post Thursday, “there is a difference in ‘cussing’ and ‘cursing’ as people say. The words that we use today like motherf****r, sh*t, da*n, were not words that were used in biblical times.”

The pastor continues, “So I don’t have an issue with the cussing. And the people that listen to me don’t have an issue with the cussing, and I’m not trying to justify it to the traditional churchgoer.”

Matthews’ sermons, which have titles that are adorned with profane words, have gained millions of views online. The pastor says he really doesn’t “give a da*n” what traditional Christians think of his practice.

In an interview with The Christian Post Mathews said, “I find no reason to try to justify that. I’m a fisher of men. I go to people on their level. And you have to get past the cussing to get the message. The cussing has drawn the attention of millions around the country.”

“The cussing pastor,” as Matthews calls himself, had a longtime career as a controversial broadcaster in Memphis before starting his ministry about three years ago.

“I’m a controversial figure in Memphis,” the pastor started, “I’ve been in broadcast for nearly…

An Egyptian teen embraced Christianity after witnessing the faith of his father, who was brutally murdered by Muslim extremists for refusing to convert to Islam.

Seventeen-year-old Marqos told persecution watchdog Open Doors USA that just a few years ago, his family lived at peace with their Muslim neighbors in El-Arish, a small city on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast. Marquos’ father, Baghat, was a veterinarian who had good relations with his Muslim colleagues and friends.

However, everything changed when Palestinian immigrants with a very strict view on Islam moved to the village. Marqos’ mother, Fawziya, recounted how the Muslims began threatening believers by spreading leaflets warning Christians to leave the city or die. In the beginning of 2017, they began to carry out their threats.

One Sunday morning, Baghat woke up early to go to church, and then went to work at the veterinarian clinic of one of his Muslim friends. While Marqos and Fawziya weren’t present at the tragedy that followed, Marqos spoke with a Muslim friend of his father who witnessed the event.

“He told me that two young masked men entered the…