(shofar blows)

- [Chris] This week on Jerusalem Dateline,

it's an Easter celebration like no other

in The Holy Land.

- Now, the roads are empty.

We won't have practicallyany outdoor activities.

- And the Israel DefenseForces takes its stand

on the front lines againstan invisible enemy.

Plus, CBN's broadcast of an Easter Service

from Jerusalem's Garden Tomb

with a timeless messageof the resurrection.

All this and more thisweek on Jerusalem Dateline.

Hello and welcome to thisedition of Jerusalem Dateline.

I'm Chris Mitchell.

The Coronavirus haschanged the way churches

around the world celebratetheir Holy Week services.

It's also true here in the city

where it all began.

This is what Good Fridayusually looks like

on the Via Dolorosa, Latinfor The Way of Suffering,

where Christian pilgrimsfrom all over the world

come to retrace thesteps of Jesus on his way

to his crucifixion on the cross.

This year, on GoodFriday, the Via Dolorosa

here in the heart ofJerusalem will be empty,

since all outdoor processionshave been canceled

by the government because of COVID-19.

- Usually in such seasons,

the city is overloaded with people.

Now, the roads are empty.

We won't have practicallyany outdoor activities.

All prayers will be held withvery minimal participation.

- The same holds truehere in the Garden Tomb

just outside the wallsof Jerusalem's Old City,

where many people believe Jesus was laid

in this empty tomb andthen rose from the dead.

♪ Thine be the glory ♪

- [Chris] The Garden Tomb Association

has held Easter sunrise services

for years,

many of them broadcast by CBN.

- Normally, there are thousandshere on Easter morning,

but this year we could onlyallow four people on camera

at a time, and so we hadto have people come in

at different times to do the readings,

different times to do the music,

to make sure thatrestrictions were adhered to.

Well, the Easter servicewe have planned now

is gonna be a mix of readingsfrom some of the community

who are still here, of prayers,of praying for those victims

and those who aresuffering with the virus.

- [Chris] Abunassar says,despite the circumstances,

there is cause for hope.

- It is a very sad moment, butI do believe that it is also

an opportunity for prayer and reflection

because God could be adored everywhere,

not only in the holy places.

St. Paul says everything is working

for the sake of those who love God.

I believe that God in His divine wisdom

might require us to reflect and pray more.

And I do believe thatthis is an opportunity

for the families,especially nuclear families,

to pray more, to reflect more.

- It will look verydifferent to previous years,

obviously, because there areno people allowed to attend it,

but we still believe that isstill an act of worship to God,

because the ministry of the Garden Tomb

is about a place of worshipand witness and prayer.

And that will continueeven through this virus.

- Regardless of thegovernment restrictions

because of the Coronavirus,

Abunassar and Hollandsay the message of Easter

remains the same.

- That we believe in a resurrected Lord,

and death, even despite all difficulties,

Easter reflects that life which prevails.

That death and crucifixionis only one station

on our way to resurrection.

- As we read in John's gospel, chapter 19,

not far from where Jesus wascrucified there was a garden,

and in the garden there was a tomb,

and we read, therefore,that Jesus was crucified

for our sins, to takeaway the sin of the world

and that he rose again on the third day.

And this is a message of hopethat we can give to the world,

the message of the gospel stays the same,

and that message that theGarden Tomb has proclaimed

for 126 years, that Jesusdied, that Jesus was buried,

and that Jesus rose again for everyone

who's listening to this messagetoday and the whole world.

(graphics whir)

- Here in Israel, the governmentis cautiously optimistic

they can lift some of theCoronavirus restrictions,

yet travel between citiesis still restricted,

and the government willalso require everyone

to wear a protective mask in public.

Israel also says it hasa COVID-19 exit plan

to gradually lift restrictions

as long as infection ratesremain under control.

So far, more than 10,000Israelis have tested positive

for the Coronavirus,

and, sadly, more than 80 people have died.

As COVID-19 forces the worldto think out of the box,

people are taking on rolesthey've never imagined.

The CBN Middle Eastcorrespondent, Julie Stahl,

shows us that includesIsrael's Defense Forces.

- [Julie] From high tech warfareagainst rockets from Gaza

and Hezbollah tunnels to cyber security

and troops on the ground,

the Israel Defense Forces is cutting edge.

Now, due to COVID-19, theIDF has expanded its mission.

- A key part of the national situation

is to provide information,

so there are call centersthat have been manned by IDF

personnel together with Magen David Adom

and with the Ministry ofHealth and other officials.

- [Julie] Lieutenant ColonelJonathan Conricus says

while it's early in the process,

the IDF is rolling with the changes.

- It's really an overall effort,

with different parts of theIDF, the logistic teams,

the medical corps, andeven technological units

that are providing novel adaptations

to existing technologies, for instance,

adapting differentventilators to hospital use.

- [Julie] And there's more.

- Another effort that we are a part of,

again, through the home front command,

which is part of theIDF is to refit hotels

as makeshift hospitalsor centers for quarantine

and treatment of thosesuffering from mild symptoms.

- [Julie] Another mission isto help the elderly, needy,

and at risk populations.

- IDF soldiers are going door to door,

providing food, medicineand any other services

as an assistance needed tovarious parts of Israel,

different low income neighborhoods

and the elderly and peoplewho need that assistance.

- [Julie] One of those soldiers

is Sergeant Roni Korenin the home front command

search and rescue unit.

- I think everyone's havinga really hard time right now,

and at the end of the day,

we're the people who are hereto help the people of Israel.

- [Julie] The IDF isproviding both prepared meals

and boxes of groceries to those in need.

- Every house I've been to,everyone who comes up to us,

everyone who opens the dooris always happy to see us,

and I think it's anamazing thing to be doing,

to be able to help thesepeople who have it even harder

during these times.

- [Julie] Koren says eventhough times are tough,

that shouldn't stoppeople from reaching out.

- There is an opportunityin seeing the good in this

and trying to help, because I feel like

at the end of the day, eventhough we're socially distanced,

we're here for one another.

I think during these hardtimes we shouldn't take

social distancing ourselvesand not wanting to help.

- [Julie] In additionto the humanitarian aid,

the IDF has also stepped into help the Israeli police

enforce the lockdown,

but Conricus says the IDF'sfirst mission remains the same.

- First, continue todefend the state of Israel.

None of our enemies have dissolved,

and they will continue totry to kill Israeli civilians

the day after they finish reeling

from the results of the virus.

As such, we need to standguard along our borders, 24-7,

and that is what we are doing,

and that is priority number one.

- [Julie] Julie Stahl,CBN News, Jerusalem.

(upbeat music)

- [Chris] Up next,resurrection, fact or fiction?

CBN's Paul Strand takes a look.

- [Patrick] I spent many years here.

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(dramatic music)(wind whirring)

(upbeat music)

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between Passover andEaster in CBN's free guide,

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Enrich your celebrationof Easter this year

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Watch Christian WorldNews, Saturday at 5 p.m.

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(upbeat music)

- Skeptics have refuted theresurrection of Jesus Christ

ever since that first Easter morning.

CBN's Paul Strand brings us this report

about how some are takingon today's skeptics.

(graphics whir)

- Christianity's powerall hinges on the fact

of the resurrection, butdetractors for centuries

have come up withscenarios to explain away

the reality of the resurrection.

One is the wrong tomb theory.

Everyone just went to thewrong tomb, an empty one,

and assumed Christ had resurrected.

Indiana doctor, Joseph Bergeron,

studied the crucifixion of Christ

and it's aftermath for 10 years.

- Going to a wrong tomband finding it empty

doesn't present to anybody'smind that the person

resurrected from the dead.

- [Paul] Alex McFarland isanother top defender of the faith

at events like Bible campsand apologetics conferences.

He points out another well known fact.

- Pilot had dispatched acadre of Roman soldiers

to guard the tomb.

- So everybody knew where it was.

- [Paul] There's also the swoon theory

that wants you to believeinstead of dying on the cross,

Jesus only passed out,

woke up in the tomb acouple of days later,

rolled away the huge stone, and escaped.

McFarland says, "Impossible."

- Christ has been atleast two to three days

without food or water, dehydrated.

He was beaten severely,a huge loss of blood,

nailed to the cross.

- [Paul] And if the alwaysfatal crucifixion process

hadn't already killed him,Roman soldiers made sure.

- They plunged a spear into his chest

because to allow any possibility

that he would survive the crucifixion,

would mean that they would die themselves.

- [Paul] McFarland explainsthe swoon theorists

then present this unlikely scenario.

- He revived himself, hemoves a two and a half

to three ton stone, heovercomes a dozen Roman soldiers

in peak physical condition--

- [Paul] McFarland alsosees a moral problem

with what the swoon theoristswant you to believe.

- He told his disciples he had risen,

and he allowed them to goforth and preach what was false

and die for what really wasn't true.

This compromises themoral righteous nature

of the person, Jesus.

- [Paul] The stolen body theory proposes

that the very disciples who fled in terror

after the crucifixion then risked death

to steal Christ's body from the tomb

and then made up thewhole resurrection story.

- They sufficiently regatherand summon up enough bravery

to overcome Roman soldiers.

This could've been at best arrest,

if not execution and death.

They move the stone, theytake away the body of Jesus.

They say He's risen.

- [Paul] But thatwould've been the opposite

of Jesus' life and teaching.

- Everything he's all about ispredicated on righteousness,

virtue, truth, holiness.

Here is truth personified, andthey built a gospel on a lie?

It just doesn't make sense.

- [Paul] And all butone of those disciples

was put to death for this gospel.

- People sometimes will diefor some misguided belief

that they have.

Nobody dies for a hoax.

- One popular idea is thateveryone who saw Jesus alive

after his death was just hallucinating.

Bergeron points out, though,in the rare documented cases

of group hallucinations, theyall see different things.

- None of them experiencethe same exact thing--

- [Paul] Because it's all in their mind.

McFarland points out the risenChrist appeared several times

and interacted with hundreds of people,

as recorded in First Corinthians 15.

- Paul says he was seen byup to 500 brethren at once.

- Hallucination hypothesescan never explain

the group appearances,

the group experiences thedisciples had with Jesus.

- Hallucinations are not contagious.

Hallucinations generally don'tappear in different places

to different groups of people.

You generally can't talk andconverse with an hallucination

and you certain can't eatwith an hallucination.

- [Paul] So why not justbelieve in what the Son of God

promised he'd do, resurrection?

- His identity, message,credentials were validated

by the fact that he didwhat none of us could do

under our own power.

He rose from the dead.

- I'm more convinced thatwhat we believe as Christians

is true and accuratethan I ever have been.

- Like so many othersacross the millennia,

Bergeron contends the best explanation

for why Jesus wasn't inthat tomb Easter morning

is what Christ's discipleshave always said.

He came alive and rose from it.

Paul Strand, CBN News,reporting from Indiana.

(graphics whir)

- Here's one US church thattook the Easter message

to new heights.

Take a look.

- Just follow the E.

- [George] Some directed traffic.

- Back up, back up, backup, and you're good!

- [George] Others linedup each car just right

as members of 12 Virginiachurches rolled up

with their masks on and maintainingstrict social distancing

guidelines to send theworld an Easter message.

- In the middle of thispandemic, there's hope

that there is strength

and that we will make it through this

because He has risen, so will we.

- [George] On a stretchof road in Chesapeake,

dozens of cars lined up tospell the words "He is risen."

- I think with as muchdesperation and anxiety

going on in the world at this time,

people are looking for hope,

and it's a great opportunityfor us to get out there

and love our neighbors and sharethe love of Jesus with 'em.

- [George] As theemotional and physical toll

of the COVID-19 outbreak rises,

folks here want their fellowAmericans not to lose heart.

- God is with us.

That same Spirit thatraised Jesus from the dead

is with us in this really terrible time.

- [George] Pastor Bob Foxorganized the event to encourage

congregations to reach a hurting world

during times of uncertainty.

- This is an opportunityfor us to go forward,

not just to be passive andjust try to wait it out,

but to really listen to the Lord.

The Lord wants to use thistime to take the church

to new levels of expressing the gospel.

- [George] And it's happening.

Research shows a hugespike in online searches

relating to faith, God, and the Bible

since the viral outbreak started.

- We've seen big uptakes in searches

around fear and anxiety.

We've also seen record levelsof people sharing Scripture.

- [George] Fox says whilethis event is a symbolic

gesture of unity--

- And also just to get out,

take the gospel outside the walls,

since we can't get in the walls,

we have to take it outside the walls.

- As the Coronavirus pandemiccontinues to bear down

across the globe,

the drivers of these 49 cars are hoping

that the words "He isrisen" will bring hope

in the midst of thishistoric season of fear,

anxiety, and widespread isolation.

George Thomas, CBN News,Chesapeake, Virginia.

(upbeat music)

- [Chris] Coming up, a lot at the palace

where some archeologistssay Pilot judged Jesus.

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(upbeat music)

- Just before he was crucified,

Pontius Pilate and KingHerod confronted Jesus.

As John Waage reportsfrom several years ago,

archeologists discovered thepalace where they believe

it all took place.

- At the western edge of The Old City,

the Tower of David stands above the walls.

16 years ago, archeologistsfound a building

while working on theTower of David Museum.

Records on its walls go backeven before the time of Jesus

and the Roman governor whosentenced him to the cross,

Pontius Pilate.

For years, experts suggestedthat Pilate handed down

his death sentence from Antonia's Fortress

on the other side of the city

where the Roman soldiers were housed,

but recent evidenceuncovered here at the site of

King Herod's palace indicatesthat the luxury loving Pilate

was more likely to havepronounced judgment here.

Archeologist Amit Re'em helped discover

the palace site in 1999.

He's familiar with thehistory on these walls

from Herod's time until theBritish put a prison on it

in the 1940s.

- Until now, those impressivewalls are the only remains

from Herod's palace.

We do not know what happenedto the super structures,

to the palace itself.

Maybe it was destroyed in the big revolt.

Maybe it was destroyed by the Romans.

Maybe it was destroyed by theCrusaders or the Ottomans.

- We don't know exactlywhere Jesus was tried,

where he had his interviewbefore Pontius Pilate,

but we know it's somewherein Herod's palace.

- [John] David Pileggi ispastor of Christ Church,

just steps away from the site.

- We know that thepalace of Herod the Great

eventually became Romanproperty after Herod's death

and that every year,Pontius Pilate would come

from Caesarea to Jerusalem hereduring the time of Passover

to oversee the security of the city

during the festival that the Jews called

The Feast of Freedom,

and it was at this time where

if there was going tobe trouble in Jerusalem

it would be during the Passover holiday.

- [John] Pileggi says that in a way,

the Tower of David encompasses

the entire life story of Jesus.

- The scholars had beensaying for half a century

that the life of Jesusbegins at the Tower of David

or what was then Herod's palace.

That's when the magicome to visit King Herod.

And his life ends, basically,

when Pontius Pilate sentences him to death

pretty much in the same location.

So there's some veryinteresting irony in this story.

- [John] Israeliarcheologist, Renee Sivan,

is still struck by its power and opulence,

even though she helped begin the digging.

- Jerusalem is like an onion.

You peel it, peel it,peel it and it never ends,

but then you cry a bit but not too much.

That is what happens here.

- Pileggi calls the Towerof David the best museum

in the city and saystourists would do well

to start their journey here.

- Now, we have the extrabonus of having the very place

where Jesus was sent toexecution by Pontius Pilate,

and this will helpChristians better visualize

those monumentous events thathappened to Jesus the Messiah,

Jesus of Nazareth, in thelast week of his life.

- [John] And just a couple of miles away,

the Mount of Olives,

where Scripture says, He'll come again.

John Waage, CBN News, Jerusalem.

- The story of Herod's palace is just one

of the many stories we're putting online

so you can have a dailyvirtual tour of Israel

during this Coronavirus pandemic.

If you'd like to see thisand more stories like it,

you can go to CBNNews.com.

(upbeat music)

Still ahead, CBN helps Israelisduring the COVID-19 crisis

and resurrection morningin The Garden Tomb.

- [Narrator] Christiansaround the world are standing

with the Israelis, but why?

In CBN's free magazine, "Friendsof Israel", you'll discover

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(upbeat music)

- COVID-19 has had a devastatingimpact on Israeli families

just struggling to make endsmeet in the best of times.

That's where CBN Israel came in to help.

Take a look.

(graphics whir)

- Hello, everybody, we areon the way to the north

to give coupons for people.

They are stuck at homeand they don't have food.

Everyday we are tryingto go to other places.

Today, we are on the way to Haifa.

- I wanted to thank you so muchfor your heart warming gift.

This was so special.

(woman speaking in foreign language)

(family speaking in foreign language)

(woman speaking in foreign language)

(family speaking in foreign language)

- Thank you.

- Another day of helping the people.

(graphics whir)

- As we've seen, thisyear's celebration of Easter

around the world will be fardifferent than any other.

That's why CBN produceda special Easter service

from Jerusalem's Garden Tomb,

the place where many believeJesus Christ was buried

and then rose from the dead.

It will include worship,Scripture readings,

and a message highlightingthe true meaning

of the resurrection of Jesus.

It will be broadcast multiple times,

beginning at 7 a.m. Israeltime on our Facebook page.

It will also air at 6 a.m. East Coast time

on the CBN News Channel and be rebroadcast

throughout the day.

You can log ontoCBN.com/Easter to check out all

our Resurrection Day resources.

Well, that's all for thisedition of Jerusalem Dateline.

Thanks for joining us.

Remember to pray for thoseaffected by the Coronavirus

around the world.

And see how you can bea help to those in need.

Remember, you can followus on Facebook, Twitter,

Instagram, and YouTube.

I'm Chris Mitchell.

We'll see you next timeon Jerusalem Dateline.

And as they say on Resurrection Day,

He is risen.

He is risen indeed.

(upbeat music)