By Christine Darg
To mark the 50th anniversary of Jerusalem’s reunification, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin met with leaders from more than 200 Christian communities around the world as part of a delegation arranged by the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus (KCAC) and founders of the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast movement.
“The city of Jerusalem, which was once a divided city, is the same city where Jews and Arabs, religious and secular people, find the space to live together, to meet and get to know each other, to build a shared Jerusalem, together,” Rivlin told the Christian leaders.
“Jerusalem for me is a microcosm of our ability, to live together, Jews, Muslims, Christians. Jerusalem is holy to everyone of faith. And Israel is proud to stand by the right of everyone to worship God as they believe,” he said.
During the opening session of the two-day prayer “breakfast,” Member of Knesset Robert Ilatov, chairman of the KCAC, thanked the Christian leaders for showing their “support for Israel, your love for Jerusalem and your friendship with the Jewish people.”
Lars Adaktusson, a member of the European Parliament, said it is important to address the roots of anti-Israel bias—especially in Europe: “The European public for a long time has been living with the impression of Israel as the source of all problems, while the Palestinians have been represented by peace loving and trust worthy leaders, without any responsibility for violence or terror,” Adaktusson said, adding, “Israel is, as we all know, a society with freedom of speech, pluralism and the rule of law.”
At the breakfast this morning at Jerusalem’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, former U.S. Congressman Michelle Bachmann, rather than speaking her keynote address, prayed her message by talking to God about his purposes for Jerusalem in a public prayer for about 10 minutes. Michelle truly graduated today into being a preacher!
The Jerusalem Channel and Exploits Ministry have helped in previous years to coordinate five groundbreaking Christian Assemblies at the Knesset sponsored by the KCAC and now the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast has taken Israeli-Christian relations to a higher level and the People of the Book celebrate the God of Israel together! To God be the glory! Great things he has done and is doing and will do in the future!
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