Oct. 7 attack: Christians in U.S. hold prayer vigils; honored God’s mandate to bless Israel
Included also in this news feature, how Americans and their officials are divided over the Hamas-Israel war, a war initiated by a terrorist group named Hamas.
By James Kokulo Fasuekoi|Editor-Publisher|editor@globalekklesia.com
Christians and churches in the Midwestern United States finally ended a prayer vigil here, two weeks ago, for Israel that they had been keeping since the October 7 deadly Hamas terrorist group’s attacks on the Jewish nation.
During a weeklong vigil, some worshippers went into fasting, and cried out to God so He could let Israel prevail over her attackers, the notorious terrorist Hamas group.
They at the sametime prayed for the restoration of calm and peace to the entire region.
Christians also prayed for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages including women and children, who had been kidnapped and reportedly tortured, by the group in its recent unprovoked and surprised invasion of the state.
The move, according to some church leaders, was in response to what they described as God’s own mandate given to everyone to bless Israel (and not curse it) found in Gen. 12:3: “And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.”
On October 7, 2023, jihadists of Hamas based in Gaza, brought pains and deaths to the doorsteps of Israel, indiscriminately pounding towns and villages with rockets on the Israeli side of the border. Over a thousand Israelis as well as foreigners, among them Americans, died, and more than 200 kidnapped, still remained unaccounted for.
At one of the prayer-watches staged in the state of Minnesota and organized by the Ebenezer Community Church in Brooklyn Park, Minn., believers braced the cold weather, joining together and interceding on behalf of the people of Israel and all of those kidnapped.
“Our [Christian] Faith is at stake, due to the war!” said one of the women who led fellow believers in prayer on Friday night, October 27, at the Ebenezer Community Church. The entire sanctuary including the pulpit was adorned with flags of Israel.
“May God give them [IDF] wisdom to fight against their enemies,” said another woman-pastor, dressed in colorful African garb who took the stage.
Once a visitor to Israel, she began by giving a graphic picture of some towns along the Israel-Palestine border-being occupied by people of both sides-now considered to be “hot spots” in the ongoing war.
In addition, she observed, thousands of Palestinians cross to the Israel side daily to work and go back home, a situation she recalled, which makes things quite challenging for the people.
“Go tell pharaoh, Israel must go!,” shouted the third speaker, an immigrant male pastor. The audience soon turned the declaration into a song that reverberated across the huge auditorium and with chants of “Go tell pharaoh let Israel go!”
“It’s a mandate given to us by God to pray for Israel,” he proclaimed amid sighs, before the high-spirited gathering.
Prayers were offered for God’s help to lead Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his army in their “decision-making” process as they fight to protect their homeland against any further invasion.
Meanwhile, since Israel launched its counter-offensive against her “attackers,” there have been heavy bursts of demonstration in the U.S. by pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups, in cities squares and on college campuses, thus raising a safety issue, especially for Jewish people.
Some US officials have likened it (Oct. 7 attack) to the “9/11” attack on the United States in 2001, carried out by Middle Eastern jihadists which left thousands of Americans dead in a single day on US soil in peacetime.
Also, the latest protests by supporters of the Hamas jihadist movement have brought into question the true definition of “freedom” with respect to “peaceful assemblies” and “free speech” and how much should be allowed, especially at the heart of such terroristic attacks as were 9/11 and Oct.7.
For some observers, recent tensions seen in US cities and on college campuses didn’t come in a vacuum. Some think this was exacerbated by anti-Israel rhetoric from pro-Palestine-Hamas supporters, living in the US-they include congressional officials who seek to achieve political scores.
Rep. Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (Minnesota’s 5th congressional district) for instance, does not pretend about her hatred for Israel, has been taunted in the past by even some of her followers/supporters for her alleged anti-Israel rhetoric, with some asking her to “Go back to Somalia!”
A Muslim by faith, her stance against the Jewish state-in most cases, showing endorsement for anti-Israel-government protests inside Israel and constant opposition to official White House visits by Israeli government officials, has earned her resentment on social media, particularly Twitter, now “X.”
It is in such light that Rep. Omar’s recent reaction condemning Hamas’ attack on Israel was taken by many of her followers with a grain of salt because they think it may have been a smokescreen to cover up for her suspected prejudice against Israel.
The former Thomas Edison High School grad, now author and congresswoman, hails from war-ravaged Mogadishu, Somalia, from where she fled together with her family, landing in the United States, decades ago.
According to Wikipedia.org, the former North Dakota State University graduate has been married three times within a twelve-year period and divorced twice.
The Hamas-Israel War several weeks ago drew sharp criticisms from leading Republican U.S. politicians, among them ex-President Donal Trump, VP Mike Pence, and Nikki Haley, former US ambassador to the United Nations.
During a Republican Jewish forum in Las Vegas recently, all three took turns trashing the “Joe Biden Administration” and calling it “weak.”
Each spoke strongly regarding the need for the U.S. to develop counter-terrorism plans aimed at acting decisively in protecting America. They vowed to take action against people protesting in support of “terrorists” under the guise of exercising freedom in the U.S.
Trump called the war a “fight between civilization and savagery, between decency and depravity, and between good and evil.” His comments were greeted by rousing applause from his supporters at the forum beamed live by Fox TV News.
“Those who shout DEATH TO ISRAEL are the same people who shout DEATH TO AMERICA,” the boisterous former US president warned, adding, he would cut off such [anti-Israel] activities if elected for a second term.
Ex-VP Mike Pence who used the occasion to announce his withdrawal from the Republican primary race, stressed the urgent need for the Fed and state authorities to consider defunding any U.S. university or college that allows antisemitic demonstrations on its campus.
Nikki Haley agreed with both Pence’s and Trump’s positions on those recent statewide “protests” which she says appear to support “terroristic acts” that result in deaths of innocent people.
“College campuses,” she maintained, “are allowed to have free speech but they are not free to spread hate that supports terrorism.”
Banner photograph shows a youth from the ECC rendering music during the recent October 27th prayer vigil. All photographs by James Fasuekoi.