Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem
Encyclopedia
The Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem is a prayer meeting organized by Pentecostal
evangelists Jack W. Hayford
and Robert Stearns through their organization "Eagles Wings". They annually invite people around the world to pray
for Jerusalem on the first Sunday of every October, close to the time of Yom Kippur
. The first prayer meeting organized by this group occurred in 2004.
Hayford and Stearns organize the primary meeting in Israel
. According to a CBN interview with Stearns, he believes that prayer meetings are important to combat various dangers to the Judeo-Christian worldview, such as Secular Humanism
and Radical Islam
, and he believes that Christians are especially obligated to support the State of Israel.
In 2004, 500 global Christian ministries representing 50 countries and 53,000 churches said prayers for peace in Jerusalem on the same day. The organization's goal in 2006 was to have over 100 million people in over 100 countries participate in prayer meetings.
The prayer meeting in Jerusalem in 2006 was held inside the gates of the Old City of Jerusalem and was attended by "hundreds of Christian lovers of Israel gathered with Jewish friends."
International denominations Assemblies of God
, and Elim Fellowship
took part in the 2006 prayer and support the annual prayers.
, the Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem was originally established in cooperation with Israel
's Ministry of Tourism, and the Christian Allies Caucus of the Knesset
.
The event is endorsed by chief rabbi
Yona Metzger
,former USSR Prisoner of Zion and Knesset Member Natan Sharansky
, chairman of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus
(KCAC), Yuri Shtern, and the Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, Yigal Amedi and the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus
. Other participants are Christian evangelists, authors and performers such as Joyce Meyer
, The Newsboys
, Bishop TD Jakes
, Michael W. Smith
,
and Kenneth Copeland
.
, a Jerusalem-based archaeological journal. As opposed to the more exclusively Evangelical Christian event, this event included more than 100 Christian and political leaders from a wide range of backgrounds and from around the world.
Hosted by Jerusalem Christian Review Managing Editor Dan Mazar, parts of the Global Prayer were also shown on the CNN
, CBS
, and ABC
television networks and almost 120 other television stations worldwide. The Prayer Link began from Los Angeles, California with a prayer from the former U.S. President, Ronald Reagan
: "I join my friends at the Jerusalem Christian Review... for this very special day. A day dedicated to prayer..." said the former US president and governor of the State of California. The "prayer link" also included prayers of political figures live by satellite from 5 continents. Leaders such as Jack Kemp
, Jeane Kirkpatrick
and numerous U.S. Senators, as well as former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke
all prayed for the "Peace of Jerusalem". Also included were Christian evangelists Billy Graham
, Pat Robertson
, Jerry Falwell
and James Dobson
, along with denominational leaders from Europe
, Africa
, South America
and Asia
.
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
evangelists Jack W. Hayford
Jack W. Hayford
Jack Williams Hayford is an American author, Pentecostal minister, and Chancellor of The King's University...
and Robert Stearns through their organization "Eagles Wings". They annually invite people around the world to pray
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
for Jerusalem on the first Sunday of every October, close to the time of Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
. The first prayer meeting organized by this group occurred in 2004.
Hayford and Stearns organize the primary meeting in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. According to a CBN interview with Stearns, he believes that prayer meetings are important to combat various dangers to the Judeo-Christian worldview, such as Secular Humanism
Secular humanism
Secular Humanism, alternatively known as Humanism , is a secular philosophy that embraces human reason, ethics, justice, and the search for human fulfillment...
and Radical Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, and he believes that Christians are especially obligated to support the State of Israel.
International Participation
According to "Jerusalem Newswire" a small independent Christian publication, organizers of the 2006 event claimed that they had scheduled prayer meetings to be held in 150,000 churches around the world. The coordinators scheduled for prayer meetings to be organized in 169 nations.)In 2004, 500 global Christian ministries representing 50 countries and 53,000 churches said prayers for peace in Jerusalem on the same day. The organization's goal in 2006 was to have over 100 million people in over 100 countries participate in prayer meetings.
The prayer meeting in Jerusalem in 2006 was held inside the gates of the Old City of Jerusalem and was attended by "hundreds of Christian lovers of Israel gathered with Jewish friends."
International denominations Assemblies of God
Assemblies of God
The Assemblies of God , officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 140 autonomous but loosely-associated national groupings of churches which together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination...
, and Elim Fellowship
Elim Fellowship
The Elim Fellowship is a North American based Pentecostal/charismatic Christian denomination that emphasizes the spread of revival and renewal.- History :...
took part in the 2006 prayer and support the annual prayers.
Endorsements
According to a press release issued by the Knesset Christian Allies CaucusKnesset Christian Allies Caucus
The Knesset Christian Allies Caucus is a caucus within the Israeli Knesset that seeks to build a direct line of communication, cooperation and coordination between the Knesset and Christian leaders around the world.*Josh Reinstein, Director...
, the Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem was originally established in cooperation with Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
's Ministry of Tourism, and the Christian Allies Caucus of the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
.
The event is endorsed by chief rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
Yona Metzger
Yona Metzger
Yona Metzger is the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. His counterpart is Rabbi Shlomo Amar, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel since their appointments in 2003.-Background:...
,former USSR Prisoner of Zion and Knesset Member Natan Sharansky
Natan Sharansky
Natan Sharansky was born in Stalino, Soviet Union on 20 January 1948 to a Jewish family. He graduated with a degree in applied mathematics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. As a child, he was a chess prodigy. He performed in simultaneous and blindfold displays, usually against...
, chairman of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus
Knesset Christian Allies Caucus
The Knesset Christian Allies Caucus is a caucus within the Israeli Knesset that seeks to build a direct line of communication, cooperation and coordination between the Knesset and Christian leaders around the world.*Josh Reinstein, Director...
(KCAC), Yuri Shtern, and the Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, Yigal Amedi and the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus
Knesset Christian Allies Caucus
The Knesset Christian Allies Caucus is a caucus within the Israeli Knesset that seeks to build a direct line of communication, cooperation and coordination between the Knesset and Christian leaders around the world.*Josh Reinstein, Director...
. Other participants are Christian evangelists, authors and performers such as Joyce Meyer
Joyce Meyer
Joyce Meyer is a Charismatic Christian author and speaker. Meyer and her husband Dave have four grown children, and live outside St. Louis, Missouri. Her ministry is headquartered in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri.-Early life:Meyer was born Pauline Joyce Hutchison in south St. Louis in...
, The Newsboys
, Bishop TD Jakes
T. D. Jakes
Thomas Dexter "T. D." Jakes Sr. is the chief pastor of The Potter's House, a non-denominational American megachurch, with 30,000 members, located in Dallas, Texas.T.D...
, Michael W. Smith
Michael W. Smith
Michael Whitaker Smith is a Billboard top ten Billboard Hot 100 recording artist and Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. He is one of the best-selling and most influential artists in Contemporary Christian music. Smith also has achieved a considerable amount of...
,
and Kenneth Copeland
Kenneth Copeland
Kenneth Copeland is an American author, public speaker, and televangelist. He is the founder of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, which preaches a “prosperity gospel”: "Prosperity gospel assures followers that the more they give including in the form of tithes to the church, the more they will receive...
.
First World Prayer for Peace from Jerusalem
The first globally publicized "link of prayer" for peace from Jerusalem was in June, 1993 organized by Dan Mazar's Jerusalem Christian ReviewJerusalem Christian Review
Jerusalem Christian Review is a newspaper for Christians published in Jerusalem, Israel.-Publishers:It was founded in April 1993 and reports on archaeological discoveries which shed light on the biblical narrative...
, a Jerusalem-based archaeological journal. As opposed to the more exclusively Evangelical Christian event, this event included more than 100 Christian and political leaders from a wide range of backgrounds and from around the world.
Hosted by Jerusalem Christian Review Managing Editor Dan Mazar, parts of the Global Prayer were also shown on the CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television networks and almost 120 other television stations worldwide. The Prayer Link began from Los Angeles, California with a prayer from the former U.S. President, Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
: "I join my friends at the Jerusalem Christian Review... for this very special day. A day dedicated to prayer..." said the former US president and governor of the State of California. The "prayer link" also included prayers of political figures live by satellite from 5 continents. Leaders such as Jack Kemp
Jack Kemp
Jack French Kemp was an American politician and a collegiate and professional football player. A Republican, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, having previously served nine terms as a congressman for Western New York's 31st...
, Jeane Kirkpatrick
Jeane Kirkpatrick
Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick was an American ambassador and an ardent anticommunist. After serving as Ronald Reagan's foreign policy adviser in his 1980 campaign and later in his Cabinet, the longtime Democrat-turned-Republican was nominated as the U.S...
and numerous U.S. Senators, as well as former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
all prayed for the "Peace of Jerusalem". Also included were Christian evangelists Billy Graham
Billy Graham
William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...
, Pat Robertson
Pat Robertson
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a media mogul, television evangelist, ex-Baptist minister and businessman who is politically aligned with the Christian Right in the United States....
, Jerry Falwell
Jerry Falwell
Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. was an evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and a conservative commentator from the United States. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia...
and James Dobson
James Dobson
James Clayton "Jim" Dobson, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder in 1977 of Focus on the Family , which he led until 2003. In the 1980s he was ranked as one of the most influential spokesman for conservative social positions in American public life...
, along with denominational leaders from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
.