When my wife and I toured Israel in 1966, we prayed wherever we wished. But now it is quite different for both Jews and Gentiles, except controlling Islamics.
Jews are planning a tour around the Temple Mount gates.
Muslims dictate that Jews making the tour cannot make any attempt to pray. No prayers. Absolutely no prayers.
One would think the Jews were making the tour with rifles. Or bombs. Or machetes.
No. Muslims prohibit Jews walking around the sacred area to offer any words to Jehovah. No nod of the head heavenward. No lips moving as in petition or praise. Over and out.
Prayer then must be quite powerful just as the Bible states: "The effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous avails much." So even the enemy admits the might in prayer to the God of Scripture. Prayer's dynamic is so moving that it is emphatically negated.
Muslims have told tour planners that those taking the walk cannot number more than 15. They cannot sit on stools while listening to any guides' explanations. All must appear totally secular at all times. No prayers.
Muslims despise Jews going near the Temple Mount, the place where Abraham was willing to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. God prohibited that happening for God will not tolerate human sacrifice. However, the Lord wanted to test Abraham's obedience, hence the divine command.
That area is where the father of the faithful, Abraham, followed God's command to the letter. Since then believers have taken to heart God's call to obedience. God stated in Scripture that he desires obedience rather than sacrifice.
But now when Jews yearn to pray while touring the gates, they must obey Muslims rather than Jehovah. Yet Muslims' deity is the antithesis to the biblical deity. The Koran's Allah demands slaughtering all non-Muslims. Allah demands the horrific, dreaded sharia for so-called societal justice.
Biblical Christians know that peace will not come to the Temple Mount or all of Israel until Christ returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Christ, the Prince of Peace, will usher in a millennium of holiness on Earth.
Christ, leaving the right hand of God the Father, will descend through space with a host of angels and the redeemed of all time. He will speak the word to win the Battle of Armageddon waged in the Valley of Megiddo.
Christ's first stop on the planet will be at the Temple Mount. His two feet will touch it, splitting it in half, signifying the start of His mighty reign on His rightful turf. Christ created the planet; Christ will then rule on His planet.
Until then such strife as is going on concerning this Temple Mount gates tour will continue.
Read: No Prayer Permitted on Temple Mount Gates Tour
J. Grant Swank Jr.
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Read: http://jgrantswankjr.blogspot.com/
