
group organized a march in downtown St. Louis Sunday, during which nearly 1,000
people walked several blocks to the Mississippi River to pray for an hour under
the city’s famous Gateway Arch monument.
and political activist demonstration” that stressed the solidarity of the
international Judeo-Christian community with the nation and people of Israel.
of the Tennessee-based Messianic Israel Alliance, which sponsored the event.
“[But] today, millions of Christians have embraced their identity as brothers to
the Jews and part of Israel.”
since international Jewish-Christian relations have historically been strained
over matters such as Christian proselytizing. But organizers said the agenda of
the march was purely prayer.
focus on what we have in common rather than what divides us,” John Diffenderfer,
Messianic Israel Alliance spokesman, told Charisma.
it was primarily … an ecumenical event. We weren’t out to convert
anybody.”
over the divisions that have existed among various ethnic groups through the
years, as well as between Jews and Christians.
Caucasian communities participated in praying as well as Jews and Christians
from as far away as South Africa, Australia and Mexico. “We repented for the
generations and for all that has gone wrong over the centuries—the last 2,000
years, really,” Diffenderfer said. “We humbled ourselves so that … God [could]
provide unity.”
also held special significance. “The arch is symbolic in that it signified the
westward expansion of civilization,” Wootten said. “Biblical prophecy states
that the people of God will return to the land of Israel from the West. We
[marched] east, toward Israel and through the Gateway Arch, to indicate our
impending return.” —Paul Steven Ghiringhelli