Some Detroit Faith Leaders Condemn 11-11-11 Christian Prayer Event

Friday, November 11th, 2011 is an unusual day.  So unusual, in fact, that it occurs only once every 100 years. While some people are planning to mark the triple convergence of 11's with a splash, hoping it will bring them good fortune, others are planning to rid Detroit of demons – Muslim "demons," that is.

As The Blaze previously reported, Evangelical group known as "The Call," headed by Lou Engle, is planning a prayer rally at Ford Field in Detroit on November 11^th, with the goal of uplifting the city of Detroit, “a microcosm of our national crisis,” as Engle describes it.

Engle believes Detroit is “God’s staging ground for healing and prayer,” capable of producing “a prayer that can change the nation.”  He points out that Detroit is rife with “economic collapse, racial tension, the rising tide of the Islamic movement, and the shedding of our children’s innocent blood on the streets and yet unborn.”

Some leaders of Detroit’s Christian and Muslim communities, however, have expressed concern about the real aim of the planned rally. They believe The Call’s leaders frequently “demonize Islam and promote ‘Dominionist’ theology, which advocates a takeover of government, media and business by conservative Christians.”

And the Council for Islamic Relations (CAIR) is calling on mosques across the Detroit area to beef up security in preparation for the event.

To counter the planned rally, local leaders gathered Thursday afternoon in Detroit’s Grand Circus Park to promote an alternative event “for people of faith to pray for Detroit in an inclusive, non-political way,” and to denounce Lou Engle’s rally at Ford Field as “un-Christian, “un-American,” and “idolatrous.”

Critics of Engle point to his intentions of converting “Muslims to Christianity before they turn Michigan into an Islamic state,” as cause for concern.  Indeed Engle has alienated many potential sympathizers with statements such as this:

“At 11-11-11 the Lord just clearly showed to us, you got to pray all night long because it’s when the Muslims sleep and all over the world right now Muslims in the night are having dreams of Jesus, we believe that God wants to invade with His love Dearborn with dreams of Jesus.  We’re gathering together to say God, pour out your grace and revelations of Jesus all over Dearborn and the Muslim communities of North and South America.”

An additional element of controversy surfaced when several of Detroit’s most prominent African-American pastors agreed to support and join Engle’s rally.  Other pastors came to their defense, however, indicating that they were tricked into believing this was a “nice, goody-goody event and we’re going to sing kumbaya.”

On Friday, 11/11/11, the day of "reckoning," all shall be revealed, or so Engle says: