By Hosea Parah, Abuja
Christians, performing this year’s pilgrimage in the Holyland of Jordan have been called upon to uphold the country in prayers for its continued progress and development.
The acting Director, of the Christian Pilgrim Welfare Board, CPWB, Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, Mrs. Rahila Baita made the call while addressing the fourth batch of the FCT pilgrims at Mount Nebo.
She said, there’s hope for the country stressing the importance of this year’s pilgrimage as a veritable tool in national integration and cohesion despite the challenges bedeviling the country.
The exercise being put together by the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission, NCPC, Abuja, under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Yakubu Pam is the fourth in the series of Christian pilgrimages to Jordan.
The Christian pilgrims from FCT, Lagos, Imo, Bayelsa, and Port Highcourt visited two major biblical sites Saturday in continuation of their spiritual exercise.
While at Mount Mukawir, Machaerus, a hilltop said to have been where John The Baptist was beheaded drew significant lessons for the Pilgrims who prayed fervently for God not to allow the joy of our enemies to be our downfall as individuals, the church, and the Nation.
Mount Mukawir is significant as it was regarded by Governor Josephus as the Palace of Herod Antipas who was the Roman-appointed ruler in the region during the ministry of Jesus Christ.
It was under his rulership that his daughter, Salome, danced the seven veils that pleased her father, King Herod who demanded that she place a request and it shall be given to her, which she demanded the head of John The Baptist under her mother’s influence.
At Mount Nebo, the next point of the visit, pilgrims prayed for the government in Nigeria at all levels to accomplish the purpose for which they had been elected and not to abandon the social contract agreement entered between them and the citizens.
The significance of the prayer was based on the history of Mount Nebo, where God showed His servant Moses the Promised Land but could not enter but died there and his grave is not found till today.
Located at the hilltop of Mount Nebo is the symbolic Serpentine cross sculpture (the Brazen Serpent Monument) which according to the biblical records in Numbers 21:49 Moses created to save the Israelites from snakebites.
The Serpentine Cross symbolizes Jesus’ Cross as recorded by the apostle John in John 3:14.