Unlock North Africa – Aussie prayer trip to Morocco 2007

Jonathan Gould

A new hope

Once a cradle of Christianity, North Africa was overrun by Muslim invaders in the 8th Century. This layer of history, although well established, represents just the latest imposition of culture upon the Berber tribes that originally inhabited these lands. The region, known as the Maghreb, stretches from Morocco to Libya and is a brotherhood of nations based on their common heritage.

In October a team organised by the Australian Prayer Network (APN) led by Ben Gray embarked upon a two week prayer mission to Morocco. This was the first of a five year campaign to visit all the countries of North Africa. The team hailed from different parts of Australia yet shared the same goal, to call on God to move in this land. For some this was their first trip abroad, while others had travelled on numerous prayer journeys.

Highlights of the tour

• In Casablanca, they visited the second largest mosque in the world which was completed in 1993. It is built over the Atlantic Ocean, with a gigantic glass floor and can accommodate 25,000 worshippers inside and a further 80,000 in the courtyard. It was built upon the water because it is said that Allah’s throne is on the water. Also, it has the world’s tallest minaret at 210 metres.
  
• Near Rabat, the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco and home to the King, they visited a Christian Initiative that supports mentally handicapped children and their parents. The team were regaled with stories of how the new King Mohammed VI has made many positive changes. Significantly, in his first TV address he was flanked by two handicapped children (seen as the lowest in society) and urged the nation to do all that they could to help each other. Tackling poverty and developing the country’s economy are top priorities, as well as resolving the 32 year-old violent conflict with its neighbour Algeria over the Western Sahara province.
  
• At Meknes, the spiritual heart of the nation, the Aussies stood on a rubbish strewn hillside downwind from fresh human excrement to call on our Father in heaven to look down upon our hopeless condition and save this city. Later that day, amongst the Roman ruins at Volubilis, the team soberly reflected on the fleeting nature of mankind.
  
• In nearby Fez, the spiritual brains of the nation situated at a crossroads of Saharan and Atlantic/Mediterranean trade routes, the intercessors peered into one of the oldest Islamic universities in the world. They were made aware of the mixing of ‘true’ Islamic teaching and the worship of the dead that make this city a hallowed land for Sufism. Above the city, the team engaged in dynamic warfare praise against the strategies of bondage that emanated below.
  
• Passing through Oujda to the long closed border with Algeria, a couple of leaders chatted with the border guards and plain clothes ‘administrators’ about the amazing Eucalypt specimens throughout the length of the country. The officials seemed confused when told the gum trees had originated in Australia or it could have been vexing them, “Why had a bunch of Australians travelled from the Atlantic Ocean to the eastern border, where no tourists would ever want to go?”
  
• “I will make a road where there is no road!” Two years previously when God spoke to Ben Gray about travelling along the coast road, it did not exist. The tour bus now sailed along the Mediterranean highway, recently laid to bring regeneration to these areas.
  
• The contrast between the Spanish territories (Melilla and Ceuta) and neighbouring Moroccan towns was stark. Entering ‘Spain’, the infrastructure was polished and complete and consumerism was king. Re-entering Morocco, there was litter everywhere and the land felt abandoned. These gateways into Europe are used to smuggle in tonnes of Moroccan hashish and South American cocaine. The corruption and control of the locals by drug barons is palpable in the nearby Moroccan towns, particularly Chefchaouen in the heart of the Rif Mountains. Here the group were allowed to pass through a locked door that protected the source of the river coming out of the rock. God thus enabled them to call on the Lord to purify this water and hear the cry of the poor/oppressed to re-establish the settlement under His order.
  
• In Cueta, the team felt inspired to pray for a call to establish worship with 24/7 prayer and were encouraged when they chanced upon the underground Roman basilica where the preserved bones of early Christians (circa. 200AD) lay in situ. Also, within Ceuta lay one of the Pillars of Hercules. Monte Hacho rises up steeply from sea level to form a natural fortress that offered fantastic views across to Gibraltar, the other ‘pillar’. This gateway to the Mediterranean/Atlantic was considered to be ‘the ends of the earth’ in antiquity (today Australia and the Pacific islands hold that honour).
  
• Also in Ceuta, some of the team discovered a monument to Franco (right-wing dictator) showing his footprints. He launched his military campaign from there. They prayed for justice and reconciliation.
  
• Sailing from Tangier, the team finished the tour in Gibraltar. As a British overseas territory, the ‘rock’ has a similar status to those of the Spanish enclaves in Morocco. There is political pressure to relinquish these territories. If Britain were to hand Gibraltar to Spain, the Spanish government would have no basis for holding onto Ceuta and Melilla. Prophetically, these settlements are like a ‘string of pearls’ around the Mediterranean and historically they have provided safe havens for Jews. Many commentators have spoken of the strategic spiritual importance of Gibraltar. Satan would like to break the ‘string’ here and cause all the ‘pearls’ to fall off.
  
• In the Gibraltar region (El Campo), Ben Gray was asked to address a group of church leaders who were conducting a period of 24/7 prayer. Earlier in the day during a time of ‘throne room’ worship at Europa Point, our Lord spoke through the team to an important local lady and confirmed some of her personal dreams (in one of these God had given her a key). “Worship was the key that would unlock the door, but it would not open it. Unity of believers was required to turn the handle!” One intercessor from outback Queensland, then shared how her prayer partner had seen a vision from God of a sunken ship that was sticking out of the water near a lighthouse and the promise He gave was for thousands of souls to be saved in this place. Looking out beyond the lighthouse, the picture was just as she described it. Everybody was greatly moved!