War Clouds Gather in the Gulf, Christian Media Provides Extensive Coverage of Evangelical Delegation Visit to Saudi Arabia

After speaking with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), President Trump says US forces in the Gulf are “locked and loaded,” strongly suggesting he may order retaliatory military strikes against Iran, possibly within the week.

All eyes are once again on the Middle East, yet the US media has largely ignored a group of American faith leaders who met with MBS and have direct knowledge of how he views Iran and the state of the US-Saudi alliance.

Here’s a roundup of the media coverage of our meetings in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — including our two-hour meeting with the Crown Prince — which occurred just days before the horrific cruise missile and drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities that have brought the region, once again, to the brink of war.

With the notable exception of the Associated Press, the trip received rather little original coverage in the U.S. However, the story was front-page news in the Arab world. Israeli and Christian media also covered it extensively.

Particularly historic was that the Christian Broadcasting Network was granted exclusive and extensive access not only to enter the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the first time ever. Correspondent Chris Mitchell was able to cover a wide range of stories —including the missiles attacks — in addition to our Delegation’s activities. Last year, when we made our first trip into the Kingdom, CBN News was denied permission to join us.

In the days ahead, I’ll provide more inside reporting and analysis from the Kingdom — my own and from others on our team — but I thought this roundup might be the best place to start. (To read our initial press release, please click here.)

In the meantime, please pray faithfully for the President, his national security team, the Crown Prince and other regional leaders to know how best to respond to the latest acts of war by Iran. No one but the mullahs in Tehran  want a war, but it may come anyway.

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CHRISTIAN MEDIA COVERAGE

• Evangelical Leaders See the Untold Story of Saudi Arabia in ‘Historic’ Trip (Christian Broadcasting Network)
• US evangelical leaders held meeting with Saudi crown prince on eve of 9/11 (The Christian Post)

INTERNATIONAL COVERAGE

• US Christian evangelical delegation meets Saudi crown prince (Associated Press)
• Saudi crown prince hosts Christian evangelicals (Agence France Presse)

ISRAELI COVERAGE

• US-Israeli Christian leader discusses peace process with Saudi crown prince (Times of Israel)
• Saudi Arabia’s MBS Hosts Delegation of U.S. Evangelical Leaders on Eve of 9/11 Anniversary: U.S.-Israeli leading visit urges lawmakers to ‘see the reforms the crown prince is making’ as the Kingdom attempts to improve its image post-Khashoggi’s murder (Haaretz)
• Saudi crown prince meets US Christian Zionist leaders in Jiddah: For the crown prince and other Arab leaders, meetings such as this offer an opportunity to strengthen ties with the Trump administration through his evangelical base of supporters. For the evangelical visitors, it is an opportunity for inter-religious dialogue and to push for greater Arab support for Israel. (Israel Hayom)

ARAB REGIONAL COVERAGE

• Crown Prince discusses coexistence, tolerance with Evangelical Christian delegation (Saudi Gazette)
• Muslim World League, evangelicals discuss ways to promote coexistence (Arab News)
• Evangelical Christian leaders visit NEOM, Saudi province of the fun (Arab News)
• Saudi Crown Prince receives Christian-Evangelical Leaders (Asharq Al-Awsat, Arab satellite TV news)
• Saudi crown prince hosts evangelicals (Kuwait Times)

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