Zacharias asked a question about suicide bombing but did not like the answer. So Zacharias told the Sheikh that on a hill not far from where they were meeting, 5,000 years ago Abraham prepared to offer his son as a sacrifice to God.

“God stopped his hand,” Zacharias told the Sheikh, pointing out that God told Abraham, “I myself will provide.”

Then Zacharias told the Sheikh about another hill, “very close to here,” where 2,000 years ago God took his own Son, and “this time the axe did not stop.”

“Until you and I receive the Son that God has provided for us, you and I will be offering our sons and daughters on the battlefields of this world for many of the wrong reasons,” he said.

The National Prayer Breakfast has grown so large that organizers were forced to find a hotel this year since no venue on Parliament Hill was large enough to accommodate the more than 800 attendees from across Canada. This was the 44th prayer breakfast.

The event featured music by Alberta-based recording artist Paul Brandt and Scripture readings by International Trade Minister Stockwell Day; Opposition Leader Michael Ignatieff; NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Quebecois MP Robert Bouchard.

Zacharias warned without accountability to God, our relationships with each other will deteriorate.

“We must learn to be charitable even in our disagreements,” he said.