After Focus on the Family wised up and removed its "Pray for Rain" video (which I critiqued in a Religion Dispatches piece), Reverend Wiley Drake decided he would stand up and ask the heavens to open up and send the prank rain. Drake even used his title as "former 2nd Vice President of The Southern Baptist Convention," although his one-year in that mostly honorary office ended over a year ago. Drake, the man who led the Southern Baptist Convention to boycott Disney several years ago, is no stranger to controversy. He has been under fire for ties to the Unification Church and reportedly supporting a man who killed an abortion doctor, and was investigated by the IRS for endorsing Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on church letterhead. He is also Alan Keyes's running mate for the presidential ticket put forth by a faction of the American Independent Party of California. Now Drake is praying for God to literally rain on Barack Obama's parade. But, that is much better than Drake's "imprecatory prayer" request last year that called on Christians to pray that God would kill the leaders of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. So, maybe this prayer for rain is actually an improvement for Drake!
Copyright 2017, Brian Kaylor. All rights Reserved.
"Prayer Warriors"?
ReplyDelete"Imprecatory prayer"?
Dictionary definition of "Imprecatory":
Imprecatory
im·pre·cate (mpr-kt)
tr.v. im·pre·cat·ed, im·pre·cat·ing, im·pre·cates
To invoke evil upon; curse.
How does all this petty political behavior reconcile with the teachings of Jesus found in Mathhew 6:
5 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."
Stan: Thanks for offering a very good contrast between Drake's prayers and how Jesus told us to pray!
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