Ever since Pastor Wiley Drake declared not once, but three times, on national radio that he was praying for the death of President Barack Obama, he has been trying to clarify.
Yes, he really does want God to smite Obama. No, it's not a partisan prayer. Yes, it's in the Bible, he says, and no, he wasn't kidding. He's deadly serious.
See whole news article
here.
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, said Shakespeare—and a curse by any other name is a curse. I honestly had never heard of “imprecatory prayer” until some Twitter friends brought Pastor Drake’s practice to my attention.
I am not speaking of the normal, less-than-angelic thoughts that some of us might have in traffic… Yes we’d love to be able to curse the guy who just cut us off with poor gas mileage or a flat tire sometimes—but none of us would think that this was “good”—let alone something to actually pray for divine assistance with! This is something that is a human failing I actually pray for—that I pray for forgiveness and help with my temper, not help with vengeance.
I am also not speaking of the normal, human response to watching a loved one’s life slowly ebbing. Sometimes people pray for death while watching someone slowly die of cancer, for example. This isn’t imprecatory prayer—it is a plea of the heart of compassion.
That said, can our prayers affect the length of someone’s life? Can we curse people with prayer? (I want to say that I absolutely think this is wrong and confess that my initial thought upon reading this article was a rather judgmental “how un-Christian” of him—but I wanted to ask what the angels had to say.)
Jesus said to bless those who curse you. There is nothing righteous or Biblical about this pastor’s hatred of the President or of the late Dr. Tiller. One can disagree with the policies of the current administration or disagree with abortion, without wishing ill upon particular people. And the concept of “imprecatory prayer” is a misguided attempt to justify hatred with the Bible.
The Psalms are beautiful poetry. In them, the full range of human emotion is expressed, from praise and wonder and thanksgiving to Psalms asking God to smite Israel’s enemies. Yet even the imprecatory Psalms are not about seeking the death of individuals in the vein of Psalmist-as-divine-adjudicator—they are more akin to people who are praying for the US troops in Iraq or for the Allies in World War II. Yes, people die in war—but it is not the people praying who are asking God to kill particular individuals—it is a more general prayer.
What you fill your mind and heart with, fills you. This pastor thinks far more about President Obama than most of the President’s most ardent supporters, even if he says it’s 2% of his time spent in prayer. This pastor raises his blood pressure and sends adrenaline and toxic chemicals into his body through hatred.
God is the God of love, of goodness, of truth, and neither God nor the angels in His service would answer a prayer of hatred by striking down the object of hatred. On the other hand, the praying person is praying for anger and for judgment and for retribution in his own life, and his life will reflect his own prayer. There is a reason for the Lord’s Prayer saying “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”—holding onto resentments is toxic.
Send blessings to people like this pastor and pray that you be able to easily forgive and let go of anger, that you are able to bless all… And even as you bless people like this, avoid them. There is no need to pollute your energy by associating with those who hate and curse and have those energies within and around them—particularly those who think of these things as righteous.***
To contact Sue to get angelic guidance, to contact your animal companions both here or beyond the veil, to schedule a shamanic healing session, or simply to say "hi" and give me some feedback on my blog,
please click here to email Sue. Please go to
http://budurl.com/grcn to follow my Twitter feed. My rates are in the "About Me, My Rates and What I Offer" section in the Links Section to the right of my page. Many blessings and thanks to you!
Posts
