Hat tip to Serendipty for this diary at My Left Wing alerting me to this story.
Each day, Rachel Paulose, the current US Attorney for Minnesota, and presumably countless other right wing Christians working for the Bush administration, say a little prayer before they begin their day. Well, that’s nice you might say. Nothing wrong with expressing your faith, and there’s certainly no law against prayer in America. Indeed, there can’t be under the First Amendment.
Nonetheless, now that we know 150 graduates of Pat Robertson’s Christian law school, Regent University, as well as numerous other self-proclaimed evangelical Christians, have received appointments to work in the Bush administration, I think it behooves us to see what exactly it is that these individuals hope to accomplish. What are their goals and ambitions for government service? That’s why it’s worth your time to take a look at that for which they are praying each day.
The prayer in question is called “The Prayer for America — Standing in the Gap for this Nation” and it is putatively based on Ezekiel 22:30:
(cont.)
And I sought for a man among them, that should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.
Ezekiel was a minor prophet, who assailed the wickedness of Israel. Indeed much of Chapter 22 of the book of Ezekiel is a rant (purportedly by the Lord God himself, as related to his prophet) against the alleged sins of the Israelites:
8Thou hast despised my holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths. 9Slanderous men have been in thee to shed blood; and in thee they have eaten upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they have committed lewdness. 10In thee have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness; in thee have they humbled her that was unclean in her impurity. 11And one hath committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. 12In thee have they taken bribes to shed blood; thou hast taken interest and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by oppression, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord Jehovah. 13Behold, therefore, I have smitten my hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee. 14Can thy heart endure, or can thy hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I, Jehovah, have spoken it, and will do it. 15And I will scatter thee among the nations, and disperse thee through the countries; and I will consume thy filthiness out of thee. 16And thou shalt be profaned in thyself, in the sight of the nations; and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah.
As you can see, God’s pretty pissed at his chosen people. They’re accused of just about every evil, immoral act imaginable. And God’s going to make them pay for their wickedness!
But it really isn’t important why Ezekiel expressed God’s anger towards people who lived over 2000 years ago. What is important is how fundamentalist Christians ensconced within the Bush administration view the prophecies of Ezekiel in light of America’s modern “secularized” society.
To make a long story short, they essentially interpret Ezekiel as a contemporary text, one that has meaning for America, not just for the ancient Judeans for whom the book of Ezekiel was written. They see the society around them as one which is as wicked and sinful as the Judea of Ezekiel’s time. They see themselves, true and faithful Christians, as the men and women who “stand in the gap” in order to oppose the wickedness of “secular humanists” and liberals, of gays and lesbians, of abortion providers and their patients, and of the “false religions” of all non-Christian believers. And that is why they offer up this prayer to their God each day. Read it carefully, for their beliefs and goals, which the prayer reveals, are frightening in their implications (all emphasis in bolded text is mine):
Father, we thank you for the mercy and grace that you have extended to this nation, though we have been a stiff-necked and rebellious people who have run after other gods. Being men-pleasers instead of God-pleasers, we have lusted after pleasures, money, fame and power. Sexual irresponsibility and perversion have polluted our nation, and the blood of the innocents cries out to You. Our sins have destroyed lives, dishonored You, and defiled our land. Though we deserve judgment, O Lord, you have given us mercy instead of wrath. Holy Spirit, move upon the Church in America with a spirit of conviction so that God’s people will humble themselves, and pray, and seek Your face, and turn from their wicked ways, so You can continue to turn this nation from destruction, forgive our sin, and heal our land. (2 Chronicles 7:14) Empower Your church to stand against the tide of evil and take this nation back for You. Father, re-establish justice as the measuring line and righteousness as the plumb line so that evil may be exposed and annulled. (Isaiah 28:17-18). May America once again be a nation that is exalted by righteousness (Prov. 14:34) and whose God is the Lord (Ps. 33:12).
Notice the similarities between what the Lord God, speaking through Ezekiel in Chapter 22, describes as the wickedness of Israel, and the list of sins in this prayer that are laid at the feet of America’s secular society. More significantly, note the call to empower them to “take this nation back” for their version of the Christian God, a God who they freely confess has the right to destroy America for its wickedness. What sort of America do they want to take us back to? One that never existed except in the minds of fantasists who have created a myth that America has always been a “Christian Nation” founded upon Christian principles and Biblical Law, a myth which the following portion of the prayer recites:
Lord, we bring You in remembrance of the blood of the martyrs upon this land — and of our godly heritage… Lord, remember the faith of our founding fathers, and their holy covenant with You for the dedication of this land to the glory of God and the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. O, Lord, do not forget or forsake this covenant, we pray. For IT IS WRITTEN: “The scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous.“ (Ps.125:3) For the sake of Your mighty Name, do not allow our enemies to triumph over us! Your Word says that when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him (Isaiah 59:17). Lord, we pray that You would raise a standard of repentance and righteousness across this land, so that the Redeemer will come to…those who turn from transgression (Isaiah 59:19-20). Uncap the wells of Revival and let them gush forth with rivers of living water across this land. — Lord, SEND YOUR RAIN! — Soften the hardness of our hearts so the seeds You have sown can bring forth the fruit of righteousness to Your backslidden Church. May the spirit of intercession and evangelism of Jonathan Edwards, Dwight L. Moody, and Charles Finney be released upon us once again.
I note for the record that when they recite the plea “… do not allow our enemies to triumph over us!“, they aren’t speaking of foreign enemies, such as Al Qaeda. They are speaking of you and me, people who are their fellow Americans, but who do not subscribe to their hateful, intolerant creed. We are the demons that stand in the way of their imagined righteous renewal of the true Christian faith in America. Let that sink in for a while.
We lift up President Bush and ask that you would fulfill his calling as a “burning bush” for this nation. Cause him to burn with holy passion for You, and passion to see this nation honor You as the only One Who can save us. – not politics or any institution of men.
We declare over America that the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our Lawgiver, and the LORD is our King – HE will save us!” (Isaiah 33:22). Will You not REVIVE us once again, that Your people may rejoice in You? (Psalm 85:6) Oh, do not remember the former iniquities against us!
Let Your tender mercies come speedily to meet us…
Help us, O God of our salvation…
For Your name’s sake!
Two things: first, the prayer makes clear that these are people who worship Bush as God’s anointed servant on earth. He is their modern day Moses, sent to deliver America from the bondage of it’s evil ways.
Second, the text of the prayer makes quite explicit that the laws of the United States, including the Constitution, are not considered binding on them, nor are their actions based on those laws. They recognize only God’s authority. In short, this prayer reveals them as theocrats whose primary mission is to literally convert this “Nation under God” to a Nation under their God.
(America is known as a Christian nation around the world)
Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” (Psalm 79:8-10)
Father, We pray for a mighty outpouring of Your Holy Spirit to bring forth REVIVAL and Reformation and a great harvest of souls into this land! May Your River of Life be released to counter the “culture of death” which has gripped this nation. (Ps. 94:20-21) We declare that the Blood of Jesus Christ has triumphed over and prevails against the spiritual hosts of wickedness aligned with Baal over this nation. (Eph. 612). We call forth a release of the transference of wealth into the hands of the righteous (Proverbs 13:22), and we ask You, Lord, to release to Your intercessors the anointing to plunder the Strongman and take back what he has stolen from America! (Matthew 12:29) We decree that the spirits of sexual perversion, covenant-breaking, death, abortion, witchcraft, occult, and Jezebel are overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. For IT IS WRITTEN: “Having disarmed principalities and powers, Jesus made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them through (the blood of His cross)”. (Col. 2:15) In the name of Jesus, we decree that all covenants with death are annulled and this throne of iniquity, which devises evil by law and condemns innocent blood, is brought down and stripped of all power. (Ps. 94:20-21)
Sovereign Lord, “the heavens are Yours, (and) the earth also… Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne.” (Psalm 89:11 & 14) Establish the dominion of Your throne over our courts, our lives, and our wayward nation — in Jesus’ name and for His glory!
The Jesus they speak of is the Jesus of the Book of Revelation, not the Jesus of the Gospel. Furthermore, when they pray for God’s “dominion … over our courts, our lives, and our wayward nation” they literally mean the dominion of a radical, extremist and fascist vision of Christianity. One where men would rule over their households, and treat their wives and children as they saw fit. One where homosexuals, adulterers, prostitutes and Wiccans, among others would be executed. Where civil law would be brought into conformity with Biblical Law. Where the Constitution and the Bill of Rights would be viewed as subordinate to God’s law, as interpreted by religious leaders, not by the Courts.
These are the people to whom we have turned over our Government these last 6+ years. They have infiltrated not only the Bush administration but are also many units of our Armed Forces, particularly the Air Force. They will not go quietly into the night because of the result of any single election. You should be very afraid at what they might do in a crisis, if given the opportunity. I know I am.
The Prayer for America – Standing in the Gap for our nation
