It was powerful....it was what we needed....not the Donald Trump pep rally from Phoenix this past September that I was watching but the prayer that Franklin Graham offered before the President who would in a few minutes take the stage to the tune of the Rolling Stones....You Can't Always Get What You Want. I tried to type the text of the prayer as fast I could....praising God as I typed....for not only the people in the arena would hear these words but who knows how many people that were live streaming the rally. Christians would be hearing these words of repentance that they should be hearing from their pulpits each and every Lord's Day.
The crowd was quiet as Reverend Graham spoke...."Oh God thank you for letting us hear these words!" Franklin Graham then walked off the stage as the arena remained hushed. Vice President Pence followed Franklin Graham to the microphone....and within minutes the crowd was once again in unison yelling....USA....USA....USA! As I wrote at the time....the power of that prayer was gone.....but many had heard it......and will offer that same prayer some day in the future....only it will be as chaos reigns....and maybe war.....and not beforehand.....where we could have petitioned God for discernment and vision for what was ahead of us. The following was the best that I could do on that transcript....
"Our Heavenly Father.....you've blessed our country more than any nation on earth and we acknowledge that apart for you we have no hope....we come tonight....as a troubled nation....we're broken spiritually....were divided politically....we're divided racially....we are adrift morally..... following whatever direction the wind of popular culture blows....with no regard for your word or the consequences of our disobedience....we ask tonight for your help....our sins have paralyzed us....as a country we have seemed to have forgotten right from wrong.... you warned us in your Holy Word the Bible that there would come a time when truth would become a lie....and lies would become truth....we come to you this evening confessing our sins as a nation.....we confess the sins of our past.....of injustice....of pride.....of self-indulgence.....we have failed to protect our young and our innocent.....and we ask for your forgiveness.....we ask that you would unite this country for your glory.....Father we need a shepherd.....I pray that you would be the shepherd of our nation.....you are the God who restores our souls.....your rod and your staff they comfort us....and I pray this all in the name...the powerful name....the name of your son....the Lord Jesus Christ."
I'll add here a couple of paragraphs from a post written during this years CPAC conference:
"What we are seeing in the world today is the 'red' of Communism and the 'blue' of the European Union coming together as a beast dressed in the color of scarlet. This should be the concern of the Christian....but we have chosen instead to gaze off at an image of what we naively perceive to be a champion....and have even been so seduced as to be taken in by his glamorous daughter and most personal adviser....who despises us!
I'm listening now to the President as he speaks at CPAC and it is beyond sad....as it has been at every one of these pep rallies....to see people led on so by such a highly refined psychological mantra of promises and insults....always concluded by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' composition of I Can't Get No Satisfaction....(at least it's not Sympathy For The Devil)....that produces what are near religious chants such as USA...USA...USA.....and....Donald Trump....Donald Trump...Donald Trump....and...lock her up...lock her up....lock her up....and....build the wall....build the wall....build the wall.....and yet as soon as the speech is ended.....and President Trump's potential problem of conservatives and Christians actually analyzing what has transpired over the past year....and what has not actually transpired....or discerning how promises have been nuanced beyond recognition....then that potential problem having been taken care of for the moment.....it's back to business as usual.....until then next pep rally is deemed necessary."
The crowd was quiet as Reverend Graham spoke...."Oh God thank you for letting us hear these words!" Franklin Graham then walked off the stage as the arena remained hushed. Vice President Pence followed Franklin Graham to the microphone....and within minutes the crowd was once again in unison yelling....USA....USA....USA! As I wrote at the time....the power of that prayer was gone.....but many had heard it......and will offer that same prayer some day in the future....only it will be as chaos reigns....and maybe war.....and not beforehand.....where we could have petitioned God for discernment and vision for what was ahead of us. The following was the best that I could do on that transcript....
"Our Heavenly Father.....you've blessed our country more than any nation on earth and we acknowledge that apart for you we have no hope....we come tonight....as a troubled nation....we're broken spiritually....were divided politically....we're divided racially....we are adrift morally..... following whatever direction the wind of popular culture blows....with no regard for your word or the consequences of our disobedience....we ask tonight for your help....our sins have paralyzed us....as a country we have seemed to have forgotten right from wrong.... you warned us in your Holy Word the Bible that there would come a time when truth would become a lie....and lies would become truth....we come to you this evening confessing our sins as a nation.....we confess the sins of our past.....of injustice....of pride.....of self-indulgence.....we have failed to protect our young and our innocent.....and we ask for your forgiveness.....we ask that you would unite this country for your glory.....Father we need a shepherd.....I pray that you would be the shepherd of our nation.....you are the God who restores our souls.....your rod and your staff they comfort us....and I pray this all in the name...the powerful name....the name of your son....the Lord Jesus Christ."
I'll add here a couple of paragraphs from a post written during this years CPAC conference:
"What we are seeing in the world today is the 'red' of Communism and the 'blue' of the European Union coming together as a beast dressed in the color of scarlet. This should be the concern of the Christian....but we have chosen instead to gaze off at an image of what we naively perceive to be a champion....and have even been so seduced as to be taken in by his glamorous daughter and most personal adviser....who despises us!
I'm listening now to the President as he speaks at CPAC and it is beyond sad....as it has been at every one of these pep rallies....to see people led on so by such a highly refined psychological mantra of promises and insults....always concluded by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' composition of I Can't Get No Satisfaction....(at least it's not Sympathy For The Devil)....that produces what are near religious chants such as USA...USA...USA.....and....Donald Trump....Donald Trump...Donald Trump....and...lock her up...lock her up....lock her up....and....build the wall....build the wall....build the wall.....and yet as soon as the speech is ended.....and President Trump's potential problem of conservatives and Christians actually analyzing what has transpired over the past year....and what has not actually transpired....or discerning how promises have been nuanced beyond recognition....then that potential problem having been taken care of for the moment.....it's back to business as usual.....until then next pep rally is deemed necessary."
