I’m Trying to Agree with CNN
How can I agree with CNN?
Seriously! That’s my question. I started reading this article by looking for ways to agree with the writer. But he’s so wrong in so many ways that I was beginning to lose hope. So I read thru the article a second time. And I did find something, and unfortunately it is a major issue that he is absolutely right about.
When he writes about religious leaders “. . . expect and demand overt shows of religious sentiment from government leaders. . .” he’s right! And though he sees the problem he misunderstands the conclusion. Let me try to expound on what I see, because I believe that we in Christendom MUST acknowledge his observation.
Giving God Advice
I’m in the prayer business and what I keep seeing in fellow pray-ers is their desire to give God advice, about our nation, about our leaders, about their decisions and about their direction.
Here’s what I don’t see. We don’t seek the Lord for His will! While we would never say this, we act like WE KNOW what’s best, hence we “give God advice” and we fail to pray aright for our president, our nation and the decisions and direction to be taken by all of our leaders.
When the CNN writer, Errol Louis implies that we’re trying to have some sort of control over things in this nation, he’s right! This is the way many of my Christian friends think. But friends, brothers and sisters, do you not see? This is the problem! Our lack of humility!
Errol Louis, the writer of this story, with his, in my opinion, “back handed vitriol” for religious conservatives has stumbled into the problem in our nation.
The Problem
While he didn’t say this, my guess is that he considers us, the Christians, the problem. And if he thinks that, he’s right!
Right about now, if you are on the political left you’re probably saying, “Right-on!” And if you’re on the other team you’re considering bouncing to another link.
Let me address the right, the conservatives, the Christians, for I do not expect “the unbeliever to welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to them; they are not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.” (A paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 2:14 HCSB).
To my brothers and sisters in Christ, do you really think that the problems in our nation are the result of the unsaved? My friends, the unsaved are acting like the unsaved! They are doing what we expect them to do. God does not say that judgment begins in the White House, He said that judgment begins in the Church House 1 Peter 4:17). God is judging you and I.
I re-listened to a Leonard Ravenhill message today. He reminds us that Revelation 3:20, Jesus standing at the door knocking is NOT to the unsaved person’s heart, but He is at the door of the lukewarm church He’s getting ready to vomit out of His mouth (Revelation 3:16). And then Ravenhill brought in another verse that surprised me. He said, “Today we pray that where two or three are gathered there God is in our midst. No! God is standing at the door trying to get in!” (Matthew 18:20)
One More Challenge
Stop for a moment and remember when you prayed 2 Chronicles 7:14 for the nation and you asked God to forgive the sinners, WHO WERE WE TALKING ABOUT? Too many of us were considering the sinners, “those other people!” Friends, the modern day application of this verse is us, you and me, believers. What we are to do AND THEN KEEP DOING is to humble ourselves. Friends, we keep pointing our fingers at everyone else but they’re not the problem, you and I are.
Let me make my point going back to 911. Do you remember 911? We, the church, we still complain that right after 911 the country came together in united prayer, “for 2 weeks” and then it dissolved. But my friends, we too dissolved our newly attained resolve for Prayer.
How many are you as devoted to prayer (Colossians 4:2) now as you were right after 911? How many of you are as devoted to pray now as you were at the end of the Presidential Campaign? My friends, Errol Louis is right, we are the problem, for completely different reasons than he thinks, but we are the problem!
If we do not begin praying with an honest evaluation of us, you and me, we are as foolish as this CNN writer thinks we are.
So before you pray for President Trump and those around him, pray for God’s will, for it may just be different from your will! If we do that then you and I will STOP giving God advice and pray His will for this nation.
Prayer In The News
And if you wonder how I think we should pray for these issues of our day, watch this category and see my posts where I take Prayer In The News and look at it through the grid of Scripture.
CLICK HERE for my #PrayerInTheNews posts.
To read the CNN (@cnn) article by Errol Louis (@errollouis) of NY1 (@ny1) CLICK HERE.
Blessings,
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