- About ten years ago I went to my brother’s graduation from med school in Southern California. They began the ceremony with a prayer to a monotheistic god and to others gods by name from other religions, and included all other gods that were unnamed.
- Kristy, that reminds me of this text: Acts 17:22-23 22 "So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you." I'm of the mindset that if you don't know who you are praying to, then why pray? If you know you should be praying, then perhaps you should know who you are praying to.
- This is dumb on so many levels. I heard that they said that and I was like no way. I mean what idiot doesn't know that Amen is not a a-man? I also thought how disrespectful. I mean these are the same people who loose the minds if you say anything against Islam. So for them to disrespect another religion is just hypocritical of their narrative.
Amen and Awoman?
By now I'm sure you have at least heard the rumblings and groans in response to Representative Cleaver's closing of his prayer to open the 117th congress. If not, you can easily do a search and find the prayer on many news sites. Much has been made of his final statement closing the prayer with the "amen and awoman." Notably, this is foolish and some have rightly pointed out "amen" is not a gendered word, rather it means "so be it." This however, is not my concern regarding the prayer. If nothing else this is a foolish, ignorant, and naïve attempt to virtue signal to a select audience. What is of far greater concern is what precedes the comment garnering all of the attention.
Prayer is a time when we come before the throne of the most Holy God, not in our own righteousness, but in the righteousness we have through Christ. As such it is a tremendously humbling thing to go before the God of the universe. Of such importance is this humbling, that early Christians were killed for not bowing down to any other false god throughout history. This past month marked the anniversary of several Coptic Christians who were martyred by Isis for not denying Christ and bowing to Allah. God Himself takes this seriously when instructing Israel to tear down the Asherim poles and states in Exodus 34:14 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God). God will not be mocked or belittled, and yet we consistently see this occurring from elected officials tasked with the authority to lead this nation. Prior to his notable closing words, Representative Cleaver states "we ask it in the name of the monotheistic God, brahma, and god known by many names by many different faiths." If you don't know, brahma is the hindu god of creation. The foolishness of this statement denigrates and mocks the God of the Bible, the One True God who gave His Son to pay the debt for us, the Son through whom there is no other name by which to be saved. This denigration of the holiness of God is a clear indication of the status of a nation that once understood that it stands only through the grace of God.
It is notable that the United States is not mentioned in the Bible. There is one nation on the earth right now that has historically through it's autonomy and sovereignty, held back the tide of one world government, a marker for the final days. I believe we are nearing the end of the line for this nation. A nation that God has used to spread the Gospel truth of His Son to the ends of the earth through missions and mission support. A nation that in what may be it's final years, has elected leaders who mock the Most Holy God. A nation that has grown complacent and lazy in it's faith, with a populace that seeks virtue signaling over true Virtue. I don't know how, who, or what God will use to diminish the United States and remove her from being the obstruction to one world government, but I am afraid we are nearing the end.
God can certainly do anything He wants. My role is simply to point out what He has said and done throughout History, and point out what the current climate looks like. Think of it as a weatherman who looks out his window, sees the clouds, compares the radar, and says, "it's about to rain." It is a time for Christians to be bold and courageous, to stand firm in their faith, and surround one another with the love of Christ, and prepare for rain.