It was about a month or so ago that a New Jersey teacher wrote a prayer saying that their favorite celebrities had been taken by God, and that they wanted God to know that the Governor of New Jersey was their favorite and God could take them out too. These comments that were posted on the internet have created quite a ruckus. These comments have been taken by the media as, “God if you murder the Governor it would be alright with me.”
The prayer that the afore-mentioned teacher wrote is circulating all over the internet now in emails, and in postings on Facebook, and Twitter. Except now, people are changing the end of the prayer, and putting whoever they dislike as God’s assignment to take out. If you don’t like James Dobson or George Bush Jr. put their names in to be taken out, or if you don’t like President Obama or Pelosi or Reed put their names at the end. This is such a huge mistake, and here is why:
First of all, God isn’t working for us as our personal hitman. I will admit that I have had a few people I thought of asking Him to take out, but what am I going to do if I am on their list? Jesus Christ told James and John that they were way off base when they asked to call fire out of heaven to destroy Christ’s opposers (Luke 9:54). They even reminded Him that Elijah did it in the Book of Kings, so why shouldn’t they? What did Jesus say to them? He rebuked them. Why? Because His kingdom is built on love and forgiveness, not on anger and vengeance. He even said His disciples would be known by their love, not by their ability to wipe out anyone that disagrees with them. Besides, what happens when you get mad at yourself the next time?
Secondly, we shouldn’t pray for things that we don’t want to really see happen. It undermines our faith. It is kind of like this line of reasoning. I believe in Santa Clause. I believe in the Tooth Fairy. I believe in the Easter Bunny. I believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior. When we find out the first three are not true, does it encourage our faith or undermine it? Jesus told us to be careful what we hear (Mark 4), but He also warned us that every vain and idle word we speak will be brought before His judgement. We should be very careful what we say about others! Amen! Thank you Richard that was awesome! (I am encouraging myself here.) There is no doubt that these are extraordinary day that we live in. Many people are angry, and frustrated on all kinds of levels. There is no doubt about that. But hate, vitriol, and death wishes have no place in the Christian’s life, even if it was just a jk. So, let’s stop the nonsense, and be followers of Christ.
Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you. And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we also do for you. May He make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. Amen. (I Thessalonians 3:11-13)
