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Christianity Today, August (Web-only), 2007 |

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When a Blessing Is a Curse

Sometimes the most loving prayers are not all that nice.

Mark Galli | posted 8/23/2007 09:23AM

Last week, Wiley S. Drake, an California pastor and a former national leader of the Southern Baptist Convention, asked his followers to pray for the deaths of two leaders of Americans United for Separation ...

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Julie

Posted: August 30, 2007 3:47 PM

JCD seems to have a problem with reading comprehension. Not once did Galli praise Drake's actions; in fact, Galli called the preacher's motives into question ("The difference between the Rev. Drake's prayer and those of desperate parents or even an angry Jesus is this: The Rev. Drake appears to have no love for his enemies but merely wishes them cursed."). He also wrote, "I do not mean to suggest that all the curses and imprecatory prayers of the Bible... are models for us. Love and redemption do not often seem to be the driving motive! ... As Jesus taught, we are called to transcend vengeance with love, and curses with blessings." Saying that one is "in good company" is not necessarily a compliment; it simply means that he is not the only person who shares a particular point of view.

MLJ	Posted: August 29, 2007 8:53 PM

i give credit for the writing of this article, but none for the true thoughtfulness of it. seems a bit too reactionary - as if what every pastor says must be dignified. perhaps you (the author) just agree with Drake.. this is the first time hearing about this, so perhaps you also know the context in which he said what he said, but from what is presented of Drake's comments in this article (awfully short), your equation just does not add up. but don't worry. no imprecatory prayers upon you..

SDB	Posted: August 29, 2007 1:29 PM

Two comments on this article: 1. While it is obviously not socially correct to believe or ask for justice, the biblically supported fact is that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He loves justice - and perfectly balances that justice with mercy. 2. Christians not being taken seriously by society has little to do with anyone in the press praying boldly for justice. It has to do with the stench of complacency, moral relativism, and hedonistic lifestyles WITHIN THE CHURCH. But then the Church is made up of humans - and as Jesus said, "It's not the healthy that need a doctor..."

rogie candelario

Posted: August 28, 2007 8:44 PM


Yes! Love of God must the basis of our actions whether in prayers or other things

MPR	Posted: August 28, 2007 3:26 PM

The real prayer is that of the parents asking their son to find his bottom so that he can be saved. There is no curse in that. What Drake is doing is a curse, pure and simple. He wants death to the AU leaders---without even questioning whether they MIGHT have some love of the Lord---and how does he know what is in their hearts? All he did was to publicly threaten them, and he needs to be confronted and made responsible for his threats. His church is the same church that inspired Martin Luther King and Jimmy Carter; now he is making a horrible and violent joke out of it. How does Drake know that his congregation is absolutely free of anyone with a twisted mind who might take it on themselves to kill someone? He doesn't. But he is clearly paving the way for this to happen. If the Southern Baptist Church wants to save its integrity, they just might consider firing him. Mr. Galli, you only gave a partial argument against a serious curse.

Derek Simmons

Posted: August 27, 2007 5:02 PM

Pastor Drake has a problem, but we have a larger one. "...we no longer have much confidence in the truth of the gospel....we don't hesitate to call upon principalities and powers to rain down judgment with a vengeance...()we equate love with mere social grace and think that niceness will successfully confront the massive and intransient evils of our day, individual and corporate...." Mark Galli: you hit one over the center field wall.

Louise Wilde

Posted: August 27, 2007 11:51 AM


There is absolutely no indication in Matthew 23 that Jesus "yelled" the words "You brood of vipers. How are to eacape being sentenced to hell?" Why don't you hear him saying this with the same tears in his heart that he shed over Jerusalem? Why don't you hear him speaking the truth in love, gently and with sadness?

Get thee behind me Satan!

Posted: August 24, 2007 11:47 AM

This article is an awful mess of equivocation and excuses for something that God has told us many times is a sin. Jesus never gave an imprecatory prayer, the examples cited are all assessments and warnings, no even judgements. In fact nowhere in the New Testament is there a valid example of imprecatory prayer. The example given of Paul's anathema is, like all of the anathema's of the NT a waring of the temporal judgement of BELIEVERS, a warining against false Christians and the "accursedness" referred to is ejection from the communion, NOT Justice from God. And for good reason; Grace and Justice are inherently incompatible. Jesus told us (and so we daily pray) that we will be forgiven as we in turn forgive. So when we pray for God's Justice we are also forfeiting God's Grace. Thus doing so is a sin because it separates us from God. And we must have the courage, as Christ did, to call a sin a sin, even if that sin comes from the Peters & Pauls of our own age. --RBarryYoung

Jane	Posted: August 24, 2007 10:30 AM

The problem with Drake's prayer is not only that it appears to lack real (i.e. painful) Love, but that it is extremely "small". As Christians we realize that God is Omnicient, Eternal, Almighty. What we should therefor ask for our "neighbor" is that God will, as also in numerous places mentioned in the Bible, REMOVE THE EVIL FROM OUR MIDST. As well we should ardently pray for the conversion of sinners (those we think we identify as well as all others - for only God knows the heart). And provide the example that will draw others to Christ. "Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them, for by so doing you will pour hot coals upon their heads" There is always Hope. Jesus also said "If you love me, keep My Commandments . . . Love oneanother as I have loved you" We must always hope, pray and work for the good of another. To do otherwise is to wish death - which ultimately kills as cancer our own hearts. Where we see evil, we are obligated to work for and be an example of good

Paul	Posted: August 24, 2007 8:31 AM


Good thoughtful article. I like the analogy with the drug-addicted son. It's a clear example of how genuine love can seek the "downfall" of another, as opposed to the purely hateful/selfish seeking of the downfall of another.

William Mitchell

Posted: August 24, 2007 8:17 AM


Isaiah 49:25. I will contend with him that conteneth with thee, and save thy children. We need to leave to God the judgement of people. Under no circumstance would I want to myself or my worst enemies to fall into the hands of an angry God. I saw hate in Drake's prayer not any compassion. As one of the statements above pray for them and ask God's mercy not wrath.

Stan Baldwin

Posted: August 24, 2007 5:34 AM

Wow! Where to start? Granted, there is some good stuff here, but the thinking is so convoluted and so much error is mixed with truth! For one thing, it is hardly OK for Christians to wish people ill because they smoke or drive SUVs or violate other standards. Mehinks that zeal to make a point has distorted good sense. Then we are told Christians have played the judgment card too often, while the whole tenor of the article is that we have not done so enough because we are too nice. Then we read that we are nice because "nice people are treated nicely . . . .none of that persecution business to hassle with." This is a slander against the motives of nice people, and it is also not true. Much of our fallen culture believes nice guys finish last, and the "nice" are often persecuted and ridiculed as too goody-goody. I speak from experience, having been beaten about the head and shoulders simply for organizing the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Humans.

Lowell

Posted: August 24, 2007 12:43 AM

Are Christians not ordered to "obey the laws of the land"? Does that not include the tax laws? If Drake wishes to disobey the law and use his position and organization to endorse candidates, then he should be ready to "render unto Caesar". As for calling for the deaths of AU personnel, actions like that do not provide a positive example or draw non-Christians to the faith. On the contrary, it serves to repel those who find such hatred repugnant.

CJS	Posted: August 23, 2007 9:49 PM

The two examples Galli offers of Jesus "cursing" people--friends or enemies--are not curses at all (Mark 8:33 and Matthew 23:33.) They are NOT "bold assertions that horrific divine judgment should or will bear down on others." On the contrary, they are warnings; heeding them will benefit the hearer, not result in his destruction. To see Drake's and Jesus' words as somehow of the same genre requires that one think in the most superficial of stereotypes. As does calling Jesus "meek and mild."

Peter H. Davids

Posted: August 23, 2007 7:23 PM

To compare Drake (or even the Psalms) to Jesus is superifical exegesis at its worst. Jesus curses a tree, but never people in that he never wishes evil upon people, although he does warn them what will happen if they continue on their way; rebuke and warning is far from cursing or asking God to kill someone. Drake shows himself to be sub-Christian, as well as, it seems a lawbreaker. Galli in putting Drake in "good company" lowers the standard of biblical discussion associated with the magazine. We pray for those who misuse us, if we follow Jesus, and, if we really believe God's justic will prevail in the end, we should also weep for them. Even Revelation does not wish people evil - in the final judgments we hear the heart of God "and still they would not repent"; the judgment is just, but what God apparently wishes is that folk would repent so he could call it off.

take the fight to where it belongs

Posted: August 23, 2007 3:05 PM

Good article; raises a sensitive issue for discussion. We should remember that our fight is not against flesh and blood but against powers in heavenly places. When a child in society ends up in gangs and on drugs it is useless praying against the child; but pray the powers that rule rebelliousness be undermined by grace. Our modern society is often at war with our soul and we have to remember that individuals are just living out the spirit of the age. Similarly with those who are against religion and who promote secularism instead of godliness: That is the spirit of the age, since the enlightenment. Our enemy is godlessness in high places and not specific people. It is no use praying death on one person when the spirit of rationalism and anti-God age persists throughout Western Europe and America. The battle must be fought in prayer and in grace. The church, when it accepts its apostolic anointing, will push the gates of hell back to oblivion then none of hell's footsoldiers will stand

bill	Posted: August 23, 2007 2:51 PM


Better to pray for a person's conversion, whatever it takes, than their death -- after death it is all over forever.

RS	Posted: August 23, 2007 2:15 PM


Many Christians believe that with someone's death, the door is closed on their salvation. I believe God wants us all to be saved. Shouldn't we be praying for our enemies' repentance, not their death?

Grant

Posted: August 23, 2007 2:03 PM


Wiley Drake pastors in California, not Arkansas. While perhaps not altogether important to the story, it is still of consequence to identify the facts accurately.

EFL	Posted: August 23, 2007 1:44 PM


Galli does not point out that what Drake did in endorsing a candidate on church stationery was a violation of IRS regulations. The pastor's motivation for the imprecatory prayer thus seems quite tainted compared with the example of Jesus or even of Paul. Drake's "enemies" are actually merely the watchdogs of the rules, something any former leader of the SBC should understand.

Kim	Posted: August 23, 2007 1:39 PM

"Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do." When someone acts in a way that doesn't bring glory to the Father because they don't know the Father, Jesus demonstrated to us to seek their forgiveness and their being brought to Him. Evil is real and we should pray for evil to be removed, but do we pray for the person acting in evil ways to be removed or do we pray that they be brought to the Father? The Father can transform people's lives. He did mine. Thank God someone prayed that He bring me to Himself instead of for my death.

RDH	Posted: August 23, 2007 12:58 PM

Thoughjt provoking to say the least! "Thy will be done" "We yield to the Sovereignty of God in prayer" Yes, we are to love our enemies and yes we are to pray for them. A thief once broke into a small church in the Dominican Republic and stole every pew for use to make charcoal. The missionary pastor called the congregation together and prayed God's forgiveness for the one they deemed - "our thief" and prayed that Divine Justice would prevail. Within a week, a church in a nearby village delivered more pews to the church than were originally there. Within a month, the thief was shot and killed by police as he charged them brandishing a machete. Drake is not an enemy but certainly in need of prayer, as are we all. The AUSCS and its leaders are also in need of prayer; let's include a plea for divine justice.

Martha Huntley

Posted: August 23, 2007 12:56 PM


Interesting article, and a bit shocking. This way of thinking is much like of fundamentalist violent Muslim thinking (theology?) "Kill the Infidel! It's good for him and glorifies God!" I also personally think it is naivite and a lack of spiritual and other experience to equate "blessing" with "niceness"! I respect the Mennonites stand along these lines and believe me, they are not wimps!

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