Imprecatory Prayer

Before I start talking, consider this story.

A Southern Baptist minister, Rev. Wiley Drake, in Buena Park, CA, is being investigated by the IRS for "mixing politics with religion" (that's a quote from Yahoo!, not the IRS). Rev. Drake wrote a press release, using church letterhead, personally endorsing Mike Huckabee, and calling on all Southern Baptists to do the same. He then discussed the endorsement on "The Wiley Drake Show" -- an internet broadcast from his church, in which he said, "Yes, I endorsed him personally and yes, we use the First Southern Baptist Church. Yes, we broadcast the 'Wiley Drake Show' from the First Southern Baptist Church. Everything we do is under the auspices of the church."

His lawyer now states that his client has a right to free speech, and that his statements were a personal endorsement, not a church endorsement, "and he made that very clear."

I leave that determination up to you and the IRS.

What I want to write about today is one of Rev. Drake's responses to this investigation.

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State filed a complaint with the IRS. Drake later lashed out at them in an Aug. 14 press release and urged his supporters to direct "imprecatory prayer" toward two of the group's officials, Joe Conn and Jeremy Leaming. He gave as examples of imprecatory prayer: "Persecute them. ... Let them be put to shame and perish" and "Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow."

This blog asks the question -- is imprecatory prayer a response that the church should be using?

If you haven't heard of it before, Rev. Drake's examples are illustrative of this type of prayer.

In our Wednesday evening class this week, we discussed the idea that God is able to handle our anger as well as our prayers. Upset with God? Tell him. Angry with God? Tell him. Rant and rave, God can handle it, and we have several examples of these kinds of prayers in the Psalms. But should we ask God to direct our anger against other people? How does that mesh with Jesus' command to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us?

First of all, trust God. He is God. While I do believe that there is power in prayer, I do not equate that power with the power to the stick a pin in a doll and have injury come to the human likeness of the doll. God is not "into" voodoo. Do I believe that Rev. Drake's imprecatory prayers will bring harm to those against whom he prays them? No. I thank God that we have a God who will answer prayer wisely.

As a parent, when your toddler stomps his foot and tattles on his little brother, demanding that you punish the younger brother for his "wrongful acts," do you take direction from the toddler? No. Is it sinful for the toddler to be that angry? I don't know, but I do know that God, like a parent, can handle our temper tantrums.

Don't filter your prayers. Give it all to God. I think that this kind of honesty in prayer will draw us closer to God; it will help us to develop a relationship with our heavenly father. And as we do, then perhaps we will notice that the imprectory prayers sound false in our mouths. Bitter. Jesus came to show us a better way to live; a life of grace and transformation.