Prayer Targets: Marketing Evil, Aurora, Solemn Assembly, Michele Bachmann, Chick-fil-A
July 26, 2012
Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. 2 Chr 20:12
Dear Praying Friends,
In the Marketing of Evil, journalist David Kupelian documents how small groups of dedicated activists, using sophisticated modern marketing tools, have all but destroyed the moral, spiritual and political foundations of America. With significant financial investment, well-crafted lies, and fanatical zeal, they have persuaded America to embrace a host of ungodly viewpoints and behaviors:
America is still overwhelmingly a Christian nation. Or is it? The numbers certainly give that impression. Four out of five Americans describe themselves as Christians... Our leadership gives that impression. Virtually all of America's presidents have called themselves Christians... Our church attendance gives that impression. In contrast with Europeans, Americans are still a churchgoing people. On any given weekend, 45 percent of us attend worship services...
There's just one problem... While a vast majority of the nation's citizens consider themselves Christians, America's popular culture, its laws, its public education system, its news media, and other major institutions have become progressively un-Christian... Christians, like everyone else, have been seduced by the marketers of evil.
[The] failure rate for marriages among Christians is virtually the same as among non-Christians. Similarly, Christians have fallen prey in mass numbers to abortion, sexual liberation, gay rights, multicultural madness, and all the rest of the marketing seductions of our age.
This is very troubling to church leaders who are increasingly aware they are losing a spiritual tug-of-war with the powerful and corrupting secular culture... It's a dangerous situation for America...It is from the pulpit that every social evil to plague this nation has been confronted and rebuked while a higher, better road to glory has been promoted.
It shouldn't surprise us to discover... that America's churches...have been the number-one target of the marketers of evil... [If] the fortresses of America's goodness and strength - are overcome, there is no longer a ... defense against the forces of corruption....a powerful counterforce to fight for a spiritually wholesome culture in which future generations may grow up safely and soundly. Thus it is imperative that we look honestly, dispassionately, and courageously at America's churches, at those who lead them, and at those who attend them... it is time to focus our spotlight of inquiry on ourselves... (David Kupelian, The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised As Freedom, 2005)
We who believe must repent of every sin and compromise every failure to resist evil; we must repent of prayerlessness, silence, passivity, faithlessness, and failure boldly to witness for Christ - to be salt and light in our fast rotting and darkening culture. As we pray toward the upcoming elections, we must couple repentance with resisting the evil that has overtaken our nation. Like Nehemiah and the Jews who risked their lives defending Jerusalem and like our Founding Fathers who gave all for our freedom, we must believe in God and sacrifice to preserve freedom for our children.
Colorado Massacre - Our hearts go out to the families of 12 people murdered and 58 victims injured in Aurora, Colorado, the scene of another senseless massacre perpetrated by a lone young gunman who entered a movie theater and began shooting mercilessly. Experts say it will take months or years for the surviving victims, their families, and even the service providers to recover from the post-tragedy trauma.
Christian minister and historian Rev. Richard Owen Roberts wrote: "Our Fathers believed God was offended by sin. They themselves were deeply troubled both by the existence of personal sin in their own lives and by the presence of unconfessed corporate sins in the churches and in the nation. They regarded natural calamities as manifestations of the displeasure of God Almighty against sin... [and] prompt[ed] them to special seeking of God's face in fasting, prayer, and corporate repentance. They also sought the Lord in Solemn Assemblies..., believing such outbursts of wickedness to be directly related to the general decline of moral and spiritual life in the churches" (see Grieving, Solemn Assembly, Years).
- May we pray for the victims of the shootings in Aurora, Colorado, and continue to pray for them in the days to come as they adjust. May we repent for allowing a culture of death, which has given rise to such horrors. May we return to God in true repentance, believing He alone can forgive our sins and heal our land (Ps 9:11-20; Is 28:15-18; 40:1-2; 49:15; 54:8-10; 55:6-11; Hos 6:1; Mt 2:18; Gal 6:7; Eph 4:31-5:2).
Vigilant Lawmaker under Attack - Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has been a champion for our values, a powerful advocate for life, family, faith and freedom in Washington, DC. She serves on the House Committee responsible for overseeing the entire U.S. intelligence community. Every House member has the right to make inquiry of federal agencies on behalf of his or her constituents. When the Center for Security Policy produced a report suggesting infiltration into high places in government by the Muslim Brotherhood, Bachmann and conservative colleagues wrote joint letters to senior officials at the White House, Departments of State, Defense, Justice, Homeland Security, and National Intelligence, asking them to investigate (see Bachmann's written statements #1 & #2).
Bachmann has asked questions about a high ranking State Department official who might have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. For simply asking questions, criticism has been aimed at Bachmann and not just by Democrats. Sen. John McCain and House Speaker John Boehner have also chimed in.
Insiders say political correctness fills our agencies, like that cited in last week's report showing the FBI willfully ignored concerns raised about U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan's Jihadist beliefs and Islamist connections, long before he murdered 13 fellow soldiers in 2009, crying "Allahu Achbar!" Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Susan Collins (R-ME), say the investigation was inadequate, and "fails to address the specific cause for the Fort Hood attack, which is violent Islamist extremism..." (Colleagues Denounce Bachmann).
- May those trying to silence these courageous men and women asking questions Americans want answered, fail in their effort! May their irrational opposition draw even greater attention to the questions and lead to them being answered! Please protect these leaders from those who wish to bring them down (Josh 23:6-11; 2 Chr 32:37; Ps 59:1-4; Pr 12:5-7; Jer 5:26; Mic 7:2-8; Eph 4:14-15).
Finally, you've probably seen reaction to Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy's declaration of support for Biblical marriage. He said not one negative word about homosexuals nor homosexuality. Rather, he said, "The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect - regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender." Nevertheless, makers of the Muppets have withdrawn their partnership, and the mayor of Boston, has banned Chick-fil-A from coming to his city. Meanwhile, Internet monster Google has launched a worldwide "Legalize Love" campaign aimed at breaking down legal barriers to homosexuality in countries with moral objections. Also, J.C. Penney, which endorsed same-sex "marriage" has seen its stock go through the floor. Microsoft, which did likewise, has experienced its first quarterly loss in the company's history (Thigh will be Done, Come What Mayo, Irony of the Tolerance Police, Google). Please join us in celebrating Mike Huckabee's Wednesday, August 1, Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. And thank you for praying!
The Prayer Targets will be on hiatus for the next two weeks, resuming August 15th!