[Vision2020] Fantasy vs. Reality Fourth Installment

[News of Christ Cult]

Fantasy:
 http://www.dougwils.com/index.asp?Action=Anchor&CategoryID=1&BlogID=3162
 <http://www.dougwils.com/index.asp?Action=Anchor&CategoryID=1&BlogID=3162>

*A Prayer of Imprecation*
*Topic: *Liturgical Notes [Douglas Wilson]

One of the easiest things in the world to misunderstand (and therefore to
misrepresent) is the biblical pattern of imprecatory prayer. It is very easy
to interpret the practice as some kind of primitive voodoo doll custom,
practiced only by the petty and vindictive. But for those who are open to a
very fine treatment of the subject, I would recommend John Day's book, *Crying
for Justice<http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_/102-0677873-7898543?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Crying+for+Justice&Go.x=7&Go.y=13&Go=Go>
*. Over the last few years, the fact that we have prayed this way has been
seized on by some of our adversaries as proof-positive that we obviously are
crazed fundamentalists. But fundamentalism is the practice of absolutizing
bits and pieces of Scripture. Liberalism is the absolutizing of other
portions. To their credit, the fundamentalists at least knew that the death
of Christ on the cross was more important than than Pharaoh offered the
Israelites full employment benefits, but the fundamentalist vision is still
truncated for all that. But what happens when we submissively come to *tota
et sola Scriptura*? Imprecation is part of it. Below is a sample prayer of
imprecation, so those who are wondering if a biblical Christian could ever
pray this way can read through one and see for themselves. But I think that
the real question needs to be presented to those Christians who never have
occasion to pray this way.



Father of Jesus Christ, our gracious God, we cry out to You in a time of
trouble. Our adversaries come at us with lies, lies that they delight to
tell, fluent lies, as their father tells them, in their native language.

We pray that You would return to them seven-fold, according to all that they
have done or said or hoped for, and all according to the promises of Your
holy Word. Grant to them shame of face, *so that they might turn back to You
* and seek Your name. We would not be like Jonah, resentful or afraid of
Your grace to other sinners, even to those who have sinned grievously
against us.

You have taught us, called us, summoned us, to love our enemies, to bless
those who curse us, to rejoice when we are mistreated by them, and to return
good for evil. We are not to return evil for evil, but rather to overcome
evil with good. We accept this and rejoice in it. We know and understand
that this is based on Your holy character and example—You give rain and
sunlight to the righteous and unrighteous both—and that this is therefore
Your standard of holiness for us, and we gladly submit to it. We therefore
seek the grace to continue to love our enemies, asking You to save them. Not
only would we be saved from their treachery and lies, but we ask that You
would save *them* from their treachery and lies.

In praying this way, we ask that we would be able to distinguish sharply
between those who are our personal enemies, and those who are our enemies
for Your name's sake. We pray that we would extend nothing but wholehearted
grace to the former, and that we would commit the terrors of strict justice,
with regard to the latter, entirely and only to You. We would not be like
the disciples who, caught up in their mistaken zeal, did not know "what
spirit they were of." We would ask nothing from You in this that Your Word
does not specifically invite us to ask. You are a God who keeps covenant to
a thousand generations, and we are asking You to keep Your covenant word. If
justice falling on the heads of our enemies is not a promise of
*covenant*justice, Lord, we don't want to ask for it. But if it is
such a promise, we
dare not refuse to ask. How long, Lord, will You leave in sin those who
mistreat Your people in this way?

If it is not Your sovereign purpose to destroy them through saving grace, we
pray that You would humiliate them and give them shame of face regardless.
We pray that they would fall into the pit they have purposefully dug for us.
We pray that You would turn all their plans and purposes upside down. Like
Haman, we pray that they would be hanged on the gallows they have built for
Your people. You are the judge of the whole earth; will You not do right?
How long will You delay in bringing justice to the earth? Doesn't it *bother
* You that Your name and Your people are treated this way? We know that You
are everlastingly good; why are You silent in that goodness? We know that
You have promised to justify and vindicate Your people; rise up, Lord, and
scatter Your enemies!

Father, we pray that You would *deal* with this situation. If it is Your
good pleasure to deal with it through saving them, then that is what we
would by far prefer, and it *is* what we ask for. But if it is not Your good
pleasure to save them, we ask that You would cut them off in their course of
sinning regardless, and that You would not allow their iniquity to come to
its full measure. Set limits to Your judgment on them. We pray that You
would set limits to that judgment by setting limits to their lies and
treachery. We pray, Father, that You would cut them off in the midst of
their sin.

We ask that You would deliver us from their snares in a way that showcases
Your final and ultimate vindication and justification of us, together with
all Your people. We know that we are sinners, and that many just and
righteous accusations *could* be brought against us. For the sake of Christ,
we pray that we would be justified concerning all that we have done that is
wrong and wicked. But because Christ is our Protector as well as Savior, we
pray that we would be vindicated and justified with regard to all that we
have *not* done wrong. You chastise us for our sins, but that is not why
these evil men and women attack us—they attack us because we love what is
good, and because we trust in You.

Father, we pray that the angel of the Lord would chase them down. We pray
that You would set for them a dark and slippery place, and that the angel of
the Lord would persecute them there. They have hated us without any just
cause at all, and they have devised all their plots without any good reason.
We ask You therefore to rise up and defend us. Stand in the pass behind us,
and lower Your spear against them. Turn them back from their wicked attacks.
*Rout* them, we pray. Chase them like chaff in a stiff wind. We pray that
You would string Your bow, sharpen Your sword, make ready all the
instruments of death. Ordain Your arrows to fly against those who persecute
the righteous. Make their mischief to roll back on their own impudent heads.

Those who hate us without cause are more than the hairs of our heads, and
yet, Lord, we know that You have all those hairs numbered. You number and
name, and note, their hatreds. You know our foolishness; You know our
sinfulness, and You also know that our *sin* is not why we are being
attacked. Rather it is for Your sake, and our identification with You. Let
their table become poisonous to them, let it become a snare. Let their eyes
be darkened, and judicial blindness fall upon them.

We pray that their eyes would be blinded by You; strike them so that they
cannot see. Father, we pray that You would make their loins shake
continuously, that they would be seized with fear and amazement. Pour out
hot indignation all over them; take hold of them tightly in Your wrathful
anger. May their dwellings become empty and desolate—for whenever You
chastise anyone *else*, they love to pile on as though You were not there.
They persecute the one that You are disciplining, and by their talk they
dismay the one who is suffering under Your hand. Add iniquity to their
iniquity; make a great heap of their sins. Do not let them enter into Your
righteousness. Blot them out of the book of the living. Do not record their
names alongside the names of the righteous.

God of our praise, do not hold Your peace. The mouths of the wicked and the
mouths of the deceitful have joined in chorus together, and they are
speaking against us with lying tongue. They are surrounding us with words of
hatred, and they fight against us without good reason. It is because we love
You that they are our adversaries, but we still give ourselves to prayer.
Not only have we incurred their hostility by loving You, but we have also
loved *them*, and have been treacherously betrayed by them. They returned
evil for good, and hatred for love, ingratitude for kindness.

Let these wicked men come under the rule and reign of wicked men. Let Satan
be continually at their right hand, accusing them. When they come into
judgment, when the trial comes, we pray that the verdict of guilty would be
rendered. When they cry out to You, let their prayers be reckoned as sinful.
When they pray to You, let the ceiling above them remain silent. Cut short
their days. When they have abused offices within Your Church, let other
faithful men rise up to take their place.

Let their children be orphaned, cut off without a father. Let their wives be
widows, and we pray that their children would be desolate, having to beg
their bread in empty places. We pray that the extortioner would come back at
them, catching them in their plots, and taking all that they have. May
strangers and aliens pillage them and leave them with nothing. We pray that
when this happens, and Your hand is evident, that no one would show mercy,
and that no kindness would be extended to his fatherless children. Cut off
his posterity; may his name and his line come to nothing. Recall how sinful
his father was, and call up again the sins of his mother. May their sins
come before Your throne continually so that their name may be blotted out,
and remembered on the earth no more.

We ask for this because he is merciless. He loved to kick the poor and
downtrodden, and sought to kill the broken-hearted. He loved cursing, and so
give him that cursing. He detested blessing, so let blessing remain far away
from him. He would put on curses like a comfortable coat; let those curses
of his seep into him deeply. Tie those curses around him permanently. Let
this be the clothing of all our enemies.

Let them curse, so long as You bless. When they get up in the morning, and
hear of the blessings You have bestowed on us, let them be greatly ashamed.
Let confusion cover over them completely, as though it were a mantle. I pray
that You stand at our right hand, and that You would always save us from
those who would condemn our souls.

We offer this pray to You in the righteous and holy name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and amen.



Reality:

Gods' Word from Matthew 5: 38 through 48

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth.'

But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer.

But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if
anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if
anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.

Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to
borrow from you.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate
your enemy.'

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so
that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise
on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the
unrighteous.

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Do not even
the tax collectors do the same?

And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing
than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect".



Gods' Word from Matthew 6: 4 through 8
"And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to
stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may
be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.

But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your
Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for
they think that they will be heard because of their many words.

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask
him."


-- 


Juanita Flores
Advocate for the Truth from Jesus
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