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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Now at this point, does Job's wife just shake
her finger at him and say, "Curse God and die?" Seems appropriate somehow.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sue Hovey</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=news.of.christ.cult@gmail.com
href="mailto:news.of.christ.cult@gmail.com">News of Christ Cult</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=Vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">Vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, March 07, 2007 8:35
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Fantasy vs. Reality
Fourth Installment</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT size=6><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Fantasy:</SPAN></FONT><BR>
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<TD style="WIDTH: 425pt" width=567 height=17><A
onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://www.dougwils.com/index.asp?Action=Anchor&CategoryID=1&BlogID=3162 "
target=_blank>http://www.dougwils.com/index.asp?Action=Anchor&CategoryID=1&BlogID=3162
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onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://www.dougwils.com/index.asp?Action=Anchor&CategoryID=1&BlogID=3162"
target=_blank></A><BR><BR><B><FONT size=+1>A Prayer of
Imprecation</FONT></B><BR><B>Topic: </B>Liturgical Notes [Douglas Wilson]<BR>
<P>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, <I><A
onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="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"
target=_blank>Crying for Justice</A></I>. 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 <I>tota et sola Scriptura</I>?
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.</P>
<P> </P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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, <I>so that they might turn back to
You</I> 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.</P>
<P>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
<I>them</I> from their treachery and lies.</P>
<P>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 <I>covenant</I>
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?</P>
<P>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.
<SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">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. </SPAN>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 <I>bother</I> 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!</P>
<P>Father, we pray that You would <I>deal</I> 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 <I>is</I> 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.</P>
<P>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 <I>could</I> 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
<I>not</I> 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.</P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">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. </SPAN>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. <I>Rout</I> them, we pray. Chase them like chaff in
a stiff wind. <SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">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.</SPAN></P>
<P>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 <I>sin</I> is not why we are being
attacked. Rather it is for Your sake, and our identification with You. <SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Let their table become poisonous to them, let it
become a snare. Let their eyes be darkened, and judicial blindness fall upon
them.</SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">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. </SPAN>Pour out hot indignation all over them; take hold of them
tightly in Your wrathful anger. <SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">May their
dwellings become empty and desolate</SPAN>—for whenever You chastise anyone
<I>else</I>, 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. <SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Blot them out of the book of the living.</SPAN> Do
not record their names alongside the names of the righteous.</P>
<P>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 <I>them</I>,
and have been treacherously betrayed by them. They returned evil for good, and
hatred for love, ingratitude for kindness.</P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">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. </SPAN>When they have abused
offices within Your Church, let other faithful men rise up to take their
place.</P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">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.</SPAN></P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>We offer this pray to You in the righteous and holy name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and amen.</P><BR><BR><BR><FONT size=6><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Reality:</SPAN></FONT><BR><BR>
<P style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia"><SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Gods'
Word from Matthew 5: 38 through 48</SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia"><SPAN>"You have heard that it was said, 'An
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'</SPAN></P>
<P style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia"><SPAN>But I say to you, Do not resist an
evildoer.</SPAN></P>
<P style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia"><SPAN>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.</SPAN></P>
<P style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia"><SPAN>Give to everyone who begs from you, and
do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.</SPAN></P>
<P style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia"><SPAN>"You have heard that it was said, 'You
shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'</SPAN></P>
<P style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia"><SPAN>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.</SPAN></P>
<P style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia"><SPAN>For if you love those who love you, what
reward do you have? <SPAN> </SPAN>Do not even the tax collectors do the
same?</SPAN></P>
<P style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia"><SPAN>And if you greet only your brothers and
sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the
same?</SPAN></P>
<P style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia"><SPAN>Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly
Father is perfect".</SPAN></P>
<P style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia"><SPAN></SPAN> </P>
<P style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-FAMILY: georgia"><SPAN>Gods' Word from
Matthew 6: 4 through 8</SPAN></P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia">"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.</SPAN>
<P style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia"><SPAN>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.</SPAN></P>
<P style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia"><SPAN>"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.</SPAN></P>
<P style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia"><SPAN>Do not be like them, for your Father
knows what you need before you ask him."</SPAN></P><BR clear=all><BR>--
<BR><BR><BR>Juanita Flores<BR>Advocate for the Truth from Jesus
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