First published 7/26/07, it is worth repeating especially today. With a VP candidate that has been an overt Bible thumping, fundamentalist, tongue talking, holier than thou, Ass. of God member (like John Ashcroft) it is important to challenge their faith.
"Examine me, O LORD, and try me; Test my mind and my heart." Psalm 26:2
The writer of Psalm 26 desired that God test his life to to have his inmost soul searched and proved by the Lord. He took great care to avoid bad company, hypocrites and the wicked as the psalmist here tells us he did, in the exercise of conscientious obedience.
If you claim to be a "Christian" then YOU need to read this. Do the words of Psalm 26 apply to you, today and to Sarah Palin?
The problem is that most so called "Christians" practice cafeteria theology. They pick and choose what they want to believe in regardless of consistency of values, or inherent contradictions. One good example is the general acceptance of the Psalms as being inspired by God except for those pesky imprecatory Psalms. Enjoy and pray this prayer everyday, if you dare!
Against Presidential Tyranny
"Do I not hate them, O LORD, that hate Thee?" - Psalm 139:21
This statement as well as scores of others in Scripture no doubt sounds strange to the ears of many modern “Christians.” The idea of a “Christian” hating not only wickedness but wicked people is largely incompatible with the religious sentimentalism pervasive in modern ‘Christianity” epitomized in the expression, "Love the sinner; hate the sin."
A sentimental attitude toward God's enemies does not square with Biblical precedent. If we imitate the example of God and His people as revealed in Scripture, our disposition toward the wicked must be much more austere. For example, the martyred saints in heaven petition God with regard to their murderers, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" (Rev 6:10). The apostle John observed that "much people in heaven" rejoiced at the utter destruction of the vile Babylon (Rev 19:1-3). The utter destruction of an evil society, such as Nazi Germany, or the death of a cruel dictator such as Mao or Saddam Hussein, ought to be an occasion of praise and gladness, as it was for the saints as in recorded in Revelation 19.
While Scripture affords clear examples of dedicated believers who remonstrated with God to delay or withdraw impending judgment on His own people (e.g. Abraham for Lot, Moses for Israel), it also shows the obvious and frequent examples of God's children actually invoking God's wrath on the heathen. The imprecatory Psalms 3 contain petitions by David and others for God to harm and destroy wicked individuals. These are called imprecatory Psalms because an imprecation is a calling down of God's curse. Paul's imprecations recorded in Galatians 1:7-9 and implied in 5:12 parallel the psalmist's imprecations. As Revelation 19:2 makes clear, those who rejoice at the demise of God's enemies are impelled by a desire to uphold the righteous judgment of God.
When sentimentalists concede that they yearn for a world in which judgment is the consequence to be delayed until the final judgment, what they are really saying then is that they are willing to sustain all of the evil results of the vile individuals. The pattern of the Biblical saints is different: the prayers of God's saints for His judgment on the wicked implore Him to act immediately, without delay (Psalms 79:5,6; Rev. 6:10).
Therefore, the moral and spiritual plight the Western world is presently suffering is due partially to the sentimental attitude of the “Christian Church.” They hate injustice, mercilessness, faithlessness, but they are too queasy and sentimental to pray for God to judge corrupt judges, corrupt police, and corrupt politicians. Worse, no doubt some of them are reluctant to practice imprecatory praying because they believe that increased evil is a precursor to their belief in God’s return. In other words, they enjoy the spread of evil because it indicates that the God is coming soon - "Yes, things are pretty bad; but praise God for the increased murder of innocents, spread of disease, and robbery, because that means Gods' coming is right around the corner."
If that attitude seems perverse to you, that's because it is.
Here is an Imprecatory Prayer based upon the Declaration of Independence.
Against Presidential Tyranny
By Tim Wingate
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Oh Creator of equal people endowed with unalienable Rights, Hear our plea!
We have suffered under a long train of abuses and usurpations that evinces a design to reduce us under absolute Despotism.
Those that were instituted to make those Rights secure no longer derive their just powers from the consent of the equal people, but by threat of violence against them.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned the Usurper and his minions for Redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated Petition have been answered only by repeated injury.
A President, whose administration is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to govern a free people.
We ask that you justly uphold your Laws of Nature and Be not mocked but do unto him as he has done unto others.
May he reap a bitter harvest of his abuses!
May he collect the wages of his transgressions!
May the shed blood of the innocents he has injured be as an abomination upon his head!
Upon your Providence we have firm reliance, and ask you to Protect us, our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor!
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