| Weapons Not of This World
By James Wilson, Coordinator
PrayNorthstate
I was ministering in the Philippines from September 7 through
25 and did not know of the firestorm ignited during One Nation Under
God until our return. The Record-Searchlight did a fine job of covering
the event, but it is not possible to include the context of every
statement, and I would like to set the record straight on a couple
of things. First, this event was not sponsored by any agency of
government. While the jail chaplaincy and the Deputy Sheriff’s
Association are sponsors, they are not governmental agencies; the
Sheriff’s Office is not a sponsor of this event. Those of
us who do sponsor the event are exercising rights and duties under
the First Amendment; we seek a permit to gather in a public place
just like anyone else would have to do. I praise God that we live
in a nation that encourages the free exercise of our faith.
I have heard much criticism of my claims that cancer was greatly
reduced during a period of intense prayer. The statistics I cited
are matters of verifiable record and they were compared to data
from the same quarter last year when prayer was not so sustained
and concerted. At the same time I know and say that we are blessed
with the hardest working and most creative medical community in
history. I believe that prayer efforts of the type I described establish
a ground on which medical efforts bear much greater fruit than they
otherwise could. Our doctors and researchers are a blessing from
God and He blesses their efforts doubly when His people pray regularly.
I stand by my statement.
I have also been criticized for mentioning the Family Planning
Clinic closure as an example of sustained prayer establishing a
culture of life in our county. I deeply regret mentioning the clinic
by name and I have apologized to the director; I now make that apology
public. I was misinformed about the activities of the clinic, and
even had I been correct it would not have been right to single them
out by name. At the same time I want to repeat what I made clear
on the courthouse steps: we do not pray against any person or agency.
I have always taught that the only weapons available in spiritual
warfare are blessing, repentance of our own sins coupled with forgiveness,
and the sharing of the Lord’s Supper. In PrayNorthstate we
bless those with whom we disagree and there are no exceptions.
Our nation is severely polarized. I simply addressed this reality.
I made it clear that what I called a “war of idolatry”
was a spiritual contention over each human heart to the extent that
it was “sold out to Jesus or sold out to some substitute for
Him.” I made it just as clear that the acceptable way to fight
this war is with the “weapons” I mention above. The
enemies of our nation have no problem with this concept –
they state it repeatedly – although their weapons of choice
are guns and bombs. The best way I know to address our national
polarization is to have public dialogue with any who are willing.
Authentic dialogue requires the freedom to express convictions honestly
and the humility to revise them where reality dictates. My Lord
came to set people free and I’ll bet on Him in an open forum
any day. May He bless each one reading this piece.
PrayNorthstate can be reached at 530-941-3470, or at praynorthstate@charter.net
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