National Day of Prayer

This is the only article that will be posted today. I am reluctant to add to the speculation and fear-mongering being engaged in by most of the media. Instead I am going to post a few notes about the National Day of Prayer declared by President Trump.

The Assemblies of God has issued the following guidelines for prayer:

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has been dominating headlines in recent weeks. Some reports are sensationalistic; others offer measured concern. Doubtless, this virus is affecting tens of thousands of people around the globe.

I ask our Assemblies of God family to join me in prayer in these specific areas this weekend:

1. Pray we will be driven by faith and not fear.

The U.S. Assemblies of God is part of a global Assemblies of God family. In recent days, we’ve seen how Italy has been particularly impacted by the coronavirus. I was encouraged to see how the Assemblies of God in Italy chose to encourage their members to rely on the strength and the power of God’s Word, asking them to pray in accordance to Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

2. Pray for the people who have been greatly impacted.

We believe that God has the power to heal every sickness and every disease. Pray that His healing power would be manifested across the nations of the earth that are facing this crisis in their own neighborhoods, communities, and families.

Pray for scientists and researchers to be led by the Holy Spirit as they seek to provide treatments and vaccines.

3. Pray for our missionary family and global partners.

Members of our Assemblies of God family frequently travel throughout the world in response to the gospel. Pray God’s protection on them, that they would stay strong, healthy, and effective where God has called them to be. Pray that God will be glorified in the response of AG churches and partners throughout the world.

4. Pray for hope, the Blessed Hope, of Christ.

We believe in Jesus as Savior, Healer, Baptizer in the Spirit, and Soon-Coming King. As we pray for healing, may we not lose sight that our hope is not in a medical breakthrough or in the effective systems of the world. Our hope is in Christ and the Blessed Hope of His soon return. Disasters such as these should remind us of our eternal hope in Christ and awaken us to the need to share His hope with those around us.

CBN.com posted a statement issued by the Southern Baptist Convention:

In a statement, the Great Commission Council of the SBC is asking all Southern Baptists and their 47,500 churches to set aside a time of prayer Sunday to pray about the pandemic, President Trump and other leaders, and for wisdom in the face of fear. 

The council asked for all to pray on these points: 

    • Ask God, in His mercy, to stop this pandemic and save lives—not only in our communities but around the world, particularly in places that are unequipped medically to deal with the virus. (Isaiah 59:1-2)
    • Pray for President Donald Trump and other government leaders—international, federal, state, and local—to have the wisdom to direct us in the best courses of action for prevention and care. (Romans 13:1–4)
    • Scripture says—teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts. Pray that the Lord will give us wisdom in this moment of fear as the foundations of what we know are shaken, that others would realize how fragile life is and how real eternity is, and they would see their need to turn to God. (Psalm 90:12)

The statement was signed by all 14 members of the council.

And the article at CBN includes President Trump’s tweets:

We don’t know what the future holds for each of us, but we do know Who holds the future.

The Unmentioned Voter Bloc

Yesterday Dan Henninger at the Wall Street Journal posted an article about an often overlooked voting bloc–the evangelical vote.

The article reports:

When Mitt Romney‘s 2012 candidacy was gaining traction in the primaries, the conventional wisdom instantly conveyed that the evangelical vote, skeptical of Mormonism, would sink him.

What if in Ohio next week the opposite is true? There and in other swing states—Wisconsin, Iowa, North Carolina, Florida—the evangelical vote is flying beneath the media’s radar. It’s a lot of voters not to notice. In the 2008 presidential vote, they were 30% of the vote in Ohio, 31% in Iowa and 26% in Wisconsin.

Back in April, the policy director of the Southern Baptist Convention, Richard Land, predicted that evangelicals in time would coalesce behind Mitt Romney. Yesterday he endorsed Mr. Romney, the first time he has done so for any presidential candidate.

It is also interesting that the Reverend Billy Graham has endorsed Governor Romney and is actively supporting him.

As someone who shares the values of the evangelicals, I cannot understand how anyone who considers themselves an evangelical could vote for Barack Obama. President Obama has made his stand on life issues abundantly clear–he supports federally funded abortion, partial birth abortion, and forcing religious organizations to violate their consciences in order to fund his anti-life platform.

It will be interesting to see if the evangelical voters will bring their values into the voting booth.

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The Susan G. Komen Foundation Has Announced That It Has Severed Its Partnership With Some Planned Parenthood Affiliates

CBN News reported today that the Susan G. Komen Charity has severed its partnership with some Planned Parenthood affiliates. Congress is currently investigating Planned Parenthood to see if it improperly used public money for abortions.

The article reports:

In December, the Southern Baptist Convention’s publishing division recalled pink Bibles it had sold to benefit the charity.

Pro-life groups welcomed the news. the Alliance Defense Fund praised Komen “for seeing the contradiction between its lifesaving work and its relationship with an abortionist that has ended millions of lives.”

Last year, the Komen Foundation gave around $680,000 and in 2010, $580,000 to at least 19 Planned Parenthood clinics.

Planned Parenthood has claimed that it does mammograms and other cancer screening; but, as I reported in March of last year (rightwinggranny.com), there is some genuine question as to whether or not they actually provide those services.

As previously reported, when a women seeking to make an appointment for a mammogram called her local Planned Parenthood clinic, she was told that the clinic did not provide that service:

“In fact, one center told the caller that “we don’t deal with the health side of it so much.  We’re mostly a surgical center”:”

If Planned Parenthood actually provided mammograms, it would be reasonable for a charity fighting breast cancer to support them. Since Planned Parenthood seems to be totally focused on performing abortions (which unfortunately has become a major industry in this country), it makes sense that the Komen charity would sever their ties with Planned Parenthood.

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