In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.

Thank God This Kansas Pastor Has Guts!

tidemantideman Member Posts: 1,099 ✭✭✭✭
edited August 2003 in General Discussion
I thought y'all might enjoy this interesting prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate. It seems prayer still upsets some people.

When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says,'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it
freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of Your will and to openly ask these things in the name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen!"

The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest.

In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively.
The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this
prayer from India, Africa, and Korea.
Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program,"The Rest of the Story," and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.
With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and
wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called"one nation under God."
If possible, please pass this prayer on to your friends. "If you don"t
stand for something, you'll fall for everything."
Think about this: if y'all forward this prayer to everyone on your
email list, in less than 30 days it would be heard by the world.

Tideman [from Texas]

"Don't shoot to stop 'em, Shoot to Destroy 'em!"

Comments

  • outdoortexasoutdoortexas Member Posts: 4,780
    edited November -1
    Strong words from him, with mostly weak ears listening. I for one say good for him! Facing our problems is just the beginning.
  • TOOLS1TOOLS1 Member Posts: 6,133
    edited November -1
    The ones who walked out should stay out.
    TOOLS

    General TOOLS RRG

    Don't go blaming the beer. Hank Hill

    When I was a child, I thought as a child. But now that I am grown, I just wish I could act like a child and get away with it.
  • TOOLS1TOOLS1 Member Posts: 6,133
    edited November -1
    The ones who walked out should stay out.
    TOOLS

    General TOOLS RRG

    Don't go blaming the beer. Hank Hill

    When I was a child, I thought as a child. But now that I am grown, I just wish I could act like a child and get away with it.
  • TOOLS1TOOLS1 Member Posts: 6,133
    edited November -1
    The ones who walked out should stay out.
    TOOLS

    General TOOLS RRG

    Don't go blaming the beer. Hank Hill

    When I was a child, I thought as a child. But now that I am grown, I just wish I could act like a child and get away with it.
  • TOOLS1TOOLS1 Member Posts: 6,133
    edited November -1
    The ones who walked out should stay out.
    TOOLS

    General TOOLS RRG

    Don't go blaming the beer. Hank Hill

    When I was a child, I thought as a child. But now that I am grown, I just wish I could act like a child and get away with it.
  • TOOLS1TOOLS1 Member Posts: 6,133
    edited November -1
    The ones who walked out should stay out.
    TOOLS

    General TOOLS RRG

    Don't go blaming the beer. Hank Hill

    When I was a child, I thought as a child. But now that I am grown, I just wish I could act like a child and get away with it.
  • TOOLS1TOOLS1 Member Posts: 6,133
    edited November -1
    The ones who walked out should stay out.
    TOOLS

    General TOOLS RRG

    Don't go blaming the beer. Hank Hill

    When I was a child, I thought as a child. But now that I am grown, I just wish I could act like a child and get away with it.
  • TOOLS1TOOLS1 Member Posts: 6,133
    edited November -1
    The ones who walked out should stay out.
    TOOLS

    General TOOLS RRG

    Don't go blaming the beer. Hank Hill

    When I was a child, I thought as a child. But now that I am grown, I just wish I could act like a child and get away with it.
  • TOOLS1TOOLS1 Member Posts: 6,133
    edited November -1
    The ones who walked out should stay out.
    TOOLS

    General TOOLS RRG

    Don't go blaming the beer. Hank Hill

    When I was a child, I thought as a child. But now that I am grown, I just wish I could act like a child and get away with it.
  • TOOLS1TOOLS1 Member Posts: 6,133
    edited November -1
    The ones who walked out should stay out.
    TOOLS

    General TOOLS RRG

    Don't go blaming the beer. Hank Hill

    When I was a child, I thought as a child. But now that I am grown, I just wish I could act like a child and get away with it.
  • TOOLS1TOOLS1 Member Posts: 6,133
    edited November -1
    The ones who walked out should stay out.
    TOOLS

    General TOOLS RRG

    Don't go blaming the beer. Hank Hill

    When I was a child, I thought as a child. But now that I am grown, I just wish I could act like a child and get away with it.
  • kimberkidkimberkid Member Posts: 8,858 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Tools ... you stuttering again? [:D]

    ===========================
    Chance favors the prepared mind [8D]

    kimberkid@cox.net
    If you really desire something, you'll find a way ?
    ? otherwise, you'll find an excuse.
  • RustyBonesRustyBones Member Posts: 4,956
    edited November -1
    The ones who walked out should stay out. [:D]
  • outdoortexasoutdoortexas Member Posts: 4,780
    edited November -1
    Got TOOLS so upset, he emptied the magazine! [^]
  • tidemantideman Member Posts: 1,099 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Are you alright, Tools? I didn't mean to upset you!

    Tideman [from Texas]

    "Don't shoot to stop 'em, Shoot to Destroy 'em!"
  • 96harley96harley Member Posts: 3,992 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    God bless the pastor.
    Tools, keep that up and the ATF is gonna be looking for the sear.

    "Save the Whalers, they need jobs too."
  • trooperchintrooperchin Member Posts: 2,632 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.


    Nobody made them by the lottery tickets.

    d852d797.jpg

    Go Army Beat Navy
    IF you wanna have fun join the cavalry
  • greeker375greeker375 Member Posts: 3,644
    edited November -1
    In the old days it was called the kitchen...so the legislators that couldn't stand the heat should( as Tools so aptly stated) Stay OUT!


    [http://www.calap.com/gif/portrait.gif]
  • BlackieBoogerBlackieBooger Member Posts: 2,175 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It was Wright vs. Wrong.[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

    "Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, not liberty to purchase power."
    Benjamin Franklin, 1785
    123div.gif
  • nononsensenononsense Member Posts: 10,928 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    All,

    This is as always, a great topic. Here, as Paul Harvey says, is the rest of the story:

    Claim: The Rev. Joe Wright opened a Kansas legislative session with a controversial prayer.
    Status: True.

    Example: [Collected on the Internet, 1999]


    When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:
    "Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We confess that.

    We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism.

    We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.

    We have endorsed perversion and called it alternative lifestyle.

    We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

    We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

    We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

    We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

    We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.

    We have abused power and called it politics.

    We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.

    We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

    We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

    Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of Your will, to open ask it in the name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen"

    The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev.Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa, and Korea.

    Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on "The Rest of the Story" on the radio and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.

    With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called one nation under God.




    Origins: Yes,
    this item is basically true as quoted above. Back in January of 1996, the Rev. Joe Wright, senior pastor of the 2,500-member Central Christian Church in Wichita, was invited to offer the opening prayer at a session of the Kansas House of Representatives (not the Kansas Senate, as claimed in the text), and the prayer he offered was this one (which differs somewhat from the version cited in the text above):


    Heavenly Father, we come before you to ask your forgiveness. We seek your direction and your guidance. We know your word says, "Woe to those who call evil good." But that's what we've done.
    We've lost our spiritual equilibrium. We have inverted our values. We have ridiculed the absolute truth of your word in the name of moral pluralism. We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism.

    We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.

    We've exploited the poor and called it a lottery. We've neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. In the name of choice, we have killed our unborn. In the name of right to life, we have killed abortionists.

    We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it taxes. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

    Search us, oh, God, and know our hearts today. Try us. Show us any wickedness within us. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of the State of Kansas, and that they have been ordained by you to govern this great state.

    Grant them your wisdom to rule. May their decisions direct us to the center of your will. And, as we continue our prayer and as we come in out of the fog, give us clear minds to accomplish our goals as we begin this Legislature. For we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

    Rev. Wright had been invited to serve as the House's guest chaplain by Rep. Anthony Powell, a Wichita Republican who was also a member of Wright's church. Accordingly, Rev. Wright composed a prayer, read it at the opening of the legislature on January 23, and departed, unaware of the ruckus he had created until his church secretary called him on his car phone to ask him what he had done.
    Reportedly, one Democrat (not "a number of legislators") walked out in protest, three others gave speeches critical of Wright's prayer, and another blasted Wright's "message of intolerance." House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer (also a Democrat) asserted that the prayer "reflects the extreme, radical views that continue to dominate the House Republican agenda since right-wing extremists seized control of the House Republican caucus last year." Rep. Jim Long, a Democrat from Kansas City, said that Wright "made everyone mad." But Rep. Powell, who had invited Wright in the first place, claimed that House Democrats were only trying to make political points with their criticism and affirmed that he supported the theme of the prayer.

    Rev. Wright said afterwards: "I certainly did not mean to be offensive to individuals, but I don't apologize for the truth." His staff stopped counting the telephone calls that came from every state and many foreign countries after the first 6,500. Wright appeared on dozens of radio shows and was the subject of numerous TV and print news reports, and his prayer stirred up controversy all over again when it was read by the chaplain coordinator in the Nebraska legislature the following month. Wright later explained, "I thought I might get a call from an angry congressman or two, but I was talking to God, not them. The whole point was to say that we all have sins that we need to repent -- all of us . . . The problem, I guess, is that you're not supposed to get too specific when you're talking about sin."

    What to make of all the fuss? Syndicated religion columnist Terry Mattingly probably explained it best when he wrote: "The easy answer is that he read a prayer about sin. The complicated answer is that Wright jumped into America's tense debate about whether some things are always right and some things are always wrong."

    Some people get upset when politics intrude into religion; others are irritated when religion intrudes into politics. As in war, the "intruder" is always the guy on the other side.

    Additional information:

    Joe Wright (Central Christian Church)

    Pastor Wright's Prayer of Repentance (MP3 format)

    Last updated: 21 June 2000


    The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/wright.htm
    Click here to e-mail this page to a friend
    Urban Legends Reference Pages c 1995-2003
    by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson
    This material may not be reproduced without permission



    Sources:
    Dvorak, John A. and John Petterson. "Chaplain's Prayer Irks Some Lawmakers."
    The Kansas City Star. 24 January 1996 (p. C1).

    Hord, Bill. "'Inflammatory' Words Draw Chambers' Ire."
    Omaha World Herald. 23 May 1996 (p. 2).

    Mattingly, Terry. "Prayer with Political Edge Still Resounds in Kansas."
    Denver Rocky Mountain News. 8 June 1996 (p. D8).
  • sodbustersodbuster Member Posts: 2,305 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Dime get ya a dollar,,them that walked out was easterners!!
    They need to keep walking,,to Missouri,,where they belong!!!!


    ,,,[;)]sod


    "The difference between Congress and drunken sailors is that
    drunken sailors are spending their own money." --Florida Republican
    Rep. Tom Feeney



    justtornado.jpg
  • longhunterlonghunter Member Posts: 3,242
    edited November -1
    Sod,I really would'nt wanna take that bet....But bein from the east I amm bound to defend those of us who truly believe.And I just might remind you where the authors of our declaration etc. came from.I do have to agree with ya somewhat,the East has gone...gone,nuff said,but there are pockets of us here and these yanks'll stand true.Sorry for the rant but how could I just let it go...? L.H.
  • REBJrREBJr Member Posts: 1,210 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Classic example of another idiot *****ing about the way the world is, but too chicken s*** to be part of fixing it. If he had so many wonderful ideas, why didn't he seek election? if his ideas are so mainstream, why wouldn't he be a shoe in. instead he gets up in front and outlines his agenda, calling it prayer. Did his 'god' even hear it? he merely used his pulpit to run off at the mouth and run home as fast as possible. he's not worth the powder to blow him up.
    I could see asking that the congress be given guidence by his 'god', but not marching orders in the form of 'prayer'.
    Another reason why when someone tells me that they are a christian, I watch them extra close. If they are, they shouldn't have to tell anyone, you should be able to see it in them. That I have no problem with.
    This pastor has no guts, nor class, nor real faith.
    flame away, I'll be here all week -Ralph

    In the demonstable absence of evolutionary perfection, if some calamity is not to occur, we shall have to learn to live with ourselves as we are. Fast. -Tattersall
  • buckdeerbuckdeer Member Posts: 260 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
  • boeboeboeboe Member Posts: 3,331
    edited November -1
    The onse who walked out should stay out.

    Seriously, this "news" is well over five years old. It's probably closer to 10 years old. Nothing really new about it.

    To err is human, to moo is bovine.
  • bambihunterbambihunter Member Posts: 10,792 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    outdoortexas, I'll have to correct ya on that one sir... It didn't fall on weak ears, it fell on DEAF ears!
    I loved your "emptied the magazine quip"! I'm still laughing.
    Fanatic collector of the 10mm auto.
  • DancesWithSheepDancesWithSheep Member Posts: 12,938 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:
    We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
    We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
    We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
    We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
    We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
    We have abused power and called it politics.
    We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
    We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it
    freedom of expression.
    We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

    We have exploited the poor and called it bingo.
    We have rewarded carelessness and called it Pro-life.
    We have killed non-believers and called it a Crusade.
    We have shots of Jerry Falwell with his underwear around his ankles.
    We have molested your children and were merely reassigned.
    We have abused power and called it missionary work.
    We have coveted our neighbors possessions and got them as tax-deductible donations.
    We have polluted the air with hypocrisy and self-righteousness and called it ministering.
    We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it Godlessness in our schools and stadiums.
  • sodbustersodbuster Member Posts: 2,305 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    longhunter:
    My reference to 'easterners' is refering to those snobs in [:o)]Johnson[:o)] county.
    This first started out as a way for me to rile ol' wundudnee up[;)].
    However, wundudnee and isp are from the Lawrence and Topeka area and they don't count as 'easterners' as those two places are really just big towns full of good people[^]!!
    Ya can't drive I-70 for 10 miles before ya have a suv with JO plates driving 90 miles an hour 8 inches from your back bumper[:(!]!!
    Them are 'easterners'[:D]!!


    ,,,[:)]sod

    p.s.DWS:
    Is your little variance of the prayer what some would call leftist spin???[;)]


    "The difference between Congress and drunken sailors is that
    drunken sailors are spending their own money." --Florida Republican
    Rep. Tom Feeney



    justtornado.jpg
  • DancesWithSheepDancesWithSheep Member Posts: 12,938 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by sodbuster
    DWS:
    Is your little variance of the prayer what some would call leftist spin???

    No, it was only meant to show that characterizing anything in such absurd fashion will serve whatever agenda you happen to have, right or left.
  • 5db5db Member Posts: 1,621 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    REBJr, "Another reason why when someone tells me that they are a christian, I watch them extra close". So you watch them Christians "extra close"? I've always liked the thought of being watched over....

    While I agree as a Christian, it should show in our daily life. But I also know I fail. So please REBJr, don't judge Christians as a whole on me. I would rather you look at Jesus for an example.



    If you have one shot...Accu-Shot Website
Sign In or Register to comment.