Saturday, May 1, 2004

Prayer Wars Growing up as a Catholic, I was taught that prayer was an essentially peaceful activity -- a way of withdrawing from the world to converse with God about my concerns. It was the spiritual equivalent of taking solitude and speaking privately with a loving father. Thus it comes as a bit of a shock to see prayer construed as a form of warfare across the Internet world of Christian Evangelicals. On site after site, prayer is construed as a weapon to be used against the enemies of Christ or as an armor against the attacks of others. It is the spiritual equivalent of a laser-guided missile strike or a missile shield. As an article from Christianity Today discusses, many of these Internet groups began shortly after 9/11, to marshall their powers of prayer against evil. Here is a list of examples: The Call to War Web-site calls on Christian Evangelicals to "pray offensively": AFTER THE 9/11 BOMBINGS THE PRESIDENT CALLED OUR NATION TO A WAR AGAINST A NEW ENEMY.  BASED ON OUR "STATE OF WAR" CHRISTIAN MEN NEED TO RESPOND TO THAT CALL WITH A NEW ATTITUDE ABOUT PRAYER. In a spiritual sense, it's time to transition from a "peacetime mentality" to a "wartime mentality".  FROM DEFENSE to OFFENSE Their kit to get people and churches started is called the "Call to War Ammo Box." Spiritual Warfare Ministries Online proclaims: This site is about taking possession of our inheritance in Christ and overcoming our enemy's assaults.  We believe that victorious Christian living is possible when sound Biblical principles are incorporated in our lives and practiced daily. We must maintain our focus on the Lord and not become consumed with the enemy's activity. We are not to fear the enemy, but are commanded to resist him and overcome him in the authority and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Images from the Crusade are prominently displayed on the site. The World Prayer Center is said to be the "spiritual NORAD" for the AD2000 and Beyond Movement. Its angels are on duty 24/7, ready to go to war at the prayer requests of its members. The Spiritual Warfare site attempts to equip Christians with the armor of God, the most powerful part of which is His heavy artillery: You are, in effect, in the position of the "forward controller" in the battlefield, with a direct line to Command Headquarters, and you are commissioned to call in the fire you need. There are many types of fire. Enfilade: direct, offensive fire. Supporting outreaches. Pulling down of strongholds.(2) Freeing captives. Removing trammels and shackles. Also, defilade fire: indirect, attacking the enemy's hidden assets; anticipating where the enemy may be lurking and hiding. And there is flanking fire. Are you about to be outflanked? An indirect assault from your most vulnerable side? What is your most vulnerable side? Self-_____? (Fill in the blank yourself.) Our "strongest suit" is usually our weakest suit. Remember Peter.(3) Be very specific. "Win the war" isn't a very operative petition. "Hit the enemy" isn't very useful to a squadron commander. Be very specific. Direct the resources with precision. Pick your targets carefully. Use a rifle rather than a shotgun. Satan will yield only what he has to. The Prayer Wars Web-site (one of many) explains the concept: A Christian who is really committed to prayer is often referred to as a Prayer Warrior. Well, if you get an army of Prayers Warriors uniting in prayer, what would you say they are doing? It could be said that they are fighting a war. A Prayer War! It is the goal of this Ministry that those who are involved in it will all be Prayer Warriors. In support of this Ministry and each other, we will fight Prayer Wars. We will unite in Prayer and Fasting, and the kind of praying we will do will be mainly intercessory prayer. Our ultimate objective is that all of us will be truly ready, and that the entire Christian world will hear the Message of this Ministry. So please join us in fighting. [More to come..] 10:40:26 PM    comment [] Doesn't Add Up Compare these three excerpts from today's NY Times article "Falluja Choices Exhausted, U.S. Turns to Iraqi Officer." [1] The hastily improvised plan to send a small Iraqi force into Falluja, led by a former general in Saddam Hussein's army, is a last-ditch effort to avert a violent and politically charged urban battle, senior Pentagon officials and American commanders said Friday ... [T]he new Iraqi unit, which he called the First Battalion of the Falluja Brigade, would be made up of "mostly former Iraqi Army officers and men," presumably from the Falluja area. [2] Marine Corps commanders were on the brink of ordering an all-out offensive against what they estimated were 2,000 foreign fighters, former Hussein loyalists and other insurgents. [3] "We cannot allow Falluja to be a safe haven for Baathist militants," one Pentagon official said. Postscript: Here's another strange excerpt from the article: Senior American officers said their goal was still to eliminate the insurgents in Falluja, collect all their heavy weapons and track down the killers of four American private security contractors. But they acknowledged that those guerrillas and other militants might have already slipped through the cordon the marines threw around the city earlier this month. "We will get the murderers of the contractors and we will find them," General Abizaid said on Friday, "but we may not necessarily find them in Falluja." The deaths of the four contractors were unfortunate, but why do their killers deserve priority over those who have killed Coalition troops or unarmed civilians? 4:42:08 PM    comment []

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