I was introduced to this prayer by my Rabbi and it really resonated with me, so I felt the need to share it. This country is getting more upside down each day and the following quote from the Book of Isaiah sums this up best:
"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" - Isaiah 5:20
The following prayer, written by Bob Russell in 1995, was presented as the prayer to open the Kansas House of Representatives in 1996. Evidently these truths didn't sit well with many and was deemed to be very controversial and was even called "intolerant" by some. We all need to understand that our Creator is not what we refer to as "politically correct" and even though Yeshua taught us to love one another with all of our hearts, we still need to be genuine with ourselves. I consider myself a very tolerant man and I dare not judge any other person, but I do not live by society's standards and "The American Dream" goes against what Yeshua taught us.
It can be very difficult for us to look in the mirror and be honest about what we really see. It's difficult but necessary. We are far from perfect and no one is free of sin. We must strive to do better each day and we can only do this with the help of Yeshua. He truly died for our sins and through him, we can obtain righteousness and everlasting life. Yeshua was G*d in human form and he was the perfection that we must all strive to emulate.
The greatest sin that I see in this country is idolatry. People read the Bible and they pick and choose what they want to take from it, thus creating their own "god" which mirrors their own image; a "god" that suites them and makes them comfortable, one who accepts all of their impurities. I know that I've been guilty of this as well, as for years, I convinced myself that G*d accepted me for who I was, instead of who I was supposed to be. I was wrong and anyone else who does this is wrong as well. This is absolute idolatry, instead of manufacturing a physical image (such as a statue) to worship, we are essentially manufacturing a false image of G*d that best suites our own selfish egos. This an extremely dangerous sin that just leads to more sin and breeds the ground for self-righteousness.
I don't think that most of us perceive that idolatry is so prevalent these days but I think this is very important as G*d saw fit to address this sin specifically in the first two of the ten commandments.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." - Exodus 20:3-6
We were made in the image of G*d, not the other way around. Today's generation has fallen into this deception, to the point that they even refer to themselves as "woke"...nothing could be further from the truth. We all need to pray to for the Infinite Light of G*d to descend upon this earth and extinguish all of this darkness, let’s all pray for a true awakening.
Much Love and Blessings!
O God, we know that your Word says, “Woe to those who call evil good,” but that’s exactly what we’ve done.
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.
We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it moral pluralism.
We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism and New Age spirituality.
We have committed adultery and called it an affair.
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have neglected the needy and called it frugality.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn children 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 failed to execute justice speedily, as your Word commands, and called it due process.
We have failed to love our neighbor who has a different color of skin and called it maintaining racial purity.
We have abused power and called it political savvy.
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 made the Lord’s Day the biggest shopping and entertainment day of the week and called it free enterprise.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our parents and called it enlightenment.
Search us, O God, and know our hearts today. Try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us of every sin and set us free. Though our sins be as scarlet, may they become white as snow. Though they be as crimson, may they be as wool.
This talks about the actions of both political parties! There's probably something to that...