Below is an excerpt from a pastor who refuses to pray for President Trump, taken from her blog. (My prayer follows)
...lots of people make mistakes. They aren’t evil, they are human. I will happily pray for them.
Evil is something more vile, more despicable, more perverse. It emanates from a person’s soul with the intent to harm and to dehumanize. If allowed, evil will take control of someone, eventually making itself known by coming out in words and physical actions.
The gospel accounts reveal that a sign of the presence of evil is when someone is unable to control their mouth or their hands. With regards to physical assault, Trump has repeatedly said he “couldn’t help himself.”
Grabbing a woman by the genitals is not “making a mistake.” It’s evil.
Attempting to discredit a reporter on national television by insinuating she is having her period = there’s an evil presence.
Calling women names, like, “Ugly face,” “Dog”, or “Pig” is evil making itself known. Telling women they look better on their knees = evil. Lewdly commenting on women’s body parts every five minutes = evil. Publicly humiliating and fat shaming a beauty contestant = evil. Calling a deaf person a “retard” = evil. The mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Evil is easy to spot. Evil mocks, gesticulates, sneers.
Father,
I don't know if it's okay for me to call President Trump evil or not. I know I've called him the anti-christ, and that's at least the same thing. Anyway, I wasn't being completely serious - not completely. But I truly don't know if he's evil - at least any more evil than me. I suspect he is. I'm getting lost on my train of thought. What I want to say is, I don't know if he's evil, and whether we should pray for evil people, and how.
When your son was dying on the cross, he prayed that you would forgive his killers, "for they know not what they do." I imagine He meant that they didn't know a bunch of things; that they were killing your son, that they were carrying out an ancient prophecy, that they were just following orders, that they were carried away on the wave of hateful hysteria that filled the streets of Jerusalem that day. I also imagine they didn't know that their evil act was part of the greatest act of love in all of history.
I don't know if separating children from their parents on the border just to tell the world that we are a country of "zero tolerance" is even remotely close to killing an innocent man - a son of God, slowly and cruelly. But I do know that it might just be possible that something good can come of all of this. I can't stand to think of it, Lord. That in the United States, some desperate woman somewhere had her child taken from her and may even at this moment be wondering what kind of satanic impulse would compel a country to do such a thing. But somehow, I trust that you will turn this to good.
I believe you have a plan. I've heard you tell me to trust you so many times in my life that it should be the drumbeat of my soul. But it isn't. Forgive me for that. I do trust you, I just need to remember that I do.
So Lord, obviously, I lift up those separated families. I lift up the little ones, especially, who have no concept of why they can't see their parents. I pray for the people caring for them. Let not one single person harm those children. May every single person who comes into contact with those children be seized with love and care for them, may they do everything in their power to comfort and nurture those children. Comfort the families. Fix the situation, Lord. I believe in your plan for this country, and I know we can be a light on the hill. Not this, Lord, not this.
I pray for the Unite the Right protestors who plan to march in DC this Sunday. If any violent thought enters their minds, Lord, remove it. Bind the hands of those who are planning to cause retaliatory violence. Help us to think of the examples of Gandhi and MLK, who could stand before a hateful crowd, calm and confident and righteous. If it's your will, Lord, make it impossible for this rally to even happen. Place shame and fear in the hearts of the white nationalists and turn them on their heels. Begin a good work in them, Lord, somehow. Lord, compel the president to condemn these people and their message. I feel like that's an impossible request, Lord, but I'm making it anyway, because I know you're bigger than him, and as crazy as it sounds, he will bend to your will.
Be with the people of Iran as they face fresh sanctions. May the decisions of the president regarding matters of foreign policy be made with the full guidance and wisdom of people who understand the situation completely, and who appreciate the stakes.
I thank you that the US has imposed new sanctions on Russia for the latest poisoning in London. Thank you, Lord, that the government of Donald Trump is willing to do something to stand up to this blatant injustice on the part of the man he so seems to admire. Thank you.
I pray that you will guide my words as I pray, guide my heart, too. I hope I will always find a way to pray for the president, even when I don't want to. Even if I think he's evil. Help me to see the humanity in him, so that I can continue to act and pray in love.
Amen.
