WASHINGTON, DC (FR) – For the first time in U.S. history, a bill enacting a permanent national day of prayer passed both houses. The Senate bill, S. 1378, was introduced by South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, while the House version was introduced by Ohio democrat Tony Hall.
The measure amends a 1952 law which required the president to proclaim a day of his choosing each year. President Reagan signed the bill into law in the Oval Office on May 5th and read a prayer translated from Russian. The prayer was found on a young soldier, Alexander Zatzepa, who was killed in action in 1944.
Rep. Hall said at a “Praise and Celebration Banquet” held in conjunction with the event that he was surprised that the measure went through so fast. Usually a commemorative measure needs 218 signatures, but the requirement was waived. “Now it’s settled on the calenders of Americans,” said Tim Bobbit, spokesman for the National Day of Prayer Task Force.
In addition to passage of the measure, 33 governors and over 150 mayors issued proclamations in their respective states and cities to commemorate the day of prayer. “We’ve definitely seen more participation compared to last year,” said Susan Sorensen, spokeswoman for the National Prayer Committee.
In Chicago, city coordinator Sue Peterson organized 6,000 people to pray every hour. Olympic Gold Medalist John Naber was the keynote speaker at a prayer breakfast in Pasadena, California. There were 100 mayoral proclamations in Maine and 20 in Louisiana.
The measure was the result of an unusual bi-partisan effort. Four congressmen co-sponsored the measure: Rep. Carlos Moorhead (R-CA), Rep. Robert Garcia (D-NY), Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), and Rep. Tony Hall(D-OH). Senate co-sponsors were: Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC), Bill Armstrong (R- CO), Sen. Howard Heflin (D-AL), and Sen. Lawton Chiles (D-FL).
The National Prayer Committee was started in 1982 to coordinate and implement the commemorated day of prayer. Sorensen said there has been a steady increase in the number of governors and mayors participating. “The only hindrance is the state not knowing about it. However, a lot of other groups hold observances that we are not even aware of.” The first day of prayer was declared by the Continental Congress in 1775. In Reagan’s 1987 proclamation, he stated, “On our National Day of Prayer, then, we join together as people of many faiths to petition God to show us His mercy and His love, to heal our weariness and uphold our hope, that we might live ever mindful of His justice and thankful for His blessing.”
Reagan further urged “…the citizens of this great nation to gather together on that day in homes and places of worship to pray, each after his or her own manner, for unity of hearts of all mankind.”
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President Obama claims we are not a Christian nation? Israel, with 79% Jewish populace, is considered a Jewish nation. Iraq has groups of Christians, Jews and other faiths, but is considered a Muslim nation. Ireland is considered a Catholic nation although there are many Protestants. Thus, with a populace that is 89% Christian the U.S. is a christian nation!
Oboma is the most Godless president we have ever had. He is a disgrace to our country and is blind in his own pride and arogance.
The First Amendment to the Constitution clearly states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”. What state religions were established by Congress in the 1952 or 1988 laws mentioned in the above article? What state religions were established by Congress by any proclamations by Presidents Washington, Madison, Taylor, Tyler, Buchanan, Lincoln, or Andrew Johnson? The correct answer to these questions are absolutely none at all. How can any court make the absurd statement that a national day of prayer establishes any religion whatsoever when no one can point to a single state religion being established by Congress on any National Day of Prayer? Any judge who proclaims such absurdities is making an end run around the 1st Amendment and trying to halt the rights of any citizen who wants to pray from freely exercising his or her religious preferences.
America’s Godly heritage cannot be denied, there is solid historical evidence beginning with the Mayflower Compact, which was drafted, and signed by forty-one men onboard the ship Mayflower on November 11, 1620. The Mayflower Compact is the bedrock upon which America was founded.
Which reads in part: “In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc. Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic.”
Fifty-six years later, on June 20, 1676, by unanimous vote the Pilgrims of Charlestown, Massachusetts proclaimed June 29, 1676 a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.
In October 3, 1789, George Washington the First President of the United States of America proclaimed: Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor— and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.
In May 13, 1863 the Senate of the United States requested President Abraham Lincoln to designate, and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed, done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A. D.1863. By the President: Abraham Lincoln, and Secretary of State William H. Seward.
On April 17, 1952, a bill unanimously passed both houses of congress proclaiming an annual National Day of Prayer. President Truman signed it into law, requiring the President, and future Presidents to select a day for national prayer each year.
1988: A bill was introduced to Congress, which fixed the annual National Day of Prayer, at the first Thursday in May. The Senate bill, S 1378, was introduced by Senator Stron Thurmond, and a matching House version was initiated by Congressman Tony P Hall It received broad bipartisan sponsorship and support, and became Public Law 100-307. It was signed into law on May 8, 1988 by President Reagan, saying, “On our National Day of Prayer, then, we join together as people of many faiths to petition God to show us His mercy and His love, to heal our weariness and uphold our hope, that we might live ever mindful of His justice and thankful for His blessing.”
President George W. Bush was the last President to host the National Day of Prayer in the East Room of the White House. President Obama decided to sign the proclamation recognizing the National Day of Prayer, but refused to host the event in the White House this year. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, “Prayer is something that the president does every day.” The President prays five times a day prostrated, facing east in submission to Allah.
Because of the great apostasy of the church in America, Muslims have been successful in infiltrating, and taking over the Presidency of the United States of America through deception, as prescribed by the Koran, and in preparation for the great Islamic takeover predicted to take place in thirty years. Three years ago a meeting of 24 Islamic organizations was held in Chicago, the transcripts of that meeting show in detail their plans to evangelize America through journalism, politics, education and more. They said, “We must prepare ourselves for the reality that in 30 years there will be 50 million Muslims living in America.” The world we live in is not the world in which our children and grandchildren will live. The Catholic Church recently reported that Islam just surpassed their membership numbers. Some studies show that Islam at the current rate of grow will be the dominant religion of the world, about 5 to 7 years.
You may ask, where are the Christians? Well, the cowering Christians are hiding inside their temples of hypocrisy, permitting unscrupulous so-called pastors of the gospel or more appropriately, “wolves in sheep clothing” to fleece, brainwash, and whisper in their itchy ears what their ears want to hear, such as the great fairy tale of the rapture of the church, which erroneously claims that Jesus Christ will come down a second time without setting his feet on the ground, and will gather all Christians out of the earth, taking them to heaven in order to spare them from the seven years tribulation that will come upon the inhabitants of the whole world.
The Clergy of America has also trashed the legacy of the religious freedom handed down by the Founding Fathers, and exchanged the precious blood of the lamb for a get rich quick scam by selling out the Church of Jesus Christ to the U. S. Government for a fistful of tax exempt dollars, under the IRS 501c3 Tax-Exempt Code. These godless hypocrites are not only going down the annals of history as the greatest betrayers of Jesus Christ since the world was created, they will also find themselves in hell where their worm does not die, and the fire in not quenched.
The father of modern revivalism Charles G. Finney has very aptly observed: “If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discernment, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in Christianity, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.”
In 1787,when the representatives of the thirteen colonies were trying to come in agreement in the writing of the Constitution of the United States.When the convention of these troubled men could leave in confusing disagreement Ben Franklin spoke up.He is quoted “In the beginning of the contest with Britain,when we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection.Our prayers,Sir,were heard and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor…Have we now forgotten this powerful Friend?Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?“I have lived ,Sir, a long time , and the longer i live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice,is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured,Sir, in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this…“I therefore beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessing on our deliberation be held in this assembly every morning.” Myself I totally agree with what Ben Franklin said . Just a thought an engine runs well with the right amount of oil in it. You don’t take that oil out and expect it to run right, it will lock up and run no more. And yes you change the oil when it is thinned out and dirty, but you put the same pure clean oil back in, this is the same as a revival.
You are all saying the right things. But where is the mercy and forgiveness of God. Can we all unite together and ask God for forgiveness on behalf of these clergies? Perhaps, He will pardon and have mercy on us all. We have all sinned by commision and omission! The Lord’s hand is not short that He cannot save neither His ears deaf that He can’t hear… Let us still come together in UNITY and PRAY for our nation. He said He’d hear and heal our land. He’d also show us things we don’t know and ways we need to follow, when we call upon Him in time of trouble. That time is here and now. He is a multiple-chance giver. We shouldn’t TALK prayer but PRAY prayer. Let us not be or join the “acuser of the brethrens”. Peace and Grace be unto you all!!