Not only did Rick Warren emphatically use the name of Jesus during his prayer at the inauguration of Barack Obama, but his prayer was definitely one of the most "Christian" inaugural prayers of the post World War II era.
Warren also recognized the historical importance of this day when he prayed: "We know today that Dr. King and a great crowd of witnesses are shouting in heaven."
But what will have the blogs buzzing about Warren's prayer is his very forceful use of the name of Jesus and his very clear identification of the God that he was praying to.
Read the following transcript of the prayer and you can see for yourself what we are talking about.....
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WARREN: Let us pray.
Almighty God, our father, everything we see and everything we can’t see exists because of you alone. It all comes from you, it all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory. History is your story. The Scripture tells us “Hear, oh Israel, the Lord is our god; the Lord is one.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.
Now today, we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time. We celebrate a hinge-point of history with the inauguration of our first African-American president of the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership.
WARREN: And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in Heaven.
Give to our new president Barack Obama the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.
Help us, oh God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.
WARREN: When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the Earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us.
And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes, even when we differ.
Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all.
WARREN: May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day all nations and all people will stand accountable before you.
We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.
I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Essa (ph), Jesus, Jesus, who taught us to pray, “Our Father who art in Heaven hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”
The following is a video clip of Rick Warren giving his prayer.....
We applaud Rick Warren for identifying himself with the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, the Lord Jesus himself said in Luke 9:26 that if anyone was ashamed of Him, He would be ashamed of that person at His coming.....
If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
May God bless Rick Warren for standing up for Him today.
University Of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow actually made "John 3:16" the number one search term on Google for a short time by wearing it in the eye black under his eyes during the BCS championship game.
You can actually see the effect that Tebow had on the search term "john 3 16" right here:
For those of you not familiar with John 3:16, it says: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
In some previous games, Tebow wore Philippians 4:13 on his eye black which says: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
Millions watched this most recent game when Tebow led the Florida Gators to a 24-14 victory over the University of Oklahoma to win the national championship.
But not everyone is thrilled with Tebow's display of faith. The Orlando Sentinel recently put it this way:
Others feel religion and sports should not mix. "Why must he rub it in my face?" they ask. So why would Tim Tebow do this?
Why would he expose himself and his teammates to potential ridicule?
The truth is that Tim Tebow recognized that millions and millions of people would be looking at his face during the national championship game, and he used that opportunity to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Tim Tebow is part of a dying breed of Christians who are not ashamed of the gospel.
Jesus told us that we should never be ashamed of Him or His message. In Luke 9:26, Jesus said this:
If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
We applaud Tim Tebow for not being ashamed of the gospel. The truth is that Tebow is working to fulfill the command that Jesus gave us almost 2000 years ago in Matthew 28:18-20....
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
So as far as we are concerned we hope that Tebow will continue to wear Bible verses on his face.
If even one person finds eternal life because of it then it is more than worth it.
Did you know that Oprah Winfrey actually claims that her New Age religious beliefs and Christianity are 100 percent compatible?
Did you know that she actually quotes Bible verses in support of her false religion?
As millions of Christians sit in churches each Sunday morning, they are sitting there with a whole lot of confusion in their heads.
Some churches are teaching the truth about the foundations of the Christian faith, but the majority of churches are not. But what makes things worse is the hours upon hours of television these Christians are absorbing each week where they hear negative messages about the traditional Christian faith from celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey.
Oprah Winfrey claims that the New Age principles she is teaching do not contradict Christianity while at the same time she viciously attacks the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith and publicly rips them to pieces:
Tyra Banks has shocked us once again, but this time it is a survey of American teen girls that is dropping jaws.
More than 10,000 teenage girls and young women took part in an anonymous survey over the summer on the website of "The Tyra Banks Show", and the results are absolutely shocking:
*On average, girls are losing their virginity at 15 years of age.
*14 percent of teens who are having sex say they’re doing it at school.
*52 percent of the respondents say they do not use protection when having sex.
*One in three says she fears having a sexually transmitted disease.
*24 percent of respondents with STDs say they still have unprotected sex.
*One in five girls says she wants to be a teen mom.
*One out of three respondents admits to having tried drugs.
Tyra Banks also told the "Today Show" that teen girls appear to be more sexually active than ever before.
One 16 year old girl that was interviewed on Tyra's show says that she had sex for the first time at 13 years of age. Since then, she says that she has had 9 sex partners and has contracted several sexually transmitted diseases, including genital herpes.
Is this any way for our teens to live?
Why do we insist on not teaching them to avoid these behaviors?
The truth is that our society has rejected God and His ways, so this is what we get.
We teach our children that they came from animals and that they can have sex whenever they want. We just suggest that they use a little "protection" (which actually is not much protection at all).
We have failed our teens.
The results speak for themselves.
The reality is that we are living in the last days, and our society is full of proud, wicked people who love to sin just like the Scriptures tell us:
2 Timothy 3:1-5
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
America has turned against God and every day there are more stories in the news that illustrate this sad reality. Thank you for visiting and please help us get the word out about this blog.
We have to give Rick Warren credit for this one.
