Jun
9
Three Cheers for Pastor Platt!
“If you think President Trump is a terrible person and you’re mad that a pastor chose to pray for him, then you need to swiftly reexamine the gospel message — and your own heart. Trump’s sin should not deflect our desire and responsibility to pray for Him — indeed the more sin we observe the greater a desire we should have to pray for him!” — John Wesley Reid, Voices Contributor at The Christian Post
Can I just say…?
This whole outrage against the pastor who prayed for Trump (and other leaders) when the President made a surprise visit to his church is just ridiculous! But, before I go further, here’s a recap of what happened….
Platt and Trump
On Sunday, June 2, President Trump left the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, VA, and made an unscheduled stop at the McLean Bible Church in Vienna, VA. However, Pastor David Platt was notified a few minutes before that the President was on his way and was asking for prayer. Wonderful! (Note: This was the Sunday that Rev. Franklin Graham had been asking churches to set aside as a “SPECIAL Day of Prayer for the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, that God would protect, strengthen, embolden, and direct him.”) According to a later statement by White House Deputy Spokesman Judd Deere, Trump wanted to “visit with the Pastor and pray for the victims and community of Virginia Beach.”
Once the President arrived, Platt took the “unique opportunity” to bring the President on stage and introduced him to the congregation. He then read I Timothy 2:1-6 aloud, placed a hand on Trump’s back and prayed:
“Oh God, we praise you as the one universal King over all. You are our leader and our Lord and we worship you. There’s one God and one Savior and it’s you and your name is Jesus and we exalt you, Jesus. And we know we need your mercy, we need your grace, we need your help, we need your wisdom in our country. And so we stand right now on behalf of our president and we pray for your grace and your mercy and your wisdom upon him. God, we pray that he would know how much you love him so much that you sent Jesus to die for his sins, our sins. So we pray that he would look to you and he would trust in you, he would lean on you, that he would govern and make decisions in ways that are good for justice and good for righteousness and good for equity — every good path. Lord we pray, we pray that you would give him all of the grace that he needs to govern in ways that we just saw in 1 Timothy 2 that lead to peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way. God, we pray for your blessing in that way upon his family. We pray that you give him strength, we pray that you give him clarity, wisdom, wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Please oh God give him wisdom and help him to lead our country. Alongside other leaders… we pray today for leaders in Congress, we pray for leaders in courts, we pray for leaders in national and state levels. Please, oh God, help us to look to you…”
Trump joined the congregation in applause afterward, then walked off stage without making any remarks of his own.
Some on social media griped and complained that this was a bad decision, no politics in the church, public prayer is inappropriate, how could you pray for the Bad Orange Man?, etc. While one might question the propriety of such a surprise visit by the President in the middle of a church service, personally I think the pastor handled the situation quite well and did the right thing. (Especially since there’s probably nothing in the “church manual” about what to do when the President of the United States makes a surprise visit.)
Apparently, though, some in the church were quite upset with Platt’s decision, saying it was “insensitive” to people of color and the marginalized. Platt later explained what he was thinking once he was told of Trump’s pending arrival:
“[A]s soon as I heard this request backstage, the passage from God’s Word that came to my mind was 1 Timothy 2:1-6:
‘First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.’
Based on this text, I know that it is good, and pleasing in the sight of God, to pray for the president. So in that moment, I decided to take this unique opportunity for us as a church to pray over him together. My aim was in no way to endorse the president, his policies, or his party, but to obey God’s command to pray for our president and other leaders to govern in the way this passage portrays.
I wanted to share all of this with you in part because I know that some within our church, for a variety of valid reasons, are hurt that I made this decision. This weighs heavy on my heart. I love every member of this church, and I only want to lead us with God’s Word in a way that transcends political party and position, heals the hurts of racial division and injustice, and honors every man and woman made in the image of God. So while I am thankful that we had an opportunity to obey 1 Timothy 2 in a unique way today, I don’t want to purposely ever do anything that undermines the unity we have in Christ.”
I appreciate Platt’s position and efforts to be sensitive to the hearts-n-minds of all his church members. But, it’s really sad that he felt he had to justify praying for anyone, let alone POTUS. Like them or not, whether they are Christian believers or not, we need to pray for those in charge to make fair and wise decisions. Isn’t that obvious?
Note that Platt’s prayer was specific to the man and his office — for strength, wisdom, etc., in his leadership, and that it would honor God — and not specific to any policies. Praying for someone does *not* mean you endorse everything — or even much of anything — that s/he has said or done. (I prayed for President Obama, though admittedly not nearly as often as I should have.) Pastor Platt made this clear, as did Franklin Graham elsewhere. Yet, it seems that some people can’t see past their “#Trumpevil” lens to acknowledge that Trump, like any other sinner, needs our prayers. (And *not* the imprecatory sort!) More to the point, the Bible commands it!
So,… kudos to Pastor David Platt! (Not so much to the “woke” Associate Pastor Michael Kelsey.)
