Greetings,
The initial pain and grief of Wednesday's ruling by the Supreme Court is wearing off. I told my church folks
on Tuesday night and again last night at Fox's Hollow, 'the real tragedy is that it has come and gone; and as quickly as it came it will be forgotten.' And how quickly life is returning to the norm of what we do. Life does go on, chores, work, responsibilities have to be done. But the sting of what this ruling has made to our future should linger with us. I appealed to church leaders to call for a day of mourning and prayer. No response, so I wrote one and sent it out myself:
http://danbiser.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-day-of-mourning-and-prayer-june-30.htmlPerhaps it doesn't make sense to them. Perhaps, nothing I have ever done to enhance prayer has ever made sense to them. But its right. And its not just that prayer is right, for the turth is that prayer is not right. Muslums pray every day; buddhists pray, but that doesn't make it right. A call to prayer is not necessarily right (although I have done that); but it is prayer that is Spirit driven, prevailing prayer that advances our Lord's kingdom and causes hell to withdraw. that is right.
Are you doing it? Examine your day, your week, document times you prayed; times you sat down and prayed with the body of Christ (corporate prayer); see how faithful or unfaithful you are to the heavenly calling.
Are you praying more temporal/carnal needs or more eternal/spiritual needs? Which advances with the petitions that you pray?
--A whole lot of teaching goes on in prayers. For example: in the their prayers they say, "As I was reading Your word (or book, or listening to a sermon) I was reminded of this . . . " What? God doesn't know what you were reading? God didn't give that to you? No, they want to teach and declare instead of pray.
--a whole lot of story telling goes on in prayer. For example: preface in their prayers by saying, "As I was at the store the other day and I ran into this man. . . " God doesn't know you was at the store? God didn't send that man to you? No, they want to talk, share. Granted, there is a time to fellowship, to share experiences, testimonies are very healthy. but not in the middle of the prayer meeting per se!
And with all this sharing in a prayer meeting, Satan accomplishes his purposes. His purposes are to keep us from kingdom praying; to keep us from wrestling against 'spiritual wickedness in high places'. Every distraction and invention of Satan is to limit to quench and to end the prayer meeting that advances God's kingdom. mark, and see, where is your distraction at and in your personal prayer time? in your church prayer time? Do you see it? This is Satans advancing to keep you from praying rightly.
Yes, I believe church leadership failed in advancing the importance and demonstration of praying over the Supreme Court ruling. I have read and digested many of the blog writings, many of the 'expert' leaders on their insight of why? and what's next? and all the other jargon presented. Many of them I wrote and asked a few simple questions, 'How much prayer did you lead in your role of leadership over the last 6 months?' 'How did you promote and practice prayer for this most solemn issue of our day these last 6 months?'
You see, this kingdom, eternal battle is on. It is for the soul of a nation, of our children and grandchildren. And God looks for a man to stand in the gap to intercede. You and I are called to stand and labor, yea travail in prayer for these most pressing issues. Are you? and if not you, then who will do it?
Upon us hangs the weight of a nation. Labor, spend and be spent for the kingdom of our Lord.
until,
dan biser
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Contact: Rev. Patrick Mahoney, 540-538-4741
WASHINGTON, Nov. 5, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Christian Defense Coalition and Faith and Action will begin their prayer vigil at 10:00 a.m. when the one hour oral arguments begin in the court.
The prayer vigil will be on the public sidewalk in front of the United States Supreme Court.
The groups will be praying that religious freedom and the First Amendment are protected by the Justices and the government is not allowed to dictate to clergy what kind of prayers they must pray at public meetings.
Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, states;
Rev. Patrick Mahoney and Rev. Rob Schenck will be available for comments throughout the morning.
For more information or interviews contact:
Rev. Patrick Mahoney at 540.538.4741
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Hobby Lobby Contraceptive Case
Update: The Supreme Court has agreed to hear appeals by Hobby Lobby, an evangelical-owned craft chain which won in the Tenth Circuit, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a Mennonite-owned woodworking company which lost in the Third Circuit.
Hobby Lobby explained in a statement that its Green family owners "have no moral objection to providing 16 of the 20 FDA-approved contraceptives required under the HHS mandate and do so at no additional cost to employees under their self-insured health plan." "My family and I are encouraged that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide our case," said founder and CEO David Green.
Southern Baptist leader Russell Moore labeled the decision "the most important religious liberty question in recent years." In a press release for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, he writes:
The high court will combine the cases. Oral arguments will likely happen in March, with a decision expected in June.
Hobby Lobby is represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and Conestoga is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom.
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After more than 80 lawsuits from hundreds of concerned Christian groups (among other plaintiffs), today the U.S. Supreme Court is finally poised to pick one of the many challenges to the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive mandate.
CT previously previewed the top contenders the court will choose between today. Smart money says the justices will choose Hobby Lobby's high-profile challenge to the mandate's requirement that employers provide employees with emergency contraceptives that many evangelicals consider to be abortifacients.
CT also previously reported the core question at stake: Whether for-profit companies have religious rights, via the court's extension of corporate "personhood" in Citizens United. Religion Clause's Howard Friedman told CT this is "one of themost difficult legal questions I've seen."
Appeals courts have disagreed on whether for-profit corporations with religious owners are allowed free exercise of religion under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The Seventh Circuit and Tenth Circuit have said yes. But the Sixth Circuit and Third Circuit have said no.
Most of the legal action has been on the for-profit side (43 cases and counting), where—out of the 38 lawsuits decided on the merits of their complaints—32 have secured temporary bans against the mandate's enforcement and 6 have been denied, according to a helpful scorecard kept by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
CT has chronicled the many legal developments regarding the contraceptive mandate, including most recently on the nonprofit side where a court ruled that the mandate splits religion into worship or good works.