Posted on 08/22/2008 7:23:22 AM PDT by Publius804
Pastor Who Opposes Abortion to Deliver DNC's Closing Prayer
By Krissah Williams
Sen. Barack Obama's team will continue its aggressive outreach to evangelical voters at the Democratic National Convention next week. Making a prime-time appearance Thursday night will be Joel C. Hunter, a Florida megachurch pastor who will deliver the convention's closing prayer following Obama's speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination.
Hunter is a registered Republican, opposes abortion and, at one point, had been chosen to lead the Christian Coalition. He has not endorsed Obama and says he agreed to give the benediction because has was asked to do so. For years he has agitated for evangelicals to refuse to align themselves with any one political party and has been a part of the so-called new evangelical movement interested in getting away from traditional culture war flashpoints.
"I'll kind of be the elephant in the room, but it really says something about how far Senator Obama is reaching out," Hunter said in a phone interview today.
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
Delivering a prayer on behalf of a man who supports the slaughter of innocent children (even when the abortion fails).....what in the world is this guy smoking?
Is it “reaching out” or “reaching out for votes”? There is a massive difference. A candidate who is so anti-life that he will not even consider when a baby should be considered part of the human race and be granted “human rights” is not reaching out to the pro-life side. He is simply pandering for votes. I think this pastor is more than a little naive. He needs to turn his BS meter back on.
I just glanced at my co-workers computer screen and thought I had read on the Yahoo home page that some pro-life preacher who had agreed to pray at the DNC had ‘backed out’, would this be the same guy? I tried browsing the Yahoo home page but couldn’t find the same article.
I hope he makes his prayer a plea to God for cleansing and healing the Democrat party and for an end to the culture of death within it. Otherwise, what’s his point?
I suppose there’s nothing wrong with his saying a prayer for a sinner.
“Oh, dear Lord, I pray that You convert Obama from his evil, baby-killing ways. In Jesus’ name we ask it. Amen.”
There’s no Democrat pastor there who could “pray”
????????????????????????????????????
I live in the Orlando area and USED to attend this church. He’s a liberal pushing a liberal agenda and he won’t have a ‘mega church’ for long, IMO.
Here’s an excerpt from his blog: (since when is Obama an ELECTED LEADER?)
Q: Why are you offering a benediction for the Democratic National Convention?
A: Jesus told us to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21). I’ve always believed that when our elected leaders call upon us and we answer, that we are fulfilling that command from Scripture
“We can hope he will pray for the Lord to forgive them for adopting an evil and unchristian platform. But I won’t be holding my breath, too many of these mega-chruch pastors are just about getting attendance and making money instead of preaching the truth.”
I hope he does, too. But if he did that, they would probably start screaming at him and not let him finish the prayer. You know, a lot of these megachurches won’t even touch politics or the controversial issues. They won’t talk about it. But they need to. America is in a crisis and the Body of Christ needs to be mobilized to vote!
Not the same guy but another that lives in Orlando. He’s the son of the owner of a bunch of Christian magazines.
Even though he dropped out I still think he’s making nutty comments. Somebody told me the article is on the orlando sentinel site but I can’t bring myself to read it :|
How about, “Lord, open the eyese of those people gathered here and oppsoe them in their efforts to kill innocent babies...”
Yeah. That’ll make the evangelicals flock to Obamalama. (/sarc)
Thanks for the lead.
Just have to wait to hear the prayer. It could be a golden opportunity. However, my expectations are not very high. He helped take his church from 200 to 12,000 and that doesn't usually happen unless you make the gospel 'palatable' to a lot of folks.
LOL
That will be some floor show...
What this guy needs is the gift of the fear of the Lord. I detest anyone such as this trying to convince people he serves the Lord,including Obama!!!!!!!!!!!
This may be a special case, but this seems indicative of why I’m wary of all these megachurches popping up. They seem to be all about delivering a feel-good, warm, fuzzy message but no substance or tough things to think about. I don’t see how a pastor of church that actually takes a decent look at the commandments and moral guidances of the Bible could speak at the DNC. Unless he’s trying to convert a few of them and not just pander; then by all means, God bless him. He’s going to need it to get out of the building unscathed.
No one should hold out hopes that this guy (Hunter) is going to pray the prayer we all see as needed. He was obama’s talking point man on F&F the other morning and when asked about obama’s ‘pay grade’ comment he said ‘well, technically he’s right, the Bible doesn’t really specify when life begins’!
Also took the talking point of the left that abortions haven’t dropped at all under Bush’s pro life presidency (even though there are studies out proving otherwise. This point is being made so they can say, ‘see? nothing gets better under a Republican....might as well vote dem’.
Lastly, when they mentioned on F&F how well McCain did at Saddleback, Hunter said ‘oh, this crowd was just looking for amen moments so this was to be expected’.
This guy is a fraud.
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