Posted on 03/22/2019 7:32:18 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Led by Ethos Church, a group of Nashville churches spent 30 days praying for their city. That's not unusual, because many churches around the world pray for their cities. What sets the group in Nashville apart is that they took it a step further and decided to pray for every single resident of the city. In fact, the participants of Awaken Nashville were encouraged to send postcards letting people know they prayed for them. Some Nashvillians, however, took umbrage at the prayer and postcards, deeming the whole enterprise intrusive and a violation of their privacy.
Speaking to Religion News Service, Ethos Church's pastor Dave Clayton said, "I love this city, and it’s a great time to be here, but we just had this conviction that despite all the good things that were going on, there’s still a lot of pain. We started wrestling with how we could love and care for the city. I think there are a lot of answers to that, but for us the starting place was prayer."
From there, it didn't take long for Clayton and the members of Ethos Church to arrive at the idea of praying for every single resident. A daunting task, but encouraged by their belief in the power of prayer Awaken Nashville was born. Over 350 churches embraced the idea and committed to spending a month fasting and praying for Nashville's residents by name. It was the encouragement to send postcards to the people they prayed for that sparked the ire of some Nashvillians.
Speaking to RNS, Cory Johnson protested, "I just couldn’t believe that some creepy guy I don’t even know was taking time out of his day to tell me how to live my life. I genuinely believe the project is a form of trespassing and a huge invasion of privacy."
Another prayer postcard recipient who wanted to remain anonymous said, "In the card, an anonymous person indicated that for nearly a month, they had been praying for me to let Jesus Christ into my heart. What creeped me out was not just that the person was sending well wishes my way, but instead praying for me to make a religious conversion."
Not all the responses have been negative, though, with many Nashville residents expressing gratefulness for the prayers and postcards. No doubt, some overly-exuberant prayer warrior overshared while writing their postcard, but based on the guidelines for writing the cards provided by Ethos Church, it's difficult to see why anyone would be bothered by the project.
The participants are instructed to keep their note simple and focused on Jesus and his love for the individual receiving the postcard. The instructions prohibit the promotion of any single church or agenda. Simply meant to let Nashville residents know that they have been prayed for and that Jesus loves them, the whole endeavor should be considered innocuous if you don't believe in the power of prayer.
Referencing the anonymous person bothered that another anonymous person would dare pray for him "to make a religious conversion," it's odd to be upset by that unless you believe the prayer might work. As far as the violation of privacy concerns, I'm assuming that those bothered are not on any social media platforms. I'm also assuming that they rage against junk mail they receive from local businesses vying for their money.
The fact is that people look for reasons to be upset. For many, their identity is rooted in suffering grievances and wagging their fist in response. Frankly, many of those who are upset at the postcards may owe Awaken Nashville a thank you for providing them the opportunity to whine.
The churches in Nashville that participated in Awaken Nashville should be commended for their love for their community.
I’m a resident here, and for those folks praying for us, I say, “Thank You and God Bless You, too.”
Here’s an interesting question: Did Count Dracula believe in Jesus? Most certainly, yes. He saw him as his enemy, and bitterly hated him. But in that even the symbols of Jesus caused Dracula great pain and could even destroy him, he definitely believed in Jesus.
Leftists these days have used what amounts to Pavlovian conditioning on themselves so much, in their hatred of Christianity, MAGA, Israel, and any number of other things, even opinions or expression by others, that they behave like drooling dogs whenever they detect anything that is on their aversion and hatred list.
I call this “The Vampire Effect”.
In any event, the leftists of Nashville are caught up in this so much that even prayers directed at them by others have become painful to them. How painful is anyone’s guess. But as is often the case, I would not be surprised to lash out violently at this church, or other Christians.
The undead truly hate the living.
Maybe they thought they were praying for them to go to hell where they most likely belong.
I bet they’d really be peeved if they knew some Mormons were being baptized for them.
Lol dead dunk ping
Good analysis.
I would like to hear a string of oaths from these residents. Uttering GD or JC would prove them hypocrites and completely invalidate their supposed position. Even “Legion” and other demonics knew Jesus.
Privacy?
Illogical Crime
Even paranoids can have some REAL enemies!
Well bless my pea-pickin' heart chile!
It appears that you are valuing your body more than your soul and his values are directly opposite of yours.
(Way to ramp up even MORE prayers said in your BEHALF.)
Do you know there are MILLIONS of books printed yearly that TEACH that kind of caring for others nonsense??!!
2 Peter 3:8-10 King James Version (KJV)
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Matthew 8:28-30 says,
“When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way.
‘What do you want with us, Son of God?’ they shouted. ‘Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?’
UMMmmm… not quite.
I think the dead can be OFFERED this gift; but there is no requirement that it be accepted.
I only know what I've read, but teppe can probably help us understand this a bit more, as he seems to have an open heart.
It DOES have 'some' effect; otherwise 82,000 of them would NOT be spread out across the world selling their church's interpretation of the Scriptures!
They no more 'belong' there than you or I!!
Oh; it's gonna be a WAY much better thread than this!!
Not quite; as the worthy members of The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints only proxy baptize folks already dead.
If a live person's name gets used; it is purely accidental.
Jews are upset that THEIR passed on relatives are baptized in proxy as well.
Well; there's no pleasing EVERYONE; is there?!
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