"Russ, I Cannot Pray For ______________"

     The words could be uttered by someone who has been cruelly betrayed; or someone whose child has been the victim of a horrible crime; or by you for reasons known only to you.  The name in the blank could be someone previously close to you or a complete stranger.  "But I tell you:  Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."  (Matt. 5:44&45)
     In the two blogs on Dispensationalism I said that neither dispensationalists nor their critics had, in my opinion, dealt adequately with the Sermon On The Mount (Matt. 5-7 & Luke 6).  Dispensationalists apply it strictly to Israel in the coming Messianic Kingdom.  Their critics (which are many) ignore entirely the context, that it was spoken to Israelites still living under the Law, and attempt to make direct application of all its parts to all believers at all times.  But this ignores statements like "if you are offering your gift at the altar . . . ." (Matt. 5:23), and requires clever ways to explain away statements like "do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."  (Matt. 5:42)  I can think of many people to whom I would never loan money or anything else because they are so irresponsible.  And that is the same feeling of those who have said loudly through the years "we must obey the Sermon on the Mount".  We need to clear up some things before we return to the very painful problem of praying for certain people.
     The New Scofield Reference Bible of 1967 correctly pointed out that the Sermon on the Mount is part of the "all Scripture (that) is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." (II Tim. 3:16  NIV)   But the footnote in the NSRB of '67 should have gone further.  Jesus was setting straight the people's understanding of righteousness.  Their leaders had reduced it to outward, legalistic observances.  He was now taking them back to the Scriptures (what we now call the Old Testament) and nearly everything he taught in the Sermon was already in the Scriptures and had been overlooked or deliberately ignored.          The 'gift at the altar' passage and several others are clearly based on Lev. 19:18, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.  I am the Lord."  (italics mine)  Prov. 18:19 dealt with making things right with an offended brother.  The difficult passages on "turning the other cheek" and lending to just about anyone, are based things said in Exodus 22 on how Israelites were to treat their fellow Israelites.   (Other passages dealt with compassion to foreigners.)  
     So, if I am going to teach and quote from the Sermon I have a huge obligation to show that I have applied the principle involved the way it was intended in the O.T. and the way it is subsequently applied in the New Testament.   This is the great error of believers who quote from the Sermon to justify their pacifism and their opposition of all military actions by the government.   Jesus was talking about personal grudges and strife and not about the God ordained police powers of the state.  (Rom. 13:1-7)  
     Some things in the Sermon have been raised even higher on this side of the cross.   Speaking before the cross Jesus told His fellow Israelites to forgive so that they might be forgiven.  (Matt. 6:14&15)   The principle in that passage is eternally true, that if I, in disobedience to the Lord, maintain a hateful grudge, it becomes doubtful whether I am truly saved.  But, on this side of the cross I am told to forgive because I have been forgiven".  (Eph. 4:32)  The Holy Spirit helps me maintain both of these:  the deadly danger of refusing to forgive and the other principle which motivates me so powerfully to want to forgive because I am forgiven.   This is why Romans 8:4 is so critical in relating the Sermon on the Mount to us today.  "The righteous requirements of the Law are fulfilled in us who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit".  (NIV)
     Now, we can do much better with the problem of "I cannot pray for ___".    Praying for them is precisely how I shall be delivered from this awful feeling I have about them.  I pity them!  What they have done means they are facing a terrible accounting at the Judgment.  So, did I use Matthew 5:44&45 correctly when I quoted them at the beginning of this blog?  I must have because Paul used them in exactly the same way in Rom. 12:17 ff.  So now we are getting somewhere.   Praying for them has set me free!
     But there is one other name that more than a few people have put in the blank of the title of this blog.  "I struggle to pray for the President because he is so evil" is what I have heard said.   Is he really that evil?  I am afraid so.   To begin with he is a deceiver.  "Marriage is only between a man and a woman" he once said.  But, those close to him have admitted that this was totally dishonest and part of his plan to get elected and further the same sex marriage agenda.   From the killing of unborn babies to making marriage meaningless by redefining it, we cannot name a single anti-God, anti-Christ agenda he has not supported.   In the light of Daniel ch. 10, he is most likely under the domination of a powerful demon who might be called "the prince of the United States".   He is the first President born to and nurtured by an atheist.  I feel especially sorry for his daughters.  He and his wife, however, know full well what they are doing.  I need not indulge myself in hating him.  He faces, unless he repents, the most fearsome judgment of Almighty God. 
     And so I pray:  "Father in Heaven, I confess my sin of not coming to you more often on behalf of those in authority.  Cleansed by the Blood of Christ I beg you Father to restrain any evil in the heart of the President and in the hearts of those who share his views.  Please, please turn his heart to you in repentance and faith.  And please turn the hearts of millions in this land to Yourself in repentance and faith.  And please deliver those who, like me, are your children.  Deliver us from spending more time condemning the evil than in praying to you on behalf of the evildoers.  In the Name of Jesus, the Name above every name.   Amen."