Did you hear the benediction?

Monday of last week was a historical Monday, not only because it was Martin Luter king Jr.' s day, but because Mr. Barack Obama gave an oath, for a second time, to become the 44th president of the United States of America. As in every inauguration speech, a minister prayed asking for God's favor over our country and for His divine guidance for our president, finishing with the words "in Jesus' name. Amen." No; if you were watching, like millions of Americans, this past Monday, it didn't happen like that. Rev. Louie Giglio, a pastor from Atlanta, was invited by the White House to lead the prayer, but the Thursday before the inauguration he decided not to (1). Even before the event, the election of pastor Giglio, who had been merited the honor of leading the benediction because of his great efforts against human traffic in his Atlanta home church Passion City Church, was already being a controversy among the homosexual community, which had been moving heaven and earth to move Rev. Giglio out of the way. The reasons for such a commotion were comments he made in the 1990's calling homosexuality a sin and disagreeing with same gender relationships (2).

Of course our president could not afford to have someone praying for him who disagreed on an issue that he recently agreed on and supported. Therefore, Rev. Luis Leon, an Episcopal minister, prayed that with God's blessing we would be able to see that "we are created in your [His] image", which included white or black, "gay or straight" (3). This incident, which by the way has not been as widely mentioned by the media as the first lady's new stylish hairdo, shows the degree of importance our government is putting on its agenda of being liked by the "victims of an intolerant society", aka everyone who could feel "attacked" by the Christian "moralists", over the tradition of asking God for His blessings in Jesus' name, something Myrlie Evers-Williams, a civil rights activist did (4).

I can just imagine what would have happened if Rev. Giglio, or as a matter of fact any God-fearing-Christian, would have led the prayer: president Obama would probably have faced endless criticism as it happened 4 years ago when Pastor Rick Warren, a man with the same views as Rev. Giglio on the issue, led the benediction. My question is, if we are such a tolerant society, how come it is such an offense to have a Christian praying on such an important event, especially when it has been the tradition of a country whose founding fathers were continually expressing the need of the Creator's guidance?

However my brothers and sisters, I encourage you to keep our country and its leaders in your daily prayers as is our duty as Christians (1 Tim 2:1-4). Pray so that the church can stand up firm against all the pressure this world is putting upon us, not forgetting our need to preach the gospel of love. I ask you to please be informed on all the news that point to the coming of our Lord, as this one is, and encourage one another by keeping a good testimony. Many blessings and please feel free to comment, share, and subscribe. The purpose of this article is not just to inform, but to stir in all young Christian professionals the zeal for God's ways in our country, and to not be fooled by the mediocre information the media gives us.

(1) http://www.passioncitychurch.com/blog/?p=1436

(2) http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/01/10/louie_giglio_pastor_withdraws_from_obama_inauguration.html

(3)http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/22/rev-luis-leon-benediction_n_2527051.html

(4)https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=RfgQlhKXIaM&NR=1