David Platt prays over Trump

2,618 Views | 42 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by gordo97
Frok
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How in the world did Donald Trump end up at David Platt's church? Platt has been critical of DJT so I think this is interesting. It's good to see and I'd like to think most pastors would do this no matter who is president.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/david-platt-prays-for-president-trump-after-he-unexpectedly-shows-up-at-church-service.html
PacifistAg
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Yeah I think this was a great prayer. Not a fan of the clapping as he left, but the prayer was really good.
diehard03
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I don't know that it was a good move to have him on stage and let him leverage the moment.
Frok
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You can't expect the POTUS to come into your church and not be a big deal. I think Platt did a great job of showing people how to pray for our leaders. As for the applause I don't see any issue. It's a natural reaction to the situation.

swimmerbabe11
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I am not sure our pastors would change anything during the service. Maybe add an addendum to the church prayer, but certainly nothing disruptive.
PacifistAg
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swimmerbabe11 said:

I am not sure our pastors would change anything during the service. Maybe add an addendum to the church prayer, but certainly nothing disruptive.
I think that's how ours would be as well.
Frok
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Do you think Trump got the message about the fool in the prayer? I kid, I kid.
PacifistAg
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Frok said:

Do you think Trump got the message about the fool in the prayer? I kid, I kid.
So I wasn't the only one to notice?
diehard03
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Quote:

I think Platt did a great job of showing people how to pray for our leaders.

I see this as a "road to hell is paved with good intentions" scenario. You also maybe teaching them that it's ok to act like he acts. The president also doesn't have to be there to pray for him.
PacifistAg
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diehard03 said:

Quote:

I think Platt did a great job of showing people how to pray for our leaders.

I see this as a "road to hell is paved with good intentions" scenario. You also maybe teaching them that it's ok to act like he acts. The president also doesn't have to be there to pray for him.
Oh, I think the content of the prayer was fine. I did see one comment on twitter that I thought was valid. They said that the content was fine, but the visuals of having him up front like that probably aren't the best. Now, Platt is by no means a Trump sycophant like Jeffress, but the visuals that created by people like Dobson/Jeffress/Graham/etc should probably give pause to any Christian doing the same.
Frok
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1 Timothy 2:1-2 "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way"

My understanding is Trump initiated coming to the church, they didn't invite him in order to provide an optic for everyone to see. Even still, praying for sinners is never a bad optic unless you are a pharisee. (Not calling you a pharisee)

diehard03
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Quote:

1 Timothy 2:1-2 "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way"
I just want to make sure we are talking about the same thing. I am not disputing praying for him. I agree with 1 Tim. My point is that how they went about it played into Trumps plans. Do we think Trump came into the church like the tax collector or the Pharisee?

Quote:

My understanding is Trump initiated coming to the church, they didn't invite him in order to provide an optic for everyone to see. Even still, praying for sinners is never a bad optic unless you are a pharisee. (Not calling you a pharisee)

It doesn't matter who invited who if you parade him up on stage to "lay hands" on him. This is also not the same as praying for sinners...unless it's their custom to bring every single sinner on stage to pray for them.

Again, in a vacuum, I don't have an issue with what they did. But, life is not in a vacuum. I don't know that I would have allowed that to happen. If he was wanting prayer, then I would have prayed for him. I don't think I would have done so publicly. I probably would have tried to each the other way: no office is above that of Christ. Our purpose here is to praise Him, and all elements of distraction to that goal should be minimized. Trump was here and was prayed for privately so you could your focus.
PacifistAg
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Frok said:

1 Timothy 2:1-2 "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way"

My understanding is Trump initiated coming to the church, they didn't invite him in order to provide an optic for everyone to see. Even still, praying for sinners is never a bad optic unless you are a pharisee. (Not calling you a pharisee)
I don't disagree necessarily. To me, the only negative "optic" is the congregants clapping for Trump as he left. Perhaps they would have done the same thing if his predecessor had shown up like that. I'm just not a fan of cheering on Caesar, especially within the church.
Frok
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Quote:

It doesn't matter who invited who if you parade him up on stage to "lay hands" on him. This is also not the same as praying for sinners...unless it's their custom to bring every single sinner on stage to pray for them.


I can't speak for other churches but for my church it is not uncommon to have someone on stage getting prayed for. We do it for graduates, missionaries, military members, staff members, etc.

There is no way you are going to get to pray for Donald Trump at your church and it not be a public spectacle. The security detail alone will immediately draw attention.
swimmerbabe11
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I just want to mention that I cringe every time y'all call it a "stage"

And I think that is more indicative of meaningful difference in church culture than it might seem.
diehard03
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Quote:

I can't speak for other churches but for my church it is not uncommon to have someone on stage getting prayed for. We do it for graduates, missionaries, military members, staff members, etc.

But you don't do it for every single sinner. This is what I am talking about in terms of potentially teaching your church things you don't intend to teach. But I think we will end up not totally seeing eye to eye on this one.


Quote:

There is no way you are going to get to pray for Donald Trump at your church and it not be a public spectacle. The security detail alone will immediately draw attention.

For sure, but the article is strangely vague on this. Still, the "road to hell..." still applies in my mind. I probably would have suggested he not come and/or send someone to pray for him at his location, which is already secured.
diehard03
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I just want to mention that I cringe every time y'all call it a "stage"

And I think that is more indicative of meaningful difference in church culture than it might seem.

Sometimes a word is just a word.
Frok
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swimmerbabe11 said:

I just want to mention that I cringe every time y'all call it a "stage"

And I think that is more indicative of meaningful difference in church culture than it might seem.


Okay, I guess I'll make sure to call it a pulpit
Frok
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Quote:

But I think we will end up not totally seeing eye to eye on this one.


Nope, but not a big deal. I can understand not wanting to get involved in all that. David Platt did look really uncomfortable when the congregation started cheering.
diehard03
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Nope, but not a big deal.

I agree.
AGC
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diehard03 said:


Quote:

1 Timothy 2:1-2 "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way"
I just want to make sure we are talking about the same thing. I am not disputing praying for him. I agree with 1 Tim. My point is that how they went about it played into Trumps plans. Do we think Trump came into the church like the tax collector or the Pharisee?

Quote:

My understanding is Trump initiated coming to the church, they didn't invite him in order to provide an optic for everyone to see. Even still, praying for sinners is never a bad optic unless you are a pharisee. (Not calling you a pharisee)

It doesn't matter who invited who if you parade him up on stage to "lay hands" on him. This is also not the same as praying for sinners...unless it's their custom to bring every single sinner on stage to pray for them.

Again, in a vacuum, I don't have an issue with what they did. But, life is not in a vacuum. I don't know that I would have allowed that to happen. If he was wanting prayer, then I would have prayed for him. I don't think I would have done so publicly. I probably would have tried to each the other way: no office is above that of Christ. Our purpose here is to praise Him, and all elements of distraction to that goal should be minimized. Trump was here and was prayed for privately so you could your focus.



What point are you trying to make in the first part? Jesus regularly engaged those people in public. In fact, he made fools of them in public though their intentions in approaching Him were always to trick Him or use Him for their own purposes.
Frok
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Here is a letter he wrote. He literally had only a few minutes notice ahead of it.

https://www.mcleanbible.org/prayer-president

Sorry Swimmer, he calls it a stage in this letter
PacifistAg
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Frok said:

Here is a letter he wrote. He literally had only a few minutes notice ahead of it.

https://www.mcleanbible.org/prayer-president

Sorry Swimmer, he calls it a stage in this letter
Thanks for sharing that.
DVC2010
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It sounds like we agree that the prayer itself was appropriate, but some of you object the event being politicized.

Do you think Trump scoring political points in a church service is a bigger deal than Platt having an opportunity to model biblical principles for his congregation? I don't. In fact, the extent to which this makes headlines also extends Platt's example. I found it edifying. How well do you pray for political leaders? Because I'm not very diligent about it.

I don't think we should be too concerned with optics. That's a distant fourth or fifth or sixth priority after obedience, love, and humility.
PacifistAg
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Quote:

Do you think Trump scoring political points in a church service is a bigger deal than Platt having an opportunity to model biblical principles for his congregation?
I don't think Trump scored any political points for this, especially given the content of the prayer. My only real issue is the clapping for him when he left. Could the prayer have been in private? Sure, but it seems to me that he took a moment where one side was likely looking to "score political points" and he turned it into a proper prayer for wisdom, salvation, and blessings for those things that "may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity". Had this been at certain other churches, it would have likely been nothing more than "we have no king but Caesar" fawning.
PacifistAg
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Honestly, I commend Platt for how this was handled. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be in that position, and his prayer was a great example of how we should pray for political leaders. Didn't fawn. Didn't bow down to them. Just prayed for them.
diehard03
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I won't go so far as to call anyone a liar...but I have a hard time believing with all that goes into securing the President that he snuck up on anyone. I will leave it at that.

I think that everyone is holding up the "modeling prayer" as the benefit as rather striking to me, as if the prayer inandof itself has little value.

I feel I will be in the minority opinion here, so I will let yall have a good evening.
DVC2010
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diehard03 said:

I won't go so far as to call anyone a liar...but I have a hard time believing with all that goes into securing the President that he snuck up on anyone. I will leave it at that.

I think that everyone is holding up the "modeling prayer" as the benefit as rather striking to me, as if the prayer inandof itself has little value.

I feel I will be in the minority opinion here, so I will let yall have a good evening.
Certainly the prayer has value. Nobody is saying otherwise. Praying publicly has the additional value of edifying the church.
diehard03
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Praying publicly has the additional value of edifying the church.

Which is vastly overstated, especially in this case.
94chem
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If I had spent 20 hours preparing a sermon, learning from and listening to God in the process, praying that he would speak through me as he saw fit, and was walking up to the pulpit when the leader of the Free World walked in, I like to think that I would do exactly what the Holy Spirit wanted me to do in that moment. Seeing how I was not doing those things and in that situation, I can't judge David Platt in the least, and I am thankful that he follows Christ and was there to be a priest when the President needed one.
94chem
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diehard03 said:

I won't go so far as to call anyone a liar...but I have a hard time believing with all that goes into securing the President that he snuck up on anyone. I will leave it at that.

I think that everyone is holding up the "modeling prayer" as the benefit as rather striking to me, as if the prayer inandof itself has little value.

I feel I will be in the minority opinion here, so I will let yall have a good evening.


You might enjoy attending Secret Church sometime.
ClickClackAg31
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DVC2010 said:

It sounds like we agree that the prayer itself was appropriate, but some of you object the event being politicized.

Do you think Trump scoring political points in a church service is a bigger deal than Platt having an opportunity to model biblical principles for his congregation? I don't. In fact, the extent to which this makes headlines also extends Platt's example. I found it edifying. How well do you pray for political leaders? Because I'm not very diligent about it.

I don't think we should be too concerned with optics. That's a distant fourth or fifth or sixth priority after obedience, love, and humility.
This, this and more this. This is exactly how this event should be taken.

As Christians we are called to pray for our leaders, that is clear.

Everyone talking about a publicity stunt for Trump...how about a publicity stunt for the church?! Platt was given an opportunity to show TRUE Christian principles to the entire free world. No doubt millions have listened to his prayer. I'll take that "publicity" to true Biblical teaching any chance I can get. The only thing this country needs more of is more Jesus and his associated teachings.

What this should have been an example of is the grace, forgiveness, and welcoming characteristics of a true Christian church. As Christians we certainly don't agree with everything he does or has done, but recognizing we are all sinners, we should WELCOME with open arms any chance we can to pray for that individual. Not because of what the action of prayer shows, but what we know the power of prayer is.

Unfortunately I feel that aspect is being overshadowed by all of the legalist and "Never Trump" members of this church and their voices of disapproval in that the prayer was done in the first place. To me all true Christians and especially members of Platt's church should be elated with that opportunity to pray for the POTUS.
gordo97
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Are we not called to pray for everyone? Just because the media was there and everything ends up in the news these days, is praying wrong in this instance? Is it ever wrong?
Tramp96
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gordo97 said:

Are we not called to pray for everyone? Just because the media was there and everything ends up in the news these days, is praying wrong in this instance? Is it ever wrong?

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.*


*For the record, I fail at this miserably.

DeSantis 2024
diehard03
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Quote:

Are we not called to pray for everyone? Just because the media was there and everything ends up in the news these days, is praying wrong in this instance? Is it ever wrong?

Why do people assume that not parading up in front of the congregation is the same as not praying for him at all?
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