The occupant of the Oval Office, Joe Biden, managed in his proclamation of the National Day of Prayer to repeat the canard that the Founders created a “democracy” instead of a constitutional republic: “Throughout our history, prayer has empowered moral movements and fueled efforts to strengthen our democracy.… We are all bound together by our love of country and our belief in democracy.”
He severely limited using the Name of God, but thankfully didn’t reference his famous faux pas from three years ago while out campaigning. Readers remember how he stumbled through his speech:
We have to heal our division, repair our democracy, and above all it’s time for America to get back up on its feet and once again fight for the proposition that we hold these truths to be self-evident. Sounds corny, not a joke. Think about it. All men and women are created by … you know … the thing.
“The Thing,” Mr. Biden, is the King of the Universe Who, before the founding of the Republic, was revered in precursors to today’s celebration of Him. In 1775 the Continental Congress asked the Colonies to pray for wisdom in creating the Republic. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a day of “humiliation, fasting, and prayer.”
The National Day of Prayer was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress, and signed into law by President Harry Truman. In 1988 President Ronald Reagan, along with both houses of Congress, made it an annual event.
Other national leaders, not infected with the self-righteousness of so many of the country’s elected leaders today, were far bolder in declaring the majesty of the Creator. Jim Daly, head of Focus on the Family, said: “In these tenuous and trying times, the very best thing we can do is bring our cares and concerns to God in prayer.”
Frank Gaffney, founder of the Center for Security Policy, said: “The National Day of Prayer is a reminder of the providential character of this nation’s founding. The only hope for its survival in this perilous moment is our people’s faith in Almighty God and our prayers for His continuing grace.”
David Jeremiah, senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church, added:
Our world is facing unprecedented uncertainty. Health, finances, politics — every aspect of life seems to be hanging in the balance. Yet there is one source of true hope and healing — and that is Almighty God.
Jeremiah quoted from 2 Chronicles 7:14:
He has promised, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
“The Thing,” Mr. Biden, was well known and highly regarded by the Founders. They adopted something that overturned millennia of dictatorships, monarchies, and the resultant enslavement of mankind, declaring instead:
WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.…
We, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions … with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence … mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
It was Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, who said what more properly needed to be said on this National Day of Prayer:
We are thankful for the abundant blessings You have bestowed on America. Our forefathers looked to You as Protector, Provider, and the Promise of hope. But we have wandered far from that firm foundation. May we repent for turning our backs on Your faithfulness.
The broadcast of the event will air tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on a variety of platforms, including Pray.com, nationaldayofprayer.org, facebook.com/pray, and CBN.com. According to the Christian Post, the event is expected to reach 110 million households.
