Don’t Eat, Pray, Act

Charisma reports:

More than 80 prominent Christian leaders are endorsing a 40-day fast leading up to the midterm elections that kicks off Sunday with a simulcast event from Washington, D.C.

Organized by California pastor Jim Garlow and Prison Fellowship founder Chuck Colson, Pray & Act has gained support from a cross-section of Christians, including Bible teacher Kenneth Copeland, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Generals International co-founder Cindy Jacobs, Southern Baptist Convention leader Richard Land, Atlanta pastor Creflo Dollar and Campus Crusade for Christ co-founder Vonette Bright.

…participants are being asked to fast and pray from Monday at 7:14 a.m. Eastern until Oct. 30 at 7:14 a.m.

…Conservative Christians for months have lamented the state of the nation, pointing to mounting national debt, the controversial health care overhaul and most recently a federal judge’s decision to overturn California’s gay marriage ban.

However, we’re assured – with a straight face – that this is not about getting the Republican vote out in November:

But noting that Republican leaders did not plan to include family values in their legislative blueprint, Pray & Act supporters insist neither political party can save the day.

“We’re not seeking a political party,” Colson said last Sunday at a preliminary Pray & Act event in Washington. “We’re not taking a partisan position. We are seeking God’s intervention in the affairs of our state and to give us hope that comes only from God.”

“I don’t put my faith in political parties,” he added. “I have one King.”

Jim Garlow is also Chairman of Renewing American Leadership (ReAL), which exists to facilitate the preposterous and shameless sanctification of Newt Gingrich. Right Wing Watch recently reviewed a Pray & Act event broadcast on GodTV:

Most of event was standard Religious Right fare, with leaders discussing the paramount importance of fighting abortion and saving marriage as people like Colson marveled at that we are now celebrating homosexuality which, just a few decades ago, was “shameful and embarrassing”…

(A bit like Colson himself, then)

…And then, of course, there was Lou Engle just being Lou Engle as he got revved up about how fasting and prayer can finally reverse the forty year rebellion set off in 1969 with the release of “the Stonewall homosexual movement”

According to Engle:

Moses fasted forty days and the law of God was released into the Earth.

Elijah fasted forty days at a time when they had legalized child sacrifice and homosexual and heterosexual prostitution in the days of Ahab and Jezebel.

And just last March, a woman from Polk County fasted for more than three weeks… and was found dead. However, I doubt that is what Pray & Act have in mind – rather, according to a supportive notice on Gingrich’s ReAL site, “persons can fast as God directs them during this 40-day span”, and “a liquid diet” is suggested. We are also cautioned that “If needed, consult a physician before fasting”.

Meanwhile, Gingrich will be speaking at a special dinner at the Convocation on Critical Issues at Missouri Western State University on 6 October. Presumably, since ReAL is endorsing the fast, Gingrich’s own plate will remain empty…

18 Responses

  1. Jesus assumed that all Christians would fast and pray. He said “when” you fast .This answers prayers and Jesus fasted for forty days . You can start off in a small way – even missing one meal .
    Many people eat for 30 days and die . Does this mean
    we should not eat.

  2. Yes, of course it does. Come back and tell us how you got on.

  3. Fast and pray before election = Best way to make sure to vote for the worst of the worst

  4. I must confess I have never fasted but if it is commanded by Jesus then we should do it. It is
    a way of lowering our worldly and fleshly desires and increasing “life in the spirit”. It also strengthens our
    prayers. Every prayer is filed in heaven – google up
    Don Piper – 90 minutes in Heaven – the story of a
    man who had died and came back to life through prayer.

    It also has health benefits . How many people have
    died of overeating.

  5. “It is a way of lowering our worldly and fleshly desires and increasing “life in the spirit”. It also strengthens our
    prayers. …It also has health benefits .”
    So all those people who starve to death in famines die at the peak of physical and spiritual health. So don’t bother to contribute to all those famine relief charities!

  6. If they were open to God’s message while fasting they might have more solidarity with the poor and stop voting Republican.

    Some might even ponder these scriptures http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_communism#Biblical_citations and vote for things like universal healthcare

  7. Sophia – It does not mean the poor have to starve – you
    can send them aid – what I meant was fasting to strengthen prayer.
    It could be a one meal , one day ,3 day or 40 day fast like Jesus .

    Kinana – communism did not help the poor . It helped
    mass murderers like Stalin , Lenin and Beria etc etc.

    Communism is estimated to have killed 100 million
    in terrible torments.

    Google up the Kulaks – 20 million peasants who were
    death marched by Stalin.

  8. Djoko – glad you made it out of the rut you were in .

    However when I see the word “spiritual” I see danger
    signs.

    However as a Christian I just believe in the Father , his
    son Jesus and the Holy Spirit and that belief in Jesus
    and his commandments will lead to eternal life.
    Could you imagine the eternal happiness.

    There are the other spiritual realms which are demonic
    but Jesus promises to supply all your needs if you place your trust in Him. All authorities are subject to Him including all demonic forces and including the Devil.

  9. Richard – I’ve noticed that the “40 day fast” seems to be standard pre-election fare now. Rally the troops and all. Best, BruceW

  10. I fail top see how any of this is even newsworthy.

    So some conservative Christians decide to fast and pray?

    It’s not as though they’re encouraging people to fly some airplanes into office towers, or something.

    Myself, I don’t fast, but it doesn’t bother me if others do.

  11. but you just can’t help stopping by to comment anyway

    I was simply astounded by how irrelevant all of this is, and by how you seem to think such irrelevance has overwhelming importance.

    You present boring banalities in hushed, whispering tones as though they were scadalous.

  12. […] on the list is Newt Gingrich, whose shamelessly opportunistic identification with the Christian Right is one of the more laughable sights in American politics. […]

  13. […] who is probably the movement’s best-known contemporary exponent (although he’s also very much a part of the broader Christian Right). The crew’s vehicle passed through an open gate to head […]

  14. […] and he enjoys international connections. In particular, he is close to Kenneth Copeland, who is a major player in the US Christian Right; Copeland has spoken at Oyedepo’s church, and Oyedepo has addressed […]

  15. […] and he enjoys international connections. In particular, he is close to Kenneth Copeland, who is a major player in the US Christian Right; Copeland has spoken at Oyedepo’s church, and Oyedepo has addressed […]

  16. […] Renewing American Leadership (ReAL) organization, and Garlow is involved with the event; as I noted previously, ReAL was created to facilitate the ludicrous spectacle of Gingrich’s incorporation into the […]

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