National Prayer Breakfast or Spiritual Tower of Babel?

by Ingrid Schlueter
Slide of Laodicea

When the Muslim King of Jordan rose to give the benediction at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on February 2, thousands of evangelical Christians rose with him to pray as he petitioned ‚   Allah for his blessings on the assembled crowd. When the breakfast was opened in prayer by an Orthodox Jew who has rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the crowd of evangelicals bowed duly and prayed to a God that did not include their Saviour. The name of Jesus Christ was, in fact, barely mentioned at the event, according to the Washington Times. Evangelical leaders of the annual breakfast had been criticized for having too much of Jesus at past events. They made up for it this year by all but ignoring Jesus Christ and giving the benediction prayer to a Muslim for the first time.

Following the event there was a luncheon meeting at which the King of Jordan, King Abdullah II, ‚  was the keynote speaker. In his speech to over 2,000 Christian leaders, the king read 8 verses from the Koran and six from the Bible. The attendees clapped like seals as the Muslim king called for unity among moderate Jews, Christians and Muslims in order to face down what he called, “our common enemy”  — extremism. King Abdullah called for “moderates”  of the world’s big three religions to find common ground and unity.

After the luncheon, Christian leaders met with the king for an hour. Evangelicals in the meeting included Richard Cizik, VP for Governmental Affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, Rick Warren, mega pastor from Saddleback, Don Argue from Northwestern University in Washington State, Richard Mouw, President of Fuller Theological Seminary and various Jewish rabbis and sundry others.

Amidst the glad handing and the adrenaline rush of supping with power, something very vital was ignored by the thousands of ‚   Christians in attendance. What was ignored was the fact that praying with those who reject Christ as God come in the flesh is to disobey the Word of God.

“Be not equally yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”  2 Corinthians 6:14-17

The conduct of the leadership and attendees at the National Prayer Breakfast was in direct violation of God’s clear command. To pray with and to meet for religious purposes with those who worship idols is sin. Whatever political unity or religious unity is forged because of events like this, we can be sure that it has a foundation of rebellion against the dictates of God’s Word and as such, can never be blessed.

Increasingly, we are seeing an ecumenical drive for unity that is being spearheaded by evangelicals. Richard Mouw from Fuller Seminary and his disgraceful participation in the Mormon/Christian event in Salt Lake City not long ago was yet another example of this. Purity of Christian doctrine no longer matters in an age when family values political muscle is valued over the truth of the Gospel.

What is the truth of the Gospel? The truth of the Gospel is that outside of faith in the merits of Christ alone and His atoning work on the cross, a soul will be eternally damned. The truth of the Gospel is that no amount of conservative rhetoric or political sympathy will merit eternal life. The truth of the Gospel is that rejection of Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God is a fatal error that upon death, can never be remedied. The truth of the Gospel, by definition, excludes all other truth claims and exposes their error. This is the crux of the evangelical problem today. Ted Haggard is leading the National Association of Evangelicals into the same terminal mistake made by the National Council of Churches and the mainline churches just a few decades ago. In the interest of political expediency and popularity, the hard edge of the Gospel has been blurred and has nearly disappeared altogether. Adding to the compromise of the hour, emergent evangelical church leaders are reintroducing universalism and eastern religious practices to a new generation, mega church pastors and the Purpose Driven movement are subtly redefining the Gospel with man at the center, churches are using every carnal means imaginable to draw crowds and meanwhile, the world is not hearing the ringing call of the Gospel. The unsaved are not hearing the message to throw down their rebel arms at the cross and find forgiveness. As a result, millions of souls are being lost for eternity.

We must resist the lure of the current spiritual tower of Babel in evangelicalism. ‚   In the closing hours of history, the enemy is making a last power play for the heart and soul of Christ’s true church. Through the power of the blood of Christ and the word of our testimonies, we can overcome the enemy and refuse to deny our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Taking this road will not be easy and those who do will find themselves increasingly outside the mainstream. But if we believe Christ’s description of the narrow way as being the way of Life, how can we do anything else?