Wiley Drake

Yesterday we noted that Wiley Drake was taking a break from praying for President Obama's death to contemplate running for the Presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention, despite the fact that the SBC that they want nothing to do with him because he is crackpot.

Of course, that just further proves Drake's point that the SBC needs to be shaken up by a Tea Party-like insurgency ... and he is just the man to lead it:

In a telephone interview Jan. 25, Drake said he sees things going on today in convention life that are "sort of a repeat" of the situation that existed prior to the "conservative resurgence" grassroots movement that redirected the denomination beginning in 1979.

Drake said he also sees parallels in the Tea Party movement in secular politics. "People are just saying, 'We're tired of you guys up there running things and not asking us, and even if you do ask us, you are not paying any attention.'"

Drake said he has heard similar things from fellow pastors. "I'm hearing people say, 'I'm not going to convention any more. Nobody listens. They just ramrod it. They run it through.' That concerns me, because I'm a convention kind of guy."

Drake says he hasn't been particularly involved in denominational life in the last few years because nobody would listen to him but he has been fasting and praying and believes that God wants him to run for SBC president and get "back in the battle":

Drake said he has been praying and fasting for about a month and believes the Lord is leading him to allow his nomination, but that he sent out his press release seeking prayer and counsel because: "I don't want it to be a Wiley thing. I want it to be a God thing."

"I believe God wants me to do it, but I want to hear from the family," he said. "I am honestly seeking not only prayer but counsel."

Either way, Drake said it is time for him to get re-involved in Baptist life.

"I'll be back in the swing of things, whether I run or not," he said. "I'm going to do what I can to bring Southern Baptists back to all the things that we used to do."

"I am back in the battle," Drake said. "I am going to fight. I figure if I could fight from the top down it would be easier, but if not I will fight from the bottom up."

In 2007-2008, Wiley Drake served as Second Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention ... but once President Obama was elected and Drake started praying for his death and the deaths of  Democratic members of Congress, the Southern Baptist Convention was quick to distance itself from Drake:

A Southern Baptist Convention spokesman said June 4 that a former official who is praying for the death of President Obama is out of the denomination's mainstream.

Roger "Sing" Oldham, vice president for convention relations with the SBC Executive Committee, said he believes most Southern Baptists are committed to praying for the well-being of the president as instructed in Scripture.

...

Oldham told Associated Baptist Press that Drake is not a spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention and his comments do not reflect the actions, resolutions or positions of the denomination.

But just because the SBC apparently doesn't want to have anything to do with Drake, that is not stopping Drake from contemplating making a run for President of the SBC: 

As most of you know I have served the Lord Jesus through my relationship with the denomination, The Southern Baptist Convention, since 1965. It was my privilege in 2007/2008 to be elected as Second Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention.

My question and request for counsel is simply this, "Should I allow my nomination for the position of President of The Southern Baptist Convention in June 2011, and make a run for this position?"

In my opinion we have left our traditional BIBLICAL positions, and become a large group being led by a small group of leaders who are out of touch with what the average Southern Baptist desires for our ministry under the leadership of The Holy Ghost.

Wiley Drake has become notorious in recent years for praying for the death of President Obama, hundreds of members of Congress, and pretty much everyone who doesn't share his radical agenda ... and now he is turning his imprecatory prayers against Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church because they are, get this, "an embarrassment to Bible believing Pro-Life and Pro-Family Christians":

Christians from Around the World to Discuss Imprecatory Prayer for Westboro Baptist and Pastor Fred Phelps

Pastor Wiley Drake will host an open discussion with members of the body of Christ, from around the world, as to what to do about people he sees as an embarrassment to Bible believing Pro-Life and Pro-Family Christians, especially for those who are proud to be called Baptist.

Pastor Drake states, "We will have an OPEN prayer meeting/discussion to allow everyone to share their ideas and prayers."

If you are interested in listening to Drake’s discussion on how best to pray for the death of Phelps and his Westboro flock, you can call in tomorrow at noon Eastern time. 

Normally, when someone announces that they will be praying for you, your first inclination is not to take that as some sort of a threat.

But when that person is Wiley Drake ...

In a joint effort the two prayer teams sent an Open Letter to Senators to remind them that their prayer warriors would be praying and holding the Senators to account to righteousness.

Both these teams have been in existence since the turn of the century.

Pastor Drake said that these daily prayers, praying for each Senator by their full name, has already started.

...

The pastor also said that the BIBLE would be the standard used to determine how the Senators are doing.

The teams said that the names would also be quoted and prayed for on the two shows hosted by pastor Wiley Drake.

Given that Drake is notorious for praying for the death of President Obama, hundreds of members of Congress, and pretty much everyone who doesn't share his radical agenda, it is worth asking just what Drake will be praying for when he busy "praying for each Senator by their full name."

• Carly Fiorina has been admitted to a hospital for treatment of an infection but is expected recover quickly and and return to the campaign trail soon.
• John Fund calls Dick Morris "the most amoral political consultant in the country."
• Tom DeLay's trial for allegedly illegally funneling corporate money to help elect Republicans to the Texas Legislature has finally begun.
• Alan Keyes and Wiley Drake lose another round in the Birther lawsuit.
• Finally, the quote of the day from Bryan Fischer: "Child tax credits should be extended only to married couples with children, but not to children in any other domestic arrangement. Nobody is going to force anybody to get married, but cohabiting couples will quickly learn that there are financial costs as well as emotional and relational costs to shacking up. If they want to bear those costs on their own, fine. Just don’t expect taxpayers to reward your irresponsibility."

Last night Alan Colmes had Wiley Drake on his program to discuss his latest call to imprecatory prayer against all 219 members of the House that voted for health care reform.

While it started out with Drake camping it up by playing songs and recalling his days in the rodeo, it quickly took a turn toward the morbidly absurd as Drake admitted that he does, in fact, want every member of Congress who voted for this legislation to die and then even promised Colmes that his name would be added to Drake's imprecatory prayer death list for his support of the legislation and the Representatives who passed it.

Colmes logically asked if that meant that Drake was therefore praying that everyone who supports this bill or these legislators should also die, to which Drake stated that since he didn't know all the names of those millions of people he couldn't offer such a prayer, but asserted that if he did know their names, he most certainly would pray for them to die as well.

Drake's position is that he is not personally causing anyone to die, as that is God's decision; he is merely fulfilling his obligation to engage in imprecatory prayer in order to "pray vengeance upon the enemies of God" and America: 

A few weeks ago I noted how Lisa Miller's lawyers at Liberty Counsel and her supporters at the Protect Isabella Coalition were quietly trying to wash their hands of her after she kidnapped her daughter and disappeared.

Well, it looks like these right-wing activists are still active in supporting her, as they gathered for a prayer rally in Virginia last week during the court hearing at an event which featured a briefing from Mat Staver and the participation of Wiley Drake:

Concerned Women for America (CWA) of Virginia joined the Protect Isabella Coalition and other conservatives, who traveled from as far away as Suffolk, Harrisonburg, and Roanoke, and as near as Bedford and Lynchburg, at the Bedford County Courthouse on February 17, to support Lisa Miller and her daughter, Isabella, in prayer.

While we were disappointed not to be allowed in the courtroom — the judge had honored an ACLU request to deny access to the public— it was a privilege to join Pastor Wiley Drake of Buena Park, California, and others across the country on the Telephonic Prayer Line to pray during the court proceedings.

Mat Staver, chief attorney for Liberty Counsel, briefed our group before and after the hearing. The opposition wanted the Virginia court to find Lisa in contempt of court for failing to follow a Vermont court’s order to relinquish custody of her daughter, Isabella, to Janet Jenkins, who was Lisa’s homosexual companion before Lisa’s conversion to Christianity. It should be noted that Miss Jenkins is a Vermont resident who has no biological ties to Isabella and has never sought to adopt her, but has been awarded full custody by a Vermont court merely on the basis of Lisa and Miss Jenkins’ brief “civil union.”

Judge Harrison did not issue an order for Lisa's arrest, because she cannot be found for papers to be served. The judge also denied Janet Jenkins the opportunity to testify by phone, because there was no one present in Vermont to swear her in as a witness.

The next hearing on this case is tentatively scheduled for May 19, 2010. Please continue to pray for the three judges of the Appellate Court of Virginia; pray that their decision will put up a firewall between the laws of Vermont and Virginia to protect Isabella and allow Lisa to return to her home state.

This post contains a relatively important revelation: everybody who has been involved in this case insists that they have no idea where Lisa Miller has gone and that they have had no contact with her since she disappeared ... so why is CWA and the Protect Isabella Coalition praying that she will be allowed to "return to her home state"?  

That suggests that she is not in Virginia at the moment ... and how would these supporters know that unless they know where Miller actually is? 

So here is a simple question: Does CWA or the Protect Isabella Coalition know Miller's whereabouts?  If so, why aren't they informing the authorities?  Are these groups protecting and hiding Miller as she run from the law and violates her court orders? 

In addition to Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission and Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, we can now add Wiley Drake to the list of those siding with Pat Robertson in the wake of his Haiti "swore a pact to the Devil" comments:

Evangelist broadcaster Pat Robertson attracted criticism last week when he said that Haiti was “cursed” because it made “a pact with the devil.” But that hasn’t stopped Buena Park Pastor Wiley Drake, a Southern Baptist, from saying he shares Robertson’s view.

“I don’t know that God brought that earthquake or not,” Drake said. However, the misfortunes of the country - including its extreme poverty, ongoing political turmoil and frequent natural disasters - could be repercussions of the alleged deal with Satan, he said.

...

“They said, ‘If you’ll help us, we’ll dedicated ourselves and our government to Satan,’” said Drake ... While the devil pact was set to expire in 2004, then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide approved Voodoo as an officially recognized religion, renewing the deal, according to Drake associate David Fox, a missionary in Haiti. However, the subsequent ouster of Aristide prevented that renewal from taking effect, Fox says.

I asked Drake how the current devastation could be attributed to an expired pact:

“The pact may not be there, but the results of it may be,” he said.

In related new, Raw Story catches Dr. Wesley Stafford, president and CEO of Compassion International, telling Focus on the Family that "Satan has had absolutely free reign" over Haiti, so much so that "you can literally feel the evil in it"::

Dr. Wesley Stafford, president and CEO of Compassion International, told Focus on the Family that Haiti was a disaster before the earthquake ever struck.

Haiti ... has been a disaster in almost every way long before this ever struck. And it is a nation, between you and me, I guess, that Satan has had absolutely free reign in that nation. And while the missionary effort and the church effort has been enormous, this is a nation that you can literally feel the evil in it.

But then as the church lives out its faith, having come through this deep, deep valley, my great prayer is that there will be a great wave of healing and change in the nation of Haiti ... that could only come about through an interruption like this and only happen through the glory of God.

As we head into the last days of 2009, we are doing some end-of-the-year fundraising so we can keep going strong as we prepare to keep tracking, exposing, and fighting the Right in 2010. 

So, in honor of that effort, here is a look back at the ten most popular Right Wing Watch posts of 2009:

1. God Commands You To Kill Gays

2. Sally Kern's Proclamation for Morality

3. Terry Declares That Tiller "Reaped What He Sowed," Then Asks If Someone Will Buy Him Lunch

4. Rep. Trent Franks Declares President Obama an "Enemy of Humanity"

5. Putting "Christ" In Your Christmas Tree. Literally.

6. Virginia GOP Chair goes all Cro-Magnon on Darwin, on his birthday

7. Robertson: Will Hate Crimes Protect Someone Who "Likes to Have Sex With Ducks"?

8. Wiley Drake Prays For Obama's Death

9. The Religious Right's New Demand: Stop Calling Us the Religious Right

10. Halloween is Satan's Holy Day and Candy Is How Demons Steal Your Soul!

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