Last night, members of Congress and Religious Right activists gathered in Statuary Hall inside the US Capitol for an annual event called “Washington: A Man of Prayer” at which they honored George Washington by collectively praying that God would protect and defend the United States of America.
Hosted by Mike Huckabee, the two hour event featured a variety of elected leaders, such as Rep. Tim Huelskamp and Rep. Steve King, who spoke together from the podium. Huelskamp asserted that God is at the heart of America because there is a small chapel located literally in the very center of the continent in Kansas, while King proclaimed that America was established by God.
“When He moved the Founding Fathers around like men on a chessboard,” King said, “it was preordained. He guided them.” Asserting that both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written with “divine guidance,” King declared that, as such, Americans must be “very aware of how God brought forth this nation”:
Among the other speakers at the event was Jonathan Cahn, author of “The Harbinger” which claims that 9/11 was God’s judgment upon America and that rebuilding the Freedom Tower without properly humbling ourselves before God was an act of utter defiance.
During his remarks, Cahn made this same case, saying that America is calling good evil and evil good and passing “laws that war against the laws of the almighty” which is why this nation experienced the wrath of God at Ground Zero just as ancient Israel did:
Cahn was followed by Robert Jeffress, who asserted that while some issues such as taxes or immigration reform ought to be rightly debated by the government, other issues like abortion and gay marriage “are beyond debate, for the judge of the universe has already rendered his opinion”:
Jim Garlow made a similar point during his remarks, saying that there is no way that this nation can expect God’s blessings is abortion remains legal and gay marriage is accepted.
“Can we actually expect the blessing of God when we violate the ways of God?,” Garlow asked. “He’s God, we’re not. We really need him!”
