Wiley Drake, former second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and has requested prayer for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and particularly for two staff members. For those who may not be aware, Americans United is an organization that has for 60 years defended the First Amendment rights.
Jim White
Drake is pastor of First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park, Calif. Recently a church member announced that he would nominate Drake next year to serve as SBC president. I'm sure his announcement came as a complete surprise to Drake. Brother Wiley has a history of edgy behavior. During his term as second vice president of the SBC, he printed stationary declaring his office and then, using the stationary, wrote a press release endorsing a state political candidate. This action drew the attention of and a reprimand from an SBC attorney who informed him that such behavior risked invoking an IRS investigation. If found guilty of violating laws prohibiting non-profit tax-exempt organizations from endorsing specific political candidates, the IRS could impose a fine and revoke the convention's tax-exempt status.
Nevertheless, on Aug. 11 Drake used his church's letterhead to issue an endorsement of former governor Mike Huckabee for president. Americans United, aware that some would be only too happy to see all churches and non-profits taxed, reported this endorsement to the IRS.
What makes Drake's prayer request different is that he is not asking that we pray for Americans United but against them. (See related article on this site.)
In an Aug.14 press release, he wrote “In light of the recent attack from the enemies of God I ask the children of God to go into action with Imprecatory Prayer. Especially against Americans United for Separation of Church and State. I made an attempt to go to them via Matt. 18:15 but they refused to talk to me. Specifically target Joe Conn or Jeremy Learing. They are those who lead the attack.” He is asking Southern Baptists and others to join him in asking God to pour upon Conn and Learing his wrath.
As a side note, the AU staffer's name is actually Jeremy Leaming. If there is some guy out there minding his own business who happens to be named Jeremy Learing, I would advise you to be in church this Sunday! A literalist would assume, I suppose, that Jeremy Leaming will escape fire and brimstone falling from heaven.
If you are like me, Drake's comments created questions in your mind. First among them is “What in the world is ‘imprecatory prayer?'” Basically, it is calling down God's wrath upon someone. Drake points out that several imprecatory prayers are uttered in the Psalms but fails to take note of the fact that the prayers are not offered as models but spring from the pain of a human being in deep distress.
Using Psalm 109 to illustrate the Biblical correctness of his invective, he apparently anticipates God will strike the duo dead. Drake goes so far as to call for their widows and fatherless children to go unpitied.
Another question you might ask is “How does this square with such basic issues as being a Christian?” Does Drake apparently assume this is what Jesus had in mind when he proclaimed that his followers should love their enemies and pray for them? If so, we can only hope that Drake will decide at some point to use his Bible for something besides thumping. It must give him comfort to regard the Scriptures as inerrant, even if he regards its message as irrelevant.
One might also ask, is this what Southern Baptists have come to? Not yet, but we're on the way! Although most Southern Baptists would probably regard Drake as the crazy cousin they hope doesn't show up at the annual family reunion, he has a surprising following. In some ways, Drake represents a caricature of the SBC. Without question the distortions are obvious but there is still something unmistakably recognizable. Drake is, if you will, an advance scout having arrived at his place ahead of the main body. If the SBC does not change course, it will eventually arrive at just such a judgmental extreme.
Such a position is utterly lacking in humility. To entertain even the slightest suspicion that its views are not also God's has been absolutely incomprehensible to those who charted the SBC course. Drake simply takes this thinking to its logical extreme.
To their credit, many Southern Baptist leaders have been trying to apply the brakes to this runaway pharisaical theology. Ken Hemphill shared with me over lunch three years ago that the pendulum had swung too far and needed to move back toward the center. Of course, this was easy for him to see at the time because he had recently resigned as president of Southwestern Seminary. The trustees apparently believed he wasn't quite dogmatic enough to suit them. They must be ecstatic with their current choice.
Other SBC leaders, too, have indicated their concerns. President Frank Page addressed the convention at the annual meeting in June saying that the SBC had become arrogant and needed to repent. T.W. Hunt declared that we needed to humble ourselves.
It is easy to dismiss Drake's invective because it is so extreme, but for Christians he represents a lurking danger. Human beings, religious and otherwise, have the potential of being so sure of our own correctness that we are ready to obliterate those who disagree and call them enemies of God. We who know the truth of Christ bear the responsibility to live what we profess.
Since the Wiley Drake imprecatory prayer fiasco is playing out before an unbelieving world, what must they be thinking? Unfortunately, they are telling us. The Atheist Experience is a weekly live call-in television show sponsored by the atheist community of Austin. A host commented “This stuff just gets funnier and funnier! Everybody thinks I have it in for Christians. But I swear, on a day like this, with this kind of thing going on, I hold them dear to my heart.”
I would proudly wear the label “fool for Christ,” but let it be because I have loved those who hated me or because I have had mercy on those who desire to harm me. That is foolish in the world's eyes. What Drake recommends is purely vengeful hypocrisy. Even the spiritually blind can see that.