If you can’t make the National Prayer Breakfast this Thursday, you still have a chance to join other evangelical Christians in prayer in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. Just be prepared to pray for God’s judgment on America.
Just one day before the traditional prayer event — which has been taken over by Congress to avoid the appearance of partisanship — there will be a National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance at the Museum of the Bible, just blocks away from the U.S. Capitol.
Also, it will cost you $200.
A Q&A about the event explains the somber nature of what’s planned.
Is this a breakfast?
No. This is a serious prayer event.
What really is this event?
It is what the Bible calls a “solemn assembly,” a time of repenting personally, repenting for the sin of the church and for the sins of our nation.
Why?
Because American deserves judgment. We cry out for mercy.
The Wednesday event — which is not a breakfast — happens to fall at the breakfast hour, from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. Its publicity says the event is about “bringing biblical principles of governance to government leaders … and to the people who elect them!”
“What is even better is when the government follows the biblical economic principles so that people can grow their own beans and rice or have gainful employment.”
This event is sponsored by the Christian nationalist group Well Versed, which offers this explanation of its purpose: “The world is in crisis. So many human institutions are failing. Everyone knows it. Human suffering, pain and poverty will only be reduced once nations follow the biblical principles of governance. Only eternal and transcendent truths will produce peace and prosperity in nations. Shipping bags of beans and rice to starving people is important, VERY IMPORTANT! What is even better is when the government follows the biblical economic principles so that people can grow their own beans and rice or have gainful employment.”
Well Versed is led by Jim and Rosemary Garlow. He is a former pastor who served on Donald Trump’s Faith Advisory team for four years and has a daily radio commentary. She identifies herself as a relative of Oskar Schindler (of Schindler’s List) and is active in various causes supporting Israel, including making more than 70 trips or spiritual pilgrimages to Israel.
Four keynote speakers will “call us to repentance,” publicity says. Those are Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of the late Billy Graham and sister to Franklin Graham; Carter Conlon, general overseer of Times Square Church in Manhattan; Andrew Brunson, an evangelical Presbyterian pastor who was imprisoned in Turkey for two years; and Jonathan Cahn, a Messianic Jew who is a pastor and taught that Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president was prophesied in the Bible.
Others listed as program leaders include U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican and former radio talk show host who supported Trump’s claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent; Tony Perkins, head of the conservative advocacy group Family Research Council and also a 2020 presidential election denier; and Michele Bachmann, a former U.S. representative from Minnesota who after the 2020 presidential election posted a video online praying for God to “deliver” the election to Trump and nullify the “stolen” results from key states.
As for the $200 per person price tag — which does not include breakfast — the event website explains: “It is costing $115,000 to do the event (events cost a lot). We are in hopes of breaking even on the event. However, our focus in not on cost, but on trying to save the Republic from the judgment we deserve. If we could, we would do this event for free.”
The event is limited to 900 people, which would generate $180,000 in income at $200 a head. The event would “break even” if 575 participants paid $200 apiece.
There’s a bonus to the high price, however: “The officials at Museum of the Bible have told us that they will give all who attend this prayer event a deeply discounted rate, so you can stay and visit the remarkable museum.”
Organizers also anticipated questions about whether anyone will get up so early in the morning and pay so much to attend a prayer event without breakfast. Their answer: “They will if they understand the condition of America.”
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