The threats against the lives of President Barack Obama and his family have taken a demonic, sinister turn recently.
Hatred for Obama’s family is so great that many are selling T-shirts and bumper stickers that, using the biblical book of Psalm, ask that you pray that God will kill Obama and completely destroy his entire family. The scripture the Christian conservatives are quoting, Psalm 109:8, does exist.
The perpetrators are selling T-shirts that have a picture of two hands clasped together, as if praying. Underneath, it says “Pray for Obama” with the scripture Psalm 109:8 underneath it. But as you will quickly find out, there is no goodwill whatsoever intended with this prayer.
Taken in slightly larger context over the five proceeding verses, this biblical passage is extremely chilling:
8 Let his years be few; let someone else take his position.
9 May his children become fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10 May his children wander as beggars and be driven from their ruined homes.
11 May creditors seize his entire estate, and strangers take all he has earned.
12 Let no one be kind to him; let no one pity his fatherless children.
13 May all his offspring die. May his family name be blotted out in a single generation.
Here is the King James Version of Psalm 109:8-13:
8 Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
Former Southern Baptist Convention officer Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., said he was personally praying for Obama’s life to end.
“Imprecatory prayer is agreeing with God and if people don’t like that, they need to talk to God,” Drake told Fox News Radio’s Alan Colmes. Drake was the former running mate of American Independent Party presidential candidate Alan Keyes, the man Obama defeated for the U.S. Senate seat in 2004. “God said it, I didn’t. I was just agreeing with God.”
When asked if he was praying specifically to have Obama killed, Drake affirmed that he was. He went on to say he was unconcerned whether his highly inflammatory statements would place him high on the Secret Service or FBI watch list.
–terry shropshire
