This event actually happened in the Kansas House of Representatives in Topeka on January 23, 1996. Joe Wright is the pastor of Central Christian Church in Wichita and was guest chaplain that day. According to an article in the Kansas City Star from January 24, 1996, his prayer did stir controversy and one member of the legislative body walked out. Others criticized the prayer. The controversy didn't end there. Later that year in the Colorado House, Republican representative Mark Paschall angered lawmakers by using Joe Wright's prayer as the invocation. Some members there also walked out in protest.
Paul Harvey aired the story and the prayer. He got such a large response that a phone number was set up to handle the calls. He's aired it a couple more times since.
The prayer that still upsets some people:
Heavenly Father,
We come before You today to ask Your Forgiveness and seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but
that's exactly what we have done. We have lost our Spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values. We confess that;
we have ridiculed the absolute truth
of Your Word and called it pluralism;
We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism;
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative
lifestyle;
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery;
We have neglected the needy and called it self preservation;
We have rewarded laziness
and called it welfare;
We have killed our unborn and called it choice;
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable;
We have neglected to discipline
our children and called it building self-esteem;
We have abused power and called it political savvy;
We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called
it ambition;
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression;
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of
our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts today;
try us and see if there be some wicked way in us;
cleanse us
from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of this state and who have been ordained by You,
to govern this great state of Kansas. Grant them your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of Your Will.
I ask in the name of your Son, The Living Savior, Jesus Christ
In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa, and Korea.
Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on "The Rest of the Story" on the radio and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.
With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called one nation under God.
Note from the Castle Master: None of our Founding Fathers would have walked out on this prayer. Wake up America! Isn't it about time we quit electing the immoral, the God haters, and the ones who pervert our freedoms to satisfy their own perversions and sin? Jesus said that if we serve sin, we are a slave to it.
The liberals have tried to remove it from our history books, but let us not forget the cry our troops used in the war of the Revolution:
"No king but Jesus"