David Platt's prayer for President Trump

Status
Not open for further replies.
scottmaciver

scottmaciver

Puritan Board Sophomore
President Trump's state visit to us here in the UK has made all the headlines, which by the way I'm very supportive of, but that's another matter.

However, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on Trump's apparently impromptu visit to a church in Virginia, last Lord's Day, where the minister, David Platt, prayed for him. I understand that Franklin Graham had asked for a day of prayer for the President.

How ought reformed ministers respond in such a situation? The one phrase that stood out for me was to particularise who Christ died for, "you sent Jesus to die for his sins, our sins" There's also the issue of the regulative principle of worship, although obviously not practiced at that particular congregation. That said, there seemed to be some good Biblical content as he prayed.

Todd Friel covered it very positively at Wretched Radio Here.
 
Last edited:
Platt did the right thing by praying for the president. It would be a terrible thing for him to have followed the politics of the snowflakes and sjw’s and asked the president to leave for the sake of politics. If the former president, whom I did not approve of, had walked in our church I’d like to think we would have done the same thing.
 
Keep this to ecclesiology, worship etc. i.e., discussing as though it were any president so prayed for. Or we'll put it in P&G if you want to be less unfettered.
 
NaphtaliPress said:
Keep this to ecclesiology, worship etc. i.e., discussing as though it were any president so prayed for. Or we'll put it in P&G if you want to be less unfettered.
Click to expand...

That's fine by me Chris. My question isn't so much bound up with the individual President, rather than the circumstances & the prayer itself.
 
Maybe he should apologize for this. ;)
Pergamum said:
I was miffed that Platt apologized. I thought he had more backbone.
Click to expand...
In all seriousness, it really is offensive to back down from doing something according to biblical convictions.

I’ve seen some appealing to an argument that they showed undue partiality. That could be a point of discussion instead of being assumed.
 
scottmaciver said:
President Trump's state visit to us here in the UK has made all the headlines, which by the way I'm very supportive of, but that's another matter.

However, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on Trump's apparently impromptu visit to a church in Virginia, last Lord's Day, where the minister, David Platt, prayed for him. I understand that Franklin Graham had asked for a day of prayer for the President.

How ought reformed ministers respond in such a situation? The one phrase that stood out for me was to particularise who Christ died for, "you sent Jesus to die for his sins, our sins" There's also the issue of the regulative principle of worship, although obviously not practiced at that particular congregation. That said, there seemed to be some good Biblical content as he prayed.

Todd Friel covered it very positively at Wretched Radio Here.
Click to expand...
We pray for our leaders weekly during our corporate prayer time. We pray that God would grant them godly wisdom, wisdom from above, and the good sense to know what it is. We pray for the offices, i.e. our president, our governor, etc. In matters where their policies and practices do not align with the Scriptures, we pray that God would change their minds.
I do think it is a shame that churches feel pressure from the culture to abandon that which we are commanded to do.
As far as the regulative principle and corporate prayer, the church is to pray for our regular needs on a regular basis, and for special needs in special circumstances. I would think this would qualify as a special circumstance.
As to the line in the prayer you quoted, I was not satisfied with it. Would it not have been more biblical to have said "Jesus came to die for sinners, he is a sinner, I am a sinner. Help us both to trust Christ to save us from our sins."?
 
Chad Hutson said:
We pray for our leaders weekly during our corporate prayer time. We pray that God would grant them godly wisdom, wisdom from above, and the good sense to know what it is. We pray for the offices, i.e. our president, our governor, etc. In matters where their policies and practices do not align with the Scriptures, we pray that God would change their minds.
I do think it is a shame that churches feel pressure from the culture to abandon that which we are commanded to do.
As far as the regulative principle and corporate prayer, the church is to pray for our regular needs on a regular basis, and for special needs in special circumstances. I would think this would qualify as a special circumstance.
As to the line in the prayer you quoted, I was not satisfied with it. Would it not have been more biblical to have said "Jesus came to die for sinners, he is a sinner, I am a sinner. Help us both to trust Christ to save us from our sins."?
Click to expand...

Hi Chad, yes your take on that element of Platt's prayer is exactly along the lines of my own thoughts. I would consider, "you sent Jesus to die for his sins," it to be similar to those, who say in evangelism, "Christ died for you."

The difficulty with that approach, is that it makes an assumption in relation to who Christ died for, which we are not in a position know with any certainity, given that we do not know exactly who the elect are. Our duty is simply to faithfully proclaim the Gospel. Furthermore to particularise who Christ died for, can leave people with the impression that they are right with God as they are, therefore there is no need for repentance etc.
 
scottmaciver said:
Hi Chad, yes your take on that element of Platt's prayer is exactly along the lines of my own thoughts. I would consider, "you sent Jesus to die for his sins," it to be similar to those, who say in evangelism, "Christ died for you."

The difficulty with that approach, is that it makes an assumption in relation to who Christ died for, which we are not in a position know with any certainity, given that we do not know exactly who the elect are. Our duty is simply to faithfully proclaim the Gospel. Furthermore to particularise who Christ died for, can leave people with the impression that they are right with God as they are, therefore there is no need for repentance etc.
Click to expand...
Amen. BTW- a visit to Scotland is on my bucket list! Praying for Scotland, pray for us.
 
I don't see the statement by Platt as an apology. Just an explanation of the events. Though he does say that those in the congregation who are hurt by what he did are so for "valid" reasons.

Even armchair quarterbacking as to what he should have done according to the RPW is hard. If the President came in unannounced with 1 minute notice asking to be prayed for, every minister in this country would have done the same thing.
 
chuckd said:
I don't see the statement by Platt as an apology. Just an explanation of the events. Though he does say that those in the congregation who are hurt by what he did are so for "valid" reasons.

Even armchair quarterbacking as to what he should have done according to the RPW is hard. If the President came in unannounced with 1 minute notice asking to be prayed for, every minister in this country would have done the same thing.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's very true Chuck. Nonetheless, it doesn't stop the question being asked, as to the right course of action.
 
scottmaciver said:
President Trump's state visit to us here in the UK has made all the headlines, which by the way I'm very supportive of, but that's another matter.

However, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on Trump's apparently impromptu visit to a church in Virginia, last Lord's Day, where the minister, David Platt, prayed for him. I understand that Franklin Graham had asked for a day of prayer for the President.

How ought reformed ministers respond in such a situation? The one phrase that stood out for me was to particularise who Christ died for, "you sent Jesus to die for his sins, our sins" There's also the issue of the regulative principle of worship, although obviously not practiced at that particular congregation. That said, there seemed to be some good Biblical content as he prayed.

Todd Friel covered it very positively at Wretched Radio Here.
Click to expand...

As a Reformed minister I don't feel a need to respond. I wouldn't get too picky with the language of "Christ died for his sins" even though I believe in limited atonement. As far as the RPW is concerned, prayers for leaders should certainly be a part of worship as Scripture commands it. We pray for our leaders every Sunday in our church.
 
Pergamum said:
I was miffed that Platt apologized. I thought he had more backbone.
Click to expand...
I don't think he apologized at all. I think he is sad that this event lead to disunity in the church body, but I don't get any impression from the link I posted above that he regretted his decision.
 
We should pray for our leaders/magistrates, and Platt could have done so without bringing him on the stage. However, I'm not sure how I would have handled that situation impromptu. The responsibilities of a minister: modeling appropriate esteem and prayer, mixed with the desires of the flesh, make this an incredibly difficult situation to judge.
 
I have seen sick people who were asked to come stand before the church to be especially prayed for. I've never heard that this was a violation of the Regulative Principle of Worship. The RPW tells us we are to pray but does not delineate every posture and circumstance of prayer.

Since the Scripture doesn't merely say pray for all men, but it specifically says to pray for kings and those in authority, it appears okay to pray in a specific way for these who are specifically specified in Scripture. Simply put, a President is NOT like any other person.
 
I voted for Trump and will do so again in 2020 (DV). That said, I found his being ushered onto the "stage" and prayed for unseemly for the following reasons...
  1. He did not attend the entire service but only stopped in to make a cameo appearance after profaning the Sabbath by playing a round of golf. If indeed he stopped because he felt his need of prayer (and of that I am not sure), he should have also felt his need of the Word of God preached.
  2. It runs contrary to the classical and biblical principle of separation of church and state. Kings, princes, and presidents have no special privileges within the church on account of their office. It is Christ's Church. It is God's House. And therein, his interests and glory are supreme and must never be intruded on by the civil magistrate.
  3. His position means his presence is always an imposition. It is at the very least discourteous to the leaders and members of a church to show up unannounced as POTUS.
  4. It does smack of a kind of favoritism that runs contrary to Scripture. Inviting sick individuals on stage is one thing. He was invited onto stage because of his position. I think he should have been shown honor as POTUS while at the same time showing honor to God's House and his ministers by attending the entire service and perhaps being content with a prayer made on his behalf while he remained seated among the congregation. He ought to have been self-effacing and done all that he could to avoid drawing attention to himself and off the worship of God.
  5. The shouting and applause of the congregation after the prayer together with his waving and clapping like in some political rally have absolutely no place in the public worship of God. I found it deeply offensive. I think it is fair to say that at that moment, the worship of the living God was displaced by adulation for a politician.
 
Last edited:
Am I the only one here who is bothered only by the fact that we live in a day where we have to publicly qualify our prayers for our enemies because there are those around us who might interpret such prayer as endorsement? I am sorry, but what a weak congregation this man must have. (In the end, however, I am entirely in line with Mr. @C. M. Sheffield above.)
 
Taylor Sexton said:
Am I the only one here who is bothered only by the fact that we live in a day where we have to publicly qualify our prayers for our enemies because there are those around us who might interpret such prayer as endorsement? I am sorry, but what a weak congregation this man must have. (In the end, however, I am entirely in line with Mr. @C. M. Sheffield above.)
Click to expand...
I agree Taylor. In a breakfast with some other Reformed men a few years ago I was completely shocked by the confessions from men who admitted they couldn’t remember if they’d ever prayed for president Obama.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Formerly At Enmity
  • Locked
New SBC President
Replies
21
Views
3K
Hungus
Hungus
Reformed Covenanter
David King on Christ assigning a form of church polity
Replies
3
Views
656
Reformed Covenanter
Reformed Covenanter
Reformed Covenanter
David King on defending Presbyterianism with modesty
Replies
2
Views
735
Andrew35
Andrew35
Reformed Covenanter
  • Locked
David Dickson on the reign of Christ
Replies
1
Views
940
Solparvus
Solparvus
Reformed Covenanter
  • Locked
Personality cults and church unity (David Dickson)
Replies
15
Views
2K
smalltown_puritan
smalltown_puritan
Back
Top