Tag Archives: Prayer

TruNews: Bremerton High School Coach Placed on Leave for Praying

TRUNEWS – Coach Joe Kennedy has been placed on paid administrative leave.

The Bremerton High School football coach in the state of Washington has come under fire for praying after games. The school district plans to pay him through the remainder of his contract but he will not be allowed to participate in the football program.

For the past few years, he would go to the 50-yard line of the field after the crowds left the stands, to give thanks to God. A few students started joining him, of their own free will, and that’s when the school board stepped in.

Washington Football Coach May Be Fired over Prayer

Photo Courtesy of the Liberty Institute

Joe Kennedy, a high school football coach in Bremerton, Washington, was told that he could be fired if he continued to lead prayer in front of students on public school property.

The school district told Kennedy in a letter that while the former Marine is allowed to pray at work, he cannot do so in front of students. This includes even bowing his head, taking a knee, or any other action that would indicate that he could be praying.

The issue stems from Kennedy’s tradition of praying in the middle of the football field after every game. While other people can join voluntarily, the district believes it could alienate the students and staff that participate in different religious practices.

“Your talks with students may not include religious expression, including prayer,” Superintendent Aaron Leavall wrote. “They must remain entirely secular in nature, so as to avoid alienation of any team member.”

State Superintendent Randy Dorn backed the district’s decision.

“School staff exercising their right to silently pray in private on their own is fine. But leading a prayer isn’t,” he said. “School officials are role models; leading a prayer might put a student in an awkward position, even if the prayer is voluntary. For students who don’t share the official’s faith, players, the official’s public expression of faith can seem exclusionary or even distressing.”

The school district also state that Kennedy’s religious practices violate federal law that separates church and state, and possibly leaving the school and district open to lawsuits.

The irony of this is that they are already being sued by the Liberty Institute who is representing Kennedy. They state that the district is violating his religious freedom.

“The ball is in their court, the school district’s court,” said Mike Berry, senior counsel with Liberty Institute. “They have the opportunity to make this right, to do the right thing and to follow the law.”

Attorney Hiram Sasser added this: “What they are saying is he cannot pray by himself, he cannot simply take a knee at the 50-yard-line,” Sasser said. “That’s like telling a coach he can’t wear a yarmulke if he’s Jewish, he can’t wear a turban if he’s a Sikh, he can’t pray to Mecca if he’s a Muslim, he can’t wear a cross necklace if he’s a Christian.”

While the suit will be filed by the end of the week, Coach Kennedy will still lead the football team on Friday night, and plans to continue his tradition of praying at the 50-yard-line.

Man Says Power of Prayer Saved Him During Robbery

It’s all in the power of prayer.

That’s the statement of 21-year-old Shaquille Hairston after an attempted robbery turned into something remarkable.

Hairston had just finished his shift at a Cleveland hotel when he stepped off a bus at 3 a.m. near the border of Cleveland and Euclid.  A man was waiting in the dark for him just past the bus stop.

“He stopped me. He said ‘Aye bruh’ and I turned around and he pulled out a gun and said ‘gimme everything you got,” Hairston told Fox 8 Cleveland he told the robber.  “I told him, I was like, I don’t have anything. I really don’t have anything and he took the gun; he swung and he hit me in my head really hard and I had a bump right here on my head.”

Hairston said he began to pray out loud as he handed over his wallet and phone.  He believed that if this was his last moment on Earth, he wanted to go out praising God and wake up with Him in heaven.

Then he prayed for the robber.  And the robber’s family.

Then he invited the robber to church.

The robber, shaken by Hairston’s faith, apologized for robbing him and gave back the wallet and cell phone.

“He said ‘man, you’re like really blessed’ and I said ‘no, you’re blessed’ and I said ‘I’ll be praying for you and your family; and then he was like ‘ok’ and he shook my hand and he went about his way,” Hairston said.

Hairston is praying the robber will come to church.

Student Takes Podium During Medical Emergency And Leads Prayer

An Alabama high school student rushed to the podium at graduation as a medical emergency was taking place and lead the entire crowd in a prayer.

Christian Crawford, the senior class president, said that he felt led to pray.

“Everybody, can I have your attention real quick?” he said. “We don’t know what’s going on, but we will pray. We know that prayer is power, and that God is able. Let’s pray.”

“Father God, we thank you for this day, Lord. We pray right now that whatever is going on, you will fix it, God,” he prayed. “We pray that you will heal it, God. We pray that you will redeem it, God. We pray that you will deliver it, God, because we know that you are a God who knows how to make a way.”

“And in the name of Jesus, we declare and decree in the name of Jesus that whatever is going on shall be fixed, because you are a God who is a fixer,” Crawford continued. “You are a God who is a healer. Jehovah God, Jehovah-jireh, Jehovah-nissi, Jehovah-shiloh. Fix it, Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

The prayer was met with cheers and applause by the audience.

The video of the prayer has gone viral with over 274,000 views.

“People tell me all the time, ‘Oh, you’re famous now. You’re famous now.’ And I’m like, ‘No, I’m not famous. God is famous,’” Crawford stated. “If God’s famous, being exalted because of what I prayed about, then that means I’m doing what I was supposed to do.”

“Everything I do is to God be the glory. If God is not getting the glory out of this, then all of this is in vain, and I don’t want it to be in vain,” he said.

Federal Judge Partially Upholds Christian Prayer at Graduation Event

A federal judge has stated that student-led prayer at graduation events is Constitutional after an attempt by a group that targets references to religion in public events to have all prayer banned.

The American Humanist Association (AHA) filed a complaint against the Greenville South Carolina School District, saying that they needed to remove an elementary school “graduation” ceremony from a chapel at North Greenville University and also prohibit prayers at the event.

U.S. District Court Judge George Ross Anderson, who first heard the case, said the AHA was “making a mountain out of a molehill.”  On Monday, U.S. District Judge Bruce Howe Hendricks ruled that the school-sponsored prayer could not be allowed by the School District but that any student-led prayer in permissible by the Constitution.

The school district informed the court they removed an invocation from the ceremony but allowed a student prayer.

The AHA was not happy that prayer was allowed to continue in a public space and that children were exposed to prayer.

“It’s a sad day when the courts allow students to be subjected to Christian prayers during what should be a secular graduation ceremony,” executive director Roy Speckhardt said in a statement on Tuesday. “These prayers exclude kids and families of minority faiths and no faith.”

The group plans to appeal to have all prayer removed from the event.

“Brain Dead” Teen Girl, Revived Through Prayer, To Graduate High School

Doctors said the girl was brain dead and that her parents should take her off life support.

But God wasn’t done with Taylor Hale.

Hale was 14 when she fell off the hood of a car while hanging out with friends.  Her head hit the pavement and she was in a coma for six days.  Her brain sank part of the way into her spinal canal, a condition the doctors said was always fatal.

The doctors were wanting to harvest Taylor’s organs for transplants when Jeff Stickel came to the hospital.  Stickel, a family friend who felt God calling him to the hospital to pray for the girl, asked for permission from the parents.  The parents thought it was too late but allowed him to pray anyway.

Stickel laid hands on her neck and prayed for God to heal her.  The family thanked him and he left.

The doctors turned off the life support.

But Taylor kept breathing.

They reconnected the life support and as the day went on, Taylor’s brain activity increased.  Her eyes moved.  She made noises as if she was trying to talk.

Then she woke up from the coma.

“It was the hand of God at work,” her father, Chuck Hale said. “That’s the only thing that can explain it.”

Taylor needed years of therapy but can walk, talk and eat on her own.  She struggles with math but will graduate with her class and plans to go to college to study event planning.

“God can save people,” she said. “I’m always thankful to all the doctors and nurses and therapists who helped me get better, but God did most of the saving.”

Judge Rules Commissioners Can’t Pray Only In Jesus’ Name

A federal judge has ruled that a group of county commissioners cannot present prayers in Jesus’ name even if all the commissioners are Christians.

The ACLU and the ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation filed suit against the commissioners of Rowan County in March 2013 claiming that commissioners said during their opening invocations that “there is only one way to salvation, and that is Jesus Christ,” and thank the Lord for the “virgin birth,” the “cross at Calvary” and “the resurrection.”

A local resident who was against the Christian message in the public meeting explained why they helped bring the suit.

“I want my local government to be open and welcoming to people of all beliefs,” Nan Lund, a local resident who is among three plaintiffs named in the suit, stated in a news release announcing the legal challenge. “But when officials begin a public meeting with prayers that are specific to only one religious viewpoint, I feel unwelcome and excluded.”

Federal Judge James A. Beaty Jr., ruled in favor of Lund and the other plaintiffs, saying that the actions of the councilmen was unconstitutional.

“The practice fails to be nondiscriminatory, entangles government with religion, and over time, establishes a pattern of prayers that tends to advance the Christian faith of the elected commissioners at the expense of any religious affiliation unrepresented by the majority,” he wrote.

“While an all-comers policy is not necessarily required, a nondiscriminatory one is,” he said. “When all faiths but those of the five elected commissioners are excluded, the policy inherently discriminates and disfavors religious minorities.”

The county has not announced if they will appeal the ruling.

Pastor Saeed Abedini Celebrated His 35th Birthday Behind Bars In Iran

Saeed noted in a letter to his supporters and family that his birthday this year fell on the National Day of Prayer in America.

“As an American and as a prisoner for Christ, I have spent many hours praying and crying out to God for revival for this great nation. We all hope for the success of our nation and for America to be blessed, but without revival there can be no true success or blessing. As Ezra’s cried out to God in repentance and the Israelites joined him in weeping bitterly and turning from their sin, I would like to ask you to join me in repenting and praying for revival,” Abedini’ letter begins.

The American Center for Law and Justice, who represents the family, said the letter was given to a family member in Iran last week.

The ACLJ said that Abedini’s letter focused on American Christians and a call upon them to turn back to God and make Him the center of their lives.

“Change starts with us. Revival starts with us. The first step to revival is praying together in unity as a nation. the National Day of Prayer is a great opportunity for us to come out and use the freedom that we have been given. So many Christians around the world are imprisoned and martyred for their faith in Jesus,” Abedini wrote.

“You have the freedom to gather across the United States at your state capitol to pray. Please use this opportunity. Please use your freedom for the kingdom of God.”

 

Billy Graham Says God Answers No To Protect His Children

Rev. Billy Graham answered a question from a woman regarding God answering no to prayers by saying it was a way that our Heavenly Father protects his children.

“Let me assure you that God does love us, and precisely because He loves us, He sometimes says ‘no’ to what we request in our prayers,” Graham wrote. “Let me explain it this way. Elsewhere in your letter, you mention that you and your husband have two children. Do you give them everything they ask for? Or if they want to do something you know is dangerous, do you let them do it anyway?”

“No, of course not, and the reason is because you love them and don’t want anything bad to happen to them,” Graham continued. “Part of your responsibility as a parent is to protect your children from harm even if it sometimes means saying ‘no.'”

Graham went on to explain that God is like your protective parents.  He doesn’t want to see His children encounter harm and that Christians can’t see the future the way God can see it to know the consequences of their prayer.

“In a much greater way, God loves us and knows what is best for us —far more than we do. And because He wants to keep us from harm, He sometimes says ‘no,'” Graham asserted. “As I look back over my life, I know God sometimes said ‘no’ to things I asked him to do, and to be honest, I often was disappointed. …But later I realized God knew what He was doing, and by saying ‘no,’ He had kept me from harm.”

Graham reminded readers that God never agreed to answer all prayers.

“God hasn’t promised to answer every prayer we make,” Graham added. “He has promised only to answer those that are in line with His will. The Bible says, ‘This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us’ (1 John 5:14).”

Canadian Supreme Court Rules With Atheist Against Christian Prayers

The Canadian Supreme Court has ruled that a Christian prayer taking place at a town meeting is a violation of the law because it shows a preference for one religion over another.

The court had ruled on the appeal of a lower court’s ruling that the major of Saguenay had not violated an atheist’s rights by opening public meetings with a prayer.

“The prayer recited by the municipal council in breach of the state’s duty of neutrality resulted in a distinction, exclusion and preference based on religion …. which, in combination with the circumstances in which the prayer was recited, turned the meetings into a preferential space for people with theistic beliefs,” wrote the court.

“Although non‑believers could also participate, the price for doing so was isolation, exclusion and stigmatization. This impaired [plaintiff’s] right to exercise his freedom of conscience and religion.”

Because the decision is nationally binding, other cities across Canada immediately began removing any references to God from their public hearings.

However, Bruce Clemenger of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada said the decision was not as sweeping as anti-Christian groups claim it is.

“The Supreme Court did not ban offering prayers at government events, but they did offer guidance about when a prayer may cross a line,” said Clemenger.

“It was the circumstances and context of the prayer that the court found violated the neutrality of the state and contravened the religious freedom of an atheist who challenged the prayer.”