God will not Hear the Prayers of Unjust Christians

A recent newswire reported that Father Thomas J. Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, “called on all who love life to join in praying and fasting to end abortion.” But will God Hear?

In Isaiah 58, Israel says, “Why have we fasted, and You have not seen it?” God replies that on the day of their fast they exploit their workers, their fasting ends in quarreling and strife, they strike each other with wicked fists. “You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.”

Abusive “Christian” husbands exploit their wives, making them into slaves to be dishonored and demeaned. They quarrel and create conflict. Some hit their wives.

Currently, many Evangelical pastors tell abused wives to submit more and send them back to their abusive husbands. Other pastors offer counseling to the abuser, but because they do not address the cause of abuse, the cessation from abuse is short-lived.

As long as the abuser believes he has God-given authority over his wife, he will harm her again—and again. Ephesians 5 teaches all Christians to submit to one another. Marital submission is specified as sacrifice/submission. But Evangelical churches are countermanding God by teaching marriage as authority/submission. This rebellion against God’s directive gives abusers permission to be dictators in their homes.

When the congregation supports the abuser in his sin by devising rules that keep her locked in with her abuser, and by condemning the abused wife, they are colluding with the person who is exploiting, quarrelling and striking with fists. Their seeming unconcern that all abuse of husbands against their wives is life-threatening, makes it likely that God will not hear their prayers.

Head injuries kill. Actress Natasha Richardson, the mom in the “Parent Trap” remake, suffered a head injury during a ski lesson on a beginners’ trail. March 18 she died.

Head injuries maim. Kathryn, who survived brain trauma at the hands of her pastor-husband, years later, endures severe headaches and has spinal fluid in her uncontrollable nose bleeds. Doctors fear for her life and suspect her brain trauma is deepening into debilitating disease.

If an exploitive husband hits his wife on the head, or shoves her, causing her to fall and hit her head, the church could be dealing with a woman severely injured or dead, children without a mother, and the notoriety of having a man from their own pews in jail. Any man who berates or demeans his wife, is a mere step away from action that could kill her. The church must hold the sinner—not the sinned against—accountable, or God will not hear that church’s prayers.

God says, “Is not this the fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice, and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free?”

If churches refuse to study the dynamics of abuse and its cause, to correct their godless doctrine, to hear the distress and grief of abused wives in their midst, and to unchain them and hold the abusers accountable, how can they expect God to answer their fasting and prayers to protect the unborn whom they do not know?



Waneta Dawn is the author of "Behind the Hedge, A novel" Please visit www.wanetadawn.com