Prayer can be

beautiful or prayer can be heretical…and offense to God. The following prayer sounds beautiful..

“Oh God, our Heavenly Guide, as finite creatures of time and as dependent creatures of Thine, we acknowledge Thee as our sovereign Lord. Permit freedom and the joys thereof to forever reign throughout our land. May we * forever have the courage of our convictions that we may always stand for Thee and our great nation. May the sweet cup of brotherly fraternity ever be ours to enjoy and build within us that kindred spirit which will keep us unified and strong. Engender within us that wisdom kindred to honorable decisions and the Godly work. By the power of Thy infinite spirit and the energizing virtue therein, ever keep before us our oaths of secrecy and pledges of righteousness. Bless us now in this assembly that we may honor Thee in all things, we pray in the name of Christ, our blessed Savior. Amen”

But I removed 2 words.  And they changed the meaning significantly . The words were “as Klansman”.  It was prayed before the Klan committed many of the atrocities they did during the reign of terror in 1964. When we pray to God but malign His character my response is to utter the words of Christ…  “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”  Luke 23:34