It was time

for evening prayer and I was trying to decide whether to do evening prayer

alone in my room or to go to the chapel and observe the time with the

other 50 people who had gathered at the retreat center in Florida for

a special conference. It had been a very long eight weeks and my spiritual

batteries were in serious need of recharging. Deciding that the evening

speaker might have an uplifting, edifying message, I chose to walk to

the chapel. I couldn't have been more wrong.

The Reverend

James Armstrong, a former United Methodist Bishop, walked to the pulpit

and began the only sermon that I have ever heard that left me infuriated.

The entire "sermon" was a well-crafted, cunning, bombastic,

anti-George W. Bush tirade.

Recalling the

worship service in the Washington Cathedral, following the Sept. 11 attacks,

Armstrong opined that the President of the United States had no business

being at the pulpit and addressing the nation. One assumes that, since

Mr. Bush is not a cleric (an ordained minister), the bishop felt that

Mr. Bush should not have spoken to the nation from the pulpit of the prestigious

cathedral. He neglected to mention whether it was appropriate for the

Muslim cleric to have spoken from the pulpit of a Christian church.

Armstrong mocked

Bush's assertion that Bush "heard from God," saying, "Does

the president believe that he has a direct line to God?" He also

ridiculed the belief of George W. Bush that he is in office at the will

of God. Invoking the name of several Old Testament prophets, Bishop Armstrong,

saying that he could not remain silent, then proceeded to bash Bush and

his Iraqi policy, especially his conduct of the war.

Bush was described

later in the message, Armstrong noted that Gandhi, Martin Luther King,

Jr., Anwar Sadat, Yatzhik Rabin, and Jesus were all men of peace. One

can honestly argue whether Sadat and Rabin fit the bishop's description

as men of peace, their Nobel Peace Prize awards notwithstanding, since

Sadat's Egyptian military launched a sneak attack on Israel Oct. 6, 1973,

and Rabin spent 28 years in the Israeli military. The bishop neglected

to mention these little facts as well.

Nevertheless,

Armstrong declared that all these "men of peace" were eventually

killed by "religious/political fanatics." The implication was

clear: President Bush, also, according to the bishop, a "religious/political

fanatic," is a dangerous man. Somewhere in the sermon, the words

"hatred," "cruelty" and "greed" were also

bandied about. One wonders whether the bishop had similar objections to

former president Jimmy Carter, who was unashamed of his Southern Baptist

roots and his "born-again" Christianity. Or does the Bishop

simply object to deeply religious people serving in political office only

if they are Republicans?

Evidently,

there is much that Bishop James Armstrong chose to ignore in his quest

to trash the President of the United States during that evening prayer

in Orlando; for example, the New Testament Book of Romans. St. Paul said,

"For there is no authority except from God, and those authorities

that exist have been instituted by God" (Rom. 13:1 RSV). So yes,

Bishop, Bush is in office at the will of God. And, yes, so was Bill Clinton.

Paul also calls rulers "God's servants (ministers)" in Romans

13:4 (RSV) and, in that same passage, gives those rulers authority to

"bear the sword."

So, yes, Bishop,

as God's appointed authority in the land, Bush had every right to address

the people from the pulpit of the Washington Cathedral. And, I might suggest,

sir, that in your labeling the President as a "religious/political

fanatic," you have failed to "pay respect to whom respect is

due, honor to whom honor is due" (Rom. 13:7 RSV).

What about

the charge that Bush thinks he has a direct line to God? Well, so did

the Psalmist, who wrote:

"I call

on you, O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer"

(Ps. 17:6 NIV).

"I wait

for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God" (Ps. 38:15 NIV).

"In the

day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me" (Ps.

87:6).

And so do most

evangelical Christians, who believe that they can pray to God with a reasonable

expectation of receiving answers, in one form or the other.

Armstrong is

no lightweight in church circles. In addition to serving as a pastor and

having been elected a bishop, he has served as a former president of the

liberal National Council of Churches, has authored several books, and

has served as a seminary professor. His comments and input have often

been sought out by the media.

In a radio

interview first aired Oct. 10, 1998, Bishop Armstrong said, "...

we should not let another person function as our conscience." Sorry,

Bishop, I refuse to believe that President Bush should allow you to act

as his conscience or mine for that matter.

I wish you

had chosen to bring something enlightening and strengthening to fifty

weary ministers instead of serving up a plate of politics. And I wish

I had prayed alone in my room.

[David Epps

is rector of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church on Ga. Highway

34 between Peachtree City and Newnan. He may be contacted at [email protected]

or at www.CTKCEC.org.]