Christians say that God’s word says to pray for those in authority.\u00a0 What is the truth about praying for a leader who is against God’s word?\u00a0 A leader who is a liar. Who makes fun of the Bible? Who is haughty and greedy. A killer and a homosexual who is leading a nation to ruin?\u00a0 A leader who makes fun of Jesus and the sermon on the mount?\u00a0 Please show me the scripture that I should pray for this evil.<\/p>\n\t
“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth<\/em>” (I Timothy 2:1-4).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
At the time Paul wrote this, Nero was in power in Rome. Nero was an idolator, an adulterer, a murderer (including his own mother), and tortured Christians. Prayers for the government were not in support of the evils the government was committing, but that government does its proper job of maintaining peace and upholding morality.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Christians say that God’s word says to pray for those in authority.\u00a0 What is the truth about praying for a leader who is against God’s word?\u00a0 A leader who is a liar. Who makes fun of the Bible? Who is haughty and greedy. A killer and a homosexual who is leading a nation to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[310,1510],"class_list":["post-28845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-government","tag-prayers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":93642,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/prayer-for-our-nation\/","url_meta":{"origin":28845,"position":0},"title":"Prayer for Our Nation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 2, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41615,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-the-husband-lead-bible-discussions-and-prayers-when-the-family-is-gathered-together\/","url_meta":{"origin":28845,"position":1},"title":"Should the husband lead Bible discussions and prayers when the family is gathered together?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, If God were to bless me with a wife and kids, I would like for the family to have Bible study sessions as a family. Would it be proper for my wife to lead the discussions at times? Or to pray? Or it should always be the husband?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19458,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/unanswered-prayers\/","url_meta":{"origin":28845,"position":2},"title":"Unanswered Prayers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Lewis Willis via\u00a0Guardian of Truth; April 4, 1991; Vol. XXXV, No. 7; pp. 193, 215 When I think of prayer, I think of it as the very essence of the Christian's relationship with God. It is our link of communication with him, as the New Testament is his link\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/prayer-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19809,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-stay-with-a-congregation-that-pays-its-song-leader\/","url_meta":{"origin":28845,"position":3},"title":"Should I stay with a congregation that pays its song leader?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I attend a small church of Christ.\u00a0We have no elders or deacons.\u00a0We\u00a0pay a man to lead singing, which obviously is wrong.\u00a0What should I do?\u00a0 Will this cause him to lose his salvation?\u00a0Will I lose mine if I continue to worship there?\u00a0He is the only one among the men capable\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13583,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-prayers-only-be-made-for-things-that-bring-god-glory\/","url_meta":{"origin":28845,"position":4},"title":"Should prayers only be made for things that bring God glory?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've been struggling (perhaps not the best word) lately regarding my prayer life.\u00a0 I wonder if you could share some insights into my thoughts.\u00a0 I don't know that I have an answer, just questions. It occurs to me that I see a pattern in several locations in Scripture from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10876,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-you-get-some-verses-wrong-concerning-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":28845,"position":5},"title":"Did you get some verses wrong concerning prayer?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a Christain who attends a Church of Christ. In a search to assist me in my study of God's word, I came across your site. I happened to be gleaning over the Scriptures listed in reference to prayer and was surprised to find that some of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}