Not long ago, minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate with a prayer. Everyone was probably expecting a "stock prayer," filled with generalities and some good thoughts. What they heard was far different and much needed!

"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your word says "woe to them that call evil good and good evil" (Isaiah 5:20), but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your word and called it Pluralism; we have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism; we have endorsed perversion and called it alternate lifestyle; we have exploited the poor and called it the lottery; we have rewarded laziness and called it welfare; we have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable; we have neglected the discipline of our children and called it building self-esteem; we have abused power and called it politics; we have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition; we have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression; we have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of Your will. We ask it in the name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen"

What kind of response did he receive? It was immediate. During the prayer, a number of the legislators walked out in protest. In six short weeks, the Central Christian Church, where Mr. Wright is the pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls, with only 47 of those callers responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests from India, Africa, and Korea for copies of this prayer. Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, "The Rest of the Story," and received a larger response to this program than to any he had ever aired. What does all this tell us? People in this nation have not completely forgotten God!

While I have issues with Mr. Wright over some of his teachings and membership in the Christian Church, I can, without reservation, say that his words accurately described the status of the entire country -- not just Kansas. These words need to be uttered in Washington D.C., in the halls of Congress. Changing the names of our actions does not change the way God views those actions. Man thinks that by changing the name of his action, he will somehow hide its sinfulness.

For example, in Leviticus 18:22 God spoke clearly: "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination." The New Testament is just as clear. "For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due." {Romans 1:26,27} Homosexuality is a sin, and calling it "an alternate lifestyle" doesn't change God's view! Long ago, He -- not the ever-changing mind of His creation -- determined morality! Yes, we need not only to hear this prayer, but also to make proper application to correcting the wrongs. May God help us to see them and seriously work to correct them before it is too late!