Like a light shining in the darkness, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is being praised for filling a void at the Pentagon that had been filled by leftist, secular views.
Last week, Hegseth hosted a Christian prayer service in a Pentagon auditorium on a Wednesday morning.
The line item on the daily agenda read “Secretary of Defense Christian Prayer and Worship Service.”
Attendance for the voluntary event was standing-room only.
The New York Times is expressing concern. Imagine that.
Be informed, not misled.
The worship service is expected to become a monthly event.
The New York Times headline reads: "Pete Hegseth Leads Christian Prayer Service in the Pentagon."
The subhead said, "The event was held in the Pentagon’s auditorium during working hours and featured Mr. Hegseth’s pastor."
Trouble in secularville.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth led a Christian prayer service in the Pentagon’s auditorium on Wednesday morning, during working hours, in which President Trump was praised as a divinely appointed leader.
The event, billed as the “Secretary of Defense Christian Prayer & Worship Service,” was standing room only and ran for about 30 minutes, with Brooks Potteiger, the pastor of Mr. Hegseth’s church in Tennessee, as the main speaker.
Mr. Hegseth said he intended that the prayer service become a monthly event.
Then came the real issue:
It is unclear whether the Defense Department has hosted similar religious events outside of the Pentagon’s chapel, which was added after the 9/11 attack, but the service is part of an increasing infusion of overt Christian evangelization in official government events during Mr. Trump’s second term.
That's the problem. Sharing one's faith with others seeking the Truth outside the four walls of the chapel.
The NYT continued: “This is precisely where I need to be, and I think exactly where we need to be as a nation, at this moment,” Mr. Hegseth, standing at a lectern bearing the seal of the Defense Department, said in his opening remarks: “in prayer, on bended knee recognizing the providence of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.” He added, “Knowing that there’s an author in heaven overseeing all of this, who’s underwritten all of it, for us, on the cross, gives me the strength to proceed.”
Hegseth said that attendance at the prayer service was voluntary, but encouraged the uniformed military personnel and civilian employees there to tell their co-workers about it.
The prayer
“King Jesus, we come humbly before you, seeking your face, seeking your grace, in humble obedience to your law and to your word,” Mr. Hegseth prayed after asking attendees to bow their heads. “We come as sinners saved only by that grace, seeking your providence in our lives and in our nation. Lord God, we ask for the wisdom to see what is right and in each and every day, in each and every circumstance, the courage to do what is right in obedience to your will. It is in the name of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ, that we pray. And all God’s people say amen.”
The Times noted, "The assembled worshipers, including at least one general, repeated Amen.”
Tami Radabaugh, a deputy assistant to Mr. Hegseth who attended the service, wrote on X, “Grateful to have a @POTUS @realDonaldTrump @SecDef and administration who love the Lord as I do.”
Clearly, the New York Times is expressing great concern about religion, especially Christianity, the Bible, and God Himself getting near the American military complex.
The part the secular humanists always skip is the rich history Christianity and the Bible have had with the founding and the rise of America.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a Nation, without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic. … Its refining and elevating influence is indispensable to our most cherished hopes and ideals” October 6, 1935.
He also said, “No greater thing could come to our land today than a revival of the spirit of religion—a revival that would sweep through the homes of the Nation and stir the hearts of men and women of all faiths to a reassertion of their belief in God and their dedication to His will for themselves and for their world. I doubt if there is any problem—social, political or economic—that would not melt away before the fire of such a spiritual awakening” February 23, 1936.
In the early days of our nation, Thomas Jefferson noted that the Capitol building was essentially empty on Sundays. He suggested churches should be able to use the building for services.
The first American megachurch gathered as Christians inside our U.S. Capitol.
The U.S. Capitol had been holding church services since its opening on September 18, 1793. In fact, a 1795 newspaper in Boston reported that in “our infant city” (Washington, DC)… Public worship is now regularly administered at the Capitol, every Sunday morning, at 11 o’clock by the Reverend Mr. Ralph.” The reason for services at the Capitol was rather practical: The “infant” town of Washington had no churches yet. Consequently, a service was held in the only available space for public meetings: the U.S. Capitol.
Fast forward five years to 1800. Jefferson is vice president, and his head is full of ideas (from exploring the West to civilizing the Indians to creating a Monticello paradise). He formulated a radical, at least to Americans today, proposal to Congress to approve weekly worship services in the U.S Capitol. Yes, that Thomas Jefferson.
The Jefferson who supposedly advocated for a “wall of separation” between Church and State.
What Jefferson was actually explaining to the concerned Danbury Baptists was that the Founders created a wall protecting the church from the government meddling in the church's affairs. Not the other way around.
December 4, 1800, Congress approved Jefferson’s proposal. Our national leaders agreed with Jefferson that our Capitol could be used as a Christian church on Sundays.
Can you imagine a similar proposal being submitted today…and approved? The secularists, atheists, and irreligious would immediately issue lawsuits that such an idea is “unconstitutional.”
But somehow, in 1800, it was constitutional according to the people who wrote the Constitution.
A generation later Daniel Webster one of America's greatest Senators, said, "Finally, let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journied by its light, and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, to infuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary."
Webster admonished, "If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instruction and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity."
Sec. Hegseth is on the right track with history.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.