There's a diary about The 'reverend' Wiley Drake of Buena Park, California. He's the alleged minister who wants President Obama to die. He's doing something called 'Imprecatory prayer', also known as 'Cursing' against Obama. He's not asking for just a light curse, like a plague of boils; he's going for the Big One, the 'death prayer'. He's praying that President Obama will die. Yes, DIE.
Since we're on the subject, I thought that I'd help Kossacks understand how 'imprecation' or 'Imprecatory prayer' works. Maybe some of this information can get back to the good 'reverend' (That's a title that has never made sense to me) so he can learn how it works and what its drawbacks may be.
Wiley Drake is not just a pastor of a Baptist church in Orange County, California. He is a former vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He has been actively soliciting nominations to head the SBC. It is difficult to call a person of that much clout in the denomination just a flake or fringe-dwelling lunatic.
Imprecation, also known as 'putting the evil eye on someone', is a very ancient practice. There's been black magicians that do this practice as long as there's been superstition and religion, and it has a very interesting history. Of course just letting someone know that they are getting cursed is often enough to make them afraid, or even sick. Sometimes this practice causes death. This is a phenomenon well known in psychological practice, where suggestion of something can bring about various degrees of symptomatology. And in folk magic, there's a long history of this practice of 'cursing' everywhere in the world.
Now I don't know how well-versed the preacher in question is, but there are some things that he, and people in general, should know about this practice.
First of all, the practicioner of cursing should be 'clean', that is, faultless. Jesus made this point when he said "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone". What this means is that the curse must come from a person that is pure, or free from sin. I don't know if the 'reverend' Drake is free from sin; that's for him, and G*D, to know. He better be, though, because that brings us to the second point of cursing.
If the curser is not pure, according to 'curse theory', the curse will 'bounce back' and be three times as deadly. The old children's rhyme, "I'm rubber, you're glue" is exactly on target when it comes to cursing. Bad curses sent from an impure person tend to come back in sometimes very bad ways. In fact, curses and other black magic tend to bounce back anyway. A black magician is defined as one who uses negative energies like curses to harm people and things. There's not very many old, healthy, happy black magicians.
The so-called 'Pagan' religions such as Wicca are very emphatic on this point; the 'Rule of Three' states that all actions come back threefold. 'Be kind to others' is not just a nice saying, but a way to have a good life. As Jesus (Remember him, 'reverend'? and while we're at it, have you read the 'Sermon on the Mount' lately?) emphasized, "Love thy brother" and "Forgive thy brother" were high on his list of things to do, and for good reason: "And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us" is a clear admonishment to love and be loved.
By the way, I imagine that the good preacher Drake gets paid to rant from his pulpit; Wouldn't that fall under "Mammon"? Oops! Well, I guess we all know who the Reverend Drake works for! It's the old "Eye in the Triangle on top of the Pyramid", in case you're wondering. Not exactly a Christian symbol, but hey, as some religious leaders say, "A man's got to eat!"
Now as to counter-measures for curses; the easiest and most effective one is to pray the opposite of the curse; if enough people pray for the continued good health of President Obama, the curse won't work. In fact, it takes just one good person praying for good things to happen to counter whole legions of 'imprecators', and I know that there's at least one good person praying for Obama's continued good health, maybe more.
Of course there's the "Shit happens" factor; my mother was an expert on this technique. If, when I was little, I did something that she didn't like, she'd bide her time, then when I inevitably would hit my shin on a table or some such accident, she would sagely say "G*D punishes you". The old magician, be it a hag or a witch doctor, waits for the appropriate moment when you trip and fall in the mud to crow that the curse has worked. Of course in the old days that could mean a quick trip to the stake and the fire. Maybe we could revive that kind of practice for certain people... Just joking, honest, I didn't mean that the 'reverend' Drake should be burned at the stake, but a little water, perhaps, and a board... After all, the 'reverend' might know of the location of more attacks like the one on Doctor Tiller, and National Security is at stake... if you'll pardon the pun.
I got news for you, Mom and 'reverend'; shit happens. It happens to the best of us. Don't try to foist it off on G*D. Should anything happen to Obama, the 'reverend' Drake will seize on it to show that his imprecation worked, that he's got G*D on his side' listening to the 'reverend's' orders and hurrying to make them real.
I have to say that the 'reverend' Drake sounds like one of the smallest-hearted people that I have ever heard of; but it seems to be par for the course among wingnuts. Yes, I know, I wrote a diary asking people to not call them 'wingnuts', because they're our fellow citizens; but in the case of the 'reverend' Drake I have to revise my opinion. He's definitely a nut, but when it comes to wings and a harp, I suspect that the 'reverend' Drake will eventually get a kazoo and a warm place to live for a while. That's what happens to people who use negative energies, sometimes called 'black magic', to curse people. Oh, I know; he's doing it in Jesus's name, so it's got to be OK, right? I'm sure Jesus would approve.