When you are praying for some issue like world peace, some people might say you are wasting valuable time. ---- It would be a grave mistake to think that the approval, support and participation of the world’s religions in peace movements in any way guarantees God’s blessing on it. In reality the world’s religions have followed a course exactly opposite to that set forth by God’s own Son. Christ Jesus said that ‘his kingdom was no part of the world’ and that his true followers would be no part of the world. (John 18:36; 17:14) But for centuries the world’s religions have prostituted themselves to the political powers to gain influence with them. Though the religious leaders of Christendom may applaud the world’s peace movements and offer up prayers for their success, we know how God will view this. At Isaiah 1:15 we read: “And when you spread out your palms, I hide my eyes from you. Although you offer many prayers, I am not listening; with bloodshed your very hands have become filled.” Christendom’s religious systems themselves have bloodstained hands. From the ravaging Crusades of the early centuries, through the “Religious Wars” and Inquisition of the Middle Ages, on down to the global wars of our generation, Christendom’s churches have supported the political states in their warfare, even urged them on, assuring them of God’s blessing. Their ever deeper involvement in politics now proves they have had no genuine change of heart. Their prayers, therefore, can gain no receptive audience with God.
