'Oh God, Not Today!'
Survivors Say Prayers Work, but Some Pastors Say It's Wrong to Ask for Your Life
By Hamil R. Harris and Bill Broadway
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, August 17, 2002; Page B09
Powerful testimonies have emerged in recent weeks from people who called on God while standing in the shadow of death.
In La Plata, a father huddled his family on the floor and recited the Lord's Prayer as a deadly tornado passed their living room window and destroyed other buildings on the block.
In Kensington, an Amtrak conductor dropped to his knees and prayed seconds after the Capitol Limited derailed and cars tumbled into a ravine, injuring the conductor and more than 100 other people. No one died.
In Somerset, Pa., ministers led families and rescue workers in prayer for three days until nine coal miners trapped beneath the earth by a sea of water were saved by efforts some called miraculous.
But what do these testimonies mean? In a crisis situation, do the chances of survival increase if you ask God to save you? Should pastors preach or teach that the use of what some call "flare prayers" is the way to cope with disaster?
Survivors of the Maryland and Pennsylvania incidents believe that God interceded on their behalf and will do the same for others facing sudden death. But some ministers and scholars disagree, saying it is impossible to know -- or manipulate -- divine will and that it is irresponsible for survivors or clergy to promote the use of flare prayers.
"Church leaders who teach this are setting up false expectations," said David Spradlin, an elder of the University Park Church of Christ in Hyattsville. "What about the [more than 2,800] people who died in the World Trade Center? Were not some of those people praying?"
The Rev. Edward Voorhaar, whose church's youth group probably survived April's vicious tornado because it had canceled its Sunday night meeting, called crisis praying a "complicated theological issue."
The twister crushed La Plata United Methodist's empty education wing, harming no one, but killed a man sitting across the street at a KFC drive-through. Four other people died that night, and Voorhaar has no doubt every one of them was praying, "Lord, save me."
"It is impossible to know the will of God," Voorhaar said. "I am just grateful that more people in this community were not killed or injured."
The Rev. Jack Marcom, a retired Army chaplain and pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Va., isn't against flare prayers if they are offered by people who believe in God and don't try to dictate the outcome.
"Anybody who turns to God in times of crisis must have some type of spiritual roots already," said Marcom, who four years ago preached at the funeral of Jacob Chestnut, one of the U.S. Capitol Police officers killed in a shooting at the Capitol.
As a military and law enforcement chaplain, Marcom said, he has offered many prayers to prevent tragedy. However, "I always asked God to be present with my soldiers in the foxhole, not to win the battle," he said.
Richard Yates, a professor at the Capitol Bible Seminary in Lanham, said ministers should not preach that God saves individuals simply because they ask him to spare their lives. It gives false hope and tells people what they want to hear, he said.
"People are basically materialistic and want God to make them happy," Yates said. "We can't think that God is a puppet. When we go through pain, maybe He wants us to repent and get right with Him."
Yates advises people in crisis to pray that God have mercy on them and that God's will be done, good or bad. Yates said he learned this lesson in 1990 when his son died after an automobile accident in Washington state caused by a drunk driver.
"I wondered why God didn't answer the prayers for my son," he said. "But then I reflected on Romans 8:28: 'And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.' "
For others, such as La Plata resident Sam Taylor, God does answer crisis prayers, and he urges others to say them if the time comes. On April 28, Taylor watched a gray funnel cloud chew up buildings along La Grange Avenue while his family's townhouse was spared.
"The tornado literally jumped over our [row of] townhouses and destroyed other things," said Taylor, who couldn't believe how quickly his prayer seemed to be answered. "I said, 'Our Father, which art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. . . .' I didn't even get through the Lord's Prayer -- and it was over."
Taylor said he had been an active church member years ago but had all but stopped going. Now, he and his wife, Julie, and their two young children attend services regularly at Waldorf Baptist Church, where they have shared their testimony and plan to be active in evangelism.
"I just want other people to be saved and to know that they have [God at their side] in times of crisis," he said.
Flare prayer proponents also can be found in the mining town that was the scene of last month's near-tragedy. The Rev. Charles Olson, pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Somerset, said he is sure that God spared the life of church member Mark Popernack, the last miner hoisted out in the early hours of July 28.
Olson prayed with Sandy Popernack, the miner's wife, throughout the 77-hour ordeal while Mark Popernack was tossing up flare prayers of his own from Black Wolf mine 240 feet below the surface.
"We offered a lot of a prayers down there," Popernack said this week, adding that the episode strengthened his faith and religious commitment. "I was going to church, but now I plan to go more often."
Popernack declined to say more about the event because of a $150,000 contract he and the other miners signed giving Walt Disney Co. and Disney's ABC network television and book rights to their story.
The third calamity, the July 29 derailment of an Amtrak train in Kensington, produced other believers.
Amtrak officials have prohibited employees from talking about the accident while it is under investigation. But a few hours after a heat-buckled track created what could have been a disaster, assistant conductor Stephen Smart spoke about how prayer saved his life.
"Prayer works," Smart said as he walked out of the emergency room of Holy Cross Hospital with a broken elbow. "I knew [the derailment] was serious. As soon as it happened, I got down on my knees and said, 'Oh God, not today!' "
Smart and his wife, Sabrina, live in Fort Washington and are members of Anna Johenning Baptist Church in Southeast Washington. Although her husband cannot share his testimony just now, she freely gives hers.
"When I heard about the train wreck, I asked God to take care of everybody on the train," she said. "Moments later, my husband called me on his cell phone."
The Rev. Sherita Seawright, assistant pastor of Union Bethel AME Church in Brandywine, said she rejoices with the Smarts and the Popernacks and the Taylors. But people should know that God doesn't always respond the way they would want, she said.
"I don't think we should look at God as a spiritual Santa Claus," said Seawright, whose book "When Momma Died: A Journey to Self" deals with the betrayal she felt because God did not save her mother.
"I know God answers our prayers," she said. "But I had to learn that sometimes His answer is no."
© 2002 The Washington Post Company |
