Georgia senator David Perdue urged a crowd to pray for President Obama on Friday morning at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference. The Daily Beast reporter, Betsy Woodruff, tweeted that the senator told the audience: “We should pray for him like Psalms 109:8 says: Let his days be few, and let another have his office.”
Sen. Perdue tells Faith and Freedom attendees to pray for Obama. “We should pray like Psalm 109:8 says: Let his days be few”
— Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) June 10, 2016
Wait, did he say what we think he said!?
Here is the full continuation of that passage (Psalms 109:9-13) in the New International Version of the Bible:
May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes.
May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children.
May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation.
This is not the first time anti-Obama opponents have used this Bible verse to voice their disdain. In 2008, anti-Obama stickers were mounted on people’s cars with the same scripture. After Sen. Perdue’s office was contacted after the Senator made his statements, they released this statement to Bloomberg reporter Sahil Kapur:
“Senator Perdue said we are called to pray for our country, for our leaders, and for our president. He in no way wishes harm towards our president and everyone in the room understood that. However, we should add the media to our prayer list because they are pushing a narrative to create controversy and that is exactly what the American people are tired of.”
Needless to say, people on the Internet were not happy with the Senator’s prayers…
Christian pro-life @sendavidperdue said unchristian pro-death prayer for Obama. Lucky for him, the Secret Service knows prayers don’t work.
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) June 10, 2016
Nothing Christian or Christ-like about you @sendavidperdue. You’re a racist and a demagogue. Sleep easy on that.
— Xaytone (@XLNB) June 10, 2016
@woodruffbets If a Democratic Senator had said this about Bush they would have been accused of treason and prolly run out of office.
— Bert Clere (@BertClere) June 10, 2016
Praying for someone's death? That's not very Christian of you, Senator David Perdue. You should be recalled. @sendavidperdue
— Andrew Perfetto Jr. (@aperf007) June 10, 2016