Even as much of the East Coast continues to dig out from giant mounds of snow from the Blizzard of 2003, a weekend "pray for rain" rally is planned to ask God to alleviate the ongoing drought plaguing America's breadbasket.
"This country, and northwest Kansas, has turned away from God and sinned, and the land is full of blood from aborted babies," Leonard Kinkade told the Hays Daily News. "Too many pastors have turned a blind eye and deaf ear in their churches, and as a result of the sin, God has withheld his blessings of the rain upon the land because of the sin in the [country]."
Kinkade says the idea came to him while listening to a Denver radio station where a pastor and rancher were talking about a similar event.
"The Lord spoke to my heart about doing this, and I guess I'm the one who's carrying out the project here in northwest Kansas," he told the paper.
The Brewster, Kan., resident is holding the rally Saturday afternoon at the Thomas County Fairgrounds, hoping to attract a crowd of farmers, ranchers, agriculture and machinery people, clergy and the general public.
Drought conditions widespread in Western half of U.S. as of Feb. 11 (National Drought Mitigation Center) |
Attendees can mark their residences with pushpins on a giant map. That map will then be prayed over, asking God to intercede and bless the land with water.
Upon learning of the event, WorldNetDaily reader Keith Sheridan suggested the rally should not rant against abortion, but instead encourage women to give up babies for adoption.
"We totally miss the mark with our Creator when we cry 'anti-abortion.' We should be loudly crying and funding 'pro-adoption' as the true 'choice' for women in this spiritual warfare," Sheridan said.
The Bible does mention in several places that rain is a blessing when people are faithful to God:
If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. (Leviticus 26:3-4)
Scripture also uses lack of rain as a curse for disobedience, adjacent ironically to a warning about conflict with enemies:
The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. (Deuteronomy 28:24-25)
Even the prophet Elijah warned ancient Israelites that rain would be withheld:
And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. (I Kings 17:1)
Word has already started to spread about the Kansas rain rally. When Colby resident Steve Ziegelmeir learned of it, he contacted Kinkade to offer his help.
Boat ramp at nearly dry Barr Lake in Colorado in October 2002 (photo: Dr. Ken Dewey, High Plains Regional Climate Center) |
"The purpose of this rain rally is not an 'Oh God, bless us' thing, but to acknowledge God as our provider," Ziegelmeir told the News. "I see this as not just addressing the drought as a moisture dryness, but there is a spiritual dryness in this area as well."
Not only will they be praying for rain, but also for help for political leaders who have the influence to assist with problems associated with the drought.