Country singer Jimmy Wayne took to Facebook to deliver a tough rebuke of those who have been mocking prayer in the wake of the horrific church shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
In a video titled “Stop Mocking ‘Prayer,'” Wayne held little back — and even got quite personal in his proclamations.
“I’m sure you are fed up with people mocking prayer,” he said. “Prayer … is our direct line of communication to God. If you don’t believe in God, then that’s your business, but don’t mock me if I pray.”
Here’s just one example of countless tweets lashing out at those offering prayers:
Speaker Ryan, bluntly: shove your prayers up your ass AND DO SOMETHING WITH YOUR LIFE BESIDES PLATITUDES AND POWER GRABS https://t.co/ZJkO0Pa5Vh
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) November 6, 2017
Wayne then went deep into his own personal back story of a troubled childhood that oft-times led him to invoke God, as he felt that he had nothing else to cling to.
But there was one moment, in particular, that led him to believe in the power of prayer.
“One night I was in a car with a stepdad who made me load a gun and he rammed this gun to the side of my head and pulled the trigger,” Wayne said, adding that he moved his head and the bullet missed. “The sound of that gun going off in my ear … and the burning in my face. I’ll never forget that.”
He continued, “I’ll never forget how scared I was in that moment when I didn’t know if he was going to do it again and how scared I was when I was trying to get him to stop and I was laying on his arm.”
Wayne said that he remembers praying in that moment as he begged his stepfather, “Please don’t shoot me.”
Listen to his powerful defense of prayer below:
Stop mocking ‘prayer.’
Posted by Jimmy Wayne on Sunday, November 5, 2017
He survived, but still struggled during his childhood, recalling moments that he struggled with hunger and was “so mad at God.”
“Many times as a kid I remember praying for food,” he said. “I remember praying that, ‘I hope that this bully does not kick my tail again today’ and the fear of getting on and off of that school bus, the fear of walking classroom to classroom. To hear people mock prayer — I don’t even know how to put it in words. It really makes me mad.”
In the end, though, prayer matters — and he said that he’s “fed up” with “these knuckleheads” who take to social media to insult prayer and encouraged people to unfollow anyone who might insult people who turn to God in their times of need.
“God didn’t promise there wouldn’t be hardships and pain and struggles,” Waybe said. “But he did promise he would help you through them.”