In Luke 6:26, Jesus gave His disciples a stark warning, “Woe to you when all the people speak well of you.”

The verse tells us if we are preaching God’s Kingdom, then we will have enemies. In fact, the verse suggests that we should want enemies, because it means we are preaching the truth.

In fact, it should concern us when we don’t have critics and everyone likes you, because it means your message is so watered down it threatens no one.

Todd Starnes reports that Pastor Jack Hibbs, who pastors Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills, California stirred up some enemies after he was invited to give the prayer invocation at US House by speaker Mike Johnson.

“Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), a self-described secular humanist who denies the existence of God, became enraged after Hibbs was invited by Speaker Mike Johnson to deliver an invocation before the House,” writes Starnes.

“Huffman, along with more than two dozen Democrats, wrote a letter that libeled and slandered the beloved evangelical Christian leader – calling him ‘an ill-qualified hate preacher’ who shares his own ‘Christian nationalist agenda’,” Starnes continues.

Huffman went on to accuse Hibbs of being involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection, to which Hibbs responded in an interview in the Washington Time, asking Huffman “to produce any connection I have with January 6 because I do take that as a slanderous statement when in reality, I had nothing to do with it.”

Hibbs needs to wear this criticism as a badge of honor.

And of course, now Hibbs must take to heart Jesus words to, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

Todd also provided the text of Pastor Hibbs’ invocation that sparked the outrage:

LET’S PRAY. ALL MIGHTY GOD AND FATHER OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, TOGETHER WE COME BEFORE YOU IN HUMILITY AS THE PEOPLE IN NEED OF YOUR FORGIVENESS, YOUR MERCY, YOUR GOODNESS, AND YOUR GRACE. FOR THESE 250 SO YEARS, OUR FATHERS IN THIS CONGRESS HAVE PRAYED FOR YOUR GUIDANCE AND PROTECTION, AND SO WE STAND HERE IN HUMBLE PETITION THAT YOU TODAY MIGHT DO THE SAME, THAT THIS NATION AND ITS UNPARALLELED CONSTITUTION, YOUR GREAT GIFT TO ALL FREEDOM-LOVING PEOPLE MIGHT BE RENEWED HERE AND ACROSS THIS LAND AS A BEACON OF HOPE TO ALL WHO SEEK PEACE. I ASK YOU TODAY, FATHER. TO BRING TO US A GREAT AWAKENS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND CONFIDENCE IN YOU, WHO ALONE IS MIGHTY TO SAVE. HEAR MY CRY IN THIS HOUR OF GREAT NEED THAT WE MIGHT BE HUMBLY BLESSED BEFORE YOU IN THE REPENTANCE OF OUR NATIONAL SINS. YOU ALL MIGHTY GOD ARE THE SOURCE OF ALL WISDOM AND THERE IS NO WISDOM BUT THAT WHICH COMES FROM YOU, SO PLEASE COME UPON THOSE HERE WHO ARE THE STEWARDS OVER THE BUSINESS OF OUR NATION WITH YOUR WISDOM WHICH COMES FROM ABOVE. AND WITH YOUR HOLY FEAR KNOWING THAT YOUR COMING DAY OF JUDGMENT DRAWS NEAR, WHEN ALL WHO HAVE BEEN AND ARE NOW IN THE AUTHORITY WILL ANSWER TO YOU, THE GREAT JUDGE OF HEAVEN AND OF EARTH, FOR THE DECISIONS THAT THEY MAKE HERE IN THIS PLACE. I OFFER THIS PRAYER TO YOU, FATHER, IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST OUR SON, YOUR SON, AND OUR CRUCIFIED SAVIOR AND RESURRECTED LORD. IN JESUS NAME, AMEN.
Jack Hibbs