What Should I Do if I’m in a Country Where I Can Be Sued for Praying for Someone by Name Without His Explicit Prior Consent?

Then don’t pray for anyone by name without his explicit prior consent, unless you want to be tied up in court in that country.  If you do pray, do it by yourself in the privacy of wherever you’re staying, not in public.  Suing is a sport to some people.

We have to use wisdom about these things.  Jesus said to tell everyone the good news, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea to walk the streets of Tehran with a sandwich board with slogans about Jesus on it.

If you visit a church in such a country, the pastor probably will tell you not to pray for anyone without consent.  This is a matter of church policy to protect the church and the pastor from a lawsuit.  If you’re not sure, ask!  I’ve been in the exact situation that I describe here.  NEVER go against the host pastor’s instructions, unless he tells you to praise Allah or worship Mary or something else that would violate your beliefs as a Christian.

Now having said that, I actually think in many cases that such policies do preachers like me a favor.  It gets rid of those “Please ask God to heal Cousin Carl in Calgary” prayers when Cousin Carl in Calgary knows nothing about the matter.  Those aren’t effective prayers anyway, and barring the “gift of faith” operating, nothing will happen anyway and the prayer is a waste of time.  You can’t ask God to “bomb” Cousin Carl with healing power to be healed any more than you can ask God to “bomb” Cousin Carl with saving power so that he can get saved.   Cousin Carl needs to hear, believe and act on the gospel, not just have people “pray for his healing.”