The prodigal court

The Gospel of Luke records the story of the Prodigal Son who squandered his inheritance in the far country before returning home in repentance and finding restoration with his father. In The Parable of the Prodigal Court: Your Invitation to Shift a Nation Back to God, Phillip Jauregui likens the Supreme Court of the United States to the son in the well-known parable.
Jauregui, senior counsel for AFA Action and director of AFA Action’s Center for Judicial Renewal, spoke with The Stand about the Court’s departure from its intended role and why he believes there is hope for its return.

The Stand: When did you begin to see the Supreme Court as a prodigal?
Phillip Jauregui: We have a group that meets every Friday to pray for the Supreme Court. One morning back in December 2017, we were praying, and the Lord showed me in my imagination a picture of the [Supreme] Court Building with an intense and pure feeling of love. He reminded me of the parable of the Prodigal Son and how dishonorable the son acted, yet the father still loved him and wanted him back home.
I sensed the Lord showing me this was His heart toward our prodigal Supreme Court. Up until then it was difficult for me to pray for the Supreme Court because I was very angry at it. After this experience, I came to see it was OK to be angry with the Court but [that I should] also pray with the Father’s heart for its return.

TS: When did the Court stray?
PJ: When the Supreme Court was formed under our Constitution, it was given the noble role and calling to decide cases according to laws passed by Congress. However, it quickly got off track by seeking to twist its role to allow itself to change the meaning of the Constitution and laws.
The problem of legislating from the bench reached a tragic level in the 1960s when the Court destroyed the original public meaning of our First Amendment and breached our national relationship with God.
The cases that caused this breach are covered in the book, but the tragic point is that we essentially divorced God and then told Him we did not trust Him to be around our children.
This proved to be a dangerously destructive step for our nation. Yet God never left us. We, however, did leave Him and – like the Prodigal Son – took our inheritance to a far country.

TS: Do you the believe the Court has made any progress toward returning?
PJ: Absolutely. If we track the Court’s progress alongside the Prodigal Son, I believe it has come to its senses and is on the way home. It is not there yet, but the progress is miraculous, and we can get there from here.
Consider all that has happened in the past five years with the reversal of Roe, the reversal of the anti-Christian Lemon test, and the daily reminders of how much the un-American, communist Left wants to destroy the Supreme Court.

TS: How long might it take for the Prodigal Court to finally return to the Father?
PJ: Although the Court is on its way home, sometimes it takes two steps forward and one step back. Even in the parable, the Prodigal Son was in a far country, so his journey home would have taken a long time and been imperfect. So, we should be patient and not give up praying for the Court, especially when we see it stumble and fail from time to time.