Wednesday, November 5, 2008

We need change!

November 4th, 2008 was truly a momentous day. With both President-elect Obama's win and the Democrat revolution in congress taking over 20 seats, it appears there is significant change coming for our country and possibly the world. I hope that it is change for the better. I pray for righteousness in our leadership and that God will have mercy upon our country. Unfortunately, even as my prayers go up for the new leadership, my spirit is troubled.

There are two things that deeply concern me. First is the way Barak Obama has been presented by supporters and how he presents himself.

Here's a transcript from a speech Charles Rangel gave:

Our hand enabled to bring to us one of the greatest presidents we will ever see, Barak Obama.
Who are we going to elect? Barak Obama.
Who's the next president? Barak Obama.
Who's our hero? Barak Obama.
Who's going to lead us out of poverty? Barak Obama.
Who's going to save the United States of America? Barak Obama.
Who's going to save the entire world? Barak Obama.
And who do we love? Barak Obama.
God bless.
And here's a transcript from a speech Louis Farrakhan gave:
You are the instruments that God is going to use to bring about universal change, and that is why Barack has captured the youth. And he has involved young people in a political process that they didn't care anything about. That's a sign. When the Messiah speaks, the youth will hear, and the Messiah is absolutely speaking.
I don't have a transcript for President-elect Obama's acceptance speech, but towards the end he finished with making statements and then punctuating them with the refrain "Yes we can!" which the audience quickly picked up on and echoed.

My skin crawls when I hear all three of these speeches. In the first, Senator Rangel attributes Barak Obama with bringing salvation to both the United States of America and the world. In the second, Louis Farrakhan calls Barak Obama the Messiah. And finally in the last, Barak Obama points the crowd to themselves for the answers needed in society.

In each case, peoples' eyes were taken off of Jesus, the only Savior, the only Messiah, the only One with answers, and pointing them to Barak Obama. Things that should only be attributed to God, were attributed to a man. This is the operation of the spirit of anti-christ. It is a devilish ploy to take attention away from the true Christ and point it elsewhere. In two cases to a man and in one case back to self. I want to be very clear here: I am not saying Barak Obama is the Anti-Christ of Revelation. I am saying that by doing this, he and his supporters are helping to prepare peoples' hearts for the Anti-Christ.

Secondly, there are two issues where President-elect Obama and I have radically different positions: pro-choice and gay marriage. In my reading of scripture, these two issues are fundamental defining social issues of our day and how we as a people respond to them will determine the health and future of our nation. I believe them to be more important than any other issue we face as a country. They are more important than the economy. They are more important than the overseas conflicts. They are more important than poverty. They are more important than health care. They are more important than education. If we don't get these two issues right, then nothing else matters.

In Psalm 139:13, David says "For you [God] created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." God creates us. He knows us before birth. To willingly kill this nascent life breaks the heart of God. God commanded the Israelites not to sacrifice their children or judgment would fall on them. When times got tough, when they thought God wasn't watching, in order to improve the harvests, out of convenience, they did what was commanded not to be done. And their country was taken over by their enemies.

Old Testament law says "'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." Paul states in 1st Corinthians 6:9 that homosexuals have no place in God's kingdom. In Romans 1:18ff, it says "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ... For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ... Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts ... Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, ... Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." Genesis 19 is the account of God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah due to their perverse lifestyles.

When either of these statues were trespassed, God was faithful to bring down judgment for disobeying His law. I believe there is a direct correlation between these biblical examples and the issues in our country. God would be unjust if He judged Israel, Sodom and Gomorrah for their violations but didn't judge us for ours. But God is not unjust. In His mercy He has not yet called us to account, but if we continue in these practices, if we fail to repent of these evils, I believe He will.

Given all this, I find it highly ironic that both Senator Rangel and Barak Obama finished their speeches with "God bless America." There is no way God can bless our country when we so blatantly reject His commands. All of us, both Democrats and Republicans, whether elected officials or voters, need to fall on our faces in mourning, repent of our evil ways and then allow God's healing power to flow into all areas of our society.

I agree with President-elect Obama on one thing: we desperately need change in our country. But the nature of that change needs to be first at the heart level in individuals and then the overflow of that will flow into the situations around us. There is no way anything done through political process will bring the changes so needed by our country.

2 comments:

  1. Amen, my son! Right ON! Excellent writing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your article seemed to imply the blame for God's judgment of this nation belongs on the homosexuals, pro-choice individuals while at the same time stating that Obama is preparing this nation to receive the Anit-christ. This is merely the whirlwind the Christians have created for themselves. We are reaping what we have sown. We are the ones praising each other for the work God does in us instead of praising God. We are the ones pointing our fingers at each other expecting the other to repent instead of removing our own logs. I am guilty too. Is it no wonder Jesus's own chosen apostle Peter wrote:

    For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 1 Peter 4:17 (NASB95)

    We have and will reap what we have sown.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are welcome but I do moderate them. This is simply to keep things wholesome for general family viewing. By default, comments will be accepted. The few things that will cause a comment to be rejected are:

1. It is too long even though it may be well-written and make interesting points. It's supposed to be a comment, not an essay. If you have that much to say, write a blog article and backlink to me.

2. It is nasty, impolite or uses language that is unacceptable.

3. It includes a a link that has a typo or is broken in some other way.

4. It should have been sent as an e-mail since it is clearly addressed to me and does not appear to have been intended for other readers.

5. It is blatantly self-promotional. This does not mean it can't be self-promotional at all, but it should add some value over and above the marketing.