Rom.2:11 - 11 For there is no respect of persons with God.
I often feel embarrassed by some who claim they are Christians. But in the past four years I have felt not only embarrassed, but ashamed for our Lord. I literally hate racism. I cannot even watch movies like “The Great Debaters” because I get so emotional when I see how the blacks were treated. And in the past four years I have heard all kinds of racist terms, both clandestine and overt. Who are we kidding? Forget about the issues about which we would disagree strongly with President Obama, we as believers are commanded to show love and respect.
And yet day after day after merciless day talk show hosts lambaste him and call him all sorts of derogatory names, and millions of believers follow suit. And you call yourself a follower of Jesus? It has been shameful to see all the professing Christians embrace the carnal verbiage, and do not kid yourselves interwoven in all this is latent and not so latent racism. No one claimed George Bush was not an American. But the President has had to defend even his citizenship.
But this is what politics does. It openly elicits the fallen nature and uses debasing terminology which is counter to the entirety of New Testament teaching. And why do professing believers not realize what they are doing is wrong and how antichristian they are behaving? Two interconnected reasons. Politics and because their pastors are imprisoned by the same spirit.
Regardless of his policies the miracle is that a black man was elected in a country which once imported slaves. But during the virulent verbiage used against the President you might think that the church would be noticeably different in their approach. But just as the church was during slavery she either remained neutral or was complicit. Many have called President Obama a communist, a Muslim, a Kenyan, the welfare president, a socialist, a European, a terrorist, an anti-Semite, an elitist, an many other more derogatory names. What they did not call him was a faithful husband, a loving father, a patriot, and a son who made his mother and grandparents proud.
Oh yea, another thing the church never calls him with a scintilla of Christ’s love and compassion - lost. Even if I did vote I could not vote for President Obama, but I can love and pray for him. I do not believe God is interested in earthly elections. I believe Christ is interested in spiritual election. And that can only come through the gospel. That should be our exclusive “platform”.
But if limited atonement were actually true, we now know how God chose who He would save. It seems God really loves white westerners with a few Chinese sprinkled in. Sorry Mister President, Jesus considers you a godless socialist who he did not have in mind at Calvary. If your father had been white you would stand a better chance.
Let us not just hold to some moral and economic issues we call “conservative”. Let us be Jesus to the world. God is never in the majority here on earth and he has no use for the election results of men. Love and obey the Lord Jesus. Those results will one day be counted.
Rick, I have been reading your posts for quite some time now and have been challenged in many areas. Those challenges have brought about great changes in my life and I am thankful to God for bringing me to your blog and also for the words He is giving you. That being said I have to point out that many of the things Mr Obama is called are simply identifiers related to his policies. Things like communist and socialist simply reflect the facts of what his policies are based on. His policies are communistic and socialistic and are the opposite of what this country is supposed to be based on which is freedom. Also he was raised in a muslim family and his father is a Kenyan. The fact that his father was Kenyan disqualifies him from the office he was elected wrongly to hold. He is ineligible to be president according to the requirements laid out in the constitution. Also from my understanding muslims believe that once you are considered to be a muslim you are one forever and he was considered to be a muslim when he lived in Indonesia as a child. So many of these names he is called are based on facts. Believe it or not his race has little or nothing to do with most peoples disagreement with his actions and policies. The simple fact remains that he does not meet the requirement to be president, and that one requirement is to be a natural born citizen which requires him to have had both of his parents be American citizens. I am commenting today simply because I feel that in this post you are missing the point of why there is so much disagreement and "name calling" and you are incorrectly attributing the disagreement to his racial makeup. I am expressing my disagreement with your post because I have been changed so much for the better by what you have written over these last months that I have been reading your posts. Thank you again for this blog and the ministry you have here and how God is using you to bless and challenge your readers. In His love, Richard Ludwigson Jr
ReplyDeleteMitt Romneys father was born in Mexico does that disqualify him? Or because he is rich and white it doesn't matter
DeleteRichard - Although the term "natural born" is not dfeined in the Constitution, the congress passed this clarification last year.
ReplyDelete"The weight of legal and historical authority indicates that the term "natural born" citizen would mean a person who is entitled to U.S. citizenship "by birth" or "at birth", either by being born "in" the United States and under its jurisdiction, even those born to alien parents; by being born abroad to U.S. citizen-parents; or by being born in other situations meeting legal requirements for U.S. citizenship "at birth"
You assumption that both parents have to be citizens is inaccurate.
So you see, President Obama is a natural born citizen and qualified to be a duly elected citizen. You know how I feel about politics, and my experience with how believers feel about Obama is different than yours. I did not inlcude many other derogatory labels which include the Messiah, the chosen one, and an entire list of others which have nothing to do with his policies.
Rick,
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with what you have written here, any label that is used in a derogitory manner that is used to identify a person or a group of people is wrong. "James 4:17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." We are to pray for our leaders, not that they lead in a moral way, because for them that is impossible. But we are to pray that they come to the salvation of Jesus Christ.
We are to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to ALL. Not just a select few whom we deem worthy of hearing the Gospel.
Thanks again for the reminder about how we should talk about anyone.
Joel
I personally have never been acquainted with anyone that does not believe our current president's problems have to do with race. Policies, sheer arrogance for the office and the best interests of our nation. I have heard the same complaints against former presidents.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we know different people? Since we don't watch tv maybe that is where it comes from?
While in the Illinois Senate, Senator Obama voted 4 times in support of infanticide. If an abortion was botched and a live birth occurred, Senator Obama voted to allow a physician to murder the baby! I don't care what color he is - that is not a "value" that I will support. Remember, this is the same man that said if one of his daughters messed up and got pregnant, he would not want to, "punish her with a baby." We should judge him by his fruit, and not by the color of his skin. BTW - I am Puerto Rican!
ReplyDeleteI re-read my earlier comment and meant to say that they do not believe the issues have to do with race.
ReplyDeleteSorry, fast figures and slow mind.
Although mots will not admit it, and many will not even recognize it in their own hearts, race has been a latent issue as it pertains to President Obama. The moral issues are seperate. As I said, I could not vote for him.
ReplyDeleteAmen!
ReplyDeleteI feel, since following the politics of the US more closely these past 4 years, that a spirit of lying, twisting truth, and verbal attacks is on the rise, from a group that we'd expect not to participate in, the Church. Ministers who ran for election, who are part of media, do a great disservice to the gospel message by attacking a black President in ways they never would have for a white politician.
Many conservative white media voices say outrageous unchristian things and......crickets....from these same ministers. But as soon as a liberal, or a 'sinner' makes some uncouth remark, they are on to that commenter in seconds. And the saddest thing is that these ministers, and self-claimed christian believers, use media to make their points. It's the circus of who can speak out more loudly and look justified and righteous to the masses. We know we live in a very narcissistic society which seems to be getting worse every generation, but the narcissism is coming out of the Church.
And it's not also WHAT christian spokespeople say, but what they DON'T say. They don't rebuke hateful remarks. They don't defend those who have been lied against. They don't defend racist propaganda, or e-mail jokes about the POTUS and First Lady. They refuse to stand up to lies. Can't they discern that a lying spirit has taken over the national dialogue? They're becoming childish and petty.
If it's evident to even the least of these, why can't those who are the voice to the masses see it? Where are the Franklyn Grahams, Mike Huckabees, James Dobsons, Pat Robertsons,on voicing concern, or righteous indignation about how the lies are out of control?
They hob-knob with the elite, and gloat about their heritage, rarely giving thanks and feeling no guilt in removing life-saving safety nets from the poor.
These same criticize the President about golfing and vacationing, yet they would never divulge how they are increased with goods, yachts, second vacation homes, perks, club memberships, perpetual affordable health insurance.
Ezekiel 34 says: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor south what was lost, but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered."
"As for you, O my flock, thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down your feet the residue of your pasture - and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet? As as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet".
The church, like ancient Israel, finds itself repeating the same human habits today. It's so sad that the increase in christian hubris, arrogance and blindness arose once an African-American man became President.
I remember years ago a visiting pastor would always open up his sermon with this verse: "John 19:19: "Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross . And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS."
ReplyDeleteThe mockers of Jesus were the religious parties.
When I hear some in media repetitively referring to President Obama as "the anointed", I get a chill up my spine, because it is so saturated with hate and judgment. Self-claimed christians are today's mockers. Now it's true that they mock only humans, not the Son of God, but by mocking one that scripture commanded us to respect and pray for, they are looking exactly like the pharisees of Jesus' day. They are assuming a role to a man that they would consider 'blasphemous'. They know that anyone who considers himself "the anointed" would consider himself God. But, POTUS never called himself anointed, or divinely appointed, or a prophet, or on a religious mission is being crowned as a god that must be mocked this way almost every evening on TV cable news.
So when I hear this claim by those in media who mock and berate a President by referring to him as one who claims himself divine, it proves to us, in the Church, how easily it is for the Church to be persecuted by it's own.
Where were these same figures who criticized President Obama 4, 8, 12 years ago? Under previous Presidents, some State's courts had ruled in favor of abortion, the death penalty. Those who choose to abort their babies didn't just suddenly get a thumbs up in January of 2009 under a new administration. The practice has been going on for years. Why the outrage only now?
ReplyDeleteThose who decided it was best to liberate Kuwait and protect a non-christian country don't make a peep. And during the liberation of Iraq, young children were part of collateral damage. Many pregnant women with unborn babies were part of the collateral damage.
Taxpayer money supported that and all sorts of questionnable activities that would be totally against biblical principles.
We have all, by virtue of living in North America and paying taxes to the federal governments, contributed in sinful acts. Our tax money goes towards military weaponry, Wall Street, banking bailouts of questionnable reputable people. We don't know how our tax money has maybe promoted a very sinful agenda. Why don't "principle and moral police" move away to a country that doesn't promote abortion? Or move away, clearing their consciences to a nation, that doesn't support war, or corruption, or porn, or immoral television, or any nefarious activity?
The verbal attacks on President Obama from christians are them projecting their own guilt onto him because they know that they can't escape the fact that they live in a rich, prosperous, exciting, have need of nothing nation, and they would rather disparage ONE man, and vote another man in. But, the problem is, that the other man who may be voted in may be worse. He may be against abortion, but he may be able to hide other sinful indiscretions. Does that still make the nation regain it's righteousness?
People can re-elect those they feel stand on biblical principles. But, there is a difference with the way some christians have used President Obama as a scapegoat to ease their own consciences. They want to project all their own guilt on him, so they don't have to feel their own personal guilt of living and supporting a democratic system that legally MUST regard every person of different creed, race, language, equal rights. If they don't like the homosexual, they would rather cast them out, and do it in the Name of Jesus, than make the sacrifice and leave the bountiful lifestyle they are so used to, to a third world country. But really, where are they going to live. Sin abounds everywhere.
Yes, this administration has been sabotaged by self-claimed christian congressmen, senators to stop their President from easing the suffering of others, just BECAUSE they didn't want him to be re-elected. Now, that doesn't sound very christian.
Great post Anonymous! ...and now we have a "God" (or is it lower case "g") fearing, family-centered, American Dream worshipping, mammon-serving, "succesful" Mormon all the self-proclaimed "Christians" can get behind. He is easier to identify with and trust than that lowly ole, unmarried, blue-collar carpenter from "the hood" of Nazareth who counted tax collectors among his friends.
DeleteLuckily, I believe this is a generational thing...Baby boomer Christians are not the same as the up and coming "Millenial" sort who may be politically interested but most certainly want nothing to do with the GOP.
A very profound comment and oh so true.
ReplyDeleteHi Rick,
ReplyDeleteWhen I hear or receive mean-spirited, religious, racist, American, fear-based, hate-filled, political propaganda comments from so-called "Christians" about President Barack Hussein Obama, I usually respond with the following:
Since when did Christ become the leader of any political party? Whether some Christians want to believe it or not, God is not a “conservative” Republican no more than He is a “liberal” Democrat or “moderate” Independent. How dare we try to divide God down political party lines. We are CHRISTIANS, period! We are not even AMERICAN Christians. We are CHRISTIANS! And even more shocking, God is not WHITE! Labels do nothing but divide and Jesus said a house divided against itself will not stand.
We can play the Christian political activist game all we want; however, I choose to live the life Christ died for. I choose to know Him in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering. What I know without a shadow of doubt is God is sovereign and in control. He works everything out after the counsel of His own will. We all have choices to make and I choose to serve the Lord not some political or religious system that values fear and hatred more than the love of Christ who commands us to love our enemies.
We have one God and Father and our allegiance is to Him not to a flag or to a nation/country or to a political party or to a race/ethnicity or a denomination. Our lives should not reflect the views of a political party or religious denomination; it should reflect the life of Christ. Jesus said over and over that His kingdom is not of this world.
We need to stop being hypocrits because we know that no political party or religious denomination can claim they are more righteous or moral than another.
At the end of the day, President Barack Hussein Obama and his administration is not our problem. President George W. Bush and his administration was not our problem, nor any other presidential administration for that matter. Loving money more than we love God is the problem.
I leave you with this quote from Rick Johnston from his book Politics or Christ:
Christianity claims to have the answers to eternal life, God, and morality, while at the same time it is manifesting the fruit of greed and every form of carnality. This must be the highest form of hypocrisy known to man. Oh yes, I can hear the self-righteous Christians saying, "Well Christians aren't perfect, they're just forgiven." What a crock! If we can observe Christian leader after Christian leader in absolute reprobate failure, what must the flock be like?
While indeed there may be a moral problem in this nation, it appears to pale in comparison to the moral problem within the one institution that was supposed to be The Moral Voice of God on the earth. Without a doubt, the moral decadence "perceived" by the religious political right to be a national immoral problem that will eventually destroy this nation is incorrect. The sin sick moral condition in this nation is not located in the White House, Congress, Senate, Supreme Court, State House, City Government, or a Law-enforcement agency.
It is not the message from the White House to your house that is out of order. It is the message from the church house to your house that is out of order. It is not immorality within the government or society that is the problem, it is immorality within the church of Jesus Christ.
The problem is the immorality, greed, and self-serving moralistic religious opinions of men standing in the pulpit. (End quote)
The "church" needs to get the beam out of its eye before it can remove the speck out of the government's eye.
Freed from the shackles of religion and politics for whom the Son has made free is FREE INDEED!
Jesus never: went to college, owned a home, married or fathered a nuclear family, paid a mortgage, joined the military. What a failure! #AmericanValues - He didn't speak English or carry a passport. He never called for the torture of Muslims aka Ishmaelites, nor demand Caesar to cut taxes. In fact he counted tax collectors among his friends and disciples. *gasp* He was arrested and a recipient of the death penalty in the very justice system America models itself after.
ReplyDeleteObama is not only black but also white(European). Society likes to identify someone as "black" even when they have other ethnicities in them. So technically he is not all "black" as society would call it.
ReplyDeleteAs far as racism goes, it goes both ways and it is in all societies all over the world. I have to disagree that race is the big issue when it comes to people disliking obama. It is his policies and other things that are the issue for many folks.