Barack Obama: Anomaly or Anti-Christ?

John Cloud at Time magazine seems to think anyone who tolerates evangelicals is a bigot and that includes Barack Obama. He writes, “Obama has proved himself repeatedly to be a very tolerant, very rational-sounding sort of bigot. He is far too careful and measured a man to say anything about body parts fitting together or marriage being reserved for the nonpedophilic, but all the same, he opposes equality for gay people when it comes to the basic recognition of their relationships.”

To be honest, Barack Obama, doesn’t seem to fit any of the labels commonly used on either side of the aisle. Depending on which circle of friends I am with at the moment the opinions on who Barack Obama is and what he is about range from Savior to Satan and everything in between.  I have to tell you, my own concrete judgment of this very complex man just won’t dry.

I did not vote for Barack Obama because I will never vote for any candidate, Republican or Democrat, who believes in killing pre-born babies.  No Christian should.  Barring a miracle, Barack Obama will appoint one, if not two Supreme Court Justices who a pro-abortion thus dealing a mortal wound to our efforts to end the serial murder of the most innocent and endangered species of our time: the preborn.  While young evangelicals seemed to flock to the anti-war Obama camp they did so over a war that will eventually end anyway and at the peril of millions of future people.

It is hard for me to be remotely optimistic about this new era and administration.  I fear the kind of change Obama wants to bring and his promise of hope tastes a bit like the after-belch I experience on the heels of an artery clogging meal at McDonald’s.  Regardless of where I am or whom I am talking with my feelings are unchanged on whether or not Barack Obama is currently the best person for the post he will soon hold.  But, it is at this point in my daily thought process where my faith rescues me and my heart turns towards the Lord and I thank Him that He is God and that I am not.  I remember that my human mind is incapable of fully grasping or understanding what only God can.  It is in this moment that I daily choose to pray that Barack Obama goes down in history as the greatest Christian president that ever lived. 

I honestly do not want President-Elect Obama to fail in his position, just with many of his policies.  I do not believe it is a Christian value to pray for a man’s destruction or downfall but on the contrary to pray for him to succeed by a landslide as God’s representative in whatever situation or venue he aspires to.  I remember too many Christians, including myself, who reveled in Bill Clinton’s marriage and political woes.  He and his policies were so hated by conservatives that it seemed we were happiest to be right that he was wrong.  Christians got a reputation for caring more about being right than they did about loving those with whom they disagreed.  I’d hate to see us make the same mistake again.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ll continue fighting against things I believe are evil, like abortion.  I am going to fight against policies that are unnecessary or that expand the rights of groups coalesced around unbiblical sexual behavior.  But, I am daily praying FOR more than I am praying against.  I am praying FOR Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and their two little girls.  I am praying for the Bidens and Clintons alike.  I am praying that if they don’t already know Jesus Christ as their Savior that they will.  I want them to succeed in the roles that the God of the Universe created them to succeed in.  Isn’t that a pro-life position?  I think so.

I am encouraged with some of what I am seeing from Mr. Obama.  It seems he knows that he cannot pander to one side.  It seems he understands that as the President of the United States that he must serve all of the people and not just some of them.  It seems he has listened to some concerns and is acting in a way that represents the majority in the middle over the minority on the right or the left.  I believe he has a long way to go and certainly I pray his heart changes on some key life issues like abortion and marriage.  But, for now, I see him making regular pleasantly surprising moves toward being a President for all.  A small move in the right direction, like inviting former homosexual Donnie McClurken to sing at an event on the campaign trail and asking Rick Warren to do the invocation at the innaguration, is better than no move at all.  And, when you can anger the far left and the far right at the same time then there is a remote chance you might just be headed to a good place.

So, while some are proclaiming him a Savior and others prophesying he is the anti-Christ, I am simply praying he is the Lord’s next great miracle and someone with whom I will spend an eternity as my brother in Christ.  That is the only thing that is helping me through this time of uncertainty as someone I find politically inexperienced and socially anti-Christian assumes the post of the most powerful leader of the most powerful country in the world.  Maybe the Lord put him there so that we Christians would be forced to pray for both him and our country.  That is what my family and I intend to do. 

Comments

[Stephen Black]

Hey brother Alan!

This was an excellent post! I really enjoyed it!

I enjoyed the McDonald's humor as well. I know that feeling :-)

We really do need to pray - fervently! So much potential bizarreness to talk place in the next four years!

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

[Richard Holloman]

I find myself agreeing with you on almost everything I've read. You must be a pretty smart guy! Thanks for a good thought provoking post.

[ChaplainChas.]

Thanks for the perspective, Alan. Good thoughts to chew on...

Blessings!
ChaplainChas.

[Ken Kugelman]

Yes. For the will of the LORD to be done thru this President. I pray for that also. Thankfully God sees the Whole picture (which I can't.) But it's not just the President. We have a greater Democratic majority in Congress. I'll be praying the God's will will be done thru the Congress also. Actually, when I stop and think more for a moment, maybe the LORD is more concerned about His will being done in the church than in the government. Hmmm.

[DebbieLynne Kespertt]

What a good challenge, Alan! Thanks.

[Emproph]

“like inviting former homosexual Donnie McClurken to sing at an event on the campaign trail”

It wasn’t his so-called ex-gay status that I objected to, it was the fact that he referred to me as wanting to kill children.

“and asking Rick Warren to do the invocation at the innaguration”

Same with Warren, when you compare gay couples with pedophiles and incest lovers, that naturally spreads hate, which eventually leads to violence.

That, essentially, is my complaint with you and Exodus. You go well beyond God’s “disapproval” of our ‘sexual behavior’ in order to disparage us; pedophilia, association with the Holocaust, delusional because we’re convinced we’re born this way--(yet without even saying so, which is even more insulting), etc.

Exodus also mentions Leviticus 20:13 to condemn male homosexual sex (website, book and E.Y. DVD), yet no attempt is ever made to condemn God’s so-called command to have us PUT TO DEATH.

Obviously I could go on and on and on (or maybe it’s not so obvious), but I find your organization to be decidedly anti-gay, not pro-ex-gay.

And the really sad part is, there are some people who will never accept their same-gender attractions, but who will never trust you because of all that. In the political (anti-gay propaganda) effort to tamp down on pro-gay policies, I feel that you’ve left these people spiritually homeless.

And don't get me wrong, I'm doing everything in my power to get people like that to accept themselves as they are, but I'm also facing reality.
---
“I did not vote for Barack Obama because I will never vote for any candidate, Republican or Democrat, who believes in killing pre-born babies.”

Even though I believe in life before birth, I’m against that too, but I think that a more effective approach to minimizing abortions would be through efforts to minimize unwanted pregnancies. Even if that means contraception and comprehensive sex ed.

I realize that’s not an option you would accept, but if you thought that that was the best way -- at least at this point -- to save countless unborn babies, do you think that’s something you could at least temporarily support?

And for the sake of argument, let’s assume there’s no slippery slope involved, let’s assume that an even better solution is just around the corner. So again, is that something you could support?

I know it’s complicated, so I don’t expect a yes or no answer, but that’s the best way I could put it right now.

P.S. I appreciate your praying for Obama, his family and this administration. I voted for him, but I’m not even sure what to expect, he may be just another politician, only slicker. But for what it’s worth, even though I despised GW, I still always prayed that God’s Will be done in the situation. Election-wise or other.

-Patrick