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.
