Seeing as the incoming president pretty much trademarked the use of the word We, I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon and fire up the ol’ linkage and share the blog love, adding a few personal remarks here and there.
Enjoy!
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Proving once and for all that they are more right than God, World Net Day jumps the shark with a post by their founder that illustrates Christianity at its ugliest. And I say that as an archconservative, born-again Christian. Obviously, in WND’s view, God’s grip on his sovereignty must be slipping, as it seems He’s a little befuddled about this government thing. His word on the issue is a bit too lax as well, ITHO. (Note: The “100 percent at odds” statement is especially braindead. If you need a reason why the prevailing conservatism crashed and burned, this kind of kneejerk thinking is behind it.)
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Sticking with the government theme, “Mish” Shedlock of Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis, the best financial analysis site on the Web, states what should be the obvious in this post. His calls are not only completely correct, they will, sadly, be largely ignored unless taxpayers demand that the powers that be shape up or ship out. My commentary: The difference between great men and cowards is that great men understand they must be the ones who sacrifice first. Cowards make everyone else sacrifice before they do. I’ll leave you to guess what kind of men we have today.
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To add to the above, I have read in a couple different sources that my state, Ohio, has 37-39 percent of its citizens working for a local, city, county, state, or federal government agency. That’s insane.
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If you need anymore proof that believers are fiddling while Rome burns, witness this piece of fluff. It’s this kind of crapola that occupies the minds of Christians rather than the tough issues of life. No wonder we’ve become irrelevant in the U.S. to most people.
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Too little, too late?
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Is it me, or are more and more “About” sections of Christian blogs noting how much the blog authors love to shop, watch TV, play video games, and go to movies? Call me shrill, but those seem like the wrong priorities in this difficult hour.
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“Tales of my demise are greatly exagerrated.”
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An odd thing started happening with this blog recently. In Google, keyword searches are landing people on the variable front page rather than on the specific post page that holds the correct keywords. In the past, the front page was indexed but was not the main source for specific keyword searches. If any of you WordPress/SEO gurus out there can tell me how to restore the proper functionality, let me know. I have no idea what changed.
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David Wayne of Jollyblogger is facing a difficult struggle against metastisized colon cancer. Would you take a few minutes of your time today to lift him up in prayer? Pray for healing. Come before God in expectancy.
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And while you’re praying, pray that our new president will govern rightly. Unlike some, I believe that we Christians are called to support our leaders, even when we disagree with some of their policies. That kind of humility is something that God honors all the time.
Dan,
World Net Daily has it wrong, at least partially. Agreed, if our leaders and government asks us to do something contrary to what is in God’s Word, sure, we are not to willfully sin. But I agree with your last paragraph. President Obama was elected by the will of the people. As Christians, we need to pray that God’s will be done with Obama, pray that he seeks God’s wisdom, and for his safety and that of his family.
No, I didn’t vote for him. No, I don’t agree with most of his politics. I voted as such and our side lost. President Obama is now my president and I must pray for him just as I would have prayed for McCain.
We should not pray for Obama’s failure, we should pray for God’s will and let God take care of the situation.
On a more humble note, after reading your comments about Christian blogs and their “about” sections, I paused and looked at mine. Mine is in its infancy stages. I have a vision for it and I’m making changes as I go. But I did want to thank you for reminding me of what our priorities should be.
Joe,
I didn’t vote for Obama, either. I have some major reservations about him. Something about him concerns me and always has.
That said, he is still the president. And regardless of what we feel about the man, we are sworn to support him in prayer, even if we do not support all that he stands for.
WND could learn a lot from rereading the Sermon on the Mount and how Jesus asks us to think about our perceived enemies.
The WND article is a bit too shallow to tackle the issue properly, but the author’s right insofar as he goes with the argument: to the degree that Obama’s goals are ungodly, we ought not pray for his success in them.
Praying for the success of rulers is not inconsistent with praying that they be Godly rulers. In fact, I would go so far as to say the surest way to pray for a ruler’s success is to pray for him/her to rule in a Godly manner.
So, for instance, If Obama begins pushing for more expansive abortion programs, it would be wrong to ask God to give him success in that.
Praying that he serves a sucessful, peaceful term is a different matter.
Regarding Obama: If he is the one to come, at least we know we’re going home soon.
But seriously, in the meantime, our job is not to thwart him, but to do the will of God, which is Love. Praying for someone to fail is not love, but rather the spirit of anti-Christ.
It snowed here. First time in three years. I love it. It’s one of the reasons I moved here. Here’s for more to come.
After watching Obama’s speech, I could not help but hear the echoes of a man who 45 years ago stood two miles away, facing west, and looked out over the promise of this country, not it’s failures. What happens after today doesn’t change eternity, but how we react as Christians, how we enfold those who are slaves to sin, whether with rhetoric or love, has eternal consequences for them. I would not want to send someone to hell because of my words or actions.
David,
Aren’t you in Texas?
As for Obama and his destiny, your statement rings true.
MLK once said something like this (I can’t remember the exact words) in reference to the civil rights marches: “We will overcome hate with our capacity to love.” Regardless what you think of MLK, that statement mirrors the heart of God. I wish more Christians understood that ideal. World Net Daily surely doesn’t get it, nor do most of the commenters on that post at their site. Truth be told, that WND thinking is more the American Civil Religion than historic Christianity. So much for “For your sake we are being killed all the day long….”
Eastern Tennessee…
When I think about Christ, his harshest words were for religious leaders, and I have a feeling they still would be His targets today. Christ drew sinners to Himself, and He told us we would be persecuted, not by sinners, but by the leaders, both religious and political. Yet often the harsh words Christians dole out are for the sinner. It’s no wonder then that those lost in sin think of turning to established religion as a last resort, and often consider the Christian as an enemy rather than a friend.
Dan,
I have deleted a couple of Conservative Christian websites from my bookmarks for the sole reason I do not want to here the type of stuff coming out of Joseph Farah that would hinder my ability to pray for my President. I desire to earnestly pray for our new President, and I will in Jesus name.
Don
It’s sad how shallow some of the Christian reactions are to Obama. I didn’t vote for him (I voted for Ron Paul – couldn’t bring myself to vote for either major candidate). Obama is a man, a sinner, just like the rest of us. He’s very polished and intelligent, and he just might avoid some of the stupid mistakes made by the outgoing administration. But his honeymoon will be short – very short – as is the honeymoon of all presidents. He’ll likely make some choices we disagree with, but having said that I think he is a huge upgrade over the incumbent. I pray that he will have wisdom and govern in a Godly manner. I do not care one whit whether the world thinks he is a success, just that he is wise and Godly. We should pray those things for all of our leaders, regardless of their political affiliation.
Pray for him (Obama), and all leaders in government.
When he does something good, praise him…when he does something bad, call him on it.
Unlike the Democrats who villified Bush before he got into office, most conservatives will withold judgment until the proper time.