Dead American

Hmnnn …  Where to start?

Well, I’ll begin with more natural, worldly thoughts: the Republicans deserved to lose this election for many reasons.  For six years, the Bush administration had a Republican controlled House and Senate and did very little that could justify keeping the Republicans in power.  They were content to play status quo, too anxious of a media ready to pounce at any real revolutionary idea (fixing Social Security, Fair Tax, etc.).

Also, McCain messed up his one shot to win this election.  Hindsight being 20/20 and all, he was ahead in the polls after choosing Palin, but when the “economic crisis” occurred, McCain and Palin both responded with the same rhetoric spewing from the Democrats and Bush.  A large percentage of Americans were against the bailout.  If McCain had taken a position against the bailout, citing his reluctance to put more money at the hands of corrupt politicians and CEOs, he would have distanced himself from the Democrats and the unpopular Bush.  After that “economic crisis” and bailout business, McCain fell too far behind to catch up.

You can only assume that McCain followed his beliefs and gut and took a stand where he thought best.  I respect the guy, but I really do think it cost him the election.

I’m not too worried about a Democratic president with a Dem majority in Congress.  Here’s why: Clinton had it for a couple years at the beginning of his presidency and did nothing with it until the Republicans got their act together and made a play.  And as stated earlier, the Republicans also just wasted six years in the same position, twiddling their thumbs most of the time instead of trying to enact real and positive change.

For evidence of the nasty, racist, sexist, and unreasonable division the Dems are capable of, just remember the primaries between Obama and Hillary.

Plus, the Dems have been talkers and critics for much of the last 16 years.  Oh, they do stuff every now and then (like the sub-prime mortgage stuff), but they mostly have tried to influence the system and sit back and let Bush make the decisions.  They will now be responsible for everything that happens in Washington.  They have no Republicans to blame.  This will cause many Dems to run in fright from putting their name on anything.  Their inactivity, along with the unrealistic expectations for Obama, will be a huge problem.  Maybe not enough to keep Obama from re-election, but it will have an effect.

Now on to spiritual things:

God wanted Obama to be president.  This challenges certain theologies and our democratic sensibilities, but just because we get a vote doesn’t mean God has somehow lost the power to raise up leaders as He chooses.

Let me clear, though.  This does not mean that God is pleased with Obama or even likes him.  I’m only saying that God desired to have this man as president of the US for the next four years.

Why? you may ask.  I could think of a whole host of reasons … and maybe they all have a degree of truth to them.  But the real question is what our response should be.

Pray for Obama.  Pray that our leaders will make wise and righteous judments and decisions.  Pray that God will frustrate any attempt at unrighteousness.  Bless Obama in the name of Jesus.  Do not curse him in your heart or with your words.

One reason God might have raised up Obama is to teach conservative Christians to pray for and choose to bless those whom they strongly disagree with politically.  I know a lot of Christians on both sides of the political aisle that need to learn this.  We can strongly disagree with a man or woman on issues, and some of them are very important, all while still loving and blessing that person.  We are to speak the truth in love.  That doesn’t go out the window with politics.

I’m not saying this justifies voting for a candidate with perverse, dangerous, and oppressive policies and philosophies, either.  That’s a totally different discussion, albeit an interesting one.

I’m saying its time the Church learned, as a whole, how to stand up for righteousness and against any party or candidate that perverts righteousness, all while loving and blessing those we stand against.  It is time for us to be the people of character and love we were created to be.  While disagreeing on issues is fine, do not call Democrats or Obama idiots or fools or demonize them.  They are people that God loves just as much as he loves any of us, and any human drawing breath has a chance for redemption because of the power of God.  Do not be like the “tax collectors”, only “loving” those who love you.  Love your “enemies.”

And do not be afraid.  God is in complete control.  He always has been and he always will.  He looks far beyond the next four years, and His Church should as well.  Our hope is not in a candidate or a party or an economic or political system, but in Christ and His Church.

If God brings more tough times, if they continue to get worse, then realize that this is our chance to shine, Church.  Jesus called us the “light of the world,” and light shines brighter in darkness.  Not that I wish dark times to come.  I pray that Obama is a successful president in positive ways, but I also know that God brings dark times just so the Church may shine.

Shine in peace and love.

Peace.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 6:10 pm and is filed under sounding off. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.