To all the purple states.

God willing, I will do this in an unbiased manner. But I am human and I clearly have certain opinions that you may not agree with. That being said, I hope you all take what I say to heart.

Last night Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. Some of you are cheering, some of you are booing. That’s fine. If all Christians were to vote the same way, I think we’d have a problem. There are certain issues I stand for that most of you might not. And vice versa. That’s okay.

But please, now that our president has been elected, I ask that we put a few things into perspective:

One: Obama is not our Savior.

Two: Obama is not the Devil.

Maybe that’s obvious to you, maybe it’s not. But based off of some very dramatic Facebook statuses, I’m not too sure you all get the picture. (And maybe even I can put myself into the first category.) I’m trying to do this with the gentleness and respect that I can, but bear with me because my passion can get the best of me.

There’s a problem when we think that we have elected a Savior as president. There is. If we are to say that we worship a Savior of the world, then bow our knee to a savior of our country, what does that say to the world? That we’re idolaters maybe? That sounds a little extreme, but when Christ calls us to follow Him, He kind of make it exclusive.

And yes, we are supposed to obey our authorities, I’m not telling you to do otherwise. But don’t say that Obama is the Hope for the world or anything like that because he is just a man.

Let’s flip the coin.

So if we AREN’T going to worship Obama, does that give you permission to hate him, rally against him, hate those who support him, call him rude names, etc.? Since you are a follower of Christ, you answer right away should be “no.” But I’ll assume you need more proof than that.

Paul writes this to the Romans:

“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” Romans 13:1f

Some interesting tidbits: Paul wrote this during Nero’s rule in Rome. Now, Nero was notorious for killing Christians. Early Christians (and some modern historians) were convinced that he was the anti-Christ.

But Paul still urges the Romans to obey? And that Nero’s reign was “established by God”?

Now, that verse has been thrown at Dems and Repubs a lot through the years, I know. And it never makes me feel too hot either way. Especially when you take that verse and apply it to jerky bosses or profs. Submission sucks.

So let me give you another story …

Zedekiah was king of Judah just years before Babylonian captivity. Fifty-some years of captivity awaited them. And they all knew it. Jeremiah told them all.

So a lot of the people got mad. They hated Nebuchednezzar, king of Babylon, because he was going to take their freedom away. (Or maybe they called him a socialist!) Nevertheless, Jeremiah has a message for the people of Judah.

He tells them if they don’t obey Nebuchadnezzar, they will be punished via plague, sword, famine, etc. Why? Because God CHOSE Neb to rule. Chose him. God even calls him His “servant” (Jer. 25:8). That’s a pretty powerful title for a jerk of a king.

And think of ol’ David who had an opportunity to kill King Saul several times, but didn’t. He was the “Lord’s anointed.”

Perhaps I am being a little dramatic. None of you threatened to kill our president or anything, but I want you to understand the implications. God has a control in the election process just as much as you do. (Actually, with this electoral college thing, he has MORE of a hand than you. lol)

For all of those I ticked off, I’m sorry if I did. I just know that what’s on God’s heart right now is NOT lower property taxes or socialism-esque policies.

His heart is for the poor.

The mistreated.

The voiceless.

The dying.

The sick.

The abandoned.

Our passion and rage should be devoted to causes God cares about. Not just about who will work in the Oval Office for the next 4 years.

August 21, 2009

Posted in Nonfiction and tagged culture, politics.