How Christians Should Respond to Obama’s Re-Election

The Christian Diarist ^ | November 8, 2012 | JP

[CHRISTIAN DIARIST]

As I join my fellow Christ followers in lamenting the re-election of a president whose policies have been decidedly unGodly, I am reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul.

“Let every soul,” he instructed, “be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.”

What that means is that sovereign God, in His divine wisdom, has permitted Barack Obama to rule our troubled land another four years.

Just as He allowed Pharoah to rule Egypt during the time of Moses; Ahab to rule Israel during the time of Elijah; and Belshazzar to rule Babylon during the time of Daniel.

That God allowed those wicked men to govern in no way meant He overlooked their unrepentant sinfulness.

Indeed, He brought ten plagues upon Pharoah’s Egypt, the last of which took the life of the ruler’s first-born son.

Ahab was mortally wounded by a random arrow and died ignominiously as dogs lapped up his blood.

And Belshazarr was slain, and his kingdom lost to his enemies, after God passed judgment on him – the proverbial writing on the wall.

The point is that God is on the throne. That he rules over all the kingdoms and the nations. That in His hand there is power and might. And that no one, not even the putative “leader of the free world,” is able to withstand Him.

So, much as it pains this evangelical Christian, I accept that Barack Obama is our nation’s duly re-elected president. And I do not challenge his governing authority over me and my house.

However, just because the mass of voters returned Obama to the White House for another four years doesn’t mean that same-sex marriage is no longer an abomination; that abortion is no longer murder; that God no longer has a place in public life.

And no matter the outcome of the presidential election, I believe it the duty of Christ followers to “speak truth to power.” To raise our voices in dissent when our elected leaders pass laws and pursue policies which clearly are contrary to God’s supreme law.

I count myself among the more than half of Americans who, according to Election Day exit polls, believe that our nation is “on the wrong track.” I also attribute the social and economic morass in which our country currently finds itself to our governing authorities, who have turned away from God.

That is why it is up to the Christian faithful to stand in the gap for America the next four years. To pray, unceasingly, that our president, who professes himself Christian, will actually govern like a true Christian.

For God has promised, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

What that means is that sovereign God, in His divine wisdom, has permitted Barack Obama to rule our troubled land another four years.

The author obviously was educated in public school. The president doesn't "rule" anything except for one branch of the government. He actually works for me. I'm not satisfied with his performance, but stupid people conspired to keep him employed. Comes of having too many bosses I guess.

[HarleyD]

To pray, unceasingly, that our president, who professes himself Christian, will actually govern like a true Christian.

One should be able to recognize a tare among the wheat. Especially this tare. It's like saying Ahab was a Jew. He certainly had the pedigree but he wasn't one inwardly as Paul would tell us.

[CHRISTIAN DIARIST]

The Bible tells the story of Nineveh, the inhabitants of which God said, “their great wickedness is come up before Me”?

The Lord ordered Jonah to Nineveh to warn the evildoers there of the kingdom’s impending destruction.

Then a most amazing thing occurred:

The king of Nineveh shed his royal attire for sackcloth and sat himself down in ashes. Then he issued a proclamation, decreeing that everyone within his kingdom should follow his lead, donning sackcloth, praying and fasting, and repenting their wickedness.

God looked down from Heaven and saw the sincere repentance of Nineveh’s king and his subjects. And, in His divine mercy, God spared the kingdom.

Like you, like most Christ followers, I believe that America is bending toward wickedness. I also have deep reservations about our newly re-elected president.

Yet, the Bible teaches that our God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

That tells me that if the president humbles himself before the Almighty, if our nation comes to repentance, then ever-merciful God will spare America as he spared Nineveh.