Posted on 11/07/2012 6:39:28 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The American people have decided that Barack Obama should have a second term. And, behind them, in the mystery of providence, God has decided that Barack Obama would be re-elected. So how should Christians respond to our once and future President?
Many of us have some disagreements with the President. As a conservative Christian, I believe unborn children have certain inalienable rights, including the right to life, and I wish President Obama would work to protect them. I believe freedom of conscience is the preeminent right in a civil society, and the Administration's incursions on religious liberty are troubling. I don't plan to back down one bit on these matters, even as our forefathers Isaac Backus and John Leland relentlessly stood up to the founding generation of leaders on behalf of religious freedom and human dignity.
We are going to disagree with the President on some (important) things; there will be other areas where we can work with the President. But whether in agreement or disagreement, we can honor. Honor doesn't mean blanket endorsement.
I am always amazed by those Christians who will dispute the command to honor, arguing that "kings" in our system are the people, and therefore we're called to honor the Constitution but not elected officials. But the Scripture doesn't command honor simply for the ultimate authority (which is, of course, ultimately God, in any case).
Humanly speaking, the ultimate political authority in the New Testament context was the Emperor. And yet, the Apostle Peter specifically calls the people of Christ not only to show submission to the emperor "as supreme" but also to "governors" (1 Pet. 2:13-14). The Apostle Paul calls on the churches to pray and to show thanksgiving for "kings" (plural) and for "all who are in high positions" (1 Tim. 2:1-2).
Paul imitated this when he showed due respect to the governor Felix, referring to him with the honorific title "his Excellency, the governor" (Acts 23:26) and "most excellent Felix" (Acts 24:2), even as he appealed his way up through the political process of the Roman Empire of his time. Paul showed thanksgiving for Felix, despite his part in a system with which Paul disagreed at some important points, for his "reforms" for the common good (24:3).
Behind that is a more general command to "honor everyone" (1 Pet. 2:17), to pray for "all people" (1 Tim. 2:1). We are to not only pay our taxes but give "respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed" (Rom. 13:7).
Christians, above all people, should pray for and show respect for our President and all of our elected officials. After all, unlike those who see politics as ultimate, we recognize that our political structures are important, but temporal, before an inbreaking kingdom of Christ. We don't then need to be fomented into the kind of faux outrage that passes for much of contemporary political discourse. And, unlike those who see history as impersonal or capricious, we see behind everything a God who is sovereign over his universe.
So let's pray for President Obama. Let's not give ourselves to terms of disrespect, or every crazy conspiracy theory that floats across the Internet.
That doesn't mean slavish obedience. In a democratic republic, the President and the Congress govern by the consent of the governed. We appeal to our elected officials, and lobby them for the common good, expressing disagreement when we must. But we do this, as Paul does before Felix and Agrippa, with respect and honor, even as he seeks to persuade them of the need for religious liberty and as he preaches "righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment" (Acts 24:25).
However we voted in the election, let's pray for God to bless our President. We can pray for him to be granted wisdom and health. We can pray that God would prosper his good ideas, and change his mind on his bad ideas. Moreover, we can teach our children to respect our President, starting with referring to him as "President Obama" or "Our President," not as "Obama" or "the guy our parents voted against" or what have you.
There's a time to vote. There's a time to campaign. And there's a time to petition. But, through it all, let's be the people who, even as we speak with conviction, are marked by kindness and respect. When we have to differ with President Obama, let's do that, with backbone. But let's make sure we do all this with honor, with respect, with prayer, and, most of all, with love.
Let's render unto Caesar, as free people with natural rights. Because we know as believers that we will eternally say "Jesus is Lord," we can as citizens temporally say, "Hail to the chief."
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Dr. Russell D. Moore is the Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He also serves as a preaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church, where he ministers weekly at the congregation's Fegenbush location. Dr. Moore is the author of The Kingdom of Christ and Adopted for Life.
Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.
Ok, enough of this ridiculous ‘God has decided...” nonsense. What, is he deciding if I have pizza for lunch or take a nap???? WE allowed this commie prick to usurp power right under our ugly noses! WE let it happen.
I think we are in the beginning period of Revelation and that Obama plays some part in all of this whether he is aware of it or not. God is always in control. It does not mean we won’t suffer while the show gets on the road though; it just means that we’re following the script. We are going to have to change our lifestyles obviously.
Onward Christian soldiers
Let nothing disturb thee
Let nothing dismay thee
All things pass
God never changes
Patience attains all that it strives for
He who has God finds he lacks nothing
God alone suffices.
And the Catholic entities still need to go forth with their lawsuits and every church should join them.
Malarky. They dang sure do know what they do, they just don’t care.
Now we will have a pathway to the one world govt. The powers that be will have the following mantra: “You may have eternal life in heaven, but on earth your a$$ is mine!”
Well my rosary bead thumping, mass every day, sister-in-law, who would fight to her death to defend Obama, will continue to pray.
God is punishing our country as He did Israel of old when they went whoring after other gods and forgot their covenant with Him. Each of us should repent of our sins and should give our time, talent and treasure into renewed service of Jesus. We should not support anything that does not glorify God, and that includes this country when it encourages evil.
That being said, the time for mourning for the death of America will be over soon. Christians should pour their efforts into serving their Lord and Savior in their thoughts, words and deeds. Take care of yourself and your family. Help each other on the way to Heaven, for that is our eternal country, free from sadness and evil of every kind.
The average Christian in America sees America as God’s shining light in the world. It is our natural tendency to think of ourselves as God’s primary tool for evangelism to all corners of the earth.
However, if you take a careful look at America’s “Christian” history over the last few decades, what do you see?
Do you see an ever increasing population of Christians? or a declining one?
Now ask yourself this question:
What is more important to God?... The salvation of America as a free country? or the eternal salvation of as many Americans as possible?
Now this follow up question:
Under which American form of government (based on our track record as a nation) is the climate set for the maximum number of souls to be won for Jesus Christ?
When you look oversees and see what is going on with the explosion of Christianity and the corresponding increase in the persecution of Christians, What are you to conclude about where America truly stands in the eyes of God?
Time to repent American Christians... it’s our only hope for the healing of this land.
Pray for this country, harder than you’ve ever prayed for anything in your life.
I have never seen a man spend half a century on this earth and yet accumulate so little wisdom as Barack Hussein Obama.
Pray that the Lord will keep him from making the fatal mistakes.
Something is amiss here IMO. The crouds were just too large for Romney and not there for odingo.
I don’t think the majority of America voted for the people that boooed God.
We are the Jews of the Old Testament. The pendulum swings back and forth. They turn their back on God, he punishes them, they embrace him, he rewards them, they turn their back on him...you get the picture. I’m just disappointed I won’t live long enough to see the pendulum swing back the other way.
How??
Get ready for eternity..THAT is how.
Let this cesspool country goto its own demise...
I was telling my pastor the other week... what if Hitler HAD to happen to force the creation of Israel.
I believe this is the first of tribulation and Obama does play a part.
He seems to fit some of the features of the Anti-Christ.
I imagine Israel is crying right now. Obama was horrible to them when he wasn’t a lame duck.
It’s time for Christians to stop honoring this humanist creation and incorporating it into the churches, our families and our value system.
We should not make deals with the devil and try to fit into it’s nothingness. We should work within our own communities of Christians and put our charity, support, strength and sympathy there. We need to put our energy into re-connecting with love and marriage relationships and family. Let the barbarians do their thing because we can not and will not stop them.
I believe in the Bible word for word, I do not believe in cafeteria Scripture reading, however God gave us free choice, The American people, majority chose evil over good.
God did NOT make them go out and vote for evil, they did it all on their own. So yes I believe in the Scriptures 154%, but at the same time, people voted for evil over good, out of their own evil hearts, so lets not blame God for their NON Christian evil hearts.
Many/most of US Churches are filled with NON Christians and Non Christian pastors...They might just as well eat drink and be merry, because they certainly do NOT love Jesus...
They can Not love Jesus and vote to abort God`s Children, not even debatable, not to mention that their vote also is a vote to have the Name Of Jesus removed from classroom/public square etc
NOT the first time America chose evil over good, Any Democrat is just as bad as Obama..The American people that voted Obama in are every bit as evil as Obama
So lets not blame God by saying this was his will, American people by their free choice, with their evil hearts voted this guy in, God did not will them to do it, they chose evil over good all by themselves
The America I knew is gone. She is dead. Death to tyranny.
I'd bet that he got a very large percentage of the Jewish vote and quite a few dollars.
Bottom Line: Israel you're on your own and you'll be lucky if 0bama doesn't line American up against you!
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