I am a team player. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ and He is where my primary loyalties lie...but country comes right after faith and family on the totem pole of life. I want the very best for America, regardless of who is in the White House. I do not believe that America is now, or ever has been, supernaturally-favored over any other nation on Earth. The Bible is very clear that God's "most favored nation" pin is on Israel's lapel. I firmly believe that God's sovereign plan for our nation is still firmly intact, and that for some reason beyond my understanding, God wants Barack Obama running this country for the next 4-8 years.
Ok, pleasantries out of the way. I'm going to set aside my political preferences for just a bit and offer a hearty congratulations to the entire Obama campaign. As a member of the 18-34 demographic and one who appreciates a good marketing ad...I am truly impressed at the job Obama did on winning over the American people.
He utilized every conceivable avenue to get his name out there and stir up support for his campaign. Never before has the internet and technological fronts been anywhere near properly utilized in a presidential campaign. Obama has forever raised the bar on what is expected to win a presidential election.
A thirty minute long ad on 3 major networks the night of a World Series game? brilliant.
An application available on the iPhone whose sole purpose is propaganda and publicity? brilliant.
Finally awaking the untapped voting monster that is the 20-something crowd? brilliant.
Creating such a fervor among young people that their support is almost cult-like? brilliant.
I could go on, but I think you get the idea.
McCain's deck was a few cards short from the beginning. He didn't have full support of the evangelical right from the beginning. He never sufficiently distanced himself from George W. Bush to be able to call anything he wanted to do "change." If I had a penny for every time I saw that clip of him saying "I voted with the President more than 90% of the time. Much more than many of my fellow Republicans did." I could probably buy a Happy Meal.
As much as I like Sarah Palin as a person, there is a 0% chance I would trust her decision-making as President of the United States of America. She is a great governor, no doubt. She is a pretty face and a fairly intelligent debater...but that is about it. McCain's choosing her was the beginning of the end. It was a gutsy and dangerous move that backfired badly.
I have extreme reservations about Barack Obama's motives and intentions. I do not trust that man. That being said, I have to admit that he did a nearly flawless job of running a campaign for the presidency. He performed wonderfully on camera. He said the right things at the right times to the right people. He was trendy without being cliche. He was classy without coming across as pious. He is an extraordinary orator and I have confidence that he will do a good job of regaining our good reputation on the world stage.
Do I respect Barack Obama? Yes. He has come from the humblest of beginnings and had walked a rocky path to get to where he is now. He has made very powerful friends and convinced a strong majority of almost 300 million Americans to elect him as their leader. While I strongly oppose most of his beliefs and policies...he will be the President of the USA. As 3rd-generation Armed Services brat and a future member of the United States Air Force, I am honor-bound to respect the office of Commander-in-Chief.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ, it is my responsibility to represent Him well to this world. It is my goal to act how He would act and respond how He would respond. In the last few weeks, I have failed miserably at both of those goals. I have done the very thing I've accused the masses of: Letting my emotions get the best of me. I have strained friendships and caused people to lose respect for me on account of my overly strong stand on political matters. I don't believe that if Jesus were walking America today, he would care at all about politics. A good friend quoted me a verse which rung in my ears, "rend to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's", speaking on Jesus' politicality (if that's a word.)
Having said that, since this is the venue where most of my opinions have been displayed, this is also the venue where I feel it is appropriate to offer an unconditional apology for the way in which I expressed them.
Please note that I am not apologizing for having opinions or feeling the need to express them...merely in how I went about doing that. I was wrong and I lost sight of my purpose. I was more concerned with being right and winning an argument (with people who will never admit to ever losing any argument) than I was about representing Christ well.
Done.
---
President-Elect Obama, I offer my congratulations. I sincerely hope that you are able to fulfill your campaigning promises and that through your leadership America will return to its prior greatness. I hope that God himself would thwart the plans of the people that are undoubtedly already plotting how they are going to kill you. I will praying for you as often as your name comes to mind for as long as you are in office. May God bless your presidency and may God bless America. May America in turn bless God with her actions and attitudes.
06 November 2008
03 November 2008
How you must vote...
Let me start this blog off by defining who I am writing to and who I am not writing to. I am not writing this for the people out there who have no care for matters of faith, the atheists, agnostics, pagans, etc. I am not writing this for people who, for some reason or another, have decided to discard one of the most fundamental of American rights by not voting (those people spit in the face of every man and woman who has ever stood in defense of American freedoms. They disgrace themselves and democracy itself with their laziness and lackadaisical attitude towards the responsibility of voting. Enough said.) I am not writing this for someone who does not consider the Christian faith and the Bible to be truth. I am writing this for every single American who considers themselves a follower of Jesus Christ, and for them alone.
Forgive me if I dispense with formality and the pleasantries of a politically correct discourse on this particular situation. I will merely present the truth as I see it from scripture and respected preachers of the Word of God.
If you consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ, I declare with absolute resolution that cannot vote for Barack Obama. The reasoning behind that admittedly unpopular statement is quite simple. From his own actions, (I choose to completely disregard Senator Obama's word because they do not come close to matching up to his actions) Barack Obama stands in direct opposition to some of the most fundamental pillars of the Christian faith: Defense of the innocent, solidarity of the family unit, definition of marriage, etc.
Now, I know that many people have made these types of arguments before, but let me make it very plain. A follower of Christ's first priority when selecting their candidate for higher office MUST be the morals, ethics and character of the man/woman under consideration. For the race, social policy, foreign policy, economic policy, etc...are all very important, but they fall far below the importance of those mentioned before.
Barack Obama supports the "Freedom of Choice Act." He has declared that at Planned Parenthood rallies and other venues. The FoCA would completely eliminate all current restrictions on abortion and remove the need for parental notification. This abhorrent, blatantly evil and disgusting piece of legislation would swing the door wide open for all forms of infanticide in this country and completely undermine parental authority over their own daughters. Even Bill Clinton was against partial-birth abortions because of their obvious barbaric and brutal nature. Yet, Barack Obama fully supports this abomination. How can you, as a follower of Jesus Christ, vote for a man who supports legalizing such atrocities?
Barack Obama is against the "Defense of Marriage Act." He does not define marriage as being between one man and one woman as the Bible clearly dictates (Gen. 2:24 ; Mark 10:7 ; 1 Cor. 7:2 ; Eph. 5:31). In doing so, Barack Obama is standing in direct opposition to the Bible. Obama believes that homosexual couples should have the right to marry and enjoy all the social and financial benefits that come with that privilege. I choose to not address the issue of homosexuality here, as I have already done so elsewhere. The fact is that the traditional concept of the family is under direct attack from Barack Obama. If he is elected, there is no end to the list of traditional values he will do away with.
Barack Obama claims to believe in Jesus Christ, yet few of his actions serve as evidence of that claim. His "conversion" was administered by a radical, anti-American, anti-Christian "pastor" whose hateful venom has been poisoning the black community in Chicago for decades. In his own book, Obama wrote "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction." Scared to have this guy in the White House? Yeah, me too. No wonder Iran, Syria and Pakistan want him as President so badly. In an interview with ABC, Obama "slipped" and referred to his "muslim faith" before being corrected by the interviewer. He tried to play it off and has since feigned offense that people are targetting that comment...however, Sigmund Freud would probably have his own opinion about slips like that.
Now, whether or not Barack Obama is a muslim doesn't mean much to a lot of people. But to a follower of Jesus Christ, it means everything! It means that there is a fundamental philosophical difference in thinking. It means that our values are different from his, our goals are different from his...he is not a man of the people, we are not his people.
I could write for hours about why you should not vote for Barack Obama. Please note that I am not saying that you have to vote for John McCain. I did, but that is your choice. What I am saying, and I will argue this until I'm passed out on the floor...If you consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ, you must not vote for Barack Obama. The flipside is also true...If you vote for Barack Obama, you choose to disregard holy scripture and your Christian faith when you make that decision.
Please be politcally active, be informed and VOTE ON NOVEMBER 4th. May God bless you and this great nation.
Forgive me if I dispense with formality and the pleasantries of a politically correct discourse on this particular situation. I will merely present the truth as I see it from scripture and respected preachers of the Word of God.
If you consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ, I declare with absolute resolution that cannot vote for Barack Obama. The reasoning behind that admittedly unpopular statement is quite simple. From his own actions, (I choose to completely disregard Senator Obama's word because they do not come close to matching up to his actions) Barack Obama stands in direct opposition to some of the most fundamental pillars of the Christian faith: Defense of the innocent, solidarity of the family unit, definition of marriage, etc.
Now, I know that many people have made these types of arguments before, but let me make it very plain. A follower of Christ's first priority when selecting their candidate for higher office MUST be the morals, ethics and character of the man/woman under consideration. For the race, social policy, foreign policy, economic policy, etc...are all very important, but they fall far below the importance of those mentioned before.
Barack Obama supports the "Freedom of Choice Act." He has declared that at Planned Parenthood rallies and other venues. The FoCA would completely eliminate all current restrictions on abortion and remove the need for parental notification. This abhorrent, blatantly evil and disgusting piece of legislation would swing the door wide open for all forms of infanticide in this country and completely undermine parental authority over their own daughters. Even Bill Clinton was against partial-birth abortions because of their obvious barbaric and brutal nature. Yet, Barack Obama fully supports this abomination. How can you, as a follower of Jesus Christ, vote for a man who supports legalizing such atrocities?
Barack Obama is against the "Defense of Marriage Act." He does not define marriage as being between one man and one woman as the Bible clearly dictates (Gen. 2:24 ; Mark 10:7 ; 1 Cor. 7:2 ; Eph. 5:31). In doing so, Barack Obama is standing in direct opposition to the Bible. Obama believes that homosexual couples should have the right to marry and enjoy all the social and financial benefits that come with that privilege. I choose to not address the issue of homosexuality here, as I have already done so elsewhere. The fact is that the traditional concept of the family is under direct attack from Barack Obama. If he is elected, there is no end to the list of traditional values he will do away with.
Barack Obama claims to believe in Jesus Christ, yet few of his actions serve as evidence of that claim. His "conversion" was administered by a radical, anti-American, anti-Christian "pastor" whose hateful venom has been poisoning the black community in Chicago for decades. In his own book, Obama wrote "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction." Scared to have this guy in the White House? Yeah, me too. No wonder Iran, Syria and Pakistan want him as President so badly. In an interview with ABC, Obama "slipped" and referred to his "muslim faith" before being corrected by the interviewer. He tried to play it off and has since feigned offense that people are targetting that comment...however, Sigmund Freud would probably have his own opinion about slips like that.
Now, whether or not Barack Obama is a muslim doesn't mean much to a lot of people. But to a follower of Jesus Christ, it means everything! It means that there is a fundamental philosophical difference in thinking. It means that our values are different from his, our goals are different from his...he is not a man of the people, we are not his people.
I could write for hours about why you should not vote for Barack Obama. Please note that I am not saying that you have to vote for John McCain. I did, but that is your choice. What I am saying, and I will argue this until I'm passed out on the floor...If you consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ, you must not vote for Barack Obama. The flipside is also true...If you vote for Barack Obama, you choose to disregard holy scripture and your Christian faith when you make that decision.
Please be politcally active, be informed and VOTE ON NOVEMBER 4th. May God bless you and this great nation.
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