Tuesday
DIFFICULT TO PRAY FOR OBAMA?
ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30, the Season of
Advent officially began, and so we have changed
the color of our title to the traditional purple which
signifies the royal nature of the King to be born. So
our commentary will focus as much on the spiritual
side of life as on the secular -- or in these days of
conflict, the political. As always we welcome your
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WHY DO SO MANY CHRISTIANS FIND IT
DIFFICULT TO PRAY FOR PRESIDENT-
ELECT, BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA?
In each issue of this commentary since election day,
we have urged Christians to pray for president-elect
Obama, even though the Electoral College has not
yet voted to make that title actually correct.
And each week we receive email messages from
our readers saying that they are finding it difficult to
pray sincerely for Mr. Obama. Various reasons
have been explained in those messages, including
his Muslim background, and expressing concern
over his middle name: Hussein; the fact that he has
kept so much of his life a secret, such as where he
was born - we don't even know if he is a native-
born American citizen -- and how he could have
remained associated for so many with that strange
minister who publicly cursed America and continue
to look to him as his pastor and advisor.
Those are just a few of the concerns which have
been expressed to us, and we certainly do not
criticize our readers for openly sharing their
concerns with us. We continue to urge Christians
to pray that God will direct Mr. Obama and give
him wisdom and strength to do right and stand up
against the anti-American, anti-Christian influences
which will confront him as he assumes the office of
President of the United States of America, a nation
whose motto is "In God We Trust."
Oh, and did you hear the news? The official
report from the financial powers-that-be is that we
have been in a recession as of December, 2007. If
you had thought that was the case, now you can be
reassured that your perception was correct. It isn't
an illusion . . . it's real.
This headline said it well: "Mumbai Siege Ends
as Last Terrorist Killed"
Last week's burning and murder spree in Mumbai
(Bombay) has been labeled as "India's 9/11." And
there is some reason to believe that both attacks
may have been planned by the same Islamic master
mind. India has taken the position that Pakistan was
responsible, bringing the two nuclear armed nations,
one Muslim, the other Hindu, to the brink of open
warfare, which could be the start of World War III.
It may take some time before the exact nature of
the attackers becomes definite. They appear to have
been Islamists located and trained somewhere in
Pakistan. The Pakistan government denies any direct
involvement. This we know -- the 10 terrorists who
carried out the attack deliberately targeted civilians,
torturing and killing nearly 200 (including at least 6
Americans), and injuring hundreds more. In the
process they did great damage to the city of
Mumbai, and seriously interrupted the ongoing
business of India's financial center. It was a further
demonstration of radical Muslims' self-declared
war on civilization, with America and Israel as their
principal targets. Those 10 young men captured the
total attention of world-wide press and TV coverage.
They created a goal and a challenge for future
Jihadists to meet and surpass.
As Gary Bauer pointed out in "End of Day," Dec.
1, "The jihadists who are attacking civilization are
educated in madrasses – Islamic religious schools.
They cite the Koran as their authority. They follow
the teachings of Muslim imams worldwide ... who
issue “fatwas,” ... justifying the murder of infidels
...They praise “Allah” as they kill and die."
The skill with which the Mumbai attacks were
conducted raises a valid fear of similar attacks on
major cities in America. The headline above was in
error; one of the terrorists was captured alive. His
revelations during interrogation do little to alleviate
that fear. One hopes the incoming administration
which will have to face the possibility of any such
attacks understands that diplomacy and negotiation
have little meaning to these terrorists.
Civilized nations throughout the world are united
in their condemnation of these terrorist tactics.. And
from the religious front there have come similar
reactions -- from the World Council of Churches
(WCC) General Secretary, Samuel Kobia, who
said he was "deeply shocked and saddened" --
adding, "We believe that there can be no
justification whatsoever for such despicable acts
of terrorism and indiscriminate violence." And
from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams,
who expressed his "shock and outrage at the
appalling atrocities in Mumbai," and wrote to the
High Commissioner of India, "People everywhere
stand in solidarity with the innocent and in
condemnation of those who would destroy innocent
lives out of evil and misguided motives."
And yet these two religious leaders were among
those who welcomed the letter from the Islamic
scholars, and who urged their followers to join in
the Yale Divinity School concession to the Islamists'
position that we all worship the same God. Now
suddenly they are shocked at this further display of
torture and the killing of innocent people -- infidels--
by the Jihadists.
From President Thomas Jefferson: "Can the
liberties of a nation be thought secure when we
have removed their only firm basis, a conviction
in the minds of the people that these liberties are
the gift of God? ... The reason that Christianity
is the best friend of Government is because
Christianity is the only religion that changes the
heart." (During his presidency, 1801-1809)
Some Random Afterthoughts . . .
Oooops -- we erred! In last week's issue we
reported on Bob Jones University's apology for its
long established racial policies. But we interchanged
the dates when the policies were abandoned. Some
of our readers pointed out the error. and we are
happy to correct it: the ban on admission of blacks
ended in 1971, and the ban on inter-racial dating
ended in 2000.
The "Invisible Man" returns to sight. Portrayed
as "average Joe," the Democrat answer to Joe, the
plumber, Joe Biden had bragged about being a lunch-
bucket Democrat with working class roots, but then
dropped from sight after the election. But on the eve
of Thanksgiving Day he proved he knows how to
party like the Kennedys. With his family he ferried
from Cape Cod over to Nantucket Island where
he had rented a $4 million house for the weekend.
He told the local newspaper that this has been their
traditional Thanksgiving get-away for over 30 years.
He may be out of sight as vice president, but is the
center of attention among the elite habitués of
Nantucket Island.
Some campaign promises are not forgotten:
President-elect Obama has moved quickly to name
homosexual activists to positions within his proposed
administration. Politico.com reports that 10 national
homosexual organizations are working with the
Obama transition team, helping to get more openly
homosexuals appointed to positions in the Obama
administration. Obama's transition team has also
reportedly named at least seven openly homosexuals
to panels assigned to review federal departments
and agencies. Matt Barber, director of cultural affairs
with Liberty Counsel and Liberty Alliance Action,
says that Obama is keeping his promises to the
homosexual lobby; "It's not surprising that he has
now allowed some of these radical activists to
become part of his administration." Should we,
as Christians, be concerned? Most certainly.
as Christians, be concerned? Most certainly.
While many segments of the economy are
clearly ailing, at least the Obama memorabilia
business is actually booming. One example:
CafePress.com offers thousands of Obama-related
designs for sale. A search of eBay discloses more
than 21,000 Obama items to choose from. Many
are the usual T-shirts, coffee mugs, ball point pens,
caps, buttons and pins, etc. It has to be said that
the French are much more innovative: there voodoo
dolls representing President Sarkozy are available,
including a pin with which to stab the doll and cause
pain for the president. Let's leave that one for the
French to enjoy.
The Founding Fathers' view of human nature:
"Human nature itself is evermore an advocate
for liberty. There is also in human nature a
resentment of injury, and indignation against
wrong. A love of truth and a veneration of
virtue. These amiable passions, are the "latent
spark"... If the people are capable of under-
standing, seeing and feeling the differences
between true and false, right and wrong, virtue
and vice, to what better principle can the friends
of mankind apply than to the sense of this
difference?" - John Adams, 1775
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