IS OBAMA REALLY the PROBLEM?? - Andrew Strom
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
ARE WE BEING DISTRACTED From THE REAL FIGHT?
-by Andrew Strom.
Years ago a friend of mine, Robert Holmes, saw a vision of
Christians leaving the Harvest field to go and join in with a "Civil
War". They were leaving their primary mission (the gospel) to go
and make war against their own countrymen. What does it mean
and why would they do such a thing? -This was unclear.
Like a lot of you, every day I get bombarded with the latest emails
against Obama - and what he is up to. I can truly understand this.
Unlike a lot of overseas Christians who can't comprehend this kind
of American political partisanship, I truly get it. I lived in America
for four years, and one of the things I saw clearly while living there
is that America is at WAR with itself. And it is getting worse. Right
against left, liberal against conservative. And there is no doubt that
as an evangelical Christian, I am truly a "conservative" myself. But
there is a lot that troubles me about what is going on.
When the US conservatives elected Bush, a lot of the world could
not understand it. I understood it completely. America is at war
with itself and Bush seemed like the most robust campaigner
against the liberal agenda. It did not matter that he was not the
"smartest" guy. He was strongly on "our side" in the culture
war - and that is what mattered: Homosexuality, abortion, taxes,
health care, and so-on. To a lot of US Christians, politics has
become THE main arena where they fight and take a stand. So if
I am a conservative myself, why am I so troubled by a lot of this?
Well, let me ask you some questions and hopefully you will see why:
-Is "Politics" the arena that Christians are supposed to be putting
so much time and energy into fighting? Is that what the early
church did?
-Aren't we supposed to be more passionate about prayer and the
gospel than we are about pulling the "liberals" down?
-Couldn't this be a total distraction from our real mission?
-Doesn't a lot of it amount to a giant "smear" campaign of rumor-
mongering that should be beneath Christians to participate in? -In
other words, isn't the way we are speaking often gossipy, slanderous,
mocking and ungodly?
-Why are prayer and the gospel taking a backseat to Obama-baiting?
-Is the Christian community in any country supposed to become
a "voting bloc" for one particular party?
I think those are pretty important questions. And I think a lot of
Christians may have trouble answering them.
The fact is, I get more "political" anti-Obama emails from US
Christians every day than 'spiritual' emails. What does this say
about conservative Christians? It says they care more about politics
than the gospel. That is the conclusion I have to come to. And I
believe this is Idolatry - pure and simple. Politics has replaced the
pure milk of the word for a lot of Christians. They are on a "campaign"
alright, but it is not a campaign for Jesus. And they devote hours
and hours to it. They are feverishly checking out the "latest dirt" on
Obama every night and hungrily devouring Fox News (which makes
more and more ratings dollars as it drives every fresh controversy).
They love it! There is only one problem: It is not Jesus, it is not the
gospel, and a lot of it is simply not godly at all. In fact, it is
replacing Jesus and replacing the gospel.
If I was the Republican Party or Fox News or Talk Radio (each
hungry for more ratings and dollars - these are not Christian
organizations at all) then I would absolutely LOVE the fact that the
Christians are so easy to whip up into a frenzy of Obama-rumors
and Obama-trash-talk. But none of this is godly, is it? It is not
remotely Christian. The early church would have renounced it
utterly. They took no interest in politics. They only cared about
Jesus and His simple gospel. And that is still the only thing that
can save America today. We are being sidetracked.
But the frenzy continues. "Did you hear the one about Obama
being likened to Hitler?" 'Did you hear the one about Obama's
birth certificate?' 'Did you hear the one about Obama's "death
panels"? 'Did you hear that there are really demons in the Swine
Flu vaccine?' (canned laughter please).
A lot of this amounts to a kind-of Christian "smear" campaign. In
politics much of it would be considered in the 'dirty tricks' category -
the kind of thing you do when trying to ruin someone's reputation
with sick rumors and innuendo. No matter if it's true or not. As long
as it does the job of "smearing" the person. Is that the kind of thing
Jesus would want us involved in?
Here is the truly major thing that I believe the devil is trying to do
in America today:
-He is trying to create division so bitter and so extreme that both
sides literally start to fight one another with guns drawn. He is
trying to tear America apart.
-He is trying to sidetrack the one group that truly has the answer.
He is trying to wrap them up in fighting politics, so they will forget
that the pure GOSPEL is the only real hope for America today.
I believe the devil is truly succeeding in both of the above aims.
To conclude this article, I would like to ask some questions of
the Christians who spend so much time on this "Obama War":
-Do you spend as much time spreading the pure gospel as you
spend spreading stuff about Obama? Why not?
-Is your mind and your energy and your passion more focused on
getting the true gospel out - or defeating Obama and the liberals
in politics?
-If you were asked to turn off Fox News and delete the "Obama"
emails and turn off Talk Radio, etc, could you bear it? Or are
you more-or-less an "addict"?
-Do you really think it is right for this to be the big focus of your life?
I truly believe these are huge issues and huge problems in the
American church today. But I guess I can expect a wave of angry
disagreement in response!
Please send feedback to- prophetic@revivalschool.com
God bless you all.
Andrew Strom.