You might need to sit down! I know that since Barack Obama was elected there's been a lot of change and hope and hope in the change and change in the hope that brings change . . . . I was certainly under the impression that he is the messiah - at least the world's messiah.
All the fawning over him by politicians, celebrities, and anyone else lacking a shred of discernment has made me want to throw up at times. Even certain supposed Christian leaders have thrown biblical discernment out the window in their gushing over a president who supports infanticide. Am I going political here? Only insofar as to point out that as Christians we need to be practicing a biblical worldview rather than getting swept up in Obamalism - and a lot of professing Christians are. Every "Christian" publication I have seen in Denmark (where I live) has referred to Obama as a Christian - a man who denies the exclusivity of Jesus (just for starters).
What is going on? A black man is in the White House and everyone seems to be excited in some sort of outbreak of inverse racism. Dr King's dream was that a man would be judged by the content of his character and not the color of his skin - to that I say amen. I'll let another black man, Alan Keyes (Obama's political opponent while governor of Illinois) give his up close assessment of Obama's character. We all know that Alan can get wound up (in fact I find it one of his most endearing qualities) but his comments regarding Obama's radical pro-abortion views hit home!
In ealier posts I discussed Rick Warren's inauguration prayer for Barack Obama's presidency. Though I was critical of his prayer in general, I did commend Warren for praying in Jesus Name and not being a sissy on that issue. Well it turns out that I might not have listened closely enough and Warren has been very sneaky - but not sneaky enough for people sharper than myself.
If you want a refresher here is the prayer again - listen carefully and then examine the startling revelations below.
Islam expert Robert Spencer at JihadWatch.org, an organization dedicated to bringing public attention to jihad theology and defending Western society, criticized Warren for including a common refrain from Islam's Quran – "You are the compassionate and merciful one."
"'The compassionate, the merciful' is, of course, a reference to the invocation at the beginning of every chapter of the Qur'an except one: 'In the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful,'" Spencer writes. "Making sure everyone feels included – terrific. But the prayer indicates yet again that there is little general awareness of the reasons why the term 'Judeo-Christian-Islamic values' is a misnomer."
Warren also included the foundational Jewish prayer Shema Yisrael, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one,"
The Dallas Morning News religion blog writer, Jeffrey Weiss, wrote, "I found it to be inclusive – in the sense that he expressed God's love of all peoples and set forth a set of broad moral imperatives." On the Dallas paper's message board, one contributor presented a complimentary critique, with a fitting conclusion, regardless of one's opinion of Warren's invocation.
"A prayer for our time and our new President," he writes. "May God's care and blessing be upon a people that can extend that blessing onto others. The Lord of ALL (non-Christian, gay and lesbians included) is the Lord of us. May we recognize and honor Him so. As this prayer clearly reminds us, we will eventually have to give an account to Him of our deeds, good or bad."
And being a converted pantheist, I mean environmentalist, he had to play to the “tree huggers” this zinger, “When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us.” And then he couldn’t leave the civil rights over constitutionalists out by praying the adulterous Martin Luther King into heaven.
Greg Dixon at "Freedom's Phoenix" shared the following startling revelations.
Praying in the Name of Isa Inexcusable
I must confess that when Warren came out to pray, I was nervous for him but I was not a Boo Bird. I wanted him to pray a good prayer. I wanted him to hit a homer for our Lord Jesus Christ. He is a Baptist preacher. He follows a Baptist preacher as Pastor to Presidents, what an honor. But when he closed his prayer by saying, “I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life – Yeshua, Isa, Jesus, – who taught us to pray…:” My heart sank. Isa is the Muslim word for Jesus through out the Koran. Here is what the word means in the Koran.
Jesus in Islam [Hilal Plazz.com]
“Jesus, or Esa as he is known to Muslims, is one of Allah’s greatest prophets who brought the same message as all of God’s messengers – worship the One true God without partners. It is obligatory on Muslims to love Jesus and to honor him, as they do for all of Allah’s messengers. Muslims, however, do not believe that Jesus is the son of God nor God himself. According to Islam, Jesus was simply a man who was born of a miraculous birth to Mary without male intervention.”
Is 'Isa the true name of Jesus? Jochen Katz “The traditional Arabic name for Jesus is Yasu'. Until very recent times, all Arab Christians used no other name for Jesus. And even today, that is the name used by more than 99% of all Arab Christians. Just walk into any Arab Christian church, turn on Arabic Christian broadcasting, read Arabic Christian literature written for Christians. You will only find Yasu', never E(I)sa . Only very recently (perhaps some 25 years ago) some Christians started to use the name E(I)sa in Arabic publications written specifically for Muslims in the hope that they may more easily accept their message if they see the quranic (Koran) name for Jesus instead of the traditional Christian one.[1]
Nevertheless, among themselves, Arab Christians do not use E(I)sa (Isa) Abualrub's statement suggests that Arab Christians commonly use E(I)sa , and that is simply wrong.” Mr. Katz also explains that Esa is Esau the brother of Jacob the son of Isaac. Dr. Scott Johnson from Ft. Myers, Florida who has a powerful Internet ministry, has now gone on record with these potent words: “I want to go on record as saying the Rick Warren is NO pastor of mine, and should be shunned by every Bible loving Christian until such time as he repents of his sin, turns his life around and truly decided to follow Jesus, not Esa! Until then, he is no brother of mine and no example of a Christian.”
Praying In Jesus’ Name
While on earth, the Lord Jesus instructed His disciples that after He was gone they were to pray to the Father in His name to receive answers for their prayers. The most hated name in America today is the name of Jesus. You can say God all over the place, but if you say Jesus, you will be treated as if you have the plague. Courts are ruling that His name cannot be invoked in prayer in the halls of the legislatures of the states, and many preachers now are careful at city council meetings and other public gatherings to use generic endings like, “In His name”, etc. After all, we wouldn’t want to offend Jews, Muslims, atheists, etc. Warren’s prayer was carefully crafted to be legally correct when he said, “I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life…Jesus”. That was politically and legally correct. He wasn’t forcing Jesus on anyone else. He had the right to say that Jesus was the one who changed his life, although he didn’t say that He was His Savior.
In private conversation or a church setting that might fly, but not in a public forum. The Lord Jesus said, Lu 9:26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels. With these words Rick Warren presented another Jesus that is not the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus of the Bible is not Warren’s personal Jesus, he is a universal Jesus. Three times God spoke from heaven and said, “This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him.” The writer of the book of Hebrews said, Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
On my previous blog entry I discussed Rick Warren's inauguration prayer for Barack Obama and in particular his mention of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Some readers may argue that this blog is taking on a political bent. On the contrary I want to wrap this up today and, hopefully, show that the issues at stake here are far more theological than political.
When we reflect back on the life of Dr. King and the war he fought against racism in the USA there are several valuable things we can learn as they pertain to the Great Commission. This concerns the scope of government legislation in what it can achieve, and the battles that can only be fought in the realm of the human heart. The success that Dr. King achieved, at the cost of his own life, was achieved within the realm of government. Black Americans received the right to vote, to sit where they chose on a bus, and to study at the finest universities to name but a few. In short, African Americans gained legal access to participate in every sphere of American life with the exact same opportunities that all other Americans had - and this was undoubtedly a great achievement. But, as I mentioned in my last post, Dr. King had a "dream" and that dream went far beyond the changes that were made to American law. I belive his dream is best summised in this statement:
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character".
That is interesting in the light of what Rick Warren said during his inauguration prayer for Barack Obama:
"We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where a son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven."
I believe that Warren was certainly implying that the election of Barack Obama as President was the realisation (at least in part) of Dr. Martin Luther King's dream. It is quite clear from the context of Rick Warren's statement that his assumption about this is based upon the color of Obama's skin and not on the content of his character. In reality, Warren's comment flies in the face of what Dr. King fought for. Though much has changed in American law, little has really changed at the coalface of American attitude (or human attitude) for that matter.
We just had an election where a wide variety of political aspirants brought brought a wide variety of political agendas before the American people. But polling and research reveals that when voting day came many black people voted for the black candidate because he was black with little or no knowledge of his political agenda or moral fibre. There were women who voted for the female candidate because she was a woman. People with a strong fear of a roundhouse kick to the head voted for Huckabee because Chuck Norris said so (I am definitely among that demographic).
So what are we to make of all this, Christian brother and sister? What am I driving at pointing this sad reality out? For one thing, the role of Gospel preaching in transforming society at the grassroots level. Why are we surprised that we cannot stamp out racism when we cannot stamp out sin? As I have often said the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. The Lord Jesus spoke of what flows out of this unregenerate human heart:
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander (Matthew 15:19).
With this in mind why are we surprised that people carry racist attitudes? I am contending here that the strongest weapon against racism is the strongest weapon against sin and that weapon is the Gospel of Jesus Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16), a power so radical that it can change a wicked human heart to love God and obey His commandments:
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Ezekiel 36:25-27)
So utterly transforming that we can experience the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and become a new creature in Christ Jesus (II Corinthians 5:17). In short, no amount of legislation or social work can ever measure up to an encounter with the Living God! Something I believe Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had just prior to his tragic assasination . . .
Time is short - may your labor be in work that will ring through eternity.
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. (I Corinthians 1:21).
There has been lots of controversy and criticism coming from both sides concerning "America's pastor" Rick Warren accepting Barack Obama's invitation to pray at his inauguration. Do I think Rick Warren should have accepted the invitation - No! But that is not what I want to discuss here today. A lot of people a lot smarter than I am have made plenty of comment about this and I do not feel the need to go over ground already covered. For good biblical insight I recommend you read Al Mohler's article concerning Warren's invitation here.
Personally, I was stunned that Rick Warren didn't think Obama's inauguration was worthy of his best Hawaiin shirt. You may even notice that Rick Warren's voice strikes an uncanny resemblance to that of Dr. Evil (could they be one in the same . . . I've never seen them in a room together . . . c'mon Rick say "one million dollars" . . . naaahh!!). But what struck me even more was the content of Rick Warren's prayer. Thankfully, he didn't sissy boy out on praying in the name of Jesus (STOP PRESS - actually he did wimp out, see this post). But I want to zero in on another comment during the prayer that I believe reveals a lot about Rick Warren's theology and how it is informed by ideology rather than vice versa. Watch and see if you can spot it . . .
Did you notice Rick Warren's reference to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr?
"We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where a son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven."
Dr. King was a great activist who fought the unbiblical racial segregation in the USA during the 1960's. Probably the cornerstone of Dr. King's platform (and his most famous speech) was that he had "A Dream". What was his dream? The essence of it was summed up during that famous speech when he said "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" (emphasis mine).
One would assume judging by Warren's statement "that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven" that he sees the election of Barack Obama as a realisation, at least in part, of Dr. King's dream. The context for Warren's claim (which he is in no position to make anyway - we only know that heaven rejoices over sinners who repent) is based upon Obama's African ancestry. Just stop and think about it for a moment - is it the realisation of Dr. King's dream? Is Warren basing his comment on the color of Obama's skin or the content of his character?
So we've just had an election where many black people voted for Barack Obama because he is black. Many women voted for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman. Many mormons voted for Romney because of his mormonism. Many soldiers voted for McCain because he is a war hero. And scores of people with less than a black belt in karate voted for Huckabee because Chuck Norris said so. Does modern America really evaluate people on the content of their character? Legislatively much has changed, but attitudes seem to be hard to sway through policy.
We can only speculate as to whether Martin Luther King would have endorsed Barack Obama as President. But we can at least examine this in the light of the creeds Dr. King professed. In 1963 writing from a jail in Birmingham Alabama he once wrote:
"A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law."
If Dr. King's evaluation of the content of a man's character was based upon men living by these stated values and furthermore as a champion of those who are oppressed and have no voice (black people were not allowed to vote at that time) then one can only hope that Dr. King would have also been a defender of the unborn. It is interesting to note that the niece of Dr. King (Dr. Alveda King) recently said:
"the killing of a quarter of the black population of the US has not been from the lynch mobs of her childhood days, but from abortionists, “who plant their killing centres in minority neighbourhoods and prey upon women who think they have no hope." “The great irony,” she said, “is that abortion has done what the Klan only dreamed of.”
Watch this video and ask yourself if the election of Barack Obama is the realisation of Dr. King's dream . . .
