The State of the Nation
I am currently studying in Mexico. I have had a lot of time to reflect the state of our nation. People outside of the country are not very happy with the United States. They have been disappointed, hurt and even offended by the way our government has treated them. This is shown by the way that many people speak about the United States. Politics is a word that turns many people off, but it should not be that way. We are too familiar with the story. People say, “Politicians are just liars who try to manipulate everyone for their own benefit. Politics is just that, a bunch of lies and never help people like me, so I have no reason to be interested; it does not affect my life.” The truth is quite the contrary. Politics is everywhere. Politics is simply people struggling for power. This does not have to be a negative thing. For instance, there is politics in the church, in the family, in our friendships, and at our jobs; politics is in every aspect of our lives.
Many if not all of you are likely aware of the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama, the Senator from Illinois. After praying for over a year about this election and about who God wants to be our next President, I have decided to support Barack Obama. While I am not sending this message to tell you who to vote for, I do believe that God has given me a special insight into what is happening in the United States through this election.
I said before that politics doesn’t have to be the corrupt game that it has too often appeared to be. For years, politicians have run for office promising to go to Washington and to clean house, and nothing changes. However, one thing that we have not tried is to open up the government to public scrutiny. Every year, Senators and Congressmen are expected to vote on laws that are hundreds of pages long, less than 48 hours after their printing. These bills usually contain funding for projects in individual states. Usually, many politicians like to argue that this is good because it allows them to get funding for insufficiently funded construction programs in their state; however, this spending is often unnecessary. Way too often the construction companies that end up doing the work are funding the campaigns of these Senators and Congressmen. This problem can be solved by, as Senator Obama proposes, making it mandatory that all laws be open to public review for at least 5 days before Congress can vote on it. This would ensure that our tax dollars are not wasted. While others say that it is impossible to clean up our government, I believe that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength (Phil 4:13).
The Responsibility of Christians in Government and Society
I believe strongly that we as Christians have a special role to play in this election. Just as we are to pray for our spiritual leaders, God expects us to do the same for our government (I Thes 5:25; II Thes 3:1; Heb 13:18; James 5:16). For too long there has been a sense that Christians should only vote for the Republican candidate because the Democrats are, in the words of a friend of mine, “immoral, anti-the church and do not have a personal relationship with God.” We often see Republicans as those with values; however, recently we have seen our leaders fall to corruption on several fronts and compromise those values.
For the last 20 years, Barack Obama has been a faithful member of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Barack recognizes the importance of Christians in politics. He notes how every positive change that has happened in America has been motivated by people of faith who have led the way (the independence of the United States of America from England, the abolition of slavery, the Civil Rights Movement and Women’s Voting Rights are a few examples). However, he states, “Over the course of the last few years, something went wrong. On the left, too many became afraid of speaking about their values, for fear of offending others or sounding ‘preachy.’ On the right, the language of faith has been used too often as a weapon, to divide.” I believe that this is why our nation is in its current state. Violence, sex, war and disease are all a part of the reality of America. Therefore, we must ask ourselves how we got to this point if God has made us Kings and Priests in this Earth? (Revelations 1:6; 5:10).
Where Did the Church Go Wrong?
Most of us have done it, tried to talk to non-believers as if they understood what we know. We say that we are made in the image of God (Gen 1:26), and they think that we are saying that we are more important than God (This happened to Creflo Dollar when giving an interview). We evangelize using “holier-than-thou” language rather than speaking English that people will understand. Thus the church, particularly “Evangelicals” (if I must use those labels), often come across as crazy and irrational, a turn off for those thinking in the flesh. This is partly true; we should be very enthusiastic for the Lord and our thinking should be divine not worldly. We know that God’s ways and thoughts are on a different level than those of the flesh (Isa 55:8). However, I believe that this might be why so many pews [or chairs] in the church are empty. One example that comes to mind is of a woman who, after being born again, returns to the same abusive husband and then runs to us when she is hurt. It is easy for us to say, you should just leave that guy, but hardly do we try to understand and identify with the situation of the individual. Rather than saying, “you need to do this or that…” perhaps we should build her up, show her the love of God and never cease to do so (I Thes 5:11). My friend, there is a huge difference between the two strategies.
We have also isolated ourselves from those who have other beliefs. Sometimes this has meant not attempting to understand what they believe. However, how can I show a Hindu where his beliefs go wrong if I do not know what he believes? Maybe this is why Christianity is on the verge of losing the majority that we have enjoyed over other religions in the United States. How many of the people who are getting saved or recommitting their lives to the Lord were previously Atheist, Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, or Muslim? My friend, we need to inform ourselves about what others believe in order to make us more effective in our ministry (I see a potential connection with II Tim 3:15).
The other way that we have isolated ourselves, is by playing the “us vs them” game in politics. I said earlier that we have traditionally thought of the Republican Party as the one with values and morals. Therefore, some of us either vote for the Republican candidate or do not vote. I myself used to think this way. I used to believe that it is either my way or no way. For example, the single most important issue for me was abortion. If the candidate was in favor of it, I refused to continue to consider him or her, no matter how much I agreed with the rest of his or her agenda. The problem is that this outlook on voting has caused our country to be stuck in two wars, education costs to be out of control (it costs $40,000 to attend my school per year) and an economy that is in critical condition. We should not blame our government for these problems since we have done nothing to prevent them. We live in a democracy; how many of us as Christians have held those who govern us accountable for their actions? I said earlier that we must pray for our leaders, but in a democracy, our responsibility is even greater. We must also vote, call our Congressmen and Senators, send letters to the President and be generally informed about what is happening in the Government. After all, in God’s eyes, we are ambassadors to the world. Ambassadors have to negotiate and interact. Likewise, we as individual Christians must involve ourselves in politics and talk to those with whom we disagree.
Hope and Generational Deliverance
The story is familiar. The Israelites were oppressed for years by the Africans, the Egyptians. God sent Moses to lead them to the Promised Land. Nonetheless, after turning from God and towards idols, the Israelites found themselves in the wilderness for forty years. After every member of Moses’ generation had passed away, God used Joshua to lead his people into the Promised Land. Here we see the importance of time. Due to their sin, the Israelites missed the season for their blessing from God. Consequently, in spite of their repentance and prayers for years, God’s chosen people had to wait until the “next wave came in;” they had to wait for the next season for their blessing (Ecc 3:1).
Our history is similar. Since the foundation of America, every generation has had some grand opportunity to further the development of the United States. Interestingly enough, it occurs about every 50 years. In 1776, George Washington won us our independence from England. Shortly after, in the mid 1800’s, the abolitionist movement climaxed with Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves. After the lofty efforts of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, women won the right to vote in 1920. Finally, in the 1960’s Martin Luther King and others led the Civil Rights Movement which ended with President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1965. What is next?
I believe that we are on the eve of another exodus. America has been in a rut for the past several years. Many parts of the country have seen important employers leave thousands of workers jobless as they move overseas to maximize their profit. The country is divided Republicans and Democrats. Daily, we are losing respect in the world because of our arrogant foreign policies that benefit only ourselves. Forty-five million Americans do not have health insurance. Many more have insurance that is insufficient for their medical needs. Children are killing classmates. Wives are killing husbands. Our country is in deep despair.
I believe that God has a blessing for America. We need a leader that can unite us. I believe strongly in the significance of people’s names. For instance, Abraham means “father,” and Joshua means “Jehovah-saved.” It is equally interesting that the name Barack means “he who is blessed by God” (Hebrew translation (wasn’t genesis originally in Hebrew?) of Gen 22:17). We need to pray and ask God who should be president.
