I’ve recently connected to a friend from college who, after a career as an attorney now makes his living as a writer. I’ve told him he’s living the life I want. Among other things, his books include Sarah Palin: A New Kind of Leader.
Like most of the long lost friends I’ve found again, we’re connected on Facebook, so when his blog post came through today, I took the time to go over and read it: Barack Obama and the Ancient Prophets. Taking the words of the prophet Daniel to King Nebuchadnezzar, “. . . the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes,” (Daniel 4:25) Joe applies that to the present day United States. The theme of God granting authority to men is echoed in the New Testament in Chapter 13 of Romans where the Apostle Paul says, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
Joe speculates that in today’s world, those of us who call ourselves believers, and specifically those who opposed the election of Barack Obama, should now in turn accept Obama as the man God placed in the White House. Further, Joe says it’s our responsibility to get on the Obama bandwagon and help him accomplish his agenda. Joe writes:
If you believe God is at work in the world, if you believe that He still rules the kingdoms of man and sets over them whom He wills, then it is time to submit to His purposes, discern what God is working to accomplish through President Obama, and join Him in His work.
Not so fast Joe.
Yes, without question any and all authority comes from God. Yes, while it is way beyond my understanding, I can accept the fact that Barack Obama is the man God has placed in the White House at this time. And yes, I realize that Scripture calls for us to pray for our leaders and to obey the laws of the land.
Unlike Daniel and Paul, we live in a representative republic. We live in what is still, for the present, the greatest home of freedom in the history of mankind. In the United States we don’t have to fear that speaking out against our government means that we risk losing our heads. At least not yet.
So, while we’re commanded to obey the laws of the land, and yes pay our taxes, we’re not to keep silent in the face of evil and injustice. Now, don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t classify Barack Obama as the face of evil and injustice. But he is anti-life and anti-America. Look it up.
If you take Joe’s concept a bit further and apply it elsewhere around the globe, it’s a bit more problematic. Is he suggesting that Christians bow to every whim of leaders like Fidel Castro, Kim Jong-il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? After all, if all authority comes from God, is not their authority granted by Him as well?
His premise would also suggest that Christian notables like Corrie Ten Boom and Dietrick Bonhoeffer were not following Scripture in the face of Hitler’s regime. Really Joe?
A quote often attributed to Edmund Burke says, “All that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”
I don’t think Joe is suggesting doing nothing. But I also don’t believe that just because God has allowed Barack Obama to be President that we are to keep silent and blindly follow.
I appreciate the point Joe is trying to make. Followers of Christ shouldn’t be all about the negative. We are indeed called to hold our leaders up in prayer. Scripture makes no distinction for whether or not we agree with them. But we’re not to blindly follow when so doing would compromise our values and our faith.
