Politics and Christianity

I’ve noticed lately that some supporters of President Obama take offense at any criticism of the president. To justify this, they use the term “un-Christian” to refer to people who oppose the president and his policies, on the grounds that as Christians, it is our job to pray for and respect our leaders regardless of whether we agree with them. We are criticized as hypocrites because as Christians we should not be concerned with matters on earth but should be focused on the Bible and salvation.

What??!!?? As a Christian, I take personal issue with this stance. Nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to be doormats in the face of tyranny. In fact, bringing people to Christ is directly related to showing discernment and helping people realize when they are being led astray. This is demonstrated numerous times in the Bible, from Moses standing up to Pharoah in Exodus, to Daniel in the lion’s den, to the prophecies of the end times, where Christians will be required to oppose the biggest Biblical tyrant of all, the anti-Christ.

The Bible commands us repeatedly to resist and oppose immoral leaders, because if we don’t, we just might end up with a 666 tattooed on our foreheads. So how is it “un-Christian” to oppose a leader who is forcing, through legislation and his policies, members of the Church to commit and allow acts we believe to be immoral? Hello, Obamacare. If we can forced to pay for abortions, what else can we be forced to do? It’s no secret that the president and his party do not have a platform based on Christian morals. I don’t have to point out why, do I? To make matters worse, they want to force their immorality down our throats through Federal legislation.

And seeing how the president seems to inspire almost an worship-like following in some people, shouldn’t Christians be a little wary?

Now for those of you ready to pounce, no, I am not accusing President Obama of being the anti-Christ. He’s not nearly charismatic enough. But history, including our own American history, has shown that it doesn’t take much to sway millions of people to support, and vote, for leaders based on rhetoric about “hope and change.” Demagoguery is alive and well in today’s world. Can you imagine, if Obama, simply by virtue of being well-spoken and somewhat charismatic, was able to win a presidential election, what someone as compelling as the anti-Christ will be able to do? If you are an American Christian, and if you’ve read and believe the Bible, you know that you have to be on your toes when it comes to these sneaky tactics by individuals who would deceive us and take control of our highest office.

John Hancock said, “Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. … Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.”

So what does it mean to “respect the office of the President” if we are to oppose tyrannical, immoral leaders? It means that we should hold our highest office as sacred, and not allow it to become compromised by electing and supporting unworthy leaders. It also means that while we should protect the holder of the office, it doesn’t mean we have to like, or even respect him. As my husband says, “I’d take a bullet for the President, but that doesn’t mean I’d shake his hand. No one shoots the President of the United States, because he represents our nation.” That is what respecting the office, but not necessarily the office-holder, is about.

I’ll leave you with a final quotation, which I’ll expand on in my next post:

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams

So what does that mean? Stay tuned to find out…