Well, the Election is finally over & I’d like to share with you some of my thoughts. Before I do, I’d like to share with you what a friend wrote on their Daily Devotional site in regards to the Election & it’s outcome.
This is from Jerry Scott, Pastor of Washington Assembly of God in New Jersey & he writes:
President-elect Obama! A year ago, who would have thought it probable, much less possible? Our President-elect is no friend of evangelicals. Unless he governs differently than he campaigned, he is not going to be supportive of Biblical values that are so important to us. Now that the election is over, I will admit to a deep sense of concern over the direction our nation will likely take during his administration. He will be governing alongside of leaders in Congress that are equally hostile to evangelical Christian ideals, so there will be little reason to be a moderate. Most troubling for me personally is the kind of judges our new President is likely to appoint to the Federal bench. Despite all of that, I see his election as a real opportunity for evangelicals to get back to our calling to be the Church. I hope that we will embrace God's call to pray for our leaders, to work for a just society, and to proclaim the transforming Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work. We can now stop looking to the Oval Office and our legislators for initiatives to save our nation from her sins! It time to feed the hungry, to care for the dying, to visit the imprisoned, to become the defenders of the oppressed, to offer love to the outcasts and hope those who are enslaved by their sins. These words from Romans challenge us to remember that God gives us leaders and demands that we pray for them and live as good citizens. It becomes even more compelling for us when we remember that the authorities at the time these words were written were pagans, not just apathetic toward Christianity but in many cases actively persecuting the Church.
Read these words, then take time to pray for those elected to serve us. "Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God's servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God's servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience. Pay your taxes, too, for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do." (Romans 13:1-6, NLT)
I copied this because I felt like he really hit on a few good points, one of them is that so many in our Country today seem to look to the Government for or as their “source”. This is a disturbing trend, you would of thought these Candidates were running for “Pastor general” or something! It was promises, badly failed promises from the past that have caused so many people to look to the Government as their source, we gave these initiatives nice feel good warm & fuzzy names like, “the new deal or the great society”. But I believe time has shown that these programs have practically “enslaved” people to relying upon Federal help as the answer, rather than working in tandem with the private sector where opportunity, when pursued, pays huge dividends in the long run.
Like so many of you, I was very disappointed with the outcome of the Election. It is hard to describe though what I am so sure many people felt as I, that while then outcome was not what we had prayed & hoped for, in our hearts we truly wanted to be glad for how far we have come as a Nation. A black man, a woman, or like back in 2000 when we had a Jewish man run for V.P. it truly a testimony to our openness & the opportunity in our society! The problem with Mr. Obama has ALWAYS been his ultra liberal voting record in his short Senate tenure to date, never the color of his skin! But now to the other point Jerry made & is made clearly in Scripture, we need to be about the business of praying for this President-elect. The campaign is over & now our prayer is that he will govern as we are hearing from at worst, the center & that alone will take movement on his part & show his sincerity to lead ALL Americans.
And pray we will! If he does well for the Country, so be it! If we are really besides ourselves & upset, we must also remember that he was elected by a clear majority of the people in our Republic, so if he does not do well or goes back to his ultra left wing stances, perhaps he is only a reflection of us as a whole? I have often thought that whoever we elect is only a mirror of us anyhow, so when we point at him, we point at ourselves.
So today, I fully understand the joy in the black communities & in all minority communities who finally feel like their voice was heard. We have witnessed a true & genuine piece of American history that will & should live on in our history books for generations to come, should the Lord tarry. Blacks especially has suffered for so many years in this Country, something us whites MUST never ever forget. Bigotry & hatred were the “norm” in so many states for so long. I pray that the Black community as a whole today feels a lot better about their place in American history & that the “Dream” that Martin Luther King so eloquently spoke of some 40 years ago is being fulfilled before our eyes! I also deeply appreciated John McCain’s concession speech, one could easily tell that he was speaking from his heart; he knew all along he was running against history, if you will. I have no doubt Mr. Obama was touched by those words & hearing today that President Bush said he will do “all he can” for a smooth transition, confirms even more so that something has taken place bigger than all of us. May we at least give him a chance first!
Again, I am very concerned about this President elects contempt on deep moral issue’s, who he would place on the Nations highest court bench, etc., but I will be praying for a true & real change of heart, may I ask you all to join me?
Stay Tuned,
Al
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