Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Prayer Breakfast President



At a recent Easter prayer breakfast, President Obama, leaving his teleprompter for a moment, said that he, “gets concerned about Christians who are less than loving in their expressions.”  Perhaps it is those rampaging Presbyterians, those marauding Methodists, or some bomb-building Baptists whose lack of love has garnered the theologian-in-chief’s condemnation.   No Mr. President, Christ’s willing sacrifice on the cross means His followers don’t have to fly an airplane into a skyscraper, strap a bomb to their body, or behead an “unbeliever” to be with God for all of eternity.   

It cannot be said too loudly or too often:  Jesus Christ is the hope of nations and the antidote to all that ails us.  He is the answer, not the problem.  When Thomas (the doubter) asked Jesus how they could know the right way to go, Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.   If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”  Jesus plainly declares He is the only way man can know God. 

Jesus is also the long awaited Messiah the followers of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob longed for.  After John the Baptist was thrown in prison he wanted to be reassured Jesus was the Messiah.   Jesus told his followers, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.  Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”  Thereby fulfilling what Isaiah said about the coming Messiah.


In talking to the woman at the well, Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.”  Most Bible believing Christians have a great love for the Jewish people and their state.  Paul explains a symbiotic relationship between the believing Gentile and Israel that can benefit both, “…salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.  But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!”
 
Most Gentiles that know the Jewish carpenter as Savior realize they have been grafted into His faith.  Although believers may be Gentiles by birth, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and David become their spiritual patriarchs and heroes as much as they are to the tribes of Israel.  Christians are enriched by the Judean ethic, and Israel is blessed by the Christians who recognize their spiritual heritage.    

President Obama’s demonstrated disdain for Israel, and his embracing of the Iranians, places America in a precarious position and puts Israel in peril.  Not only has he snubbed the only unwavering ally we have in the Middle East, but he also alienates our nation from God.  President Obama would be wise to heed Patrick Henry and President Netanyahu, both of whom are true leaders.  Patrick “Give me liberty or give me death” Henry said this about our nation, "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of
worship here."  

Paul told the Romans, I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”  Jesus explained this gospel (good news) one night to a Jewish teacher named Nicodemus.  Jesus told him, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”  

The next verse is the most famous of all – John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  Now that is a “loving expression” that the Islamic State, our fifty states, and the world need to hear. 

My prayer for the President: rather than bashing Christians, be one.

6 comments:

Russell said...

I always am amused when a non-Christian castigates Christians for not living up to a moral standard he himself neither understands or lives up to.

What's that? Did I call Obama a non-Christian?

Yes, yes I did. Whatever his upbringing might have been or public church attendance, he doesn't evince much Christian understanding or action. Anyone who reliably doesn't understand the basics isn't a disciple of Christ.

Dr.D said...

Francis, I think that you have slightly misread Luke. You wrote, "Jesus told His followers, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

You have capitalize His, implying that the visitors were Jesus' followers when in fact they were John's disciples. The Gospel makes this clear a verse or two earlier.

More interestingly, there is the open question as to who is being reassured. Is Jesus reassuring John, as you have suggested, or is Jesus reassuring John's disciples and thus drawing them to Himself? It has been suggested that John sent his disciples to Jesus so that they might hear Jesus answer and be drawn to Him. I personally incline to this understanding because it is more consistent with John's single minded understanding of his role as the Forerunner.

To ask a devoted (if not devout) muzzie like Oblama to be a Christian is really reaching. I think he would be deeply offended, even as we are offended by him.

https://thecoloneloftruth.blogspot.com/ said...

Thanks Dr D. This was not posted by Fran (thought the inferior quality would have been a dead giveaway).

The quote was actually Matthew 11 not Luke (it's hyperlinked).

I like your thought as to why he sent them. Good catch on the capitalization (it's been changed).
Thanks again,
Bob

Dr.D said...

Colonel, looks like this is another of the many cases of an event reported in more than one Gospel. Matt 11 is repeated almost verbatim in Luke 7:22.

When I went to my electronic KVJ, I used the key words "tell John" which led me to Luke. In the KJV, the Matthew passage reads, "shew John" so it did not come up.

It was a good article; thanks for posting it.

Anonymous said...

Glad you brought this up. In this prayer breakfast Obama (in a round about way) slipped up and admittedly he is Muslim.

"And that means we have to speak up against those who would misuse His name to justify oppression, or violence, or hatred with that fierce certainty. No God condones terror. No grievance justifies the taking of innocent lives, or the oppression of those who are weaker or fewer in number.

And so, as people of faith, we are summoned to push back against those who try to distort our religion -- any religion -- for their own nihilistic ends."

So what he did there? Christians are trying to distort Islam as a religion of terror. When he says "Distort OUR religion" he is saying he is Muslim. He went off script, the teleprompter mostly likely did not say "our" religion.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/05/remarks-president-national-prayer-breakfast


Francis W. Porretto said...

Inferior quality my ass, Colonel. It's a fine piece. Be proud.

Obama can't even mouth the creed in a fashion that would convince a randomly selected Christian. He avoids reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, no doubt because it includes the phrase "under God." He repeatedly leaves the phrase "endowed by their Creator" out of his citation of the Declaration of Independence. In short, he's a Christian like I'm an astronaut. And to make matters clear for those in the lip-moving community: No, I'm not an astronaut.