Why did Barack Obama chose the Rev. Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation? Anyone really curious about this question would do well to read Stephen Mansfield’s The Faith of Barack Obama, a highly original portrait of the President-Elect published last year in the midst of the presidential campaign.
Mansfield is an evangelical Christian, and he makes a point of saying that he disagrees with Obama on many political issues. But I believe the author does a fair job of probing and representing Obama’s faith. Here’s a sample:
For Obama, faith is not simply political garb, something a focus group told him he ought to try. Instead, religion to him is transforming, lifelong, and real. It is who he is at the core, what he has raised his daughters to live, and the well he will draw from as he leads. While Americans are used to religious insincerity from their political leaders, Obama seems to be sincere in what he proclaims. He embraced religion long before he embraced politics. Indeed, it was his faith that gave him the will to serve in public office, and the worldview of that faith that shaped his understanding of what he would do once he came to power.
Mansfield seems torn sometimes between his admiration of Obama’s faith and the realization that it does not conform with evangelical norms. The author at one point refers to Obama’s “unorthodox spirituality,” and he notes with apparent discomfort the importance that doubt plays in Obama’s view of faith, and Obama’s respect for non-Christian religions.
The Rev. Rick Warren makes an appearance in the book when Mansfield describes a joint appearance by Obama and Presidential candidate Sam Brownback at a 2006 World AIDS Day summit sponsored by Warren’s Saddleback mega-church. Brownback said he felt more comfortable than he had the previous time he and Obama had shared a stage. The story continues,
….”We were both addressing the NACCP,” he [Brownback] told the crowd of several thousand. “They were very polite to me. I think they kind of wondered, ‘Who’s this guy from Kansas?’ And then Barack Obama follows, and they’re going, ‘Okay, now we’ve got Elvis.'”
Assuming that Warren’s evangelical church would be home turf for a conservative Roman Catholic like himself, Brownback then turned to Obama and said, “Welcome to my house!” The audience exploded with laughter and applause. A few moments later, though, Obama took the stage and said, “There is one thing I have to say, Sam. This is my house, too. This is God’s house.”
Once again, Obama showed his skill at intercepting the political long pass. Brownback intended an appeal to his base. Obama wasn’t having it. Refusing to yield an inch of the religious high ground, he made it clear to all that not only would he not be moved from his rightful place in the Christian fold, but he would also not allow newcomers to the crisis of AIDS, newcomers like Warren’s evangelicals, to forget that Obama’s political tribe began addressing that issue long ago. Be a Christian with me, Sam, he was saying, but don’t act like my older brother. This is my house, too.
I’m not sure how to connect this story with Obama’s pick of Rick Warren for the inauguration, which has caused genuine anguish among gay supporters, because of Warren’s clumsy and hurtful statements about gays. Perhaps the point of Obama’s faith is how it enables him to go where focus-group Christian politicians would fear to tread. He’s sure enough of his spiritual foundation that he feels at home within a congregation that probably included a mere handful who would consider voting for him. He likewise will no doubt stand his ground with Rick Warren against criticism from many longtime Obama supporters, including New York Times columnist Frank Rich.
Ever since Obama declared in his national political debut in 2004 that “we worship an awesome God in the Blue States,” he has confounded those who didn’t take his words or his faith seriously. Mansfield’s enlightening book is a good way to learn more about where the next President is coming from, and how he’ll stay centered in the tumultuous days and years ahead.
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great post
I also think Obama’s selection of Warren is a very public declaration to the conservative right: “You don’t own faith.”
Selecting Warren nullifies him as a potential weapon that the evangelicals could easily trot out over the next 4 to 8 years, because if he has an issue with the way Obama leads, the logical response will be, “Then why did you believe in him enough to preside at his inauguration?”
Armageddon Thru To You
If you’ve been wondering why it seems like the world around us is unraveling, it’s because the last days as foretold in the bible are now upon us. Just as it was 2000 years ago, many were unable to discern the signs of Jesus Christ’s first coming (Mat 16:3), as will many concerning his second coming, which will occur very soon. Yes many have proclaimed a similar sentiment many times in the past, but their errors have no bearing on today other than to lull you into spiritual apathy, and that too was prophesied to occur in the last days.
If you’re not a believer in Jesus Christ because you’re an atheist, consider that the underlying impetus for your disbelief is most likely borne of pride and here’s why:
When we die, if you as an atheist were right, then there is no upside or downside for anyone regarding the afterlife. We will all simply cease to exist
However if we Christians were right about our belief in the afterlife, then we will be given eternal life and you as an atheist will receive eternal damnation
Given the choices, the position held by an atheist is a fools bet any way you look at it because the atheist has everything to lose and nothing to gain. It is tantamount to accepting a “heads I win, tails you lose” coin toss proposition from someone. And that someone by the way is Satan (see Ephesians 6:12).
The only way to explain the attitude held by an atheist is pride, pure and simple. The intellectually dishonest and/or tortured reasoning used by atheists to try and disprove the existence of God is nothing more than attempts to posture themselves as superior (a symptom of pride). And as anyone who has read their bible knows, this is precisely the character flaw that befell Lucifer, God’s formerly most high angel. (Isaiah 14:12-15). Is it any wonder then why the bible is so replete with references to pride as the cause of mankind’s downfall?
Pride permeates our lives and burdens us in ways that most of us seldom recognize. Ironically, pride is the one thing that can blind someone to things even the unsighted can see. And sadly pride will blind many with an otherwise good heart, to accepting the offer of eternal salvation that Christ bought and paid for with his life.
In any event, if you’re an atheist, I wish you only the best for every day of the rest of your life because for you, this life is as close to heaven as you’ll ever get, but for believers in Christ, this life is as close to hell as we’ll ever get.
If you’re not a believer and follower of Jesus Christ because you are of another faith, please take the time to very carefully compare your faith to Christianity and ask yourself, why is the bible the only religious book with both hundreds of proven prophecies already fulfilled as well as those being fulfilled today? No other religion can claim anything remotely close to this fact. Many Christians who are serious students of bible prophecy are already aware of the role and significance of bible prophecy in foretelling end time events. God gave us prophecy as evidence of his divine holiness to know the begining from the end (Isa 46:10). God also believed prophecy to be so important that to those willing to read the most prophetic book in the bible, the Book of Revelation, he promised a special blessing (see Rev 1:3), and this is the only book in the bible that God gives its reader a special blessing for reading. Something to think about.
Don’t risk losing Christ’s offer of eternal life by not accepting him as your savior and by thinking that the bible is nothing more than a compilation of unrelated and scattered stories about people who lived 2,000 plus years ago. If you take the time to study (not just read) the bible, you will literally be shocked to learn things you would have never imagined would be revealed in it. Did you know that like parables, God also uses particular months and days in the Jewish calendar, Jewish Feasts and customs, solar and lunar phases, celestial alignments, gematria (Hebrew numerology) early bible events and more as patterns and models to foretell future events?
Consider the following interesting facts about the bible that testify to its God-inspired authorship:
Did you know that in Gen 12:2, God said he would bless Israel?. How else can you explain the grossly disproportionate level of success achieved by Jewish people as a tiny minority in the world, especially after all they have gone through? And how can you explain the success achieved by the tiny nation of Israel, surrounded by enemies outnumbering them 100 to 1 and yet still they remain victorious in all their wars?
Did you know that as evidence to indicate that Israel is the epicenter of the world from God’s point of view is the fact that languages to the west of Israel are written and read from left to right as if pointing to Israel, and languages from countries to the east of Israel are written and read from right to left, again as though pointing to Israel. Just a coincidence, you say? I think not.
Did you know that the six days of creation and seventh day of rest in Genesis is a model for the six thousand years of this age (ending very soon), that is to be followed by a 1,000 year millennial reign by Christ (see 2 Peter 3:8)? Adam was born sometime prior to 4000 B.C., therefore our 6000 years are almost up.
Did you kow that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is hidden in the meaning of the Hebrew names listed in the genealogy of the book of Genesis (Research it online)? To deny this was God-inspired, one has to instead believe that a group of Jewish rabbis conspired to hide the Christian Gospel right inside a genealogy of their venerated Torah, which is not a very plausible explanation.
Did you know that solar eclipses, which the bible describes as the sun being black as sackcloth, and lunar eclipses, which the bible refers to as blood red moons, have prophetic meaning? Research it online. God showed Adam (and us) his plan for man’s redemption through the use of celestial alignments. (research Mazzaroth online)
Did you know that much of the symbolism in the book of revelation refers to planetary alignments that will occur when certain events occur as prophesied? These planetary alignments also explained the birth of Christ, just search out The Bethlehem Star movie on the Internet.
Did you know that the references in Eze 39:4-17 and Rev 19:17-21 in the battle of Gog/Magog and Armageddon respectively, in which birds of prey will eat the flesh of the dead in battle from two enormous wars is based on fact? The largest bird migration in the world consisting of bilions of birds (34 species of raptors and various carrion birds) from several continents converge and fly over Israel every spring and fall. Coincidence? I think not.
Did you know that Hebrew numerology, also known as Gematria, and the numbers with biblical and prophetic significance are hidden in the Star of David? Google the video called “Seal of Jesus Christ”
Did you know that the seven Churches mentioned at the beginning of the Book of Revelation describe the seven stages the Church will go through?
There are literally hundreds of hidden messages in the bible like these that testify to the fact that the bible was God inspired, and statistically speaking, are all exponentially beyond the likelihood of any coincidence. You can find them yourselves if you only take the time to look into it. Remember Proverbs 25:2 “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings”.
And finally, if you are Catholic, or one who subscribes to the emergent Church or seeker-friendly Church movement, please compare the doctrine taught, advocated or accepted by your Church, with the actual bible, notwithstanding some new-age version of the bible. And remember that although the bible is often referred to as the living bible, th
e word “living” was never intended to imply in any way that the bible “evolves” over time to meet, or be consistent with, the standards of man. It’s just the opposite.
Well, am I getting through to you? If not, the answer might be explained in the response given by Jesus Christ in his Olivet discourse when he was asked by his disciples why he spoke the way he did (in parables, etc.) in the book of Matthew 13:10-16. What Jesus said could have easily been paraphrased more clearly as “so that the damned won’t get it”. Why did Christ respond the way he did when asked why he spoke this way? Is there something about pride (the bible says there is) that closes one’s heart to seeing or hearing the messages supernaturally hidden in bible parables, models, typologies, and similes, etc.? That should give you something to think about, but don’t take too long. Time is now very short.
If it sometimes seems like there are powers at work behind the powers we know, remember what it says in Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” If you study the bible, it will become clearer.
And by the way, if you are a scoffer, this too was prophesied to occur in the last days. See 2 Peter 3:3.
Thank you and God Bless you!
Armageddon.thru.to.you (at) gmail.com