This post is not about politics, it is about the soul of a nation. Popular politicians are like chameleons who take our temperature and reflect back to us what we want to hear and promise to give us what we think we need. I have been an active observer of the animal for more than 45 years, but this presidential election has surprised me on a number of different fronts.
It really is remarkable how nearly the entire country is sensing that the USA is in need of some kind of spiritual revival or change. I have been blogging about the need for revival in America for nearly two years and have noted a tremendous increase among fellow Christians talking about and praying for revival in that time.
Unfortunately, I have not seen it reflected in most of the pastors across this great land. So many preachers have become like politicians and entrepreneurs in the process of growing and seeking the successful ‘mega’ church–taking the temperature of the people but not necessarily listening to the message that God has for our nation. So many are proclaiming that it is enough merely to believe in Jesus for salvation and that grace is sufficient to cover what ever we want to do.
There once was a nation that was at war and in need of revival. God sent them a prophet but the people asked for a political/military leader instead. So God gave them a new commander-in-chief who was charismatic and head and shoulders above everyone else in the country–his name was Saul–King Saul. I wonder if this country isn’t going down the same path rejecting God’s plan and hoping for a politician to ‘save us’ all.
Even the ‘secularists’ among us sense that America is due for a major overhaul. However, they look for politics and government to supply the remedy. Barack Obama has surged to the top as the ‘candidate of hope’–the one who seems to actually personify what many are looking for. More than any evangelist or preacher I know of, Obama is touching thousands in this nation in a rather unique way.
I have never seen a phenomena quite like this. Just Google– ‘Obama savior’, or ‘Obama messiah’ –there are thousands of articles and even whole websites dedicated to the proposition that Barack Obama is destined to somehow ‘save’ the nation and the world.
Here are a few recent quotes from Barack’s wife Michelle Obama to illustrate what I’m talking about:
"… That we have to compromise and sacrifice for one another in order to get things done – that is why I am here, because Barack Obama is the only person in this race who understands that.
That before we can work on the problems, we have to fix our souls – our souls are broken in this nation."
"… So I am here right now because I am married to the only person in this race who has a chance at healing this nation."
"Barack, as Oprah said, is one of the most brilliant men you will meet in our lifetime.
… And Barack Obama will require you to work.
He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism, that you put down your division, that you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones, that you push yourselves to be better, and that you engage.
Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual – uninvolved, uninformed…"
"We have a chance, not just to make history, but we can change the world…yes we can, yes we can.."
Wow! At that point the whole crowd goes crazy. I do too but in a different sense.
Today we are living in a time when there is one new book after another calling for a new kind of radical change in the Western world–the eradication and elimination of all religion. Many voices are standing up and declaring that the nation and the world would be a better place without religion and particularly Christianity.
As terrorism has increased and the specter of militant Islam has risen on the world scene, radical atheism has escaped from the university and college campus and has entered the main stream in a big way calling for and demanding a secular response.
Many in this generation have looked at the church and the current crop of preachers and have decided that ‘religion’ has no relevant answers for them. Time and time again I hear folks saying: "I’m not religious, but I am spiritual"–most don’t even know what they are saying, but I believe that it means that they have rejected organized religion as it is but are still searching for answers to fill the spiritual void in their lives.
We are a nation and a culture in need of revival in order to meet the challenges before us in the 21 century. However, the zeitgeist, the spirit or mood of our culture and nation seems to demand a secular solution. It is my fear that God will give us what we want–a leader heads and shoulders above the rest but unequal to the task.
I pray that disaster will not be the necessary prelude that comes before this nation seeks God’s true revival. *Top
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I appreciate this post. I myself have sensed this hunger for revival. I am dismayed that the evangelical left is making the same mistake that the evangelical right made in believing that revival and national renewal will come through political change. The title of spokesman for the Christian Left, Jim Wallis’ new book, “The Next Awakening” is telling. What we need to understand is that political change will not bring national renewal and spiritual revival, rather, national renewal and spiritual revival will bring about the right kind of political, social, and cultural change. That is what we evangelicals used to believe before we seduced by the mirage of political power.
Bill- thanks for your comments.
“the evangelical left is making the same mistake that the evangelical right made in believing that revival and national renewal will come through political change.”
Amen. That is my fear and concern.
if things turn out as you fear they may, at least the country will learn that neither a democratic savior, nor a republican messiah can give this country what it longs for. So many times revival comes after hope is exhausted in every other solution.
The problem the church has created for itself is that it preached for so many years that the great threat to this country is the democratic party. We were urged to vote republican as if some heavenly mandate. That would mean that it is God’s desire that this country be languishing in the economic/diplomatic woes it is experiencing. This was wrong and the country has rejected it.
Baring some great national shift, Obama will beat McCain by a landslide. This will also snuff out much of the evangelical voice in politics.
While there is a lesson for the country coming, it is my hope that the church learn its lesson that much of the politicking of the last decade has brought dishonor to the church and weakened its voice.
Carl,
Some very good observations!
I was a conservative Republican long before it became the ‘evangelical party’–still am for that matter.
I have become increasingly concerned about the close identification of EV’s with any party. I do believe that you are right–
“much of the politicking of the last decade has brought dishonor to the church and weakened its voice.”
Because of the political activity of conservative churches, many from the left and those who are more secular have ended up identifying the church as a political enemy to be opposed on every front rather than a positive agent of change in the community and society as a whole.
I am still hoping for full on revival–the sooner the better. The American church needs to be renewed and refocused–now is the time.
I look at some of you younger leaders coming on and it really does give me hope. I think the church is in the midst of a major leadership shift and I believe the lord is speeding up the process.
Some are going home, some are retiring, and some are being caught in immorality, and some are going to tarry as ‘Calebs’.
I believe that the days of the ‘super stars’ are soon to be over and the next generation of leaders will all be more gifted and spiritually more powerful than the best of the former–and the increase will surprise us all.
I’ve not much else to add, except that this is a great article. As a nation, we get what we deserve by who we vote for. If Obama actually wins the primary and gets elected (which is what I think will happen, but I hope it doesn’t), we have no one to blame but ourselves.
Thanks Janelle,
right on! I’m with you.