A New President to Pray For

4 Responses to A New President to Pray For

1. don | January 22, 2009 at 3:31 pm |

   A friend asked me whether we should pray for Obama to “succeed” or to “fail,” citing Paul’s instruction to Timothy that we should pray for leaders – even those with whom we disagree. Here’s my answer to that friend; I think it is relevant here, as well.
   ========================

   Obviously we should obey Scripture and pray for Obama
   as president. Note, however, what Paul actually said
   to Timothy: that we should pray for leaders so we may
   lead a peaceful life:

   “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and
   prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on
   behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in
   authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet
   life in all godliness and dignity. ”

   I assume Paul meant we should pray that authorities do
   their jobs in keeping the peace, so the Gospel could
   be spread and that Christians could live and practice
   their faith without persecution. This was the reality
   of 1st Century Christians’ lives. They had no ability
   to elect or oppose leaders with whom the may or may
   not disagree.

   Today, I believe we need to pray that Obama and all
   leaders will do their job at keeping the peace: the
   President is charged with defending the Constitution
   against all enemies, and is the Commander-in-Chief of
   the armed forces.

   However, I see no conflict between praying that Obama
   – or any president – will carry out his peace-keeping
   duties, while also working (without rancor or
   bitterness) to see that his policies with which I
   disagree are not implemented. I *should* work and pray
   that any policies he or the Congress propose, which
   are clearly unscriptural, be defeated.

   As a U.S. citizen, I can also work with the goal that
   this president, and any other leader with which I
   disagree, not be re-elected. I can do this without
   apology, and indeed it’s my responsibility to do so as
   a citizen under the U.S. Constitution.

   Example: In 1980 and 1984, when Ronald Reagan was
   elected president by huge margins (49 of 50 states in
   1984!), U.S. Democrats (Christians among them) didn’t
   just give up and support everything Reagan proposed –
   they continued to oppose his policies wherever they
   could, and worked to get a Democrat into office again.
   They were not swayed by an electoral “mandate” that
   was much larger than Obama received.

   Republicans (Christians among them) today have the
   freedom – and intellectual obligation – to offer the
   same “loyal opposition” to the current president.

   It’s the job of the loyal opposition to support the
   president in his role as commander-in-chief, but also
   to work to ensure he is prevented from enacting
   legislation and other policies with which they
   strongly disagree – in a word, that he “fail” in these
   areas. That’s just politics in a democratic society,
   folks. (From 2000 through 2008, the Democrats
   practiced politics quite vigorously against the last
   president, without any remorse or apology.)

   Unless the Constitution is changed, in 2012 there will
   be another presidential election, and there will be
   alternatives offered to Obama’s re-election. In order
   for the current president not to be re-elected, a
   majority of Americans in the 50 states will need to
   become convinced – or persuaded – that his policies
   have “failed” to live up to his promises and/or the
   citizens’ expectations. Again, that’s just politics in
   a free society – it’s not evil in itself.

   But looking back, I can easily imagine early
   Christians praying that the ungodly policies of Roman
   emperors and local leaders would “fail” — and,
   praying that the leaders themselves would be replaced
   (via their “failure”) with more-godly leaders. Without
   getting into specific issues, I can understand
   Republicans who are Christians praying in the same
   manner that the current president should “fail.”

   – Don

2. Michael | January 23, 2009 at 7:54 am |

   Ok, What about Matt. 5:43-44, Jesus said to love and pray for your enemies–can you pray for Pres. Obama as an enemy? Wee there you go!

   Here is a catch 22 for you. If Pres. Obama fails at fixing the economy he will probably be voted out–but if the economy continues to fail than Christian charities and missions will suffer do to the lack of funds. Should we really hope that he fails at this and shoot ourselves in the foot? I don’t think so.

   Just because I am praying for the president doesn’t mean that I am giving up my citizenship and political rights. Nevertheless Christians should always remember that we are members of an eternal kingdom that many times doesn’t make since in the wisdom of this world.

   Jesus says love and pray for your enemies–it only makes since in the spiritual realm not in the wisdom of the world.

3. don | January 23, 2009 at 9:04 am |

   Michael,

   I would ask you to re-read my previous comment carefully.

   Obama has already stated his intention to “lend” up to one trillion dollars in taxpayer money to industries, to prop up specific companies rather than let them fail. Using taxpayers’ money to do this will mean one or both of the following 1) tax rates will go up drastically, 2) the government will own significant portions – perhaps even controlling portions – of individual companies (known as “nationalization”).

   History – especially post-WW2 history in Europe and the United States – has shown that the higher the tax rate on individuals and companies, the more sluggish the economy becomes; the greater government ownership of industries, the less efficient they become (i.e., worse customer service, higher prices, fewer new products and services, and lower tax revenues generated for government).

   The 1980s and 90s saw a worldwide revolution in de-nationalization, as governments saw the success of U.S. and U.K. governments’ sell-off of utilities and other services to the private sector. As governments began to sell off their own nationally owned companies, the governments received billions of dollars without raising taxes, and – more importantly – millions of new jobs were created in new companies, which led to the governments receiving even more money via taxes on these successful enterprises.

   Looking at history, the worst thing Obama can do now to the economy – and to the long-term prospects of Christian organizations seeking money – is to saddle U.S. taxpayers with a trillion dollars of tax debt. Most of that money will actually come from foreign investors (mostly government banks) buying-up U.S. Treasury bonds. (Did you know that Communist China already holds one trillion dollars in U.S. Treasury debt?) Not only will the government have to raise our taxes to help pay off this debt – which will actually prevent the government from doing other better things with tax dollars for many years (defense, roads/bridges) – but our national destiny and security will be, more than ever, beholden to the governments of foreign nations who hold the IOUs to trillions of dollars of U.S. government debt. (As the saying goes, “the borrower is slave to the lender.”)

   Higher taxes imposed on the wealthy and on companies will – as history has shown – stifle their ability to “create” new wealth in our country by 1) lending/investing extra money in new, risky businesses that could pay-off big for the entire nation, and/or 2) buying more goods and services, which creates non-governmental jobs that will generate more “honest” tax revenues for the U.S. and state governments. Thus higher taxes will actually have a very bad effect on the entire economy, for years to come, whereas lower tax rates have been proven to stimulate the economy while actually providing higher tax revenues for government.

   But Obama and his socialist-leaning Democrat friends don’t believe this, and see “salvation” through government intervention and higher taxes. If, as I suspect, they implement their plans, these plans will indeed “fail” – they will fail to stimulate the economy, but will only prolong the recession much as FDR’s programs actually prolonged the Depression throughout the 1930s. If their programs fail and the U.S. voters can be shown that it was indeed these programs that have failed to stimulate the economy out of recession, then the voters can vote them out and vote in politicians who will reverse these failed policies.

   As a Christian, I’m going to pray that Obama will be successful at protecting our nation from harm. That includes defense and economic policies. It also includes social policies such as right-to-life and individual-freedom issues (that allow me, as a Christian, to speak freely and share the gospel in the public square). Any policies he or the Congress propose that run counter to these, I will pray against their success. This is not “cursing” the president, and it is indeed “praying for my enemies”. This is asking God to guide the president and Congress by helping helpful policies to succeed, and helping to defeat harmful ones.

4. don | January 23, 2009 at 5:16 pm |

   Coincidentally, Peter Schiff wrote in today’s Wall St Journal that Obama and Congress can’t expect other nations to sacrificially buy up U.S. government debt forever – mindlessly subsidizing our trillion-dollar “bailout” instead of using that money for something more self-interested. Here’s a shortened link to the article: http://bit.ly/185Se

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.