Truly messianic pretensions

I'm not keeping up apparently. There really are people who are calling Obama the Messiah. I didn't know it was this overt. All the way back to 2006 apparently.

I did notice on his interview on 60 Minutes recently that he answered one question in a rather odd way. The question had something to do with how he was dealing with all the pressures of this new phase of things, all the intelligence briefings and so on, asking him if he has thoughts such as "how did I get myself into this?" and his answer, after a moment's searching for the right words, was that he believes himself to be right where he's supposed to be. The Messiah doesn't wonder how he got himself into things, he KNOWS where he is and what he's doing.

Like there's a plan, a schedule, and he knows it in advance.

Another blogger's thoughts on Obama and on the woman's headcovering.

Found this discussion today of the question of Obama as Antichrist. He has come up with some interesting observations that are new to me. I'm just posting this as a bare link for the purpose mentioned, although I have yet to study this blog carefully and may have more to say later.

Later: The author of the blog mentioned above, Joseph Herrin, also has a website where he discusses many points of theology. I was pleased to discover that he spends quite a bit of time on the question of women's headcovering, making some points about God's government I hadn't fully appreciated until now. This is the basic argument, and this is where he gets into the meaning of God's government as opposed to God's grace in more detail.

Something I had run across in my study of the headcovering was the statement that we are to understand that Christ's head is covered before the Father, and the man's head is covered before Christ, just as the woman's head is to be covered before the man. Since the man and Christ do not literally cover their heads -- and in fact Paul says just as emphatically that the man should not cover his head as that the woman should cover hers -- I didn't understand what this meant, but Joseph Herrin has made it quite clear: the woman does it as representative of both the man before Christ and Christ before the Father.

When a sister covers her head, she is standing before God on the basis of Christ’s position before God and man’s position before Christ. God wants the woman to cover her head in order to manifest His government on earth. This privilege falls only to woman. She does not cover her head merely for her own self; she does it representatively. For her own self, she does it because she is a woman; representatively, it is because she represents man before Christ and Christ before God. So when woman covers her head before God, it is just the same as if Christ covered His head before God. Likewise, when woman covers her head before man, it is just the same as if man covered his head before Christ. Man or woman should have no head because Christ is head. If one’s head is not covered, there will be two heads. Between God and Christ one head must be covered; so too must it be between man and woman, and so between Christ and every man. If one head is not covered, the result will be that there are two heads. If God is head, then Christ is not; if Christ is head, then man is not; and if man is head, then woman is not.

I also appreciate the clarity he gives here to the meaning of the symbolism of the head covering, and it makes perfect sense out of all the confusion about it: the head is covered as if to say, I do not have a head. There can only be one head, so the subordinate has to yield, signifying it by covering the head.

One thing he doesn't answer clearly, it seems to me, is whether the woman is to cover her head outside of church as well as in prayer and prophesying, though it seems to be implied that it would be fitting in all circumstances, just as it was understood to be for the last couple millennia until the 20th century.

Later: He does answer it here. Since scripture isn't specific about it he doesn't have a conclusion of his own, but leaves it to the women. His own wife and daughter have chosen to cover their heads at all times. I've been covering mine only when I know I'm going to be praying, but that's problematic because I often stop to pray when I don't expect to be doing it. So I think like his wife and daughter I should wear a covering all the time too.

It couldn't be more clearly stated what it's all about

"Messages of congratulations for US President-elect Barack Obama are written on a giant card in front of the Washington Monument in Washington..."

Last post on Obama for a while I hope

I have to say that the "finger flipping" incident is for me the final proof that Obama is not what he wants to appear to be. There are two such incidents really, one that's quite clear while he's talking about Hillary earlier in the year, and then another after he won the election and is supposedly congratulating McCain on a well-fought campaign.

Maybe I'm just out of the loop where such things are acceptable so it hits me harder than it should, but it does hit me hard. It seems to me to be the total proof of the man's hypocrisy and to my mind even ruthlessness. It may be, however, that most politicians are of the same cut and I'm just naive. There are videos at You Tube of Bush making the same gesture, but in his case it's in some kind of private context and it's up front and jokey, while in the case of Obama he's doing it surreptitiously in front of a crowd. It's calculated and mean.

It's clear by the audience response that they caught it. There was nothing else to prompt their yells at that moment.

It's even clearer in this video as you see the woman behind him react immediately to his gesture and then the woman next to her leans over and they are both laughing. The video slows down and puts words to the women's conversation.

Then Obama does a similar gesture, a little more surreptitiously and harder to prove, when congratulating McCain on his hard fought run, a perfect act of hypocrisy. Clearly he will say anything at all for the sake of effect without meaning it. It's all smoke and mirrors.

Just seems to me to go with his true thuggish background and to completely belie the idealistic image he's been creating before the crowds.

I would think it would shock his crowds, but apparently it didn't. I guess half of America is ready for a thug of a President who lies to hide his thuggery from those it might shock.

I'm posting this because it did shock me and along with his appointment of Rahm Emanuel casts Obama in his true light, a tarnished messiah. I sort of thought he'd keep up the act more consistently for a year or so, but now it seems that he's gathered confidence from his win and more of the real Obama will surface sooner than I'd guessed. His speech yesterday where he introduced Emanuel is another harbinger of that, as he made a joke about Emanuel's own habit of finger flipping.

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But the thing that matters most to me is how a Christian is to respond to all this and I haven't spent enough time thinking that through, let alone praying about it -- although I do pray about it. I think the man is dangerous on the level of Hitler myself. I think very hard times are ahead for this country. What a Christian needs is spiritual strengths that few of us have, and the longer I go on talking about the election the more I'm aware that I lack them. So I hope I can pull back from this topic for a while and seek the Lord for His guidance in these times.

Chicken Little here

Well, I'm reconciled but I can't drop it. I think we have a very dangerous man as our President Elect. He just appointed a man to be White House Chief of Staff who sounds like the equivalent of Goering or Goebbels. The last time the world had a pretender to the throne of Emperor of the World there was the US to take him down. But now the US itself has succumbed to the same spirit and there is nobody to bring him down.

And I don't think it's right to say nothing about that. Though of course there are ways and then there are ways. Being nice and polite and respectful is necessary, and we'd want to show civility, dignity, humanity, restraint and kindness, all the qualities of Christ, but even of the kind of nation we want this to be, in order to make a pointed contrast with the dishonesty and violent tactics of the other side. There must be some people who are not completely under his spell who need to be waked up and simply keeping respectifully silent isn't going to wake anybody up. It's not about us, it's about people who don't know the Lord.

So here I am, Chicken Little again. Sorry, it's where I'm at. I wish I weren't. Some links, and a message board message forwarded from a Jewish friend:

This is part 1 of Scott Johnson's series on Obama. He covers a lot of the familiar territory but there are probably some new items in here you aren't familiar with. I found parts 3 and 4 so far to have some new material (at this writing I'm only part way through part 4 and haven't heard part 5).

I don't think we need the psychoanalytic diagnostic categories, but the personality profile described in the following rings true:

By Ali Sina
2008/09/22

...At first I was excited to see a black candidate. He looked youthful, spoke well, appeared to be confident – a wholesome presidential package. ...However, despite my initial interest in him, I was put off soon, not just because of his shallowness but also because there was an air of haughtiness in his demeanor that was unsettling. His posture and his body language were louder than his empty words.

It is surreal to see the level of hysteria in his admirers. This phenomenon is unprecedented in American politics. Women scream and swoon during his speeches. They yell and shout to Obama, “I love you.” ...The Illinois senator has no history of service to the country. He has done nothing outstanding except giving promises of change and hyping his audience with hope. It’s only his words, not his achievements that is causing this much uproar.

...Listening to Obama ... it harkens back to when I was younger and I used to watch Khomeini, how he would excite the crowd and they'd come to their feet and scream and yell.

I was amused to hear a listener calling Fox News Radio's Tom Sullivan Show, (Feb 11) and saying: "Listening to Obama ... it harkens back to when I was younger and I used to watch those deals with Hitler, how he would excite the crowd and they'd come to their feet and scream and yell."

Equating anyone to Hitler by highlighting the similarities between the two is a logical fallacy. This fallacy, known as reductio ad Hitlerum is a variety of both questionable cause and association fallacy. I believe it is wrong to trivialize the holocaust and the horrors of Nazism by comparing our opponents to Hitler.

However, Hitler, prior to coming to power had not killed anyone. He was insane, but few could see that. Far from it, he was seen as a gifted man and hailed as the savior of Germany. He was admired throughout the world. He appealed to the masses of people – the working class and particularly to women, and did not just inspire them, he “elevated” them. Thousands rallied to listen to his passionate speeches. They shed tears when he spoke. Women fainted during his speeches. To Germans, he was not a politician, but a demigod, a messiah. They envisioned him as truly a magical figure of majestic wisdom and glory. They worshiped him. They surrendered their wills to him. He restored their national pride. He projected himself as their savior. He ran on the platform of change and hope. Change he delivered all right, but hopes he shattered.

Another discussion of the character and mindset of Obama:

As Obama admitted in a 2001 radio interview, he regards the Constitution as deeply flawed because it does not allow redistribution of wealth – the centerpiece of his agenda for America. That won’t stop him; he also refuses to prove that he is a natural-born citizen of the United States, and government officials have shown no inclination to enforce that constitutional requirement.

This summer he declared that “America’s greatest moral failure in my lifetime has been that we still don’t abide by that basic precept in Matthew that ‘whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me,’” citing our nation’s sins of “poverty,” “racism and sexism.”

According to Obama and his mentors Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright, the root cause of America’s evil is economic inequality. “Social justice” requires the remedy of redistribution of wealth, the transfer of taxpayers’ earnings to whomever their regime will determine has need.

As Karl Marx said, “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” Or as the stealth candidate told Joe the Plumber: “It’s good to spread the wealth around.”

After inadvertently tipping his hand, Obama denies he is a socialist but affirms redistribution of others’ assets is a virtue. Meanwhile his minions on government computers have scrutinized Joe’s records for the purpose of discrediting him.
Joe the Plumber is every American citizen who dares to challenge the Leader. In Obama’s utopia, hard questions are disallowed.

To conceal his Muslim background and cloak his agenda, Obama fabricated the ruse that he is a Christian. In this ruse, one of Obama’s favorite biblical allusions is that “I am my brother’s keeper.” Meanwhile, the millionaire messiah’s own half-brother George has been living in a shantytown hut in Kenya, subsisting on a dollar a month. To his brother in need Obama has given nothing, but in recent years he donated over $20,000 to Wright’s hate-inciting Black Power cult.

Dreams From My Father is the 1995 memoir that analysis indicates the communist terrorist Ayers wrote for Obama to launch his protégé’s political career. In that memoir, Obama’s Kenyan aunt Zeituni was prominently featured as a beloved family member. Last week, The Times of London – not the domestic Obama-worshipping propaganda media – broke the news that for five years this aunt has been living in a slum in Boston, just miles from where he gained prestige at Harvard Law School for his charm and racial identity. Like many of his supporters, she hopes that Obama’s presidency will change her life for the better.

Obama’s heartless disregard for his own family members proves that he is an authoritarian, whose real concern is not others’ well-being but his pathological quest for power to control the lives of us all.

The stealth candidate was trained in Marxism at his mother’s knee. She became enamoured of communism in high school where she was taught The Communist Manifesto, and while concealing that Obama boasts: “The values she taught me continue to be my touchstone when it comes to how I go about the world of politics.” The father who abandoned him was a Marxist, ousted from Kenya’s government when that nation’s socialist president cracked down on communist agitators (Dreams, pp. 214-215). His mother taught Obama that his father “led his life according to principles that demanded a different kind of toughness, principles that promised a higher form of power. I would follow his example, my mother decided. I had no choice. It was in the genes” (p. 50, italics supplied).

To that end, young Barry was mentored by a Stalinist agent of the Communist Party USA, from his adolescence to the time he left for college. To that end, Obama was mentored by Wright whose “theology” provided a religious cloak for his agenda. To that end, in 1995 the communist terrorists Ayers and Dohrn launched Obama’s political career at their home. In 1996 Obama won endorsement from a Marxist group called the New Party, whose newsletter identified him as one of their members.
Under the guise of concern for the poor, Marxists invoke the name of Jesus as a champion of their cause. But Jesus never condemned economic inequality as a moral failure; both Jesus and the Jewish Bible, the Old Testament, recognized this disparity as a fact of life in the world that God created.

This isn't the kind of appointment a man who seeks the unity of the nation would make. [Sorry, that story about Rahm Emanuel is no longer there. I'll have to see if I can find another one.] Here's a better link about Rahm Emanuel, a blog entry that highlights incidents in his career:

[from The Telegraph Nov 08] President-elect Obama had a shortlist of one when it came to choosing his White House Chief of Staff; Rahm Emanuel, a politician so ferocious that even his own mother calls him by his nickname of "Rahmbo".

If the Democratic Congressman accepts the job as Mr Obama's enforcer, Mr Emanuel, universally characterised as a foul-mouthed attack dog who can end the career of anyone who stands in his way, will serve as a perfect counterpoint to the sugar-coated Mr Obama.

Summing him up:

Washinton insider. Failed to stop corruption at Freddie Mac. Used one sex scandal for political gain, tried to cover up another. Plays abrasive, strong man, big money politics.

As David Keene puts it: "You might hire Rahm to blow up the bridge. I don't know if you’d hire him to build it."

Rahm Emanuel represents Washington at it's worst. This is not post-partisan. This is not change. This is not hope.

And here’s what my Jewish friend sent, quoting somebody at a message board somewhere:

I'm just a regular guy, and I have now heard for the THIRD time from people who grew up in Europe, that the situation today reminds them of the 1930's.

Two weeks I heard from two people that the financial crisis reminds them of the runup to WW2.

My grandma, who grew up in Berlin, said this week that the crowds adoring Obama's speeches in which he says nothing.....remind her of Hitler's charismatic speeches when he said nothing of substance but the crowds just gobbled him up.

To Bankman who says this is not Nazi Germany. Speak to anyone who lived in Germany in the 30's, they had a very enlightened democratic society. No one dreamed that anyone would ever kill a jew again. Jews had equal rights. And yet due to the financial crisis, the Germans elected Hitler (who already wrote Mein Kampf) because he promised them that he would help the little guy and he would bring Germany back to it's glory. And the peolpe ate it all up. After he was elected, suddenly the jews began losing their rights.....it took a couple of years, but it happened.

Will Obama be another Hitler? Hopefully not.

Can he? Absolutely!

Civilian national guard?! Spooky.

Yes We Can.... we can WHAT? Does anybody know WHAT we can do? I have no clue what he means, and neither do the millions who chant it along with him, and the billions accross the world who smile to themselves when they hear those chants.

When I hear 85 year olds (three of them) saying that this eerily reminds them of the 30's, it makes me nervous.

And it makes others nervous too. Check out the passport offices. Jew and gentile alike are "suddenly" remembering to apply for passports....

Wake up! (tshuva anyone

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I think I know what "Yes we can!" means: For blacks it means blacks can rise to the top; for Muslims it means to some that they can bring down the Great Satan and convert the world to Allah; for many who have been brainwashed into thinking America -- or the rich, or the hated conservative religious Right -- is a great oppressor, it means they can triumph over the oppressor. It means they can get rid of the "haters" which means everybody who won't go along with the One World We Are The Children Happy Unity program.

Ultimately it means "We can triumph over God and run this planet on our own" which is really nothing less than the reinstatement of the hubris of Babel.

Yes, people need to wake up. The question is how do we accomplish helping people wake up -- or wake ourselves up if necessary? Especially if our own faith is weak? Well, for starters it's time for the most serious prayer we've ever done. We need light from the Lord and we need His strength. Prayer with fasting if possible.

Sobriety (mercifully) reigns after the election

It's the day after the election and the words of conciliation and the healing of rifts are coming through in a way they haven't for any election since Clinton. I'm in a mood to join in today though I wouldn't have expected it. David Horowitz said it nicely, I thought, but I've seen many similar statements out there in cyberspace.

As I note in a postscript to the previous post, the importance of race to American blacks in this election finally hit me only after it was all over. For some reason it just didn't figure in my thinking in any important way until now, or until I saw the euphoric crowds last night, and now I'm seeing how overwhelmingly it was THE issue for them, and in fact it is the exclusive focus of most of the discussion today.

I may think it wrong because it means they judged so exclusively by race and not by character or background or ideology, which were the issues for me, but I'm now in the strange position of thinking that even if he cheated his way into office it's time to back off and let them have their triumph, so long in coming. They don't believe he cheated, let them believe in him.

There is no doubt that he is God's will for the nation at this time, whether for good or ill, and of course I believe ultimately it will be shown to be ill because we are so surely under judgment (which would have been true as well if McCain had won), but today it's time to give him the opportunity to live up to his promises and prove his critics wrong, and not make an issue of the likely deceptions that got him there.

It's not as if the time will never come again for making an issue of it. We can hope it won't come again, though it probably will, but that time is not now.

And what I'd like to do now is try to forget about politics for a while myself if that's possible.

And a biblical reminder from an email I got:

The Christian's Duty
1 Timothy 2:1 ¶ First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

Romans 13:7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

1 Peter 2:17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

The Christian's Hope
Psalm 46:1-2 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea…

10-11 "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" 11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Obama the sword of the Lord

God took this nation one step farther down the road of His judgment against us last night. Obama's claim to the Presidency is probably illegitimate on a number of points, but that doesn't change the fact that he's God's choice for us at this time. Much effort has been put into exposing his illegitimacy and his danger to the nation, but it has for the most part been prevented from gaining a wide hearing. We can blame the biased media for that, and in some cases biased judges and elected officials, but the overarching reason can only be that it is God's will.

It is simply the latest bit of truth about growing corruption and dangers to the nation to be aggressively suppressed over the last decade or so, as anyone who has tried to warn about these things can attest. Despite the best efforts of committed workers over and over we've seen the forces of darkness prevail against us. How is it that Islam has actually grown in popularity and influence since 9/11 for instance? Such a thing is inexplicable except on the understanding that it is God's will that the nation be punished. Obama must be His chosen instrument for that purpose.

In his blog this morning, Southern Baptist leader Albert Mohler exhorts Christians not to challenge Obama's legitimacy, but treat him with the respect due the Presidency and seek to work with him where possible. A contrary view is that Obama's illegitimacy, especially the fact that he's a Muslim but has misrepresented himself as a Christian, is part of the sword of judgment that we are exhorted in scripture to warn people about. Scott Johnson thinks this is the obligation of Christian leaders, and takes it as the impetus for his own ministry of information.

Ezekiel 33:6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.

Of course that doesn't mean treating Obama with disrespect. Paul always addressed the Roman officials with respect; nothing less is expected of us now. But does that mean keeping silent about lies and plots where we know of them? Is that what God wanted of Christians when Hitler came to power?

I'm praying for a clearer understanding of these things.

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Later.
The joy black Americans felt on Obama's win has to be acknowledged. Since I never saw a racial issue in his candidacy I am likely to underestimate how much it mattered to blacks, but the exuberance and tears among the crowd last night shouldn't go unappreciated. Clearly it was a tremendous milestone in American history from that point of view. This is one reason not to continue to question his legitimacy, at least in a legal official way. God gave him the win and it will be on his own conscience if it was not honest.