Category: worship

So this weekend brought the Inaugural ceremonies to acknowledge Obama’s second term as President of the United States. I’ll say right off the bat, that it is my opinion gained through observation of the times (secular and biblical) that Obama is America’s judgment. I believe he means ill for the nation and has been and will continue to dismantle it. Just so you know my stance at the outset 😉

Even a hermit would notice that there seems to be something different about the people’s reaction to Obama, who, after all, is just a politician. In his earliest campaign days in 2007 and 2008 people saw in him a unique charisma capable of transfixing his audience and causing actual fainting. Even early on, the charisma exceeded adoration and plunked itself firmly into the land of physiological reaction (fainting, swooning, screaming) and Messianic language. This article’s from 2008–

“Call it the Barack Obama traveling salvation show – campaign rallies and speeches that seem like the secular counterpart of tent-meeting revivals and evangelistic sermons common in the U.S. a century ago. And, in apparent similarity to the religious enthusiasm of that bygone era, some of those coming to hear the Democrat presidential candidate “preach” his message are fainting as he speaks.”

In 2008, the NY Times remarked on Obama’s charisma, calling it a cult of personality, perhaps unknowingly revealing the uniqueness of what is normally simply an attribute had veered into something deeper, and darker.

“Would we call this a cult of personality? Today that term is all around Barack Obama — perhaps because there seems so little other way to explain how a first-term senator has managed to dazzle his way to front-runner in the race for the presidency, how he walks on water for so many supporters, and how the mere suggestion that he is, say, mortal, risks vehement objection, or at least exposing the skeptic as deeply uncool. Charisma, as defined by the early sociologist Max Weber, was one of three “ideal types” of authority — the others were legal, as in a bureaucracy, and traditional, as in a tribe — and rested upon a kind of magical power and hero worship. Philosophers call it “civil religion,” using the language of religion and elevation to talk about your country.”

Newsweek editor Evan Thomas, the same Newsweek that created a cover this week of Obama and named him as the Second Coming a few days ago, in 2009 wrote, “brought adulation over President Obama’s Cairo speech to a whole new level on Friday, declaring on MSNBC: “I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God.”

Newsweek didn’t even bother to use a lower case “G”.

This kind of reaction and language to describe Obama’s unusual charisma continued unabated from his first appearances in 2007 through to now- where it was revealed this month that the reporter pool was ‘treated’ to a personal visit at hang-out their bar by Obama and they were all atwitter and a-flurry. It was a group swoon, a reporter said.

The Messianic language popped up again and as mentioned a moment ago, continues to this day. At yesterday’s Inauguration Weekend church service the Reverend Braxton said,

Obama, said Braxton, was just like Moses facing the Red Sea: “forward is the only option … The people couldn’t turn around. The only thing that they could do was to go forward.” Obama, said Braxton, would have to overcome all obstacles – like opposition from Republicans, presumably, or the bounds of the Constitution. Braxton continued, “Mr. President, stand on the rock,” citing to Moses standing on Mount Horeb as his people camped outside the land of Israel.

But it wasn’t enough to compare Obama with the founder of Judaism and the prophet of the Bible. Braxton added that Obama’s opponents were like the Biblical enemies of Moses, and that Obama would have to enter the battle because “sometimes enemies insist on doing it the hard way.”

Yet the civil religion as mentioned in the above article surrounding the charismatic Obama goes much further than previously idolized or even idealized politicians, such as FDR or Ronald Reagan. That is because previously “civil religion” language was used by politicians to connect with the people to elevate their nation. But with Obama, civil religion language is used by the people to elevate the politician.

In the same NYT article it is stated, “What is troubling about the campaign is that it’s gone beyond hope and change to redemption,” said Sean Wilentz, a historian at Princeton…”

Without Jesus, what this whole Obama exercise shows us is that people without hope want hope. That people without a savior need a savior. That people who live in darkness will swap their loyalties to any ‘dazzling’ entity that comes along.

The Newsweek editor’s sycophantic adulation of Obama and likening him in 2008 to God and in 2012 to the Second Coming is ironic in the extreme. It shows just how illogical and how deep into the craven psyche they will go in clinging to their false hope. Why? The same political figure that four years ago Newsweek endowed with all trust that he would get the nation out of the economic mess only deepened it, to the point where Newsweek itself has folded as a print publication by the opening of his second term. Yet as Newsweek fades away, they still give him godlike qualities as a Second Coming. With their dying breath they continue to reach out to their false god.

This is all a pale imitation of what will happen when the antichrist comes on the scene. By then, the church will have been raptured. Though the rapture will cause many to come to faith the number of unsaved, sinning, lawless, and ungodly will be running rampant, crawling over the world like cockroaches in the dark. They will love him.

Obama only promised hope and change, and did not deliver. They still love him now, even while the nation is practically living in a refrigerator box by the side of the road. The antichrist will have actual solutions and actually implement them. They will love him more.

They will love him because he will wear out the saints and make war against them. (Daniel 7:21), something the unsaved would really love to do now but the Restrainer is still on the earth. He will speak flatteries (Daniel 11:32) and great things (Revelation 13:5-6).

We have gone beyond mere ‘charisma’, the kind of human attribute given to likable politicians such as JFK and Reagan. No one ever called them gods or savior or national husband. With Obama’s ‘charisma’ we entered the territory of nearly visible demonic, spiritual warfare. It is a supernatural charisma that sparks worship. The antichrist’s appearance will cause exponentially more adoring fans, deeper worship, and more firm adherence to all-things-antichrist. What we see today is nothing compared to what’s coming, as creepy as this Obama-worship is today.

“Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false” (2 Thessalonians 2:11). Many translations say ” believe THE lie” and interpreters take that to mean they will believe the lie that antichrist is Messiah. It is hard to know for sure, but given the prophetic promise that the world will follow after the beast, (Revelation 13:3), it seems a reasonable interpretation.

When you shake your head at the foolishness of people who worship a man like Obama, think of how it will be when the Restrainer Holy Spirit is gone and they worship an evil man as THE Messiah, not just a god. Given the following that Obama has received and sustained despite the Spirit being on earth, as well as Jesus Christ’s Bride, it’s easy to see how the coming delusion will be deep and horrific.

The glory of the Lord is that now, we know Him now and we have nothing to fear. The Tribulation saints will know the Lord and will not be seduced by the antichrist, either. The New Living Translation says,

“He will flatter and win over those who have violated the covenant. But the people who know their God will be strong and will resist him.” (Daniel 11:32)

I pray you know Him. Jesus is the only Person worth knowing first and foremost. He will help you resist sin, and will take the scales off your eyes to see who the true Savior is!