| Fire In My Bones |
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| ELECTION 2008 NOW THAT IT'S OVER... PT. 1 Hello all & God bless you! While I'm glad that we, as a nation, have matured to the point that we can elect an African-American to the highest seat of authority in our land, I am saddened that we have chosen to elect this African-American, President-elect Barack Obama, to this position. Now before you start calling me a racist, know that I am married to an African-American woman, with whom we have just recently had our first child. My in-laws are African-American. I attended for six years a predominantly African- American church and am still being blessed today by ministry that I experienced there. For those six years that I attended that particular church, the man that I called Pastor was an African-American. That being said, my comments are not reflective of any deep-seated hatred toward my African-American brothers and sisters in Christ and friends, but rather, they are reflective of the disappointment that I feel that we, as citizens of the United States of America (“One Nation Under God”), and as Christians (those who call ourselves Christians according to the Biblical definition of the word), could vote into office a man that stands in direct contradiction to the will of God in areas that are nearest and dearest to God's heart. Although I am grateful to be an American and, more importantly, a Christian, this makes me feel ashamed to call myself an American as well as a Christian. We should feel ashamed. God forgive us for not valuing the things that He values and showing this to be true by the votes that we have cast. God have mercy upon us, as a nation and as the Church here in the United States of America. As I was watching the coverage of the election results that Tuesday and on subsequent days, I was amazed at the celebrations that were taking place (“appalled” is probably a better word). I wondered aloud to my wife, “How can entire church congregations be celebrating the election of this gentleman to office, being Christians?”. What are our Preachers preaching? What are our Teachers teaching? As Christians, we have to come to learn and understand that our first allegiance is to the Kingdom of God, not to to a race, not to an ethnicity, not to a party, not to a skin color. I am of Latin-American descent, Mexican-American to be more exact. There was a certain Latino running for a particular office under the Democratic ticket here in my home state of Texas. As a Latino, I would have loved to have seen this gentleman voted into office. But when it came down to the issues of abortion, stem cell research, sex education and gay marriage, issues that are near and dear to God's heart, this candidates position on these issues was contrary to the Word and will of God. Needless to say, I did not vote for this candidate (as much as I would have loved to!). Why? Because being a “member” of the Kingdom of God takes priority over my being a member of the Latino community. As Christians, we live and make decisions according to Kingdom commandments. Our King, our President if you will, is Jesus Christ. We hear Him. We obey Him. As I watched these celebrations taking place, the Holy Spirit brought to my remembrance (JOHN 14:26) a verse of Scripture found in JAMES 4:9-10 which says: “Afflict yourselves and mourn and weep aloud; let your laughter be turned into grief, and your gladness into shame. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and He will exalt you.” Despite the failure of the Church here in the United States of America in this most recent test, there is hope for the United States of America. If we will humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, begin to value those things that are most valuable to Him and walk in the ways that are pleasing in His sight, God will bless us as a nation. If not, and we continue the present trend that we are on, God will judge us a nation. God deals with people over the course of a lifetime. God deals with nations over the course of hundreds, even thousands of years. Don't be fooled into thinking that God approves of an individuals or a nations sin just because there is no obvious evidence of God's displeasure with that individual or nation. God's seeming silence and inactivity toward us is not a sign of His commendation of our behaviors but rather His patient waiting for us to acknowledge our sin and repent lest a worst thing befall us. Plain and simple. If you don't believe me, read the Bible. Just as God is no respecter of persons, He is no respecter of nations. Just as surely as He has raised us up to be the greatest nation on the face of the earth, He can surely bring us down to the lowest depth. Let's turn back to God, America. Let's get more of God, Christians, (2 PETER 3:18 ; HOSEA 4:6-7) so that we don't continue to make the horrendous mistakes that we have been making and thus incur the wrath and judgment of God. Selah. Jeff Saenz SLAVES WAGE |