Chill Out, Fellow Christians! God Is Still In Control.

The following is influenced from something I watched on ”Wretched with Todd Friel”


Okay, so the election is over. The popular and the electoral votes show that Barack Obama is the presumptive president-elect (Presumptive because the electors haven’t actually cast there votes yet. And there are still also some factors that have to work themselves out legally). Yet there are still conservatives and Christians who are going nuts because a pro-abortion, Marxist candidate was elected. And it’s not the whiney “my guy lost” or “he stole the election” groans we heard in 2000. Christians are really wondering with great concern where this country will morally go with such a lefty in the Oval Office.

It’s time to chill out, folks! We had our chance to nominate a conservative candidate and elect a conservative president and it didn’t happen. Furthermore, we Christians know that God is in control and is sovereign over this world. Therefore, it is God who elected Barack Obama through the electorate.

But why would God elect a pro-abortion, socialist candidate?

We have to go to the bible for answers:

Submit to Government
“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.” – Romans 13:1-7

“[A]uthorities that exist are appointed by God.”
“[W]hoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God.”
“[H]e is God’s minister to you for good.”

Should the electors fulfill their roles and vote the way they were selected, Barack Obama will be an existing authority “appointed by God” And whoever resists that authority, “resists the ordinance of God.” Obama will be “God’s minister to [us] for good.”

YES, Barack Obama is a minister appointed by God and we should respect him in that office, along with his presidency, because he has been put in place by God to protect good people who are trying to keep the laws and punish bad people. Like you, I am having trouble understanding how this fits Obama, but it is what God has done.

Even though Christians didn’t get the candidate they wanted (and I’ll touch base on that further on), we need to behave much better than the liberals did when George W. Bush was elected in 2000. We should, of course, be cautious of the issues and actions of the elected, but we should not insult Barack Obama or his election as president because when we do that, we insult God (Romans 13:2).

God puts leaders in place for His purpose:

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” - Romans 8:28

And yet, the question still begs to be asked. WHY WOULD GOD ELECT A MAN SEEMINGLY SO UNCHRISTIAN AS BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA? I say this with the understanding that the example of a true Christian is the fruit of his salvation. Barack Obama, by supporting abortion and the tolerance of other immoralities, isn’t exhibiting the fruits of true salvation.

The Answer:

I have no idea why God put Obama in office. I don’t have a clue. But then it’s not for me or you to know anyway. God is the one who has the answers and it is He who makes the decisions.

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” - Deuteronomy 29:29

John MacArthur explains it this way. “[T]hat which is hidden only can refer to the specific way in which God will carry out His will in the future, which is revealed in His Word and completed in His great work of salvation, in spite of the apostasy of His people.”

We cannot specifically say why God elected Barack Obama. But here are some options:

1. To Bring Judgment – maybe on you or me. Maybe on some other people in this nation. Maybe on the nation as a whole. America certainly hasn’t been honoring God in its tolerance of immoral actions and attitudes. With Obama, more abortions may happen and morals may continue to go south, but the reality is that this should remind us of our theology that we have an Adamic nature… a sinful nature… and God can bring judgment on us at any time in any way for HIS purpose and it is right and good. It may be tough to understand but it is truth.
2. To Raise Up Another Nation – God’s patience with America may have run out. If he can regret creating man (Genesis 6:6), then he can certainly regret starting a nation who has slipped so far away from honoring Him. There are other people around this world whose growth in Christ exponentially glorifies God more than any Christian or church in America. Maybe God sees fit to let that nation rise and give them a chance by getting America out of the way..
3. To Tear Down Idols. A lot of Christians have been putting their hope in politics and politicians lately to lead in a Christian way. And of course we should hope to elect those who desire to glorify God, but it is US who should be leading in a Christian way. For us to depend on politicians to do it for us is idolatry. When Christians get behind a candidate, they presume that the candidate is going to be the all and have all the answers to meet their “Christian” needs. WRONG!!! God is the One who we should look to for our needs, not any man.
4. To Cleanse the Church – Maybe God is going to allow persecution of Christians to happen. American Christians haven’t been living by what they preach to others and God may be trying to cleanse that poison from His people. There are so many who claim Christ and yet dishonor God by the way they live. They claim Christ, but don’t follow His example. They claim Christ, but don’t take seriously the Greatest Commandment (Matthew 22:37), the Golden Rule (Matthew 22:39), or the Great Commission *Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8).

Whatever the reason Barack Obama was elected by God, we should not have angst because God is the one in control. So before we continue to freak out over the election, we need to get our theology straight and our worldview cleared up.

Instead of us looking at how Obama doesn’t add up as a Christian, maybe we should look at ourselves first to see if we are honoring God… THEN we can make that judgment on Obama (Yes, the bible does allow Christians to proclaim God’s judgment on others because God does demand the exercise of moral and theological discernment – John 7:24. But we must also remember that we must also deal with our own sin before we proclaim another’s – Luke 6:41-42).

There are conservatives who are not Christian who have asked Christians why they believe God would allow Obama to be president. And then the topic turns to the obligatory “Why does evil happen?”

God did decree us to evil as a part of His eternal plan. He did NOT bring it into existence. Evil is not the diametrical opposite to good, like cold to heat and dark to light. There is only a measurable level of heat or light and thus only a measurable level of good. But God is the one who sets that standard. And we certainly can’t meet that standard. Compare Exodus 20:3-17 with Matthew 5:17-48. They are the same message from the same God. But God was able to express the standard more thoroughly in Matthew 5.

So, why does God allow evil to happen?
1. So He can demonstrate His grace and salvation
2. So He can demonstrate His wrath in judgment.
3. So he can finally destroy it.

God allows evil like He allows so many other things we don’t understand… for His glory. We deserve so much worse than we get in this world because we are a wretched people who take pride in dishonoring God, and so when we wake up in the morning and aren’t in hell, it’s a good day…no matter how bad it seems to us.

So, if you are still flabbergasted by the election results, here are ten reasons why you shouldn’t be.

1. The Bible will still have all the answers – It is divinely inspired, divinely inerrant, and divinely sufficient to reveal to us how we should be living and loving,
2. Prayer will still work – God will always answer prayer in His way according to His sovereign will… just like He always has.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move – Remember that we Christians are inhabited by the Holy Spirit and since He lives in us, we will be moved to honor God for our good.
4. God inhabits the praises of His people – We shouldn’t stop praising God just because a liberal is in the White House. In fact, we should praise Him more to show our love and devotion to Him above all others. He will bless us in His way.
5. There is still God-anointed preaching – Amen! I heard some of it this past Sunday and expect to continue to hear it after January 20th, 2009.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God – Even if we don’t do it, the angels are and the bible says that if man won’t then the rocks and trees will cry out in praise of God.
7. God still pours out blessing upon His people – We should continue to be who God calls us to be and the blessings will pour in abundance.
8. There is still room at the cross – God provided a place for sin to be dealt with once and for all and we Christians should be sharing that whenever and wherever we can.
9. Jesus will still love you – We Christians should NEVER forget this. His love is eternal.
10. Jesus will still save the lost - Hallelujah! That is why God became a man after all… to seek and save the lost.

Where do we go from here?

We Christians should be living by the Word. Yes, we should be evangelizing to share the Gospel. But as long as we have people who proclaim Christ but don’t exhibit Christ, we won’t be taken seriously.

People will obviously believe what they see above what they hear, so we Christians need to make sure our actions match our words.

So stop your bellyaching and worrying about President-Elect Obama, Christians and get on your knees and then get out there into the world for His glory!