I just read a short article by Madeleine Morgenstern on The Blaze explaining a little bit about the Easter message that the was given at St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington D.C. This church, of course, is known as the "Church of the Presidents" and is located across the street from the White House. It was this service that the Obama family attended on Sunday morning, the day we celebrate political and racial division and hatred in our country. Oh wait...no...that's not what Easter is about, is it?
Few things disgust me more than using faith as a political tool. Sadly, this is what has been done for who knows how long. As long as I can remember politicians have pandered to people of faith, and in our nation that specifically means Christians. Our current president is only the most recent example of this, and a shining one at that. During his initial campaign in 2008 Senator Obama, at the time, tried to make it clear that he was a Christian. This may have gone over well with the uneducated and willfully ignorant but for the true Christian this was an easy masquerade to uncover. First of all, the pastor whom President Obama sat under for many years, Jeremiah Wright, is understood by most to be on the fringe of Christianity. He is a vocal proponent of Black Liberation Theology which, if examined closely, has little to do with orthodox Christianity. Rev. Wright was unceremoniously tossed onto the national scene with his now famous statement that instead of "God bless America" it should be "God d*&# America." Now, I could go on for pages about this statement but it would be unedifying.
On top of attending a church that fails to represent Biblical Christianity we have the President's own waffling positions on clear-cut doctrines of the faith. His Chinese-fire-drill-like shifts in belief should come as no surprise because that is what politicians do. They claim to agree with certain points of faith to the degree that it will help them get elected and appease the populace. Leading up to the 2013 inauguration an invitation to pray was extended to a prominent evangelical pastor, Louie Giglio. This invitation was quickly retracted once it was discovered that Giglio was...a Christian. The claim from the administration was that his beliefs and convictions did not effectively mesh with the President's vision for the nation. From what I have read, heard and know about Giglio his theology is about as othodox as you're going to get. He preaches and teaches from the Bible and he does it in a way that is extraordinarily appealing to many Christians of various denominations.
As another example, during the 2008 election and the first two years of his administration President Obama was against same-sex marriage. Naturally, this falls in line with the bulk of Christians in the nation. As the midterm election approached and same-sex marriage amendments were on the ballots in some states the President made a 180 degree shift in his beliefs on the issue. Why? Because his previous position was under attack by special interest groups.
Now we have this latest evidence that the President's personal beliefs are so far from orthodox Christianity that any correlation between the two is laughable. From what was written in the aforementioned article the Easter message at St. John's was about everything but the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The message of the resurrection is multifaceted but at the heart of it is hope. Hope that this life is not it. Hope that since Christ rose from the grave our sins have been forgiven and we will, in like manner, be resurrected upon the return of Christ. There is also the distinct idea that no matter what the minor differences are in Christian doctrine we can all find common ground in the same hope of Christ's resurrection.
Instead of this incredible message the congregation of St. John's was treated to a political tirade against the "religious right." Meanwhile, that same religious right was celebrating the greatest day in history with joy, love and fellowship. If one were to truly grasp the resurrection of Christ it would be clear that the message transcends history, race and political affiliation. It is the greatest message of hope and change the world has ever known. In our day in age, however, it has been perverted and used to sooth the itching ears of those who hear.
In reading about this I cannot help but be reminded of a message I heard during my first year in seminary. Bill Moyers had been invited to speak at our chapel service one day and he mounted the stage and opened by saying that he hated it when preachers used the pulpit as a political forum. He then proceeded to use the next 45 minutes behind the pulpit as a political forum. This fact was not lost on my friends and I as we tried not to wretch in our seats. The formula is always the same. The left will always demonize conservatives for one thing and in the next moment do exactly what they have just preached against. Friends, there will always be political ramifications to the Gospel but it should never be used as a political tool. God is not a politician, He knows no political party, He is neither "right" nor "left" He simply is. He will not be mocked and He will not stand for the perversion of His Gospel or using the death and resurrection of His Son as a platform for evil gains.
True, lasting and authentic hope and change is what Easter is all about.
Semper Libertas,
RV
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