Scott Ritsema
CIVICS NEWS.com
March 18, 2009
Self-proclaimed Christians are now discouraging and even prohibiting the political speech of good Christians and other activists who are attempting to expose the oppressive Obama administration. Let this be one Christian website that speaks against such efforts.
Christians Should "Lead the Way in Supporting Obama"
In one shocking example, an Ohio Assembly of God church put out a pamphlet to all church-goers, instructing them to support Obama. Not only does the pamphlet idolatrously magnify the "power" of the American government by glowingly referring to it as "the most powerful and influential" in the world, but it states that, "Christians should lead the way in supporting Barack Obama's presidency." It nowhere states that we should prophetically speak against the evils of the state; it only says that we should lead the way in supporting the state.
Imagine Christians in the first century advocating unconditional support for the Roman Empire. Christians were killed for non-violently opposing the empire by preaching Christ as king, and exposing Caesar as a fraud! Consider this post as a suggestion for how we Christians should relate with the state. And consider the ideas in The Way, the Truth and the Sword, particularly Chapter Ten (Lawful Government and the Christian) and Chapter Eleven (Lawless Government and the Christian) as a biblical alternative to the pamphlet put out by this Assembly of God church.
The pamphlet does not end with calling Christians to "lead the way in supporting Obama." It goes on to praise Christians for taking action on the one "critical issue" of our time: gambling. Really? Over a million Iraqis have died. Obama is continuing the on-going imperial war, taking innocent lives. Tax-payer-funded abortions are continuing unabated. The police state and the surveillance society march forward. And the "critical issue" for Christians is to use the violence of government to prohibit the voluntary transaction of gambling?! No doubt, Christians are against gambling, because it is poor stewardship of the money God has blessed us with...but do we really want to use violence to prevent people from engaging in unwise financial behavior?
Nowhere in the pamphlet does the church encourage believers to speak out against the evils of the state. It teaches parishioners to be unconditional supporters of Barack Obama, as if the state is God.
Christian Website Bans The Obama Deception
Other Christians are going further than teaching the church body to support Obama. One Christian website even banned the display of Alex Jones' The Obama Deception on personal websites. Paul Watson of Prison Planet.com reports:
A site that brands itself as a kind of ‘You Tube for Christians’ - Tangle.com, which was formally known as Godtube.com, has censored Alex Jones’ new film The Obama Deception after claiming the documentary contained “slander and libel”.
One of our readers tried to upload The Obama Deception to the Tangle website in four parts, but two of the sections never made it and the reader was subsequently contacted by Caitlin Reynolds, ‘Community Care’ administrator for Tangle.
“Hello and thank you for using tangle!,” stated the e mail. “Your video contains slander and liable (sic). We cannot allow this content on our site with out documented proof of the accusations. Please refer to our Terms of Use for additional information. http://www.tangle.com/support/legal Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns!”
Firstly, we would advise Tangle.com to try and learn to spell the word “libel” before they attempt to interpret it.
Secondly, Obama’s lies are exhaustively documented at every step of the way throughout the film. The content of the documentary itself disproves any claim of “libel” or “slander”.
Naturally, Tangle.com failed to cite a single example of defamation in the film but immediately banned it anyway, which is even more bizarre considering the fact that Obama has already put into action policies that should abhor Christians, some of
which are touched upon in the film.
This is all reminiscent of the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) program to recruit tens of thousands of pastors to teach their congregations to go along with martial law and even gun confiscations, as in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. All of this is rooted in a misguided theology of civil submission, which kings and dicatators have taken advantage of since the early centuries of Christianity. My fellow believers, the state is not God. When it breaks God's laws, it must be exposed. Certainly, Romans 13 commands us to submit to lawful government, but also Ephesians 5:11 commands us to expose evil and Isaiah 1:16 commands us to rebuke the oppressor and defend the oppressed. Prophets such as Nathan (2 Samuel 12:1-10) and Elijah (1 Kings 21:17-19) exposed government officials for their murders, thefts, and adulteries.
These shocking examples are raising eyebrows in regards to the church's relationship with the state. Should we be known as supporters of violent power, theft, and killing? Or should we be the first to speak out against oppressive government, particularly when engaged in by politicians who claim to be Christians, such as Barack Obama?Will Christians continue to suppress free speech, discourage criticism of the evils of the state, and even ban pro-liberty materials?
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