YES WE CAN!...not really. It's God alone who determines the purpose of elections and governments by His sovereign will - not yours Senator

Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 

Daniel answered and said:

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,

to whom belong wisdom and might.

He changes times and seasons;

he removes kings and sets up kings;

he gives wisdom to the wise

and knowledge to those who have understanding;

he reveals deep and hidden things;

he knows what is in the darkness,

and the light dwells with him.

To you, O God of my fathers,

I give thanks and praise,

for you have given me wisdom and might,

and have now made known to me what we asked of you,

for you have made known to us the king's matter.”

-Daniel 2:19b-23

Those words of Daniel have been a tremendous source of encouragement to my heart and mind in the aftermath of this present election. Though Senator Obama was not my candidate of choice, as of January 20th, he will be my President and I will honor him and pray for him as such (Roms. 13:1-7; Titus 3:1-2). Though I do not condone his political convictions or ideology on several different levels, I without reservation trust the Lord and His sovereignty in the outcome of this election. 

I also think, as it was with King Saul, that the Lord has given the people of our nation a leader that is the mirror image of their own depraved moorings, maginations and maladies. IOW, this is God's judgment on our nation; not one of God's blessing on our nation. 

It hasn't even been 48 hours since Barack Obama became the President-elect and the stock market reacted and reacted very negatively in letting the world know what they think of his victory. In less than two days, the market is down more than 800 points! This is unprecedented and the worst reaction of the stock market in history after any Presidential election.

Here are some of the things that President-elect Obama seeks to invoke ASAP when taking office:

1. Employee Free Choice Act
2. The Fairness Doctrine
3. Freedom of Choice Act
4. National Civilian Security Force
5. Withdraw from Iraq immediately
6. Close Military Bases
7. Treat terrorists as if they were American citizens
8. A lack of Comprehensive Immigration Reform
9. Capital Gains Tax Increase
10. Defense Cuts
11. Liberal Judicial Appointments to the Supreme Court
12. Re-invoking Racial Preferences, Quotas and Affirmative Action
13. Establish Socialism as the New Democracy
14. Repeal DOMA

ETC.

This is going to be an interesting four years... isn't it? A sober cause for prayer, for a greater and more bold proclamation of the gospel, and for Christians to biblically engage their communities unashamedly with the truth of Scripture. Here me straight on this: this is not a call for an accelerated political engagement by more evangelicals, but for a more vibrant and visible biblical demonstration of faith, local church involvement, missions, evangelism, worship, and the uncompromised preaching of God's Word from God's people and pastors.

Adding more fuel to the fire: the only leading "evangelical" spokesman being interviewed Tuesday night before Obama gave his acceptance speech was heretic and Sabellianist, T.D. Jakes. Two of Obama's spiritual advisors to date have been emergent religious liberals: Donald Miller and Brian McLaren. And furthermore, I just read today that social liberal and abhorrent emergent leader, Doug Pagitt, has announced that he will be running for the Minnesota state legislature in 2010.

(Such news needs no further commentary from myself.)

May I encourage you to do something today? Pray for our nation; pray for President-elect Obama; pray for Reformation to come to the church in America; pray for Christian men and women to really live out their faith in the public arena with the courage to speak what God has deemed eternal and essential. And may we begin with the gospel; and then practically in response to the second commandment to "love your neighbor...", support the rights, dignity and life of all unborn children.

May some evangelical leaders by God's grace

rise up and be the Nathan to the King

and John the Baptist to Herod.

So in the midst of this kind of darkness beloved, may we fearlessly live and proclaim the glorious good news of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in doing so, may we just not be hearers of the Word - but doers of it; being salt and light to this dying generation.

Enjoy these brilliant comics below that a reader of this blog emailed me yesterday.

Campi

Romans 13

FORTY DAYS OF PURPOSE - DEADHEAD STYLE...self-described "purps" and "PDL-heads" (pronounced "puddleheads") say they enjoy the process

Dear Blogosphere Aficionados:

Taking a brief break from the weighty issues at hand to offer some well deserved laughter in your weekend with a blast from the past. If you are trying to find "your forty days of purpose", please check out this great article linked below at LN. They even did a spoof piece which included me too (you will really like this).

If you are not familiar with their site, LARKNEWS serves up some of the best witty, satirical, "tongue and cheek" Christian news found anywhere on the web. It is highly addictive and contagious; and when you least expect it, some very profound truth is revealed through their jest.

Enjoy.

But I do need to be upfront about something: I want to offer my sincere apologies to all of the restless/emerging/pomo readers that might peruse this... there are no cuss words, vulgarities, scatology, or even degrading humor vetted at our Lord's expense included in the article linked below. You'll just have to appreciate the choice writing skills of those at LN that don't have to go "Sam Kennison" on all of us to make the point.

Luther would be proud at their deftness (for all those in Ballard that means proficient, talented, accomplished, brilliant.) The water always tastes so much better from the faucet, than from the toilet.

Remember, "laughter is a good medicine for the soul..." and that is no "LARK."

Peace,

Campi

Read: 'The Forty Days of Purpose Deadhead-Style'