REMANATIONS

One of the bloggers over at RedState posts Some Macro-Thoughts for 2009. He discusses Russia, China, Iran, Terrorism, and the Economy. In short, Russia may seek to save itself by recovering its former glory; in the near future, China will begin to reap the bitter fruit of its disastrous social engineering policies (the one-child policy). Iran is on the verge of being the first “crazy society” to acquire nuclear weapons and the past 30 years may have convinced them that Allah has been orchestrating events in their favor. With Bush finally out of the way, Big Terror, after laying low and stocking up ammo for the past 7 years, may make a comeback. Those who think that the economy is in for a quick bounce-back are deluding themselves. High taxation, increased regulation, and lack of trust in public and private institutions may conspire together to kill American innovation and prolong this recession.

Needless to say, not a very optimistic picture.

But compared to this Russian academic, RedState is wearing rose-colored glasses. All I know is that if Igor is right, you will find Jenny and me on 1-35 Southbound for the newly reconstituted Republic of Texas. For those of you who weren’t aware, Texas has an isolated power grid, meaning that when the Disintegration happens, you can bet that the lights will still be on in the Lone Star State.

The other day I came across this interview that Obama did back in 2004 regarding his religious beliefs. There are a lot of interesting things in it, but there was one point where I actually laughed out loud.

FALSANI:
Do you pray often?

OBAMA:
Uh, yeah, I guess I do.

It’s not formal, me getting on my knees. I think I have an ongoing conversation with God. I think throughout the day, I’m constantly asking myself questions about what I’m doing, why am I doing it.

I know, I know. He probably didn’t mean it like that… Probably.

Let me begin with the obligatory qualifications. I don’t think that Obama is the AntiChrist. Nor do I think he is the Messiah.

I don’t think that his election is the fulfillment of some esoteric biblical prophecy. Or even a non-esoteric one.

But I do think that his election bodes ill for these United States. It’s not that he’s caused some great calamity or that he is the bringer of Apocalyptic Doom (though he has the potential to do some damage). Rather, his election is symptomatic of certain political, cultural, and religious trends.

Again, he is not The Problem. Nor is he The Solution. He’s simply The Symptom.

Plus his name provides a great foil for this category. So I’m using it.

Essentially I want to explore the downgrade of Western civilization, America in particular. Since this country (following clumsily in Europe’s footsteps) has begun to take rides in one-way hand-baskets, I think it behooves Christians to offer commentary on the goings on. Consider it prophetic analysis (though I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet).

Again, I don’t want to diminish the potentially positive effects Obama’s election may have, especially as a role model among certain communities. In my mind, those are somewhat beside the point. The point (and indeed it is my whole reason for starting this blog) is that his election means something. God is speaking to us, and since the rest of the culture is too busy listening to their iPods to hearken to the Voice, it falls to Christians to help people differentiate between the right hand and the left hand. But before we can do that, we have to learn to tell the difference ourselves.