Yesterday I was talking to Dr. R.T. Kendall, the author of a number of modern classics such as: God Meant It for Good, Believing God, and Total Forgiveness.
Dr. Kendall had a dream a few nights ago in which President-elect Obama wanted to get close to him because of his knowledge of the Scriptures. When he shared this with Ricky Skaggs, he was surprised that Ricky had received a similar dream the same night, indicating that Obama wanted to get close to him because he had the Bible in his computer. So what does this mean? I think it means that Obama is going to want to get close to those who have the Word of God.

I realize that many conservative Christians think that Obama is closer to the antichrist than to Christ. I do not believe this, but believe he is a sincere Christian with very superficial understanding. That did not surprise me since that is sadly the case with most Christians. It allows for believing things and siding with issues that are very contrary to the clear purpose of God in Scripture. I learned many years ago that only the Lord really knows another person’s heart. If a person holds to the basic doctrines of the faith concerning the atonement of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus to be Lord and King, I may disagree with him on many things, but I will always consider him family.

Even so, to be shallow in our faith can only be a result of not caring enough to dig deeper into understanding the Lord and His ways. The Scriptures are also clear that those who do not care that much and are obviously lukewarm about the Lord will receive a more severe judgment. We are told in I Corinthians 2:10 that the Holy Spirit searches the deep things of God. If we are truly led by the Spirit, we will always be in pursuit of knowing the Lord more deeply. 

I also believe that Obama sincerely loves his country and wants to make it better. I do not agree with many things that he may think will make it better, but I do not think he is an evil person with evil intent. In fact, I think he is going to be a better President than many people think. Since he will be our President, I intend to always treat him with the honor, dignity, and respect the Scriptures require, and to obey the law of the land except when it is in direct conflict with the Word of God and our mandate from Him. 

 I personally do not understand how any Christian who really understands abortion, especially the cruel and insidious late-term and partial birth abortions, could be pro-abortion (pro-choice is a misnomer) or ever vote for anyone who is. Just as the first test of Solomon’s wisdom was to determine the true mother from the one that was careless with life, the care for life is the most basic test of wisdom for those in government. It will also be the first test of Obama’s Administration.

The Democratic Party has also swung quite far to the left since the Clinton Administration and has not only sided with pro-gay rights, but has also sided with the extremist positions that are actually anti-family and anti-Christian. They have submitted bills in Congress that would effectively deny Christians free speech and the freedom of religion in some very basic ways. These positions have come under the guise of hate crimes legislation, but they do in effect segregate Christians and deny them basic rights in these areas. Right now I don’t think these bills could stand up before the Supreme Court, but if there is a change in the Court, these unconstitutional laws could be upheld. At any rate, many Christian leaders are now bracing for persecution by the government as the bills will likely pass a filibuster proof Congress.

In my book The Harvest, which I wrote twenty years ago, I told how I had seen in a vision that there would be increasing religious liberty in the nations that were then communist, and that there would be decreasing religious liberty in the West. This has already come to pass but has not yet run its full course. America was chiefly founded by those pursuing religious liberty—it is the freedom upon which all of our other freedoms are based, and as we lose it we will ultimately lose all of our freedoms. It does seem that the incoming Obama Administration and Congress will unleash a new level of persecution against the church in America. This is why many Christians feel that Obama is an evil person intent on doing evil. I just think he is severely misguided in some areas, and, like other Presidents and many kings of Israel in Scripture (even kings that the Lord ordained), can release great evil in their nation.

So what is the impact on the church in America? We are about to get much stronger and our light much brighter. We will discuss some of the ways how next week.