God is not subject to US foreign policy
I got this bit of news on an evangelical's view of God and politics from Juan Cole this morning:
' The Houston-based preacher said he believes that the Bush administration has delayed the second coming because U.S. foreign policy has blocked Christian missionaries from working in Iraq, Iran and Syria. . . "Somebody needs to say enough is enough," he said to worshippers who stood, waved and called out in support. . . Paul, who claimed to support conservative political leaders in the past, is launching "a crusade to save America from the wrath of God and Republicans abusing their power," according to his press materials. . . "God is mad at this country," Paul told the congregation. He described the war in Iraq as "unnecessary genocide."
It is wonder that religious people actually believe that God can be manipulated by human beings. It is good to see the preacher comdemn the FUBAR Iraq War, but W is delaying the return of Christ? I am not a fan of the current popular interpretation of the Book of Revelations. But that aside, if Jesus wants to come back there is no policy by W or anyone else that is going to "delay" him. For a preacher to be condemning any politician as preventing the return of Jesus Christ to Earth in physical form is...okay I'm just going to say it. It is stupid.
I shouldn't be surprised. Given this comment, I doubt it would be hard to find a quote from this preacher claiming the Supreme Court "kicked God out of schools" when they barred states from using coercive state power to make school kids pray by order of the state. That's what was banned folks. No one ever banned "prayer in school." They banned the state telling kids when to pray and in many cases what to pray. Yep, He made the universe but 9 old guys in ropes can "kick God out of schools" and George W. Bush controls the timetable for the Second Coming.
And people think Dick Cheney is powerful.
posted by redbarb at 12:01 PM
6 Comments:
Someone is being fair when they speak out against a preacher who attacks a president they do not like! More power to you!
J. V.
And, if I may add something I should have written above, it is interesting that you, a Methodist and thus supposedly an Arminian, are writing almost as though you were a Calvinist. Yes, God is sovereign, and the Lord Jesus will return when _HE_ will and not be hindered by His creatures!
J. V.
And, being further scatter-brained, I am not forgetting that you do not subscribe to the now-popular views on the _Book_ _Of_ _Revelation_, and thus you may not believe that the Lord Jesus is going to return bodily at all. And yet you still rightly assert that God will do what He pleases when He pleases!
JVaughn,
I can only say that I trust God to make good decisions for us all and I don't trust humans to be able to predict what those decisions will be in future. Remember, the expectations for the Savior by humans was that he would be a warrior would smite God's enemies on earth. Instead Jesus brought a powerful message of peace and did nothing to thwart the Romans. May we someday all follow His message and can a bit heaven here on earth.
Indeed yes, the Lord Jesus did not thwart the Romans--he came to die as a substitute for His sinful creatures, and I for one believe he rose bodily from the grave to make that work complete!
Thank you for taking the time to reply to me!
J. V.
How can the war delay the Second Coming when we all know that W is the Anti-Christ? Hee hee...
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