I am a Christian. I go to church every Sunday. I believe that God's Kingdom is breaking into the world today, and that justice is a primary calling of all Christians. I also like Senator Obama. I've given money to his campaign, and will volunteer for his campaign this fall. With that profile, I'm supposed to like the Matthew 25 Network, the Christian political action committee organized to support Barack Obama in the November election.
But I don't. I won't be joining the Matthew 25 Network's Facebook group, nor will I send this group my money. I like Obama, and I like the call to action that Matthew 25:35-40 represents, but I wouldn't conflate the two.
I find the above poster disturbing, showing Senator Obama's profile positioned alongside the words of Jesus - as if those words and the symbol of Barack Obama are one in the same. Obamamania is morphing into an Obamessiah complex.
I'm tired and can't write much right now - I leave on an eleven-day church trip to El Salvador in 36 hours - but I agree with pastorricky99 who commented on Matthew 25 Network's YouTube page:
Why can't Matthew25 use this as an opportunity to encourage social action and gospel truth and challenge candidates to respond appropriately? As it stands, this organization appears to be a full scale endorsement of Obama, and not an organization that will challenge the next president to be the one who exemplifies Matthew 25:35-36.
The uncritical embrace of Senator Obama - placing Jesus' words into his mouth, claiming that as President Barack Obama would stand for Matthew 25:35-36, the "proudly endorse" language - is all a bit much. This is not an anti-poverty organization - it is a political action committee using religious texts to endorse a political candidate. And that crosses a line. That bothers me.
Another few thoughts: I am sure that there are many Christians - from the left and right - who stand for the truths of Matthew 25:35-36. But what is the role of government in this (faithful Christians can disagree on this issue)? Matthew 25:35-36 makes no claim to Caesar, but to the Christian. And what will the Matthew 25 Network do when President Obama has to cut funding to anti-poverty programs? Will they care? Will they even be there? Or will his halo turn into Devil's horns?
Senator Obama is already on a pedestal. We need not put him on a cloud with a halo over his head. Obamamania is bad enough. This Obamessiah Complex is beyond belief.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
