by Michael G. Mickey
(10-25-08)

Christians, we are hated. Absolutely hated. Before I get into that, I want to put the hatred being directed at us in its proper perspective. While it's never pleasant to be disliked, when we're hated by the world for caring about the things we need to care about? We're in very good company.

Jesus said, as recorded in John 15:18-19:

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

In John 15:22, the Lord makes an excellent analogy of what it was He did that made Him so hated that is today applicable to you and I. He said, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin."

Presently, the Christian right is being villified by the press and liberal supporters of Barack Obama. And why? I would submit to you it is because we have torn the cloke they have hidden their sins under away from them and they are lashing out at us in response.

It is the Church of the living God that is standing in the trenches today fighting the war of good versus evil most vocally. While there are secular conservatives in the trenches with us to be sure, Satan and his minions are doing everything within their power to place the blame for all resistance being lifted against the homosexual agenda and the pro-abortion movement squarely on Christians and Christians alone which is to be expected as shown in Scripture above.

While I don't want to be alarmist and raise any unwarranted concerns in the Body of Christ concerning how we're going to be treated from this point forward in America, the future isn't looking bright. Personally, I suspect whether Senator Obama takes the White House or not, the days of Christians being able to boldly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and the whole of Scripture without facing persecution is practically over.

Two Scenarios

1. Senator Obama wins the White House - In this scenario, as I believe Focus on the Family has rightly determined, there is no hope of the Church avoiding persecution, hardship and suffering as an Obama presidency is going to further the homosexual agenda to unprecedented levels which will, in turn, lead to Christians who stand upon the Word of God being more despised and, potentially, even considered criminals guilty of committing hate crimes for simply being critical of same-sex marriage, for example. Not only that, the Holocaust of the innocents we call abortion will gain even greater acceptance in our society with all legal restrictions against the hideous procedure removed. This is but a few of many areas of concern where an Obama presidency is concerned. While Senator Obama says he's a Christian, his actions paint a totally different picture - one that is hard, if not impossible, to overlook.
2. Senator Obama is defeated on November 4th - In terms of the level of persecution those of us who hold to a literal interpretation of God's Word may experience in this scenario, the backlash may be even worse than if he wins the White House. Why do I say that? The liberal media is beginning to cast us in a very poor light - to the extent I believe we can fully expect to bear the brunt of the angry Left's wrath in this scenario. How could we not be the ones to blame when no one other than us and Joe the Plumber have publicly questioned anything about the man's background, character, associations with shady individuals, etc.?

An Associated Press article best makes my case for why the Church is likely to bear 90% of the blame if Barack Obama loses the election. Entitled "Christian right intensifies attacks on Obama", the article strives, in my opinion, to point the finger of blame squarely at us if Senator Obama loses the election.

The article opens as follows:

Terrorist strikes on four American cities. Russia rolling into Eastern Europe. Israel hit by a nuclear bomb. Gay marriage in every state. The end of the Boy Scouts.

All are plausible scenarios if Democrat Barack Obama is elected president, according to a new addition to the campaign conversation called "Letter from 2012 in Obama's America," produced by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family Action.

The imagined look into the future is part of an escalation in rhetoric from Christian right activists who are trying to paint Obama in the worst possible terms as the campaign heads into the final stretch and polls show the Democrat ahead.

Although hard-edge attacks are common late in campaigns, the tenor of the strikes against Obama illustrate just how worried conservative Christian activists are about what should happen to their causes and influence if Democrats seize control of both Congress and the White House.

Are we trying to paint Barack Obama in the "worst possible terms" as implied or are we merely questioning, hypothesizing even, how strongly Barack Obama will be willing or capable of deterring radical Islamic terrorists, all of whom are endorsing him for president?

Are we trying to paint Barack Obama in the "worst possible terms" as implied or are we afraid that his desire to pull out of Iraq and lose the war on terror as soon as possible is going to raise the white flag of surrender to all those who seek to marginalize our influence in the world, like Russia which Georgia is accusing right now of a troop buildup in South Ossetia? Russia and Vladimir Putin want to return Russia to its former status as a perceived superpower and, while nothing is certain, I am as sure as I possibly can be that Russia will almost immediately test Obama. If they don't, Iran or other Middle Eastern nations and terrorist organizations bent on the destruction of the nation of Israel likely will because all of these sense that Barack Obama is one of them. If not a Muslim, they suspect he is, at the very least, a Muslim sympathizer. Who could blame them? Most of Senator Obama's foreign policy advisors aren't supportive of the nation of Israel.

Are we trying to paint Barack Obama in the "worst possible terms" as implied or is there genuine concern that, with the liberal Democrats in charge of all three branches of our government combined with Senator Obama's radical pro-homosexual platform, same-sex marriage could become the law of the land in more areas of our nation if not all of them as a result? To be sure, the homosexual agenda isn't going to be satisfied until it is illegal for their lifestyle to be so much as criticized as morally and socially unacceptable by anyone and that includes quoting from the Bible! And let's not kid ourselves. The liberals of this country, if permitted to do so, will, sooner or later, destroy the Boy Scouts of America as it is presently known under the guise of making it more inclusive of atheists, homosexuals, etc. and so forth.

It is common knowledge that the liberals of this nation are doing everything within their power to eliminate all references to Almighty God from its history and future. There is tremendous evidence in support of that assertion and yet the Church is portrayed as near villainous for simply glimpsing into the future and making some guesses as to what kind of messed up America and world we could have if we elect someone as liberal as Barack Obama to the White House.

The following is another excerpt from the A.P. article:

"Everyone uses fear in the last part of a campaign, but evangelicals are especially theologically prone to those sorts of arguments," said Clyde Wilcox, a Georgetown University political scientist. "There's a long tradition of predicting doom and gloom."

But the tone this election year is sharper than usual and the volume has turned up as Nov. 4 nears.

Steve Strang, publisher of Charisma magazine, a Pentecostal publication, titled one of his recent weekly e-mails to readers, "Life As We Know It Will End If Obama is Elected."

Strang said gay rights and abortion rights would be strengthened in an Obama administration, taxes would rise and "people who hate Christianity will be emboldened to attack our freedoms."

In typical form, we're portrayed as purveyors of doom and gloom by the press, but I want you to note how much emphasis is being placed on the Church attaching a "sharper" tone and speaking in an increased volume as the election nears. Ironically, right after the article makes light of that, it effectively demonstrates why that may well be true! After all, are we not concerned greatly that an Obama administration, in open defiance of Almighty God, is going to strengthen gay and abortion rights? Are we not concerned that Senator Obama forwarding these agendas is going to embolden people who hate Christianity to attack our religious freedoms? Of course we are, but guess what, Christians? If you haven't picked up on it in the tone of this article designed to villainize us, there's a point that's being subtly made here which is that we, in spite of the fact we are Americans too and have just as much interest and stake in where the direction of our nation will take us in the next four years, it is wrong of us to exercise our constitutional rights to the extent that we may actually be heard by the masses!

While it is okay for the Left to claim that John McCain would bring us "another 4 years of George W. Bush", implying that would be, for all practical purposes, an incomprehensible disaster, it isn't fair for us to say anything negative about Barack Obama. That would be because he's a man of impeccable character in their eyes - the eyes of the world.

The spiritually blind want to be led by the spiritually blind and we know where that leads. Ultimately, it leads to all of them falling into a ditch. What they fail to realize which we do is that, if they all fall into a ditch because they elect a man who brings God's wrath upon our nation, we, like it or not, are going to be tied to them. Thus, we're going to fall into the ditch too.

As many of you know, I'm the proud owner of a very old dog. She's almost 16 now; blind, deaf and diabetic too. Just this morning my wife and I laughed as she tried to play with me in spite of all the obstacles she has to overcome to do so. I love her so much and already I dread the day when she is going to leave us. In spite of that love and loyalty to her, I would never allow her to decide the path we were going to take to travel anywhere out of the familiar and safe environment of our home which she is capable of navigating quite well.

While Christians hold strong views concerning the direction our nation needs to take and we want to slow what we all know is an ever-continuing skid toward disaster regardless of which political party is in control of our government, we still love our fellow man, but does that love go both ways? It does not.

The A.P. article referred to above, if it were written by a Christian or a conservative and directed at homosexuals intensifying their attacks on Senator McCain, for example, it would be labeled as divisive, intolerant, and encouraging of violence being carried out against homosexuals in the event that their efforts to influence the election prove successful, wouldn't it? We all know the answer to that.

Mark my words. Regardless of which scenario above plays out, those of us who are defenders of the Word of God are going to be persecuted more than ever as a result of Barack Obama having run for president. We're being singled out as the ones to be blamed if he loses on November 4th and I'm okay with that regardless of what may come as a result of it.

Jesus said we would be hated by the world just as He was hated. He was hated because those who were guilty of sinful behavior couldn't, in their consciences, shield themselves from the sins they were guilty of once those sins were called by name. The same is true of us, you know.

Christians are the light of the world. Darkness doesn't care much for light so we're hated.

So be it.