Obama Raw

Plato said, "Those who tell stories rule society." It’s intriguing, and indeed frightening, how people are so easily taken captive by clever verbiage or personal charisma. An ancient book of wisdom tells of a serpent who told a story to the first woman and deceived her into denying what she knew was the truth. You see, that old serpent told a good story to mask the truth. The same book tells of a young brother who communicated a convincing tale and deceived his own father into an inheritance that didn’t rightfully belong to him. Once again, a well crafted story won over the truth.

Here’s part of a story by Adolf Hitler: "National Socialist Germany wants PEACE because of its fundamental convictions. And it wants peace also owing to the realization of the simple primitive fact that no war would be likely essentially to alter the distress in Europe... The principal effect of every war is to destroy the flower of the nation... Germany needs peace and desires peace!" Got that? Hitler’s story was that he wanted peace.

Do modern day politicians tell stories to get elected? Uh…yeah! Intelligent people understand this and must decipher between the lines of their rhetoric as to what’s genuine, and what is simply said out of political expediency.

ABC News reported earlier this year: “Buried in his eloquent, highly praised speech on America's racial divide, Sen. Barack Obama contradicted more than a year of denials and spin from him and his staff about his knowledge of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's controversial sermons… Similarly, Obama also has only recently given a much fuller accounting of his relationship with indicted political fixer Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a longtime friend, who his campaign once described as just one of “thousands of donors.” His initial reaction to the initial ABC News broadcast of Rev. Wright's sermons denouncing the U.S. was that he had never heard his pastor of 20 years make any comments that were anti-U.S. until the tape was played on air. But yesterday, he told a different story… In the case of his relationship with Rezko, Obama has also been slow to acknowledge the full extent of his relationship. It was only last week that he revealed Rezko had raised some $250,000 in campaign contributions for him. The campaign had initially claimed Rezko-connected contributions were no more than $60,000…Then the figure grew to around $86,000, and there were additional revelations that put the amount at about $150,000. Obama's $250,000 accounting was a substantial jump and clearly contradicted earlier campaign statements that Rezko was just one of ‘thousands of donors.’”

A Google search of “Obama Contradictions,” will generate a list of inconsistencies and untrue stories that Obama has concocted, but that most of the media simply ignore or “forget” about. Now, John McCain is also a politician and also embellishes and stretches and redirects. However, we are more likely to hear about his devices in the news. Moreover, this blog in not a pro McCain outlet. This is a venue regarding the one of whom Chris Matthews (MSNBC) says he gets “a thrill going up my leg,” when Obama speaks. Halle Berry said, “I'll do whatever he says to do. I'll collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear.” Dinesh Sharma proclaims, “Many even see in Obama a messiah-like figure, a great soul, and some affectionately call him Mahatma Obama." Oprah expresses, “We're here to evolve to a higher plane . . . he is an evolved leader . . . [he] has an ear for eloquence and a Tongue dipped in the Unvarnished Truth." In his victory speech after the Democratic Primaries, Senator Obama himself said that we might look back at this election season (if he is the winner, of course) as “the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.”

“'Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD.” (The real Lord, by the way. Isaiah 1:18) There is one God, and Acts 4:12 tells us, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name [Jesus] under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Some of Obama’s thoughts are, “There’s the belief, certainly in some quarters, that people haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as their personal savior that they’re going to hell. I find it hard to believe that my God would consign four-fifths of the world to hell.” – “If all it took was someone proclaiming I believe Jesus Christ and that he died for my sins, and that was all there was to it, people wouldn’t have to keep coming to church, would they?” – When asked if he believes in heaven: “What I believe in is that if I live my life as well as I can, that I will be rewarded. I don’t presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die. But I feel very strongly that whether the reward is in the here and now or in the hereafter, the aligning myself to my faith and my values is a good thing.” – Of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, he said it was “a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application.”

Senator Obama claims he is a Christian. This is his story. I will not dare judge him personally since it isn’t my right or responsibility, but I could certainly judge his actions and positions which would bear the fruit of what he really believes. Reason, logic, and common sense tell me that if there is no standard, no measuring mechanism, anybody and everybody can call themselves a Christian just because they want to. But we do have a standard. It’s the Bible. This is the record of God’s revelation of Himself to mankind, and comes complete with instructions on how we are to WORSHIP Him with our lives, which is our very reason for existence. It is our main source of truth. No one is forced to accept the Bible’s validity and there are indeed various understandings regarding its content, however, truth itself is not subject to interpretation. In answer to Pilate’s question in John 18:38, “WHAT IS TRUTH?” I record Jesus’ own statement. He said, “YOUR WORD IS TRUTH.” Referring to the word of God (his father). Jesus also said, “I am the way, and the truth.” If Senator Obama wants to woo me into voting for him by regularly broadcasting that he is a Christian, he needs uphold the tenets of the faith that he is proclaiming. Otherwise, I cannot believe him. The Bible admonishes us to be doers of the word, and I cannot reconcile taking the positions he has taken on abortion, marriage, redistribution of wealth, faith, and others, with being a doer of the word of truth. To me, this is reasonable.

Without truth, reasoning is shallow and superficial. Without truth, worship is misdirected and perverse. The RAW in “Obama Raw,” stands for Reason and Worship. I have yet to have a bona fide reason why he qualifies to be president of this great country. I heard that he was a community organizer, he just sounds so good, he wants change, he has a degree from Harvard, he’s cute, he would be the first African American President, Bush lied people died, Palin’s daughter is having a baby, McCain is too old, and some male commentators get chills when he speaks. None of this is reasonable criteria. Funny how often Christians get criticized for being ignorant and unreasonable. When it comes the worship, most of the worship talk surrounding Mr. Obama, is usually directed upon himself. And that’s the truth!