For some time, we’ve seen the material flowing around the internet arguing that Barack Obama is the anti-Christ or a false Messiah. Now there’s a new twist: Sarah Palin is sent by God.
That’s the message of this essay by Jim Bramlett, a former official at the Christian Broadcasting Network and Campus Crusade for Christ. I’ve heard this is being emailed around quite a bit but don’t really know how much it’s been read. Because it touches on so many interesting themes I’d like to fisk the whole thing (my comments in ital):
Barack, Sarah, and the Bible
Jim Bramlett
Sep 1 2008 07:54PM
Dear friends:
Barack Hussein Obama has taken the nation by storm. From obscurity, with zero executive experience, or much of any kind, he has vaulted into the position of Presidential frontrunner. It is stunning. On the surface, it appears attributable only to his eloquent oratory and his race. But an invisible factor may be a strong spiritual force behind him, causing some people to actually swoon in his presence.
He’s setting up the idea that Obama’s support is so illogical that it must have a supernatural explanation.
I have been very concerned that he has publicly said that he does not believe Jesus is the only way to heaven. This makes both the Bible and Jesus a liar, and it means that Christ has died in vain. A person cannot be a true Christian who believes that there are other ways of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life with God. Only Jesus has paid the price for that.
Much attention has come of late to some liberal bloggers mocking Palin’s faith. We may have forgotten the aggressive efforts by conservative writers and leaders to challenge Obama’s. Some have implied he’s a Muslim, other have implied he’s a bad Christian or, as James Dobson put it, has “confused theology.”
Therefore, there is, indeed, another spirit involved. And this spirit has come into our national life like a flood. Last week at Obama’s acceptance speech, that spirit exalted itself in front of a Greek temple-like stage, and to a huge audience like in a Roman arena. Omama was portrayed as god-like. His voice thundered as a god’s voice.
This picks up on the Obama as false Messiah meme that had gained serious traction in the Christian community.
At the end, Democratic sympathizer Pastor Joel Hunter gave the benediction and shockingly invited everyone to close the prayer to their own (false) gods. This was surely an abomination, but it was compatible with Obama’s expressed theology, and Hunter’s leftist leanings.
Hunter, a Republican evangelical, ended his prayer “in Jesus’s name” but invited members of the audience to end their prayers according to their own tradition.
God was not pleased.
And God says, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him” (Isaiah 59:19).
Enter Governor Sarah Palin. With incredible timing, the very next day, Sarah Palin also appeared out of nowhere. Her shocking selection as John McCain’s running mate stunned the world and suddenly took all the wind out of Obama’s sails.
She literally seems to have been sent by God to oppose the anti-Christ
We quickly learned that Sarah is a born-again, Spirit-filled Christian, attends church, and has been a ministry worker.
Note that there’s nothing in here about her record as Governor or even the hope that she’ll be a maverick or reformer. The entirety of his love for her has to do with her being a Spirit-filled Christian.
Sarah is that standard God has raised up to stop the flood. She has the anointing.
You can tell by how the dogs are already viciously attacking her.
I wrote earlier that Christians will not abandon Palin no matter what comes out because they’ve defined criticism as being ant-Christian. Therefore the more people criticize her, the more beloved she’ll become.
But they will not be successful. She knows the One she serves and will not be intimidated.
Back in the 1980s, I sensed that Israel’s little-known Benjamin Netanyahu was chosen by God for an important end-time role. I still believe that. I now have that same sense about Sarah Palin.
Today I did some checking and discovered that both her first and last names are biblical words, one in Hebrew the other in Greek:
Sarah. Wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. In Hebrew, Sarah means “noble woman” (Strong’s 8283).
Palin. In Greek, the word means “renewal.” (Strong’s 3825).
A friend said he believes that Sarah Palin is a Deborah. Of Deborah, Smith’s Bible Dictionary says, “A prophetess who judged Israel…. She was not so much a judge as one gifted with prophetic command…. and by virtue of her inspiration ‘a mother in Israel.'”
Only God knows the future and how she may be used by Him, but may this noble woman serve to bring renewal in the land, and inspiration.
Jim