By Dennis Van Scoy

Research tells us that Barack Hussein Obama emerged from a religiously confused and mixed childhood. His father was an atheist, however Barack’s formidable years were influenced primarily through the education and cultures of Catholic and Muslim beliefs (religions that focus on “good works” and “rituals”). He became a very well educated man, attending Harvard (a very liberal and atheistic environment) for his advanced education. During that time, and before he entered the political arena, he began attending the Trinity Church of Christ (of the U.C.C. denomination). It is there that he met and was pastored by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. The two developed a strong friendship, with Barack Obama accepting Mr. Wright as a friend, spiritual counselor and member of his own family. Over the next twenty years, Barack Obama heard Jeremiah Wright speak hundreds of times from the church pulpit, on audio tapes (when he was away from church), and almost daily in a personal (social) setting, becoming well acquainted with Jeremiah Wright’s deepest feelings on a variety of issues.

It is fairly common knowledge within evangelical circles and among the majority of Christian denominations, that certain churches within the United Church of Christ denomination are deviant from the accepted biblical principles concerning Spiritual salvation (as described in Ephesians 2:8-9 and Romans 4:2-3) proclaiming instead, the heresy of salvation through baptism (Galatians 1:6-9). Some individual congregations even blindly subscribe to teachings of their pastors that stand in stark contradiction to the Holy Scriptures, while the pastors themselves often reject whole portions of the Bible to confuse and control church members (partial Bible theology, – violation of 2nd. Timothy 3:16-17 and Revelation 22:18-19). Within some U.C.C. sects, the Holy Spirit is ignored (Matthew 12:31), and all Biblical interpretation or instruction is filtered only through the finite human intellect of church’s pastor (John 16:13). In this manner, U.C.C. pastors are held to no particular level of accountability regarding misconduct, false teachings or personal lifestyle, thus Jeremiah Wright’s vulgar, hateful and bigoted ravings from the pulpit at Trinity Church of Christ are considered acceptable practice by his congregation, and completely above reproach.

When one compares the liberal voting record of Senator Barack Obama to the ways of God and teachings found in the Holy Bible, it is evident that Senator Obama either does not know God’s instructions, or he is in complete disobedience to God’s words on moral issues facing this nation. Perhaps, it’s because he has never had the opportunity to hear biblical truth, having been tangled in four (4) false theologies and smothered in his own intellectual arrogance (see Psalms 119:21, Matthew 18:3-4 and Romans 1:21-22). He seems rather to base his hope for eternal salvation on his worldly acts of charity and random “good works” (Isaiah 64:6 and Ephesians 2:8-9). Senator Obama claims to believe in Jesus Christ, but there’s a huge difference between believing in the historical personage of Jesus (head belief), and trusting exclusively in the finished work of Jesus as one’s personal Lord and Savior (heart belief) – (see Matthew 7:21). Even the demons “believe” in the person of Jesus, but sincerely trusting in Him requires a heart intent to obey God (1 John 3:21-24) in every area of a person’s life.

As I listened to Barack Obama’s speech to the nation from Philadelphia On March 18th last, it was certainly clear that he is a great orator given to very eloquent speech. It was also obvious that he is a politician trying to whitewash an old friend’s missteps and negate political fall-out to himself. Although he condemned the bigoted, vulgar and ignorant comments made by the reverend Jeremiah Wright (his former pastor), he refused to break company with his old friend, or demand a change in attitude within his apostate congregation. God’s instructions in the Bible make it very clear that each person is to be held accountable and is also under obligation to hold others likewise accountable for sinful or inappropriate misconduct (Ezekiel 3:18-21 and Ecclesiastes 4:9-12). A “Christian” should always lovingly confront a brother who is in error in accordance with God’s instructions regarding church discipline (Matthew 8:15-17 and 1 Timothy 5:20), but if that brother refuses to repent (change), Christians are commanded to have nothing further to do with him (Matthew 18:17b and Titus 3:10), this is the policy Barack Obama should have taken from the very beginning regarding his former pastor Jeremiah Wright. Since it is obvious that Obama’s Trinity Church of Christ congregation is determined to support Jeremiah Wright in his sinful misconduct as former pastor of that church, the whole of the church is likewise in a state of sin and should indeed be abandoned by anyone having a true relationship with Jesus Christ.

Barack Obama’s speech of March 18th, was indeed laced with beautiful rhetoric. He told people what their “itching ears” wanted to hear (2 Timothy 4:3-4) all the while trying to gloss over the hateful, racist, anti-American and vulgar comments of his friend and former pastor who he claims has so deeply impacted his life. If Barack Obama does not to some degree share the views of Jeremiah Wright, he needs to separate himself from Mr. Wright and that apostate church, it’s as simple as that. If Senator Obama really believes in Jesus Christ, he will seek to obey God’s words in the Holy Bible, and “come out from them and be separate,..” (2 Corinthians 6:17 NIV). Believing is as believing does, really believing in Jesus Christ means being obedient to God’s ways in the political arena as well in one’s own private life.

Senator Obama needs to make a heart commitment to Jesus Christ, then daily study the words of the Bible to learn what God expects of him as a leader. He needs to review his thinking on issues like, homosexual rights, abortion (shedding innocent blood), stem cell research, cloning, capital punishment, euthanasia, illegal immigration, same sex marriage, and many more problems effecting the moral climate of this nation. Maybe then he will be able to offer much more than flowery speech and a handful of platitudes. The only “change” America needs is called national revival and that is where Senator Obama could do some good, IF he got in step with God (2 Chronicles 7:14).

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Dennis Van Scoy Sr, is a retired police officer turned Christian, freelance writer. He has been married for 22 years, has 5 children, 4 step-children, 22 grandchildren and one great grandchild. He presently writes a weekly column called THE HEART OF THE MATTER published on Ezraweb.com.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com