Should We Pray for President Obama to Die?

The biblical answer, of course, is No.

But that doesn't seem to seem to be stopping a certain Baptist pastor (and I use "Baptist" loosely here, as nearly every Baptist I know would condemn this fellow) in Phoenix from not only praying to this end, but telling his congregation they should, too. Here's the relevant part of the news article:

A Phoenix-area pastor has started to draw protesters to his congregation after he delivered a sermon titled, "Why I Hate Barack Obama," and told his parishioners that he prays for President Obama's death.

Pastor Steven Anderson stood by his sermon in an interview with MyFOXPhoenix, which reports that the pastor continues to encourage his parishioners to join him in praying for the president's death.

"I hope that God strikes Barack Obama with brain cancer so he can die like Ted Kennedy and I hope it happens today," he told MyFOXPhoenix on Sunday. He called his message "spiritual warfare" and said he does not condone killing.

Compare that with the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 5:43-45:

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Even if you find it hard to think of our president as "your enemy," it is clear that the Bible teaches us to love everyone, regardless of what we think of their actions toward us or anyone else. The Bible also teaches us very clearly in Romans 13:1-2 that God ordains all earthly "powers"—in fact, we know that God Himself allowed Barack Obama to win last year's election [Neither I nor any man can explain why this happened, but it is not ours to know the mind of God].

I could write on this at length, but my brother wrote a fine piece on this very topic first, so I will encourage you to read what he has to say.

On the Differences Between Being Baptist and Catholic

My mind was wandering yesterday and came to this question: What is the most significant difference between Baptist and Catholic teachings?

Of course, there are many doctrinal differences between the two. The most significant one I could come up with is this:

Baptists believe that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, alone. Catholics believe that salvation can only come through the Catholic church.

I believe that my church is important and serves many important functions, not the least of which are the evangelistic proclaiming of the Gospel to the lost and the edification of the saved. But my church and my pastor cannot save my soul—only God can do that. I have the eternally-significant responsibility to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior and ask Him to forgive my sins. I can do this without the intermediation of any church, and many have, throughout the centuries, done so. I thank God for my church and my pastor, and for Bible-preaching churches and God-fearing pastors everywhere. I thank God that they preach the Gospel and that they edify and encourage me, my family, and my loved ones. The Church of God is an institution of immense importance.

But my church cannot save my soul. Only God can do that.

Good News From Our Home

Yesterday, July 22, our third daughter, Rebecca, was baptized. She is now 6 years old and had been asking to get baptized for a few months. It was a joyous occasion, and a number of relatives (and most of our church) were on hand for it.

The reason Rebecca wanted to get baptized was simple: She had accepted Christ as her Savior about two years ago, and she wanted people to know that she was saved and loved her Lord. She is a beautiful demonstration of child-like faith in God.

We who are Baptists believe that baptism is by immersion, that it does not change your eternal destination, and that its purpose is to show to others that you are a saved person—a child of God. In many cultures it is perceived as a more significant event; many Christians through time have been rejected by their families, not because they claimed to be saved, but because they took the public step of believers' baptism. Regardless of consequences (and in Rebecca's case, they were uniformly positive), Christians are commanded to show their faith in God publicly by being baptized.

Are you a child of God? Have you been willing to publicly demonstrate and share your faith?