Preposterous as that question seems, this guest post by T.E. Hanna complements the previous item about religio-political stirrings on this side of the ‘pond’.  Readers of long standing are aware of my reservations about POTUS’ claims as a fellow believer. (I recall the inordinate, idolatrous adulation given upon his first election. Incredibly one writer regarded him as C-in-C Theologian!!)  Yet, scripture and Christian leaders point out, as here, he needs our prayers…Lord, grant president Obama a Damascus Road encounter and full baptism in your Holy Spirit.

T.E. puts challenging and pertinent, provocative points which, in my humble opinion, merit careful consideration by American believers.:

HOW BARACK OBAMA IS RESTORING CHRISTIANITY

Hold on. Put the stones down for just a moment. Hear me out.

So you’re a fan of Obama? Fine. Not a fan? Still fine. I’m not particularly interested in political affiliation. I’m far more caught up in the need for the Christian body to reclaim its place as influencers of our nation at a cultural level rather than a political one. And let’s be honest… we’re not exactly making track records in that department.

In the face of our waning cultural influence, followers of Jesus increasingly rally to reclaim a “Christian nation” by working to pass pseudo-Christian legislation and thereby impose the illusion of a Christian presence. We do this, however, without ever really engaging the hearts and minds of individuals where the real influence of the Messiah comes to dwell. This is the problem: we don’t become a Christian nation by teaching people to “act Christian” as a form of civic obedience. We become a Christian nation by reaching the men and women of our communities with the life-altering presence of Christ.

In that regard, Obama is helping us more than we realize.

We Face A Rival Theology

One of the greatest challenges we face in recovering our Christian influence is in the way that the culture of our churches has merged nationalism with Christian theology. We engage the problems of our world very differently when we approach it from a nationalist mindset than we do when we approach it from the perspective of a culturally subversive community that functions as the front lines of a kingdom-not-of-this-world. At the root of this is what we might call a “competing eschatology”.

To quote Old Testament scholar Dr. Peter Enns:

Eschatology means: “We have brought you to where things are as they should be. You are at the place where you can now–finally–have reason to hope. Trust in us. Fear not.” Eschatology means the pinnacle of true humanity, where wrongs are righted, all is at peace, and the human drama comes to its fullest expression.

A nationalist eschatology adopts the utopian vision of government and seeks to bring about this grand pinnacle through the right means of legislation and leadership. It imbues humanity with hope through cultivating trust in those who lead and feeding us the ever-elusive promise of “progress”. In a nationalist eschatology, we place our faith and hope in the system and, if the system is broken, we place our hope in the righting of that system. In the current trend of Christian nationalism, we have bled our theology into this rival promise, looking to that same system to bring about the “utopia” of Christian transformation.

But Ours Is A Divine Narrative

Unfortunately, this rival eschatology is just that: a rival. As seductive as it is, it undermines the Christian hope passed down to us throughout history and embedded within the pages of God’s sweeping narrative of scripture. The Great Story we find ourselves in the midst of is not a story of powerful governments drawing humanity along to an ever brighter future. In fact, the pages of scripture unfold to tell us of a people at the outskirts of civilization, a nation constantly under the dominion of the powerful empire. It speaks to us of a promised messiah, the very being of God himself, who announces a heavenly kingdom before being crucified by an earthly one.

It teaches us of a heavenly calling to an earthly citizenry, the slow cultivation of a community of people who transformed an empire despite existing under that very empire’s persecuting power. It whispers to us of a God who works from the margins and engages the worldly systems through a transformed gathering of His children. It reminds us that to change our world, we must live as those whose citizenship lies beyond the soil upon which we tread.

Our eschatology does not look to presidents or kings. It looks upon the crucified Lord, King of the Jews, and King of all Kings. It looks to the coming heavenly kingdom, a kingdom not of this world.

Obama Reminds Us Who We Are

Regardless where one stands in their view of our president, we cannot help but look with dismay upon the past several months. In the course of this year alone we have faced the prospect of yet another war, the shutdown of our government, and the divisive controversy over healthcare. We have peeled back the curtain, stared the promise of nationalism in the face, and found it wanting. Despite efforts to the contrary, the Obama administration has exposed the vacuousness of the nationalist ideal. I love our nation, but it is not in government that we place our hope. It is in Jesus.

Today (Monday) we celebrate our veterans. We honor and recognize the men and women who fought to retain for us our precious freedom. We can honor them by using that freedom, not by turning to the empty promises of a rival eschatology, but by freely living as the men and women of God who model a different way; a Jesus way. In the midst of our nation, we are still foreigners, emissaries of a heavenly kingdom that is bursting forth all around us. We can yield ourselves to that kingdom, or we can yield ourselves to this one.

Only one truly offers us hope for humanity’s future.