The End and Beginning of an Era

One of the most important lessons I learned about politics is something my dad told me — regardless who is in the White House, God is in control.

It’s that lesson that has given me peace through the morally bankrupt Clinton years. During the bloody George W Bush years. During the moral relativism and lackluster Obama years. It doesn’t always make some new political news story better, but it allows me, as a Christian, to remember that ultimately God is sovereign and God has things under control.

And so I entered the election of 2016 in that mind set. We were down to two morally bankrupt individuals. I remember thinking — “These are the two people that God is going to use for the next four or eight years? Seriously God?!? You’re kidding right? ”

I had to work through that notion when Obama was elected. Initially I felt like he could be used as a way to heal some of our racial tension of the last 150+ years. Maybe Obama would be able to bring two sides together politically. He talked a good game. Maybe, just maybe God could use Obama to heal a nation. Within a couple of years I knew that would not be the case. Today, I’m still not 100% sure what the point of Obama’s presidency was. Time will tell. One thing that has happened — Obama’s presidency has woken many people up, especially Christians.

I look back through the Obama years and I see some moments of positive. But in the end, he leaves the incoming administration with a mess on their hands. We have some of the worst racial tension that we have not seen since the 1960s. We have doubled our debt in 8 years. We have a lackluster economy. We have a military in disarray and one that has been used for social experiments. We have a health insurance problem made even worse through Obama’s single legacy legislation – ACA. We are left with tension between our allies, like Israel. Tensions between us and Russia are the worst that it has been since the Cold War. We have embraced Communist and enemy nations that would do us harm. Many things that the left view as positive, the right views as negative.

There were days the last 8 years that I felt the world was upside down. Immediately after the election when I watched the crying faces on TV and watched left-leaning friends absolutely lose it on Facebook, I really felt like the world was upside down. After reading extreme comment after extreme comment, it was hard not to unfollow several friends on Facebook.

Today, I watch people constantly bemoaning the exit of Obama from the White House. For people to put so much emotional weight into an election and into a single President is scary and disheartening to me. As a Christian, I put my faith in God. As an American, I put my faith in the Constitution and the godly wisdom of our forefathers. The entrance and exit of a president or any political leader should not bring people to tears — if it does then you have lost sight of America and the institution our forefathers created — not to mention it shows a lack of faith in God’s sovereignty if you are a Christian.

It’s human nature to ignore the faults of ourselves, including people we admire. The left has done that with Obama. Their inability to see Obama’s entire record, and only see his social justice reform attempts and policies trumps any of the negative that he has created. They praise the 22 million that ObamaCare now covers while ignoring the fact that the majority of us are in worst shape with our healthcare than before ObamaCare. They ignore the fact that race relations are worse now than they have been in 50 years – and if they don’t ignore it, they blame it on the right or on “white privilege”. They ignore the fact that we have given billions in money to a country that wants to wipe us and Israel off the map. Instead the left focuses on domestic and global social justice efforts and climate change reversal. Dare I say, the left has attempted to turn Obama into a liberal messiah — which he is not. I’ve even seen this with Christians who have struggled with Obama’s exit and Hillary’s loss. I would encourage my fellow Christians to search your heart to make sure that you have not turned Obama (or Hillary) into a worldly idol.

As we enter a new administration — a new president that I did not support and did not vote for — I can look back at the lesson my dad taught me. God is in control regardless of who is President. I have no idea why God allowed Trump to be President. There were far better moral men and women for this important job.

My concern for the next four (or eight) years is that the right will turn Trump into something more than what he is — much like the left has done with Obama. Trump should never be viewed more than what he is – a man with flaws that needs to be held accountable. If the right does not stand up against the wrong policies of Trump, and instead fall into the same trap the left has done with Obama, we will find ourselves in worse shape in four or eight years. Do not put your faith in a single man (or woman) where you feel that you cannot continue when they fail you.

As a Christian, I first and foremost have faith in the God of Heaven, and not the President of the United States — no matter if his or her name ends with a D or an R or an I.