"Called by God?" Probably not.

Last updated on: August 30, 2015 at 3:24 pm by Jim Meisner Jr.

"Called by God?" Probably not. 2015-08-30T15:24:07-04:00 Jim Meisner Jr.

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We need another word to describe the current crowd of political opportunists in the US., because they aren’t Christian.

I’m writing from a theological perspective, not a political point of view.
Too many politicians seem to think God is their running mate. (Just Google any name + God.)
I don’t mean a president saying “God bless the United States” or a politician saying “God bless you all” to end a speech.
Politicians and leaders have always invoked God to support their positions. From kings claiming Divine appointment to Jefferson’s use of the Divine in the Declaration of Independence.
I’m troubled by the growing number of politicians who believe they personally have a Divine calling. And they are so committed to this Divine calling they invoke it.
This is what host Megyn Kelly was getting at during the GOP presidential debate when she wanted to know if any of the candidates “have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first.”
She wasn’t asking about their political agenda. She was providing them the opportunity to pontificate about their relationships with God. And they didn’t disappoint, because many of the men on the stage believe they have a Divine calling.
Joan of Arc said she had a Divine calling.

So did David Koresh.

It’s a mathematical certainty that all of these people are grossly mistaken when they think God told them to run for office or seek the spotlight. And when they lose, it’s a certainty they will never admit they were wrong.
We had a wise old preacher in seminary tell us not to claim that God gives us instructions or tells us what to do.
“Until it’s confirmed by someone else,” he said in a deep voice that echoed in his thin frame, “you’re just hearing voices.”
They claim God calls them to run for president, and yet there’s little in what they say that is Godly.
We need another word for the religion of Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, Mike Huckabee, Scott Walker, Ben Carson, Rick Santorum, et.al, because their political views aren’t Christ-like.
If they love anyone other than people exactly like them, they do an exceptionally bad job of showing it. Their policies and positions aren’t the message of the Prince of Peace.
Their lack of compassion is appalling. They are condescending and judgmental of people most in need of Christian compassion.
They want the government involved in personal, moral issues like women’s reproductive rights, marriage equality and public display of Christian icons but they don’t want the government to provide meaningful assistance to children, widows, or aliens — literally the people Jesus and the Bible say should be helped.
Jesus of scripture, the Jesus they claim to follow, wouldn’t be allowed on the stage of a GOP debate.

When people calling themselves Christian hold such obviously un-Christian views, they drown out the message of Jesus.

Jesus was with the outcasts, the marginalized, the forgotten, not the wealthy. Jesus lived on the fringe of the dominant culture, he wasn’t of the mainstream.

Jesus had to go into the house of worship, his message didn’t come out of one.
If Jesus supported people of power then he would have been powerful – not the illegitimate child of a teenage mother, an illegal alien, a homeless, unemployed, outcast executed by the government.
The current crop of politicians can call themselves Christians, but that isn’t the word to describe what they really are.

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