Out of the Closet

I got an email from someone I thought was a little like me. Conservative. Christian. McCain. She wrote to tell me she voted for Obama and was proud of it. Needless to say, I was surprised. This has been one of the puzzling aspects about this election, the un-closeting of evangelical Christians.

Obviously there''s no rule about which political party one should support if one professes to be a Christian. I understand there are a variety of issues that might influence a believer to vote one way or the other. But there's also an underlying assumption that most believers will draw the line (in terms of support for a candidate) on the issue of abortion. And how far beyond that line a candidate crosses often influences our vote. Barack Obama's views about (and suport for) abortion (all documentable and on record) have exeeded that line so far, they can only be regarded as reprehensible. Which is why it baffles me that anyone calling herself a Christian would cast a vote for Obama.

I've been a believer long enough to understand that there's a spiritual realm and there's an earthly realm. And while I know that God transcends politics, that He is not a Republican or a Democrate, etc., I also know that He watches what goes on and that He does have a hand in all that goes on in governance. Lately I've been reminded of verses that have to do with the so-called End Times...."God will send a powerful delusion" and that people "will believe the lie," and that "even the elect will be deceived." I admit to not being as "head in the book" as I once was--I can't retrieve scripture and verse as easily. But this whole election has the smell and the feel of what it will be like during the era of the anti-Christ. That's the frightening power of deception is that even the very elect can be deceived, and nothing--no amount of reasoning and logic and documentable evidence--will or can persuade them that they were duped. Is that what's going on here?

What's so very distressing about all this is the sense of inevitability, as well as the sense of futility. I notice myself lately, when thinking I could try to convince someone logically, I'm beginning to get a sense of "whatever," or "it doesn't matter" or "nothing I say will make a difference." It's like a glass partition or a brick wall stands between me and them. I had the first inkling of this after the first presidential debate. This was the one that McCain came out strong on foreign policy. P and I watched the entire debate. We watched how clear and lucid and convincing McCain was, and how inexperienced Obama seemed in comparison. He really seemed to us to be the "junior" senator, eclipsed by McCain. Later I dubbed it the "President and the Professor." At one point I said, "I want him to be my president" (meaning of course McCain). And when it was over we both agreed McCain won the debate hands down, 1-0. Imagine our surprise, our shock, when immediately the pundits began claiming this was an Obama win. Even a conservative commentator that I admire (David Brooks of the New York Times) felt Obama handled himself just fine, came across presidential, stood his ground, etc. We were totally blown away. Did they just watch the same debate we did?

And from that point forward it began to be clearer and clearer to me that there was something fishy going on. It would be like this for the rest of the election. What I saw was not what I read in the papers. When new revelations came out about Obama that would have destroyed another candidate, it merely bounced off him like a ping pong ball...what the heck is going on? Was it a conspiracy? Is this a spiritual thing (we wrestle not against flesh and blood, etc.). Everything just seems topsy turvy. Near the end of it all I think I began to "get it"--something is going on that transcends mere politics. This is either God's judgment (and maybe we do deserve this), a sinister conspiracy, the end times, a foretaste of the anti-Christ, the anti-Christ himself....or just an incredibly brilliant politician the likes of which we have never seen. Which is it?

This election has soured me and made me lose a sort of innocent, naive trust in the inherent honesty and trustworthiness of our government and the media. We have been sold a bill of rotten goods, we were defrauded, we were robbed...and decent, smart people just don't or won't see it. I predict the Nancy's and the Gerry's and the Laura's will one day regret (on a personal level) their vote for Obama. But as I said....it doesn't matter, does it? It is what it is....