Potpourri

While I had thought I would move away from the religion and presidential race politics items, I keep finding them. So, I will share them with you.

*** Sarah Palin as Queen Esther - In language that reminds me of comments made about George W. Bush after his election and especially after September 11, 2001 as God's anointed one, I have read reports that many conservative Christian commentators are suggesting that there are parallels between the Alaskan governor and the ancient Israelite queen. For those who do not remember the story, Esther and her people were in captivity and facing the dire threat of extermination. The Queen, at the risk of her own life, became an advocate for the people, who were then spared by the king. These folks are suggesting that Sarah Palin has been selected by God for such a time as this in our country, as was said of Esther at her time.

*** Jay Rogers, on the website, http://www.forerunner.com/blog/, has this to say about the election in a posting entitled, The Sarah Palin "sigh" factor, from August 30, 2008:
So here is my three point plan: 1. Vote Constitution Party. (I vote my conscience and cannot support McCain even with Palin.) 2. Hope and pray for McCain/Palin to win. (I am an idealist, but also a realist!) 3. Pray for John McCain's salvation and pray specific imprecatory prayers if he fails to pro-actively defend the sanctity of human life.

Again, an interpretation is in order. Imprecatory prayers are used for two purposes. First, "That is for the Church to rightly function in her governmental capacity, she must through prayer and public proclamation legislate God’s will, as revealed alone in Scripture, on earth, thus enforcing the Crown Rights of Christ over all of life." Thus, the church must pray for and work toward having God's laws become legislative facts. Here, God's laws are understood to be the most conservative and literal understanding of scriptural texts.

Second, "From this point until the end of the chapter [Deuteronomy 28], temporal but very real curses are delineated for long term disobedience and covenant breaking. Thus, the negative sanctions exist to disinherit, diminish and eventually destroy wicked unrepentant individuals and nations." So, people are supposed to pray for bad things to happen to Senator John McCain if he is elected President and fails to "pro-actively defend the sanctity of human life," which means outlawing abortion. The prayers for God's judgment include "eventually destroy[ing] wicked unrepentant individuals and nations." So people conceivably could be praying for his death, and the elevation of President Palin, so that God's will would be done and abortion outlawed.

*** As a follow-up to the piece on the impact on politics of evangelical voters, George Barna, a prominent pollster with a very conservative theological viewpoint, has just published a poll about the perceptions of evangelicals held by the country. The top four statements are:
· that evangelicals will have a significant influence effect on the election outcome (59% of American adults said this was either "very" or "somewhat accurate" regarding evangelical voters);
· that evangelicals will cause the political conversation to be more conservative (59%);
· that they will be spend too much time complaining and not enough time solving problems (56%);
· and that they will be misunderstood and unfairly described by news media (56%).

What do you think? Is Governor Palin the modern-day Esther? Would you be willing to pray for bad things, including death, to befall John McCain as President if he does not work with Congress to push through the legislation to ban abortions?