What drives the debate?

Talking heads all over cable have spent a week parsing out the question of whether racism is having an undue influence on political discourse in this country. Former President Jimmy Carter has weighed in, attributing to racism an “overwhelming portion” of the ugliness directed of late at President Barack Obama — who, for his own part, has offered his predecessor a gentle rebuke, insisting that the heated arguments are really all about policy. This morning’s Washington Post offered parallel views of people in two South Carolina congressional districts; one represented by “You Lie!” shouter Joe Wilson, and the other, right next door, by the man most responsible for bringing congressional disapproval of that outburst to a vote, Majority Whip James Clyburn. Each appears to fairly represent the views of his constituents. Who’s right?

In my own irenic way, I’d like to suggest that everyone is right, sort of. Let me explain. No, is too much. Let me sum up:

Twisted Scripture

It is one thing to distort the record or facts concerning a candidate for political office; it is much, much worse to distort and even invent portions of the Word of God for such an end. A couple of different people have forwarded the following email to me within the last few weeks:

This will make you re-think: A Trivia question in Sunday School:
How long is the beast allowed to have authority in Revelations?

Revelations Chapter 13 tells us it is 42 months, and you know what that is.
Almost a four-year term of a Presidency.

All I can say is ‘Lord, Have mercy on us!’

According to The Book of Revelations the anti-Christ is:  The anti-Christ
will be a man, in his 40’s, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations
with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal….the
prophecy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope
and world peace, and when he is in power, will destroy everything..

Do we recognize this description??

I STRONGLY URGE each one of you to post this as many times as you can!  Each
opportunity that you have to send it to a friend or media outlet..do it! I refuse to take a chance on this unknown candidate who came out of nowhere.

This email seems designed to prey on the ignorance and fear of those who know a little bit, primarily by hearsay, rather than study, about certain limited interpretations (with elaborations and imaginative exaggerations) of that highly symbolic book of apocalyptic literature which ends with the warning: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19).

Let me just go through the errors in this line-by-line, because it is chock full of distortions and complete fabrications, misrepresenting the Word of God for the purpose of creating fear, mistrust, and confusion: none of which, last I looked, qualified as fruit of the Spirit.

Now let’s compare the fabrications with the actual text of scripture:

42 months: This number is referenced in Revelation (not “Revelations”) Chapter 13. That’s three years and six months, so it might be technically accurate, if you don’t care about details, to say that forty-two is “almost” forty-eight. I’m only a little surprised that the letter-writer would argue that in divinely inspired prophecy, close is good enough.

a man: “I saw a beast rising out of the sea having ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion…One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.” (Revelation 13:1b-2a, 3) Interestingly, there is no reference to this entity being “a man” anywhere throughout this passage.  (And I missed the news accounts of Obama  —or, I guess, one-seventh of him — having recovered from a fatal wound.)

in his 40s: This is completely made up. Some things are taken out of context, but I can’t even find a false context for this one, in Revelation or anywhere else in the Bible.

of MUSLIM descent: Nope. Also completely made up. There are no references to Muslims in the Bible, as the religious movement known as Islam did not arise until six hundred years after this text was written.

who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal
If by “Christ-like” is meant things like “He was given power to make war against the saints” “a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies” I’d like to see where Christ ever did anything like these.

the prophecy says that people will flock to him
No word about people flocking to him, although Rev. 13:8 says “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”

and he will promise false hope and world peace,
Once again, this comes from the letter-writer’s preconceptions and imagination. There is no mention in Revelation 13 about anyone promising anyone world peace, but “He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.”

and when he is in power, will destroy everything
Good news — no he won’t! While there are terrible plagues and disasters described in the book of Revelation, they are attributed to God and his angels, as punishments poured out upon “anyone who worships the beast and his image“. This figure “is going to his destruction” according to Revelation 17:11.

Do we recognize this description??
Not if we are actually reading our Bibles.

Now, just suppose that despite my careful readings, I’m the one who is missing something, all these corrections of mine are inaccurate and the allegations of the email are true? What’s the appropriate action according to scripture?

I STRONGLY URGE each one of you …
“This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus” (Revelation 14:12; see also 13:9-10).

Yep. Not frantic action, not fearful reaction. Patient endurance.

By the way, here’s every verse in the Bible that actually mentions the antichrist (a term that does not appear in the Book of Revelation):

1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

1 John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

1 John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

2 John 7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

Playing the Victim Card

You’ve got to hand it to the GOP. After ridiculing Obama with the label of “celebrity” because of his ability to draw large crowds wherever he goes, they decided that they couldn’t beat him on that score so they joined him, creating their own instant celebrity with the Vice Presidential nominee. The decision had been made, apparently, that this election needs to turn on style, not substance, and even McCain’s top advisor has been quoted as affirming this by saying this election will not be about issues. So, what to make it about? The answer is now apparent: Victims and bullies.

The American public loves underdogs, has great sympathy for victims, and doesn’t ever want to see anyone treated unfairly. Political operatives know this. Ever since the Republican convention, there has been a consistent attempt by the political talking heads from that side of the street to complain, early and often, about how their side is being attacked by the other side: sometimes not even bothering to wait until any such attacks have actually been made. It’s a bully’s tactic: to complain about how much you are being bullied.

Yesterday, echoing remarks made back during the primary when John McCain was talking about Hillary Clinton’s healthcare plan “if you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig, ” Obama used the same common image, among others, to talk about how inapplicable is the new GOP mantra of “change” as a label to apply to the consistent support of the McCain camp for Bush policies on war, healthcare, education, energy, taxes and so on.

Ignoring their own candidate’s use of the same words in remarks that specifically had named Hillary Clinton, the McCain surrogates swarmed to the microphones to decry the “attack” that Obama, who mentioned no names, just policies, had made — so they insisted — on their vice-presidential candidate.

This kind of victim talk is the functional equivalent of the schoolyard bully whining that the other kid has hit him in the fist with his face. Meanwhile Governor Palin is scheduled to go back to Alaska, giving her maybe another week of time to not be available for actual interviews or any kind of unscripted interaction with the press. Watch with me and see how long it takes before legitimate reporters wanting to get such unscripted comments on actual issues become dismissed as “paparazzi.”

Under the Radar

A fascinating tidbit that deserves a bit more airtime.

Why a Spiritual Advisor to President Bush Supports Obama

— Beliefnet.com

The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell is pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church, the largest United Methodist congregation in the nation. Often described as a ‘spiritual advisor’ to President George W. Bush, Caldwell introduced Bush at the 2000 Republican National Convention and delivered the benedictions at the 2001 and 2005 presidential inaugurations. He endorsed Senator Barack Obama for president in January.

Readers of the whole article will find some surprising things in here, including this minister’s take on the Rev. Wright:

Can you give an example of something Wright said that was “blown up” by the news media?

This whole G.D. America piece, that’s a great example. First of all, right after he says that, the next sentence, which they never play, says, “And that’s in the Bible.” Now, it’s not written that way in English, but the Hebraic expression basically says this: if America makes itself and views itself as God, and not Yahweh, or the Lord God Almighty as God, then America basically is committing adultery*, and then America is darning itself.

He never said “I would D. America.” He was saying that when the government begins to worship itself, then there is a price to be paid, and you basically fall into that category whether you want to or not.

*[blogger's note: Transcription error?  "idolatry" makes more sense here than "adultery"]

It sounds like you agree with the point he was making.

It’s not my role to agree or disagree with him, but I think it is my role to contextualize what, in fact, he was actually saying. No Christian that I know would agree that idolatry is acceptable to God, and clearly that’s a breach of the Ten Commandments, among other things. So, as I understand it, the point that Pastor Wright was making is that when America places itself–its own self in an idolatrous position, then you are basically positioning yourself for bad news….

And yes, this is the same minister that officiated last weekend at Jenna Bush’s wedding in Crawford, Texas.

Taking the Wright approach

Yesterday, Barack Obama arrived late to a Philadelphia podium to give a speech that, if he failed to exceed expectations, could have effectively ended his political career. The issue of the day was being spun as: “Will he or won’t he put a sufficient amount of distance between himself and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his pastor for twenty years, his spiritual mentor, who has been shown on videotape saying outrageous, offensive and in some cases just plain untrue things? Will he both reject and denounce the man who led him to Christ, officiated at his wedding, and baptized his children?” The political class loves a good pile-on, and it was hard to see how this was not going to balloon into a ruination of a colossal order.

I watched that speech with considerable interest, tinged with skepticism