Obama and Liberation Theology

The last few days have been somewhat revealing in regards to Democratic candidate and probable nominee for President, Barack Obama. Swirling around the aired comments of his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, are the somewhat fuzzy words, "Liberation Theology." You'll hear it on news/talk oriented shows and in the print media. Most folks have no clue what "Liberation Theology" promulgates, and although I threw the word out a couple of 'blogs' ago, I think you readers my be interested in a more in-depth look at where it came from, what it is, and why it is dangerous to everything we hold dear as fundamental believers. So, wade through this and give it some thought. It gets technical, so hang on to the plow.

A Peruvian Catholic priest named Gustavo Gutierrez, under the influence of Jesuit thought in the early 1970's, first formed and printed what became known as "Liberation Theology." His thesis held to a dual approach to, in his words, "the challenge of Enlightenment." The two elements are rooted in a particular method of hermeneutics (Biblical interpretation) that differ from our fundamental, evangelical understanding of the Word. The first concept, or 'Praxis' in Gutierrez's speak, comes from the 'autonomy of human reason.' In other words, theology (The Study of God) is no longer to be based on God's revelation of himself and his divine character to man through authorship of the Bible. Rather, this revelation must come from the matrix of human interaction with history.

Got you confused? What it means is, iinterpreting God doesn't come from scripture alone, it must come from man's considerations of God throughout history. It is really what man thinks about God, not what God thinks about God. As man has historically been inhumane towards his fellow man, then God must be for the poor men who have been mistreated. History then jibes with Christ's rising up against the imperial subjugation being applied by Rome. Jesus died as a result of Roman atrocities thus, man should rise and stand with a persecuted yet victorious Jesus.

The second prong of the challenge comes through Karl Marx's political perspective, which discusses how man's wholeness can only be realized by overcoming the oppressive political and economic structures built by society. Liberation Theologians take Jesus' call to and example of righting injustice and defending the poor and weak, then coupling that with Marx foundational statement; "Hitherto philosophers have explained the world: our task is to change it." Mix Jesus into this 'change society' mentality, and you get a practitioners 'class struggle' as the end result. Is it any wonder that Obama uses the word "Change" so much in his thrilling speeches?
Karl Marx took a class analysis approach to divide the culture up between oppressors and the oppressed. Theologians placed Jesus directly into that class struggle as not only a defender of the oppressed, but a radical struggle against the oppressor. Both Marxism and Liberation Theology condemn religion for supporting the status quo and legitimizing the position and authority of the oppressor. Marx rejected religion totally and chose to bring about revolution solely on the wings of political revolution. Liberation Theology turns to the Christian faith as a means to bring about liberation. However, revolution by the masses is still the desired response.

As fundamentalist interpreters of the Word, we see liberation as beginning with the transformation of the heart of man. When man's heart is changed and Christ becomes the authority, there will be a 'lift' in social and political treatment of others based upon love, not revolution. Gutierrez, however, propagated the need for social and political change through class struggle instead of a radical change in the individual heart. Liberation Theology has converted Biblical interpretation into a philosophical and comprehensive plan of action to change the socio-economic structure of the world while fronting Jesus as its chief example of justice. Teach that to mostly uneducated, oppressed workers and what you get is violent revolutionary tendencies like that in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Cuba, and the guerrilla warfare found throughout South America. Teach it to folks in America who have an historical chip on their shoulders and an economically dismal approach to life and you get Jeremiah Wright and Barak Obama.

In America, the class struggle of 'Oppressed' verses 'Oppressor' has revolved mainly around the inability to forgive injustices of the past and move forward to a new epoch in society. Martin Luther King, Jr. held to the fundamentals of Liberation Theology, but chose to establish his struggle in a stance of non-violent, confrontational action as did Gandhi in India. But the seeds of true Liberation Theology have been bearing fruit in the pulpits of many, so-called "Christian" African-American pulpits, including that of Jeremiah Wright. Distorting the gospel of individual transformation into the socio-economic class struggle of black against white and rich against poor has built a real monster for America. There is absolutely no doubt that today's liberal political underpinnings, especially when it claims Christianity, are a homegrown version of radical Liberation Theology. Liberals also know that the application of 'button pushing' words in their speech will drive these masses of oppressed to the pools and put them into places of power.
What will be the thematics of an Obama presidency with this foundational system behind everything he does? Let me give it a shot:

1. Government entitlements will run wild in the form of; economic help to the poor who will never give back, a health care system that becomes a hand-out based fiasco, people will give up individual motivation to better themselves by hard work and education, and the list goes on.
2. An attempt to tip the socio-economic balance will happen as the 'rich' will be taxed at an increasingly higher rate, while the middle-class will remain about the same. The poor will reap the entitlements and no one will want to move beyond their level of comfort to protest the stupidity of taxing employers out of business.
3. Corporate 'oppressors' will be in the cross-hairs of an attempt to 'nationalize' everything from the health care industry, energy, and the defense establishment.
4. Power will quickly move from an predominantly economic standpoint to a political control of the masses....including a continued mass influx of illegal immigrants that already have been indoctrinated with the philosophy of Liberation Theology.
5. Fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible and its preaching will become a literal hazard to improved social justice and peace, thereby being described as bigotry, racist, and a violent form of hate speech against society. And it will all be done under the word LIBERATION.
6. The Public Schools will become the seedbed of all Liberationist thought and our history of individual liberty and piety will go by the wayside forever.

This is it in a nutshell. I'm no prophet....neither are you. However, we have brains that think, eyes that see, ears that hear, and the Holy Spirit to check our hearts when something bad looms on the horizon. I choose to continue to believe we are living in the greatest day of evangelism in all history and that Jesus is coming soon. But we are not unaware of the schemes and devices of the enemy, even when he calls himself a converted Christian.

We are to pray for those in authority, our governmental leaders, and our nation. Now would be a really good time to begin doing just that. This is my opinion and these are my thoughts. Take them or leave them. Whichever you do, I still love you.
Pastor Jim

High is Pretty High

My favorite star constellation is Orion the Hunter. I am not afraid to tell you it leaves me in awe and with a deep down peaceful feeling when I stare at it for awhile. Maybe it's the hunter inside of me....the small fraction of Cherokee blood that flows in my veins...who knows. I enjoy getting my telescope out and looking at Betelgeuse (Beetle Juice) on his shoulder, or the beautiful belt of stars made up of Alnitak, Alnilam (surrounded by the Nebula) and Minatak. Saturn is generally not far off over his right shoulder.....cool. Orion is getting deeper in the southwest this time of year and will soon go off on long hunt during the summer months....(Actually he'll be out hunting during our daylight hours, we just won't see him.) Anyway, what really takes your breath away is realizing that the closest star in the constellation, "Alnitak," is over 800 light years away. I can't count, in my lifetime, the number of miles that would be. Let's just say that it's pretty far out.
With Orion in sight, it makes sense that God would use spacial distance to try to relate just how powerfully he loves us. For instance; Psalm 103:11-12 says this; "For as high as the heavens are above the earth (heaven means stars in this case), so is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, (spacial distance), so far does he remove our transgressions from us." Man-oh-man-oh-man.
Notice how God's love and forgiveness are connected. In other words, you can't work your way into a deeper love....you already have it! You can't get anymore forgiven....you've already been!
Okay, where's this thought line going? Well, standing out in the still-chilly night air, while looking at Orion, makes me feel like a peon. The awe of the stars makes me shiver with regret, with sorrow, and with the question of, "Why in the universe do you love me, Jesus?" In those moments, a guy can pick up all of his failures and sins and work them around again like playdough. OR, he can fix his eyes on the nearest part of Orion's belt and realize those offenses are a lot farther off in the distance of God's mercy and love. That's when the praise wells up and regret gets pushed off the cliff again. I suppose that's why it's described as 'AAAWWWE!'
When you experience one of those common moments of regret and lack of self-forgiveness, just look up at the stars and stick with it long enough to really hear the constellations praising their maker. When you reach that pinnacle of awe, you to will let your past shoot to the end of the universe with something way beyond the speed of light. Just as quickly, He will re-affirm his deep love right back at ya! LOOK UP.....YOUR REDEMPTION DRAWS CLOSE....literally!
Happy Star-gazing,
Pastor Jim