OBAMA’S CHURCH DEPARTURE: TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE

By Jan Markell

www.olivetreeviews.org

As Stanley Kurtz from National Review Online states this week, “Having now left Trinity United Church of Christ, can Barack Obama escape responsibility for his decades-long ties to Michael Pfleger and Jeremiah Wright?  No, he cannot.  Obama’s connections to the radical-left politics espoused by Pfleger and Wright are broad and deep.  The real reason Obama bound himself to Wright and Pfleger in the first place is that he largely approved of their political-theological outlooks.”

I agree that his leaving is much too late.  But the real question is, Has Obama truly left the theology and politics of the church he has attended without issue for 20 years and the man who mentored him through them?  Likely not anymore than I have left the tenets of the faith I had for twenty years in a very solid Evangelical church.  Here’s what Obama has supposedly left behind him:

• The rejection of black “assimilation,” that is, assimilating black Americans into the American culture alongside white Americans.  But Obama shared Wright’s view on this subject and largely approved of Wright’s fiery rhetoric.  We know this because he so stated.

• The doctrines of “Black Liberation Theology.”  But Obama joined Trinity after he and his wife attended new-member classes where the doctrines of “Black Liberation Theology” are taught and included hard copy in new-member packets.  The excuse that Obama did not know a lot about his church stretch credulity.  As Stanley Kurtz says, “It is inconceivable that Obama was not aware of all of this.”

• The mentorship of Jeremiah Wright.  But Barack Obama has stated that Jeremiah Wright mentored him through the years and mentorship cannot be left behind; it is by definition part of who one becomes.  Obama is even featured occasionally in the Trumpet Newsmagazine – a periodical produced by Rev. Jeremiah Wright – once even sharing a cover photo alongside Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.  This alone is tantamount to an endorsement of what these men stand for, including anti-Semitism, “Black Liberation Theology,” and a fierce anti-American stand. 

• Trinity Church’s ties with terrorism.  But Obama and his wife did not leave the church when it posted a Hamas Manifesto in its church bulletin.  This same bulletin also stated that Israel planted an “ethnic bomb” to kill blacks and Arabs.  Hamas and other Middle East terror groups have endorsed Barack Obama in his bid for the presidency.

• The teachings of Rev. James Cone, the founder of the “Black Liberation Theology” movement, which include the belief that Jesus was a black man, that Marxism can aid in a true understanding of the gospels, and that the white church in America is evil (or some might even say, is the Antichrist).  But Obama remained at a church where these teachings were espoused and taught week after week.  The April 2, 2008, issue of The Washington Times states, “The church where Sen. Barack Obama has worshipped for two decades publicly declares that its ministry is founded on a 1960s book [authored by Cone] that espouses ‘the destruction of the white enemy.’”  Rev. Cone is quoted in the same article as saying, “What we need is the divine love as expressed in black power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal.  Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject His love.”   Once again, Sen. Obama’s actions belie his words. 

• Socialism and Marxism.  But at the risk of belaboring a point, Obama’s presence over two decades at a church that espouses “Black Liberation Theology” belies this.  All liberation theology, including the kind that raged in Central America in the 1980s, is rooted in Socialism and Marxism.  Cone and Wright have stated that Marxism can aid in a true understanding of the gospels.

Another theology of Barack Obama would seem to be “Kingdom Now” – a belief system that states that mankind can make the world perfect.  I echo the sentiments of Sandy Rios, formerly of Concerned Women for America.  She says, “I fear (Obama’s) distortion of the true meaning of following Christ.  I fear soaring rhetoric that elevates man and promises a ‘kingdom right here on earth,’ and, rather than acknowledging our depravity, seeks to accommodate it.”

Combining “Black Liberation Theology” with “Kingdom Now Theology” produces one very spiritually mixed-up presidential candidate.  Christians who insist that Barack Obama is a committed Christian need a reality check.  Neither his former pastor nor Trinity Church is biblically sound.  To be frank, they are frighteningly radical, dangerous, and unbiblical. 

As Stanley Kurtz ends his article in National Review Online, “So it would appear that Obama’s own writings solve the mystery of why he stayed at Trinity for 20 years.  Obama’s long-held and decidedly audacious hope has been to spread Wright’s radical spirit by linking it to a viable, left-leaning political program, with Obama himself at the center.  The revolutionizing power of a politically-awakened black church is not some side issue, or merely a personal matter, but has been the signature theme of Obama’s grand political strategy.”  However, it no longer serves him well.

Obama said he resigned his membership from Trinity United Church of Christ "with some sadness." Obama said he was not going to denounce the church, and that the church and its new pastor were suffering from all the attention because of his presidential campaign.  The closer Obama comes to securing the Democratic nomination for President, the more windows to his past will be shut. Obama tries to separate his public image from who he is privately because many of the American people would reject all or most of the above. Unfortunately, many more are turning a blind eye to it.

Now is the time to become part of the Presidential Prayer Team’s “40 Days to Pray for the Vote.”  Visit www.presidentialprayerteam.org to sign up.

By Jan Markell Click here for bio and archived articles