The "Missle Shield"

(A JAM C) The threat of a nuclear attack is always hovering over us like a cloud that just won't go away.  The level of concern isn't as high as it was during the Cold War days pre-1990, but the threat is still there.  Of course, we know that Jesus Christ will return to the earth one day and then the end will come, thus ruling out the possibility of the world coming to an end through nuclear war, but that doesn't mean we're immune from the threat of a nuclear bomb going off somewhere in this world during our lifetimes.

In fact, a "Letter From 2012" claims that a nuclear bomb will go off in the Middle East.  Of course, it isn't claiming to be an actual letter from 2012, but it is still sending out a warning about what life could be like after the first four years of Obama's presidency. (note: I do not claim to support any of the predictions in this letter)

Relevant magazine has a feature on the catastrophic effects on what would happen if a nuclear bomb went off in even a place that would be considered "not strategic," in their September issue.

In light of all of this, the threat of a nuclear war should remain in the front of president-elect Obama's mind, and it seems like that's the case.  Currently, he's considering what to do with the missle-defense shield project that has been promoted by President Bush.  Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is urging Obama to put an end to the project because of the fact that it puts his own country in danger.  That alone wouldn't be a huge deal to Obama, and the United States, but Russia is still a huge military threat, and they would have to do something in response, which would in turn raise our threat levels.

This is a sticky situation for Barack Obama, because if he continues with this missile defense plan, our threat level will increase.  If he discontinues it, our threat level will also increase.  It seems like a lose/lose situation for him, but there has to be a way for both parties to come out satisfied with their standing.

The problem with the missile defense shield isn't that it is going to happen, but rather where it is going to happen.  It would be set up in Europe, which is obviously much closer to Russia than the United States.

Pray that Obama has wisdom in dealing with this rough situation.

Lobbyist Extinction

(A JAM C) As promised during his campaign, Barack Obama is right now planning his course of action when it comes to removing lobbyists from Capitol Hill.  In my opinion, this is a very good thing.  Lobbyists are like babies in many ways.  Babies and little children are the center of their own universe.  Nothing else in the world matters if they're not happy.  They must get their way.  It is the same with lobbyists.  Their seduction techniques are too strong for many Senators and Congressmen to bear.  If a bill is raised that affects them, and their companies, they will do anything to get their way, often times at the cost of the American people.  They're robbing and killing us so that their pockets can get a little deeper.  To not put matters lightly, I think they're evil.

Such evil actions were portrayed well in the documentary "Super-Size Me," where a man by the name of Morgan Spurlock ate nothing but McDonald's food for every meal for 30 days, and badly deteriorates his health.  In the movie, lobbyists are shown doing their dirty work.  It is rather sickening.

Barack Obama can't do everything to completely remove the presence of lobbyists from D.C., but anything is a step in the right direction.  Pray that an end is put to the corruption and greed in our nations capitol.

Margaret Sanger's Intentions When She Started Planned Parenthood

This video is pretty informative when looking at Planned Parenthood, which recently gave Barack Obama a rating of 100 on a scale of how favorable he is to them. To understand my intentions of posting this video, I would ask that you pay attention to the beginning of the video, and not the end. I wonder what would happen if Barack Obama knew this about Planned Parenthood.

Pray that his eyes would be opened.

Chief of Staff - Rahm Emmanuel

(A JAM C)  President-elect Obama's first act after his election was a telling one.  Earlier this week, it was reported that Rahm Emmanuel was appointed as his chief of staff.  Naturally, some questions arose.  What does this mean?  How will this affect the Obama presidency?  Well, it will affect it in many ways.

Rahm Emmanuel is known as a fighter.  He is the kind of man who either has friends or enemies.  You can't be neutral to him.  He remembers his enemies, and makes lists.  Once you get on his bad side, there's little hope of ever getting back on his good side.  In accepting the position as chief of staff, Rahm will have to step down as a U.S. representative from Illinois.  This was a tough decision for him, because he had the potential to work his way up to the speaker of the House, which of course means that he would have been third in line for the presidency.

Anyway, the implications of this are simple.  Obama's selection of Rahm Emmanuel as his chief of staff means that he is anticipating a battle, and he will do anything to win.  The battle is for his stances and whatever he believes is right.  Some would say that he wants to "crush the Republican party."  I don't know if I would go that far.  This selection allows Obama to maintain his centrist public persona while Mr. Emmanuel does the dirty work.  It would be good to look at this from a Good Cop/Bad Cop perspective.  Obama will be the friendly, caring, peacemaker, while Emmanuel will be the man behind the scenes who is unrelenting in his brutality.

I wouldn't say that Obama is trying to be two-faced here.  If I were president, I would want a man like Emmanuel on my side.  However, Mr. Emmanuel will be pushing hard for Omaba's stances, and having him on Obama's side could potentially be dangerous.  Pray for unity in Washington, because this has the potential to be dirty and divisive.

Another thing to keep an eye on is Emmanuel's strong Jewish background.  Arabs and Palestinians are not too pleased with Obama's choice here because they think that he will be highly influenced by Emmanuel's position on the nation of Israel.  We'll just have to wait and see how this affects the constant struggle in the Middle East, but it is definitely something worth keeping an eye on.

Obama's First Plans of Action

(A JAM C) As he prepares over the next ten weeks to take the oval office, president-elect Obama has already indicated that he is going to make several changes immediately.  According to the Telegraph, a british newspaper, he plans on overturning hundreds of rules and regulations on stem cell research, birth control, and the environment that have been implemented by the Bush administration.

One area that Barack Obama has the potential to see a lot of positive change happen is in regards to the environment.  With a Democrat president, along with a Democratic control in the House and Senate, we have the opportunity to see several things happen in regards to reversing the rapid temperature increases that we're seeing all over the world.  One of Obama's first steps will be to give California the ability to put a limit to automobile carbon emissions.  The Bush administration rejected a request last year for California to have the authority to do so, and unfortunately, it could have been because of big-money influence from the automobile companies.  Personally, I think that this is an excellent step in the right direction.  One out of every ten people in the United States lives in California, and it seems to me that California plays a major role in influencing the rest of the states.  From a big picture perspective though, the world isn't getting any cleaner or cooler.

In the last century, the earth's temperature has increased by 1.5 degrees.¹  The rate in climate change has increased over the past three decades, and we're now seeing an increase of .35 degrees per decade, meaning the earths temperature is increasing by one degree every 30 years.  It may not seem like much, but research has shown that if the temperature increases by 5 more degrees, then 60% of the planet's animals will have faced extinction.  Humans and roaches will surely find a way to survive, but entire ecosystems could be ready to face incredible danger, and the rest of the world could quickly face destruction after that.  As a believer in Jesus Christ, I believe that the world as we know it will surely face its end when He returns and conquers evil for eternity.  Until then, we must take care of the land that God has given us dominion over.

Please pray for Barack Obama and for the House and Senate to make major changes in the way we treat this planet.  Pray that America will be a world leader in this area as other countries in the world face major economic growth.  We may not feel the consequences today, and our children may not even feel the consequences, but our children's children will surely have to pay for our mistakes unless something is done now.

Another change that could have major implications is Obama's stance on stem cell research.  He plans on ending limits on stem cell research, which will free scientists up to do much more to find cures for many diseases that are prevalent today.  That part of it sounds great, but the part that conflicts with my beliefs is bright and clear.  Stem cell research largely involves killing human embryos.  As a person who believes that life begins at conception, this is very hard to hear.  Pray to our sovereign King that He would use His complete control over this situation so that babies would be spared death.

Finally, Obama is currently considering a lifting a ban that "prevents international family planning organizations that receive US government aid advising women about the possibility of abortion and in some cases, discouraging common contraceptive methods."  This doesn't seem to make much sense to me.  Unless I'm wrong, Barack Obama is considering the possibility of teaching women to get pregnant and then have an abortion instead of preventing that pregnancy.  Could that be possible?  I surely hope not, because that seems evil to me.  Whatever the case, please pray for the Lord to reveal to our next president the horrors that come with abortion.

It appears to me that throughout history, the Devil has constantly made it a focal point to attack the children of the world.  Pharaoh wanted every firstborn Israelite male killed during Moses' time.  Pagan countries surrounding the nation of Israel offered their children as a sacrifice to Molech.  Upon hearing of the birth of Jesus, Herod declared that every child under the age of two must be killed.  As a result of history and the atrocity of abortion today, many children throughout time have needlessly lost their lives.  Please pray for this to end.

^{1 www.pnas.org/content/103/39/14288.abstract}

The Purpose of this Blog

(A JAM C) As I child of African-American descent, I dreamed of the day when there would be a black president.  I was confident that it would happen in my lifetime, and I knew it would be a huge step forward in overcoming the racial divide in the United States of America.  My father was a civil rights activist, and I know that if he were still alive today, that he would have joined Jesse Jackson with tears of joy at around 11pm on November 4th.  The day was a day for celebration, and rejoicing.

The first time I saw Barack Obama, something in my heart leapt.  It was at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and this State Senator from Illinois was given an opportunity to give the Keynote address.  Here was a man who was handsome, articulate, and "a rising star in the Democratic Party."  I remember thinking to myself on that day "I don't know where you have come from, or what you stand for, but I know one thing... I like you."  After the 2004 DNC, he emerged as a household name, and things haven't quite been the same since then.

Over the years though, the more I have learned about the man, the more I have become concerned.  As a Bible-believing Christian, there are certain stances that Obama has which are contrary to my beliefs. Coming into this presidency, I'm excited, but I'm also very nervous.  I didn't vote for Barack Obama.  He's inexperienced and very secular.  He's a wild card.  The man that we have elected as our 44th president has the potential to be one of the greatest presidents of all time, or one of the worst.  We'll just have to wait and see to find out.

As we start off this blog, there are certain aspects of Barack Obama's upcoming presidency that I think could definitely use some prayer.  Firstly, an article in Time Magazine mentioned the fact that presidential candidates seem to live in a dream world where they believe they have the power to do everything they are promising in their campaign.  Once they hit the White House though, they come to realize that they are actually the "tail" while the House and Senate are the "dog."  Pray that this transition will go well for Obama so that the beginning of his presidency isn't spent learning the ropes while the country falls further and further into a pit of desperation.  Pray that changes can be made quickly and effectively so that the ideal and real worlds can intersect.

Secondly, we all know about how he wants us to come together and unite once again.  This needs to start at the top, but our next president has a tough road ahead of him.  There are rumors of dissent even among his own party.  Some senators and congressmen alike are turned off by his meteoric rise to power.  It just seemed like it was too easy for him, and if any senator tells you that they have never thought about the possibility of running for president, they're lying to you.  Within the senate, there's an unquenchable lust for power due to the pride that is so strong in their hearts.  Obama probably had the same lust for power, but the only difference is that he got his wish, while everybody else is probably going to have to wait another four to eight years.  My prayer is that the leaders of our great country would overcome their envy, and have the interests of the 300,000,000 people they lead in mind so that we could truly be the United States of America.  Barack Obama has a long road ahead of him before that could possibly become a reality, but I think that the country would benefit greatly if those issues were resolved quickly.

Barack Obama is our president.  Love him or hate him, God has entrusted to him the leadership of our country, so please join me over these next four to eight years in prayer.  Prayer is powerful, because our God is powerful.  He's our true leader, but Barack Obama has been given the ability for true change in this country... for better or worse.