Post-Election 2012: Can the President Save America?

On November 6, the citizens of the United States of America re-elected President Barack Obama. Throughout the campaign, the President promised a better America for its citizens, and his campaign slogan was simple: “Forward.”  Will the President be able to fulfill his promises?  Is there reason to have faith in America’s ability to move forward?  Does the Bible have anything to say about the challenges facing a reconfirmed President and the ailing country he will lead?

Throughout the campaign season, President Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney clashed in stump speeches, in televised debates and, at times, in venomous advertisements proclaiming their differing views of what America must do to pull itself out of its downward spiral.  Policy ideas and worldviews competed passionately for the public’s devotion.

Finally, the dust has settled—at least the dust of the election process—and President Barack Obama has been given another four years to pursue his policy priorities in meeting the nation’s many challenges. And the challenges his nation faces are grave: unsustainable social entitlement programs, a strained military facing ominously growing threats from rival nations and terrorists, an increasingly bitter and polarized political environment, high unemployment, social discord—and the greatest debt it has ever borne upon its back as a nation—actually, the greatest debt of any single nation in the world.

The list of problems would rightly intimidate any head of state. The President has a daunting task ahead of him—a task that will affect the lives of hundreds of millions, including Christians—and Christians should be praying for President Obama. The Apostle Paul wrote: “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” (1 Timothy 2:1–2). We know from Scripture that it is God who made the President’s re-election possible, and that he will be ruling with God’s permission (Romans 13).

So, will the policies the President has promised to pursue be enough to surmount these challenges?  Would the policies of his main opponent in this election, Governor Romney, have been enough? The short-term results are anyone’s guess, but the ultimate answer is no.  No, They will not be enough.

Why not? A look at some of the other decisions made on Election Day in America give a sense of the reason.  While the nation voted for its president, Maine, Maryland and Washington became the first states in the nation to approve same-sex marriage through popular votes.  As Wall Street Journal online editor James Taranto tweeted on election night, a “same-sex tipping point” has arrived. Also, though it is still illegal according to federal laws, the states of Colorado and Washington legalized the sale and use of marijuana for “recreational” purposes—another first for the nation.

The persistent-but-ignored truth is that the problems America faces are fundamentally spiritual in nature—they are problems standing between the nation and the God who created and established it.  Those problems cannot be solved with economic policy.  They can only be solved by heartfelt national repentance.

The nation cannot continue to increasingly condone the degradation of the God-ordained institution of marriage, the celebration of sexually immoral lifestyles, the removal of God from the public square, the erosion of the God-given authority of the family as the fundamental unit of society, the glorification of the most ungodly and perverted of images and ideas in its media and popular culture—and generally continue to ignore the laws, desires and concerns of the Creator—and remain a nation for much longer.  Should it continue to turn its back on God, the destruction promised in Scripture to the United States will not wait forever.

No political policy or promise can change that.  Unless there is true national repentance—a collective seeking of the forgiveness only available through Jesus Christ and a passionate turning to the laws of God—America’s end is assured.  Order a free printed copy of our booklet The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy or read it online to discover what every politician has missed and what is truly required to restore the nation to a right course.