Clothes Make A Man

The Drudge report is reporting that Hillary Clinton Staffers are circulating a picture of Barak Hussein Obama showing the Illinois Senator Presidential favorite dressed as a Somali Elder.

http://www.drudgereport.com/flashoa.htm

Now what is interesting is that Drudge finishes the report with pictures of President Bush and Hillary also in non-Western attire, thus communicating that all kinds of politicians, when touring a country, or when in the appropriate circumstance will likewise dress in apparel indigenous to other countries.

There is a kicker though here.

When you see Bush or Hillary in those pictures with them outfitted in non-Western attire they look goofy — kind of like seeing someone in a pirate outfit showing up at a formal dinner. You can just tell that the person and the outfit are unnatural.

No so with Barak Hussein Obama. When you see Barak Hussein Obama in that outfit you think, “He looks like a Muslim Somali Elder,” or, “He looks like he belongs in that get up.”

I think the picture hurts Obama.

Galatians 4:27 and Eschatology

“For it is written:

Rejoice O barren one, you who do not bear;
Break forth and shout, you who have no birth pangs;
For more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband.”

This text is taken from Isaiah 54 where the prophet, by prophetic vision, sees the consequences of Zion’s Babylonian captivity. The captivity is tantamount to a barrenness where Zion is bereft of all her children. In the midst of this misery, Isaiah brings a message of promise and cheer. Captive Zion, though barren, will yet be magnificently fruitful.

The Apostle Paul quotes this passage and finds its fulfillment in the book of Galatians to the growing Church (Jerusalem that is above). The Apostle cites the passage in connection with his ongoing dispute with the Judiazers who are pushing the Galatian church to return to the captivity and bondage of the Law. The Apostle sees that this return would likewise be a return to sterility and barrenness. The barrenness that is the law is removed and in the Church there are children galore. It is in the Church where the vision of Isaiah is fulfilled.

There is one more fact I want to look at here. I wonder how it is that this passage isn’t appealed to as a Post-millennial passage? Here the prophecy is that ‘the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband.’ In the context of the passage there is a clear and ongoing anti-thesis going on between the children of the promise and the children of the flesh. That same antithesis is relevant to the just quoted snippet. What the Apostle is saying is that the children of the promise (desolate Sarah — see context) are more than the children of the she who has a husband and who produces children according to the flesh. The prophecy suggests that numerically speaking the number who are called of God are greater than the number who are not. This promise should give us great hope in our evangelism. God’s word has spoken that the Church is such a fecund wife that she will have more children then those who oppose her.

The Gospel will go forward. Great will be the number of the children of the Jerusalem from above and the size of the tent in which the children of the promise will inhabit will need be extended so that there is room for all the children. Indeed, that tent will be expanded so it covers the whole earth.

The Times They Are A Changing

“In 1960, only 5 percent of our children were born to unmarried mothers. In 1990 the figure was 28 percent. In 1960, 7 percent of our children under three lived with one parent. In 1990, 27 percent. In 1960, less than 1 percent of our children under 18 experienced the divorce of their parents. In 1990, the figure was almost 50 percent.”

Neil Postman
The End Of Education pg. 48

The culture of un-marriage (which includes children apart from marriage and divorce) has done more harm to our culture then anything that the culture of homosexuality will do. Indeed, it wouldn’t take much creativity to connect dots between the culture of un-marriage in one generation and the culture of homosexuality in the next. Allow children to grow up where the basic structure of family is perverted and bent and it shouldn’t be to much of a surprise if they become individuals whose perversion and bentness manifests itself in a host of areas including sexuality.

Now couple these statistics with the reality that America tries to provide a social safety net for all these casualties in the way of welfare, ADC, low income housing, food stamps, and a plethora of other benefits and it doesn’t take to much brilliance to see that a net that was ill advised, but still sufficient, in 1960 will break apart if the numbers continue apace. A family network financially supporting one or two strung out types is feasible. A family network financially supporting ten or twenty makes the whole family strung out. The same goes for nations.

The only cure for this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Reversing legislation on no fault divorce, making divorce more difficult again won’t change this because people won’t desire that legislation until enough of them have been convicted of their sin in despising God’s goodness. Preaching at people moralisms on the importance of loving their children more then their selfish desires won’t change this since love of self over love of everything else is at the heart of the sin problem. The only cure for this is the preaching of Law and Gospel. The law must be preached so that people can see the ugliness of their rebellious selfishness against God and their families so that the Gospel can be proclaimed that forgiveness can be genuinely be found in Christ. Only once people look to Christ can we expect the rejuvenation of the individual, family, and culture.

The statistics above are only a symptom of a far greater problem.