Barack Obama is not Messiah

There is much to celebrate about this election. Not least of which is that it indicates Americans' willingness to take a chance based on hope, rather than stay the course because of fear. Whether the choice proves to be correct or not, that thinking lies at the center of all great societies and Americans should be proud to have moved in that direction.

Barack Obama's election tells me more about America and who the Americans are as a nation than me and the rest of the world and Americans can fully appreciate barely 72 hours after Obama’s election - that's what it means to be the kind of historic event which people, including me, are calling it. I believe that both his election and his presidency are filled with enormous potential. But perhaps we should hold off on grand claims which either claim to know the mind of God or the future of the world.
I don't know however, if the "world has changed", as a lot of people both the liberals and evangelicals assert. How could we already know? Though I appreciate the enthusiasm, it may actually and quite unhelpfully to the body of Christ.

I do know that no rational person can claim that Barack Obama is the Messiah, literally God's anointed. The fact that people are even suggesting that is pretty disturbing. The fact that people will go this far is even more disturbing. Some evangelical Christian even said the election of Obama marks the beginning of anti- Christ. How can anyone assert with total certainty that “The president-elect is the Messiah or the beginning of anti-Christ” . Isn’t that precisely the kind of talk that scares people from the body of Christ?

If the only distinction between the religious left and the religious right is the political conclusions which they reach, and not the degree of humility with which they reach them, then a pox on both their houses! People would rather live in a thoroughly secular world than one in which people make prophetic claims about American politics - especially when they seem to think that they are the prophets.
If people are serious about healing the divides in this country, as Obama has pledged over and again, let's follow his example. Let's celebrate this moment with smaller claims about its significance and larger acts which embody the values we claim to celebrate here and around the world.