Our Lord & Savior – Barack Obama

I saw this Monday morning after returning to work from the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. I actually got nauseated for a few moments. After getting past the nausea and nearly puking (literally, no exaggeration) – I knew I had to comment.

Actor Jamie Foxx called President Obama “our Lord and Savior” during an appearance Sunday on the Soul Train Awards.

“It’s like church over here,” Foxx told the audience. “First of all, give an honor to God and our Lord and Savior Barack Obama.” - “Barack Obama,” he shouted as the audience cheered.

The backlash on social networking sites was almost immediate. A number of viewers called the remarks “creepy.”

“Obama may be your Lord and Savior,” wrote one Twitter user, “But I’m thankful that he’s not mine.”

Amen to that!

The president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in the United States Bill Donahue released a statement regarding the actor's comment, saying, "Foxx's epiphany is startling. It just goes to show that even though Obama did not succeed in stopping the oceans from rising (as he promised to do in 2008), he did succeed in convincing Jamie Foxx, and no doubt legions of others, that God exists. Whether God can survive an ACLU lawsuit accusing him of violating church and state grounds remains to be seen."

It’s not the first time Obama supporters have attempted to deify the 43rd President of the United States.

Earlier this month Florida A&M professor Barbara Thompson published a book titled “The Gospel According to Apostle Barack.” The book likens Obama to Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here in my hometown of Charlotte, as we hosted the DNC; street vendors across downtown Charlotte were selling posters and artwork depicting President Obama as Jesus Christ. One poster featured an image of the president in prayer with the headline, “Prophecy Fulfilled.” “Barak is of Hebrew origin and its meaning is ‘flash of lightning,” the poster notes, referencing a passage in in the Old Testament book of Judges. Hussein, they allege, is a Biblical word meaning “good and handsome.”… “So you see, Barak was destined to be a good and handsome man that would rise like a flash of lightning to win victory in a battle against overwhelming odds,” the poster read. The posters were being sold outside security zones at the Democratic National Convention. The posters are not sanctioned by the DNC.

In 2012 another book was published titled The Gospel of Barack Hussein Obama According to Mark -  and is designed to initiate the reader into a meditation on what it means to be human, what it means to be a manifestation of God, and how Barack Obama is a unique and important manifestation of God’s desire for human flourishing. It is a blend of words from his public speeches, imagined conversation, and fictional situations.

Even if Foxx was kidding and trying yet unsuccessfully to be funny; there are many in our society who are actually seeing our President as Messianic. There is even a blog dedicated to promoting the idea that Barack Obama is the Messiah - obamamessiah.blogspot.com

SERIOUSLY!

Can you imagine what the total backlash would be – what the public outrage would be if any other president in our history – from George Washington to George H. W. Bush had ever been publically called “Our Lord & Savior”.

One might suggest that Mr. Foxx was merely kidding; or simply over excited as he hosted the Soul Train Music awards. However, the audience did not even for one moment decrease its cheers and no one appeared to be appalled or even offended by what is most certainly an incredibly offensive and over the top comment.

Ok – let me point out for the record; leaders who have been deified in the past or those who claimed they were God or like God include:

Adolf Hitler

Kim Il-sung - Prior to the proclamation of a North Korean state, the Soviet Union had established in 1946 the Provisional People's Committee for North Korea as a de facto government in their occupation zone. Its chairman was Kim Il-sung.

Kim Il-sung was the head of the Workers' Party of Korea

The people of North Korea under Kim Il-sung and his successor Kim Jong-il, who passed away in 2011; have suffered what is now documented as the most oppressive government in the last 100 plus years.

The Kings of England in the centuries leading up to the revolution claimed to be divinely appointed by God. Their decrees and judgments could not even be questioned or citizens could be punished, imprisoned or even put to death.

Gaius Julius Caesar, the Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire – and he was deified. With the passage of the lex Titia on 27 November 43 BC, the Second Triumvirate was officially formed, composed of Antony, Octavian, and Caesar's loyal cavalry commander Lepidus. It formally deified Caesar as Divus Iulius in 42 BC, and Caesar Octavian henceforth became Divi filius ("Son of a god").

Seriously – I could go on. Just for fun sometime; do some research on nations and societies that have given their leaders status as god-like or deity. They are true stories – and do not have a happy ending.