This really is an historic day, a day on which a black man will become president of the United States. That doesn’t make it a good day, but it does make it memorable and worthy of comment.
Those who have followed my political writing for any time at all know that I have been very concerned about the rise of the American empire. This is not because of the size or scope of American power, or even of its applications here or there. The problem is always religious. Man in his unfallen condition was created for kingly greatness, and in his fallen condition he keeps reaching for that, and he cannot reach for it without overreaching and tumbling into idolatry and hubris. This is why the lordship of Jesus Christ must be affirmed and acknowledged in truth, and in every aspect of life. This is why we need Jesus, no matter what. This why we need the Lord Jesus, even in the public square . . . especially in the public square. Without Him, every grand venture must fall headlong, and become a terrible thing.
Funny thing, conservative critics of American empire (and there have been many) have had to deal with some odd companions, manifested through a chorus of clamoring voices that will now, with a party of the left in power, go inexplicably silent. All their concerns about American empire will vanish like the morning dew, and they will be vanishing when the final toxic but hitherto missing ingredient — emperor worship — arrives on the scene.
The over-the-top adulation of Obama that we are seeing is not just silly — it is wicked. When Obama puts his hand on the Bible to take his oath of office, that Bible really should be opened to this text.