Open Letter to President Barack Obama
Mr. President:
Why have you decided to interject the United States of America into the middle of the Arab and Israeli conflict? Surely you know that this battle has raged for centuries, yea even millennia, long before the existence of our great nation. You claim to be Christian, but you persist in actions that deny your claims. Your present Middle-Eastern policy toward Israel is an affront to the American people and an abomination before God Almighty. This conflict existed long before Islam existed as a religion and you are allowing us to be drawn into a fight, on the wrong side of the issue. Just in case you have forgotten, this nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values. Yes, that means the basis and origin of the Christian values lay in Judaism. Denial of fact and rewriting of our history cannot change the fact that 24 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence held seminary degrees and some of those were ordained ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Mr. President, you have called yourself a Christian, but you are acting wickedly. I cannot fulfill the obligation of Matthew 18:15-17 privately with you because of our respective positions in society. Here is what the Word of God says:
Matthew 18:15-17 (NASB95)
"If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector."
Mr. President, I am a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven first, and an American second. This is the only forum in which I may have a possibility of communicating with you. I have zero possibility of speaking with you privately, especially as a pastor of a Bible-believing church. Scripture says of the seed of Abraham, Israel:
Genesis 12:2-3 (NASB95)
"And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."
The Arabs are the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham’s other son, of whom was also promised to be a great nation. Genesis 25:18 says he settled in “defiance of all his relatives.” This “battle” or squabble between Arabs and Jews has been going on now for nearly 4000 years. Really, this is a family feud that has gone out of control where brothers, families, and cousins have over the time of 40 centuries become tribes, nations, and religions warring against each other.
Mr. President, you have demonstrated that you prefer issues that are near to the hearts of the practitioners of Islam. Your record speaks for itself and cannot, in truth, be denied. It is alright for you to have a personal preference as a private citizen, but you are representing us, the citizens of the United States of America. You are representing all 308 million of us Americans, not just the small Muslim population. I must also remind you that your constituency is here inside the borders of this country. You are not President of the world. Please stop pandering to our enemies. It makes you and us look like fools. You declared at the beginning of your presidency that the USA was no longer a Christian nation. You were greatly mistaken about that issue and others. Last November, the American people reminded you and the others in Washington DC who is in control: We the People. Our founders knew and understood Psalm 127.
Psalm 127:1-2 (NASB95)
"Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep."
They founded a nation to honor God and seek His benevolence and protection. Today we seek to fraudulently remove Him from every aspect of our public and private lives claiming “separation of church and state”, a clause that doesn’t even appear in the U.S. Constitution. Mr. Obama, surely you know the very first book printed by our government was the Holy Bible!
Our great nation’s founders understood something else too. They knew that they did not know everything. Sure they had tremendous wisdom, humility, and meekness. But they knew that they needed God’s help more than they needed anything else to protect our Republic and to prevent it from degenerating into a democracy or an oligarchy. Our founding fathers also understood Psalm 33:
Psalm 33:8-17 (NASB95)
"Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance. The LORD looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men; From His dwelling place He looks out On all the inhabitants of the earth, He who fashions the hearts of them all, He who understands all their works. The king is not saved by a mighty army; A warrior is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a false hope for victory; Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength."
Mr. President, as you turn your back on Israel as the leader of this nation, you bring God’s judgment upon us all. This is not a matter for your personal preference; it is a matter for you to do the right thing as every President has done since the refounding of the nation of Israel in 1948. You have an obligation to support Israel’s right to exist on the land where they belong, in the land where they have more than 4000 years of historical claim. There is no other group on the face of the Earth that has the same claim or that is also in possession of the land. When the Jews were not in their land of promise, it was a dry and barren place. When they returned in 1948, the desert started to bloom and the land of Israel was reborn into the land flowing with milk and honey once again. Sir, I know you have been there just as I have been there in the Holy land. God has blessed the land because His chosen people, the Jews, are there. I have photos from the late 1890’s – 1915 that show just how barren it was before the state of Israel was reborn. Do not let your personal preferences, pride, and arrogance bring judgment on this nation.
Rev. Greg Schermerhorn
Equip The Kingdom Ministries
