Like many of you, I am watching the debates, considering the issues, and praying for God’s guidance as to whom I should vote for on Election Day 2012. I am considering the work of President Obama. I am looking at the Republican candidates. I am also considering who best represents the three major issues that I consider before voting — education, appointment of judges on the Supreme Court and federal level, and, naturally, who would best defend Israel and the command of Genesis 12:1-3. With this last issue, I have come to one irrevocable conclusion … WE NEED HARRY TRUMAN AGAIN!
This week I was reminded of this truth when I opened my latest copy of Christianity Today and saw the interview of Gary Scott Smith in the article ”Commander and Chaplain” about the faith of our presidents. When asked the question about which president’s faith most impacted his policy. Harry Truman was near the head of the list and for one specific decision — the choice for America to be the first nation to recognize Israel in May 1948.
As I began a quick internet search, I found a 2008 article from Christian History in which we find that Truman’s Baptist faith and teaching led him to see himself as a modern-day realization of the Persian king Cyrus who allowed the Jewish people from the Babylon exile period to return home in 539 BCE. He was instrumental in validating the existence of Israel in 1948 and the chief rabbi of Israel, Halevi Herzog, said these words to him when they met in 1949 …
When the President was still in his mother’s womb, the Lord had bestowed upon him the mission of helping his Chosen People at a time of despair and aiding in the fulfillment of His promise of Return to the Holy Land. (http://www.tnr.com/article/world/the-truman-no-show)
We definitely need a men and women like Harry Truman again on the political stage. We also need men and woman who will take on the responsibility of becoming spiritual Harry Truman’s and bring the truth of Messiah Jesus to the Jewish souls around the world. Too often, and simply because I think it is easy, we as evangelical Christians have become “friends of Israel” merely in the political realm. We will back Israel on an international level. We will sign petitions. We will wear pins with an American and Israeli flag intertwined. We will send donations to a certain “pastor” in San Antonio to defend Israel. We will even embrace the term “Christian Zionism”; however, we fail in the most basic and important concept of what it means to be the next Harry Truman — we fail to share the truth of Messiah Jesus with the Chosen Ones of God and the people from whom our Jesus came.
I will vote politically for the candidate, whomever that might be, who will do what is Biblically commanded concerning Israel. However, I wonder who will join me in seeking to be the next Harry Truman on the spiritual level. Who will join with Tzedakah Ministries and seek to live out 2012 with the mantra of
