For the better part of this Presidential race I've heard Barack Obama referred to as "The Messiah". I didn't give it much thought at first, thinking it was more or less a slap by his enemies at his seemingly arrogant nature. That was until today when I saw him giving a speech before 200,000 people in a foreign country. This trip to Germany, along with a book by Richard Bach entitled Illusions: The Adventures Of A Reluctant Messiah that I have been re-reading, finally made me realize how prophetic his messiah nickname is and how our society created it.

The first requirement for any messiah is to be sin free. Therefore for a person to truly be made into a God they must be relatively unknown. . Clinton, Edwards, and McCain may be decent persons, but they have all made well documented mistakes and have been in politics long enough to be demonized. Barack, however is a "clean and articulate" newcomer who speaks very well through a teleprompter. The messiah in Illusions not only had lived a sin free life, but had also mastered the second requirement of deification, speaking in parables. Barack's message of change and unity, while short on specifics works very well in this manner, especially in today's attention deficit society.


Another requirement that must be met for an individual to become a God are to have believers and narrative writers. These roles are played today by the media and a dejected populace seeking a new direction for their political leaders. Many in the media are unwittingly,or possibly on purpose, creating the myths that could build Obama into a legendary and historic figure. As for the ignorance of some of the followers, I first sensed this from a caller to a local radio show in my hometown. The host was taking an informal straw poll and a lady called in who was excited to voice her support for Obama. She had admitted that she didn't know much specifically about him but "knew after five minutes in a room with him that he cared about her and this country."

Performing miracles is also a must for achieving the rank of messiah. Barack's miracles aren't the wine from water and the healing of the blind that we have read about in the Gospels; but come in the form of wealth redistribution from the advantaged to the needy. This is the heart and soul of his crusade, government as parent. This is also the great liberal belief, that everyone in society should be equal. The "religion of liberalism" rejects the concept of individualism in favor of socialism.

This idea is flawed as evidenced in Illusions and our own history. In the book Don gives up his job as a messiah because the society wanted more than he could deliver. Instead of crowds that only wanted to have their children healed or their sins forgiven, they had increasingly asked for material things and had become unruly when they had to be turned away. This was shown in our recent history with hurricane Katrina. Many residents, who had become dependent on the government, were unable to leave or survive on their own when government help took three days to reach them.

This is the problem with Obama's and other liberals proposals. They end up hurting the very people whom they meant to help. The government can't give you freedom; that comes from inside us our own personal messiah. Liberalism destroys ambition and creates dependency on the government. This is the cruelest thing that you can do to a person. The old Chinese proverb still holds true today, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

The Bible warns us against following false Gods, this is as true in religion as it is in political ideologies.