I can also recommend Mr Metaxas' book. I read it a few weeks ago and was deeply moved by Pastor Bonhoeffer's life story.

I propose we pray for President Obama to be blessed in his leadership role as the Lord sees what he needs to be our president. That is Christianity.

The Metaxas biography is incredibly powerful, recounting step by step the Nazi take-over of the German Lutheran Church. I can't yet read it to the very end as I know what is going to happen.

As for prayers of blessing on this president, no sir. Prayers for his salvation, yes.
Ramona (the Pest)

If you do not know or cannot remember how the story ends: Revelation 22

I'm praying for our President -- but it's not be blessed. It's to be exposed & held accountable for his crimes. I also pray God will rise a new leader up to take back the Presidency with true Conservative Leadership and a spiritual core that is unshakable in four years.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer preached, prayed & helped in the plot to KILL Hitler. Think about that!

Do I sound crazy? I don't think the Benghazi four's loved ones would mind helping in that kind of effort. My son will be training with his troop in January to go to Somalia. He's a combat medic. He will be denied the ground & air support he needs & they will be forced to tell the locals where they are going, ahead of time, on all their missions. That is going on NOW in the middle east.

I covet your prayers. I so had hoped for a regime change!

Except for one thing....no one knew whem Hitler's reign would end. It could have lasted until he died of old old age for anyone knew. He could have been a dictator as long as it is very possible that Kim Jong Runt will be.

In light of that, Hitler needed killing.

Thing with Obama is that HE, WILL be DONE in four years. That's a dim light at the end of a long tunnel right now and as bad as he is, I seriously doubt he can force upon us an indefinite time period. If that were to occur, then THAT would be the time for discussion of alternate removal...but not now.

In the meantime, I hope every single Republican votes "present" whenever a bill comes up for the next two years. They want cooperation, I say give it to them. We tried to stop them, we failed. We have absolutely nothing to lose at this point.

Rachel Lucas a rachellucas.com said this, "... the fiscal cliff is our unavoidable destiny – very soon – no matter who’s in charge for the next 4 years.

Obama has been elected captain of the Titanic.

And he inherited the whole decaying mess from himself.

So there’s that."

*One by one the free peoples of Middle Earth fell to the power of The Ring*

I say we pray to God for ourselves: that we be made able enough and humble enough to do His Will.
Let us look to the Church in the East, which has survived, and is now to be a model of perserverance under great gov't and societal oppression.

We have just blown an opportunity to elect a man who possesses one of the most brilliant minds of his generation.

There are more registered Republicans than registered Democrats. Why are our people failing to turn out in sufficient numbers for us to win an election? The turn out this year was less for Romney than the turn out for McCain. Do they have no sense of self preservation? One trillion dollars is one hundred millions of dollars. We owe 16 trillion already. Why is that fact alone not sufficient to galvanize every registered Republican in the country. The people who want freebies were galvanized to turn out. Why not us?

I too read that book, Bonhoeffer. I've thought a lot about what this election means in terms of my personal actions. It comes down to the decision every soldier has to make. I think about the military. Do they have the option to quit when the enemy is at hand? The heros don't. They fight to the death, in whatever way, as the SEALs in Benghazi did. They do their best to save lives.

Bonhoeffer was a soldier, too.

there are no political solutions to our spiritual problems

Excellent start to the day and to this next phase of our lives. This is not a call to take on the athiests among us, but rather to challenge the ones who have hijacked Christianity in this country. This we can do in our churches and Christian colleges and such places.

For example, many of the evangelical Christian colleges are becoming bastions of progressive ideals from Global Warming nonsense (repackaged as "Creation Care")to redistribution of wealth recast as the Social Gospel. We can refuse to support these institutions or get on the boards of them and stop the slide into liberalism.

I've been praying for the last few months for a revival in people's hearts - that they will turn their minds towards God. But how do most people come to God? Usually through being broken - broken physically, financially and by placing their hope in the things of this world. Some people are wise or have had parents' and teachers who have shown them the way, but most of the world (and America) are ignorant of God, His Son, and what eternity means.

If I look at this election through an eternal lens, I see a loving God who is concerned for people's destiny. He wants to draw them close. He sent His son to save us all. He will use whatever means necessary. Read Jeremiah or any of the other Old Testament prophets who predicted the judgment of God on the Israelites. We are no different and we will be caught in the same temporal net as those who do not know Him - however, those who put their trust in the Lord have a glorious end.

Bonhoeffer ranks as one of the most incredible theologians of the 20th Century.

We have a decision to make. We can trust in what our limited sight shows us, what we can predict of the future from our limited viewpoint, or we can trust in God. God does not promise us political freedom or a life of ease and comfort. What He does promise us is His presence when we seek Him. You can take everything away from us that we have, but if we have His presence and therefore a sense of His guiding hand, we have everything.

A verse I’ve been reminded of constantly the past two days:

So God knows how to rescue the godly from evil trials. And he knows how to hold the feet of the wicked to the fire until Judgment Day. 2 Peter 2:9 (MSG)

That is a promise, folks.

Must read.

Sorry Re. 6, but I do not trust BHO to follow the rule of law. I fear we are farther down the road than we realize.

I will pray for you and your son, #5... my son is also training for missions in the Middle East next year. Never have I been so afraid for him and his buddies...ALL our best and bravest. I pray their C-in-C, whom they all wanted replaced, realizes the heavy importance of his duties and learns to respond accordingly.

Most troubling article. One that does more damage to Christianity. Few seem to closely examine the meaning of "cheap grace". So, just what is "costly grace"? Seems to me it's man's definition of grace. Because the definition of grace in scripture is "a free gift from God". And scripture goes further by saying if grace is based on any works then it is no longer grace.

So, please raise your hand if you are ready to substitute YOUR definition for grace in the place of God's or the Apostle Paul. Perhaps someone would like to provide a list of sins that the blood of Christ was insufficient in covering.

No, "God's grace is sufficient"! God is not mad at anyone. And virtually everyone is self destructive without God. But that doesn't mean we can't call sin what it is. Or make judgements. What we cannot do as mere men is make the judgement on some one else's position with God. That is something only that person and/or God knows. But grace is FREE. So don't add to THE WORD. I believe scripture has some pretty clear admonition to those who do. Might want to pray about that. A German author didn't write the Bible.

I have to agree that many Christians have reconciled their faith wth the perversity that exists in America today. 'After all, it is both politically correct and socially acceptble to tolerate perversity in all forms, rather than risk being labeled as intolerant, bigoted, Islamophbic, homophobic or the mother of all derisive brandings, racist. It is precisely here, however, that tolerance of evil becomes evil itself.'

Think Chick-Fil-A.

As a believer for over 50 years, I didn't interpret this article as you did, #15. The difference between 'cheap grace' and 'costly grace' is with cheap grace there is no real identification or realization that to be forgiven cost anyone anything so the sinner runs blithely along. Costly grace means what it says, that for our sins to be forgiven cost Jesus his life, and cost God His son. When we forgive others we share in that cost - to forgive can be costly to us as it should.

Timothy Keller in his book, The Prodigal God, states that in the biblical narrative of the prodigal son, the elder brother refused to enter the celebration of his younger brother's return because it would cost him a larger chunk of his inheritance. Between that and feeling jealous and angry over his brother's return, it became too costly for him to forgive his younger brother.

To understand costly grace means to acknowledge the sacrificial nature of Jesus' death, which is transforming - we become those who serve and love as He did, sacrificially. It also means taking a stand against evil, which can be very costly in our politically correct universe.

I agree, #10. And it's not just Christian schools and colleges. Some of the seminaries are becoming like that as well. Seminaries! Where they're training the next pastors and priests.

I believe God is giving us an opportunity to test our mettle. Let's rise to the task!

#17 – Exactly. Absolutely correct. Eloquently composed. Sincerely appreciated.

And I'll pray for yours as well, #14. Thank you! We should start a "loved ones in the military" support room at the Connection. We need it!

Well said, #17.

I read Metaxas' book last year; it is a must read for every Christian. It is a very convicting and troubling book, because it is so relevant to our current spiritual abyss. What happened in Germany is happening here.

Because of this article, I looked up Eric Metaxas' web site and listened again to his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast. It's well worth the half hour it takes to listen to it. He told President Obama that George Bush had read his book on Bonhoeffer - as he gave a copy to him saying - several times - ''No pressure.''

On Lucianne's site, I'm seeing some wonderful posts as the result of the election. As cream rises to the top, so Christians are rising and speaking up with much wisdom. We will be light in the darkness.