It wouldn’t come as a big surprise to learn that President Obama was suffering from indigestion after breakfast last Thursday. I suspect the “fare” may not have entirely agreed with him.
The main course at the Feb. 2nd National Prayer Breakfast was served up by Eric Metaxas; a heaping portion of good old-fashioned God-centered Christianity, the hearty and robust version. Definitely not the pseudo-Christian pabulum the President is so fond of.
 
In a masterful speech, Metaxas deftly combined Biblical truth with oh-so-subtle digs at Obama’s fuzzy liberal theology, tossing in a little humor on the side. Mark Joseph at National Review Online has an engaging summary of the event: The President & The Prophet: Obama’s Unusual Encounter with Eric Metaxas ~

Obama came to the prayer breakfast with a tidy speech that was clearly designed to lay those doubts [about his Christian bonafides] to rest. He spoke of his daily habit of prayer and Bible reading, his regular conversations with preachers like T. D. Jakes and Joel Hunter, and even told a story of the time he prayed over Billy Graham.
 
But before the president could utter a word, it was Metaxas who delivered a devastating, albeit apparently unintentional critique of such God-talk, recounting his own religious upbringing which he described as culturally Christian yet simultaneously full of “phony religiosity.”
“I thought I was a Christian. I guess I was lost,” he matter-of-factly stated…
 
…The eerie feeling that Metaxas was answering Obama on a speech he had yet to give continued, as he spoke about the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and the Christian religion. Moments after Metaxas finished his speech and sat down, Obama took great pains to describe the other great religions of the world as mirroring his own Christian faith.
 
By the time he wrapped up his speech with a rendition of Amazing Grace, one got the feeling that this was a modern-day, and perhaps more humorous version, of what Old Testament prophets regularly did to Kings of Israel: deliver brutally honest messages from Yahweh with little regard for their personal safety. Only this time, there were no beheadings, only the difficult-to-watch spectacle of seeing a president forced to uncomfortably read a speech which had just been shredded to pieces by a man who couldn’t possibly have known what was coming. And as he did so, the audience in that room likely left with Metaxas’s four-word condemnation, intentional or not, of the 44th president of the United States ringing in their ears: “God is not fooled.”

 
My favorite part of the speech was Metaxas’s candid reference to Satan’s temptation of Jesus in the wildness; the archetype for those who misuse scripture to further their own agenda ~

Jesus was and is the enemy of dead religion. When He was tempted in the desert, who was the one throwing Bible verses at Him? Satan. That is a perfect picture of dead religion. Using the words of God to do the opposite of what God does. It’s grotesque when you think about it. It’s demonic.

 
Joseph calls Metaxas a “prophet,” a very apt label.
Frequently, the Israelites in the Old Testament actually did listen to the prophets. Americans today would be wise to heed the clarion call from God’s messengers like this man.
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Metaxas gave Obama copies of two of his books: Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery and Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy.
 
Both are inspiring biographies of fearless men who visibly lived their faith; following God’s truth, regardless of the cost (which in Bonhoeffer’s case, was his very life). Their religion was very much alive.
 
I figure the Prez probably handed the books to the doorman on the way out. The Lord’s brand of hope & change doesn’t particularly appeal to him.
 
He may be deluding the sheeple, but – “God is not fooled.”
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Related:
 
Video of Metaxas’s full speech [source: CSPAN] at the prayer breakfast is HERE.
Obama hears pro-life message at prayer breakfast @ One News Now
Obama challenged on abortion at prayer event
President Obama and the Bible ~ Michael Youssef