by Mary Ann Collins
Jan 20, 2009

This morning, as part of the Inauguration, there will be a prayer service at the National Cathedral, a well known Episcopal cathedral in Washington, DC. The prayer service will include Muslims and Hindus. In a Christian church. With pagans and Christians and Jews gathered together by our new President to worship a "god" that is supposedly common to all of them. Well Christians and Jews can do that. But Muslims and Hindus do NOT worship the God of the Bible. According to the Bible, their "gods" are actually demons. (1 Corinthians 10:20-22) Verse 22 implies that trying to mix paganism and Christianity like that will result in God's wrath. It says, "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?"

Pagan religion has been a theme of Obama's ever since he gave his acceptance speech. The stage prop behind him looked like a Greek Temple. Then last Sunday there was an Inaugural event at the Lincoln Memorial, which looks like a Greek Temple. Obama and other key participants were inside that Greek temple when gay bishop Gene Robinson gave the invocation there, at the beginning of the Inaugural events.

Monday and Tuesday our local newspaper featured full page color photos of Obama and his family. One of the photos yesterday looked like Obama had a halo of light around his head. Huge headlines said, "The Beginning of a New Era." That picture encourages idolatry. So does having a stage prop that makes it look as if Obama gave his acceptance speech inside a Greek cathedral. Even some secular news reporters made comments showing that the Greek Temple theme troubled them.

The Muslim who is participating is the president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). This Muslim group has terrorist alliances, and supports jihad. (See the article below.)

"Wait -- the Outrage Isn't Over" by Jan Markell
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs019/1101818841456/archive/1102418960511.html

At the Cathedral service on Wednesday, Ingrid Mattson, President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), will have a role. ‚   As Brigitte Gabriel's organization, Act for America says, "It is sufficiently problematic that ISNA, the organization of which Ingrid Mattson is president, was designated an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism trial (which produced guilty verdicts on 108 counts)."

Act for America continues by saying, "Mattson's words and views beg the question: When there are Muslims in America who have publicly spoken out against jihad, against Shariah Law, and against ISNA, why was Ingrid Mattson chosen for this interfaith prayer service?"

The organization known as Campus Watch further documents that "In 2007 and as recently as July, federal prosecutors in Dallas filed court documents linking the Hartford, Connecticut-based Islamic Society to the group Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization."

Mattson will likely whitewash her society as a legitimate organization in this nation's democracy while, in fact, it has terrorist alliances that are especially frightening for our country's safety. Additionally, she places loyalty to Islam before loyalty to the United States of America; she denies the existence of terrorist cells in the United States; she defends Wahhabism; she equates Christian critics of violent jihad with Osama bin Laden.

Frankly, the list of similar issues is endless.

Mattson is also a professor of Islamic Studies at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut.

The Bush administration must also share the blame for her "mainstreaming." Mattson has been the guest of honor at State Department dinners and has met with senior Pentagon officials during the past eight years.

Where is the outrage?

Other religious leaders participating in inaugural events include T.D. Jakes, Pastor Rick Warren, Rev. Joseph Lowery, Rev. Sharon Watkins, several rabbis, ‚   Dr. Uma Mysorekar of the Hindu Temple Society of North America, Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell, Bishop V. Gene Robinson previously mentioned, religious Left leader Jim Wallis, and others. You could call it ecumenical stew. But please, could we have an Islamic rep who isn't affiliated with some of the worst?

Now is the time to pray for President Obama. "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: The powers that be are ordained of God" (Romans 13:1). ‚   Pray that a solid Christian leader would find favor with him and be able to speak into his administration. In that Rick Warren was delighted he chose gay Bishop Gene Robinson to give a prayer "to the god of our understanding," I am not so sure that he qualifies as a solid Christian leader who would speak the "inconvenient truth" to Obama.

A prominent Web site is asking readers to pray that Obama fails. This is unsound wisdom as America will fall and fail as well.

But then, that is what the Bible seems to indicate as we are absent in the "end-times."