Quick thought on Obama’s scandal, his denial of any knowledge of them and his leadership qualification

We haven’t been very political lately on Veritas Domain but I want to share some quick thoughts.

Taking Obama at his word, what does this administration’s Bengazi cover-up, the Justice department AP phone record grab, the IRS political targeting and the Gun-running for the Mexican drug cartels have in common? A president that didn’t know his own administration were doing these things.  And that really doesn’t help him either.   If it’s true then this is a sign of leadership failure.  This is true of any area, be it the corporate world, the military, law enforcement, etc.  How much more so is it for the highest office in the land.

I think this picture from Fox News is appropriate with all the scandal in the news the last week or so.

Very symbolic.  The political storms are coming and Obama is seeking shelter.  And he’s not going to be responsible for it while others take the fall (and I’m not talking about raindrops).

This was from a White House press conference today with the president of Turkey as you can see from this youtube clip.

You know the Memes are coming so I thought I make some myself.

As a former Marine, I can’t resist making this one:

And a theologically appropriate for our blog.

The last one reminds me of the context of Matthew 5:45 begins with verse 44:

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may ^[a]be sons of your Father who is in heaven;

Even if you see Obama as the enemy (seeing his policy alienate and demonize Christian conservatives, even as potential terrorists), we ought to pray for him appropriately that he does the right thing.

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Deuteronomy 18, Messianic Prophecy: How Jesus was like Moses

Three months ago I refuted a frequent Muslim argument that the Bible in Deuteronomy 18 is a prediction about Muhammad, specifically as it was presented in A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam.   In today’s post, I want to revisit a quote from the book in order to reinforce the Christian claim that Deuteronomy 18 is a predication about Jesus Christ and not Muhammad.  According to the booklet:

So, this prophecy refers to Muhammad
and not to Jesus, because Muhammad
is more like Moses than Jesus.” (Page 34)

One of course has to ask, “In what ways is Jesus like Moses?”  Rather than point out trivial similarities  between the two (something I think A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam commits in trying to “prove” Muhammad), I think a better way is to ask how the Bible in the New Testament presents Jesus as the paralleling “New Moses” (while remembering that the Quran obligates the Muslim to believe in the veracity of the New Testament as I have argued elsewhere on our blog).

Here it would be appropriate to read the account of Moses in Exodus, and Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew.  Both were originally written for a Jewish audience.  Thus it would be reasonable to expect Matthew to make allusions and echoes of events of Moses’ life recorded in Exodus if Jesus was the one predicted in Deuteronomy 18.  It turns out that the Gospel of Matthew intentionally presents Jesus as the New Moses.  The following are ways Jesus was like Moses.

1. Born during the reign of an oppressive king (Moses with Pharoah in Exodus 1:8-14; Jesus with King Herod in Matthew 2:1)
2. The evil ruler decree the killing of children that threaten the newborn’s life (Exodus 1:15-16; Matthew 2:16-18)
3. The witnesses of the birth of the child obeyed God and therefore disobeyed the ruler (Midwives in Exodus 1:17-22; Magi in Matthew 2:12, 16)
4. Soon after being born, the baby was placed in a box (ark for Moses, manger for Jesus)
5. God protects the witnesses (Midwives in Exodus 1:17-22; Magi in Matthew 2:12)
6. Child was raised by a non-biological father (Pharaoh for Moses and Joseph for Jesus)
7. The newborn survived by hiding in Egypt (Exodus 2; Matthew 2:13-15)
8. When the child grew older, God leads them to depart from Egypt (Exodus 13-14; Matthew 2:19-23)
9. After leaving Egypt, water around them symbolizes a new era (the parting of the sea Exodus 14:13-31; Baptism, Matthew 3:13-17)
10. Both enter the Wilderness for a considerable time of testing (Forty years, Exodus 16:35; Forty days, Matthew 4:1-11)
11. Both expounds on God’s law to God’s people in a mountain (Mount Sinai, Exodus 19-20ff; Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7)

The parallels are astounding.  A Muslim might say that the above are “trivial” parallels.  I would say look up the passages and let the Holy Spirit bear witness through His Word.  Moreover, if these parallel are insignificant and trivial, what do we have to say about the Muslim’s case for Muhammad being like Moses?  However, readers must not forget the conclusion made in the previous post on Deuteronomy 18 that the New Testament explicitly teach in direct didactic passages of epistolary literary forms, that Jesus is the Prophet of Deuteronomy 18.  Muslims are in a dilemma here when their own Qur’an affirm the authority and textual reliability of the Bible while the parallel of Jesus to Moses is much more greater than the parallel of Muhammad to Moses.  The right thing to do would be to surrender to Jesus, and start hearing Him speak as a Prophet about Himself in the Bible.  Then by the grace of God, may any reading this who do not know Him come to the saving knowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.

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