Terrorist strikes on four American cities. Russia rolling into Eastern Europe. Israel hit by a nuclear bomb. Gay marriage in every state. The end of the Boy Scouts. All are plausible scenarios if Democrat Barack Obama is elected president, according to a new addition to the campaign conversation called "Letter from 2012 in Obama's America," produced by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family Action. The imagined look into the future is part of an escalation in rhetoric from Christian right activists who are trying to paint Obama in the worst possible terms as the campaign heads into the final stretch and polls show the Democrat ahead. Although hard-edge attacks are common late in campaigns, the tenor of the strikes against Obama illustrate just how worried conservative Christian activists are about what should happen to their causes and influence if Democrats seize control of both Congress and the White House. "It looks like, walks like, talks like and smells like desperation to me," said the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell of Houston, an Obama supporter who backed President Bush in the past two elections. The Methodist pastor called the 2012 letter "false and ridiculous." He said it showed that some Christian conservative leaders fear that Obama's faith-based appeals to voters are working. Steve Strang, publisher of Charisma magazine, a Pentecostal publication, titled one of his recent weekly e-mails to readers, "Life As We Know It Will End If Obama is Elected." Strang said gay rights and abortion rights would be strengthened in an Obama administration, taxes would rise and "people who hate Christianity will be emboldened to attack our freedoms." (AP)

And this is, principally, why I'm reluctant to even use titles like "Reverend" or "Pastor": the world's penchant for confusing me with nut job like these. There is no biblical foundation, none, for the church to be involved in politics. There is no instance, at all, of Jesus Christ organizing His followers to defeat a ballot amendment or vote a certain way or petition Governor Herod. Moreover, there is no biblical foundation at all for using hate and fear to scare your flock into voting a certain way. This is reprehensible behavior from a group that becomes more extremist and more cult-like as the years go by. The divergence between the personal example of Jesus Christ and the practice of Focus On The Family is now extremely telling, forcing me to wonder what spirit is influencing James Dobson and his overly-devoted followers. It makes me worry that Dobson has allowed his follower's loyalty took him overshadow their responsibility to Christ, these folks seeming to know more abut political black operations than they do about what it means to be a Christian.

The mother and brother of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson were found shot dead in the mother's Chicago home Monday afternoon in what police are calling an incident of domestic violence. At press time, police are seeking Hudson's brother-in-law, William Balfour, 27, was arrested Friday but has not been charged. At pres time, police are still searching for Hudson's 7-year old nephew, who has been missing since the shooting. Our prayers go out to Ms. Hudson and her family for the safe return of her nephew, and for the grace of God to be made manifest in this time of terrible tragedy.