Contact: Brenda Smotherman, 615-902-2231
NASHVILLE, Nov. 27, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- After the November 6 election, many Americans felt like a powerful quake had ripped the political, social, and cultural landscapes, but the fissures may actually be openings to greater opportunities, says author and former White House and congressional aide, Wallace Henley.
American voters returned to office a president who supports same-sex marriage, seeks broadened abortion policy, and imposes mandates on religious institutions to violate their own doctrines to comply with new federal regulations, Henley noted.
Additionally, voters in Colorado and Washington State endorsed legalization of marijuana for recreational use, signaling a trend likely to gain momentum in other states. And, while the House retains a majority who can push back on some of Obama's policies, the Senate, and its powerful authority to advise and consent on appointments, including that of Supreme Court Justices, remains under control of those supporting the President's legislative program
"Leaders in the church, family-ministry organizations, Christian schools, and other values-based institutions awoke November 7 to the realization of just how much the spiritual and moral terrain of our nation has changed," says Henley, who is senior associate pastor of Houston's 60,000-member Second Baptist Church, and an adjunct professor in worldview and leadership studies at Belhaven University.
Henley's book, Globequake: Living in the Unshakeable Kingdom While the World Falls Apart, published recently by Thomas Nelson, Inc. details what people can do to stabilize their lives, churches, families, businesses, and other institutions of daily engagement through application of biblical principles.
While other pundits were predicting a Romney landslide, Henley, in columns appearing in The Christian Post weeks before the election described the subtle social and political phenomena he felt would keep Obama in office. They included these factors, which were confirmed in Obama's re-election:
- The power of the incumbency
- The support of what Henley calls the 'Establishment Elites,' like the entertainment complex, main stream information media, and academia
- A reactive electorate more likely to respond to the 23 percent 'likeability' edge Obama had over Romney
- A nation lacking a cohering identity as once supplied by consensus around the Judeo-Christian belief and values system
"A failure to recognize the scope of change and how it has altered people in general and the electorate in particular led to misdirection from many 'experts,'" says Henley.
The spiritual and moral "tectonic shifts" means "the face of the world is being reshaped before our very eyes," writes Henley. The changes constitute a "Globequake" because the turbulence is worldwide.
"The good news is that seasons of immense change also open up new opportunities," Henley says. In one of the Globequake chapters Henley writes that our grim period can actually be a "golden age" for Christians and their churches. "Testimonies are always established in the hard times," he says, "and Revelation shows we overcome by 'the Blood of the Lamb' and 'the word of our testimony.' Isaiah says 'the people who walk in darkness will see a great light.' It's getting dark enough in the nations that many are searching for the light only Christ can give."
Henley travels extensively, speaking to churches, leadership groups, and media about how the Globequake crises can be turned into positive opportunities for personal, church, family, and even business growth. For more information, visit www.wallacehenley.com. To schedule Wallace Henley as a speaker, contact him at Wallace@wallacehenley.com.
