Throughout history we’ve had presidents at all levels spiritually. Some have claimed to be Christians, others have not. Some have used Scripture to season their speeches, others have not. Some have been moral and upright men, others have not. One claimed to be “born again” and won the office because of the Christian vote, but he wasn’t a very good president.

This summer, USA TODAY (June 1, 2009) did a forum on “Obama’s faith fits our times.” It referred to his approach as a “big tent.” According to the article, he is the first president “not born in a Christian home. He has been exposed more broadly to the religions of the world than any man to hold the office. He’s the only president to have once practiced a non-Christian faith.”

Did Jesus say something about the difference between the broad and narrow way? Did Jesus ever refer to false prophets who would come and deceive many? Are we not living in a day when there are more false prophets than ever?

President Obama’s faith is liberal and neo-orthodox. Most Americans now question if there is just one faith, one way to God. This is true in growing numbers in evangelical churches. We are broad minded—our minds are vacuums into which anything and everything can be absorbed. We lack discernment because we lack absolutes. We have relative thinking rather than truth. This is dangerous and has to be confronted.

Stephen Mansfield, the author of the article, writes, “Obama is the perfect symbol of this current American brand of belief. He was raised in an atheist’s home but also by a woman who wanted her children to understand the world. Obama’s mother made sure he experienced every type of religious expression, from Jewish to Hindu and from native Hawaiian to Buddhist, to name but a few. Then there were the years in Indonesia, where he attended first a Roman Catholic and then a public school, all the while practicing an informal type of Islam at his stepfather’s side.”

This sounds like vegetable soup. I know what my mom used to do to make vegetable soup. She would take leftovers and throw them in a pot and call it a new dish for supper. But it was still leftovers. I recognized the beans and carrots from two days before.

Today, we are serving vegetable soup and calling it filet. The Word is meat, and we are filling it with bread crumbs to try to appease the masses and not offend anyone. The cross is offensive. The gospel is offensive. Jesus is offensive. Just talking about God in general is not offensive, but get specific about Jesus and they’ll start talking back. After all, when’s the last time you heard Mohammed’s, Buddha’s, Gandhi’s, or Joseph Smith’s name taken in vain in a movie?

Obama is a “non-traditional, theologically liberal” Christian. He believes in the resurrection, but he’s not sure about the meaning of Scripture or what happens when he dies. He has been a member of a fringe church filled with hate speech and anger that surely has influenced him to some degree.

He says, “When I read the Bible, I do so with the belief that it is not a static text but the Living Word and that I must be continually open to new revelations—whither they come from a lesbian friend or a doctor opposed to abortion.” This statement alone reveals a lack of understanding of biblical authority, inerrancy, and infallibility. It also reveals a belief in continuing revelation. The Scriptures are the final, written revelation of God. They cannot be amended, improved, or taken away from. They stand complete in and of themselves. There is no new revelation. There is no new truth. That’s the view of the Mormons and Muslims, that Christ and the Bible are not the final word.

For a Christian this is a dangerous path to take. Satan is a deceiver, and if he can convince anyone that Scripture is not enough, they can be duped. He is a liar. He has questioned “Has God said” since the Garden of Eden. His games and strategies are not new.

We must pray for our president that someone with a strong stand for biblical truth will speak into his life. Otherwise, he will fall into the trap and lead others into the same trap of questioning, editing, or even denying what God has clearly said. It’s not popular to be biblical. It’s just a matter of being right.