Could This Be A Revival?

Rev. William Owens Sr.

Revivals are like forest fires; they're often ignited by a single match before they begin to spread and explode into an inferno. The Rev.William Owens Sr. and his son the Rev. William Owens Jr. may have just lit the match that could not only limit President Barack Obama to one term but could ignite the fire for a badly needed and long overdue revival in the African-American community.

Who are Rev. Owens Sr. and Jr.? Rev. Owens Jr. is the head of "Mandate for Marriage", an initiative that opposes Obama's recent proclamation that professes support for same sex marriage. Rev. William Owens Sr. is the founder and president of the Coalition of African-American Pastors (CAAP) that currently has over 3,000 members and growing. Rev. Owens Sr. has made it clear that he and his CAAP members plan to discourage African-Americans from voting to reelect Obama in November unless Obama drops his support for gay marriage.

Rev. Owens Sr. and his son have requested a meeting with Obama to voice their concerns over the gay marriage issue and thus far, Obama has ignored them.. However, for Rev. Owens Sr. and his CAAP members, the issue isn't going to go away. Unless Obama meets with Rev. Owens Sr. and Jr to listen to their disgust over his support for gay marriage, both reverends plan to continue to speak out across the nation on what they plainly sees as Obama's betrayal of African-Americans. Said Owens Jr.: "It's only going to increase because the very core of America is founded upon Judeo-Christian beliefs. That's debatable to some people but you can't do away with history." (Christian Post.com, 8/1/2012)

No you can't. History has plainly shown that while African-Americans are fiercely loyal to the Democratic Party, they're also solidly grounded in traditional Christian values. And one of those values is traditional marriage between a man and a woman. As such, gay marriage isn't embraced by the majority of African-American churches, nor is Obama's "evolution" on an issue that he didn't support just four years ago during the midst of his successful presidential campaign. 

Certainly, Obama's about face on gay marriage is less about his "evolution" on the subject and more about garnering votes from America's GLBT community. And certainly, fearing fallout from the African-American community because his sudden support for an issue considered repugnant by many blacks, Obama has enlisted liberal mouthpieces at the NAACP and the Rev. Al Sharpton to try to persuade African-Americans to embrace gay marriage.

But it isn't working. And according to both reverends, they're not going to be bullied, bribed or dissuaded by Obama, the Democratic Party or their media stooges to drop their campaign and just go away. Rev. Owens Sr. has warned that if the Democratic Party follows through with its promise to endorse same-sex marriage as part of its platform during its convention next month, then he and his son plan a national campaign to convince African-Americans that the Democratic Party has become their enemy. Said Rev. Owens Sr.: "So if the Democratic Party is foolish and bold enough to believe that just because it's going to make it an issue on the platform their going to sway it, they're not going to sway it because it's causing more and more people to stand up and say, 'that's it, we're drawing a line' and so this is a good thing."

Unless Obama drops his support for gay marriage, it could be a very bad thing for him. He desperately needs the African-American vote if he has any chance at all to be reelected, and he had better not take that vote for granted. But Obama's betrayal of his core constituency could be a huge blessing in disguise; it could provide the impetus for a long overdue moral and spiritual revival in the African-American community. And that would be a very good thing.