Sarah Palin and the Deborah Anointing by J. Lee Grady

After 49 million abortions since 1973, America needs a bold, Holy Ghost-filled woman to model pro-life values in the White House.

Just one week before the Republican Convention was scheduled to kick off in Minnesota, most evangelical Christians I know were (1) half-heartedly supporting John McCain; (2) flirting with the idea of voting for Barack Obama even though they disagreed with his policies; or (3) considering not voting at all. But the political mood shifted abruptly on Sept. 3, as if something from the mountains of Alaska sent seismic shockwaves across the nation. The earthquake hit when a little-known female governor appeared on the national stage with a baby in one arm and four more of her kids sitting in the audience.

 

Gov. Sarah Palin, who has kept an infant swing in her office in Juneau since April, has changed everything about the 2008 presidential race. Nobody—including McCain, no doubt—had any idea how much Palin’s candidacy would electrify the nation.

 

Evangelicals and other social conservatives were so ecstatic about “Sarah Barracuda” that the left-leaning media began a mad dash to discredit her. Animal rights activists complained about her bear rugs and her father’s fondness for moose hunting. Hypocritical feminists questioned whether Palin has time to run a country with all those kids. (So they think only liberal women can govern?) Democratic pundits claimed she lacks foreign policy experience. (If McCain had selected globetrotting Condoleezza Rice for the job, would the Democrats have approved? I don’t think so.)

 

“Palin and her family, even with their flaws, are the embodiment of the compassionate pro-life values America desperately needs to adopt.”

 

Palin’s enemies will poke around for the next two months to find her weak spots, but I have a feeling the tough-talking hockey mom from Wasilla will hold up just fine under scrutiny. They are underestimating this woman’s Christian faith, which has shaped her anti-corruption policies, her pro-life convictions and her refreshingly humble servant-leadership style.

 

There’s a lot to like about Palin—including the fact that she has been a courageous whistle-blower in Alaskan politics and that she has creative ideas about energy policy. But what excites me most is the fact that she is a working mom with solid Christian values. We are way overdue for a conservative mother’s touch in the White House.

 

Our country has been in a protracted debate over abortion since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Republicans and Democrats in Congress have argued for decades about whether it’s OK to kill a baby in the third trimester or whether parents should have any say-so in a minor’s decision to abort a child. While the good ol’ boys ran Washington, more than 49 million babies were killed in 36 years.

 

Some women politicians got themselves elected to powerful positions in Washington a few years ago. Unfortunately, many of them sold out to the establishment before they got there. These women failed us. They traded their birthright at the altar of liberal feminism and betrayed the essence of motherhood.

 

Thankfully Palin doesn’t have all the years of experience her critics say she needs on her resume. If she had breathed the noxious air in Washington for 15 years, she might have compromised her values too. As it stands, we have a woman with backbone who can stand up to the death lobby.

 

We need Palin’s perspective. Here’s a woman who didn’t sacrifice her family for her career and who didn’t abort her fifth child, Trig, when she found out he had Down’s syndrome. Here’s a woman who told the audience at the Republican Convention last week that Trig is “perfect”—and pledged to be an advocate for parents of special needs children. Here’s a woman who, when confronted with her 17-year-old daughter’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy, gracefully encouraged her to keep the baby and marry the father.

 

Talk about a role model. Palin’s life is a prophecy to America. She doesn’t have to preach against abortion. She and her family, even with their flaws, are the embodiment of the compassionate pro-life values America desperately needs to adopt.

 

When McCain announced that he had chosen Palin as his running mate, I was reminded of the biblical story of Deborah, the Old Testament prophet who rallied God’s people to victory at a time when ancient Israel was being terrorized by foreign invaders. Deborah’s gender didn’t stop her from amassing an army; she inspired the people in a way no man could. She and her defense minister, Barak, headed to the front lines and watched God do a miracle on the battlefield.

 

In her song in Judges 5:7, Deborah declares: “The peasantry ceased, they ceased in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel” (NASB).

 

Sometimes it takes a true mother to rally the troops. I hope that Palin, a woman who believes in prayer and is filled with the Holy Ghost, will take her hockey stick and smash the glass ceiling in American politics once and for all.