Barack Obama has just been announced as the winner of the presidential election. It has been a long campaign and frankly I'm tired of hearing about it all. I wasn't a fan of either candidate and often said that I already have a king.

This morning I woke up bright and early to express my rights as an American through voting. It is no secret that I am less than thrilled about the selection for President, but I made my choice.

Culture vs Christian does not endorse any political candidate. Nor do we think any of the candidates are the antichrist, God's chosen, muslim, christian, too old, too young, too black, not black enough, too inexperienced, or too inside.

We all know that traditional Christians have problems with homosexual relationships.  It has a ick-factor for some and is just outside of scripture for others.  Whatever the reason, there have been a lot of outings from prominent people in Christianity.

Clay Aiken

While not a poster-boy for Christianity, he spent a lot of time talking about Christian-like things while singing at Christian-like events sponsored by Christian-like people. There have been rumors about his life-style for a long time that distanced him from the Christian seen.  He finally comes out here. For most, this was no shock.

Ray Boltz

Perhaps the poster-boy for Christian music and the one who inspired  all of the those church dramas for his songs: Thank You, Watch the Lamb, and Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb.

Ray says he has always been gay and has been very unhappy until recently when he came out to his wife and family of four adult children in 2004, separated from his wife, moved to Florida and has been living the gay life ever since.  So all of those songs that became anthems for your faith were written by an unhappily closeted gay man.  Most will have problems with this.  On a positive note, I will never have to hear those tired old songs again as Christianity will pretend he never existed and his art will be banished.

Ray comes out here.

Neither I nor by prophet beard support the following prophecy.

I got an email this week that had gone through a chain of pastors. It stated that Joe Biden will step down from Obama's ticket due to health problem. Hilary will then be appointed as the new vice presidential candidate for the republican ticket.

There is also a "prophetic message" from a known prophetic preacher moving about that a woman will come to power and run the country into the ground. This "message" was given earlier this year, maybe last year.

Of course when Hilary didn't win the nomination I was ready to scream "false prophet." Other Christians believed that Obama would pick Oprah as a running mate and she would cause the damage.

Then Sarah Palin shows up. She is most likely to be the second vice-president to shoot someone in the face. I thought perhaps the prophecy may be true. She is naive enough to get into trouble. She could do so while using the "God's Will" approach. People will believe because of her pentecostal ties.

Of course the prophecy wasn't being talked about until the rumor of Hilary stepping up. According to the email, it will happen in the beginning of October. We'll see.

Here is another thing to think about. The prophetic preacher who talked about the "dangerous woman" also predicted an economic collapse before the end of the year. I heard him predict it in early summer 2008. Granted, an economic collapse isn't a hard leap.

For some inexplicable reason I find myself watching the finale of Disney's High School Musical: Get in the Picture. This is the reality show that finds squeaky clean talent for Disney to exploit in it's made for television movies.  It is overly sappy and corny with over-the-top choreography.  You know, those expressions that are usually just flailing arms and an scowl. Then they talk about keeping on, following their dream, and never giving up. Melodramatic language.  I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.

Tonight it clicked.  Disney is like youth group.  Think of the last youth group drama you saw; the bright color schemes, the melodramatic language, over-the-top moves, and the total lack of realism.  I have always criticized this thing we call church drama because it lacks a genuine view of Jesus, sin, and ministry.

Church dramas have  "Christian Themes" instead of Disney's dribble.  So instead of a basketball player and a cheerleader finding love, the church drama will deal with those same characters struggle with sex, weed, beer, bullies, and sometimes abuse if they want to be edgy.

Christians Themes also allow us to let our teenagers act out problems like drug abuse and drinking with rolled up paper and root beer bottles.  Then this guy in a white shirt or toga shows up to save the day.  If White T-Shirt Jesus doesn't show up, rest assured someone with a bible pointing out a random scripture will. This bible scripture will change lives.

The common thread between Disney and Church Youth Group is their emphasis on life problems magnified.  The stories are wrapped up quickly and neatly. Bad acting and totally unbelievable uses of limbs are employed to exaggerate emotions like anger, fear, or bad-assery. In almost every case the subject matter deals with some sort of sin, why you shouldn't do it, and that it is the devil's fault anyway.  While there may be shadows of truth in the subject matter, characters look weak and struggling.  Should Christians be struggling that much.  Where are the stories of those who made the right decision early on?  I suppose they are absent for the same reason a movie always has an inciting incident.  However, we have to make these things a little smarter.

I walked in her office.  Close to tears, she tells me of her horrible day and the pressure of her job, the expectations that she could not cope with from her boss, and the reasons why the leader of the organization did not understand her own directions. She went on to explain that she continues to pray for guidance and strength to get her to tomorrow as she choked backed tears.

Some people have bad days at work.  She has them everyday.  There is always another task that is pushing her over the edge and an enemy who wants to see her fail.  Perhaps it is good to pray for so much strength.

This year has been a hard year for my family personally.  I have a large extended family on both sides and well, they're all getting old. This week, I'll go to my third funeral of the year for a family member.  Those who are past lived to be old and were suffering from pain.  So when the end came, it was a relief.

This is an interesting graphic interpretation of a series of events which happened to Dick in March of 1974. He spent the remaining years of his life trying to figure out what happened in those fateful months.